Best Games Like Max Payne

Highlights

• Max Payne is an influential third-person shooter with a dark neo-noir narrative, high-octane action, and a cinematic bullet-time mechanic.
• Games like The Hong Kong Massacre, Total Overdose, Rollerdrome, My Friend Pedro, and Control capture similar tones and gameplay elements to Max Payne.
• These games offer stylish combat, slow-motion mechanics, and intense action sequences, providing a satisfying experience for fans of Max Payne.

Max Payne, developed by Remedy Entertainment, is arguably one of the most influential and innovative third-person shooters of all time, going on to spawn two well-received sequels, one being the revered Max Payne 3, the only game in the trilogy not developed by Remedy.

Max Payne features a dark neo-noir narrative and an unsettling atmosphere combined with high-octane action and a bullet-time mechanic that makes combat encounters feel cinematic and fluid. It’s hard to find games that match the tone and gameplay of Max Payne, but certain titles have managed to capture similar feelings to that of the classic action shooter.

Updated on February 3, 2024, by Harry Ted Sprinks: Max Payne is arguably one of the most influential games of the early 2000s, innovating with its fast-paced action gameplay and ingenious bullet-time mechanics. With more recent titles such as Rollerdrome and El Paso, Elsewhere continuing the popular trend of style-focused gameplay and bullet-time mechanics, the future is looking bright for fans of Max Payne looking for a similar experience.

10 The Hong Kong Massacre

A Stylish 3D Top-Down Shooter

• Platform(s): Nintendo Switch, PS4, PC
• Released: 2019
• Developer(s): VRESKI
• Genre(s): Top-Down Shooter

The Hong Kong Massacre combines the effortless style of Max Payne with the break-neck pace and lethal action of Hotline Miami. It does this by borrowing the slow-motion dives and bullet-time from Max Payne and throwing the player into Hotline Miami-inspired levels that are filled with low-health enemies who pack a meaty punch.

The Hong Kong Massacre‘s visual style, gritty atmosphere, explosive effects, and destructible environment allow the game to feel alive as players barge their way through it. Furthermore, the game’s 3D, top-down perspective, as well as its slow-motion mechanics, allow players to take in the action in a way they could never do in games like Hotline Miami.

9 Total Overdose

A Ridiculously Silly Third-Person Shooter With Stylish Combat

• Platform(s): PlayStation 2, Xbox, PC
• Released: 2005
• Developer(s): Deadline Games
• Genre(s): Third-Person Shooter

Set in the late 80s and sporting a wildly aged aesthetic, Total Overdose may be hard for players to get their teeth into. However, despite the game’s double-crossing, gun-smuggling, drug-fueled story being somewhat subpar, the game’s fast-paced action is as stylish as it is satisfying.

The game’s slow-motion, dodge-shooting, and variety of satisfying weaponry, make it an experience that’s perfect for Max Payne fans. Unlike Max Payne, however, Total Overdose is decidedly silly and lacks the gritty neo-noir atmosphere that made Max Payne so memorable.

8 Rollerdrome

An Arena-Shooter About Rollerblading

This third-person action game combines third-person shooter gameplay with rollerskating, tasking players with keeping up their score by performing tricks and avoiding damage while completing the various challenges of each level and defeating enemies with an array of unique weapons.

Rollerdrome also features bullet-time, permitting players to pull off cinematic tricks and kill shots amid the chaos, allowing for gameplay that’s highly reminiscent of Max Payne’s action sequences. However, Rollerdrome swaps out the gritty neo-noir setting for pulpy science fiction.

7 My Friend Pedro

A Side-Scrolling Shooter

This highly stylistic side-scrolling shooter published by Devolver Digital features a cinematic bullet-time mechanic similar to Max Payne and fast-paced action that’s reminiscent of games like Hotline Miami, wrapped up in a loose narrative laid out by a speaking banana.

My Friend Pedro is focused on style, allowing players to split their aim between their weapons to shoot different enemies at the same time. When this is combined with the game’s slow-motion and ricocheting bullets, My Friend Pedro becomes one of the most fluid action games in recent years.

6 Control

A Mind-Bending Third-Person Shooter

This third-person action-adventure game shares a developer with the original Max Payne in the form of Remedy Entertainment, and although it doesn’t feature any bullet time mechanics and has gameplay that is certainly distinct from Max Payne, the two games have a similarly unsettling tone and uneasy atmosphere.

Control also has cinematic, high-octane action and a compelling narrative to drive the player forward. The game’s setting, “The Oldest House,” is one of the creepiest, strangest, and most intriguing settings in modern video games, featuring an almost alien aesthetic that perfectly fits the game’s narrative.

5 F.E.A.R.

Slow-Motion Action Horror

Known for its high-octane, destructive FPS gameplay and highly intelligent enemy AI, FEAR also features a creepy, unsettling atmosphere and a horror-like narrative that helps to keep things fresh between the game’s countless brutal combat encounters.

Like Max Payne, FEAR features a bullet time mechanic that is almost necessary to use due to the chaotic action and challenging enemy AI. Despite the game’s first-person perspective, lack of enemy variety, and relatively mundane environments, FEAR captures the same feelings that Max Payne did with its bullet-time-fueled cinematic action and unnerving tone.

4 Trepang2

Fear Meets Max Payne 3

• Platform(s): PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
• Released: 2023
• Developer(s): Trepang Studios
• Genre(s): First-Person Shooter

This game takes heavy inspiration and influence from games like FEAR and Max Payne 3, featuring a horror narrative and high-octane gunplay fueled by bullet-time mechanics and a cinematic drop-slide that allows players to maneuver through combat encounters with fluidity.

Although it could be argued that Trepang2 lacks in its narrative and setting, it more than makes up for it with its gruesome, cinematic FPS combat and hyper-polished, over-the-top gunplay that allows players to dispatch entire rooms of enemies with extreme prowess. Bullet time, dual-wielding, and powerful weapons are key when attempting this title.

3 Maximum Action

A Low-Poly FPS Inspired By Hong Kong Cinema

• Platform(s): PC
• Released: 2018
• Developer(s): George Mandell
• Genre(s): First-Person Shooter

This physics-based FPS takes heavy inspiration from Hong Kong action cinema and features slow-motion gunplay that’s not dissimilar to The Matrix. At times, it allows players to feel like action movie heroes as they blast their way through the game’s various old-school environments in low-poly bloodbaths.

Maximum Action takes clear inspiration from Max Payne, and fans of the original game will notice similarities in the design of Maximum Action‘s character models, even if the visual style is a little more colorful on the surface. Although Maximum Action features a first-person perspective, its cinematic, action-packed gameplay is sure to satisfy Max Payne fans.

2 El Paso, Elsewhere

Psychedelic Max Payne Action

• Platform(s): Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC
• Released: 2022
• Developer(s): Strange Scaffold
• Genre(s): Third-Person Shooter

Although El Paso, Elsewhere features a variety of creepy creatures and psychedelic environments in the form of its strange motel setting, it manages to maintain a steady neo-noir tone and theme that’s incredibly reminiscent of the original Max Payne while carving out its distinct narrative.

El Paso, Elsewhere features a bullet-time mechanic that allows players to enter slow-motion, even performing slow-motion dives as they take down the game’s variety of horrific creatures. The game features an old-school look that’s been heavily stylized, making for a visually unique experience. Furthermore, the game’s narrative is fairly compelling and makes up for the derivative gameplay.

1 Stranglehold

John Woo’s Take On Max Payne

• Platform(s): PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC
• Released: 2007
• Developer(s): Midway Games / Tiger Hill Entertainment
• Genre(s): Third-Person Shooter

This video-game sequel to director John Woo’s classic 1992 action film Hard Boiled takes the undiluted cinematic combat of Max Payne and switches up the neo-noir theme for an over-the-top Hong Kong action rollercoaster.

Stranglehold plays at a breakneck pace, often throwing action set-pieces at the player and packing rooms full of enemies that make combat encounters chaotic rumbles in which there are always several bullets flying. The player can also take advantage of the game’s interactable environments. The only negative to Stranglehold is that it offers fairly little challenge, but it’s still worth playing for fans of Max Payne who don’t mind the lack of an unsettling neo-noir tone.