An FPS game doesn’t need flawless gunplay to achieve greatness, but it certainly helps. The recoil animation, sound design, hit reactions, weight, and responsiveness all combine to define a game’s gunfeel, and when they all hit the mark, you get something truly magical. Even if the rest of the campaign consists of nothing but awfulness, a shooter might still be worth playing if it feels amazing to fire a pistol, an SMG, or (most importantly) a shotgun.
For this article, let’s just focus on the heart and soul of first-person shooters. These are excellent games to throw on when you want to blast something in the face and feel like a badass while doing it. While I wouldn’t necessarily include all these titles in a “best FPS games” discussion, they are all fairly complete packages, even if their gunplay far exceeds everything else.
For the sake of variety and novelty, I’m going to cover both AAA and indie releases.
7
Selaco Wants Each Bullet To Matter
Gunfeel Isn’t Just About The Act Of Firing A Gun
Let’s start with perhaps a surprising pick, especially since Selaco has yet to leave early access. Built by Altered Orbit Studios on a heavily modified version of GZDoom, this indie darling smashes the environmental violence of F.E.A.R. with modern immersive sim pacing and voxel graphics, creating a symphony of destruction that makes even missed bullets feel impactful.
Every shot leaves an impact, be it the (now dead) enemies or the surrounding environment that has been reduced to fragments of drywall, ceramic tiles, and glass. Gunfeel isn’t solely defined by how good it feels to pull the trigger, but also by what happens after the bullet leaves the chamber. Selaco ensures everything that comes together creates a deeply satisfying and intense onslaught of violence.
6
Metro Exodus Feels Perfect Without Making Each Gun Feel Great
Friction Enhances Gunfeel In The Right Game
Admittedly, I have a bias for fast-paced, aggressive shooters, and most of this article’s picks fall under that bracket; however, Metro Exodus serves as a prime example of the exact opposite. Similar to the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series, 4A Games’ trilogy treats its guns like improvised weapons cobbled together from scrap. They are heavy, show wear and tear, and can be downright visceral.
If you enjoy twitch-reflex gameplay (and I know that I do), you aren’t going to get that from Metro Exodus. The game, in general, moves at a slow, purposeful pace, and that extends to the guns and your control over them. Weapons are subject to inertia and drag, forcing you to be deliberate in your actions rather than rely on quick hip-fire blasts. The audio design is also top-notch, making each weapon sound loud, dangerous, and frankly ugly.
5
Severed Steel Marries Gunplay And Movement Perfectly
A Modern FPS Great That Removes One Of The Genre’s Staples
-
-
-
Greylock Studio has quietly established itself as one of the most exciting FPS studios of the 2020s, with both of its games qualifying for this discussion. As awesome as Echo Point Nova‘s open-endedness is, Severed Steel‘s straight-shot level design facilitates a more hectic and consistent experience, one that blends movement and gunplay to near perfection.
The 2021 game has multiple hooks, but its biggest one is the fact that its one-armed protagonist cannot physically reload any gun; consequently, an empty pistol becomes a projectile that you toss before picking up another weapon dropped by enemies. Without the need to reload, Severed Steel eliminates the downtime found in nearly every FPS, while still retaining the tension of knowing that you might be on the verge of being largely defenseless.
Guns are snappy and destructive on their own, but they are significantly elevated by the game’s movement options. Severed Steel wants players to be sliding, diving, and wall-running all over the place, activating bullet time in the process. Pulling off stunts feels so good on a basic level.
4
DOOM Eternal Makes Killing Demons Feel Incredible
The Doomguy Knows What He Is Doing, And You Are Them
Of course, Doom belongs in any discussion about gunplay; frankly, half of the franchise could fit this topic, and I imagine not everyone would go with Doom Eternal over Doom (both the original and 2016). Except for maybe Doom 3, id Software has never prioritized making guns feel real, and that’s 100% a good thing from my perspective. Doom games are, ultimately, power fantasies that cast you as a hell-destroying force of nature that turns demons into puddles of blood. Real-world ballistics have no place here.
Putting aside the platforming and limited ammo, which are divisive, Doom Eternal‘s guns feel absurdly good. Simultaneously overwhelmingly powerful and completely precise, they fire when you want and how you want, with zero input latency and the freedom to quickly swap between weapons. Doom Eternal bombards players with constant threats and noise; constant smart movement is required to survive. While everything around you tries to kill you, you can always rely on your guns to do exactly what you expect from them.
3
RoboCop: Rogue City Does Justice To A Legend
Who Needs An SMG Or Shotgun When You Have The Auto-9?
Maybe I’m slightly overrating this one because I recently replayed it, but RoboCop: Rogue City might have the best-feeling handgun in video game history. As the starting weapon most shooters discard at the first opportunity, pistols are what you shoot when you run out of ammo for the gun you actually want to use. However, the Auto-9 doesn’t play second fiddle to any shotgun or rifle, even though Rogue City has a strong arsenal of weapons beyond the iconic handgun.
Pull the trigger to unleash a three-round burst that sounds heavy, metallic, and thunderous, and RoboCop’s green holographic targeting ensures that shots hit their mark. You can also remove all the UI from the screen if you want no distractions, and the gunplay somehow becomes even better. Each shot causes the Auto-9 to kick back violently, just because the cartridge is so powerful that even a supercop cannot fully control the recoil.
Find the odd one out before the timer hits zero.
2
Titanfall 2 Does The Impossible
Swift Movement And Heavy Guns Shouldn’t Work This Well
At the end of October 2026, Titanfall 2 officially becomes 10 years old, making the non-existence of a true sequel all that more depressing. We are never getting Titanfall 3, are we?
Respawn knows a thing or two about crafting FPS games that nail their moment-by-moment gameplay, and Titanfall 2 is the developer’s crowning achievement. Typically, a gun can either be heavy or quick, not both; however, somehow, Respawn managed to make its weapons achieve the impossible. Titanfall 2‘s weapons are punchy without wrecking the momentum of the fast-as-heck parkour system, allowing everything to come together to create a seamless whole. It’s kind of similar to Severed Steel, albeit with AAA production.
Titanfall 2 doesn’t want you to hide behind cover and fire from a safe distance. No, you need to be constantly on the move and executing wall-runs and slides, so the gunplay doesn’t punish you for playing the game how it is meant to be.
1
Trepang2 Turns You Into A Catastrophe
Now, This Is How An FPS Game Should Feel (Some Of The Time)
Another modern shooter inspired by F.E.A.R., Trepang2 casts you as a superpowered soldier capable of extraordinary feats, and that’s exactly who you become while unloading dual SMGs on an army of mercs in slow motion. Every shot is a cataclysmic event, one that sends shockwaves across the environment and back into your hands. You just barely maintain control of the guns, bullets shred enemies into blood-soaked confetti, and firing weapons can become disorienting.
Just to be clear, I mean all of the above as a complement. Trepang2 has the best gunplay out of any FPS game ever, at least for those craving high-octane madness that wants carnage rather than tactics (although you can still use some tactics). Honestly, the gunplay can be straight-up exhausting, but it’s one heck of a thrill.
