Games with really good, truly satisfying melee combat?

[COMaestro]

Oni - that little gem that often doesn't get enough attention. I loved the combat style there - it is the closest you'd get to playing a third person single player fighting game. You can punch and kick your enemies and perform grabs and other combos on them, which is quite cool by itself, but a lot of combos end up throwing enemies around, so you can use that for crowd control. Other times, the combos will give you greater mobility, which would allow for tactical positioning in a fight and/or setting up for a different move.

In addition, I love the art style and the main character.

I never managed to finish Oni, though I agree, it's combat style was excellent. It felt a tad clunky though, and I ended up getting myself stuck somewhere near the end of the game and unable to progress. I think part of that was just difficulty in performing some of the combos which would help. Still, overall a game with an excellent melee combat system.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

Warhammer: The End Times - Vermintide is definately up there.

And Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, Kicking has never felt so satisfying.

And Monster Hunter and Dragon's Dogma are up there.

 

[Major_Tom]

Oh god, Sleeping Dogs hand-to-hand combat is soooo satisfying.

Too bad the shooting is kinda meh. Actually, it probably didn't need to have guns at all.

 

[Natemans]

Best one off the top of my head is the Arkham games

 

[maninahat]

The weird as fuck Zeno Clash games are amazingly satisfying first-person brawlers. I should really play 2 one of these days, I even got it installed.

I second Zenoclash (and its sequel). There's nothing quite like smashing some bird ************ in the face in that game.

 

[American Fox]

 

[Casual Shinji]

Some people say that The Witcher 3 combat is too simplistic, but I freakin' love it and I can't get enough. I don't know what it is about it that clicks so well with me, but I've been playing that game for two years now.

While I don't think the regular combat is much to get excited about, I quite love the combat on horseback. It's very satisfying charging enemies down on horseback and getting that slow-mo to chop them in half. And it's a strategy that works on nearly every enemy regardless of size. In fact, battling a giant enemy with my trusty steed fills me with a greater sense of badassness than anything else in the game.

 

[DocJ]

Metal Gear Rising was pretty sick enjoyed that. But The one that immediately came to mind was Warhammer 40K Space Marine. Sure you play as the Ultrasmurfs but HOLY HELL is the melee combat meaty and full of chainsword. The executions and combos got a little repetitive towards the end and I would have liked to see way more, but the different weapons added some more executions which helped a bit. Still, cutting your two-hundredth ork in half above your head does get old after a while. Relic absolutely knocked this one out of the park in my opinion. Everything from the enormous levels, right down to the sounds of the bolters was spot on in my personal opinion.

 

[Nismu]

Dragon ball xenoverse games, dynasty warriors (and other warriors games) , hollow knight, darksiders at least..
then there are the good old beat em ups like streets of fury, double dragon aso.

 

[Mario_Luigi]

What about Sleeping Dogs? Many people don't notice that the melee combat is really that fun with many kinds of techniques and finishing moves.

 

[JohnnyDelRay]

The weird as fuck Zeno Clash games are amazingly satisfying first-person brawlers. I should really play 2 one of these days, I even got it installed.

My favorite melee combat was in the first-person Condemned games. Much like Dark Souls, you couldn?t button mash; you have to time your attacks with your blocks and the degrading weapon mechanic ensures you get to appreciate the nigh endless variety of weapon options. Really meaty, impactful and visceral; you can feel the thuds from each blow you land and receive, and bonus, the sound design is incredible; the *tink* of a lead pipe upside a head or the *thonk* of a spiked 2x4 to a rib cage, etc.. There are guns, but I actually prefer the melee; guns feel like a cop out.

Zeno Clash and Condemned were the first things that come to mind when I was thinking of FPS melee. They are damn satisfying, and both pretty manic in the sense that you really feel each fight is a fight for your life. Enemies are so psycho and fucked up, you would be afraid of what they would do to you if they succeeded in beating you down. The enemy and stage designs, especially all the shouting and cursing and wrecking or throwing shit before the fights happen help to psyche you up even more.

I'll also +1 for Dying Light and Dead Island. I loved the shoulder charge upgrade (great for following up with head stomp), and the aikido takedowns, especially when they come straight at you and you grab them while spinning to throw them into a spike trap. Even more hilarious is when they don't quite fall down but stumble on for a bit, and smack their head into a wall or get impaled.

The two-handed weapons are great in Dead Island, when you finish off a zombie with a massive swing they tend to go flying, even better when they crash into a van or something, their heads making a nice metallic thunk into the side of it, leaving a nice blood splatter.

 

[immortalfrieza]

Well, the Kingdom Hearts series is mostly Melee combat, if that's what you mean. I played that series first, then Dark Souls, and I was actually pretty amazed how similar the combat systems were. Though Kingdom Hearts is significantly less punishing about mistakes than Dark Souls most battles especially bosses still emphasize dodging and blocking attacks while looking for an opening over simply blindly attacking, and I like the story well enough.

If you're looking for something with more involved melee combat than most, the Mount and Blade series is great for it. Both blocking and attacking are controlled by the directions the player pushes into, though blocking can be automated, and timing your strikes to break through an opponent's defenses is key to engaging anything in melee combat. It's a open world medieval war game with conversion mods that mimic other settings, I have both a Star Wars and Lord of the Rings one.

 

[FalloutJack]

Hard for me to think to think of something I've played that focused on melee, but Legacy of Kain: Defience certainly fits.

 

[chrissx2]

Dark messiah, Star Was : Jedi Outast II, Diablo 2/3

 

[Squilookle]

Mount and Blade Warband. That game utterly killed sword combat in every other game for me.

Attacks are directional.

To block, you have to match the direction of the attack.

It is hard to master but killing someone in this game is as satisfying as a kill in Verdun.

An example picked completely at random:

 

[pookie101]

i know its heresy to say, but i dont care.. hitting someone with a war hammer in skyrim felt really, really good

 

[KissingSunlight]

I can't believe nobody said God of War yet. I am playing Dante's Inferno. That game puts a big smile on my face. It have exactly the same melee style as God of War.

 

[sXeth]

How is dying light btw? It's on special on PSN and i am considering maybe purchasing it.

I had a good time with it, but I haven't touched it since it was released over a year ago so I may be fuzzy on some details. Looking at this sale though, I wouldn't regret buying it for $20. I don't remember the story being all that special, but exploring and kicking zombie heads in was fun enough to get me to the end of the game.

I actually want to play the game again now, and seeing everything for 20 bucks is just too enticing not to grab.[/quote]

Dying Light kind of breaks itself around the end. The last perks just break melee into god mode. The missions shift much more heavily to humans and shooting. Then the Following just kind of deals in grind and damage sponges (and adds cars, with the map being way more open as a result and killing off the parkour elements)

 

[Ugicywapih]

How about Mount&Blade (or Warband)? It's not exactly pretty (you'd have to wait for Bannerlord for that) and melee tends to be less mobile and flashy than in most titles mentioned so far, but footwork is still hella important as is timing (turn off automatic direction on blocks for an added challenge) and the game has strong focus on melee. Also, Warband has multiplayer mode, I've never really been into PvP but I hear it's pretty good.

 

[bobdark]

I recall Warhammer 40K Space Marine being damn satisfying, especially jet-pack+Thunder-Hammer stages, dropkicking everything to death.

This is always my goto whenever i want some good close combat