20 Games with good combat systems | Updated 2024

Ghost of Tsushima

Its recent arrival on PC is a great excuse to put Ghost Tsushima on the list of the best combat sytems in video games.

Most of the system revolves around swordsmanship, with the family katana as the primary weapon, but there’s also a bow and smaller gadgets like thrown kunai or distracting firecrackers. Blended together, they give the protagonist, Jin Sakai, a range of tactical options for any situation.

Image credit: Sucker Punch Productions

Swordfighting is governed by four stances effective against specific enemy types, and coming with their own special attacks. Beyond these forms, the system heavily features dodges and parrying, including perfect variants which might even trigger unique mechanical effects. Combined with high lethality, combat in GoT is tense, fast, and satisfying, complementing the game’s themes and story.

Ghost of Tsushima (PC)

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Sifu

Sifu is an absolute treat for enthusiasts of unarmed martial arts.

This third-person action game goes to great lengths to present a believable and realistic depiction of a style closely related to Bak Mei kung fu. The system takes some time to learn, but when you do, the flurry of dodges, blocks, whip-fast strikes and crowd-controlling holds looks and feels incredible to unleash.

Image credit: Sloclap

Over time you’ll learn additional maneuvers, learn how to better utilize improvised staffs or loose pipes, letting you knock out goons and elites as if you were an incarnation of Bruce Lee himself. The game has several stages, each following a different theme, and culminating in a boss fight which is perfectly easy to pass… as long as you have mastered your basics. It’s that kind of game.

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Scarlet Nexus

Scarlet Nexus flew a bit under the radar when it launched in 2021, despite its obvious quality.

It’s an action RPG from Bandai Namco, which makes it a cousing to Code Vein and Tales of Arise. It’s a strong competition, and Scralt Nexus is keen to meet it fair and square with a sword and impressive telekinetic abilities, which turn the environments into, essential an arsenal of improvised weapons.

Image credit: Bandai Namco Studios

What’s important, is that stringing a random debris toss into your combos feels smooth and convenient. Swordfighting itself also feels great, and through SN’s dual protagonists you’ll experience two different playstyles. Yuito focuses on using a katana first, telekinesis second, while his counterpart, Kasane, prefers ranged combat with a stronger focus on TK and helpful throwing knives.

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Warhammer: Vermintide 2

Warhammer: Vermintide 2 take s a combined arms approach, in that it won’t take long before the ground will be littered with the combines arms of Chaos worshippers and Skaven.

Jokes aside, combat in Vermintide 2 isn’t ass deep as in other games here, but it’s incredibly satisfying anyway, and feels fantastically tactile when you slice through a swarming horde of humanoid rats.

Image credit: Fatshark

Each weapon has its own specific traits, some having substantial buffs to defense, others capable of cleaving through multiple enemies, etc. These attributes make a big difference in how the given character is going to fight even withing a single career. An Ironbreaker fielding Hammer and Shield with Drakefire Pistols will be very different from one using A War Pick with a Handgun, for example.

Warhammer: Vermintide 2

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Hi-Fi Rush

Hi-Fi Rush was a sneaky hit of 2023, a character-action game taking the best lessons from the likes of Devil May Cry, but mixing them with… a rhythm game.

For plot reasons, the entire world of the game obeys the same rhythm. Platforms move to the beat, enemies’ attacks are timed accordingly, and your own strikes are much stronger if you can sync with the music. It creates a fascinating mix.

Image credit: Tango Gameworks

When you figure out the timing, you know when you’re going to be hit, giving you an edge for dodging and parrying. When you know the beat, you know how to maximise your damage and possibly unleash an extra-powerful special or a team-up move. Attaining a state of flow in Hi-Fi Rush feels incredibly satisfying, especially since the game’s aesthetic and animations make it vibrant and lively.

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Jedi Survivor

Jedi Survivor built very competently on the foundations established by its predecessor, Jedi: Fallen Order.

In terms of combat, which interests us here and now, it deepened and expanded the combat styles. Each of the three forms from JFO (single blade, two sword, double-bladed sword) received a dedicated progression trees, and we got two more styles on top of those.

Image credit: Respawn Entertainment

The new styles are an interesting mix sword and blaster combo giving you impressive ranged option with customizable special shots, and a two-handed form which is slow, but hits like a ton of bricks. You can have two styles equipped simultaneously, switching between them with a button, which makes you much more responsive in combat and encourages mastering several playstyles.

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Baldur’s Gate 3

The full release of Baldur’s Gate 3 was a momentous even for gaming, and cemented Larian’s game among the genre’s best.

It doesn’t have dynamic sword fighting or anything of the sort, but its turn-based combat is excellent for the task of making you feel like you can do anything. Toss an exploding barrel, throw an enemy off a cliff, or turn into a massive beast and dropkick people to death…

Image credit: Larian Studios

With twelve distinct classes, each with several subclasses, a complex system of actions and reactions, powerful abilities, and a reactive environment, fights in BG3 are impressively tactile. The reason you might have not heard of all that, is because the community discussions focus a lot more on the dramatic, well-written, cinematically presented and incredibly reactive story. Truly, a cRPG for the ages.

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Devil May Cry 5

It’s not unusual for Devil May Cry games to have multiple playable characters.

What is somewhat unusual is to make them central to the game and THAT different in playstyle. In DMC5 we’ve got weapon-juggling Dante whose combos looks like a flurry of weapon swaps, Nero, who’s committed to his sword and gun, but has a gallery of cool prosthetic arms with various powers, and then there’s V.

Image credit: Capcom Development Division 1

V is an odd one, because this fellow is rather un-athletic and vulnerable, so instead of weapons he uses summoned creatures: a raven, a panther, and a goliath, all with their own range of attacks and abilities you can deploy. Oh, and of course there’s also a Vergil DLC. Truly, DMC5 is a treat for any fan of figuring out ridiculous combos and playstyle diversity.

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Dragon’s Dogma 2

Many years after the original came Dragon’s Dogma 2, and it brought with it a lot of new things to enjoy.

In addition to a fresh world to save, it also brought back the original’s juicy combat system, now best experienced through ten vastly different vocations AKA classes. There are classics like a sword-and-shield fighter or a support mage… but there’s also Warfarer, the star of the game.

Image credit: CAPCOM

Warfarer is a vocation which can use every other vocation’s armor, weapons, and abilities, letting you assemble your own unique playstyle. The trick is that you have to switch active weapons to use associated skills, and you have to predefine the rotation. It takes some planning, and a lot of skill to use it effectively, but when you do it’s where DD2’s combat system becomes absolutely brilliant.

Dragon’s Dogma 2

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Titanfall 2

Surrounded by a list of sword masters of all sorts, Titanfall 2 nevertheless deserves a spot, because it does all sorts of cool things about its shooting.

It comes mostly through the exceptional mobility, which allows you to run circles around you enemies and attack them from unexpected angles. The tutorial alone teaches you to shoot and throw grenades while wall-running and sliding.

Image credit: Respawn Entertainment

Before long you’ll also gain access to a Titan, a hulking mech/robot with its own growing selection of abilities. Shields which allow you to throw bullets back at you enemies, flamethrowers, swords, there’s a loadout for every situation. Jumping into the fray in Titanfall 2 is exciting every time, and once you score three headshots while wall-running you won’t want to go back to earth-bound shooters.

Titanfall 2

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MORDHAU

Mordhau is a treat for any enthusiast of medieval armed combat. And unarmed too, if you’re determined enough.

The game features an impressive arsenal of weapons and armor you can equip to battle, limited mostly by the very sensible points system. Once you’re on the battlefield, that’s when the fun begins. There are plenty of maneuvers you can perform, including the titular Mordhau.

Image credit: Triternion

Each weapon handles differently, each armor has its benefits and drawbacks (like speed penalties), and while the fights tend to be quite hectic, there is a lot of room for technique and skill to shine. Dodging blows, parrying, even mounted combat are all in there. Techniques are more about spur of the moment decision than deploying specific combos, but that just adds to the realism.

MORDHAU

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Chivalry II

Chivalry 2 functions in a similar space as Mordhau: an online multiplayer game focus on melee PvP.

It doesn’t go too far into simulation, settling for three attack paths (two slashes and a stab) which you can chain together smoothly. On the defensive side, you can, of course, block attacks, and a well-times parry can stagger your attacker, opening them up for a counterstrike.

Image credit: Torn Banner Studios

A neat thing is that if you happen to sever an enemy’s limb you can pick it up and clobber the next opponent with it. On top of individual combat, you can also get behind a ballista, or join other players in a siege. Battles can get quite large, with up 64 players supported. You’ll always have plenty of opponents but be careful where you swing your weapons: friendly fire is a thing.

Chivalry II

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Sekiro : Shadows Die Twice

After Dark Souls and Bloodborne, the famous FromSoftware studio decided to make something familiar, but a bit different.

See, in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice the default way to win a fight isn’t to whittle the healthbar down to zero. Instead, if you can throw the enemy off-balance they’ll be open for a lethal blow, ending most fights immediately. The thing is…you need good timing for that.

Image credit: FromSoftware

To do that, you need to fill the opponent’s Posture bar, but perfect parries or special dodges will help you along. Timing is absolutely crucial in Sekiro, but, thankfully, you also have a number of ninja gadgets which can help you tremendously. Sekiro’s combat is fast, precise, leaves little room for blunders, but when you perfectly parry a boss’ barrage of blows, it feels amazing.

Sekiro : Shadows Die Twice

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Nioh

Created by the developers of the Ninja Gaiden series, Nioh can draw on years of experience to deliver an excellent and varied action game.

Where Sekiro focused on a single weapon, the katana, Nioh takes a broader approach, and lets players pick and choose from a broad arsenal of weapons, all of which have their own progression independent from your character’s William Adams.

Image credit: Team NINJA

In addition to the multitude of weapons, you also need to consider the three stances you can assume in combat, the aggressive high stance, balanced medium stance, and defensive low stance. Add to THAT Ki management techniques and you get an action game with a combat system with plenty of depth and breadth. Choose your weapon, master your skills, and complete William’s vendetta.

You can read our comparison between Sekiro and Nioh

Nioh

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Hollow Knight

A combat system doesn’t need to be incredibly complex or realistic to be awesome. Hollow Knight is a great example of that.

Its combat system is fast, responsive, and features special “Nail Art” abilities to use in conjunction with the basic dashes, strikes, and jumps. And you will need to get the hang of them all, because the boss fights don’t mess around and require focus and concentration.

Image credit: Team Cherry

Oh, in addition to Nail Arts you ALSO get spells which cost Soul but their effects are worth the price. Once you get all the abilities, the boss fights turn into a flurry of well-timed dashes, exploding spells, and quick strikes. Hollow Knight is rightfully held as one of the best Metroidvanias currently on the market, and one of the best-animated 2D games you can play right now.

Hollow Knight

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Hollow Knight Silksong

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Bulletstorm

Bulletstorm wants nothing more than to give you the tools and motivation to be as creative with its guns as you could possibly be.

It accomplished that through Skillshot system, which awards you points for…almost everything that isn’t just boring shooting. It ranges from targeting specific body parts to using alternate fire modes to accomplish some highly specific things.

Image credit: People Can Fly

And you can combo all of that! Sending your enemy into the air, setting them on fire, leashing them back down you just so you can kick them into a cactus is a thing you can do, and the game wants you to be even MORE elaborate. All for the sweet, sweet points you can then use for (special) ammo and upgrades. Furthermore, the Skillshots also have delightfully silly names, which is a big plus.

Bulletstorm

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Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition

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Monster Hunter: World (Iceborne)

Monster Hunter: World already has a great, deep combat system, featuring 14 weapons with unique moves and qualities.

Even weapons which might seem similar, like greatsword and longsword function in fundamentally different ways, and that’s not even getting to odd weapons such as a charge blade or the hunting horn. And then the Iceborne expansion came and added a new bunch of new stuff.

In addition to a whole new world to monsterhunt in, Iceborne introduced the clutch claw. With this buffed up grappling hook you can dish out some damage or steer a monster towards a wall. There are also new weapon-specific moves worth adding to the usual move flow, not only because they are very useful, but also because they look pretty damn cool, which is nothing to sneeze at.

Monster Hunter World

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Monster Hunter World: Iceborne

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Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, produced by the creators of hits like NieR: Automata and Bayonetta.

Platinum Games, is a pretty interesting game, really. With the cyberninja Raiden as its protagonist, it has a perfectly functional core combat system, but what gets it the spot on this list is the Blade Mode, AKA “Cut Everything” AKA “Oh dear lord, so detailed”.

Image credit: PlatinumGames

If something has a discrete model, then there is 95% chance you’ll be able to cut it to tiny pieces. If you’re determined enough, you can cut a watermelon down to party-appropriate pieces. The game launched in 2013 (where did the time go?) and yet nobody seems eager to do something similar. We do have dismemberment in many games, of course, but nothing near the freeform of Revengeance.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

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Dark Messiah of Might & Magic

Dark Messiah is a spin-off from the Might and Magic series, a first-person perspective shooter/slasher with deliciously meaty combat and its systems were full of kinetic joy.

If you pick melee combat as your focus, you’ll find yourself hacking orcs to pieces with swords, whacking them around with staves, and every hit and every parry feels like it has proper weight behind it.

Image credit: Arkane Studios

If that’s not enough to provide a nice immersion, you quickly discover the joys of ragdolling enemies with well-aimed kicks, swinging chandeliers, or falling barrels. If you’re tactical enough, you’ll impale your foes on spikes abundant in the game’s environments. Magic works like wonder, too, with a level of interactivity unseen until Divinity: Original Sin (and its successors) decided to make it one of its core features.

Dark Messiah of Might & Magic

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Mount & Blade: Warband

Mount & Blade: Warband is a very good for for this list mostly because of its massive variety of melee weapons.

Each of them has its own stats you need to consider: things like speed rating or separate damage values for each attack type. Some weapons even have different modes (e.g. you can use a bastard sword one-handed or two-handed), or special properties, like punching through parries.

You control the type of attack with mouse movement and parrying is managed in the same way. Momentum has importance too, especially if you grab a lance and choose to kill someone from horseback. The game isn’t pretty, true, but the combat and battles are a ton of fun, and every weapon feels unique.

UPDATE: The sequel, Bannerlord, launched in 2020, improved on virtually everything.

Mount & Blade: Warband

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Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord

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Star Wars: Jedi Knight games

Yeah, we had the Force Unleashed series, which made lightsaber combat look cool, but it never managed to make lightsaber feel cool.

This is where the Jedi Knight games come in. First with Jedi Outcast II, specifically, and then in Jedi Academy, which added a few very welcome features and extra variety to the gameplay.

Image credit: Raven Software

Running around slashing foes, directing attacks with subtle movements of your mouse buttons and pre-determined maneuvers was a blast, especially with Raven Software’s dismemberment engine. Jedi Academy added dual lightsabers, and Darth Maul-like staves, each with unique movesets, of course. Buff it all up with acrobatics, and The Force Unleashed can hide.

Star Wars Jedi Knight Collection

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Guilty Gear (the whole deal)

Keeping up the theme of abnormally fast games with absurd skill ceiling, let’s talk Guilty Gear.

The decades-old franchise is in some ways a fighting game version of Devil May Cry. Although it has entered the 3D world with the release of Xrd, it lost none of the speed and crispness of the previous, sprite-based incarnations.

Image credit: Arc System Works

There’s all the complexity expected from fighting games, with cancels, five types of attacks, specials, and more. GG’s systems are complex and require split-second reaction speed, which make it less friendly to newcomers, but very satisfying once you get the hang of them. Oh, and the soundtracks are some prime-quality hard rock, as befits the franchise so heavily inspired by rock history.

GUILTY GEAR -STRIVE-

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For Honor

At its core, For Honor’s system unitially seems to boil down to picking one of three directions: top, left, or right. If your enemy matches the direction of their guard to your attack, it’s blocked.

Then you add fast and heavy attacks, specific moves of the various and numerous classes…

Image credit: Ubisoft Montreal

Before long you figure out that what looks like a fairly simple rock-paper-scissors type of deal gets enough modifiers and complexities to turn it into a competent, deep 3D fighting game. There are several modes to check out, plenty of classes from several factions, and a lot of customization options to unlock, because looking good on a field of battle is important.

For Honor | Starter Edition

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Tekken (currently up to 8)

Tekken 8 being playable on PC is a cause for celebration already. It also happens to be a pretty darned nifty fighting game, perfecting the more than 20 years old system, and pushing it to the logical conclusion.

This is what a long time of “testing” in Japanese arcades does to games, it seems. Tekken at its core is focused on controlling individual limbs, chaining attacks, and looking great.

Image credit: Bandai Namco Studios

It’s probably among the smoothest fighting games out there, system and animation-wise. The hitboxes are also very detailed, which can lead to some amazing replays. Tekken might not be the most complex of them all, but polish and cutting away things which do not work is also an important part of development. And Tekken is great at this.

TEKKEN 7

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TEKKEN 8

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Soulsborne games

The presence of this series is probably no surprise to anyone here. Soulsbornes have become something of a measuring stick for many people.

The games have a certainly demanding combat system, which is typically reasonably fair, but also knows no mercy. The key to victory lies in managing your stamina, which is drained by…everything, and in learning your enemies’ attack patterns.

Image credit: FromSoftware

Working out the proper timing to attack, block, dodge will hopefully keep you beyond the striking range of your opponents. It’s a series of games with a very deliberate tempo, nothing like DMC’s mad speed. The always present threat of violent death, and combat system unlike many we’ve seen before all put From Software’s games as the shining example of how to do challenging combat in games, for better or worse.

Dark Souls: Remastered

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Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin

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Dark Souls III

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