Punching above their weight
Everyone loves a good action game.
We’re not including anyFPS gamesin this list, but third-person shooters are fair game, as are actionRPGs.
We’ve also focused on action games that we’d recommend you still playtoday.
So without further ado, here are our 25 best action game picks to play right now.
In any case, it’s these moves combined that make Max Payne a great action game.
It also added a new technological marvel between the first game in 2001 and this 2003 successor: physics.
Where can I buy it:Steam,Humble
24.
The breadth of the world in Odyssey is extraordinary.
Ubisoft managed to recreate an entire country.
Where can I buy it:Steam,Humble,UPlay
23.
Even if you could speak, gorillas famously do not understand the English language.
Soldiers with different weapons give a shot to stop you, but cannot.
They have body armour, shotguns and explosives.
But you are an ape.
A lad with dynamite is basically a grenade the size of a person!
Where can I buy it:Steam,GOG,Humble,Epic,Itch
22.
What good boys, and what excellent thugs.
Yakuza 0 has something for everyone.
It’s just such a lovely place to be, too.
Binary Domain
On paper, this doesn’t sound great.
Binary Domain might be the greatest 7/10 of all time.
A 7/10 so potent, that it becomes a 9/10, purely on the sheer force of its seven-out-of-ten-ness.
And giant robot animals.
And a friendly French robot who wears a trendy scarf.
In fact, weve only avoided succumbing to the temptation now by confessing to it instead.
If you could feasibly imagine a cowboy doing it, its probably possible to do in the game.
Hes a killer, but his heart isnt entirely in it.
Its a big heart, is Arthurs.
But its got stubble all over it.
Where can I buy it:Steam,Humble,Epic
19.
Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow is not what you think it is.
And by golly what a corker it is, too.
Once again, it’s a classic clash between the Belmonts and the big king Drac.
The Combat Cross isn’t just good for skewering demons and doing your best “GET OVER HERE!”
impression from Mortal Kombat, though.
Just a shame about the sequel, eh?
Nuclear Throne
Nuclear Throne is crunchier than a box of cornflakes.
Nothing dies in its wasteland without going splat, no gun fires without a reverberating thud.
Of all the things to praise about Vlambeers roguelike, the noises come out on top.
Theres the twang of the crossbow, the thwump of the wrench.
The deep wailing of the big robotic dog, moments before it vapourises you.
Every enemy is a joy to disintegrate, providing they dont disintegrate you first.
Disaster lurks behind a moment’s hesitation, or a split-second misjudgement.
Then youre right back at the start, clawing your way towards the throne once more.
The path there is paved with ignoble deaths.
Youll blow yourself up with your own bazooka.
Youll shoot a monument, and accidentally summon the extra-dimensional police.
Youll be eaten by a maggot.
Youll keep coming back, though.
Youll keep unlocking characters, each with their own distinctive styles.
The throne will get a little closer with each attempt, and one day youll sit atop it.
Mondays, am I right?
And fly, as well.
Control has been compared to things like Twin Peaks, because of the general tone.
The Oldest House, the building the FBC is in, moves around Jesse.
New areas reveal option extras, like a kind of pan-dimensional fungus.
Where can I buy it:Epic
15.
Each of those levels is short - maybe 4 or 6 enemies, and finishable in under 30 seconds.
Throw a knife in his head and move on.
Restarts are instant and your incrementally gained mastery of each micro-level causes you to slip into a flow state.
Where can I buy it:Steam,GOG,Humble
14.
Hades
Judge a man not by his words, but by his dodge roll.
You swoosh between the tortured souls of the underworld, dashing and whacking your way to the surface.
Few attempts will feel the same.
Dionysis might make them drunk, or Zeus might help you call down lightning blasts.
Its a fractal of firepower, branching out from five different starting weapons.
you might play for dozens of hours and Hades will still feel fresh.
The gods offer patter with their abilities, commenting on your foolishness over accepting help from their peers.
The last time we played, a newly-added Hermes apologised for showing up late.
Hades is impressively cohesive, and tied to some of the best dodging money can buy.
Where can I buy it:Steam,Epic
13.
GTA V excels both in creating cinematic action set-pieces, and in wild and unpredictable physics chicanery.
On the one end of that scale, you’ve got the scripted story missions.
There’s also the bank heists, which are pure Michael Mann.
In single-player, it’s a playground in which it’s possible for you to wreak havoc.
Nier Automata
Nier: Automata is a game of many faces.
lies a pure, PlatinumGames spectacle fighter in the same vein as Vanquish and Bayonetta.
There’s simply nothing else like it.
Dash once and you’ll think: ooh.
Dash again and you realise that you need never take another ordinary step again - walking is for chumps.
You should dash, not walk, to play it.
Where can I buy it:Steam,GOG,Humble,Epic
10.
You’ll fire it back at your opponent and use it to pin them to a wall.
In whatever mode you play, TowerFall is a delight.
A lot of this is down to the game’s new perspective.
Instead of fixed cameras, the game hugs the backs of Leon and Claire like Resident Evil 7.
Only time will tell which one gives worse nightmares.
It’s all down to those beautiful bumslides, too.
to really make it sing.
Monster Hunter World
Monster Hunter: World is part action game, part dinosaur hat-making sim.
Or should that be monster pants-crafting sim, or scaley kneepad-assembler?
Devil May Cry 5
Nobody is as good at swords as Dante.
Nor are they as good at spikey gloves, boots, motorcycle maces or hats that fire XP.
Its how you use those swords that really matters, though.
The cutscenes are a chance to down popcorn between fights.
Youre given so much to think about at once.
As Dante, you flow between four different stances, chaining teleports into blocks into gun-tricks into extra-snazzy strikes.
Survival is secondary to your score, a giant blazing grade that gets bigger and fierier with every blow.
Its a bit contrived to compare combat to dancing, but Dante leaves me no choice.
He channels disco with every strike.
So do the two other characters, though theyre never quite as vibrant.
Youll enjoy yourself until the halfway mark in DMC 5, but when Dante appears youll want to sing.
Hotline Miami
You start as if it’s astealth game.
So you start slow, you hide around corners, you nip between patrol routes.
And you die and you die and you die.
Somewhere between the fifth and fifteenth death the pounding, electronic music seeps into your brain.
Then you die, shot by the next guard.
Next time, you don’t hesitate.
The music continues to beat and so do you.
Each violent act slides into the next and you’re learning the moves like the notes of a song.
You speed through levels.
Kill then dead then more then again, kill then dead then more then again.
It’s a free for all slum where violent gangs rub shoulders with political prisoners.
You find yourself criss-crossing areas and seeing buildings change as different events occur and different gangs take over.
It is, without doubt, the best game PlatinumGames have ever made.
Speaking of greater heights, it also gives you a grappling hook, and who doesnt love grappling hooks?
Sekiro is just as punishing as Dark Souls, but it wallops you in different ways.
For starters, Sekiro opts for a more offensive stance when it comes to action.
In many ways, Sekiro is the Tenchu/Dark Souls hybrid we never got.
Theres also plenty of stuff to read, potentially giving you clues to the secrets hidden within.
If you found the combat in Dark Souls too slow, this ninja power-trip might be for you.
Where can I buy it:Steam
1.
Dead Cells
Dead Cells is a masterclass of game feel.
Every button press sends swords and arrows whirling into enemy horrors and returns glorious, nerve-tingling feedback.
Dead Cells is game design maximalism, and yet consistently excellent in every element.
You’ll most likely begin your journey through the game’s dungeons by relying on swords and daggers.
Dead Cells offers perfect hack, excellent slash, and wonderful dodge-rolls.
After a few deaths however, you’ll quickly discover new options as levels are re-arranged with each life.
You’ll start collecting blueprints from defeated monsters, and banking cells to unlock weapons and abilities.
Bows and turrets, rapiers and axes, buzzsaws and stun grenades.
The variety is dizzying.
Where can I buy it:Steam,GOG,Humble,Itch
