Summary
Punching is something players do in most if not all video games. They punch trees when first starting survival games likeMinecraft, they punch enemies when meleeing in FPS games, and they’ll surely punch a whole lot injust about any fighting game. However, that doesn’t mean those games are games ‘all about punching’.
No, games that can be described as ‘letting you punch stuff’ are games where punching is either the main way you deal damage or the main focus of the game. These can be games where a specific character or playstyle lets them punch more often, but in every scenario, these are games where punching is the core focus of your gameplay loop.
Sort of the Inventor of Punch-Centric Video Games
8
It wouldn’t make sense to make a list of games where you punch things without includingPunch-Out. There were obviously games before this where the main focus was punching stuff, butPunch-Outis the game everyone automatically thinks of when thinking about punching in video games.
There aren’t a ton ofPunch-Outgames to choose from, but any of them are good choices. And, literally, the only thing players can do in these games is punch, so it’s the perfect game to start this list off with.
7All The Batman Arkham Games
Turns Out Batman is Great at Punching
The combat in the Arkham games, starting withArkham Asylumreally invented a whole new way to approach third-person action combat games. Giving players a direct parry button that they can press, on reaction, to stop most incoming attacks just basically turns them into a whirling inferno of punches, kicks, and parries. When a player in an Arkham game is in a giant group of enemies and is playing well, Batman is punching everything in sight.
It doesn’t matter which Arkham game either, all of them have some variation of this combat. Sure, the punches aren’t the entire focus of the combat, but Batman sure is sending out a lot of them.
6Yakuza Games
Literally Every Single One of Them
If we’re talking about games in which players are either constantly punching people or are heavily incentivized to punch people, the Yakuza franchise is probably one of the best recommendations around. On average, in anyYakuzagame, Kiryu sends probably 50 different guys flying with his punches, and that’s not an exaggeration. The amount of bare-knuckle brawls players will face in any of these games is absurd.
Depending on the game in particular, of course, it might not all be punches.TheLike a Dragongames, for example, have players using a variety of weapons (they’re RPG games, to be fair) whileYakuza 0, depending on the character they’re playing might have Majima destroying anyone in sight with a metal baseball bat. But, in general, if players are looking for a game where punching is a core aspect of the gameplay loop, theYakuzagames are a good recommendation.
5Sleeping Dogs
Some of the Most Brutal Combat Around
Sleeping Dogsis Arkham combat but with a bit more finesse and a whole lot more brutal violence. Imagine if Batman didn’t really care about killing people and was entirely ready to shove someone’s face in a vat of boiling oil, that’s sleeping dogs. Again, it’s more martial arts than it is solely punching, butSleeping Dogsis another fantastic game where bare-knuckle brawls are the norm.
Of course that’s not all this game has to offer, as gunfights, general exploration, and more are a part ofSleeping Dogsas well. But, whenever Wei Shen ends up in a conflict, he’s going to throw an absurd amount of hands.
4Borderlands
In Particular, Brick Builds in Borderlands 1
Now theBorderlandsgames are mostly known forbeing co-op first-person looter shooters, and that’s an apt description. However, in the first game in particular, the character Brick had entire builds designed around him punching the meat out of people’s faces. In the first game, Brick’s Action Skill is called Berserk, and while it’s active his aim and fire inputs will instead throw massive haymaker punches in front of him. While in this state, Brick takes less damage and regenerates HP pretty quickly.
The Brawler branch of his Skill Tree in particular is entirely based around making his melee do more damage, which in turn makes him scarier while he’s Berserk. By the end of a punch Brick build he literally can make explosions with every punch and he’s painting the floor with their blood in every room.
3God Hand
A Truly Iconic Beat' Em Up
God Handis maybe one of the most arcade-like games of all time, and it’s also one of the best games period. This game has players constantly punching their enemies until they literally go flying, but it’s by far the only thing it has them doing. Players can use a whole bunch of different special moves, and by a whole bunch there are literally over 100 that players can choose from.
So, it’s safe to say that punching happens a lot inGod Hand. Probably not as much as most of the other games on here, but when it does it happens in a much more stylish way.
2Fight Knight
No Sword, Punch Instead
Fight Knightis another fantastic example to include here, and a game that doesn’t get enough love. In this game, players take control of a knight, the Fight Knight, who doesn’t fight with a sword, a shield, or any other variety of weapon, he just fights with his fists. In this game, players explore a retro-style extremely colorful world, climb the Tower, and punch anything that comes their way.
At first, it’s just simple left and right hooks, straight punches, and an occasional backstep punch, but steadily players learn more and more unique abilities that allow them to use all sorts of different punch skills. It could be a flurry of a hundred punches, a long-charge ultra punch, or even back-and-forth haymaker punches, no matter what, players are going to be punching.
1Sifu
Where if You Don’t Punch Good Enough, You Get Older
Lastly, it would be pretty silly not to includeSifuon this list.Sifuis a game where players literally walk into a room and thenplay a fighting gamewhere they don’t leave until they’ve knocked out everyone in it. And, if they fail to do so,they come back the next attempt olderand (hopefully) wiser.
Sifuis similar toSleeping Dogsin that players aren’t only going to be punching, not by a long shot, but punches are going to be a central part of most of their attacks, and they’ll need to punch a whole lot in order to come out the other side as the winner.
