Not long ago, it was easy to forget about some of the great but underrated FPS games releasing throughout the year, since the genre was absolutely stacked with both new titles and sequels on a regular basis. That tidal wave of content has slowed right down, and today, outside of the yearly Call of Duty releases and the occasional double-A launch, the FPS genre is a little bit stagnant.
Because of that, you might be struggling to find new first-person shooters that you and your friends can play together. Well, the following games may not be “new” in the traditional sense, but they were all overlooked at launch and have been largely forgotten by the gaming community. They’re all worth your time, though, and they can provide some fantastic playing sessions in co-op, PvP, or both.
Balance the critic averages
Balance the critic averages
Easy (6)Medium (8)Hard (10)
Generation Zero
Team Up Against Massive Enemy Mechs
You can absolutely play Generation Zero as a solo player and still enjoy yourself, but this is a game designed for co-op. It’s an open-world stealth PvE experience where you and your squad face off against giant machines. The first of these machines you encounter might not pose much of a challenge, but that’s because it’s wandering on its own. Once they group up, they become a lot more dangerous.
Targeting unarmored body parts, using the right ammo types, coordinating attacks, and prioritizing targets is essential to success, all of which becomes easier when you have a team to coordinate with. Generation Zero didn’t review particularly well, largely because of a bland open world and some unintuitive systems, but eight years later, these flaws have been ironed out through persistent updates, leaving behind a deep and satisfying open-world shooter.
Back 4 Blood
If You Like Left 4 Dead…
Back 4 Blood doesn’t even try to hide its biggest inspiration, which is pretty clearly Left 4 Dead. Like that game, this is a 4-player squad-based shooter where you take on waves of undead. In fact, the developers, Turtle Rock Studios, assisted with the development of Left 4 Dead before moving on to Evolve and then, most recently, Back 4 Blood.
This game also had a rocky launch, with bugs and some unbalanced game modes, but the standard co-op campaign was never the problem, and it still holds up. It has a unique card-based progression system that encourages you to get weird with your character builds, and the campaign is a rocking good time—even solo, but especially with friends backing you up. Calling in some allies is actually pretty crucial, because Back 4 Blood is a lot harder than you might expect.
TimeShift
Time Powers Change The Dynamic Of PvP
TimeShift
- Released
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October 30, 2007
- ESRB
-
M For Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language
- Publisher(s)
-
Sierra Entertainment
- Engine
-
Havok
- Multiplayer
-
Local Multiplayer
Back in 2007, TimeShift was up against a stacked FPS release calendar that included BioShock, Halo 3, and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and as a result, it quickly faded from the spotlight. It was also largely a single-player-focused experience, with only a few not particularly optimized PVP modes available. In an era where FPS games were all but required to have a quality competitive multiplayer mode of some kind, TimeShift didn’t clear the bar.
Updates and quality-of-life improvements changed all that, and even though official multiplayer servers shut down in 2014, it’s still playable on open-source, community-run clients. If you can get some friends together, it’s worth checking out. The time-based powers add a truly unique wrinkle to typical PvP matches, and both the guns and the environmental destruction they cause feel as great as ever.
Darkwatch
A Cowboy Aesthetic With A Horror Infusion
Darkwatch
- Released
-
August 16, 2005
- ESRB
-
M For Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language, Sexual Themes
One of the most overlooked FPS games of all time, Darkwatch was released with little fanfare on the PS2 and Xbox, but those who played it know what a special game this is. The cowboy western aesthetic doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but the supernatural twist is what makes things interesting, and oh so fun.
Between the excellent period-appropriate weapons and the awesome vampiric powers, the single-player campaign (which also offers split-screen co-op on PS2) is a fantastic ride. However, those same elements really shine in PvP. The double jump, in particular, is ridiculous, launching you huge distances across the arena and creating some epic midair firefights that result in endless highlight moments between you and your friends.
E.Y.E.: Divine Cybermancy
A Glorious Mess Of A Game With Wild Character Abilities
E.Y.E.: Divine Cybermancy
- Released
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July 29, 2011
- ESRB
-
m
- Developer(s)
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Streum On Studio
- Publisher(s)
-
Streum On Studio
- Engine
-
Source
This one comes with a caveat, because E.Y.E.: Divine Cybermancy is a bit of a janky mess at times. It’s kind of like a “We have Deus Ex at home” situation. E.Y.E.’s gameplay mechanics are incredibly deep and very strange, but you can also create some absolutely wild character builds that you won’t find in any other game in the genre. You can teleport inside an enemy to make them explode, for example, or trap them in an illusion that drives them insane.
Co-op was available at launch for E.Y.E.: Divine Cybermancy, which significantly increases its janky charm when two players are wielding such wild powers. Then, two years after launch, Streum On Studio released a free PvP update for the game. It’s chaotic, to say the least, but between the blend of firearm and melee weapons and the wild PSI powers, it’s also a ton of fun.
The Operative: No One Lives Forever
A Unique Twist On Couch PvP
A spy thriller with a stealth twist, The Operative: No One Lives Forever was released all the way back in 2001, but had some impressive immersive sim systems for its time. For example, guards would react to not just gunfire and finding bodies, but also your footsteps and even footprints in the snow. While this first entry doesn’t feature co-op, the sequel, No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy In H.A.R.M.’s Way, does feature 4-player co-op.
What The Operative does have is a very unique twist on multiplayer PvP. Because this is a game about espionage, while you can still shoot your opponents to take them out, your goal is to actually sneak into their base, photograph one of a rotating set of target objects, and then sneak back into your own base with the evidence to win the round. It’s definitely not for everyone, but if you and your friends are looking for a spin on the typical deathmatch gameplay, The Operative is a great old-school option.
Roboquest
A Robo Roguelite With Tons Of Co-Op Options, Even In VR
Roguelites and co-op don’t always mesh, but Roboquest is a shining example of why the combination is worth a look. The fundamentals here are excellent, from gloriously smooth movement that includes double jumps and rail grinds to a ton of weapon options to choose between, both standard FPS fare and more out-there offerings. This serves to encourage a lot of experimentation against Roboquest’s array of enemy types and its titanic boss battles.
The true charm in this context is that every run in Roboquest can be played either solo or in co-op with one other player, which makes each combat encounter a lot more interesting as you try to diversify your weapons from your partner’s to cover for a variety of potential encounters. Even better, that co-op experience can extend to VR, and even offers crossplay between Quest and Steam headsets. It’s a bevy of options that you and your friends can engage with, all of which run great and feel great to play.
