Large-scale battles are the kind of thing that every action-focused video game aspires to, but only some actually pull off. For one, game technology hasn't always been able to render battles on an epic scale, and only recently have developers even tried to capture battles on this scale in games that aren't entirely built around them.
Then there's the actual validity of the battle itself. After all, just because a big battle can be cool doesn't mean they fit in every game that wants one. That's what makes these epic battles so... Well, epic. They're either narratively relevant or exceptionally massive, and they aren't just a big battle among other big battles. They have stakes, weight, and they stand out because of how big and epic they feel when compared to the rest of the games they're a part of. That's what makes them the greatest video game battles of all time.
To be clear, these are the best battles in games that don't necessarily feature a lot of big battles. While there are plenty of epic confrontations in series like Dynasty Warriors, Total War, Mount & Blade, and Earth Defense Force, those games are also primarily made up of giant battles. For one, it would be nearly impossible to single out one battle from those series, and two, it wouldn't stand out as much because it happens in the context of lots of similar battles. As such, we're exclusively looking at battles that are standout moments in their games, and not just games that have big, epic battles.
Because many of these battles take place at the end of their respective games, there are Spoilers Ahead.
10 Chicago - Resistance 2
A Chimera Invasion In The Middle Of A City
Resistance 2
- Released
- November 4, 2008
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language
- Developer(s)
- Insomniac Games
- Genre(s)
- FPS
Chapter 5 in Resistance 2 really drives home just how outmatched the army is against the Chimera. There are plenty of lopsided battles in this series, but this is the first time that Sgt. Nathan Hale and crew are thrown into the middle of a full-blown Chimeran invasion of a major city; in this case, Chicago.
In between weaving through the wreckage of trains, buildings, and bridges, or climbing over submerged cars in the flooded streets, you'll take part in multiple huge firefights, trying to battle under the pressure of an unending hail of enemy gunfire. Worse still, it all culminates with a battle against a Leviathan, a Chimera that is literally as tall as a building, and it requires that you blow up an actual building to take it down.
9 The Grand Cathedral - Serious Sam 2
Absolutely Endless
Serious Sam II
- Released
- October 13, 2005
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M // Blood and Gore, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Croteam
- Genre(s)
- Action, Indie
The Serious Sam games are all about fighting off waves of enemies, but the final level in Serious Sam 2 is a different beast altogether. The Grand Cathedral is located in the middle of a vast, open field, and unsurprisingly, you'll be taking on swaths of enemies within that field. Even once you make it to the Cathedral, you're really just in the middle of that field with a tiny piece of cover in each direction, while enemies swarm you from all sides.
Narratively speaking, it isn't particularly notable, but the reason this sequence gets a spot here is because of the sheer scale of the battle itself. On average, The Grand Cathedral takes about 80 minutes to complete. That's for a successful run: nearly an hour and a half of constant fighting. Even for the Serious Sam games, it's a battle on a scale that's virtually unheard of. Imagine dying 60 minutes in.
8 Minas Morgul - Middle-Earth: Shadow Of War
Dark Talion Is The Best Talion
Middle-Earth: Shadow of War
- Released
- October 10, 2017
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence
- Developer(s)
- Monolith
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG
As controversial as the ending of Middle-earth: Shadow of War is, it's hard to deny that the final battle is completely awesome. For narrative reasons, Talion has split from Celebrimbor and has instead become a Nazgul. Canon-wise, it causes a whole lot of issues and makes these games hard to parse with the rest of Tolkien's lore, but for the sake of an epic battle, it works wonders.
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Talion's powers grow exponentially in this state. As he single-handedly retakes Minas Morgul from Sauron's forces, Talion can slay a squad of orcs, and with a word, revive all of them to fight on his side. It makes the whole battle pretty one-sided, but that doesn't mean that it's not a dream power fantasy to walk into a city occupied by orcs and conquer it in the span of about 15 minutes.
7 Battle For Kaer Morhen - The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Geralt And Ciri Take It To The Wild Hunt
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
- Released
- May 19, 2015
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Use of Alcohol, Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content
- Developer(s)
- CD Projekt Red
The Wild Hunt's attack on Kaer Morhen in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is seemingly a lost cause, but that's what makes the fight so epic. Throughout the battle, you'll be swapping between Ciri and Geralt, each of whom is fighting off enemies on the walls, charging through a forest while dodging projectiles, and doing everything they can to beat back the attackers.
The whole fight ends in devastation, with Vesemir's death at the hands of Imlerith, but this defeat causes Ciri to go off like a nuke, unleashing the full scale of her powers and forcing the Wild Hunt into a retreat. The highs and lows of the Battle of Kaer Morhen are what make it so memorable, with wild swings in fortune that have the whole thing feeling like a cinematic spectacle.
6 Bloodbath Of B-R5RB - EVE Online
A Battle That Cost Over $300,000 In Real-World Money
EVE Online
- Released
- May 6, 2003
WHERE TO PLAY
We're including this battle here even though it's not technically a "narrative" battle because of the unfathomable cost that came with it. EVE Online is an MMO that features a player-driven economy. People have jobs, run businesses, and trade stocks, all of which hold real-world value, but it's all entirely contained within the game's sci-fi universe. That includes the many spaceships, which can cost upwards of $9,000 a pop for a higher-end craft.
The Bloodbath of B-R5RB started for a small, silly mistake: a space station run by a player-driven legion forgot to make a maintenance payment, which meant the entire B-R5RB system was suddenly up for grabs. Enemies of the aforementioned legion descended on the system, and a 20-hour battle kicked off involving over 2,500 players. In the end, the financial cost of this battle is estimated to have been over $300,000, which is about as high as real-world stakes can get for a video game fight.
5 The Battle Of Denerim - Dragon Age: Origins
Still The Largest Battle In BioWare's History
Dragon Age: Origins
- Released
- November 3, 2009
WHERE TO PLAY
The final battle in Dragon Age: Origins does a lot with perspective and continuity tricks to give the impression that a large-scale fight is going on. This is, after all, a game from 2009, so technology just wasn't able to render the scale of this fight to the degree that it might in 2026. However, the Battle of Denerim is still really engaging, mostly because of how it keeps the narrative going throughout, even with all the fighting going on.
From Alistair's speech at the city gates to the Archdemon fight on the roof of Fort Drakon, the stakes are always high. While the "battle" is actually a series of small skirmishes that you have to win, there are so many of them that it still feels like you're wiping out big chunks of a Darkspawn army. Other battles take place in the background, further reinforcing the idea that you're just one part of a much bigger engagement.
4 Return To Lumiere - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
The Retaliation Against Renoir
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Released
- April 24, 2025
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Sandfall Interactive
- Genre(s)
- Turn-Based RPG, JRPG, Fantasy
Expedition 33's work to collect the Chroma of every other lost expedition before making their way back to Lumiere for a showdown with Renoir is so commendable that their arrival on those docks alone is incredibly satisfying. These characters have been through a lot, seemingly always on the back foot, and finally, they're taking the offensive. It feels great, and it feels even better when Maelle summons an army of ghostly expeditioners to fight by her side.
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Unlike many Final Fantasy games, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 commits to the narrative beats that are the toughest to swallow.
Fighting through ruined Lumiere — a complete reversal of the game's intro — requires taking on countless versions of Renoir's creations, yet each time one of those revived expeditioners steps in to take one off your hands, it drives home the idea that you have an army at your back. While the ending of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is praised largely for what happens after this battle, this moment is still a great build-up to one of the best final levels in video game history.
3 The Final Battle - Mass Effect 3
The Culmination Of Your Work
Mass Effect 3
- Released
- March 6, 2012
WHERE TO PLAY
The ending of Mass Effect 3 has two other games' worth of storytelling buoying it to greatness, but it still doesn't forget to account for all your actions in the third game. Commander Shepard's role in this final entry is to recruit an army of aliens to help humanity stop the Reapers' invasion of Earth. Depending on who you manage to recruit, the army you see charging into battle will change, and seeing those results is one of the most fulfilling experiences in video games.
Granted, you'll mostly see them engaging with the enemy in the background, but it's still awesome. Between the battle on Earth and the battle going on in space, the scale of Mass Effect 3's finale is almost unmatched. When closing out a series as beloved as this, you've got to go big. That's exactly what BioWare did, and it pays off in spades.
2 The "100 Men" Fight - Yakuza 5
Kiryu's Method Of Peacekeeping
Yakuza 5
- Released
- December 8, 2015
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ due to Blood, Intense Violence, Partial Nudity, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Use of Alcohol
- Developer(s)
- Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio
- Genre(s)
- Action-Adventure
In trying to stop an all-out war between the Yamagasa clan and the Tojo clan, Kiryu hopes to use his position as a former Tojo clan Chairman to de-escalate things before the two parties face off at the Fukuoka Docks. When that first plan fails, Kiryu turns to what he does best for plan B: he starts punching people.
The Yakuza series is full of battles involving lots of gangsters trying and failing to take out Kiryu, but this fight in Yakuza 5 is on another level. There's a reason it's called the "100 Men" fight. The number of goons Kiryu has to fight seems almost endless, and just when their numbers appear to be dwindling, a few guys with rocket launchers and submachine guns show up. It's a standout fight on an unmatched scale, even for the Yakuza series, and that's really saying something.
1 The Fall Of Reach - Halo: Reach
Doomed From The Start
Halo Reach
- Released
- September 14, 2010
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Bungie
- Genre(s)
- Shooter
Noble team in Halo: Reach shares a lot in common with the Rebels in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Their mission is doomed from the start, and anyone familiar with the rest of the series will know that going in. What makes their last stand so memorable — and so deserving of the top spot on this list — is how that sacrifice leads to the eventual victories over the Covenant and the Flood in the Halo trilogy.
Six and Emile, the two remaining members of Noble team, need to help a ship named the Autumn escape Reach, as it carries Cortana, who has critical information that will lead to the discovery of the Halo ringworld. To cover the Autumn, the two have to battle their way to a mass driver, essentially an anti-air gun. Emile first operates a mass driver, and when he is killed, Six takes over, ensuring the Autumn survives its escape from the planet. Then, alone on Reach and with no hope of escape, Six makes a last stand. This is a genuinely incredible sequence. There is no end to the enemies that spawn, and if you die, you won't respawn. Your goal is simply to take as many Covenant as you can with you. It's a moving and heartbreaking sequence, and it helps solidify Halo: Reach as easily the most beloved story outside the mainline Halo narrative.
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