The 17 Best Hack and Slash Games for PC

Updated:

11 Dec 2023

How Many of These Hack and Slash Games Have You Played?

Whether it's impossible combos, controller gripping adrenaline, or just the sight of seeing numbers flying all over the screen, there is something about Hack-and-slash genre that has held an invaluable position in the heart of gaming for decades. These weapon-centric brawlers put the power of a one-man army in your hands allowing you to eviscerate dozens of enemies simultaneously or rapidly unleash dozens of blows into colossal creatures. While this genre tends to incorporate a handful of sub-systems from other genres, such as RPG elements or exploration, the main allure of a hack-and-slash is its potential for stylish, jaw dropping, action. Here are some of the best contenders for the Largest Bodycount category.

17. Monster Hunter: World

Flying machines, adorable cat-people, and dinosaurs, oh my!

Colossal monsters, hulking weaponry, and hard-hitting combat, Monster Hunter: World focuses less on slapping around thousands of jobbers and throws your directly under the heel of a juggernaut capable of crushing you in an instant. This game requires you to synergize offense and defense in tactical confrontations where you appear to be at the disadvantage.

Monster Hunter: World coming to PC is a dream come true for many of the series’ fans as previous titles were limited to the PS3 and handheld consoles. This game feels like what Monster Hunter was meant to be: a massive world that is alive and reacts with a constantly changing ecosystem and endless opportunity. Every creature is a valuable resource and will drop the necessary materials for crafting new armor and weapons. MH:W proves to be a perfect blend of preparation and grueling combat urging you to upgrade, buff, and choose your equipment carefully before engaging the most titanous of opponents in an evolved version of ‘the most dangerous game.’

What stands out:

Team-centric beat-em-up where you can combo off your allies attacks
Guerrilla combat - focuses planning, trapping, and ambushes.

A massive opponent calls for a massive weapon!

Why risk it? Shoot from afar.

16. Dead Cells

Death is only the beginning

The latest from MotionTwin, Dead Cells burst into the hack-and-slash scene with flare reminiscent of the arcades - button-mashing, rage-inducing, mindless heroics. There’s no rest for the wicked as you are tossed into a treacherous medieval-fantasy littered with relentless enemies and punishing environments. Dead Cells embraces an arcade style, urging you to constantly progress forward in a seamless stream for greater rewards and equipment.

This hack-and-slash strives on the roguelike mechanics of death leading to progression. You will be challenged to storm forward utilizing every cheap tactic, well-placed dodge, and impeccable platforming on your way toward your goal. The world is unforgiving and void of the sane ensuring your only way out is through your own skill and indomitable will.

One of the qualities that makes this game so great is its procedurally generated levels which are constantly keeping track of every move the player makes from deaths to equipment pick-ups. Each playthrough of Dead Cells will feel unique supported further by a non-linear design and abilities that unlock new areas of the game. These systems and vibrant design will be sure to keep you intrigued and starry-eyed while the dungeon punches you in the face.

What stands out:

Death is not the end, rather the beginning of a new adventure
Procedurally generated levels for maximum replayability

A tease of the many items at your disposal

Sweet, sweet damage numbers and depleting health-bars

15. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

Unleash your vengence

Sparsely backed by its namesake, this Metal Gear game managed to surface and break through out of the series’ shadow by embracing a single mechanic: Blade Mode.

As Raiden, a katana-wielding cybernetic “super-soldier”, your precision and reflexes are such that you can pinpoint and slash away at your enemy’s weaknesses. While utilizing Blade Mode, Raiden obtains speeds beyond perception and can unleash dozens of cuts a second obliterating flesh and heavy armor alike. You do not have to worry, however, because there are more than enough cookie-cutter soldiers to sate that blood-lust.

The events of MGR are set four years after Metal Gear Solid 4 and launch you across continents while you create a path of destruction from Africa to Denver, Colorado. While not the traditional Metal Gear gameplay, new players will become familiar with the humor that the series offers as well as its overarching theme of “government evil.” This was not the Metal Gear game that fans expected yet it remains a success for the franchise.

What stands out:

The Metal Gear-verse from a different perspective
Blade Mode – hack’n’slash with devastating precision!

Overrated armor

The Zandatsu technique

14. Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice

Explore the depths of reality

Every now and again we are reminded that every developer is an artist and artists love to explore. They love to take chances. Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is a chance taken by artists, a chance to stand out and tell a story unlike any other told via games. A fair warning: this game is a narrative action-adventure involving long cinematic sequences and story-driven puzzles. However, while presenting much more puzzle solving and movie-like psychological storytelling, the combat in this game is complex and gripping. Enemies are few and far between but not to be trifled with. Though the combat is not entirely hack-and-slash, it takes many elements from the genre emphasizing precision, careful defense, and variety to flawlessly execute your opponent.

You’ll want to be buckled in for this ride as it is a long and arduous one. Fail-states are aplenty, but you feel rewarded after each state and you will not want to put this game down until it reaches its completion. In short: buy this game, love this game. If developer Ninja Theory can make more like this, we want more like this.

What stands out

Story-telling and narrative. A cinematic adventure.
Jaw-clenching combat. Look Death in the eye.

Face fear head on

Explore the depths of reality

13. Ryse: Son of Rome

For your family and honor

Developer Crytek bursts onto the scene again with another graphically stunning experience. This time we are taken to the legendary streets of Rome. Ryse: Son of Rome suits you up in the functional and stylish armor of a fresh Centurion following a barbarian raid on his home and the death of his mother, sister, and father.

Ryse uses its graphics to create an authentic experience planting itself firmly in the realm of historical fiction. This is especially true of the combat and style. Every formation, every shield parry and sweeping slash is made as close to accurate as it could be highlighting the excellence of the Roman Centurion. Forget your surroundings and fight like a Centurion!

The combat functions on a timer reacting to specific inputs with precision timing to create impressive and potentially flawless combos. While we have seen this “counter-attack” system implemented before, Ryse emphasizing crowd control and combo-executions in a well-studied Gladiator fashion where combat not only looks polished but feels powerful. Embrace the life of a vengeful warrior with the training to carry him through countless battles.

What Stands Out:

Brutally intense combat
Well researched equipment

Merciless finishers

Dominate the battlefield and simultaneous enemies

12. Middle-earth: Shadow of War

Stake your claim in Sauron's front yard

If ever a setting befitting the hack-and-slash genre, the treacherous and mystically damned land of Middle-Earth bears the name effortlessly. You are introduced as Talion, a dead Ranger given second life via ancient elf magic. Seriously. It is both charmingly fantastic and dripping with tragedy which makes it the perfect setting for unbiased vengeful slaughter. In case you needed more incentive, the game’s “Nemesis system” ensures that Captains and other crafty orcs know your name and obsess over seeing your dead.

While the narrative of the game is intriguing and may have you wanting to visit more fiction based within the Tolkien-verse, this game hits the charts because of its masterfully entertaining combat. From Talion’s phantom-imbued reflexes to the snarky quips and remarks from every other orc, this experience really places you on the soil of Middle-Earth dead in the center of its most grueling encounters. Shadow Of War is full of character promising endless hours of mayhem and military coups.

What Stands Out:

Nemesis system EVOLVED!
Turn Mordor against Sauron

Cut down Sauron’s minions with unparalleled precision

Get to know new faces and make new nemeses

11. Vermintide 2

Battle chaos with friends at your side

There are plenty of epic adventures that start off with a quest to kill a few giant rats, Warhammer: Vermintide 2 takes that amateur quest and jams a syringe of Chaos God power into it. Cities are crumbling, diseased, and overrun by Skaven (rat-folk) as you are launched on an epic to interject in the plans of said Chaos God. This game feels like a tabletop RPG built within a 3D universe; you take control of a single-hero within a party and venture fourth, vanquishing the unclean and creating bonds along the way.

Vermintide 2 brings hard-hitting first-person combat to a traditionally top-down system and snatches you away from turn-based combat. No auto-targeting or scripted combat here, you will face your opponents in real-time and work to perfect offense and defense. While this proves to be an excellent title for single-player, the developers went a step further and implemented multiplayer allowing up to four players to enter the game playing one of the five possible classes. What’s better than dungeon crawling than doing so with your compatriots?

What stands out:

Five heroes. Fifteen career paths
Four player coop experience

Choose Your Hero

Square off against hellish foes

10. For Honor

Rank amongst the strongest champions during war-torn times

For Honor is a third-person melee which drops you in the boots of an elite warrior shedding blood and making widows for the sake of your homeland. You will have the opportunity to play three heavily inspired classes: a knight, a samurai, or a Viking. Ultimately, this game is a competitive arena brawler focused on tactical combat and objective capturing. Each “class” has several sub-classes allowing freedom to customize and play as you like and makes every successful build feel like personal accomplishment.

You play For Honor for the grueling dogfights versus other players and there is no lack of variety. The roster has grown to eighteen unique warriors each with their own equipment and abilities which will keep you charging the battlefield time and time again for a rematch. One-on-one duels are by far the most entertaining, but the game does offer five other game modes such as Dominion or Tribute where you are far more likely to be ganked the second you pick a fight. What’s more, Ubisoft has just announced a new faction to the game: the Wu Lin.

While the game is gorgeous and madly entertaining, it is known to be full of glitches and a fair amount of balancing issues. For a casual player, these issues are not glaring enough to be a total turn off but I would be wary of becoming too invested.

What stands out:

Unique warriors to master
Innovative battle control system

Dying For Honor

Clashing For Honor

9. Mordhau

Master medieval combat

Fans of Chivalry: Medieval Warfare may already be familiar with this crowdfunded game, Mordhau is set to be released sometime later this year and has billed itself as a medieval combat centric game focusing on massive open battles including siege equipment and mounted combat. Each player will be able to personalize their combatant right down to the boots on their feet allowing you to develop a combat style and identity unique to you. The developers went through numerous prototyping phases as they worked to balance combat and make sure that it felt smooth and devastating. Hits carry weight and you will often see your death coming just before the strike lands.

As of right now, the community for the game is surprisingly honorable in that players tend to salute one another to signify they would like to enter a duel. Of course, you will get players that either ignore this system or hold no respect for it but, for the most part, people seem to be genuinely interested in chivalrous duels. Here is to hoping that the community remains much the same after the game is finally released.

You will spend hours perfecting you combat against countless players and maybe even come to know some players by name or their presence on the battlefield. It is refreshing to see a melee combat game that provides progression via learning the techniques rather than dropping loot boxes and power-ups at your feet.

What stands out:

Skill-based, free-form combat
Massive 64 player battles

Gripping and difficult combat

Open battle field for you to conduct epic duels

Honorable Mentions

Kingdom Under Fire II

MMO combat like you have never seen it before

This game has been around on the Eastern market for some time but has been recently announced to appear on PC on the Western market sometime in 2018 or early 2019. It is being announced as a real-time strategy MMORPG giving you full control of your character on the battlefield. You will have to balance commanding various troops simultaneously while fighting off hordes of enemies. The game will incorporate a few different modes including a single-player story mode as well as a persistent world that allows players to join and form partnerships as well as take part in territorial battles. It is currently being praised for its unique and ambitious gameplay as compared to other MMO titles and has fans raving over its graphics as Korean MMOs often inspire.

Large scale battles and free-form combat

Lost Soul Aside

A dream in the works

An indie game initially being developed by a one-man team, Lost Soul Aside is a heavily inspired action-orientated RPG that launches you on a stunning adventure within a fantasy universe that looks and feels like it is Final Fantasy’s twin sister. Combat and gameplay in this game is lighting fast and responsive giving you full control of a magically imbued hero as you face off against otherworldly creatures and challenging bosses. As of right now, we have not seen many of the RPG elements that we expect to see in this game but from gameplay previews and screenshots we are keyed into a light inventory system and other familiar UI elements that mark the RPGs we know today. Fans are sitting on the edge of their seats waiting to see what this game becomes in time.

Beautiful environments and fetching graphics

Darksiders 3

Continue the legacy

Scheduled to release in 2018, Darksiders 3 puts in you control of yet another of the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse in a hunt to destroy the Seven Deadly Sins. This time you will saddle up as Fury, sister of War and Rider of the Black Horse. You will set out on a war-torn Earth following the catastrophic events from the previous titles. Fury’s weapon of choice is a mystical whip infused with her power allowing her to tear through enemies with effortless grace. For this installment, the developers wanted to focus on crafting the game to be a seamless experience and really push the interconnectivity of the locations you are exploring. They want this hack-and-slasher to feel immersive while expanding their original universe though storytelling and narrative.

Unleash Fury on your enemies

8. Attack on Titan 2

Become the unwavering blade of your people

Based on the manga series of the same name, Attack on Titan 2 follows the plot of the first two seasons of the anime adaptation and drops you into the series as you own custom character. The customization feels a bit limited but does come with a fair amount of variety. The Story Mode exists in two basic states splitting sections between daily life and creating relationships and taking on missions such as titan slaying or escort missions. The game’s highlight mechanic revolves around high-flying omnidirectional combat where the player will be constantly engaged in aerial combat and focus on landing decisive blows against much larger opponents.

This game looks stunning emphasizing cel-shaded graphics to draw out that anime style and the voices and music are authentic to the series really establishing a parallel and making you feel like you are controlling a character within the Attack on Titan universe. On the topic of authenticity, there is currently no English Dub for the game so all the voices will be in Japanese but luckily the menu options have all been translated.

What stands out:

Hunt Titans with dazzling omni-directional mobility gear action
Build relationships with canon characters are you own custom character

True to anime graphic style and detail

Omnidirectional combat brings new depth to combat

7. Berserk and the Band of the Hawk

Crush thousands with your massive blade

Using the same system as the Dynasty Warriors series, Berserk and the Band of the Hawk will see you hacking up and disemboweling wave after wave of pesky mobs while you progress across numerous battlefields and uncover the plot of the manga series Berserk. You play as the series’ protagonist, Guts, and are in complete control of his massive blade and overpowering swordplay. The Dynasty Warriors team made some additions and changes to their system to make the game feel more like the hellish manga, so be prepared for some gruesome imagery and violent blood splatter following every colossal swing.

Truly a game made for fans, this game reflects an authentic Berserk experience while being entertaining enough to be enjoyable to someone new to the series as well. Again, we are looking at a dub-less version with all the voice acting being in Japanese but let us be honest: the Japanese voice acting is traditionally far more impressive.

What stands out:

Gruesome and bloody imagery and graphics
Experience the story of Berserk

Bosses offer variety after slashing away countless jobbers

Rack up towering combos with massive sword swings

6. Nier: Automata

There is still a world worth fighting for

Set in a post-apocalyptic universe in the year 11945, Neir: Automata is an action-roleplaying game that takes you on an adventure through a dangerous environment filled with crazed robots and strange creatures. You take control of an extremely advanced android tasked with scouting and special ops to prepare for a future military operation against the alien machine threat that has invaded Earth.

Known for their sharp and highly enjoyable combat, Platinum Games nails this beast on the head again providing some truly stunning animation and effects and handing us a polished system that will have you ogling over the sheer power and flare of your onslaught. What’s more, the developers do a wonderful job adding variety to the gameplay and seamlessly interjecting 2D sequences as well as some platforming and shooting segments more akin to top-down bullet-hell games. This brilliance is further highlighted by its graphical charm and deliciously orchestral soundtrack.

The adventure of this game sends you across a desolate and dreary post-apocalyptia ravaged by otherworldly invaders. You will delve into collapsed tunnels and dilapidated buildings devoid of human life and littered with hazards. Eventually, you will be able to play the story from multiple perspectives and the game incentivizes at least a second playthrough with New Game+ content and some secrets that can only be obtained during your second time through.

What stands out:

Beautifully desolate open-world
Masterfully crafted story and characters

Face off against human-devouring robots

Simply jaw-dropping environments

5. DmC: Devil May Cry

Reenvisioned while still adhereing to the Rule of Cool

Released in early 2013, DmC: Devil May Cry is meant to serve as a reboot and is considered to be the fifth installment of the series. Development studio Ninja Theory takes control of the franchise and re-envisions it in a much more Western light. You are reintroduced to Dante and the world of Devil May Cry both of which remain thematically similar but are visually distinct from previous installments. If you are a fan, this could be initially off putting but the stellar effects and impeccable feel of the combat ensure that the game rings true to its inspiration.

Anyone familiar with Devil May Cry knows that fighting your way through the game is not just about winning battles but doing so with flare and glamour to gather buckets of points from your enemies while comboing, juggling, and executing everything that steps in your path. In this reboot they added onto Dante’s already impressive arsenal and array of skills making it easier than ever to flawlessly chain together sword strike after bullet barrage on your way to reaching the SSS rank in style points.

What stands out:

Unbridled action
A fresh look on an old series

Impressive effects and a stylish UI

Unleashed devastatingly beautiful combos

4. FINAL FANTASY XV

The Final Fantasy world we have always dreamed of

This game was released on consoles in 2016 but it was not until the Summer of 2018 that PC players would be able to enjoy this masterful addition to the Final Fantasy franchise. A trademark of the series, Final Fantasy XV launches you on an epic adventure with a small party of questionably unlikely heroes in a fantastical universe full of magic and mysterious technology. You will get to know a slew of unique and memorable characters and locations while following a somewhat convoluted plot and defeating impossible odds along the way.

Like other Final Fantasy’s, this game brings its own semi-unique combat system into the fold. This time around the developers added flexibility and fluidity to the combat drawing it closer to a free-form combat rather than the typical turned-based system. They coined this system the Active-Cross Battle system. While attack chains are simple and dedicated to single-button combos, you are given some impressive abilities to bring variety to any fight as well as character and equipment swapping, dodging and blocking, and the classic summon meter that unleashes a titanic primordial being capable of devastating enemies.

Fans of the Final Fantasy franchise will be introduced to familiar concepts and will be glad to see continued excellence in the way of graphics and design. Careful attention to detail fills the games available map with hours of unique environments and keeps the game feeling fresh.

What stands out:

Expansive Open-world
Cutting edge graphics and beautiful music

Wield a variety of powerful weapons

Engage in dynamic party-based combat

3. Black Desert Online

Customize to your hearts content

MMORPGs have remained relatively the same for over a decade but when Black Desert Online was originally pitched it offered that it was to be a sandbox-oriented game putting more freedom into the hands of the player and unshackling the combat to emphasize manual aiming, dodging, and tactical combat decisions; this system offers a mix of fluid attacks and devastating magic which serves to breathe some life into the stale system associated with MMOs. Other ways that the developers worked to create a more immersive and living game is with dynamic weather and day/night cycles also ensuring that players of the option to lead passive lives and simply focus on leveling non-combat related skills.

Fans and critics alike rave over Black Desert’s customization and overall graphic detail which causes it to stand far above many of the MMO titles we have been made familiar with over the decades. Surprisingly, even though the game emphasizes in-depth character customization, classes are automatically assigned race and gender and do not allow you to make changes, so you may spend some time moaning over not being able to play a Human male Ranger or a female Elf Wizard. While not entirely off putting, I found this to be a very strange decision.

What stands out:

Robust character creation tools
Siege warfare

Free-from combat

Stunning visuals

2. Dynasty Warriors 8

Unite a country of turbulent thrones

Ancient China is in chaos and you will play a loosely historical character with their own unique weapon, abilities, and special attacks as you march through battlefields slapping hundreds of soldiers around while you work to take control of the battle and eventually win the war in an effort to unify the troubled country. This installment into the Dynasty Warriors series draws characters, weapons, and locations from almost every other game in the series and brings all this together in one super-stuffed package. Now with 77 playable characters and unique weapons, and even more if you buy DLC for the game, Dynasty Warriors even offers custom character creation, so you can build your own dynasty and fight to unify China. Is all this truly enough to stave off what can quickly become repetitive gameplay? Maybe not for everyone but it sure worked on me.

The combat system, while remaining largely the same and focusing on a “one-man army” style that has you demolishing crowds with ease, has gone through some minor changes to bring greater depth to the fighting. Weapons are given one or three different affinities giving characters strengths and weaknesses to each other and the developers have added a Rage Mode which functions like a timed transformation granting your increases stats and abilities. Fan of the series will enjoy this familiar gameplay but may find it a little washed out if they have played every other Dynasty Warriors game to date.

What Stands Out:

A positively massive roster and selection of weapons
Ability to establish your own dynasty

Familiar one-man army slasher combat

Single-handed take the battlefield

1. Conan Exiles

Become ruler of a desolate land

Coming in at number one is a game that was not necessarily projected to do as well as it has. This is one that you are going to want to give a second and third chance before it sings to you. Conan Exiles is a survival game based within the Conan universe and sets you up as a criminal who has been bound left to die in the wasteland. None other than Conan The Barbarian himself appears to free your create-a-character before promptly abandoning them and that is about as much as you will see of him. You are unarmed, barely clothed, and starving and must fend for yourself. Like other games of this genre you will endure a life of shambles on your way toward greater and greater privilege.

The game is punishing all around and just about any creature is a threat to your life. You will end up fighting for every inch that you are able to get slashing and hacking away at enemies. The combat system is simple and responsive. While it is nothing particularly exciting it does function, and hitboxes feel like they should. Survival games like this tend to focus more heavily on a complex crafting system and difficult to gather resources and this game is no exception to that. The fantasy universe is filled with interesting locations, creatures, and violent NPCs ensuring that by the time that you have managed to raise your fort and craft the armor you have always dreamed of you will feel like you accomplished something truly challenging.

As you approach the mid-game milestone the world truly begins to open up allowing you to explore to distant locals and encounter fantastic wonders such as ruins and legendary creatures. This is where the game shines and its universe becomes one worth remembering.

What stands out: