The beat ’em up genre is one of the oldest video game genres still kicking around in the modern day. With roots in arcade brawlers such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles In Time, these games are often 2D side-scrollers that feature charming pixel-art graphics, co-operative play, and intuitive combo-based melee combat.
However, not all beat ’em ups are 2D, especially in the modern era of video games. Nowadays, players have access to all kinds of beat ’em up games, including some in 3D. From the brawling combat of Yakuza 0 to the stylish hand-to-hand of Sifu, these are the best 3D best ’em ups currently available.
6 Die Hard Arcade
An Unhinged Old-School Beat ‘Em Up
- Platform(s): PlayStation, Sega Saturn, Arcade
- Released: 1996
- Developer(s): Sega AM1, Sega Technical Institute
- Genre: Beat ‘Em Up
This incredibly old-school but unfortunately inaccessible arcade beat ’em up is a loose tie-in to the Die Hard film franchise with a shockingly in-depth move-set that likens itself to fighting games of the time. Die Hard Arcade features charming low-poly 3D models and an overall look that’s incredibly nostalgic, and with the recent revival in low-poly modeling, this is unlikely to be a downside for many.
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The gameplay mostly consists of brawling through a building occupied by a variety of goofy enemies with bad attitudes and surprising fighting skills. The game is divided into a series of rooms, interconnected by cinematic cutscenes that often feature quick-time events. Overall, Die Hard Arcade has aged tremendously well thanks to its chaotic but manageable gameplay and competent brawling mechanics.
5 Going Under
A Scrappy Beat ‘Em Up Dungeon Crawler
A cute, colorful, and highly-stylized aesthetic is just one of Going Under’s selling points, right alongside its humorous parody of tech startups and — most importantly — its scrappy beat ’em up gameplay. Going Under is a 3D roguelike dungeon-crawler with combat that revolves around brawling, focusing on making use of the environment and the abundance of weapons within.
Everything in Going Under can be used as a weapon, within reason, and this is what makes its combat so frenetic and so enjoyable. Success relies on being scrappy and resourceful, rather than plotting out a strategic build, with players’ focus solely on taking out rooms full of aggressive enemies while taking as little damage as possible. This is especially so because every possible weapon in Going Under has a fixed durability and will eventually break, meaning that players cannot rely on one particularly strong weapon for an entire run.
4 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate
A Roguelite TMNT Beat ‘Em Up
This hack-and-slash/beat ’em up game is immediately reminiscent of Supergiant Games’ smash-hit, Hades, and although it looks and feels somewhat similar, the games are quite different. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate treads closer toward the beat ’em up genre with its loose story and attention to tight, focused combat encounters and co-operative brawling.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate is an accessible roguelite that captures the charm of its source material, providing players with a lighthearted, combat-focused experience. Its combat may not be hand-to-hand, but the focus on individual move-sets rather than a multitude of weapons ensures Splintered Fate always has the beat ’em up genre at its heart.
3 Sleeping Dogs
Open-World Brawling In Hong Kong
Stylish and very much inspired by Hong Kong cinema, Sleeping Dogs is a tremendous 3D beat ’em up with a compelling narrative and open-world. Sleeping Dogs puts players in the role of an undercover cop fighting against crime in Hong Kong, and features chaotic hand-to-hand action that ensures each combat encounter is fast-paced and fun.
Sleeping Dogs also features environmental takedowns that can be incredibly satisfying to execute during combat, adding an extra layer to each encounter and making combat even more visceral. Like the Batman Arkham games, Sleeping Dogs can sometimes devolve into straight-up button-mashing, but more often than not, players are rewarded for being intentional with their inputs.
2 Midnight Fight Express
A Cinematic Isometric Indie Brawler
- Platform(s): PC, Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch
- Released: 2022
- Developer(s): Jacob Dzwinel
- Genre: Beat ‘Em Up
Cinematic style and fluid, intuitive hand-to-hand combat from an isometric perspective make Midnight Fight Express a frantic and combo-driven experience that’s highly reminiscent of classic action cinema. The game features a great deal of both melee and ranged weapons alike, but hand-to-hand combat remains the core strength of Midnight Fight Express.
Lethal finishers and exaggerated combos based on martial arts make Midnight Fight Express a deeply visceral experience, and there’s plenty of variety to keep each encounter diverse. Despite strong art direction, combat is the be-all and end-all of Midnight Fight Express, but it’s more than strong enough to carry the game by itself.
1 Sifu
A Stylish Third-Person Kung-Fu Brawler
This third-person brawler is a highly stylish and wholly cinematic experience with expert art direction that makes it easy to get immersed in the action. However, despite the art direction being so memorable, Sifu’s cinematic beat ’em up combat is arguably its greatest strength.
For fans of kung-fu films and the hand-to-hand sequences of movies such as John Wick, Sifu is as close to a video game adaptation as players are likely to find. Compared to fully-fledged fighting games, Sifu is relatively simplistic, but the combos are diverse enough to provide players with a variety of strategies, especially as they acquire upgrades. Sifu’s most unique mechanic, however, is its age system, which has the protagonist age each time when they die, rather than losing the game outright. However, growing older can have other detrimental effects, such as decreasing their health.
