Best Sword Fighting Games for PC

Why it's here: The best sword fight on PC, full stop. Sekiro throws out the Souls toolkit of builds and summons for one shinobi and one idea: posture, where you deflect on the last frame and break a guard open rather than roll away. The recurring complaint in Steam reviews is the wall in the early hours, with no difficulty setting and nothing to grind past it. Rated Mature, 4.66 from about 64,000 players. If you want the cleanest parry in the genre, start here.

Why it's here: The open-world pick, and the one where the side content actually earns its place. Jin's stance system swaps on the fly to counter each enemy type, and the standoffs are still the best one-strike duels in any samurai game on PC. The one caveat that recurs in Steam and PlayStation Store reviews is enemy variety, which thins out once you own every stance. Rated Mature, 4.60 from over 314,000 players, the most-rated game on this list. The fox dens and shrines are genuine extra content, not padding, so clear them.

Why it's here: The first-person realism pick. Directional combat with a longsword in Kingdom Come: Deliverance II asks you to read an opponent's guard, feint, and commit, and the early hours are the price of admission. The split is visible in the corpus: Steam reviewers mostly love the friction, while PlayStation Store reviewers are the ones frustrated by the combat and the consumable-gated saves. Rated Mature, 4.61 from about 42,000 players. Pick this if you want a sword to feel heavy and a mistake to cost something.

Why it's here: The most realistic duel on this list, and the one I would point anyone at who asks that exact question. Hellish Quart runs on physics and motion-captured 17th-century fencing, so a sabre cut lands where the blade actually goes, not where an animation says it does. The recurring complaint in Steam reviews is the unbalanced AI and how thin the early-access content still is. Very Positive at 87% of about 4,600 Steam reviews. Best treated as a local two-player duelling game with a friend on the couch.

Why it's here: The big-battle pick: 64 players on one map, siege objectives, and swings that carry through a crowd. Chivalry 2 is the closest a PC game gets to the film-scene charge, and its classes are easy to learn and hard to master. The sharpest complaint in Steam reviews is cheaters and a developer who has gone quiet, which is why the sentiment here reads mixed. Rated Mature, on PS Plus Extra, 3.81 from about 16,000 players. For nights when you want a battlefield rather than a duel, this is the one.

Why it's here: The competitive pick, for players who want the deepest one-on-one swordplay on PC and will put in the hours. Mordhau's feints, chambers and directional swings have no equivalent anywhere else on this list, and that skill ceiling is the whole appeal. Steam reviewers split hard between praising exactly that and reporting a steep learning curve, sparse updates and a rough community. Very Positive at 81% of about 72,000 Steam reviews, on PS Plus Extra, Rated Mature. Learn it in Horde mode first, then take the duel servers.

Why it's here: The mounted-combat pick. Nothing else here lets you couch a lance, hit a shield wall at full gallop, then dismount to finish the line with a two-hander, all inside a sandbox where you also recruit the army. The recurring complaint in Steam reviews is technical: crashes, battle AI, and a late game that thins out once you hold a kingdom. Rated Mature, 4.33 from about 11,000 players. The Steam Workshop mods are genuine extra content, so budget time for them.

Why it's here: The stylised pick, and the fastest blade on this list. Blade Mode slows time and lets you cut anything along any angle you choose, and Raiden parries by attacking into a strike rather than blocking. Steam reviewers single out the camera and a mouse-and-keyboard layout that never quite fits, so play it on a pad. Overwhelmingly Positive at 96% of about 89,000 Steam reviews. Short, with no padding, and 100% worth the price on a sale.

Why it's here: The pick for combat depth: three stances per weapon, ki pulses to recover stamina mid-combo, and Burst Counters that reward reading a boss rather than tanking it. Nioh 2 is the game I would hand anyone who found Sekiro too narrow. The recurring complaint in Steam reviews is the difficulty spike and the reused mission environments. Rated Mature, 4.55 from about 33,000 players. The three DLC regions are genuine extra content, so the full clear is worth the time.

Why it's here: The parry-timing pick. Stellar Blade builds every fight on perfect parries and dodges to enemy tells, then chains them into combos, and the PC port keeps that combat intact. The one complaint that recurs in Steam reviews is the story, which players call predictable next to the NieR games it borrows from. Rated Mature, on PS Plus Premium, 4.81 from about 92,000 players, the highest-rated game on this list. Come for the boss fights and ignore the plot.

Why it's here: The weapon-variety pick: katana, odachi, sabre and spear, each with its own counterspark timing, inside an open-world Bakumatsu Japan where your allegiance changes the story. The combat carries the Nioh pedigree. The recurring complaint in Steam reviews is performance and inconsistent visuals, and the PC port did not fully fix it. Rated Mature, 4.19 from about 23,000 players. The bond missions with historical figures are worth doing; the repeated map activities are padding, skip them.

Why it's here: The pick for pace. Nothing on this list moves faster than Ryu Hayabusa with the Dragon Sword, and the remaster keeps the dismemberment and Obliteration Techniques that made the original notorious. Steam reviewers report input lag and a camera that fights you, which is why the sentiment reads mixed despite the praise for the combat. Rated Mature, 4.57 from about 6,500 players. Best for anyone who wants a sword fight measured in reflexes rather than reads.