TheJohn Wicksaga has shaken up theaction movie landscape. The John Wick films have captured a new generation of action fans with its stylish-yet-gritty mix of martial arts and gunplay, creative choreography, and a rich world of assassins and intrigue.
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If you’re one such fan, you might be itching for more or want a little more control over the action on the screen. Whether you’re looking for tactical fights, slick gunplay, intrigue, or a more refined take on over-the-top action, here are some games you should play if you liked John Wick.
8Payday 2
Though John Wick’s profession is hitman and not heister, he appears inPayday 2as a part of a cross-promotion to celebrate the release of John Wick Chapter 2. You get the Baba Yaga for free, as well as some free weapons and masks.
If you want more, you could also buy the John Wick Heist Pack, which comes with two missions that expand the world of Payday into the John Wick universe and even feature an appearance from the late Lance Reddick, who reprised his role as Charon.
7John Wick Hex
This literally has John Wick’s name on it, so of course it counts. But it’s also pretty fun and hones in on one theme of the films that few of the games in this list touch upon: Time, and running out of it.
This tactical strategy game has time as a resource, with every action costing precious seconds as enemies approach to end you. You get a glimpse into Wick’s analytical mind as you and your opponent’s actions appear on a literal timeline, allowing you to plan your next moves accordingly, interrupting your foes to buy you the upper hand– or at least some breathing room.
6Ready Or Not
Though Ready or Not simulates what it’s like to be a cop rather than a hitman, there’s a surprising amount of overlap, especially if you decide to play solo.
There’s a lot of similar tension when you’re clearing rooms in a location potentially full of people trying to kill you. There are also noncombatants mixed into the fray, and you’ll gain a new respect for Wick and the other hitmen in how good they are at never incurring collateral damage when they hunt when trying to do the same yourself.
5Fights In Tight Spaces
Similar to John Wick Hex, this game is a slower, more strategic approach to stylish fights. Fights in Tight Spaces is less granular than Hex, being a turn-based roguelike card game similar toSlay the Spire.
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As the name implies, this game takes a more intimate scale to combat, putting you in close quarters and forcing you to make the most of your space as enemies pile on to end you. There’s not much in the way of guns, but Wick is more than a shooter, being almost as proficient in hand-to-hand combat.
4Hotline Miami Series
In many ways,Hotline Miami levels play out a lot like a fight in John Wick.It starts quietly as you into place and explodes into action when you get the drop on an enemy and start blasting.
You might not have John’s armor– plot or tailored Kevlar– but when you get the ins and outs of a level, executing enemies with well (or messily) placed shots or stabs with Wick-like efficiency, there’s a cinematic flow to it.
Someone who worked on the third movie might have noticed the similarity too. The abandoned house fight scene in the final film, full of overhead shots of John killing room to room, calls to mind Hotline Miami’s top-down perspective.
3Dishonored 2
A murder-heavyHigh Chaos runof theDishonoredgames already plays out like a steampunk John Wick with some magic, but if you want something more authentically Wick-ian, you can refuse the Outsider’s Mark. Doing so will lock you out of all the supernatural abilities in the game.
From then on, especially if you choose to go loud, the game gets a lot harder. However, if you perfect your art into a ballet of blades and gunpowder– much like John himself– you’ll have a playthrough worthy of highlight reels and even nab yourself the rare Flesh and Steel achievement.
2Hitman Series
Though he spends more time as a target than working, an important facet of John Wick’s character is his past as an assassin, something he shares with Agent 47. Something else they share is a skill for meticulous planning on the job.
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Since he spends most of the time on the run after the second film and he was understandably hot-blooded in the first, we really only get to see him plan a hit– knowing the layout of the place and planting backup arms for his exit– in John Wick Chapter 2.
TheHitmangames are basically just that. You case the joint, put things in position so you may utilize them to end your target, and then leave. The only difference is that 47 isn’t likely to be the victim of a double cross, so for the most part, the decision to go loud is up to you.
1Metal Gear Acid Series
These criminally underrated side games were only released on the Playstation Portable, and though at first blush, they have little to do with the John Wick saga in theme, tone, or plot, they’re actually similar in a very important way: they mix gunplay, CQC, and tactics.
The Acid games are turn-based card games where your cards are guns, CQC combo pieces (which you combine to get a variety of moves), and other accessories of war. Turns are handled in a novel manner, where the cost of your cards is added to a tally, and once your turn ends, you cannot act until that tally is depleted, which happens when units with smaller Cost counts act.
Though it predates the John Wick saga and Hex by almost a decade, this give-and-take of power versus time would make the perfect way to model Wick-style fight tactics in a video game.
