Poll: Glorious bloody battle (recommend me a game)

[SoreWristed]

Deep down inside, every man knows that true combat is fought with sword, lance and axe. To feel the warmth of your enemies blood on your face as your warhammer crushes his skull, that is the warriors joy. No arrows but those sticking out of your shield and armor. No catapults or siege weapons, but for them to be used to nail your foes' corpses against.

Sowing death, and reaping Glory!

Raw, Bloody, Visceral, (preferably first or third person) combat!

I'm looking for games that will let me live out every man's fantasy of charging head long into battle. As little fuss as possible with managing pary members and silly nilly tactics. Just me and my double headed war axe, head first into combat.

A game like skyrim or oblivion. Where I can just safely ignore all the things that aren't pointy things made for killing without it being detrimental to the gameplay. Also, rather no games were my axe swings have no visible impact. I hate it when Kratos, with all his strength, needs fourteen bazillion swings of his tiny tiny swords to take down one of the most common enemies in the game.
No Dark Souls either, i really don't like any of those games.

Ryse : Son of rome is on my watchlist, but the tactical bits already fill me with dread.

So, if you understand what i'm asking for, what game would you recommend me?

 

[Evonisia]

Ryse: Son of Rome does provide well on the spectacle, the issue is just that the combat is so repetetive that the impact is lost very quickly. The tactical aspect really doesn't have much presence in the game. I would say get Ryse for it until you're bored because damn it does look pretty (visceral).

Playing as a Demoknight in TF2 > Oblivion and Skyrim for the gore and splashing business.

 

[BraveSirRobin]

I'd recommend Bayonetta if you can get it. Pretty badass game where you massacre all manner of angels using demons summoned from your hair. Bonus points for getting to use bazookas on your feet. Otherwise Dynasty Warriors is pretty much all charging and massacre with little hassle.

For a more nontraditional game take a look at One Finger Death Punch. While not exactly what you described, it is you against 1000's of enemies in a ninja fight to the death. It's also only 5 bucks.

 

[Lufia Erim]

Diablo 3. Nothing is as satisfying as mauling things with a barbarian and rippin them to shreds. Plus loot.

 

[Benpasko]

Well, I would recommend Severance: Blade of Darkness, but it's not currently available for purchase anywhere that I know of. It's definitely out there on the internet, though.

It's a really focused game that's all about Conan-style adventuring and combat. You can hack off limbs and pick them up and use them as weapons! The only break from the combat is for jump-n-run style puzzles and secret finding. The game just has the perfect amount of shortcuts and hidden secrets.

There's no character customization or upgrading aside from just a basic level up system that unlocks new special moves for weapons and some bonus health, and any gear you find. The only menu you need to touch is the save/load interface.

There's no real stealth option, and no magic for you at all (outside of 4 elemental swords), you're just a tough warrior. It definitely fills your desire for good feedback too, fights can be very short and brutal. Once you know what you're doing, most enemies will end up limbless after one good combo.

https://youtu.be/DdLX6Ibdnyc [/youtube]

There are four different characters, all specialized in various weapon styles, and it definitely warrants multiple playthroughs.

Edit: So many people recommending Mount & Blade, lol. The OP said that the tactical bits of Ryse are more than he wants, and people are recommending a Paradox game. It's a great game, for sure, but it's a lot of army management and strategy to get to the fights.

 

[Blitsie]

There's Mount and Blade: Warband, you start off as an unknown peasant who can barely scrounge ten pitchfork-wielding men to fight with and initially fend off small handfuls of bandits. But later on as you work your way towards becoming the King of the country, you grow so powerful you end up leading a 200 man army into battles against other armies of similar size. Best part is you can either command from the sidelines or rush headfirst into battle with your men, and although the combat isn't visceral, its pretty damn satisfying as you get covered in blood during battle and where you hit an enemy a mark is left (with shots to the head being fatal and all that).

And that's not even the end, once you become King you can then start taking over the whole game world, choosing to do so by looting, murdering and pillaging everything in your wake.

But ultimately, for what you want, the game delivers in droves, since the combat is both very satisfying and that rush of running headfirst into a giant mass of people and slashing away is definitely present and never gets old.

 

[Frankster]

Dynasty Warriors or any game like it is what came to mind as I read OP.
When it comes to mass battle simulators, that's the go to series regardless of it's faults.

I'd second the Mount and Blade Warband recommendation though I'd say to try some mods and don't bother with vanilla. There's some army/party management in sense you gotta worry about funds with which to pay your soldiers but just do what I do and cheat engine yourself some money if you find selling off accumulated loot boring.
I'd recommend to start with "Blood and Steel" mod for your particular tastes ,it's basically vanilla with additions and improvements such as allowing larger battles without it killing the game engine who otherwise can't handle such big battles no matter your computer. Heck the 200 vs 200 example given by previous poster is actually a red herring, you won't see 400 people in the battlefield (think the vanilla limit is like 150 total participants at any one time? So more like 75vs75 ), whereas in this mod due to some code tinkering you will be able to have much bigger battles, in mine I can have up to 950 fighters at once which makes for a proper battle.

Otherwise my dark horse suggestion is Warhammer 40 000 "Space Marine".
It actually has all of what you're looking for, you play a gigantic superhuman in power armor going around and smashing xenos to pieces in glorious melee and that's pretty much it really.

 

[The Madman]

Mount & Blade: Warband is the game you want. It might not be the most pretty game out there, but there's no other game on the market that can deliver the thrill of charging headlong into an infantry formation quite like it.

Similarly the gameplay might not look fantastic but I and many others can attest it feels fantastic, which is way more important. The momentum you get swinging a blade from horseback, or of lancing a charging foe, that perfect hit with a bow or crossbow. Feels amazing!


There's also roughly a billion mods out there so if you ever get tired of the main campaign you can always take a detour into countless others.

Spoiler: Another fan trailer, this time showing off some of the graphics improving mods

 

[josemlopes]

Maybe Ninja Gaiden or Vikings: Battle for Asgard, latte in the game you have some big ass battles

Then there is also Dynasty Warriors

 

[Sleix]

Well, I would recommend Severance: Blade of Darkness, but it's not currently available for purchase anywhere that I know of. It's definitely out there on the internet, though.

I bought it through GoG a while ago, probably still there.

 

[Benpasko]

Well, I would recommend Severance: Blade of Darkness, but it's not currently available for purchase anywhere that I know of. It's definitely out there on the internet, though.

I bought it through GoG a while ago, probably still there.

It's actually not, it got taken off the store a while back. If you already own it you still have it, but it can't be purchased. Something about the rights not getting renewed or something. It's a real shame.

 

[Elfgore]

I'll just be backing up two previous mentions.

Viking: Battle for Asgard is just awesome. Brutal executions and massive battles. The most thing that involves tactics is directing which target for your dragons to bombard over going in sword swinging.

Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors are also great. Each swing of your blade will send dozens of men flying back. It's like power fantasy the game.

 

[SoreWristed]

Viking: Battle for Asgard is just awesome. Brutal executions and massive battles. The most thing that involves tactics is directing which target for your dragons to bombard over going in sword swinging.

well thanks for the suggestion, but i have bought Viking : Battle for Asgard ages ago, on release even. And sadly enough mine is one of the few versions that came out with the gamebreaking bugs that do not allow players to finish the third mission in the game.

60 euro down the drain, gameshop would not refund since the game boots up perfectly and that constitutes a working game according to store policy.

Still kindof traumatised by that.

 

[Ihateregistering1]

The new Shadow Warrior is pretty good at this as well. You can focus really heavily on your sword instead of guns if you choose to (and even if you don't you'll still have to use your sword quite often). Enemies get sliced apart in pieces when you do hit them with the sword, and you're always outnumbered and there's limbs everywhere.

And yes, Ninja Gaiden also. 2 is still my favorite, it's just nuts to battle a whole group of Ninja, and then at the end to stand triumphant, surrounded by limbs and beheaded bodies and blood everywhere. Great fun.

 

[Mutant1988]

If you don't mind the super powered main character, Prototype 1 and 2 are a treat for gory visceral combat.

 

[Fieldy409_v1legacy]

Mount and Blade definitely sounds like what you want.

 

[Squilookle]

Seriously man- Mount and Blade: Warband. It is all you need. I'm usually a FPS, WW2 game kind of guy, but the gameplay in M&B is so bloodthirsty and satisfying, it will fill your cup of bloodlust and death by blade and axe more than anything else out there. More than Chivalry. More than Skyrim. First person, Third person... it's up to you. It's not unusual for players to end up sinking hundreds of hours into the game because it's just. That. Good.

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