FPS games news and guides, covering Call of Duty, Counter-Strike, Valorant and more.
First-person shooters (FPS) are games played from the shooter's own point of view, emphasizing aiming precision, movement, and tactical decision-making. The genre dates back to early titles like Wolfenstein 3D and Doom in the early 1990s and has since split into numerous sub-styles, from fast-paced arena shooters to slower, tactical team-based competitive titles.
Today's FPS landscape spans massive annual franchises like Call of Duty, long-running tactical esports staples like Counter-Strike, and newer hero-based shooters like Valorant and Overwatch that blend traditional gunplay with character abilities.
| Franchise | Style | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Call of Duty | Military shooter | Annual blockbuster franchise with large single-player and multiplayer audiences |
| Counter-Strike | Tactical shooter | A long-running esports staple known for precise, round-based gameplay |
| Valorant | Hero/tactical shooter | Riot Games' competitive shooter blending character abilities with tactical play |
| Overwatch | Hero shooter | Blizzard's team-based shooter built around distinct hero abilities |
| Compared To | Key Difference |
|---|---|
| Third-person shooters | FPS games render the action through the protagonist's own eyes, emphasizing immersion and precision aiming, while third-person shooters show the character on-screen, often easing spatial awareness and cover mechanics. |
| Tactical shooters | Tactical shooters like Counter-Strike and Rainbow Six emphasize slower, round-based strategy and realistic weapon handling compared to the faster arcade pacing of franchises like Call of Duty. |
1993's Doom helped popularize both LAN-based multiplayer and the 'deathmatch' format that became a staple of FPS games for decades.
Id Software's 1996 Quake was among the first games to use true 3D polygonal environments, moving the genre beyond the sprite-based tricks used in earlier titles.
Counter-Strike, first released as a Half-Life mod in 1999, became one of the longest-running and most-watched competitive esports titles in gaming history.
Tactical shooters like Counter-Strike emphasize slower, strategic, round-based play with real consequences for death, while arcade-style shooters often favor faster respawns and more forgiving movement.
A hero shooter is an FPS sub-genre where players choose distinct characters with unique abilities, blending traditional gunplay with ability-based strategy, as seen in Overwatch and Valorant.
Earlier 3D shooters existed, but Wolfenstein 3D (1992) and Doom (1993) from id Software are widely credited with defining and popularizing the modern FPS genre.
Arcade shooters like Call of Duty emphasize fast respawns and quick action, while tactical shooters like Counter-Strike and Rainbow Six Siege use slower, round-based, strategy-driven gameplay.
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