10 Great Action Games That Are Fun from the Start

1 hour ago 1

Published Mar 26, 2026, 3:03 PM EDT

Daniel has been playing games for entirely too many years, with his Steam library currently numbering nearly 750 games and counting. When he's not working or watching anime, he's either playing or thinking about games, constantly on the lookout for fascinating new gameplay styles and stories to experience. Daniel has previously written lists for TheGamer, as well as guides for GamerJournalist, and he currently covers tech topics on SlashGear.

I’m not always the most patient person, I admit. A lot of games cross my desk on a regular basis, and as much as I do genuinely want them all to have the necessary time to hook me, sometimes I’m more in the mood for a bit of instant gratification. Whether you’re impatient or just don’t have a lot of time to play games, you want something that can deliver a concentrated dose of action right to your brain with only the bare minimum of set dressing or tutorializing.

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While there are a lot of action games out there that do things Hollywood style, with perhaps a little too much buildup before the fun starts, there are also plenty that know how to cut to the chase and show the fun bits right away. If these games do have any cutscenes or tutorials between the moment you press start and the first time you actually get to do something, they’re either brief or entertaining enough in themselves that you don’t mind their presence.

10 Haste

Off to a Running Start

When you were very young, what was the first thing you usually did when you wanted some quick excitement? For me at least, it was to just pick a direction and start running as fast as my stubby little legs could carry me. Speed is inherently fun and exciting, and no action game understands that better than Haste.

Haste is an action roguelike that’s all about running forward as fast as you possibly can. There’s a very brief cutscene and tutorial, but they’re collectively a couple of minutes, tops, and soon enough, you’ll be riding, gliding, sliding, and occasionally falling off a clif. The game is all about getting into a freerunning flow state, internalizing the best times to jump and the best ways to angle yourself for clean landings to preserve your speed.

Haste does have a lobby area you can bum around in between level runs, but for the most part, there’s very little downtime. If you’re not running, you’re not escaping the collapse of reality encroaching upon you from behind, and that doesn’t do anyone any favors.

9 Megabonk

No Time to Waste

Something mildly paradoxical about survivors games like Megabonk is that, despite being an overtly time-focused subgenre that encourages you to drag things out as long as possible, they tend to get going right off the bat. I guess, when the game is encouraging you to survive as long as possible, there’s no real point in weighing you down with tutorials or cutscenes. We all know what we’re here for, so let’s get to it.

The moment you pick your character and load up a map in Megabonk, you’re already off to the races, with enemies encroaching upon your position and bullets flying out at steady intervals. While not to the same level as you’ll eventually be, your character is already very mobile, able to slide down inclines and jump over gaps. You also gain your first few levels very quickly at the start of a run, which helps to get that little spark of serotonin firing and gluing you to the screen.

Much like its chief inspiration, Vampire Survivors, Megabonk feels no particular need to drop a bunch of lore on you. Well, technically Vampire Survivors has a bestiary, so I guess Megabonk is even more curt than that. Hey, I’m not complaining.

8 Antonblast

Everyone Loves Irresponsible Behavior with a Hammer

A certain subset of sidescrolling action-platformers places a greater emphasis on speed and momentum than you may normally expect. Maybe this is accomplished through end-level rewards or time-locked bonuses, but the best examples of this just make you want to go fast because it feels good. Antonblast knows how to make its platforming feel good.

Following a brief, very amusing cutscene outlining the story’s basic premise, Antonblast drops you into its first level, sprinkling quick tutorials throughout its first few screens. The key to the game’s core loop is Anton’s Clutch dash, which allows you to gradually boost your speed and momentum with rhythmic button presses on the side meter. Both the platforming and combat build off the Clutch, allowing you to slingshot off of enemies and rocket into the air.

It helps that performing a Clutch alongside its dashes produces extremely satisfying explosion noises that make you just want to keep doing it for its own sake. It’s a simple kind of fun, but there’s nothing wrong with simple as long as it works.

7 Hotline Miami

If You’re Stopping to Aim, You’re Doing it Wrong

If you’re specifically playing a game like Hotline Miami, and are in the market for a spot ol’ ultraviolence, you’re probably not looking to put too much thought into the process of it all. Hotline Miami knows you’re not there to have an existential discussion, at least not right off the back. No sir, you’re there to put on a silly mask and do unpleasant things to gangsters.

Hotline Miami’s initial tutorial is about a minute-and-a-half long, followed by about a minute of cutscenes, and then it’s brutality all the way down. From the very moment you step out of your cool 80s car and put on a chicken mask, you’re brutalizing mafiosos with blunt instruments and assault rifles.

Not unlike Haste, Hotline Miami’s ideal state of being is a flow state, though the difference is that if you die, and you will probably die, there’s virtually no stalling in gameplay. You just hit R to reload your checkpoint and rush right back into the proverbial wheat thresher. Hotline Miami is a game of pure, single-minded perseverance, gradually battering away at this wall of hostile bodies until you find the perfect plan of attack.

Countdown to Rules of Nature

If I were to describe the appeal of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance in a single word, that word would probably be “setpieces.” The game has more than a few standout setpieces that, when it first came out, were regularly shared around to succinctly demonstrate how awesome it is. One of the game’s best setpieces occurs within the first ten minutes or so, so you can imagine how good it was at getting incoming players to lock in.

Compared to some of the other games on this list, Revengeance does have a little more warm-up before getting into the meaty bits of its action. In typical Metal Gear fashion, there are some talky cutscenes, and the basics of the combat system can take a bit of practice in the tutorial to wrap your head around.

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However, once you’ve gotten over that initial hurdle, you’re only minutes away from single-handedly battling a Metal Gear RAY with a katana while “Rules of Nature” blares in the background. If this moment doesn’t get your engines revving right away, I don’t know what to tell you.

5 Enter the Gungeon

Point, Shoot, Dodge

I definitely think it’s important for an action game to have a tutorial, especially if it’s got more complicated mechanics than “move right and jump.” However, the best kind of tutorial doesn’t just teach you controls, it informs the gameplay, giving you proper situations in which to experience it. Enter the Gungeon’s tutorial is a good example of this.

Enter the Gungeon’s tutorial (which is technically optional if you want to skip to the game proper) shows you all the basics like switching and using guns and items, reloading, flipping tables, and of course, dodge rolling. Rather than just telling you all of this and sending you on your way, the tutorial gives you scenarios to properly experience it all, like blocking bullets with tables or dodging over hazards. It’s a good warm up to set your expectations for what’s coming up.

When you’re done with that and enter the actual Gungeon, you’re already armed with the knowledge you need, which helps to make your first run a good, strong one. There’s no greater sin that a roguelite could commit than subjecting you to a lousy first run, after all.

4 Cuphead

Cut to the Punchline, Fellas

Something I enjoy about old-timey, rubberhose cartoons is that they tended to be very upfront with their shtick. You watch a cartoon called “Doofus Jumps off a Cliff,” he’s probably going to be jumping off that cliff in short order. Being inspired by those kinds of cartoons, Cuphead carries that particular ethos into its gameplay design.

Cuphead’s initial story is just a few still images with captions, followed by a brief tutorial that most people can get through very quickly. After that, you get to choose your first stage, and since this game is built primarily around boss fights, you’ll be very quickly thrust into the midst of a wild, wacky shootout against a big, dumb slime or a cadre of hostile root veggies. You might also pick the first run ‘n gun stage by chance, but that’s just a different flavor of action, and still fun besides.

In addition to its cartoon roots, Cuphead is also heavily inspired by classic run ‘n gun games like Gunstar Heroes, which were equally capable when it came to cutting to the chase. Base a game on two mediums known for their brevity, and it’s no wonder that Cuphead gets rolling so quickly.

3 Bayonetta

Makes Quite a First Impression

Character-action games have another, unofficial moniker coined by Ben “Yahtzee” Crosshaw: “spectacle fighters.” The entire purpose of these games, both in their gameplay and presentation, is to do things as stylishly and rapid-fire as possible in order to really get your blood pumping. Bayonetta is one of the archetypal illustrations of this concept.

After a cold opening in which you’re already pummeling angels on a falling clocktower, the game’s intro sequence then has Bayonetta herself laying a comparable beatdown on even more angels in a graveyard while a poppy rendition of “Fly Me to the Moon” plays. It may just be a cutscene, but it’s the kind of cutscene you can have plenty of fun just watching, enjoying both the action and the sight gags.

Once the actual gameplay starts, the pace doesn’t slow at all, with the basic actions explained fairly quickly before you move on to Bayo’s rapid combo punches, kicks, and gunfire. After getting all hyped up from the cutscene, you’re already champing at the bit to get a try yourself, and that’s how the game draws you in.

2 Hi-Fi Rush

Crank Up the Jams

The best, most memorable part of a really good song is usually right around the chorus, a minute or so in after the pace of it has already been set. It gives you time to settle in, but doesn’t keep you waiting too long. That’s kind of what Hi-Fi Rush is like: a really good song that knows exactly when it’s time to start shredding.

As a hybrid character-action and rhythm game, Hi-Fi Rush needs a little extra time to get into its proper grove by virtue of its genres. Instead of letting you spam attacks mindlessly from the drop, it takes a moment to really get you properly acquainted with its environmental and combat rhythm systems. Of course, said systems are a lot of fun to engage with, so this isn’t time I mind spending, especially if it leads to greater backpay fun as it goes.

With the combination of its basic gameplay premise and colorful style, Hi-Fi Rush is one of those games that made an excellent impression from the moment players saw it, to say nothing of the first time they booted it up. I guess that explains how it did so well despite being a shadow drop.

1 Hades

The Birth of an Addicting Feedback Loop

We’ve covered a lot of roguelike and roguelite games here today, and for good reason: when it comes to getting to the action, you can generally rely upon a subgenre of game that’s specifically meant to be played over and over with minimal downtime. It shouldn’t come as a surprise, then, that one of the subgenre’s best examples, Hades, also understands that brevity is the soul of wit.

While Hades’ story is one of its absolute best components, it also understands that the story can’t draw you in without solid gameplay setting the stage and backing it up. This, presumably, is why your very first run of Hades takes only about 25 seconds to get going after you start. We immediately join Zagreus on his first escape attempt from the House of Hades, launching directly into pummeling the wretches of Tartarus and picking up boons from the Olympians.

While you probably won’t win this first run, it’s an excellent way to get you picking up what the game is putting down, as well as illustrating the run-to-run progression after you return to the House for the first time. I can’t speak for everyone else in the world, obviously, but after my first run of Hades, I immediately smiled and said, “oh, I like this.”