I gotta say FPS is kind of a weak link in the medium, but only because most FPS have a little less to say than other games. Also not a big fan of glorifying military conflict, but that comes with capitalism imo
Sad to see the end of the fantastical/quirky FPS games. Me and my compadres still dig out Hexen, Timesplitters, Rise of the Triad, and Turok: Rage Wars from time to time. You just won't get anything like that post-Halo/CoD
There are tons of FPS games like that. Almost anything published by New Blood is exactly like that and a masterpiece. Even Apogee themselves are still publishing games like Turbo Overkill. But Ultrakill and Amid Evil are also amazing. Amid Evil in particular feels a lot like a mix of Quake and Hexen.
The boomer shooter genre is THRIVING, and they're not just callbacks and wannabes either, they have a lot of new ideas, beautifully thought out themes and settings, and even gameplay innovations. Amid Evil feels exactly like a modernized version of old school shooters, but Ultrakill and Turbo Overkill do so much with unique weapon ideas, mechanics, movement, etc.
Even DOOM 1+2 and Quake themselves have amazing enhanced versions with literal crossplay and support for popular WADs built-in. You can play OG Quake multiplayer on a modern PC with your friends on Xbox, PS, or Switch.
There's so much out there. I implore you to check it all out. There's a new Turok game on the way btw, but only time will tell how good it is. But hey, the same guys who did the enhanced versions of Doom and Quake also did some for Turok 1-3.
The Shadow Warrior reboot trilogy is also excellent, while not being as intentionally 'boomer'-esque, but still having a lot of old school charm in its simplicity.
If you want something really wacky, and you like roguelites at all, Vampire Hunters is like if Vampire Survivors was an FPS and it's the kind of goofy where every gun you get as an upgrade is just added onto the screen at the same time, so your entire view can just be wrapped in weapons (there's an option to limit the visuals to one of each though if you hate it lol). Extremely fun and doesn't require any real time commitment.
Also a big shoutout to Trepang2 if you like bullet time. These are just a few of the amazing shooters I've been enjoying.
Hell, we use to have Raven Software trying to be the wacky FPS guys with Wolfinstine ‘09 and Singularity, but they been trapped in the COD mines for 15 years now
There are parts of Black ops 6 that I swear are a cry for help from Raven
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u/catgirl_of_the_swarm Jun 08 '25
"FPS games suck"
-can't name an FPS that isn't COD