Play These 10 Video Games To Feed Your Summer Olympics Obsession

OK, real talk. You should be locked in to Olympic fencing. It is one of the most exciting sports you can watch, and the Paris games are filled with incredible matchups. If you happened to miss it, I recommend watching the finals of Women’s Foil, which saw defending Olympic champ Lee Keifer put on a masterclass in fencing. Once you realize how great the sport is, you might want to try a game that will give you the experience of being just as good at swordfighting as Keifer. For that you’ll want to try out En Garde!

The 2023 swashbuckling adventure game puts you in the shoes of a dashing swordswoman fighting off a horde of enemies through the streets of a gorgeous Mediterranean city. En Garde! lets you thrust, slash, and cut your way through your opponents in cartoonish but still strategic bouts of action. It might not be as serious as Olympic fencing, thanks to the ability to throw enemies off buildings or into traps, but it feels amazing to wield a sword regardless.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is for the horse girls—always has been. As the best cowboy game ever made it’s no surprise that Rockstar’s stunning epic about the end of the wild west is also a phenomenal horse game. In it you can find different types of horses with different stats, build your relationship with said horses, and brush and dress them up to look their best. It’s what Equestrian events are all about, at least as far as I’ve gathered from my Olympic viewing.

There is really no better game for the horse-obsessed, as you can roam the beautiful frontier on your steed of choice. Run through the wilderness and jump over obstacles or trot along city streets, the choice is yours. You can also name your horse, and to get the full experience I suggest following the American Quarter Horse Association’s official naming rules — there are a lot of them.

If you like watching athletes beat the crap out of each other in the ring, then there really isn’t any other option than Super Punch-Out!! The boxing game lets you work your way through a series of progressively tougher matches in order to become the world champion.

In each match, you choose your strategy, adapting to your opponent’s technique as you decide what type of punch to throw and when to dodge and block. It’s a simple set of mechanics but one that feels endlessly enjoyable to master. Play your cards right during the game and you too can learn what it’s like to knock out your opponent and take home the title.

After making its Olympic debut at Tokyo in 2021, skateboarding is back for the Paris Games. If you happened to catch the Women’s Street finals over the weekend you may have seen skating legend Tony Hawk in attendance, and he’s who we have to thank for our game recommendation.

Both the first and second iconic Pro Skater games got an amazing remake in 2021, and they remain probably the best skating games ever made. If you noticed how laid back the skating competition has been despite being an Olympic competition, you’ll love the Pro Skater games. Vibe out with good music while you shred in a set of awesome venues. Pull off flips and twists or just speed along the course; whatever you do, you’ll be sure to have a great time.

A few games may come to mind when you think about sailing. Perhaps it’s Wind Waker or Sea of Thieves you think of first, but I think Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is the best game for the sport. In addition to letting you command the crew of a large pirate ship on the open waters, you can sing sea shanties!

Now I don’t know if they do that at the Olympics (though I would like to dream) but in Black Flag the singing of your crew makes the sailing experience an absolute delight. For fun you can create your own racing challenges in the game—see how fast you can sail across the game’s map or make little courses to maneuver through. The ocean is your oyster!

In addition to boxing, Judo and Taekwondo bring martial-arts flair to the Olympics and Sifu does them both justice. While Sifu doesn’t exactly use either as the basis for its complex martial arts combat, the ability to combine different kicks, punches, throws, and more makes for perhaps the best approximation of such fighting you can find in games.

To tailor the game to whichever Olympic martial art you prefer, you could limit your options. Maybe try to do an all-kicking run to get the Taekwondo feel. Whatever you choose, mastering the game will surely make you feel like a pro.

No, I didn’t pick FIFA for soccer, sue me. Maybe that would have been the most accurate representation of the sport, as it literally bears the name of soccer’s international governing body, but it’s not the most fun version. That’s all that matters to me personally, hence Mario Strikers! So enjoy kicking the ball around as Nintendo’s iconic characters, with the added addition of special powers.

Both beach and indoor volleyball are big events at the Summer Olympics. To cover both of those, why not play Windjammers? The retro classic is available for Nintendo Switch and lets you face off against opponents in a volleyball-like sport. As opposed to the real sport, Windjammers includes throwing discs around and using special skills depending on your character, bringing some arcade fun to beach-set competitions and making for a great title to play in handheld mode while you watch the real deal on your TV.

Last year’s indie darling Jusant, a game about climbing to the top of a massive peak, was all about minute control over movement. It requires you to press, hold, and release triggers to move the protagonist’s feet and hands along the sheer surface of a cliffside, making it perfect for fans of Sport Climbing.

The Olympic version of rock climbing is a spectacle to behold, as its competitors scale surfaces with impressive speed. Jusant isn’t necessarily about speed but it is about making smart placements to climb up the wall, and when you do reach the top of even the shortest obstacles you get a welcome sense of accomplishment.

There are a lot of different cycling events at the Olympics but Rider’s Republic is squarely for fans of mountain biking and BMX. The Ubisoft open-world sports game lets you ski, snowboard, and even wingsuit your way around the massive map, but the main event is biking.

With such a gorgeous world filled with varied environments to explore, there’s never a dull moment as you bike across Rider’s Republic. On top of riding your way through the rough terrain, you can also pull off some sick tricks and get big air, all without any risk of breaking your bones.

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