Summary
- Open-world games focus on diverse combat moves to engage players for hours, rewarding risky plays.
- Parrying in games like Kingdom Come: Deliverance II and Ghost of Tsushima is crucial to survival.
- Tight parry systems in titles like Street Fighter 6 and Batman: Arkham Knight add depth to combat.
Open-world games usually feature fun combat loops that keep players engaged for hours on end. Ideally, players should have access to diverse moves that help them make the most of the combat systems in these games.
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In these open-world titles, survival is the name of the game, and where fleeing can sometimes be preferable to fighting!
This includes parrying, a critical move that lets players turn the tables on their attackers and put on the pressure in return. Parry systems are a great way to reward players for taking risks, although players who miss the parry window will be punished severely.
8 Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
Perfect Parries Can Leave Enemies Open For A Riposte
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
- Released
- February 4, 2025
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Use of Alcohol, Blood and Gore, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Intense Violence, Partial Nudity
- Genre(s)
- RPG, Action-Adventure, Open-World
Combat in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is great, even if the system starts to fall apart when Henry takes on more than one enemy at a time. However, players who manage their opponents and try not to be surrounded can still take on multiple foes without being sliced to ribbons.
An important technique in Henry's arsenal that is very useful and helps him survive life-threatening attacks is a simple parry. An enemy's swing can be deflected, with adept combatants being able to unleash a riposte that hits for decent damage following a successful parry.
7 The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild
Parries Are Great, Even If Flurry Rushes Are More Satisfying
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- Released
- March 3, 2017
WHERE TO PLAY
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is one of the greatest open-world games ever made. It excels in almost every area, and the simple yet engaging combat system is no exception.
Players who enter combat with a shield can time their parry to catch enemies unawares. This gives Link a brief attack window, although some players would prefer landing a perfect dodge instead since it lets them unleash a Flurry Rush to deal even more damage.
6 Elden Ring
Parries Are Present In Every FromSoftware Game, And Their Open-World Title Is No Exception
Elden Ring
- Released
- February 25, 2022
WHERE TO PLAY
The beauty of Elden Ring stems from its amazing world design. Players love the sheer number of opportunities they have to explore the world and become stronger. Combat is about as tight and satisfying as fans would expect from a FromSoftware action RPG, and that includes the parrying system.
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Magic has been a core part of video games since the beginning, but magic focused open-world games do not appear all that often.
Elden Ring encourages players to mess around with all the combat moves they have access to, and while the parry is a high-risk, high-reward maneuver, the players who master it will come away looking like Elden Ring savants. Players must time their deflection with a parry-enabled shield to perfection to leave an enemy open for a powerful counterattack, which can often result in an instant kill, or at the very least, a large chunk of damage dealt.
5 Middle-Earth: Shadow Of War
Talion Must Parry Enemy Attacks Constantly To Avoid Damage
Middle-Earth: Shadow of War
- Released
- October 10, 2017
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG
Monolith Productions' Middle-earth action games starring Talion boast an amazing combat system that is full of violent executions and satisfying moves. Given that this battle system is clearly inspired by the Arkham games, it's easy to see why parrying is so important here.
Without regular parries, Talion will take a ton of unnecessary damage as orcs start swarming him. Parrying gives players a window to breathe, with perfect parries having unique effects of their own that can be augmented with upgrades.
4 Street Fighter 6
The World Tour Mode Lets Players Parry Endless Attacks With Their Custom Character
Street Fighter 6
- Released
- June 2, 2023
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T For Teen Due To Mild Blood, Mild Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco, Violence
- Genre(s)
- Fighting
The fact that Street Fighter 6 has an open world is not something that anyone expected, and the fact that World Tour is surprisingly engaging makes it even more of a surprise. Players create a fighter of their own and are dropped into a world full of combat challenges and fun minigames to check out.
As one would expect, Street Fighter 6 boasts a parry system that players must master to stay at the top of their game in tough fights. Timing is everything, and players who nail a parry will get the slight advantage they need to unleash a damaging combo on their opponent.
3 Marvel's Spider-Man 2
Parries Expanded And Enhanced The Combat From The First Game
Marvel's Spider-Man 2
- Released
- October 20, 2023
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T For Teen Due To Blood, Drug Reference, Mild Language, Violence
- Genre(s)
- Open-World, Action-Adventure, Superhero
Many players wondered if Marvel's Spider-Man 2 even needed a parry system to begin with. The combat is so frenetic that goading an enemy into attacking Miles or Peter may not seem like the best idea, especially when going on the offensive was always the better approach in the first game.
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These open-world games manage to add a tinge of unique challenge and strategy to their combat by slowing it down.
However, it's not until the game introduces tough enemies like massive symbiotes that players understand just how important it is to parry. Enemies don't give players any room to breathe, and they can be distracted long enough with a well-timed parry to unleash a barrage of follow-up blows.
2 Ghost Of Tsushima
Jin Can Either Deflect Attacks Or Nail Perfect Parries To Unleash Devastating Counters
Ghost of Tsushima
- Released
- July 17, 2020
WHERE TO PLAY
Jin Sakai's quest to rid Tsushima Island of the Mongol threat in Ghost of Tsushima is far from simple. He must acquire different stances and learn enough techniques to make these enemies pay for their transgressions.
With a parry system that's simple yet effective, players can deflect all but the strongest blows as they cut down enemies in style. The stance that counters spearmen can be upgraded to make parries automatic against their attacks, allowing players to finally obliterate one of the most annoying enemy types in the game without breaking a sweat.
1 Batman: Arkham Knight
Perfect Parries Can Leave Enemies Open For A Riposte
Batman: Arkham Knight
- Released
- June 23, 2015
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood, Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence
- Genre(s)
- Action
The Batman: Arkham games popularized the counter mechanic that other superhero titles have run rampant with. These are technically parries that the Caped Crusader can trigger to punish overzealous enemies and move swiftly from one foe to the next.
Batman: Arkham Knight is the very best this parry system has ever been, allowing players to unleash bone-breaking moves to punish crooks who want to land a solid hit on Batman. Despite some of its issues, Arkham Knight's combat is strong enough to keep fans coming back for more.
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Thanks to how accessible the combat systems in these open-world games are, players can sit back and enjoy the ride without a care.