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.
RELATED: Popular Fighting Game Characters You Didn’t Know Were Actually Low-Tier
With melee combat, the player is presented with a situation where they put themself 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 in the subtle and tense to the bombastic and over the top but both approaches are equally entertaining. They may even be found on Xbox Game Pass for free for a limited time.
10 Kingdom Come: Deliverance
As a game that boasts a grounded and historically accurate setting of 15th century Bohemia, the combat follows 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 makes Kingdom Come: Deliverance unique 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 like Nest of Vipers.
9 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 is Jedi 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 rumored Jedi: Fallen Order 2 will no doubt please many people, in Jedi Academy's system, 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.
8 Condemned
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. 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.
7 Bloodborne
There are many, many games that utilize the Dark Souls combat system in one way or another. However, it can be argued that no other game has done it better than Bloodborne. The enemies are more intimidating, the weapons are more satisfying, and the victories are sweeter.
RELATED: Greedfall: Best Melee Weapons, Ranked
The key to victory is surviving long enough to attack the enemies during the occasional vulnerable moment and identifying their patterns to act accordingly. It is tricky, brutal, and requires a whole lot of dodge rolling, but in the end, there is no greater satisfaction.
6 Chivalry 2
Chivalry 2 is the closest a game can get to being a melee-focused Call Of Duty. With a variety of classes and weapons, the game accommodates a great many playstyles, especially for those focused on melee combat. The game has a multiplayer focus so matches tend to be chaotic. Swords are swinging, pole-bearers are charging, and there is almost certainly a guy cutting down swaths of men with nothing more than a shovel. Players will block, dodge, and parry their foes or die trying. Thankfully, having good positioning and great reaction time can be a valuable asset.
5 Devil May Cry 5
If this is any indicator as to what exactly this game is all about, it is the fact that the more efficient and stylishly the player dispatches their enemies, the more amped up the music gets. Like the best of the hack-and-slash genre this generation, the game will have the player swinging madly at their opponents trying to build up their combo while avoiding damage. Different tools at the player's disposal ensure that anyone who plays the game can create their own playstyle. Not to mention the inclusion of different characters each with their own unique set of tools.
4 Yakuza Franchise
If the player ever wondered what would happen if one of the old arcade-style, side-scrolling street brawlers was placed into a 3-D setting with a "somewhat" grounded tone, then this game is for them. This game has it all: combos, upgrades, fighting styles, hitting people with random objects. The combat in this game is brutal and generally nuts. Everything becomes a weapon, no matter how implausible or seemingly harmless. There are very few noticeable changes throughout the history of the game, so it's as simple as picking and choosing.
3 Absolver
A forgotten indie gem, but a unique one nonetheless. Absolver prides itself on its build your own fighting style system. The player will unlock different martial arts that can be further tweaked at the player's discrepancy.
RELATED: Genshin Impact: Melee Trial Guide (Misty Dungeon)
This game has one of the most interesting melee combat systems the industry has ever seen, though that looks to soon be expanded upon with the developer's next game Sifu. Think, the directional system of For Honor but in a hand-to-hand fight. Throw in parrys, combos, dodges, switch-ups, all the fighting game staples, and what is there is truly one of a kind.
2 Dark Messiah Of Might And Magic
Anyone who has ever played this game shudders at the mention of one singular word that upon utterance will immediately bring back memories of knocking over opponents in increasingly hilarious ways. That word is boot. As a sort of proto-Dishonored, this game has many of the hallmarks that makes Dishonored's melee combat as good as it is, but what takes this game up to the next level is the sheer amount of stupidity that the player is expected to utilize in order to vanquish their opponents. This most prominently includes kicking people into things, or over cliffs, and throwing every object in the general area at the enemy.
1 Middle Earth: Shadow Of War
It is tough to make a comparison between the Batman: Arkham series and Shadow of War. At first glance, their combat systems seem remarkably similar, but while the Arkham games have no doubt been more influential, Shadow of War is thus far the best game to utilize this particular style of combat. The game simply has a greater variety in what the player can do, especially with the addition of upgrades that can radically change a person's approach to combat depending on what they set. Not to mention the endless pool of unique orcs that make every encounter distinct.