There is an undeniable visceral satisfaction from taking on great hordes or larger-than-life enemies by simply hitting them with some form of a stick or another. Many fights can be overcome by simply shooting an opponent on the spot, little challenge is presented past the idea of putting the crosshairs on the enemy and pulling the trigger.
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Withmelee combat, the player is presented with a situation where they put themselves at greater risk but gain the increased satisfaction of overcoming the odds. The games that excel at this differ in the technical skill required as well as how many times the player can spam some of their abilities. They range from subtle and tense to bombastic and over-the-top, but both approaches are equally entertaining. What are thebest melee combat games?
Updated July 09, 2025 by Mark Sammut:Melee combat can be so exhilarating when executed well. Whether someone prefers to fight with a sword, hammer, or their bare hands, they should be able to find a few games that suit their preferences.
Tales Of Arise
The latest addition to Bandai Namco’s JRPG franchise,Tales of Arisebuilds upon the stellar foundations of previous entries such asTales of Vesperiaand especiallyTales of Graces f, the latter of which also has a fantasticmelee battle system.Tales of Arisepresents six finely tuned characters who each play differently, with Alphen and Law being especially great picks for melee combat lovers.
Boasting a robust progression system that permits players to mold their fighters through theirpicks of passive skillsand Artes,Tales of Arise’s combat is highly satisfying.
Bayonetta 2
Nearly everything made by PlatinumGames features fun melee combat in some form or another, but the developer attained perfection withBayonetta 2. Taking plenty of pages fromDevil May Cry’s playbook,Bayonetta 2’s combat hinges on the Witch Time mechanic that rewards precise last-second dodges.
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While this mechanic is a godsend in the early stages of the game, Witch Time is far from the only tool at Bayonetta’s disposal. Torture Attacks, multiple impactful melee and long-range weapons, and Umbran Climax are weaved together to craft a complex combat system that requires dozens of hours to master.
PlatinumGames’Bayonetta,Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, andAstral Chainare also great options.
Dragon’s Dogma
Considering Capcom is responsible forDevil May Cry, it should come as no surprise thatDragon’s Dogmahas pretty great combat. The action RPG garnered a positive but unspectacular reception upon release, but one area that attracted near-universal praise was its battle system. If players opt for a melee build,they can look forward to intense and punishing battles akin to something likeDark Souls.
Dragon’s Dogmashakes things up with a grab system that permits players to scale enemies akin to something likeShadow of the Colossus, an act that is consistently fun and exciting. TheDark ArisenDLC greatly ramps up the game’s difficulty, allowing the melee combat to shine even brighter.
Kingdoms Of Amalur: Re-Reckoning
In 2012,Kingdoms of Amalur’s battle system eviscerated most of its RPG contemporaries. The game delivered fast-paced action that placed heavy emphasis on skill and reflexes, along with a solid arsenal of weapons and abilities that allow players to influence their character’s combat style.
Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoningdoesn’t change much about the original game, outside of a facelift. While themelee combatno longer feels groundbreaking, it is still a ton of fun and comfortably the best part of this game.
God Hand
Clover Studio’s final game,God Handhas unimpressive visuals, a silly storyline, and hard-as-nails beat-‘em-up combat. A complete departure from the studio’s previous releases,God Handcomes with a steep learning curve, and its combat system’s brilliance takes a few hours to become fully apparent. Gene, the protagonist, starts with a relatively basic moveset, but he (and the player) can unlock over a hundred attacks and abilities that can be assigned to buttons to string together combos.
God Handprioritizes skill above everything. Rather than a level-up system, the game rewards good performance with in-the-moment access to stronger abilities, which is lost if the battle turns against Gene. It might take a while, but once someone grows comfortable with the game’s rhythm and finds combos that work for them,God Hand’s combat really begins to sing.
Warhammer: Vermintide 2
It doesn’t matter if someone is even remotely familiar with theWarhammeruniverse, if theylove melee combatthen they should giveWarhammer: Vermintide 2a chance. Along with decent ranged combat,Vermintide 2is predominantly about its melee battles as a group of characters slash their way through hordes of enemies.
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The system doesn’t offer too many surprises, but it all blends together to create an exciting and rewarding experience.Vermintide 2emphasizes timing, blocking, and skill, and there is also a solid selection of weapons.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance
As a game that boasts a grounded and historically accurate setting of 15th-century Bohemia, the combat inKingdom Come: Deliverancefollows a similar approach in trying to capture the allure of real-world melee fighting. Players have a variety of melee weapons that they can utilize and master from swords and maces to axes and polearms.
Each of these weapon types has its own strengths and weaknesses, especially when it comes to enemy armor types. What makesKingdom Come: Deliveranceunique is its focus on having the player actually practice their chosen weapon if they wish to use it skillfully as well as its 5-axis combat approach with surprising depth. Mastery is a must, especially for tricky quests likeNest of Vipers.
Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
It is impossible to mention melee combat in games and not mention at least one game with a lightsaber in it. For many, that game isJedi Knight: Jedi Academy. What this game captures that few other Star Wars games have is the fluidity and speed of a lightsaber fight on par with the movies.
While the rumoredJedi: Fallen Order 2will no doubt please many people, inJedi Academy’ssystem, combatants will be jumping around the room, using the environment to their advantage, clashing blades, and using the force to try and gain the upper hand. If that isn’t enough, a thriving modding community is there to kick it up a notch.
Condemned: Criminal Origins
If there was ever a genre that gets an instant upgrade from melee combat, it would have to be horror. It forces the player to not only confront the terrifying threats ahead of them but to have them do so in intimate, drawn-out clashes. InCondemned: Criminal Origins, players will scavenge whatever object they can get a hold of to beat back the criminally insane in abandoned complexes.
Weapons break easily and guns are rare, but the player does have their two greatest tools already on hand, a taser and their foot. These are essential to opening up enemies to damage so the player can go in for the kill.
Sifu
An indie project, Sloclap’sSifupresents a convincing argument for containing the best martial arts-inspired combat in gaming history. That’s not to say it is the greatest martial arts game of all time, only that its combat flows with such precision and smoothness that few other titles come close to matching it.
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Sifuis a very difficult game that requires players to repeat the same stages multiple times as they master all of their challenges. Every time the player dies, their character ages a few years; die enough times, and it is a game over.
