The year 2025 has raised the bar for shooter games, surpassing the high standards set by its predecessor. With innovative mechanics and pulse-pounding gameplay, the genre continues to dominate the gaming scene. This year’s offerings have taken players from medieval battlegrounds to futuristic landscapes, each game delivering a unique experience that combines skill, strategy, and sheer excitement.
DOOM: The Dark Ages (8.5)
id Software’s latest installment, DOOM: The Dark Ages, showcases the franchise’s ability to evolve while staying true to its roots. Set in the techno-medieval world of Argent D’Nur, the game introduces a slower, more tactical combat style. Players wield a Shield Saw to counter demon attacks, maintaining dynamic movement integral to the DOOM series. The melee system has been revamped with punch combos, hammer strikes, and flails, making each encounter a strategic dance between weaponry and tactics. The game’s interspersed mech segments and dragon-riding sequences bring new epic moments to the series.
Battlefield 6 (8.5)
Battlefield 6 marks a return to form for the franchise, embracing the essence of player-driven destruction and massive environmental storytelling. Although not innovating significantly, it refines the series’ core mechanics, bringing polished gunplay and strategic destruction back to the forefront. The Tactical Destruction system offers players the chance to revolutionize their environment in real-time. Despite no longer supporting the total devastation of Battlefield 4’s Levolution, the game finds a balance that enhances gameplay. Its success is underscored by surpassing Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 in player numbers and reaching over 23.8 million players.
ARC Raiders (9)
ARC Raiders emerged as a standout in the extraction shooter subgenre, introducing a balanced blend of PvP and PvE elements. With a focus on teamwork and communication, the game challenges players to navigate encounters with machine invaders while managing human threats. Dynamic situations arise when teams face both enemy fire and ARC reinforcements, adding depth to every engagement. The game’s success is reflected in its Steam sales and its status as the most searched game on Google this year.
Honorable Mentions
We could only pick five shooter games for the shortlist, but we do recommend checking out the following games, too, if you’re a fan of the genre:
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