The Best Soulslike Games For Barehanded Combat

The Best Soulslike Games For Barehanded Combat

• Soulslike games often offer a variety of weapons, including light, medium, and heavy options. Some games even allow players to fight barehanded or use fist-type weapons.
• Lords of the Fallen (202
• introduces a variety of fist-based weaponry. Players can choose to fight with their fists alone, and the damage scales with Agility.
• Dark Souls 2 (201
• incentivizes barehanded combat through the Company of Champions Covenant, which grants a ring that turns bare fists into powerful weapons.

A big aspect of the Soulslike subgenre of games’ popularity is due to the weapons. Almost every new game that comes out and can be described as ‘Soulslike’ has a wide variety of different weapons for players to choose from. Typically these fall into the category of light, medium, and heavy weapons, with attack speeds that are fast, medium, and slow respectively. However, among the light weapons in a lot of these games players can often also choose to just fight with a fist-type weapon or forsake weapons altogether and fight with just their fists alone.

The concept of a lone hero going out and ‘punching’ the great evil that’s putting the world at risk is such an innately appealing concept that a lot of players at least try out fists or fists weapons in every game they’re available in. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the most well-known Soulslike games out there where players have to option to fight basically barehanded.

Disclaimer: A lot of these games won’t have fully ‘barehanded’ combat viable to actually use, but will instead have gauntlet-type weaponry or fist weaponry that basically amounts to fighting barehandedly.

Lords Of The Fallen

Released October 13th, 2023

Name

Developer

Type Of ‘Unarmed Combat’

Lords of the Fallen

Hexworks

Fist Weapons

Let’s start things off with one of the more recently released games on here, Lords of the Fallen. While this game shares the name with the original game released back in 2014, it’s not a remake or remaster. Rather, Lords of the Fallen is a sequel of sorts that attempts to reintroduce itself to the Soulslike community and vastly improve upon the flaws of the 2014 game. And, for the most part, the game does exactly what it sets out to do, as the 2023 Lords of the Fallen pretty much improves upon the 2014 game in every way.

In this new game, players have a variety of different fist-based weaponry they can use if they so desire. Most of them fit within the category of ‘sharp things strapped to a knuckle duster’ type weapons, but the player is still essentially fighting barehanded compared to the giant hammers or greatswords they could be using instead. And, if they really want to, players can also just fight with their bare fists in this game (and the damage actually scales with Agility).

Dark Souls 2 (& Most Other FromSoftware Games)

Released March 11th, 2014

Name

Developer

Type Of ‘Unarmed Combat’

Dark Souls 2

FromSoftware

Fists & Fist Weapons

While technically just about every FromSoftware Soulslike game outside of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice would work as an entry here, we feel that Dark Souls 2 incentivized barehanded/fist weapon gameplay the most. In this game players had the Company of Champions Covenant they could access right after reaching Majula, and this is the primary reason unarmed combat felt so strong in this game.

This was a Covenant that a lot of players unknowingly joined happily only to realize much later it actually increases the game’s difficulty by quite a bit. However, if players stick with this Covenant and reach Rank 3 in it, they’ll get the Vanquisher’s Seal, a ring that essentially turns their bare fists into weapons of mass destruction. This Seal plus the Power-Stancing system of this game and the Stone Ring make a barehanded or fist weapon build stronger than it’s ever been.

The Surge 2

Released September 24th, 2019

Name

Developer

Type Of ‘Unarmed Combat’

The Surge 2

Deck13

Punching Gloves

The Surge 2 was another (albeit easier) Soulslike to come out in 2019 that was a sequel, obviously, to the first Surge game. Both of these games take a much more ‘futuristic’ approach to the setting the Souls games are usually set in, with the game taking place in the far future with a main character who spends the majority of the game in an Alien-style Exoskeleton suit.

These games are one of the earlier attempts to recreate the Souls formula, and they did a pretty great job at it while also maintaining their own identity. The second game innovates even further and introduces a whole bunch of new weapon types and systems, with one of the new weapon types being the Punching Gloves. While these technically aren’t ‘unarmed’ as the player is in an Exoskeleton, they’re about as unarmed as the Exoskeleton can get.

Nioh 2

Released March 13th, 2020

Name

Developer

Type Of ‘Unarmed Combat’

Nioh 2

Team Ninja

Fist Weapons & Fists

With a very similar situation to The Surge 1 and The Surge 2, Nioh 2 also introduced the ‘Fists’ category of weapons that the first Nioh game didn’t have. In this game, Fist Weapons also have two variants for each weapon, a bladed and unbladed version. Bladed Fist Weapons deal more damage overall, while Unbladed Fist Weapons deal more Ki Damage.

In general, the gameplay loop around Fist Weapons relies on William’s mobility, his perfect/well-executed Ki Pulses, and short combos in between attacks to steadily drain the opponent’s health or Ki. Out of everything on this list, Nioh 2’s barehanded combat is probably the strongest mechanically and the most intricately designed.

Absolver

Released August 29th, 2017

Name

Developer

Type Of ‘Unarmed Combat’

Absolver

Sloclap

Martial Arts/Fists

Next up is Absolver, a game that is truly unlike any other entry on here. In this game, the player character, known as the Prospect, travels across a world known as Adal fighting all sorts of opponents that could be either AI or player-controlled. It’s essentially, an open-world fighting game Soulslike (every genre has its Soulslikes nowadays) where players are constantly adding to their character’s repertoire of moves, steadily getting better at the intricate mechanics of the game, and testing these newfound skills against other players. It has a lot in common with a more recently released game by the name of Sifu, though Absolver assuredly fits into the Soulslike category a lot more cleanly than Sifu does.

Hellpoint

Released July 30th, 2020

Name

Developer

Type Of ‘Unarmed Combat’

Hellpoint

Cradle Games

Fist Weapons (Ozzy’s Hand)

While Hellpoint, the next game on here, probably has the most unique setting of all the games on this list, it’s also probably the most ‘by the books’ Soulslike on here. In this game, players explore a Space Colony by the name of Irid Novo and slowly learn what happened here as they battle their way through all sorts of creatures and other types of opponents. While the weaponry in this game is almost exclusively highly advanced in terms of technology and design, there are a few weapons that are fist-based.

In the base game the only weapon that would fit this definition is one called ‘Ozzy’s Hand’ that’s earned by turning the Fragment of the boss Ozyormy Goija (the Master of Puppets) into the game’s Blacksmith. However, the Blue Sun DLC that came out a good while after the base game release does add a few more fist-like weapons such as the Thespian Gauntlets, the Iron Fists, and the Industrial Injectors.

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty

Released March 3rd, 2023

Name

Developer

Type Of ‘Unarmed Combat’

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty

Team Ninja

Fist Weapons (Caestus)

Whereas games like Nioh to Nioh 2 and The Surge to The Surge 2 added Fist Weapons between games, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty added Fist Weapons with its first DLC in the form of the Caestus weapons. However, unlike a lot of other games where Fist Weapons simply add a few ‘haymaker-esque’ punching animations for their attacks, the Caestus in Wo Long goes above and beyond. The animations the player character makes while attacking with these things are beautiful, relatively realistic, and involve using the whole body.

They’re not just swinging their arms with jabs, uppercuts, or random haymakers, they’re using martial arts. And, on top of this, the Caestus weapons are also absolutely amazing in terms of utility, as they trade low damage per hit for absurdly high attack speed. Additionally, almost every single attack with this weapon advances the player forward so they’re always keeping close to their opponent just by attacking.

Stranger Of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin

Released March 18th, 2022

Name

Developer

Type Of ‘Unarmed Combat’

Stranger Of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin

Team Ninja & Square Enix

Pugilist & Monk Classes

While the game Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin had a lot of joke posts made about it due to the story being a bit absurd and the sheer amount of times the word ‘Chaos’ is used in the dialogue, the actual gameplay of this title is well-received.

It’s a lot more hands-off than a lot of other Final Fantasy games while still being an RPG, and players who enjoyed the combat in FF16 will likely also enjoy this game’s combat quite a bit. In this game, players have a pretty big list of classic Final Fantasy classes to choose from, with both Pugilist and Monk making the list. And, when either of these classes is in use, the player is essentially fighting the forces of ‘Chaos’ with just their fists.

Clash: Artifacts Of Chaos

Released March 9th, 2023

Name

Developer

Type Of ‘Unarmed Combat’

Clash: Artifacts Of Chaos

Ace Team

Fists & Martial Arts

Okay so earlier in the Hellpoint entry, it was mentioned that the setting of Hellpoint is likely the most unique setting on here, but Clash: Artifacts of Chaos absolutely has Hellpoint beat. This game is best described as ‘one wild fever dream’ in regards to its setting, but even that doesn’t give its atmosphere, character designs, and overall concept enough credit.

This game is indescribably ‘odd’, but there’s surprisingly a lot to it in terms of gameplay. Players are constantly fighting enemies in hand-to-hand combat (though the size and number of appendages the enemy has wildly varies) and they’re also exploring the world, earning new fighting stances, and unlocking new special attacks. While the game isn’t the most polished thing out there and it has its fair share of bugs, Clash: Artifacts of Chaos is a very ambitious game with a lot of heart and creativity, as seen by its incomprehensible designs.

Thymesia

Released August 18th, 2022

Name

Developer

Type Of ‘Unarmed Combat’

Thymesia

OverBorder Studio

The ‘Fist’ Plague Weapon

And for the last barehanded entry on here, let’s talk about a little game by the name of Thymesia. This game is probably one of the quicker-to-beat games on this list, but the quality of the game is incredibly high, especially given the fact that it was made by a very small team of people. In this game, players take control of a character known as Corvus who, in a kingdom already infected with widespread disease, uses the ‘power’ of disease to fight his opponents.

While players can’t fight completely barehanded in this game, they can use a specific ‘Plague Weapon’ called Fist. On top of that, Corvus also has his Claws, the Fool’s Punch Plague Weapon, and the Katar Plague Weapon. It’s the game on here with the least ability for the player to fight using only their fists, but when they do get to use their fist weapons, it feels incredibly good.

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