Summary
While the focus of AAA and AA first-person shooters is often centered around online multiplayer, many indie FPS titles are, perhaps out of necessity, rich with the single-player experiences that were once so common in the AAA space.
Certain higher-budget games, such asTitanfall 2, manage to offer competent single-player and multiplayer experiences simultaneously, but players who can look past or even appreciate low-budget graphics will find the realm of indie games to be a veritable treasure trove of single-player FPS games.
6Chop Goblins
A Short, Sweet, And Wonderfully Silly FPS
Developed by David Szymanski, the developer of thesmash-hit boomer shooter,DUSK,Chop Goblinsis a remarkably short but incredibly sweet first-person shooter with a brilliant sense of humor. The ridiculousness of the titularChop Goblins, the game’s antagonists, with their silly high-pitched one-liners and relentless need to chop, is certainly one of the game’s greatest strengths.
Chop Goblinswas designed to be played in one play session, allowing players to blast through the game as fast as they possibly can. While this won’t be an attractive quality to some, the short nature ofChop Goblinsensures its unhinged humor and relentless pace never exhausts, and it’s perfect for a lunch break. Furthermore, the incredibly diverse levels and drip-feeding of new weapons propels the player forward at every turn, ensuring there’s always something new to discover around each corner.
5Maximum Action
A Loving Homage To Action Cinema
It’s a little rough around the edges, but this charming homage to theaction cinema of the 80sand 90s is a frenetic, fast-paced first-person shooter that’s brimming with style.Maximum Actionis replete with loving references and jam-packed with weighty firearms, borrowing fromMax Payneor perhapsFEARwith its slow-motion bullet-time mechanic, which simultaneously pays homage to classic action films such as John Woo’sHard Boiled.
Maximum Action’sdifficulty is certainly on the lower side, with the challenge being more about how stylish players can be, rather than the simple act of making it through each mission. This is especially encouraged by the game’s replay system, which allows players to watch a roughly-cut action replay of their runs. The gameplay is entirely centered around the moment-to-moment gameplay and messing around in its action sandbox, so players looking for a deep progression system or a meaningful narrative won’t find much to like here.
4Zortch
A Tongue-In-Cheek Sci-Fi Adventure
Zortchmay look and feel familiar to games such asDuke Nukemand other classic first-person shooters, but its tongue-in-cheek tone and fun-first, futuristic world result in a refreshing experience that recaptures the joy of old-school sci-fi adventures. Its 3D environments are diverse and frequently fun to explore, despite a familiar lock-and-key structure, and the game throws in set-pieces here and there to keep things fresh.
The variety of alien enemies, old-school power-ups, and explosive combat encounters makeZortcha wild ride from start to finish. Furthermore, the game can be picked up ata surprisingly low price, and even offers a generous demo for players to try.
Featuring tightly-designed, semi-open levels that fans of classic first-person shooters will love and a slew of lovingly-crafted weapons that hearken tothe 90s shootersit’s inspired by,DUSKis a formidable retro FPS with a modern styling, built with fast-paced gameplay and intuitive exploration in mind. The lock-and-key structure and classic gameplay may be too familiar for some, butDUSK’sunique, immersive world, dense, horror-tinged atmosphere, and truly expressive combat arenas are likely to please many retro FPS fans.
The game’s excellent soundtrack and sound design helps to propel the player through the action, and the variety of monster closets and combat arenas are interspersed with short bursts of methodical exploration.DUSKisn’t a one-trick pony, either, with each mission havingits own distinctive lookand feel, and the pace even changes on occasion.
2HROT
A Moody, Surreal First-Person Shooter With An Immersive Atmosphere
Old-school and episodic,HROTisa retro boomer shooter, complete with expressive movement controls and a diverse arsenal of weapons. Unlike many games in the genre, however,HROT’sweapons don’t shine quite as brightly as players might expect, and the game really leans on its aesthetic, mood, and immersive atmosphere.
The gritty, pixelated 3D environments and characters ofHROT, along with its patently brown color palette, may immediately remind players of games such asQuake, butHROT’sunique tone and harsh, surreal world allow it to stand out. Players should expect to come across a variety of quirky enemies, from sentient forklifts to gas-masked horses, battling through dark and oppressive environments replete with sharp-edged architecture and sodden with rain.
1CULTIC
A Stylish FPS Replete With Unique Weapons And Dynamic Action
It’s entirely possible that fans of classic BUILD Engine boomer shooters such asBloodand the atmosphere of survival-horrorgames such asResident Evil4will adoreCULTIC. This highly-polished, moody first-person shooter takes heavily afterBloodwith its dynamic action and diverse arsenal of unique weapons, thoughCULTICremains distinctive thanks to its well-crafted atmosphere and relentless attention to detail.
ThoughCULTICpays homage toBlood, many of its weapons are unique, from the Sten submachine gun to the lever-action rifle, all the way to more novel items such as the China Lake grenade launcher. Not to mention the game’s graphics, built around an incredibly stylish aesthetic that combines voxel-based models, pixelated three-dimensional environments, and billboard sprites akin to the classics.
