Summary
First-Person Shooter video games have been a staple of the gaming industry for years and the time it took to perfect the genre had us seeing all sorts of unique video games. What started with some niche developer having a go at funkier camera controls, ended up creating the most well-known single-player and multiplayer shooter games to date.
When it comes to these shooters, depending on your preference, you’ll enjoy that some games just love to test your limits. Whether it’s brutal AI, complex mechanics, unforgiving environments, or just plain old competitiveness with other players, these titles demand dedication and skill before you’re ready to start enjoying the gameplay loop.
For the first few hours of playing S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, you’ll be appropriately challenged unexpectedly. The gunplay is difficult for your average FPS, and the survival aspects were ahead of their time for any other First-Person Shooter when it was released.
Plus, there’s a steep learning curve, and you’re on your own to figure out the mechanics like the anomalies that can strike anytime. With each firefight, you’ll better learn the game, but it’ll take you a while before you’re good at it.
Halo is known for its skill-based multiplayer, andHalo Infiniteis no exception.You’ll need to be good at aiming, obviously, but movement is the main hurdle, and getting good at movement will do wonders in multiplayer. The difficulty is ultimately much more forgiving than the older Halo games like Halo 2 or 3 when it comes to the campaign.
The campaign, while more accessible, gets tough on higher difficulties if you want to focus on single-player. With Halo Infinite, the more you play, the more you learn and the best players in this game are those who have years of experience consistently polished over time to where you may even predict the RNG gun jams.
Call of Duty: World at Waris one of those games that is completely unfair if you crank it up to maximum difficulty. In veteran difficulty, you have a much more brutal AI and a limited amount of progress you get to make at a time.
Simply peaking at the wrong time will end you, so you now have to start all over again from the previous checkpoint, erasing a lot of progress in the process. The game also throws chaotic sequences at you, like defending against waves of enemies that are seemingly never-ending, but because it’s so old, we can’t hold the gameplay mechanics against it.
The fast-paced combat of the severely underrated FPS,Titanfall 2, both as a pilot and on a Titan, demands lightning-fast reflexes and decision-making. Mastering movements like wall-running, sliding, and parkour is essential to outmaneuver your opponents in a big way. The basics are easy, but becoming a top-tier player takes serious practice.
Multiplayer is a steep learning curve, and getting started is as difficult as ever for this first-person shooter, but single-player is as hard as the difficulty setting. At the Master level, you’re going to have a bad time, but as long as you keep practicing and trying, it’ll get easier.
You might think that you’re the never-ending boss fight inDoom Eternal, but as you crank up the difficulty,it gets exponentially harder to navigate the arguably beautiful-looking hell. You must constantly be on the offensive, juggling weapons, abilities, and movement to rip and tear through hordes of demons.
The diversity of demons with unique abilities has made it so you’re going to have to adapt to the different enemy types. And it’s not as easy as just running and shooting, some parts require in-depth strategizing and maybe multiple attempts to finally break through.
Apex Legendsis a free-to-play class-based battle royale game that combines fast-paced, team-based combat with hero-shooter elements that make the gameplay variety difficult to master.
Coordination and communication with your squad are essential to survive and outwit other teams. To stand a chance, you have to master movement, aim, and each Legend’s unique abilities, which takes a lot of time and practice. The competitive landscape is populated with highly skilled players, making climbing the ranks a nightmare for new players,but it’s well worth the time since it’s one of the better battle royale FPSs.
Valorantis a tactical shooter that blends precise gunplay with strategic use of agent abilities, kind of like a combination of Counter-Strike and Overwatch. Each round is a tactical dance on a map that you have to learn well while keeping in communication with your team and coordinating your attacks or defenses.
You have to learn every Agent and understanding how to effectively combine their abilities with your team is key to outsmarting and ultimately winning. Valorant has effectively perfected the 5v5 gameplay, and its difficulty is a symptom of the hyper-competitive player base,and the fact that virtually any PC these days can run this game.
Escape From Tarkovis a hardcore, realistic first-person shooterthat combines survival mechanics with intense encounters with other players. The game features incredibly detailed weapons and ballistics, and the realism with mechanics like recoil gives other games on this list a run for their money.
Every decision you make carries weight, as losing your gear can set you back significantly. Tarkov has a steep learning curve and has so many layers of difficulty that can really take a while to get passable at, with the best skill being to pick and choose the fights you get into.
Rainbow Six Siegeis an immensely popularFPS tactical shooter that emphasizes teamwork and strategic planning every round. Each Operator has unique gadgets and abilities that must be used effectively to gain the upper hand, but raw skill is useless if you don’t know how to coordinate.
The destructible environments create unpredictable gameplay, forcing you to adapt on the fly unless you’re a professional and have already thought of every possibility. Mastering the game’s intricate mechanics and map layouts requires countless hours of practice, and most First-Person Shooters never reach this level of depth.
Just like the previous entry,Counter-Strike 2has a skill ceiling so high, that you’ll reach heaven before you reach the top ranks. Like most other team-based FPS games, teamwork and communication are the name of the game, as coordinating attacks and strategizing with your teammates is essential to winning.
you’re able to be excellent at the game, but as long as you don’t know how to coordinate,even with precise map knowledge and a killer aim, the highly competitive community makes climbing the ranks a constant challenge. As one of the hardest FPS’s out there, Counter-Strike 2 will constantly be the peak of competitive gaming until someone finds a way to make a more addictive game-play loop.
