Ah, the shooter. You know where you are with a shooter. Point and shoot at the enemies, don’t get hit by said enemy.
Or so you think. For there are actually many different varieties of shooter, almost as many as there are insults shouted down the mic in a Battlefield game.
For this list we’ll be looking at the plucky games that look at the shooter genre and decide to Jacob Elordi (Frankenstein for those not keeping up with the Oscars) it together with another genre.
The rankings in this list are less in order and more ‘ten different types of shooter genre hybrids’, so please keep that in mind.
10
Splatoon 3 – Territory Shooter
2022 | Nintendo EPD | Nintendo Switch
Trust Nintendo to look at the normally 18+ shooter genre and think ‘how do we make this child friendly?’ And then proceed to incorporate heavy lore which dives into climate change, mass extinction events and all manner of other things.
In Splatoon 3, you play as an Inkling or an Octoling and are set against another team to control a map by using ink to paint the ground. Between defeating opponents and keeping the ground your colour, games are fast, frantic and filled with tactics and last-minute dives for territory.
Personally, I’m surprised we haven’t had a dozen clones of this type of territory shooter, although I assume that the scariest idea of all, the Nintendo intellectual property lawyer, has something to do with it.
9
Neon White – Speed Run Shooter
2022 | Angel Matrix | Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC
Neon White is a smorgasbord of different genres. Part shooter, part puzzle game, part platformer, part anime visual novel, but the main focus that ties it all together is a lot of energy.
The voice acting? Energetic. Story beats? Quick and pacy. Gameplay? All about using the weapons and their alternate ‘disposable’ modes to finish a level as quickly as possible.
Levels normally require you to defeat all the demons in an area and get to the end crystal. Once you’ve beaten it once, you’ll unlock new ‘insights’ to see ways to beat it even quicker.
With a global leaderboard and the need to get Gold or better in so many levels to unlock more levels, there’s reasons even past the inherent thrill of knocking off milliseconds from what you thought was a perfect time to keep replaying.
And if you were on the ball enough to pick it up while it was on PS Plus, what’s stopping you?
8
Resident Evil 7 – Survival Horror Shooter
2019 | Capcom | Nintendo Switch/2, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, iOS and PC
Who’d have guessed that limiting the amount of ammo you have in a shooter game would make it even more fun?
Well the folks at Capcom have certainly used this method in a major way with their Resident Evil series, with the seventh game being my personal favourite.
An intoxicating mix of atmospheric set pieces and ‘oh my god I’ve only got two bullets left’ gameplay, Resi 7 was a return to form for the survival horror genre by making you feel alone in the house.
Every creak of the floorboard, every opening of a door, even every turn around needed to be thought about as you desperately tried to survive and piece together the mystery.
Oh did I say alone? Well as alone as you can be, with a murderous family living there. Did you hear a door creak?
7
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege X – Tactical Shooter
2013 | Ubisoft Montreal | PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and PC
The Tactical Shooter, as the name implies, is a shooter which requires tactics in order to win.
Spray and pray and rushing objectives is no longer an option, instead great team work, knowledge of the environment and how each piece of equipment works is key.
Rainbow Six Siege epitomises this type of gameplay, with tense matches involving destructive environments, gadgets galore and lots of holding your breath to not jog the gun.
And it seems to be popular with players, as Rainbow Six Siege has lasted over a decade, with a rebrand to a free-to-play version ensuring it’s still going strong.
6
Destiny 2 – Looter Shooter
2017 | Bungie | PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC
Destiny 2 looked at the regular weapons you use in a shooter and thought – why don’t we just add more? A lot more. Similar to games like Borderlands and The Division, Destiny 2 has you grinding levels and boss fights to get incrementally better weapons.
As Destiny 2 is created by Bungie, the masters behind the original Halo, you know that the weapon feel will be on point, and the sheer amount of content keeps the average player invested for well over 100+ hours.
Now, do take note that the game is ever-evolving, with earlier storylines behind vaulted, so if you’re there for more than the vibes and the gun play, then you might have some catching up to do.
But even so, the game is free-to-play, so you can always just jump in to a Raid with some friends and oh look, it’s morning again.
5
ARC Raiders – Extraction Shooter
2025 | Embark Studios | PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC
The newest game on this list, and a reminder of just how much life is left in this genre, ARC Raiders was one of the big surprises of last year.
Known as an Extraction Shooter, you are put into teams (or can play solo), and fight against not only other players but also computer-controlled opponents.
However, the end goal isn’t simply to reduce the other team to zero. You can do this, sure, but the great thing that Extraction Shooters can do is emergent gameplay whereby you can talk to the other team and decide to, well, not shoot each other.
Suddenly it’s all of you against the world, until a mole turns traitor to steal the gear from their team or someone spooks and starts shooting.
If you can get to the extraction point, alive, then you get to keep the gear for next round, encouraging risk and reward and a slower, more methodical approach to the genre.
4
Cyberpunk 2077 – RPG Shooter
2020 | CD Projekt Red | Nintendo Switch 2, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC
Shooters are typically multiplayer affairs, and if they are single-player, they tend to be short, with set pieces over substance.
This is where the average RPG shooter moves away from the others, as it merges the rich, deep playstyles of a role-playing game with the shooter. Suddenly you’ve got a 30-100 hour story which lets you live in the world, while also keeping the shooting intact.
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My favourite of these is Cyberpunk 2077, which puts you into a neon-filled future, with cyber enhancements, melee combat and of course, guns.
Thankfully the game has seen a redemption arc since its release in 2020, with the game now even running on the Nintendo Switch 2, so you can take your V on the go.
3
Apex Legends – Battle Royale
2019 | Respawn Entertainment | Nintendo Switch/2, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC
One of the most popular genres, not only amongst shooters, but amongst all games, the Battle Royale became a ‘Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner’ with PUBG, with other companies tripping over themselves to catch up.
Amongst these competitors was Apex Legends, made by Respawn Entertainment, of Titanfall fame.
Incorporating the character focused structure of a Hero Shooter but still in the Battle Royale formula, Apex Legends allows for quick, impactful gun play from a team who know how to make them feel good to use.
Unique to Apex Legends is its ping system, which allows for easy communication between team members (you have to play in at least duos).
Well, that is until a rare moment of player first thinking by EA, as they made the ping system and some other accessibility features used in Apex as free-to-use by other companies!
2
Marvel Rivals – Hero Shooter
2024 | NetEase Games | PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC
The hero shooter is a team-based shooter whereby a cast of colourful characters do battle against each other. As this is a sub-genre which lives or dies with its cast, what better property to try its hand at the Hero Shooter than Marvel?
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At the time of writing, there are 46 heroes, drawing from the popular to the more obscure of the Marvel canon. We have Captain America facing off against Angela from Asgard and Squirrel Girl and even Deadpool breaks the fourth wall to get in.
1
Portal 2 – Puzzle Shooter
2011 | Valve | Nintendo Switch, PS3, Xbox 360 and PC
The game that inspired this list, Portal 2 takes the shooter to new extremes which have yet to be replicated or bettered by incorporating heavy puzzle elements and heavy deadpan wit into the mix.
Suddenly your gun’s method of solution isn’t just ‘to shoot them until they stop moving’. Instead, you’ll be creating the eponymous portals to complete puzzles, each under the watchful eyes of GLaDOS, Wheatley, and other whimsical and dark characters.
These portals consistently amazed me with the variety they created in the puzzles when conjoined with elements such as lasers, turrets and cubes.
Oh to have a new game in the Portal series, I’d happily pay for a new Steam Machine just for it. Or even a cake. Please Valve?
