Plenty of games feature some level of downtime; maybe letting you put the controller down and have a snack during a cutscene or explore a quiet town square to soak in the scenery. Other games don't give that luxury, strapping you into a rollercoaster from the prologue and never letting go.
Best Fast-Paced Games To Get Your Heart Racing
The pacing of a video game is conducive to player enjoyment. Here are some of the best fast-paced games that will get anyone's heart pumping.
Whether it's bullet hell, blistering racing speeds, or boss fights that demand more inputs than your fingers can handle, here are a few games whose pacing is relentless as their action is constant, with an energy that's impossible to match.
Doom Eternal
Rip And Tear Until It Is Done
DOOM Eternal
- Released
- March 20, 2020
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence
- Developer(s)
- id Software
- Platform(s)
- Xbox One, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Nintendo Switch
In Doom Eternal, moving fast isn't just a suggestion. It's a demand. From the moment the Doomslayer sets foot on a demon-infested Earth, the game's pace is an unbroken chain of ripping and tearing. Nothing quite beats the feeling of entering an arena swarming with Hell Knights, Revenants, and Cacodemons, with the only way out requiring you to chain a shotgun blast, a glory call, and an immediate dash into the next enemy’s face, chainsaw in hand.
Though the story about humanity’s last stands against Hell is there, it's only secondary to the blood-pumping, metal-riff backed chaos. The combat loop forces players to be aggressive; with ammo, health, and armor only reliably gained through mechanics that require you to be up close. Doom Eternal is a marathon where every second feels like a sprint race.
Bayonetta 2
Witches Don't Wait Around
Bayonetta 2
- Released
- October 24, 2014
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ due to Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Partial Nudity, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes
- Developer(s)
- Platinum Games
- Genre(s)
- Action
- Platform(s)
- Switch, Nintendo Wii U
Platinum Entertainment’s voluptuous, wicked witch returns with a combat system that strings combos into more and more combos, each time finding new and creative ways to end with bigger and flashier finishers. Even the cutscenes give no room for pause, and boss fights begin immediately after, never allowing for any ounce of breathing room.
The set pieces are just as wild. One minute Bayonetta is kicking a gigantic enemy through city streets, and the next she's surfing on jets in the middle of a dogfight. Seamlessly transitioning from street brawls to climbing skyscrapers mid-battle while fighting giant angel dragons, Bayonetta 2 is pure caffeine in video game form.
Metal Slug 3
Insert Coin, Initiate Chaos
Metal Slug 3
- Released
- June 1, 2000
WHERE TO PLAY
Beneath the cartoonish graphics hides a screen-filler unlike any other. Metal Slug 3 is a run-and-gun arcade classic where any hint of hesitation means defeat. Even if players hop into vehicles like submarines or mechs, they never feel safe as the screen fills with enemy soldiers, tanks, aliens, and the occasional giant crab.
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The humorous tone keeps it from feeling overly edgy or exhausting. Watching enemies stumble around or your own character fatten up from eating too much adds silliness to the relentless barrage of bullets and rockets. There’s a reason why it's still such a beloved quarter-eater; Metal Slug 3 is a game that expects players to push forward without a break, with each stage upping the ante until the credits roll.
F-Zero GX
Zero Seconds To Think
F-Zero GX
- Released
- August 25, 2003
- ESRB
- Teen // Comic Mischief, Mild Violence, Suggestive Themes
- Developer(s)
- Amusement Vision
- Genre(s)
- Racing
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo GameCube
There’s fast, then there’s impossibly, uncomfortably, eye-wateringly fast, and then there’s F-Zero GX. With racetracks that twist, loop, and bend in ways that could break most racing games, the sense of speed leaves no room for mistakes. One slip-up at 2,000 kilometers per hour and what was once a flesh-and-blood racing driver with goals and ambitions becomes paste.
There’s no story or cutscenes to catch your breath. The game gives you a fighting chance with fantastically tight controls, then tries to tug it away with its brutal AI. F-Zero GX feels less like racing and more like a fight for survival at warp speed, where even blinking at the wrong time could put you out of the running.
Nuclear Throne
Bullets, Bombs, And More Bullets
Nuclear Throne
- Released
- December 5, 2015
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- t
- Developer(s)
- Vlambeer
- Genre(s)
- Indie Games, Shooter, RPG
This roguelike shooter puts players in a radioactive wasteland and immediately fills the screen with bullets, lasers, and hungry monsters. Go survive. Every run in Nuclear Throne is a rush of trying to dodge and shoot, with weapons that get more absurd as time passes. With the lack of checkpoints, there’s no routine or safety net, only chaos waiting around every corner.
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Getting time to reload, aim, or even breathe feels like a luxury. The action is just that non-stop. This brutality serves to the players' benefit, though, as by the time they make it to the Throne itself, their eyes must have already adjusted to a constant storm of projectiles. Nuclear Throne is a game that doesn’t even pretend to be fair, and that is exactly what keeps it exhilarating from start to finish.
Devil May Cry 5
The Storm Approaches In Style
Devil May Cry 5
- Released
- March 8, 2019
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood, Partial Nudity, Strong Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Capcom
- Genre(s)
- Action
- Platform(s)
- PS4, Xbox One, PC, PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
Dante and Nero return to play air guitar and toss roses at demons while devilishly maiming them in all sorts of over-the-top ways, and this time they’ve brought V along. The game never once spares any expense on spectacle. Combos are graded in real time, pushing players to keep things as fluid, over-the-top, and stylish as possible. The adrenaline rush from detonating a devil arm in a demon's bowels while juggling another with a sword, while also shooting at another with a double-barreled revolver, is impossible to match.
This energy extends to the cutscenes as well. Dante could be reading a motorcycle manual in one second and swinging the bike like dual chainsaws in the next. The new devil transformations take things to another level, and versus minion-management combat adds a strategic twist that truly tests how well a player can manage inputs. Although the story about family ties and a thirst for power moves at quite a rapid pace itself, it's the never-ending, ever-escalating combat that makes DMC 5 so compelling.
Vanquish
Sliding Into Bullet Hell In Slow-Motion
Vanquish
- Released
- October 19, 2010
WHERE TO PLAY
Though it's a cover shooter at a glance, Vanquish takes the formula and cranks it up until the dial breaks. With an edgy high-tech soldier protagonist who always has a cigarette in his mouth as he rocket boosts towards a hail of incoming bullets and missiles in slow motion, it's impossible not to fall in love with just how over-the-top everything is.
The sliding and bullet time mechanics keep momentum high, and the game never wastes time with filler either in its gameplay or story. Explosions, mechs, bosses, and fodder soldiers are constantly raining down, leaving little to no chance for pause. Vanquish might be the only cover shooter where you don’t hide behind cover, instead choosing to turn the battlefield into a blur.
Cuphead
A Cartoon Marathon Of Pain
Cuphead
- Released
- September 29, 2017
WHERE TO PLAY
Cuphead looks like a Tom and Jerry-esque 1930s cartoon come to life in terms of visuals, but its action is anything but comedic. Boss fights chain together with patterns so unrelenting that beating them is only possible after dozens of attempts. The platforming portions aren’t any more merciful, filling every pixel of the screen with hazards to keep players on edge.
The game is self-aware about its pace. Death resets the player in seconds, daring them to try again and keeping the rhythm going without so much as a slight pause. With the jazzy soundtrack and quirky animations, Cuphead feels like being a clown in a circus, except the lions are untamed and the cannons are live.
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