Hello, it’s me.
I come to you today because I’ve realized out of every possible game mechanic out there, nothing beats a nice parry. When there’s a flash of light, I hit the parry maneuver, and there’s a satisfying clang it’s the tingliest feeling. I live for it. The enemy gets staggered, I do a cool combo, and the dork-ass enemy tries to attack again. Nope, get parried. It’s great.
So what are some good examples maybe I’m unfamiliar with? Games that I mean:
- Sekiro
- Metal Gear Rising
- Sifu
- Ninja Gaiden 4
- Granblue Fantasy Relink
I also have tried Ultrakill but it’s just too overstimulating for my puny pea brain. It’s a neat game though.
games with good partying
mass effect?

I’m not good at typing, ok

that’s a good thing here bc someone seeking out games that specifically have dope-ass parties is extremely funny
Dead Island 2 ! As you progress the parry mechanic gets buffed to give health or other benefits too
If you like PVP, Deadlock has a parry that’s integral to close quarters combat
Mario party
For soulslikes,
- Thymesia has an interesting and unique combat system that is very parry-focused. Learning and getting good at parrying is necessary for progress.
- Mortal Shell has a strong parry and also has a mechanic where your player-character “hardens” into stone (which is parry-like on its own) and develops into a really satisfying combat rhythm that I’d recommend to anyone who likes the flow of parrying in combat.
- The Surge 1 & 2 have a complex combat system that involves a lot of parrying and targetting of specific body parts.
For metroidvanias,
- Grime has a mandatory parry combat system that I really enjoyed.
- Prince if Persia - The Lost Crown has a fun parry and was a surprisingly good Metroidvania.
- Moonscars I honestly don’t remember too well, but I know it had a satisfying combat flow with parrying.
Oh this is awesome! I haven’t played any of these lol
I didn’t even know there was a metroidvania style Prince of Persia
Glad I could help. :)
The PoP metroidvania is a Ubisoft game so I had low expectations going in, but it turned out to be a really solid, fun MV. But apparently it didn’t perform as they expected it to sales-wise so the dev team for it was disbanded and the sequel canceled.
But yeah, imo all 6 of the games I listed are quality games well worth checking out. I hope you enjoy them too if you end up getting them.
Nine Sols has a very satisfying parry with its talisman system.
Nine Sols is peak clang and a beautiful game too.
Also the final boss is the hardest thing I’ve ever fought, but if you liked the games on your list, this might be just the right amount of clang clang … clang clang clang.
I can hear this comment! Yeah the final boss took me a few days to get down, but it was do satisfying to learn. The third phase was brilliantly done too. Flashy, but not that hard to learn as it mostly just used second phase attacks with the move (if you know, you know).
Paper Mario + Thousand Year Door if you don’t mind turn based parrying
there’s also that one other turn based game that came out recently with parrying but I haven’t played it
Dead as Disco has some parrying in it, it’s like a mix of Sifu and Hi Fi Rush, parry on time with the beat to do a 1 hit KO on the enemy while bosses require parrying, blocking, and dodging all while sticking to the beat of the song. It’s early access but solid.
Ultrakill for Straight Men (Don’t Stop, Girlypop) would also explode your brain.
I’m not sure if Jedi: Fallen Order or Jedi: Survivor will have enough parrying for your taste, but they’re pretty good!
What about a medieval multiplayer combat game like Chivalry 2 or Mordhau?
another crab’s treasure
Nioh has parry special moves but they only work on humans (and some humanoid demons IIRC). Nioh 2 introduces multiple different counter moves to “parry” demons as well, but only their special moves.
I think Lies of P and Wo Long Fallen Dynasty have parries, but haven’t played them.
Street fighter 3rd strike
The first time I went to Japan I made it a mission to find a grimy arcade with 3rd strike in it. Eventually I did, a little place in Kawasaki that was very retro in its choice of games. I got seated and started popping in 100 yen coins, doing some warmup as Makoto (my main forever ). Whole room was full of yellowing cabinets, dim lights, cigarette smoke, it was the exact thing I was looking for. Then those magical words, “here comes a new challenger!”
Now if you’re unfamiliar with arcades in Japan, you usually don’t share a screen. Rather, your opponent sits at their own cabinet across from you. You don’t see who you’re playing against. So I was hyped. My opponent instantly chooses Ryu. So I think, ok, maybe this is just some casual player looking for a basic kinda match. I’m not that good at street fighter, so maybe this will be perfect for me!
I think I had over 10 matches with this person, who I can very confidently say was the most skilled Street Fighter player I’ve ever encountered. I got my ass beat. Perfect anti-air, techs out of every command grab, hadoukens to my face exactly after wakeup, and oh my god the parries. My opponent would do red parries against my EX and special moves, with consistency. Air parries even. I did manage to win a game or two, but never a full match. It was one of the simultaneously most fun and humbling experiences I’ve ever had.
So I get curious, right? I need to meet this person, or at least see who I’m up against. I didn’t know what to expect. I get up and go to the vending machine, take a glance over, and there’s my opponent. She was an exhausted looking middle aged office lady with half a cigarette, already queuing up a match with someone else. I chatted with her a bit in my broken Japanese, told her she’s incredibly skilled. She gave me a simple oh, thanks.
If you’re still out there, bored chainsmoking Japanese woman, you’re a legend.

Hell yeah, that’s kinda beautiful
Justin Wong humiliation game.
Oh oh I know, here’s one and it’s probably a deep cut, Way of The Samurai 1 + 2 on the ps2. You can do two kinds of parries, a frame perfect block where the sword swing of the enemy is nullified without doing a blocking animation (and it’s tough to pull off I mean old school tekken style frame perfects). And another system, where when you block, the moment the block lands, push left or right depending on the enemies sword swing to make them go off balance and open them up for a juggle combo.
Way of the Samurai is such a good series, shame it has to go out the way it did.
I still have to play 3 and 4, might do it see if this laptop can play them.
Oh this look sick, thank you!

Let me know if you ever master the frame perfect parries, I could never land them as a kid on my ps2.
Valheim has a good parrying mechanic when using a smaller shield












