The 15 Best Shooters on PC
Competitive projects, cooperative and single adventures – in this list there are games for every taste.
1. Half-Life 2
The second part of Half-Life is a revolutionary game. Both in terms of technology (innovative facial animation and physics), and in everything else. The gameplay is closely related to the plot, which is presented without cutscenes: everything happens right in front of the main character.
In the 15 years since the shooter’s release, very few games have appeared equal to it in quality and ingenuity.
2. Titanfall 2
The developers of Titanfall 2 made the game based primarily on unusual ideas. What if you get the player to travel through time while they run across walls? Or put it in a house that’s being built in real time in a futuristic factory? Or let a huge robot throw the hero from one spaceship to another.
And in addition to the amazing levels in the game, there is excellent shooting and a plot about friendship and loyalty.
3. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
The last at the moment the embodiment of the cult Counter-Strike was released in 2012, but Valve actively supports the game, adding new maps, changing the balance of weapons and holding events.
However, this is a classic CS. Here you still need to buy at the beginning of each round, rescue hostages and put or defuse bombs. And the main thing is to use tactics.
Download Counter-Strike: Global Offensive →
4. F.E.A.R.
F.E.A.R. is one of the most successful attempts to combine shooter and horror. The player assumes the role of a soldier of the special services, who must investigate brutal murders. The case involves a sinister corporation that conducts experiments on people, and a terrible girl, Alma, who knows how to tear villains into bloody stuns with one power of thought.
Fortunately, the protagonist has the means to overcome all the difficulties. He skillfully manages a wide arsenal of weapons and knows how to slow down time.
5. Battlefield 1
Another rebirth of Battlefield turned out to be surprisingly successful. The developers remade the outdated formula, choosing as a basis the little-studied in the games of the First World War.
Guns became less long-range and powerful, advanced equipment was replaced by the first tanks and less nimble aircraft, cavalry appeared. Surprisingly, the game did not lose its fascination. On the contrary, the gameplay seems to have become more focused, and the battles are more epic.
6. Doom
The reboot of the cult series was done for a long time, but the wait was worth it. The shooter turned out to be driven and violent. The protagonist, the Executioner of Rock, does not run from the battle, but goes ahead, breaking the demons with his bare hands and cutting them into pieces with a chainsaw.
There are no shelters, no self-healing, no recharge. Everything is old school – first aid kits, constant change of weapons, non-stop movement.
7. Borderlands 2
Borderlands 2 is a mix of shooter and action-RPG. Several heroes, each with their own skills and abilities, travel through a huge world, complete tasks, communicate with characters and knock out mountains of loot from enemies.
The game has a lot of Gearbox’s signature humor. Just look at the quest “Shoot the guy in the face”, which is given out by a dude shouting: “Shoot me in the face!”
The most fun thing to play with friends is to share loot, challenge each other to a duel and laugh at the crazy antics of the locals.
8. Bulletstorm
At Bulletstorm, killing is an art. Enemies can be pushed on spikes and electric fences, shot, dismembered in several ways, blown up and much more. Also, any of these actions can be collected in combos – they give much more points.
The game was designed by Gears of War. Therefore, the main characters here are the most masculine militarists. Their problems and goals are appropriate: betrayal, revenge and all that.
9. Overwatch
When Overwatch was announced, many predicted its failure. The game was similar to a clone of Team Fortress 2 with two dozen heroes instead of nine.
A few years later, the shooter became one of the main competitive games on the market. Millions of people play In Overwatch, fabulous amounts are played in tournaments, and the announcement of each new hero becomes an important event for the gaming community. The shooter is suitable for everyone: both those who play for fun, and those who are aimed only at winning.
10. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: The Call of Pripyat
Of the three parts of “Stalker”, it was “Call of Pripyat” that turned out to be the most thoughtful and high-quality. The system of factions and relationships with them, squads, vast locations, a clear plot with memorable characters: the game was a huge leap forward after “Clear Sky”.
The main gameplay loop (went on a sortie, gained loot, sold loot) was brought almost to perfection: even after passing the plot, you want to continue playing. Especially the developers were successful side missions: it is worth remembering at least the hunt for a vampire stalker or cleaning up the basement with dozens of sleeping bloodsuckers.
Buy S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: the call of Pripyat →
11. Far Cry 3
Far Cry 3 is the first really successful part of the series from Ubisoft. The developers managed to find an almost perfect balance between realism and arcade. The game was so successful that the next four parts repeated it almost verbatim. Only the setting and individual gameplay mechanics changed.
Most of all in the shooter the plot and characters are remembered. The protagonist goes from a spoiled daddy’s son to a real killing machine. He meets crazy, strange and mysterious characters – to match the situation in which the guy found himself.
12. Rainbow Six Siege
Rainbow Six Siege is one of the most unusual team shooters in the industry. Any mistake here can cost a victory: the surfaces in the game are easily broken, so information about the location of opponents here is worth its weight in gold.
You have to simultaneously try to find out the enemy positions and not give out your own. The game has about ten operatives with unique abilities and weapons, so that each match turns into a triumph of tactics and skills.
13. Metro Exodus
The action of the third part of Metro takes place almost entirely on the surface. Artem and his team travel around Russia, finding themselves in the swamps, then in the desert, then on the banks of the Volga. The gameplay compared to previous games has not changed so much: except that now you can go wherever you want, and not just forward through the tunnels.
Almost all the features that made Metro 2033 and Last Light memorable remained in place. The atmosphere of a lost civilization is felt even more strongly, the possibilities of customization of weapons have expanded, the fighting has become more intense, and research is encouraged more than ever.
True, the story noticeably lost in dynamics, but the adventures did not become less. It’s just that they now occur not according to the plot, but in the process of exploring huge locations.
14. Left 4 Dead 2
Left 4 Dead 2 is one of the few shooters to focus on co-op. The success of the team of players depends on how smoothly they work: they share the found objects, notify about the opponents seen.
Thanks to a unique system called “Director”, each passage is different from the previous one. The game analyzes the behavior of players in real time, and on the basis of this data creates difficulties for them and lays out useful items.
Even in multiplayer, Left 4 Dead 2 never ceases to be a cooperative shooter. Teams are just on opposite sides of the experience: some have to try to survive and others have to prevent them from doing so.
15. BioShock
Cult shooter and spiritual successor to System Shock. First, the game attracts with a setting: an underwater metropolis, which was destroyed by destructive ideas and human weaknesses. The protagonist arrives there, it would seem, by accident and immediately rushes to solve the problems of local residents.
Alternating firearms with plasmids that give superpowers, he fights his way to the main villain. The plot of the game will make the player doubt his role in this story and raise philosophical questions about free will.
