Best hack-and-slash games on Switch you can play right now in 2024

Looking for the best hack-and-slash games on the Nintendo Switch? We’re looking through a bunch of action-based hack-and-slash games you can play on the Switch. While the Switch is more popular for calmer, slow-paced games like RPGs, there are plenty of great hack-and-slash games available when you just need to cut your way through hordes and hordes of enemies to achieve your goal.

Whether you’re looking for a roguelike or a Mousu-style game from the minds behind Dynasty Warriors, this list has something for everyone. These games are the best hack-and-slashers the Switch has to offer, all you’ll need to do is flex your button-mashing.

If you want to see more, check out our lists of the best free games on the Switch and our guide on the best strategy games on Switch. On to the best hack-and-slash Switch games.

Hades

Hades took the world by storm when it first came out and for great reason. Hades is a Roguelike game, with a huge emphasis on borderline chaotic fights as you progress through each floor of hell. As you explore and clear rooms, you’re rewarded with new Blessings and other powers that will help or hinder you in your quest to reach the final level and escape hell. The combat in Hades is fast and brutal, with a fairly quick TTK when it comes to your character. You have a few moves up your sleeve, but the most you’ll be doing is button-mashing dodge and slapping your enemies as much as you can. Now Hades is on Switch, the little screen is a great place for this game and an even better place to enjoy Hades in handheld horm.

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity

If you thought a Dynasty Warriors-style Zelda game would be awful, think again. Sure, Koei Tecmo proved that Dynasty Warriors Zelda works with Hyrule Warriors, but the next game in the series, Age of Calamity, goes above and beyond. At its heart, it is a simple Warriors game, complete with endless hordes of enemies to mow down. More than that, Age of Calamity is a ‘what if’ scenario set in the world of Breath of the Wild, letting you delve deeper into that game and explore it more thoroughly. It isn’t the same story as BOTW and, is a separate timeline, but it’s still worth trying out if you’ve got a Zelda itch that needs scratching. Besides, spin-offs like these are the only time we get to play as Zelda.

Diablo 3

Diablo is a confusingly wonderful game series, and Diablo 3 is one of the better entries out of them all. If you don’t like the sheen and shimmer and microtransactions of Diablo 4, you might want to give Diablo 3 a try. Sure, there are still microtransactions because, Blizzard, but it has a ton of content and several classes to play. The looting and stabbing come fast and frequent, which makes it all the more fun when you play Diablo 3 with friends.

Devil May Cry 1, 2, and 3

The Devil May Cry trilogy, featuring the first, second, and third game in the series is available on Nintendo Switch. You can play the origin story of the legendary devil hunter Dante and his escapades as you kill hordes and hordes of creatures from hell. The sassy hunter is a walking cliche of a character, and thanks to the charm of Capcom knowing this, the games just work despite how silly they are. There’s a core heart and story, mostly in the later games, but seeing Dante be arrogant in the face of things five times his size is hilarious. The combat is sleek and fun in every game, with each one only expanding how much of an arsenal you have to whack unsuspecting monsters with. DMC is the original stylish hack-and-slash, and without it, we wouldn’t have the likes of Bayonetta.

Bayonetta 3

Speaking of Bayonetta, the long-anticipated release of Bayonetta 3 for the Nintendo Switch finally came around. Bayonetta is, in many obvious ways, a clone of Devil May Cry. There are some nuances there which change this statement, but not by much. You get the same sort of style, action, characters, and sass in Bayonetta that you loved in DMC, except the protagonist is female. Bayonetta has a ton going for it, and it is one of the definitive action games on the Switch that has had a legacy on Nintendo consoles.

Nier Automata

Despite the egregious sexualisation of one of the main characters, 2B, Nier Automata has pretty decent gameplay. For a hack-and-slash, it does exactly what you want it to, and you will be button-mashing your way through many fights in a number of stylish ways. The music from Nier Automata alone should be enough to get you to play this game, but if you need any more convincing you should try and wrap your head around the outrageously mind-bending story and its several endings. Nier Automata is loudly credited for its strange aspects you might remember seeing in games like Metal Gear Solid, especially when it comes to the meta silliness.

Fire Emblem: Three Hopes

Fire Emblem and the gameplay of Dynasty Warriors doesn’t sound like it’s a good mix, especially when you consider the less-well-handled Fire Emblem Warriors game. Fire Emblem: Three Hopes is a fresh collaboration between the two games that plays to both of their strengths. You have the strong, character-driven narratives of Fire Emblem, mixed with the fun and chaotic gameplay of Dynasty Warriors. There’s ample care taken with both that provides a thoroughly enjoyable game that lets you explore more characters and areas from Fire Emblem: Three Houses, which is only a good thing. Three Hopes uses all the same characters from Three Houses but follows an entirely different narrative, which means it is effectively an alternate timeline. If you loved the characters from Three Houses, you should give this game a go.

Persona 5: Strikers

Persona 5 Strikers is arguably the best mash-up when it comes to mixing a game with the Dynasty Warriors fighting formula. Persona 5 Strikers is so much more than it appears to be, and it is part of the official Persona 5 canon, continuing the story from the ending of Persona 5 (specifically not the ending of Persona 5 Royal). You play as Joker again and you and your friends go on a road trip, entering dungeons to effectively steal hearts all over again. There are hordes of enemies, but your approach can be subtle, or not at all – this game is much more of a Persona game than anything else and it shows through the characters, the interactions, and most aspects you enjoyed from Persona 5 have been translated perfectly into this spinoff. Any fan of Persona 5 should play this game.

That’s all for our list of the best hack-and-slash games on Switch. If you want to see more, make sure you read our list of the best RPGs on Switch as well.