 Hey everyone, I'm back with my promised video ranking the best FPS games of the generation and I think this might be the first time I said like hey, this video is up next and then actually ended up getting that video up next. As a quick reminder, a best games of the generation video won a poll I put up for what my next video should be and as I compiled that list I realized there were nearly 50 excellent games. It was too much so I broke the games down into genre groupings so I could rank them amongst their peers before combining it into one best of list. Today we're going to do the first of the best in class of the generation videos, FPS games. If you're a fan of shooters, the 8th generation has been really great, especially the last few years. And of course, if you like what I have to say or how I sound saying it, do me a big favor and share the video and like and subscribe if you're not already. Also I guess the bell thing if that's not inconvenient for you. Best shooters of the generation, add to the logo. Honorable mention. Even doing just the best shooters of the generation is pretty damn tough because by my account there were about 24 shooters that were worth playing in the last decade. I settled on a top 13 I think need to be talked about as being amongst the very best and that left a bunch of games off the list. Here are the games that just missed the cut but are excellent games that deserve to be played as well. Also keep in mind there are always going to be some games that have guns and first person shooting but aren't FPS games in my opinion. Deus Ex, Prey, Fallout 4, games like that will be on other lists because they're not FPS games even though they're shooting games in the first person. Capiche? Also there are several multiplayer only games on here that many would rank higher on the list and that I enjoyed but didn't really hook me enough to get me playing them all that long. Like I'm aware Apex Legends is beloved by many and I am perfectly willing to admit it is a very well made game. I just didn't enjoy it enough to keep playing very long so it's only here in the honorable mention section. Anyway, these are great games too in alphabetical order. Number 13, Black Mesa. Alright here's the thing, Black Mesa is truly amazing and would deserve to be high in the top 5 if it was a brand new game. But you know it's not a brand new game, it's an incredible project of love from a group of talented people but at the end of the day it's just sort of a remaster. Now honestly to be fair it's definitely more remake than remaster as bringing Half-Life into Source 2 transforms not only the visuals but even the gameplay. But at the end of the day this is still the same game I played all those years ago with one new level. Half-Life remains one of the greatest shooters ever and Black Mesa bringing it into the new engine makes it as playable as any shooter out there today. It's fast, it's fun and very possibly the best in the Half-Life series and the update to the new engine takes a game that's getting kind of tough to play and brings it back to life. Black Mesa looks absolutely great when we compare it to the original and frankly the Half-Life 2 engine and textures still hold up really well today. If you've never played Half-Life you need to play Black Mesa. If you last played Half-Life like me back in the day you need to play Black Mesa. It's both a faithful remaster of an all-time classic with a few small tweaks to some levels and puzzles and also a mechanical overhaul that makes it thoroughly modern. Also it finishes the Zen levels and makes them less annoying than they were in the original. Number 12 Dusk Dusk was kind of marketed as a modern ode to the classic FPS games like Quake and there's no doubt it heavily borrows from Quake and Doom. From its ridiculous speed to bunny hopping and rocket jumping, secret finding and timed levels the game is a love letter to a shooter design that's fallen out of favor. If you wrote the game off as some kind of gimmicky indie clone you are doing it a disservice. It's just a great fast-paced shooter with a load of excellent weapons and old school levels. Like I miss the old days of winding, confusing levels and key hunting and Dusk brings that back. It also has an excellent variety of enemies and is surprisingly challenging. I bought Dusk in early access before the game was finished and I played it as it was developed. But the final product you can buy now is one long, fully complete FPS game that is well worth its money. It's on this list not just because it's a rare and refreshing return to nostalgia but because it's just damn good. Levels, art, enemy design, weapons, it's all here and makes Dusk one of the most memorable games of the generation. Number 11, Overwatch. OK, Overwatch is a massively successful game that I played for almost 100 hours. I think it's as good as any of Blizzard's games and its art design and mechanics are as polished as they can possibly be. Balance is as good as one can reasonably expect for a game with so many heroes and the fact that each hero has such personality is a testament to the fact that Blizzard, for all of their faults, still employs some of the most talented artists in the world. They should probably pay them better, honestly. So why is it only number 11? Well, first off it's multiplayer only and while I do like multiplayer shooters I always can't help but feel kind of ripped off by them and also I find the loot box based cosmetic progression annoying as shit. Not because of the money but because I like progression to be gameplay rewards and not random boxes that appear in my inbox. I don't like gambling. Like, I never really went to Atlantic City, I don't like Vegas. I mean I think gambling should be legal and I think loot boxes are perfectly OK ethically to have in games but I don't like them because it doesn't feel rewarding to me and it almost always fucks up in game progression. But the game has kind of other issues than just that. It has very few modes which means that there's only so much content really here and I mean that PvE stuff is fun but still pretty bare bones and the multiplayer modes get pretty stale. Still there's no denying it remains an amazing shooter that you can enjoy casually. If it had a campaign worthy of Blizzard's pedigree I'm sure it would have been a hell of a lot higher. Number 10, Far Cry 4. Far Cry 4 gets kind of lost in the shuffle and this is pretty common with games that launch right as a new console comes along and for some reason 4 isn't remembered as fondly as I think it should be. In my opinion Far Cry 4 is probably the best of the Ubisoft Far Cry games. Its map was interesting, it featured a bunch of well designed story missions and it still had the hunting and open world progression this series was known for before Ubisoft fucked it up with the new one. Gunplay is as good as it's ever been and that little mini helicopter thing was a great vehicle for getting around the map. A good story, a great villain, excellent main missions, the usual excellent gunplay as well as a better map and a more challenging stealth system make Far Cry 4 better than 5 in pretty much every system and way. Seriously in case you didn't notice if you trip an alarm in Far Cry 5 like 4 more dudes show up it's pointless. If you haven't played a Far Cry game this is probably the one to go for. It's still totally modern looking and playing whereas Far Cry 3 is just starting to show its age and Primal ends up being kind of boring because cavemen didn't have RPGs. But 4 is everything Far Cry is known for without needing to buy Ubisoft bucks to unlock guns. It's just a great game man. Number 9 Wolfenstein the New Order I had trouble deciding between Old Blood and the New Order but in the end I think New Order is easily the best of the new Wolfenstein games. It features a great story with memorable characters, great set pieces and is surprisingly emotionally effective. It's gameplay is significantly better than the new Colossus with stealth that actually works and more varied and intricate levels. It just feels more thoughtfully designed everywhere other than the story. Now I still actually really like the new Colossus and I think the acting and writing in the newer one is as good if not better than the new order. But as a total package this game does everything New Colossus does well and manages to be a better shooter with better levels. I feel like this one has kind of been a bit forgotten but it's easily one of the best of the generation and one of the better narrative shooters ever made. If you missed this one or played the new Colossus and didn't really like it because you couldn't tell you were taking damage or didn't enjoy the stealth and combat all that much give the new order a try you won't be disappointed. Number eight, Rage 2. Rage 2 is basically the same type of game as Far Cry. It's an open world game with vehicles, a mediocre story and bandit camps to take out. You drive around, you shoot people in the head, you progress through light RPG mechanics. The reason Rage 2 is better than Far Cry is because power slamming the ground and turning people into a red mist is better than stealth. Objectively stealth is for cowards, man. Seriously, the Rage 2 has combat that's about as good as almost any other shooter of the generation. In fact, I think it has the second best combat mechanics of the generation. The only thing keeping Rage 2 from being higher up the list is its lackluster story and map design. But it's graphically beautiful, its combat is stellar, its boss fights and arenas are fantastic and its progression system is great. Rage 2 is as good as shooting as any shooter you'll play. If you don't mind roaming an open world without much momentum or story reward and combat is the most important thing you look for in a shooter, you can't go wrong with Rage 2. Almost all the games on this list were tremendous critical successes. Only Rage 2 failed there. And I don't get it. Its story isn't as good as a Far Cry game, but its combat and progression are better. And at the end of the day, if you think shooting things is the most important thing you do in a shooter, then Rage 2 is for you. Number seven, Deep Rock Galactic. Deep Rock is a tough game to rank as a shooter because it's more than just a shooter. Deep Rock is a co-op, first person, spaced dwarf procedurally generated mining exploration shooter. So an FPS, DPG, MES. And no letter in that acronym is more important than any other letter. Deep Rock is a great exploration game. It is an awesome mining game. It's one of the generation's very best co-op games and it is easily the very best dwarf game of the generation. And perhaps most surprisingly, it just so happens to be a pretty damn good shooter too. DRGS4 classes that perfectly sync up for co-op play but are also all perfectly able to solo anything as well because you have a little drone that helps you out. While the game could use more diversity in enemies and mission types, what's already there is more than enough to carry you through 100 hours before you even feel like you've got to handle in every class. And the progression is satisfying without being game-breakingly powerful or annoyingly grindy. And much of the end game revolves around unlocking cosmetics by, you know, actually playing the game instead of getting your credit card out. If I was to do a separate live service game section, it would probably be first or second. And it also just finally came out of early access. So, you know, it's complete. It is a total recommend for anyone who likes dwarves, space, mining, other dwarves, or shooters. It is easily the best FPS DPG MES ever for sure. Number six, Destiny 2. If you want a longer explanation about why I think Destiny 2 deserves to be this high, check out the best games of the generation list. I don't want to just copy and paste my script from that video. Destiny 2 is one of, if not the best of the live service PvE focused games. It's one of the slickest, smoothest, most highly produced games of the generation, and it's just a damn great shooter. It was so high in the best games of the generation list because of how excellent it is as just a live service, always online game. But taking it as a first-person shooter, it is just great. It's one of the slickest, smoothest, most highly produced shooters of the generation, and it just feels great. Movement, tools, guns, all that stuff feels great. There is a tremendous amount of content at this point, and even though I'm in one of my burned out on Destiny phases currently, if you like action games, Destiny 2 is one of the better ones in the last decade. Also, it's free now, so if you haven't played it, I highly recommend giving it a shot. It's got some of the very best co-op gameplay around, and it's one of those games that just feels so good to play, you can keep on going for hours without ever getting annoyed. It's just smooth, man. Smooth is the operative word with Destiny. Number five, Borderlands 3. I have several issues with Borderlands 3. I think the UI is just awful. I think the story is easily the worst in the series, and I think way too much loot drops, and you spend way too much time in menus doing inventory management. My biggest complaint is I don't like the way the game handles difficulty. I loathe the second-win mechanic, because it feels like a cop-out and a way to not have to really worry about balancing the game. I'd much prefer a tightly balanced game where dying is always my fault, and I fail if I fuck up, to a game where dying results from back-end numbers or the developers putting 90 enemies on screen, knowing you can just die and come back to life and brute force your way through. In fact, that one problem is what keeps this from being even higher, because in addition to having a ton of really great guns and grenades to play with, Borderlands 3 is the first time this series has been an actually great shooter. Gunplay is improved dramatically from the previous entries, and the character skill trees feel more important and impactful than they've ever been. The maps are great and varied. There are a ton of side quests that are at least reasonably amusing, and the game looks and feels great. I've always thought Borderlands works best when it's balancing between being funny and sincere, and the Moxie's high-steel seat is just perfect because it blends Borderlands' sense of humor with a story in characters that feel like they're taking it all seriously. Either way, Borderlands 3 is a great shooter, and what it lacks in story and characters, it more than makes up for in shooting and looting. A must-play for this generation. Number four, Metro Exodus. I'm a huge fan of the Metro series. Hell, I'm a huge fan of Stalker. I loved the first two Metro's, even with all their bad localization, bugs, jank, turret sections, broken checkpoints, and perplexing design choices. The universe feels real. The levels feel creepy as shit, and the gunplay is good enough to let you appreciate everything else this game does great. I liked those games so much that I was very, very nervous when I heard that Metro Exodus was going open world. Luckily, Exodus really isn't an open world game. It's far closer to something like Borderlands, or Stalker, really. It has several large maps that you explore, mixed with a bunch of the classic, claustrophobic, dark, creepy corridors that Metro does so well. Its story is just great. Its voice acting is far better than it's ever been, and it's simply gorgeous graphically. Some people claim that they found the gameplay less engaging, but I just disagree hard. I loved the exploration, the crafting, and the stealth. I love the firefights. I love that your gun jams, if you don't keep it clean. I love that the quest log is literally a clipboard you pull out in real time and that you have to use your flashlight and a compass to find your way. Metro is a game that you take your time with. It is slow and thoughtful, and it's a totally unique take on the open world shooter. It's basically like Far Cry, with all of the shit that annoys me in those games, pulled out and turned into mutated dogs. It's one of the very best games of the generation in any genre, and it was my best game of last year. The fact it didn't make the best of the generation video shows just how amazing the last seven years has been for games. Number three, Titanfall 2. Titanfall 2 is a perfect, big-budget, Call of Duty Halo-type AAA multiplayer shooter. Its campaign is a slickly produced, seven-hour roller coaster that prepares you for its multiplayer with levels that range from good to some of the best ever created. Several of the missions are as good as any you will ever play led by the unforgettable time travel level. Even without its multiplayer suite, Titanfall 2 would be amongst the best of the generation, but it also happens to be the very best multiplayer shooter of the last 20 years, with a ton of free maps and modes, great progression of weapons, titans and skills, and a bunch of stuff to unlock without going overboard. Its attrition mode is probably the coolest multiplayer mode in ages, and its maps are awesome. Titanfall 2 demands you master its gameplay or else get crushed mercilessly, but it's so damn fun, it's worth learning. And while the skill ceiling is high, it's so intuitive and smooth, it's easy to pick up. As a total package, Titanfall 2 might be the best of these type of games ever made. It's basically Call of Duty, but the modes are fresh and amazing, and the progression isn't grindy as fuck, and you can double jump and grapple over buildings and shoot while you sprint and run on walls and pilot a mech and the maps are free and the campaign is awesome. You can get one month of the basic EA origin access for five bucks and play Titanfall 2 for 30 days. I recommend you do that. If you manage to miss this one because you're playing Battlefield 1 or Call of Duty Infinite Warfare at the time, you should totally check it out. Good move on that release date by the way EA, nice. Number two, Doom. When Doom 2016 released, I got it on day one because I was looking for a fast-paced shooter. And from the very start of that game, I knew I was playing an all-time classic with great graphics, unbelievably awesome music and fantastic level design. Everything Doom did, it did well. It's rare that shooters are so well balanced as 2016 and it has some of the best difficulty scaling you'll ever see with an easy mode that was easy enough to allow my then six-year-old son to beat several levels and a nightmare mode feeling like how the game was meant to be played. Its sound design and music are amazing. Creature design is fantastic and its core loop of glory kills and chainsaws and constant movement felt like a breath of fresh air when it released. Even though many people talked about it being a return to an old-school design, I think that sells it short. Doom 2016 wasn't a return to anything. It was a totally fresh and unique take on the genre and is one of the very best shooters of all time. It's very, very close to being the best shooter of their current generation, but unfortunately for id, there's one game so good even Doom 2016 can't hold a candle to it. Number one, Doom Eternal. I think Doom Eternal is the very best shooter ever made by a decent margin. It's good enough that I've already put 153 hours into it and I think I've only played the multiplayer for like 15 hours at most. I honestly can't get enough of it. Even though I know exactly what's coming now, I still cannot get past the fifth level on the Permadeath Ultra Nightmare mode. Doom Eternal's FPS combat is so good. It's now become the game I turn on when I don't feel like playing anything else and I'm just like, eh, what should I play? It's combat is so fluid and satisfying and its movement feels so damn good that the game never disappoints. And its enemies and levels are so fiendishly challenging that the game doesn't get boring either. It's ridiculously deep mechanically requiring the player to master every tool and ability, but once you master all the game has, it's like a ballet of gore and death. And best of all, the game does a really great job of teaching the player. I have never played a game that feels so damn good. Almost everything is tuned perfectly. Player speed, the speed you switch weapons, cooldowns, the dash cooldown, all of it. It feels like it's home to a razor edge. It's the rare game where almost every system feels like it was iterated on until it felt perfect. Its weapons are balanced, its progression is great, its platforming is fun, movement is fast, skills, enemies, tools, it's all perfect. It's also perfectly optimized, so it's both beautiful and runs on ultra at 144 frames a second. More than anything else, it just feels like a game where the design is so tight and focused and realized. It's a masterpiece that uses the full power of modern gaming to create something as polished and as smooth as anything that's ever been made. It's not perfect, of course, but nothing is. And it's less imperfect than any other shooter I've ever played. All right, everyone, look at that, huh? That's a nice short algorithmic friendly video. I told you I could make a short one. All right, I think I'll do RPGs next as the top list of the generation thing, but I think I'm probably gonna do a video about Neo2 before that one. I finished the game and I've got many opinions on it. Half very salty and half pretty savory. All right, thanks for coming. I'll see you next time. Bye.