11 games · updated July 2026

Best action games

Decided by aim, timing and nerve.

Action games put the decision and the execution in the same instant. That is a different kind of difficulty from strategy, you can know exactly what to do and still fail to do it, which is either the appeal or the problem depending on your temperament.

The online action games that last are the ones with a skill ceiling high enough that improvement never quite stops. Every entry below has one.

What to expect

Mechanical skill expression, aim, movement, reaction, recoil control.
Ranked ladders in most entries, casual queues in all of them.
Frame rate and latency matter here more than anywhere else on the site.

Start here

Where to begin with action games

The entries we would hand someone new to the genre.

Action

Counter-Strike 2

Twenty-five years of the same idea, refined until nothing is left to cut.

9.2/10

Action

Deep Rock Galactic

Four dwarves, a procedurally generated cave, and a fully destructible one.

9.0/10

The ranking

All 11 action games

Ordered by our editors' score across the whole library, so positions here match the main ranking.

Counter-Strike 2
9.2/10
Tactical shooterPCFree to play2023
Five against five, one life per round, no respawns. The purest competitive shooter there is, and free.
ActionMultiplayerStrategy
Path of Exile 2
9.1/10
Action RPGPCConsoleFree to play2024
A free action RPG with a passive tree the size of a wall chart and a support-gem system that turns builds into engineering.
RPGActionMultiplayer
Deep Rock Galactic
9.0/10
Co-op shooterPCConsoleBuy to play2020
Co-op mining under fire. Every wall can be dug through, which makes the level geometry a tool rather than a constraint.
ActionMultiplayerAdventure
Warframe
8.9/10
Co-op action RPGPCConsoleFree to play2013
The best movement system in any free game, attached to a decade of content.
Dota 2
8.8/10
MOBAPCFree to play2013
Every hero free, every mechanic sharp, every match an hour you owe someone.
Valorant
8.6/10
Tactical shooterPCConsoleFree to play2020
Counter-Strike's economy, with abilities that change the map.
League of Legends
8.4/10
MOBAPCFree to play2009
The most-played strategy game in the world, for better and worse.
Fortnite
8.1/10
Battle royalePCMobileConsoleFree to play2017
A battle royale that turned into a platform and kept the shooter working.
Apex Legends
8.0/10
Battle royalePCConsoleFree to play2019
The best movement in the battle royale genre, attached to the best ping system.
Krunker
7.8/10
Arena shooterBrowserPCFree to play2018
A browser shooter fast enough to make you forget it is a browser shooter.
Slither.io
7.6/10
Arena io gameBrowserMobileFree2016
Snake, made competitive, and still the cleanest idea of the .io wave.