Best Bows (and Arrows) in Gaming

Spinning out from the PlayStation thread

Jenuall wrote:With the right controls and "game feel" a bow and arrow can be a wondrous thing to play around with, but many games just make it feel boring.

The motion controls on BotW make landing a shot feel so, so good, or going back to something like Thief and nailing a long bow shot to an unsuspecting guard, compensating for the distance and how it impacts the flight of the arrow etc. so damn satisfying.

This made me wonder what I'd consider the most fun bows in videogames. There are a few to start:

Breath of the Wild

The mid-air slow-mo is probably the best thing about bows in BOTW, and chaining a few choice shots into a dexterous combo of movement and other attacks is oh-so satisfying. That aside, bomb and fire arrow variants are particularly fun for environmental attacks, as is the regular arrow when it comes to shooting through ropes to make bridges fall or to make flaming pots drop onto unsuspecting monsters. Zelda has always been good for using bows to solve puzzles as well as simply for combat, and while BOTW perhaps doesn't deliver quite so much on that with its lack of dungeons, its increased options for combat more than make up for it.

TowerFall

One of my all time favourite competitive multiplayer games, bows are front-and-centre of TowerFall. Through a combination of jumping, dashing and shooting, such a simple premise becomes frighteningly twitchy and tactical. Special arrows like brambles and drills add to the strategy and variety, but the basic core of catching arrows and impaling your friends remains most pointedly satisfying.

Monster Hunter

Bowguns came first, as the name suggests a hybrid, and then bows themselves arrived later. Both are great weapons - all about distancing, keeping yourself at the optimal range to deal maximum damage to your quarry. Couple that with learning monster attack patterns (which become a whole different consideration with ranged weapons) and targeting specific body parts, and bow(gun)s are a constantly engaging way to play. That's before getting into all of the different shot types and skills available!

What are other favourites?

One area where VR just "wins" this argument I think.

Skyrim VR - You feel like god-damn Legolas. The bow is so OP because you can shoot it as fast as you can draw the string back. Which is very fast. I never liked the bow in standard Skyrim. Too slow, too cumbersome to aim, but VR makes its sing. Plus I have a mod that makes a "pew" sound whenever one is fired. Which is low-key hilarious.

EDIT: The only downside is the reduced draw-distance and lower resolution. It can be hard to pinpoint distant enemies.

Not VR but...

Zelda: A Link To The Past - The Bow is fantastic as it is, but the Silver Arrows especially just annihilate almost everything they touch.
So many bosses can be OHKO with them, so it's probably a good thing you only get them at the end of the standard game. But in randomisers it's fantastic being able to breeze through boss fights with them.

Skyrim's bows are good fun and pretty crucial if you're going for a stealthy light armour build.

The lack of variety in the arrow types is a negative, but clearing an enemy camp/cave/area with silent arrow takedowns Rambo-style is always extremely satisfying.

edit: seems Cheeky Devlin isn't a fan of the vanilla Skyrim bow experience - watch yourself sonny, or you'll get a Dwarven arrow to the knee :capnscotty:

Preezy wrote:Skyrim's bows are good fun and pretty crucial if you're going for a stealthy light armour build.

The lack of variety in the arrow types is a negative, but clearing an enemy camp/cave/area with silent arrow takedowns Rambo-style is always extremely satisfying.

edit: seems Cheeky Devlin isn't a fan of the vanilla Skyrim bow experience - watch yourself sonny, or you'll get a Dwarven arrow to the knee

They're ok in the standard game, but most of the time I would only get a few shots in. Plus Bethesda have never really been great at shooting mechanics and it was always a pain to aim I felt. VR just turns them into the best weapons in the game I think.

PostRe: Best Bows (and Arrows) in Gaming by **Hexx** » Mon Feb 03, 2020 4:45 pm

Skyrim - Conjure a bow out and thin air and (assuming you've picked up sniper skills) wreck gooseberry fool u

MHW - Bows are fun, but a little light weight. Seem to have changed in Iceborne were you can break parts/knock down more easily from cumulative damage

Horizon Zero Dawn - a weapon and an incredibly versatile tool

PostRe: Best Bows (and Arrows) in Gaming by **Edd** » Mon Feb 03, 2020 4:46 pm

Rebooted Tomb Raider was first one to come to mind.

I always fall back to using a bow when I play Skyrim. Stealthing through combat and picking enemies off is more satisfying than just charging in and hitting things repeatedly until they die, and while I don't think the actual mechanics of the bow are up to much, I can't fault the great appeal of slow-mo arrow cam.

I think the game lacking locational damage really lets it down. Headshots can look really satisfying, but they're no more effective than a chest shot. For a game that goes on about the damage an arrow can do to a knee, I really wish it had Fallout's limb crippling!

Oh I also really liked the bow in whichever Crysis game it features in. 3? The one set in New York, that came out on PS3/360. That was decent. Compound bows always look so cool :datass:

Far Cry 3's explosive arrows were a thing of beauty.

AC Origins bows are good fun and very satisfying to use.

7256930752

Gears of War torque bow is very satisfying.

Definitely the bow in Wii Sports Resort. Having the Wii Remote Plus and Nunchuk in your hands... reviewing the distance... setting the direction... checking and making adjustments for the wind... letting the arrow go... it's so tactile and effective. A terrific experience!

Last edited by Cumberdanes on Mon Feb 03, 2020 6:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.

The Dragon Slayer Greatbow in Dark Souls is pretty good. If you are prepared to spend the Souls to upgrade and be able to wield it you can make one fairly tough boss fight laughably easy.

Also a shout for bows in Skyrim, at least in a stealth capacity. Pity the rest of the combat blows.

I’ve never tried to use a bow in any other way than stealth based archer in Skyrim, just too much fun. If you can have a similar type of player in The Elder Scrolls 6 that’ll definitely be my first play through. Hopefully they improve the magic, it’s alright to a point but there’s a reason I always go for a battlemage if I fancy a spell based character, that being the damage from magic is pretty poor later on in the game.

Now I want to play Skyrim again

Robbo-92 wrote:I’ve never tried to use a bow in any other way than stealth based archer in Skyrim, just too much fun. If you can have a similar type of player in The Elder Scrolls 6 that’ll definitely be my first play through. Hopefully they improve the magic, it’s alright to a point but there’s a reason I always go for a battlemage if I fancy a spell based character, that being the damage from magic is pretty poor later on in the game.

Now I want to play Skyrim again

And no bad thing

Related:

Yeah, Origins' bow wasn't hot gooseberry fool.

The worst crossbow in games > the worst bow in games.

Bad crossbows are just... Christ, do they get the interns to do 'em or something?!

Gemini73 wrote:
Robbo-92 wrote:I’ve never tried to use a bow in any other way than stealth based archer in Skyrim, just too much fun. If you can have a similar type of player in The Elder Scrolls 6 that’ll definitely be my first play through. Hopefully they improve the magic, it’s alright to a point but there’s a reason I always go for a battlemage if I fancy a spell based character, that being the damage from magic is pretty poor later on in the game.

Now I want to play Skyrim again

And no bad thing

Oh definitely not, should focus time on other stuff like The Witcher 3 rather than starting yet another run of Skyrim! Already planning out perks for another character :fp:

Hime wrote:Gears of War torque bow is very satisfying.

This. Hitting an enemy with the Torque bow knowing that in a few seconds they'll be blown into chunks is lovely.

Best Bows (and Arrows) in Gaming

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