It was a magical time when Halo, Gears of War, and Forza had multiple follow-ups and extensive respect. Even before Microsoft slowed down on the exclusives and delved further into Kinect, the Xbox 360 generation offered some legendary releases. Here are our picks for the top 15, as of 2024.

Grand Theft Auto 4

Going from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas to Grand Theft Auto 4 on a new generation of consoles wasn’t easy for Rockstar. However, while the latter had its shortcomings, it’s still a phenomenal entry in the series, with Niko Bellic’s rise through crime showcased in grim, unrelenting fashion. Its improvements to character models and motion capture, the sheer amount of dialogue, the increased scale of Liberty City, and more all made for an incredible sequel.

Duke Nukem 3D

3D Realms’ Duke Nukem 3D hasn’t aged well when examining its more risque elements. At the time, it stood out for imbuing some character into the first-person shooter genre, courtesy of Duke’s one-liners. The environmental interactions and destruction also felt fresh, to say nothing of bizarre weapons like the Shrink Ray for cutting enemies down to size.

SUPERHOT

What should be a gimmicky concept – time only moving when you do – results in an engaging, clever experience in the first-person shooter space. Superhot isn’t just about scoring headshots, throwing weapons, or swinging katanas to take out scores of enemies – it’s the assessment, the moments between each kill, that make it sing.

Valorant

Mix Counter-Strike: GO’s tactical shooting with characters befitting a hero shooter and you get Valorant, in a nutshell. As slow-paced and odd as it may seem, this is also one of the best tactical shooters, if not competitive multiplayer titles, out there. Despite only being out for a little over four years, Valorant offers tense gameplay that’s hard to put down.

Borderlands 3

Ignore the base game’s story, characters and writing for the sake of your sanity, and the gameplay in Borderlands 3 is a significant step up. From the smoother response and feedback and improved mobility to more varied gun types and deeper build crafting, it’s a strong looter shooter, though nowhere near as timeless as its predecessor.

DOOM 1 + DOOM 2

While fairly recent, DOOM 1 + DOOM 2 collects the best of both titles into one excellent package. Boasting all their additional content, Sigil, and a great new campaign by MachineGames, the release is made even better with in-game mod support, a stellar remixed soundtrack and cross-platform multiplayer deathmatch, with 26 new maps to cause chaos on.

Killzone 2

After the infamous E3 2005 incident, Guerrilla Games’ first-person shooter had nowhere to go but up, and subsequently knocked it out of the park. The gorgeous visuals were a factor, of course, but the well-designed missions, gunplay, intelligent AI, and tight level design made for an incredible experience (even if the ending was underwhelming).

Halo 3 ODST

Though not quite the follow-up that fans expected, especially after Halo 3’s thunderous conclusion, ODST was still a worthy side story. It focused on one of the most compelling units, the Helljumpers, as they infiltrated New Mombasa and engaged in urban warfare with the Covenant. Perhaps its biggest contribution is the introduction of Firefight, a Horde-style variant with difficulty modifiers, a shared lives pool, and multiple sets to overcome.

Bulletstorm

People Can Fly and Epic Games had a pretty simple goal with Bulletstorm – gamifying stylish ways to kill the opposition. The story and characters are ultimately secondary; kicking enemies into environmental hazards, sending them sky high for some skeet shooting, and more for extra points is ultimately what sold the experience. Even if it remains underrated (no thanks to its terrible VR port), Bulletstorm is still a hell-raising good time.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat

The Zone remains as haunting as ever in GSC Game World’s S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat, the third title in the series and most compelling yet. Though it has its share of bugs, the sandbox gameplay combined with the atmospheric horror and survival elements make for a harrowing time, whether you’re dealing with Anomalies or the various factions.

Destiny 2

Bungie’s live service shooter has had a long history, one with many ups and downs. Even throughout all of the changes, it remains perhaps the best of its kind. Between excellent campaigns like The Witch Queen and The Final Shape, an unmistakable feel for its weapons, gorgeous art direction, and stellar raids, Destiny 2 is still worth playing.

Unreal Tournament

When Quake 3 Arena was believed to reign supreme, Unreal Tournament appeared out of nowhere and claimed the throne. While the former still held a strong esports presence, the latter was the overall better product, from its map design and visuals to the sheer variety of mode types. Assault alone is an incredible addition to the competitive FPS formula and playing with AI bots actually felt enjoyable, even on the higher difficulties.

Turok: Dinosaur Hunter

Turok may have initially come across as “What if FPS but killing dinosaurs instead of humans?” but surprised many with its exploration and gorgeous visuals on the Nintendo 64. Of course, the combat was no slouch either, as each of the 13 weapons resulted in ample gore. Together, these elements made for an unorthodox but memorable shooter.

Prey (2017)

What could have been with the Prey franchise if Human Head Studios’ sequel wasn’t cancelled? We’ll never know, but in the meantime, Arkane Austin’s 2017 reboot, which embraces a more immersive sim structure and deep space paranoia, is excellent. As Morgan Yu, players must survive in a massive space station overrun with Typhon, but not everything is as it seems. The result is one of the finest first-person titles ever made.

Far Cry 3

Moving away from Far Cry 2’s realistic sandbox, Far Cry 3 went much bigger, returning to the tropical island setting while introducing a compelling new villain. Though the story is far more structured, the open world is rife with quests, enemy camps, wild animals, and much more. To this day, Far Cry 3 remains in a class of its own.

Metro: Last Light

Much as Metro Exodus embraced an open-world-style approach to its large areas, there’s something about Metro: Last Light and its linear narrative. Maybe it’s how well-designed each section felt, whether you were escaping from captivity or slinking through the surface, avoiding contact with its mutants. Perhaps it was the moral dilemmas that Artyom faced. Either way, the series’ brand of survival and fast-paced gunplay is at its peak here.

Star Wars: Battlefront 2 (Classic)

Ignoring the utter cluster that Aspyr’s re-released turned out to be in the online department, the classic Star Wars: Battlefront 2 is still a timeless game. The campaign is enjoyable enough but Galactic Conquest was a game changer of a single-player mode, offering a Risk-like map to fight through and conquer. Multiplayer was still arguably the highlight of it all, especially with 24 maps and modes like Hero Assault.

Medal of Honor (1999)

Developed by Dreamworks Interactive, it was the premiere World War 2 title, immersing players in the conflicts of the time while offering a top-tier presentation. Allied Assault would be more remembered thanks to its recreation of the Battle of Normandy, but Medal of Honor still deserves its flowers.

Left 4 Dead 2

Decried as little more than an expansion pack before launch, Left 4 Dead 2 expanded so much on its predecessor’s already compelling co-op gameplay. New Special Infected, deeper campaigns with more varied objectives, a wider variety of melee weapons and guns, and incredible replay value courtesy of its AI Director were just some of the reasons it stood out. Of course, its modability over the years has also ensured some great laughs.

Resistance 3

As the conclusion to the Resistance trilogy, Insomniac’s Resistance 3 is also its least successful. It’s a shame because, on top of new and old weapons, the atmosphere and dark subject matter added to the stakes, making it feel like humanity’s last desperate attempt to stay alive. While it still needed some polish, the gunplay and overall presentation made for a fitting end to the series.

System Shock (2023)

One of the best first-person titles ever made, System Shock is also far from easy to remake. Nevertheless, Nightdive Studios took a swing, rebuilding the visuals from the ground up while staying true to the far-future cyberpunk aesthetic of the original. Even with the improved UI, overhauled Cyberspace and other changes, it still maintains that sense of dread and terror that defined the original.

GoldenEye 007

Rare was already pretty well-established before GoldenEye 007 and yet, its launch raised the developer’s stock considerably. It isn’t just one of the best video game adaptations of a movie (usually a formula for failure back then), but proof that console shooters could be great. The local multiplayer alone defined many gamers’ lives growing up.

Cyberpunk 2077

After all the updates, revamped perks, and improvements, Cyberpunk 2077 has gone from a good first-person shooter to a great one. It’s backed by actual build variety, whether you’re a manic Mantis Blades user, a Netrunner overloading every single enemy, or skilled in a variety of guns. Of course, everything else that makes the game great, from its side quests to its open-world activities, doesn’t hurt either.

Wolfenstein 3D

While not quite the first-ever FPS made, Wolfenstein 3D is what ultimately led to the genre’s rise. It was frantic and fast-paced, with revolutionary visuals and excellent weapons. Though it offered secrets to discover throughout its ten episodes, the simplicity is ultimately what made it such a universal hit.

Quake 2 Remastered

Crafted with Nightdive’s assistance, the recent enhanced edition of Quake 2 packs all the mission packs, Quake 2 64, and a new episode from MachineGames into one package. Then it adds the id Vault, AI opponents in multiplayer, 4K/120 Hz support, and various quality-of-life features, turning one of id’s best shooters ever into a contemporary must-play.

The FINALS

Embark Studios’ THE FINALS is often forgotten when discussing competitive shooters, especially free-to-play options. Nevertheless, it’s a strong package with some unique modes, dynamic combat thanks to full environmental destruction, and extensive strategy, thanks to the unique gadgets. The arena-style combat may not appeal to everyone, but it still makes for some intense PvP sessions.

Black Mesa

If developing a sequel to Half-Life is challenging, remaking the experience, especially as a small team of fans, is an almost Herculean effort. Yet throughout many years of waiting, Black Mesa was finally a reality, delivering everything we loved about the original with gorgeous revamped visuals and entirely new sections like Xen.

DOOM (2016)

Considering how diminished interest had been in the franchise, it’s a miracle that DOOM even released. The fact that it’s this good is just an anomaly. Everything about it, from the visuals and action, particularly the new Glory Kills, is simply fantastic.

Perfect Dark

GoldenEye 007 showcased Rare’s surprising expertise for incredible first-person shooters and Perfect Dark only solidified it. With a tighter narrative focus and strong characterization (as seen with the iconic Joanna Dark), it weaved stealth, tense gunplay, memorable set pieces, and stellar levels into one cohesive package. The fact that it delivered so much despite the Nintendo 64 nearing the end of its lifespan is an achievement unto itself.

Titanfall 2

While it’s a shame that the original didn’t become all that popular, Titanfall 2’s fate is even more tragic given the sheer quality involved. The multiplayer is much more involved with its variety of Titans, weapon types and abilities (even if some maps could be hit or miss). Furthermore, the campaign is simply an all-timer with its level design, boss fights, and stories, making it worth the price of admission alone.

Half-Life 2

When you’re in Valve’s shoes and Half-Life is the pinnacle of narrative first-person shooters, there are high expectations. Yet, Half-Life 2 surpasses with relative ease, from the presentation and world-building to the story-telling and characters. Each area is memorable and unique; the Combine makes for enjoyable foes to fight; and the Gravity Gun is iconic all on its own.

At the same time, however, it was also clear that the single player first person shooters that had once been the genre’s lifeblood were dying out. Multiplayer was growing in popularity at a rapid rate, and with the likes of Call of Duty, Halo, and Battlefield eating up an increasingly larger share for the market, it felt like there was no room anymore for narrative-driven single player first-person shooters. Or, well, that’s what the majority of us thought, at any rate, because in 2010, along came Ukrainian studio 4A Games’ debut project, Metro 2033, to prove us all wrong.

Developed by a team of former GSC Game World staff that had previously worked on the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series, Metro 2033 was based on a novel of the same name by Russian author Dmitry Glukhovsky, telling the story of a group of survivors in a post-nuclear Russia, living in the cracks and shadows of Moscow’s underground Metro system in order to avoid the heavily irradiated surface. Launching for Xbox 360 and PC, Metro 2033 instantly became something of a poster child for the notion that narrative-driven single player first person shooters still very much had a place in the games industry.

Though the game received some criticism for a few of its technical issues, some clunkiness with its combat, and AI-related bugs, by and large, Metro 2033 was received well by critics and audiences alike, and with its excellent post-apocalyptic setting, its horror elements, its grueling survival mechanics, its excellent story and the way it told it, and more, it instantly endeared itself to a sizeable audience. Though it didn’t set the world on fire with its sales the way so many other shooters at the time would do (especially the multiplayer-centric ones), with over 1.5 million units sold, it became clear that the game had been enough of a success to warrant a sequel.

And it didn’t take long for that sequel to arrive. In 2013, around three years on from the launch of Metro 2033, 4A Games put out Metro: Last Light, and with it, the studio chose to head down a path of its own making. Rather than adapting the second Metro book, Metro 2034, 4A Games instead worked with Metro author Dmitry Glukhovsky to write an original, new story that would serve as a direct follow-up to 2033’s bad ending. Thankfully, it was a risk that paid off, because Last Light continued to prove that there was still a place in the games industry for linear, narrative-driven shooters.

By and large, other than choosing to tell its own original story, Metro: Last Light didn’t stray too much from the path that its predecessor laid out, which meant it had a lot of the same strengths, and a lot of the same weaknesses. The game attracted some criticism for issues related to its AI and its technical state, but at the same time, garnered widespread praise for its story and storytelling, its tense atmosphere, and its stellar storytelling. At the same time, it also made relatively smaller improvements to the gameplay, which came together to uplift the combat and stealth in some noticeable ways.

Like its predecessor, Metro: Last Light was a critical and commercial hit, and it was clear to everyone that another sequel would arrive at some point in the future. The wait for the third Metro game, however, turned out to be a much longer one than the wait for the second one had been. By this point, both the series and 4A Games had become known quantities in the AAA space (to say the least), and with expectations higher than ever, the studio started envisioning a much more ambitious experience for the series’ next instalment.

Metro Exodus arrived six years after its predecessor, in 2019, and though it was a long wait, the game proved to be worth it. One of the biggest changes it made was adopting a semi-open world structure, and taking players out of the dank, cramped, underground tunnels that they had spent the majority of their time in in the first two games. In Metro Exodus, Artyom and his crew travelled the remains of post-apocalyptic Russia, hopping from one large, open-ended map to the next, with the game once again telling an original, new story written in collaboration with Glukhovsky. The game definitely swung for the fences- and for the most part, the results were impressive.

Metro Exodus’ larger emphasis on exploration and the optional content it had on offer lent new weight and depth to the experience, while at the same time, the game also continued to deliver a healthy amount of the tense, linear, guided sections that had been the series’ bread and butter over the course of its two previous instalments. It also continued to tell a riveting story, one that benefited from its larger, more expansive worldview, while gameplay elements like combat and stealth also saw further noticeable improvements.

Unsurprisingly, Metro Exodus went on to become the series’ biggest and most successful game yet. As of February this year, the shooter has sold over 10 million units worldwide, which, of course, means the series’ future is assured. In fact, we already have a pretty good idea of what to expect from Metro in the coming months and years. First up is Metro Awakening, a virtual reality FPS being developed by Vertigo Games that will serve as a prequel to Metro 2033, and is promising a more linear, guided experience in vein of the series’ earlier entries.

And of course, there’s more things to look forward to as well. 4A Games has confirmed on a number of occasions that it’s working on the next Metro game for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. In fact, the series’ next instalment was officially confirmed to be in development all the way back in 2020- but, as 4A Games revealed a little over a year ago, the game’s development had (understandably enough) been impacted by the war on Ukraine. Work on the sequel is still continuing, but it should go without saying that 4A Games’ primary focus right now is going to be ensuring the health and safety of its team, rather than finishing the project. What exactly does that mean for when the next Metro game will arrive? We don’t know, but we do know that it’s coming.

Thankfully, the games industry has gotten to a point where the notion that story-driven single player experiences (especially shooters) don’t have much of an audience doesn’t hold much water, and the Metro series has had a significant role to play in that turnaround. Ironically, 4A Games has confirmed that it’s also working on a standalone multiplayer-centric Metro experience, but honestly, as long as the series also continues to put out the narrative-driven solo experiences it’s become known for, a multiplayer spinoff doesn’t really sound like a bad idea. One way or another, there’s a lot of Metro to look forward to in the future, and we couldn’t be more pumped about it.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

Embracer Group and Saber Interactive’s deal includes an option for the latter to purchase both 4A Games and Zen Studios (developer of the Zen Pinball series). Due to “commercial reasons”, Embracer and Saber haven’t mentioned the exact price that has been set for both studios, but say that it “reflects at least the studios’ market value and is significantly higher than the current net book value (including goodwill) of USD 81 million (SEK 829 million).” This will be on top of additional “earnout liabilities of approximately USD 31 million (SEK 317 million)”.

Interestingly, however, even if Saber should exercise the option to acquire 4A Games, long-term licensing and publishing rights for all existing and future PC and console Metro games will be retained by Embracer-owned PLAION. Metro publisher Deep Silver was merged into PLAION last year.

Embracer has also retained control and ownership of 4A Games’ next AAA project (which will presumably be the next Metro game).

Meanwhile, another Metro title is also currently in the works, with Vertigo Games developing the VR-exclusive first-person shooter Metro Awakening.

A note before we begin: for the purposes of this list, we’re looking exclusively at strictly linear games. If a game is open world, semi-open world, wide linear, Metroidvania, places emphasis on exploration designed around backtracking, or anything of the sort, you won’t see it on this list. We know that’s a pretty strict way of defining linear design in games, but the very purpose of this feature is to celebrate that, after all, so do keep something in mind as we move ahead.

#15. WOLFENSTEIN 2: THE NEW COLOSSUS

MachineGames did an excellent job of redefining the Wolfenstein franchise with 2014’s The New Order, and then took the series’ new formula to even greater heights with its sequel. The biggest strengths of Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus obviously lie in its story and storytelling, and getting to witness its gleefully over-the-top cutscenes and wonderfully bizarre personalities in a story that remains captivating until the last second is an unforgettable experience. It helps, of course, that the action itself can also be a lot of fun.

Alongside the original release becoming free, the updated version—Metro: Last Light Redux—is currently available at a deeply-discounted price of 80% off.

Set in the year 2034 in a post-nuclear apocalyptic Russia, Metro: Last Light largely takes place in the tunnels left behind by the remnants of Moscow’s Metro system. Those who are left surviving are constantly under siege by mutants radiated by a nuclear fallout, and heading to the surface often means death.

The most recent game in the franchise, Metro Exodus, was released back in 2019. As its name might imply, the plot revolves around series protagonist Artyom and his companions leaving the confines of the Metro system behind to try and find new life in the world.

https://twitter.com/MetroVideoGame/status/1658507631605022721

Dead Space

The sequels may have leaned further into the “action” but Visceral Games’ first title in the Dead Space series will always remain its most significant. In one fell swoop, it combined excellent shooting mechanics, a strong narrative and stellar Metroidvania level design with abject terror. It’s not easy to compete with Silent Hill or Resident Evil when creating an atmosphere of dread but Dead Space pulled it off while delivering its own unique hooks like limb targeting, stasis and so on.