The way I would describe first-person shooter games is simple- there shouldn’t be any sort of checklist tasks between me and the core gameplay loop which usually involves violence. Yes, gaming ‘journalists’ have reignited the violence in video games narrative as a continuation to last year’s Call of Duty shenanigans, but my escapist fantasies don’t comprise of me throwing flowers at angry demons. If I really want something more narrative-focused, I would go and play some RPGs. All that explanation for why you wouldn’t find games like Cyberpunk 2077, Dying Light 2 etc in this list aside, I couldn’t find a single article on the internet that comprised of FPS games that were primarily focused on the shooting aspect. Hence I made a list for people like me who are searching for such games.

And before you go ahead and say why there is the obvious exclusion of that one major exclusive by Microsoft, sorry, I simply can’t get excited without seeing some actual gameplay. Not to mention it is being published by Microsoft and seeing how AAA gaming has fallen over the years, my expectations aren’t very high.

The only outlier in this list, Ghostrunner is an FPP arcade action game rather than a shooter. However, we deemed it necessary to be on this list simply because of how good it feels. Ghostrunner can simply be described as a combination of Titnfall and Dishonored with it using the most prominent traversal mechanics from both games- wall-running and teleportation (Blind).

Prodeus is indie Doom, quite literally. If you liked Doom 2016 and are looking forward to Doom: Eternal but won’t be able to buy it Day 1 at 60$, this can be a decent alternative till Eternal drops in price. The developer’s plan is to release it in Early Access in the first quarter of 2020.

5. Witchfire

An FPS from the creators of The Vanishing Of Ethan Carter, Bulletstorm and Painkiller is definitely going to turn some heads. Besides that, the game looks spookily gorgeous coupled with some slick gameplay. The game did catch some flak in a recent video where the game seemed more like Destiny than Painkiller but hopefully, the developers have taken the feedback and gone back to the drawing board to rework that aspect. Shooters should be all about creative guns and fancy ways to kill stuff, not about buffing up numbers.

Easily the most unconventional FPS on the list, TTST gives you the power to manipulate time in a world that is about to be struck by catastrophe. The game is basically a bunch of levels that make you feel like Quicksilver in that one scene from X-Men Days Of Future that everyone remembers. The player goes around the level deflecting bullets and missiles while saving civilians. With added features like a level editor and decent physics systems, this could be a game to look out for.

I will reiterate what people who have been playing the demo feel- This is the spiritual successor to FEAR. With a bunch of powers like invisibility, bullet time and high-speed traversal options, Trepang2 empowers players with the tools necessary to go on a rampage in claustrophobic well-crafted levels. The shooting feels punchy, the visuals are crisp and the mechanics gel very well within the game as they are very well balanced out by extremely good enemy AI where the enemies act like actual human beings moving from cover to cover to swarm and flank the player.

Honestly, the Serious Sam franchise has always received the short end of the stick when it comes to popularity, at least compared to its brethren like Wolfenstein or Half-Life – although on a better note than the mismanaged Duke Nukem series… Anyhow, developer Croteam has continued to pump out new games to relatively moderate success and considering the developer’s track record, the upcoming Serious Sam 4 should be no different. Old school shooters have had some pretty small footprints this gen, minus efforts from indie devs what with old-school throwbacks such as Amid Evil, Dusk and Wrath: Aeon Of Ruin… But it’s about time the AA budget kings make their comeback, and there couldn’t be a better choice than SS4. Ready for more difficulty spikes, hordes of headless screeching Kamikaze and a wide range of lethal, lead pumping machinery? You bet we are. A teaser from the dev points to a 2020 release with an equally appropriate message – it’s time to get serious!

What else could have taken the top spot? Doom (2016) wasn’t just a return to form for the franchise. It felt like an evolution of what first-person shooters could have been like if the genre wasn’t dominated by cardboard corridor simulators like the extremely popular anti-consumer shooter franchise today. The few flaws it did have in the single-player campaign are being ironed out in the sequel, it seems. If there is one change I would definitely want, it will have to be the multiplayer component. Please iD, PLEASE!!! Don’t divide the player base behind DLC paywalls. Oh and please return Doom to its PvP arena shooter roots rather than having that loadout based crap.

I am pretty sure that I missed out on many obscure games that might be coming out and would love to know about them. So do drop by in the comments to let me know.

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