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What are the best FPS games on PC? From the classic physics chaos of Half-Life 2 to Halo Infinite’s beautifully rendered worlds, these are the finest FPS games. For more than two decades, FPS games have been the driving force of the PC games industry. They’ve let us travel from the depths of Hell in Doom to the outer reaches of space in Titanfall 2. Others have taken us on a detour through the likes of Half-Life 2’s zombie-infested Ravenholm, while some have embraced futuristic cities.
Some of these games are old, others are new, and all are great. Wolfenstein 2’s amazing campaign; Rainbow Six Siege’s tight tactical multiplayer; Overwatch 2 and its vast array of amazing heroes. No matter what sort of virtual gunplay you’re after, the following titles will satisfy your itchy trigger finger. So crack those knuckles, and make every shot count. These aren’t only the best FPS games, some of these entries are included in our best PC games too.
The best FPS games are:
RoboCop
There’s something special about videogames that gives you the ability to live out your wildest fantasies. On this list, you’ll find games that let you play as super soldiers and scientists, but this is the only game that puts you in the shoes of Officer Alex James Murphy, aka RoboCop. After a horrific accident that would’ve left most men for dead, Murphy was stitched back up and recreated to become the world’s most dangerous policeman.
As our RoboCop establishes, this game isn’t supposed to be difficult, you’re supposed to feel like an unstoppable monster whose only job is to stop crime. Whether it’s placing parking tickets on cars or killing waves of drug-slinging enemies, RoboCop can truly do it all. We’re not saying RoboCop is the next Half-Life, far from it, but if you want to switch your brain off and blast away criminals, you won’t find anything better than this.
Ghostrunner 2
Okay, so you technically don’t shoot anyone Ghostrunner 2, but you do slash people in first person which is just as good in our book. Set in a cyberpunk future where society has broken down, you play as a cyber ninja ready to stop the AI cult that threatens to wipe out humanity as you know it.
Equipped with a katana and occasionally a motorbike, you’re set with everything you need to drive through neon-soaked environments, slicing and dicing your way through robot enemies. Ghostrunner 2 does everything a great sequel should by improving on its predecessor in almost every way. Give our Ghostrunner 2 review a read to find out why many people consider this to be one of the best games of 2023.
Halo Infinite
Nothing quite beats the feeling of mowing down foes with your battle rifle, tearing across the landscape in a Warthog, or slicing through enemies with your Energy Sword. Halo Infinite masterfully captures the nostalgia and feel of the classic Halo games while keeping it fresh with innovations like a grappling hook and open-world gameplay.
Our Halo Infinite review praises the delivery and emotional weight of Master Chief’s journey across the single-player campaign. There’s also plenty of fun to be had in multiplayer – Halo’s formula of arena-shooter style matches, lengthy gunfights, and Halo Infinite weapon spawns are a refreshing contrast to other FPS multiplayer modes out there.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Alright, we’re going to ignore the massive elephant in the room and simply avoid talking about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3’s terrible campaign. Our Modern Warfare 3 review goes into great detail about what makes this single-player adventure so bad, but we’re going to focus on the positives.
Modern Warfare 3’s multiplayer offering is bigger than ever, with over one hundred weapons to pick from.. and we see the return of several classic MW2 maps. You know what you’re getting with a Call of Duty game – a solid package with some fun maps, incredibly satisfying gunplay, and one of the best war games all-round. If you’re taking on the multiplayer hordes, make sure you take the best MCV loadout with you – there isn’t much better around right now.
Warzone
Set in the fictional Urzikstan, Warzone tasks you with one mission – eliminate your opponents and be the last squad standing. Using the same fantastic gunplay as Modern Warfare 3, Warzone is an exciting, tactical experience that rewards situational awareness nearly as much as it does shooting people in the head.
Squad up, drop in, and get to work. Complete contracts and clear strongholds to gain money and a personal loadout of weapons you curate yourself using the extensive gunsmith feature. You can even mess with your enemy’s psyche using the in-game proximity chat. It’s hard to argue against Warzone – it’s a comprehensive FPS game that also happens to be a free PC game, so you don’t have an excuse not to try it. If you aren’t a fan of making custom setups, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered with our best Warzone loadouts guide.
Quake (2021)
First released in 1996, Quake is undoubtedly one of the foundational cornerstones of the FPS genre. In recent years, plenty of so-called “boomer shooters” have popped up, designed to evoke the same retro charm, labyrinthine levels, and high-speed shooting found in iD Software’s classic 3D games.
Nothing quite compares to the original, but if you missed out on Quake when it first came out, Bethesda released a remastered version of the game during QuakeCon 2021, complete with beautifully updated graphics and even new episodes to play through. Quake’s gothic, medieval dark fantasy setting has never looked so good – but rest assured, the gameplay remains unchanged; time to practice your strafe-jumping.
Black Mesa
Black Mesa is a remake of Half-Life 1, created entirely by fans using the latest Source engine. It took 15 years before Black Mesa reached its 1.0 release, but it finally happened in 2020, and it was well worth the wait. The remake is a reimagined version of the classic single-player campaign, eliminating any dated puzzles and combat sequences to create a succinct experience. The developers even created their own expanded version of the Alien planet, Xen, the final section of Half-Life 1 that was reportedly cut short by Valve. If you haven’t experienced Half-Life and you want to see what you’ve missed out on, Black Mesa is the best way to relive this classic FPS, with some people believing that Black Mesa is better than Half-Life.
Doom Eternal
Doom Eternal takes the gameplay loop of the 2016 smash hit, and as our Doom Eternal review explains so well, ramps everything up to 11. The developers could’ve easily pumped out a sequel that played largely the same as Doom 2016, but they chose to take each core mechanic to another level. Every aspect has been improved, from the number of weapons you have at your disposal, to the movement options that increase the pace of the game.
With all of this extra power comes stronger enemies, equipped with their own set of strengths and weaknesses for you to exploit. You could play Doom 2016 using just one weapon if you wanted to, but Doom Eternal punishes players for sticking to the same game plan. Unless you kill enemies using the range of tools at your disposal, you’re always going to be low on resources.
Borrowing elements from the best action games, Doom Eternal transforms into a lightning-fast shooter that makes players think creatively as they wipe out hordes of Hell’s worst creatures. There’s a good reason why Doom Eternal was our GOTY for 2020, it truly is spectacular.
Overwatch 2
Compare it to Team Fortress 2 or League of Legends if you like – Overwatch 2 has enough in common with both to share some of their appeals, but different enough that it will take months for players to figure out its best character combinations. Some people may not feel like this FPS is a true sequel, sentiments echoed in our Overwatch 2 review, but rather that it’s more of an ‘Overwatch 1.5’ instead.
The switch to 5v5 and the introduction of role lock from the beginning work together to create the best version of Overwatch so far. By reducing the number of tanks on each team, players spend less time firing at shields and more time tackling the objective. Overwatch League has also crystallized the game’s e-sports potential. Don’t worry if you’re not all about eight-hour practice sessions, though – half the charm is the pick-up-and-play appeal, which cements Overwatch 2 as one of the best FPS games on PC. If you’re planning on jumping in for the first time, our Overwatch 2 tier list, and our Overwatch 2 characters guide should give you a good indication of who’s OP right now and who’s just not worth your time.
Counter-Strike 2
Some, including our Counter-Strike 2 review, say that CS2 was perhaps released a little prematurely. Missing a few features from CS:GO, the experience is still a little work in progress, although if you’re looking for a tactical shooter, that both plays and looks lovely, you can’t really do any better than Counter-Strike 2.
CS2 retains the classic 5v5 gameplay the series is known for, but it revamps the ranks and ratings system to let players know where they stand on a global level. While there have been important changes to the gameplay, including the way smoke grenades work, a lot of CS staples haven’t been altered, like the CS2 skins.
Half-Life 2
So much more than an evolution of its superb predecessor, Half-Life 2 is frequently hailed as one of the best PC games of all time. Such accolades are not undeserved, either. The long-awaited sequel to Half-Life is hugely ambitious, benefiting from being developed by a much more confident Valve.
Everything is bigger than the 1998 original: the environments, the enemies, the story – it’s a blockbuster and a smart one at that. There are decent AI companions; real characters who exist to do more than die comically, and physics that transform the world into a seemingly real, tangible place.
Valve again works magic with its environments. Despite often being larger and more open than Half-Life’s, they are still crafted with the same care and attention to detail. And, importantly, they remain memorable, from the haunted streets of Ravenholm to the ominous Citadel, standing over City 17 like a steel and glass tyrant. Age may have worn away some of the sheen, but it remains a striking, compelling FPS game.
Rainbow Six Siege
Thanks to continued support from Ubisoft, Rainbow Six Siege is almost completely unrecognizable from the so-so shooter that emerged with a whimper rather than a bang in 2015. Now, with its burgeoning e-sports scene, a constant flow of Rainbow Six Siege operators, and some of the best multiplayer gameplay around, it has become one of the best shooting games on PC.
Every moment of Siege’s boxed-in battles is fraught with tension and danger, from the moment you start scouting an area with your drone – praying your enemies don’t spot it before you can find the hostage – to that final attempt to save the day by shooting down walls and smashing through the ceiling. Its asymmetrical multiplayer and tactical openness mean that no two rounds play out the same way.
It is a psychological battle as much as it is a series of gunfights; a game about manipulation and control as you attempt to make your foes react in specific ways while you try to keep your own team working together. You never feel safe: an attack can come from anywhere, usually everywhere all at once. After all these years of feeling safe behind walls, Siege’s destructible environments force you to think on your feet and trust no wall.
Siege features a relatively high barrier to entry, but unsure players can jump into the fray cheaply with the Rainbow Six Siege Starter Edition. For those who take to Rainbow’s punishing gameplay, you can be assured Ubisoft Montreal’s shooter is here to stay with new seasons and content coming all the time.
Escape From Tarkov
Countless FPS games tout their realism, but none come close to the obsessive attention to detail paid by Escape from Tarkov’s dev team when it comes to guns, attachments, and ballistics modeling. Not only are there upwards of 60 guns in Escape from Tarkov but each one can be modded up or stripped down to the point where they’re unrecognizable from their off-the-shelf counterparts. You can swap barrels, mounts, scopes, flashlights, foregrips, pistol grips, handguards, muzzle attachments, stocks, charging handles, magazines, receivers, and gas blocks, and choose from several different types of rounds for each ammo type. No two weapons you find in-raid are ever the same.
This leads to plenty of malfunctions for new players and anyone who, er, doesn’t know much about guns. However, after stacks of wasted roubles and an inventory packed full of useless attachments, you’ll soon start figuring out how to fit each attachment before finally forming an emotional bond with your custom build. That last part is especially important as in Escape from Tarkov, if you die in a raid and an enemy loots your body, you’ll lose everything you brought in with you, even your treasured assault rifle.
These brutal rules can make Escape from Tarkov incredibly intimidating for new players, but while it’s easy to lose your valuable gear, it’s just as easy to go into a raid with little more than a pistol and extract with some of the best armor and weapons in the game. Thanks to a player-driven economy, you can even loot a seemingly worthless object like a statue and trade it for a brand-new HK416.
Escape from Tarkov stands out from other FPS and multiplayer games on this list as it mixes PvP and PvE seamlessly. Every raid plays out on a massive map with players spawning around the edges and AI enemies spawning in at key points of interest, usually where good loot can be found. From the start of the match, you have up to 40 minutes to kill, plunder, and make it to one of the designated extraction points. If you die you’ll only get the gear you insured beforehand back, and only if it’s not been looted from your body first. So, how do you escape from Tarkov? Well, we’ve got a comprehensive Escape from Tarkov tips guide here to give you a helping hand. Extraction points are always on the opposite side of the map where you spawned in, so making it through a raid without encountering an enemy is virtually unheard of.
Titanfall 2
EA and Respawn built on everything the first game got right and balanced this shooter sequel’s multiplayer so well it became one of the best PC games of 2016. There’s nothing quite like Titanfall 2’s juxtaposition of crunchy, industrial mech brawling and nimble pilot combat. As you’ll see in our Titanfall 2 campaign review, the solo portion of this FPS also serves as both an excellent intro to the game’s mechanics and a charming, self-contained narrative.
The campaign never tries to outdo the gameplay with epic setpieces or blockbuster bombast. Instead, the raw mechanics serve up all the thrills: wall-running at a group of enemies and blowing them away with a few, satisfying blasts of your shotgun feels exhilarating every time.
Respawn has not only added depth to single-player; a four-player co-op wave mode is an excellent companion to the competitive multiplayer that contains a wide variety of Titanfall 2 classes. Titanfall 2 is a bigger and better beast than before, and a breath of fresh air for the mech games genre as a whole.
While there’s no word on a Titanfall 3, Respawn Entertainment’s battle royale Apex Legends is set in the same universe. Sure, the wall-running is gone, but Apex Legends weapons like the Mozambique and Hemlock serve as a fitting nod to this developer’s wonderful past.
Left 4 Dead 2
Valve’s zombies are not like other zombies. In Left 4 Dead 2, they crash over you like waves, crawling up walls and leaping across gaps. They are accompanied by specials: highly-evolved undead that force you to work together. A Smoker will drag you off into an alley with its long tongue where you’ll be mobbed by common undead. A Hunter will pin you to the asphalt before tearing out your throat. A Boomer will charge right into your face and explode, drowning you in a green gloop.
Even though zombies are a dime a dozen and Left 4 Dead 2 has been around for a long time, the tension, level design, and countless mods ensure it remains a compelling romp. It remains one of the best co-op games on PC.
Team Fortress 2
In this extra shooty, class-based affair, angry cartoon men capture briefcases, escort bombs, and stand on nodes. Team Fortress 2 is brilliant, and it’s still easily one of the best shooting games on PC. It has also evolved, with mountains of user-created content, maps, modes, and new Team Fortress 2 gadgets helping keep the shooter relevant. Online games like this never go out of style.
The premise is as simple as ever: you pick a character from a cast of nine and take your place on a team. Modes include Capture the Flag, King of the Hill, and Payload – the latter seeing a team drive a bomb forward on a rail track, while their opponents desperately attempt to hold them back. It is a classic that has become the flagship mode of Overwatch, but it was refined to perfection here in Team Fortress 2 first.
Valorant
Riot’s hero shooter will be incredibly familiar to fans of CS:GO and Overwatch, but – as we explain in our Valorant review – that’s not a bad thing at all. Valorant has pushed its way right to the front of the competitive FPS pack, and it’s not hard to see why. There’s a bright-eyed cast of heroes to choose from, each with a handful of useful, well-balanced abilities. The weapons and the economic system are straight from CS:GO – they even called the ‘AWP’ the ‘Op’, which is pretty much the same word. Clever.
Matches are intense and require skill, precision, and team coordination. Just like CS:GO, if your aim is shoddy or your reactions aren’t on point you’re in for a rough one – but at least you don’t have to play against a grown adult who has been playing Dust 2 for the past twenty years. Valorant couldn’t be any more geared towards esports, so if you’ve got your eye on a new competitive scene, it comes highly recommended – and if you don’t fancy the commitment of a full match, the Spike Rush game mode is faster, more casual, and offers just as much FPS fun. Check out our Valorant Night Market guide so you can pick up some cosmetics that’ll help you stand out from the crowd.
Unreal Tournament
Epic made a name for itself with Unreal – impressive in a time when shooters were dominated by id – but it was with 1999’s Unreal Tournament that Epic earned its grand moniker. Tournament had the same core concept as Quake Arena but offered an alternative for those looking for a few more frills.
Among the game’s exciting weapons is the BioRifle, which weaponizes toxic sludge. You can even charge it up and release a great bulb of the stuff, using it as a gelatinous landmine. Then there is Redeemer, a rocket launcher that flings a pilotable thermonuclear warhead at your enemies. You should also try the Ripper, which fires saw blades that bounce around corners. Each gun has separate strengths and alternate fire modes that need mastering for you to dominate in the arena.
Tournament’s maps – old and new – are filled with memorably mad architecture. There is nothing quite like leaping in low gravity between the three stratospheric towers in DM-Morpheus – particularly if you can gib someone in mid-air, spraying their gore through the sky.
Superhot
Superhot makes you feel unstoppable, capable of shattering incoming enemies into tiny red shards with a single bullet. In this indie smash-hit, players must navigate their way through waves of enemies that can take you out in an instant, but you’re capable of doing the same to them. While this may sound unfair, you have the advantage of time on your side. In Superhot, time only moves when you do, giving you plenty of thinking time to plan your next move.
Some of the action sequences in Superhot have been lifted directly from movies, allowing you to live out your fantasies of wiping out waves of enemies that want to stop you in your tracks. Featuring a mysterious, yet somewhat confusing story mode, and plenty of post-game content to experience, this unique puzzle/shooter hybrid is well worth playing if you managed to miss it when it launched back in 2016.
So there you have it, the best FPS games on PC. With so many upcoming PC games taking the form of shooters – we can still dream of a Half-Life 3 release date being announced, right? Now is a glorious time to be an FPS fan. So give that trigger finger a stretch, keep practicing your virtual headshots, and maybe download an fps monitor because more frames are never a bad thing.
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[…] of the PC gaming hobby. Take a quick look at the platform’s most-played list and, from FPS games to MMORPGs, you’ll see that a significant proportion of the most popular and best PC games on the […]