TOP-10 Games With Deep Combat Systems Like in Kingdom Come

The Kingdom Come duology is remembered for its unusual mechanics of duels using cold weapons, in which you need to choose one of five directions for attack and defense. But this is far from the only game with a non-standard combat system. We decided to recall other projects in which the basic mechanics of sword fights required time to master.

Sifu looks like a regular third-person action game. But in essence, we have a full-fledged fighting game before us. There are strikes that are connected in bundles, and you need to strike strictly at a certain moment, as a rule, in between enemy attacks. The rest of the time, you need to avoid the enemy's attacks. For this, four different movements are used — block, evasion, parry and dodge, which can be upper and lower.

Mastering the basic mechanics is not that difficult. The difficulties begin when you have to fight a group of aggressively minded people at once. It is important to keep each of them in sight, competently defend yourself from their blows and counterattack in time. Fighters with melee weapons deserve a special mention. You need to use special tactics against them, which allows you to deprive them of their advantage.

The set of available movements directly depends on what skills you have pumped up. In Sifu, it is critical that the available techniques match your tactics. An error in the distribution of experience points can make it impossible to complete the game.

At first glance, Dark Souls is all standard — strong and weak attacks, block and roll. However, after the first battle, it turns out that each action spends stamina, so you won't be able to hide behind a shield for a long time or dodge all the time. You have to balance between blocking with dodges and your own attacks. Later, special weapons with unique attacks will open up, for example, strong attacks with the Black Knight's Great Axe are performed in a jump. And over time, you can learn to parry, which will radically change your ideas about battles in Dark Souls. If desired, close combat can be supplemented with destructive magic.

But at the same time, you will not be able to develop a universal tactic that would suit any enemy. Many mobs and bosses have special abilities that you have to adapt to. Artorias's fast movements and incredibly powerful sword strikes, Manus's unpredictable magic that requires you to act almost at random, the need to fight off hordes of skeletons during the fight with Nito — there are many examples. As a result, you use your knowledge of Dark Souls combat, select a weapon that matches your tactics, learn the types of attacks of a specific enemy and try to defeat him. But if this seemed not enough for you, when you replay on "New Game +" (and higher), familiar monsters have unusual movements that again force you to act differently.

The controls are what scared players when they first started playing Gothic in the early 2000s. The peculiarity of the game is that it is not enough for you to press the attack button for the main character to attack the enemy. You need to add movement keys. This way you can deliver straight and side strikes, as well as block enemy attacks. Yes, it turns out to be a kind of anaKingdom Come log, albeit a bit simplified. However, in Gothic, in addition to people, there are also monsters whose attacks you cannot defend yourself from. You will have to jump to the side, and ideally, go behind their back.

As you level up, you will master new skills and local combos. However, your opponents will also become stronger. At a high level of difficulty, Gothic is no easier than Dark Souls. Some players play Dark Souls as a mage, which makes their lives much easier. But in Gothic, you will learn to cast spells only after several dozen hours of play. And before that, you will have to fight with a staff or a sword.

Note that in Gothic 3, they abandoned complex combat. There, almost any enemy could be “clicked” to death.

All games in the Devil May Cry series, except for the 2013 reboot, have a complex combat system. Dante has many moves that can be linked into combos, but it is important to watch the enemy's actions and block their attacks correctly. The demon hunter can also change fighting styles, which directly affects the hero's abilities.

However, we included the fifth part in this article for a simple reason — there are not one or even two, but three main characters. Nero has devil whips, special mechanical prostheses that replace his right hand. There are 12 of them, and each of them has its own unique special attacks. "Ragtime" slows down time, "Bouncer" allows you to throw enemies with great force, "Gerbera" hits opponents at a distance, and so on. Juggling devil whips allows you to develop your own unique tactics.

And V cannot attack demons directly, but uses his familiars, who do all the work for him. The guy has to choose who to attack first and dodge in time.

During the story campaign of Devil May Cry 5, the protagonists will constantly change. Therefore, you will have to master the combat tactics for each of the three characters.

The debut project of Don't Nod, the authors of Life is Strange and Vampyr. Today, many consider it the most underrated game of the studio. It raises questions about the value of memories, the ability to replace and erase them. The plot here is executed in the best traditions of cyberpunk. But in the context of this article, we are interested in the gameplay Remember Me.

The combat system here is based on combo moves that the player creates himself. Blows here can cause damage, restore the health of the main character, speed up the charging of a special move or enhance the effect of the previous attack. In total, it is possible to get about 50 thousand possible combinations. Moreover, at a high level of complexity you will have to understand all the subtleties and experiment with combinations to develop the most effective option.

This slasher from Treyarch has such an advanced combat system that the game can be called a swordsman simulator. The main character's body and his hand with a weapon are controlled independently of each other. Lunges can be made from different positions, for example, while running or jumping. And the physical model correctly calculates the effect of a hit depending on the force of the blow. Die by the Sword allows you to stab and cut, hit opponents from the side and aim at a specific part of the body, for example, in the throat or groin. As a result, a huge scope of tactical possibilities opened up, which allows you to develop your own unique combat strategy.

Moreover, players were forced to understand all the intricacies. The enemies here are strong, they counterattack competently and do not forgive mistakes. It was necessary to spend time mastering the local controls, which certainly cannot be called convenient. It was to him that the journalists of those years had complaints.

In 2004, the classic Ninja Gaiden series, familiar since the 80s, was rebooted. The development was led by Tomonobu Itagaki, known for the first three parts of Dead or Alive. His game about ninjas turned out to be so difficult that fans asked for an easier mode. It is curious that a similar situation happened with Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening, which was released a year later.

The combat system of Ninja Gaiden (2004) involves many nuances, but it will take time to understand it. For example, depending on whether you jump while standing still or moving, the attacks will be different. And if you run, the blow will be completely different. Enemies easily break through the block, and sometimes a roll is not enough to dodge an enemy's lunge. But it can be combined with a jump to increase the evasion distance and ultimately avoid damage. Particularly powerful blows will require an unreasonably long time to prepare, but if you absorb the essence that falls from enemies, then the charge will happen instantly.

And although the combat is not very intuitive, it has depth and variability. In addition, a lot depends on the chosen weapon. Staves are not as effective as regular swords, but they allow you to keep the enemy at a distance and carry out a series of quick attacks, and two-handed swords are slow, but can cause huge damage. The game also has a bow and arrows, destructive magic and the ability to use the environment to destroy enemies.

This game offered to choose one of four characters as the protagonist — a knight, a barbarian, an Amazon or a dwarf. Each of them has its own combat system features and a unique set of weapons. Depending on the type of blade, the list of combos and buttons that are responsible for a particular blow changes.

The shield here does not serve as a guaranteed salvation from enemy attacks. If it is too short and does not protect the hero's legs, there is a risk of losing your lower limbs even during a block. You can also hit specific parts of the enemy's body, for example, chop off hands to deprive him of a weapon or take a risk and poke him right in the head.

But it's not easy. The enemies are smart and work together, for example, trying to surround and corner you. And the knights can make feints to wait for you to react, and then strike unexpectedly. But if you manage to make one enemy hurt another, a brawl will begin, after which you will only have to finish off the survivors.

The first thing that surprises about the role-playing game from Capcom is the character editor. The hero's appearance will directly affect his abilities. A muscular giant will be strong, but he is unlikely to be able to climb on the back of a giant monster. An athletic guy can handle this, but he will not be able to carry too much weight. A tall man, thanks to his long arms, will be able to keep the enemy at a distance, but it is easier to knock him out.

By genre, Dragon's Dogma belongs to RPGs with leveling up, a large open world and many characters, including those who will fight shoulder to shoulder with you. At the same time, the combat here is closer to a slasher. And it is revealed in an unexpected way during battles with local bosses. If your hero can climb onto it, he has the opportunity to deal a critical hit, for example, gouge out the eyes with a dagger. This brings to mind Shadow of the Colossus with finding vulnerable spots that need to be hit with a sword.

We are not talking about a deep, but rather an unusual combat system. The battles in the first "Witcher" (The Witcher) are different from what we saw in the second and third parts of the series. This is not an action game, but a rhythm game where you need to press the left mouse button in time. Only in this case will you be able to defeat local mobs and bosses. Depending on the type of opponents and their number, you should choose the right stance. If necessary, you can use signs.

Another feature of the original "Witcher" is the ability to play the game with an isometric camera, like in Diablo. In this case, it is permissible to transfer control exclusively to the computer mouse and do without the keyboard at all.

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Do you like games with complex combat systems? Or do you prefer simpler mechanics? Share your opinions in the comments!