Which game has the best first person melee combat (against AI)? (Poll and discussion)

[ZedClampet]

I only included games that I played, but I'm fairly confident that the best is somewhere in this list. If you have other suggestions, let me know.

For me, it really is one of the first three that I listed. Vermintide 2 has a feel to the combat that I had never experienced before. The keys were to stagger, dodge, shove or just slaughter your opponents. On Legendary difficulty, you really couldn't take damage, so when you had 20 skaven running at you and a Spawn of Chaos (boss) just arrived...you were going to have to be near perfect.

Condemned and Dying Light were much slower. In Dying Light I'm only really talking about when you fought other humans, not the zombies. There was one time I was in a building in Dying Light and this guy showed up, and neither of us had a gun. I must have fought this one guy for at least five minutes. We kept blocking, dodging, etc. I was just extremely impressed with his AI.

I had some of my most memorable fights in Condemned. You basically used any piece of junk you could find for a weapon. Every weapon felt different, swung differently, and the AI could be brutally good. It's been a long time since I played it, but I don't remember there being any inconsequential fights.

So those are my primary thoughts on the topic. What game do you think had the best first person melee? Is it something not in my list? What makes the melee so good?

 

[Frag Maniac]

Well, not to be pedantic, as I know what you mean by only talking about ones you've played, but after playing it I would definitely include Halo Infinite on that list, mostly due to how you can use the new Grappleshot to melee with. Many games have some sort of grapple device, but I don't recall playing any where you can upgrade the grapple to both shock stun an opponent, and deliver a powerful shock punch once fully upgraded as well.

I just got God of War as well, and although it's 3rd person and I've not played it yet, from what I've seen of the gameplay, I just might end up including it as one of the best melee games as well. The GoW series also DID start out as 1st person, although I'm not sure that counts.

Of those on your list though, I can't really participate in the vote, as I've only played Dying Light, so I have no idea how the others compare.

 

[ZedClampet]

God of War doesn't count. I would add Halo Infinite to the poll, but I don't have those forum privileges.

I'll play Halo Infinite eventually. Was waiting for the co-op campaign so I could play it with my son. I never really think about Halo when I think of melee. Maybe I've been playing them wrong all along. That wouldn't be surprising at all.

 

[Brian Boru]

I would add Halo Infinite to the poll, but I don't have those forum privileges

Added

I've only played FCP on your list, so no vote or useful comment.

Useless comment however… I'm your man! For example: I don't enjoy melee, so don't play games which need it—made an exception for FCP because the world was so beautiful and the rest of the gameplay was interesting and fun.

 

[ZedClampet]

Useless comment however… I'm your man! For example: I don't enjoy melee, so don't play games which need it—made an exception for FCP because the world was so beautiful and the rest of the gameplay was interesting and fun.

Either that or you used a bow.

 

[Zloth]

FIRST person? That narrows it down a ton. I never played any on the list, but how about Zeno Clash?

View: https://youtu.be/BViNP9qpCB4


The combat seems more brutal because most of it is just fists and punching faces.

 

[Brian Boru]

or you used a bow

Oh you bet, every chance I got! Bow no good at night though with those wolf packs coming in 2-3 waves—at times I had a dozen dead wolves around my feet. Used the spear throw too for shorter range, that's a powerful weapon.

 

[Pifanjr]

The best first person melee combat for me is Dark Messiah of Might and Magic. The impact of your weapons is amazing and I'll never get tired of kicking enemies down stairs, into spikes or through breakable objects. I haven't played any of the games in the poll though.

 

[Frag Maniac]

God of War doesn't count. I would add Halo Infinite to the poll, but I don't have those forum privileges.

I'll play Halo Infinite eventually. Was waiting for the co-op campaign so I could play it with my son. I never really think about Halo when I think of melee. Maybe I've been playing them wrong all along. That wouldn't be surprising at all.

Yeah a lot of us are assuming they will add coop by spring, since there's been so much talk about it and the game is selling pretty well. They'd be foolish not to.

The funny thing is, I used to hate Halo, based on my first impression of the original, Combat Evolved. I discovered it was really due to just not having the best rig at the time, which caused lag in places where enemies cloaked, and not understanding how to play it. Now I have a much better rig, and the sense to immediately shock grenade stun and quickly kill cloaked enemies before they become a problem. I could still use grenades more, that has always been something plentiful in Halo. I save them for tough enemies too much.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

Do all of those have better melee combat than the Arkham games?

 

[Pifanjr]

Do all of those have better melee combat than the Arkham games?

Do you mean the Batman games? The question was about first person games specifically.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

Do you mean the Batman games? The question was about first person games specifically.

Yeah, I meant the Batman games. But I didn't read carefully enough. Sorry about that.

 

[Mazer]

The best first person melee combat for me is Dark Messiah of Might and Magic. The impact of your weapons is amazing and I'll never get tired of kicking enemies down stairs, into spikes or through breakable objects. I haven't played any of the games in the poll though.

Came here to post this. Arkane later made Dishonored which had a very similar feel to its melee combat but since it wasn't a focus it didn't feel quite as developed.

Just the combat animations for the daggers alone put Dark Messiah above every other example of first person melee, and the physics modelling of the source engine was never put to better use in another game. Come at me HL2, I don't care if you've had a UI update.

 

[PCG Jody]

Came here to post this. Arkane later made Dishonored which had a very similar feel to its melee combat but since it wasn't a focus it didn't feel quite as developed.

I voted for Vermintide 2 because its combat really is *chef kiss* stuff, but I was thinking about Dark Messiah while I did it.

Dark Messiah's excellent kicking does live on in one of Arkane's later games: Deathloop.

 

[PCG Jody]

If you want to see Dark Messiah's kicking in action, by the way:

 

[Zloth]

Reminds me of that old war movie, Das Boot.