The first-person shooter genre has been around almost as long as gaming. There is something intimate and visceral about blowing away bad guys while seeing through the eyes of the player character, not to mention the boost to immersion. Most entries in the genre include a multiplayer mode for friends and strangers to battle each other either online or locally.
This list, however, focuses on the titles that eschew such a feature in favor of a fully fleshed-out single-player campaign. These are important titles for days when the Internet connection is weak and friends or siblings are nowhere in sight for local mayhem.
Updated On November 1st By Jason Wojnar: As time marches on, multiplayer and living games are more heavily emphasized within the industry. While competitive titles like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Apex Legends, and Battlefield are highly celebrated and deserve all the commendation they receive, sometimes people just want to go through a story mode all on their lonesome. For those wanting a more direct narrative, we've added five more FPS games that completely lack multiplayer. Some are conventional examples of the genre, while others are a little more creative with their use of the first-person perspective.
Medal Of Honor: Frontline
Medal of Honor: Frontline was the console counterpart to the PC World War II shooter Medal of Honor Allied Assault. They had two different campaigns, although they both included a recreation of D-Day. The PS2 version only included the single-player missions, but the campaign was big and challenging enough to warrant a full purchase. Later editions on the GameCube and Xbox included a local multiplayer option, however.
Call Of Juarez: Gunslinger
After Techland's disappointing third entry in the Call of Juarez series, The Cartel, the series went back to its wild west roots with a few interesting changes. A cel-shaded aesthetic stylized the action, and the story shies away from the McCall family line. The campaign is shorter than usual due to it not being a full-priced game, but a slew of extra modes like Arcade and Duel add replay value.
Black
Before working on the Need for Speed series, Criterion was mostly known for their cult-classic Burnout games. However, they took a small detour for Black, a first-person shooter whose main focus was making the most bombastic action possible with the best sound design of its generation. The campaign is not particularly lengthy, but the level variety is impressive and every shootout is memorable, complete with impressive destructible environments. It is almost a shame the company never made another first-person shooter.
BioShock: Infinite
Players come into this third entry of the BioShock franchise thinking it will be a spin-off or at most thematically connected. By the end of the game, the narrative connections between Columbia and Rapture become more apparent, and grow even stronger with the Burial at Sea DLC. The gameplay was refreshing for a generation where military shooters dominated the PS3 and Xbox 360, and the cerebral narrative kept gamers talking for months. Along with The Last of Us, this is the second game from 2013 where a character played by Troy Baker escorts someone.
Metro: Exodus
4A games' Metro series is not for everybody. It eschews bombastic action in exchange for atmospheric frights and wonder. Exploring the ruined countrysides of Eastern Europe is a treat, accompanied by beautiful vistas and fearsome foes, both monstrous and human. The title also represents the developer's story; during development they moved their headquarters from Kyiv, Ukraine to Malta.
Superhot
In Superhot, time only progresses forward as the player moves, making for gameplay that is equal parts strategy and action hero.
Resident Evil 7
Not only is this the first mainline Resident Evil game in first-person, it is also the first in the series since Resident Evil 4 to do away with any multiplayer component.
Both Resident Evil 5 and 6 were centered around cooperative gameplay, and they were made better for including it, but the seventh game's return to form focused purely on bone-chilling terror, a facet of which is the inability to depend on help. The game is also fully playable in VR, though playing with a controller proves an equally terrifying experience.
Half-Life: Alyx
It is unfortunate Half-Life: Alyx is locked behind VR, but at the same time fans would never have seen another entry in the franchise if it were not for the new bleeding edge technology. By all s, the prequel to Half-Life 2 is the platform's killer app. Hopefully VR becomes more accessible in the near future and more players can experience this unbelievably immersive adventure.
Metroid Prime
Samus skipped out on the Nintendo 64, leaving fans to wonder how Nintendo would adapt the Metroid series for 3D. Retro studios had the answer with Metroid Prime, a first-person shooter which retained the original franchise's focus on exploration despite the new perspective. It stands as one of the GameCube's finest titles. The series has not reached similar heights since the 2002 game, although new hope is on the horizon with Metroid Prime 4.
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
Wolfenstein: The New Order came out of the blue with its gloomy alternate history narrative paired with massive, bloody shootouts. The sequel took the action to a conquered United States and upped the ante in every conceivable way. Despite the far-fetched spin-off, Young Blood, leaves the door open for a third entry, which fans hope comes sooner rather than later.