Single player story-based shooters - where are they?

[Blackhawk]

These used to be my bread and butter, but these days they're few and far between. It's hard to find anything that isn't multiplayer only (or has a crippled/bot version for single player), a repetitive open-world game with only occasional great moments, roguelikes, or some variant of a wave shooter (Left4Dead-like, etc.)

Are they completely dead, or am I just missing them?

[Daehawk]

Would be nice. I miss story and such.

[Jaymann]

I've read the (new) Prey is good, but am yet to play it.

[TheMix]

They've been somewhat scarce.

Last year I played Prey (very good), Chernobylite (good), and We Happy Few (excellent).

Edit: And Control (very good).

[Chraolic]

They all got super-delayed, I suppose. Stalker 2, Atomic Heart, Dead Island 2 and the System Shock remake have been stuck in development for about a decade by now.

[Blackhawk]

I'll take a look at some of those. I think the last non-vintage game I played that fit the description was probably the Metro series. I've played a lot of good FPS titles since then, but most of them are of the types I mentioned above - open world, or wave shooters, or mission based (random missions that you repeat), etc.)

Although I should have been more specific. Generally by 'shooters' I mean first person.

[TheMix]

Although I should have been more specific. Generally by 'shooters' I mean first person.

I was thinking about that after my edit. I think Control was 3rd person. Sometimes I let it go when the 3rd person is so that the user can perform certain actions (like hovering and throwing stuff). I did get a little tired of all the open world 3rd person games. Probably why I replayed some Bioshock and FEAR. And am currently finishing up Half-Life 2.

[Anonymous Bosch]

These used to be my bread and butter, but these days they're few and far between. It's hard to find anything that isn't multiplayer only (or has a crippled/bot version for single player), a repetitive open-world game with only occasional great moments, roguelikes, or some variant of a wave shooter (Left4Dead-like, etc.)

Are they completely dead, or am I just missing them?

FWIW, here's a recommendation for a perhaps-overlooked older story-based shooter I've greatly enjoyed on my Steam Deck, namely Call of Juarez: Gunslinger:





Chances are you probably already own it, since it was given away as a freebie on Steam (I'm pretty sure that's how it ended up in my own Steam backlog).

Anyway, it works particularly well as a story-based shooter, courtesy of its nifty narrative trick. Because you essentially re-enact various famous Old West scenes and legends as observed through the eyes of grizzled bounty hunter, Silas Greaves. However, Greaves is more than just the story's protagonist. He's also its ever-present narrator, as he provides a whisky-fuelled description of his tall tales for an audience of bar patrons. In a way, it's akin to playing Bastion back in the day, except this narrator tends to be a wee bit more… unreliable. This means as he recalls additional details of his story -- or is challenged by bar patrons on some of his more outlandish details -- he'll often retract or restate certain elements of the tale, causing the structure of the level to rebuild itself before your eyes. Suffice to say, it makes for a fun narrative twist, and the game is definitely worth playing if you happen to have it tucked away in your Steam backlog or if you can snag it cheaply during a sale.

[Alefroth]

Have you played the latest Wolfensteins?

[gbasden]

Although I should have been more specific. Generally by 'shooters' I mean first person.

I was thinking about that after my edit. I think Control was 3rd person. Sometimes I let it go when the 3rd person is so that the user can perform certain actions (like hovering and throwing stuff). I did get a little tired of all the open world 3rd person games. Probably why I replayed some Bioshock and FEAR. And am currently finishing up Half-Life 2.

I wholly endorse Prey. And FEAR is a series I would dearly love to see modernized.

[Daehawk]

STALKER series.

[TheMix]

STALKER series.

I thought about mentioning these. But... they are kind of open world. Also, they definitely aren't recent. And he specifically was asking where they are these days.

[Scraper]

I just played High on Life on Gamepass. It's single player, the humor is extremely crude though, so if you're not into crude humor then stay away.

[Blackhawk]

FWIW, I've played Gunslinger (liked it), Prey (loved it), FEAR (barely remember it), have bounced off of STALKER repeatedly, and most of the Wolfensteins.

[Rumpy]

Prey was pretty awesome and underrated. I remember being blown away when realizing you could go out the airlock and there was this whole other space navigation aspect to it. As part of a shooter, I certainly never expected that.

[Smoove_B]

They've definitely disappeared. I was trying to think of shooters I've enjoyed recently and no surprise, they've all been mentioned here and they're also all older. I'd only add that Prey was probably the best of them that I've played, though I did also enjoy all the Wolfenstein titles and the last (?) Battlefield title (covering WW1). I guess the only other one I'd add is Terminator: Resistance (2019), which was surprisingly enjoyable.

I think for me all the Borderlands games have filled the space I'm looking for, but there's been a lot of genre mixing - games like Cyberpunk (which isn't a shooter but has shooter elements) and Back 4 Blood (which is really a team based shooter, imho).

[Daehawk]

Im playing Terminator myself right now.

[Rumpy]

The last one I played was The Outer Worlds, though I'm not sure I would strictly call that a shooter. It's more of an RPG with shooter elements, similar to Fallout.

[Blackhawk]

There are certainly still lots of shooters out there, but they follow the pattern of huge, directionless time sinks, whether that be open world games (Far Cry, many survival shooters, etc) with tons of side activities that weaken the story and don't lend themselves to dramatic set pieces, or they're games designed around the end-game grind, generally consisting of running the same or similar missions over and over with incremental difficulty increases for incremental unlocks. With these, the campaign often just a tutorial for the end-game. Some games do away with the campaign altogether and just give you the experience of grinding the repetitive missions (like Deep Rock Galactic.) Often this is where seasons, cosmetics, currencies, and microtransactions reign supreme. (And this is the biggest reason these games drove all of the others out - they continue to make more money by getting people involved in their engame progression loop, while story based shooters are one-and-done. You get your big release payday, then a trickle of sale income at best.)

I'm not saying that those things are bad. I've had a lot of fun with all of those types - the Far Cry series, 7 Days to Die, Deep Rock Galactic, etc. But sometimes I don't want to dedicated myself to the idea of a single game as a lifestyle for months at a time - I want to roll through an exciting, fun story with carefully planned setpieces (done right - not the hyper-scripted Call of Duty style where you have no control at all, and often don't even need to be involved.)

[Anonymous Bosch]

FWIW, I've played Gunslinger (liked it), Prey (loved it), FEAR (barely remember it), have bounced off of STALKER repeatedly, and most of the Wolfensteins.

Since I believe you enjoyed Void Bastards, Forgive Me Father is a more recent Lovecraftian-themed indie boomer shooter with a somewhat similar aesthetic you may not yet have tried. For a boomer shooter, I thought the story was perfectly adequate:

[TheMix]

And I'll post one more time (then shut up ) about We Happy Few. Everyone should play it. I think hep is the only other forum member I've seen mention it. The story is fantastic and incredibly engaging. One caveat: it has crafting, and it's easy to get trapped into collecting materials only to discover later that it was a waste of time. You really don't need to go out of your way to gather unless there is something specific you need to make.

[TheMix]

Since I believe you enjoyed Void Bastards, Forgive Me Father is a more recent Lovecraftian-themed indie boomer shooter with a somewhat similar aesthetic you may not yet have tried. For a boomer shooter, I thought the story was perfectly adequate:

<snip>

Never heard of it. Added to my wishlist.

[Blackhawk]

I will look into it (both of it... them.) Void Bastard's gameplay was what drew me in more than the aesthetic (which initially pushed me away), but I'll give it a look.

And as for 'boomer shooters' (what a terrible name - most boomers weren't interested in these when they released), it depends on which definition is being used. Retro shooters? Hell, yes. But Doom/Quake/Duke Nukem/etc bored the crap out of me. The 'sweet spot' for me was the era of the GoldSrc (HL1)/Quake 2/Quake 3/Unreal engines. Unreal, SiN, Soldier of Fortune 1&2, Elite Force, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Medal of Honor (the Q3 series), Deus Ex, System Shock 2, No One Lives Forever 1&2, and a side mention for Brothers in Arms. Those are what I miss.

[Anonymous Bosch]

And as for 'boomer shooters' (what a terrible name - most boomers weren't interested in these when they released), it depends on which definition is being used.

Yeah, they're probably more accurately described as 1990s retro-styled FPSes. But 'boomer shooters' seems the preferred term since dank meme words are nowadays the coin of the realm.

[TheMix]

if you're bunny-hopping, blasting everything that even looks like it might move, and your hand is cramped when the level is cleared, odds are you're playing a boomer shooter

Not really a fan of those kind. I much prefer more methodical games. Where I can plan, stealth, take my time. I've never liked frantic games.

[hitbyambulance]

whereas i like the 'shoot everything and that's the story' type of game. Serious Sam moved to 'too much story' starting with the third one (possibly even the second one)

[Rumpy]

if you're bunny-hopping, blasting everything that even looks like it might move, and your hand is cramped when the level is cleared, odds are you're playing a boomer shooter

Not really a fan of those kind. I much prefer more methodical games. Where I can plan, stealth, take my time. I've never liked frantic games.

Same here, such as Prey as posted above. Though I've liked Wolftenstein 3D and Doom from the early days, I find it hilarious that these days I've seen people complain that shooters are slow, when IMHO, it's actually the opposite. The new Dooms and Wolftensteins seem much faster-paced compared to how they used to play, and newer shooters IMHO feel much twitchier, especially the arena shooters, unless you're playing a more exploration based shooter such as Prey, the Fallouts and The Outer Worlds. The exploration based shooters are the ones that I appreciate as they slow the pace down to something I can handle.

I personally can't understand the appeal of arena shooters. I've seen various clips of many and they all seem boring and samey to me, to the point that they all seem to blend together for me. They don't seem inherently unique about them.

[Blackhawk]

Arena shooters are far less common than they used to be, unless you're using the term differently than how I know it.

[Rumpy]

If anything, they're more common than ever. I'm talking the likes of anything where players are split into teams with the goal of eliminating everyone on a team in order to win. Usually it's very fast-paced, with people bragging about their kills. Is that called a Battle Royale now? There are just so many of them now.

[Blackhawk]

If anything, they're more common than ever. I'm talking the likes of anything where players are split into teams with the goal of eliminating everyone on a team in order to win. Usually it's very fast-paced, with people bragging about their kills. Is that called a Battle Royale now? There are just so many of them now.

That's known as a 'multiplayer shooter'. You're lumping a bunch of subgenres together under one subgenre's name. It's like saying that Deus Ex, Diablo, The Witcher, and Baldur's Gate are all ARPGs.

Arena shooters are the ones with a fairly small level, normally with weapon pickups, and tend to be extremely fast paced. Think Quake III: Arena. Call of Duty ends up here sometimes, depending on the iteration (although it has been moving away from it, too, at least from my understanding.) They were all the rage through the Unreal/Quake era, but really haven't been popular in a long time, mostly because team objective-based games tend to have a lot more depth when it comes to gameplay.

Those objective based team games are sort of the default, and don't have a special name as far as I know. They tend to have large maps, fairly large teams, objectives (control points, flags, etc.), and are won on score. Starsiege: Tribes was the big innovator here, and the Battlefield series was the one to take it mainstream.

Tactical shooters, when talking about multiplayer, are highly realistic 'simulation' games, usually team and objective based. One shot is often fatal, weapons are realistic, and careful play is required. Rainbow Six lives here, although the latest iteration is less thematic realism and more GI Joe with real guns.

Hero shooters are smaller objective based games with each person picking a class or character. This was what Team Fortress made popular, and Team Fortress 2 made very popular. These are still popular, as seen with Paladins and Overwatch.

Battle Royales are based (mostly) on H1Z1 - the idea of a massive area with a huge number of people and a shrinking circle that pushes people closer together over time. Dying means you're out. Winner (or winning team) take all. This is where PubG and Fortnite fit.

And then there is asynchronous multiplayer shooters. This one hasn't really taken off, mostly because it is really tough to balance. This usually involves one person controlling a powerful character solo while the other team has multiple players. I believe that Predator: Hunting Grounds fits in here.

Wave shooters are generally cooperative. They involve making your way through an area and facing repeated waves of enemies, mostly weak, but with special enemies mixed in. This one really started with Left4Dead. Look at World War Z, Vermintide, Darktide, and so on, although some involve holding a single position rather than moving (like Payday.)

[Daehawk]

Is Paladins still a thing? Ill have to go back and see how many are playing that. Apex kept my attention right after my wife died. Heavens knows why. I dont like 3 person team games. Rush rush rush grab that shoot that climb there blah blah boring.

[Rumpy]

Well, arena shooter or not, most of those are too fast-paced. Even the so-called tactical shooter has been sped up, and end up resembling everything else.

Arena shooters are still around,. Their map sizes have increased, but their principles are the same. They just have more places to hide and snipe.

I guess what I'm seeing a lot of these days are hero shooters, as you describe them, though it's the first time I hear of the term. They seem incredibly popular right now.

[Blackhawk]

Oh, arena shooters still exist. They're just an old school niche product now.

[coopasonic]

And then there is asynchronous multiplayer shooters. This one hasn't really taken off, mostly because it is really tough to balance. This usually involves one person controlling a powerful character solo while the other team has multiple players. I believe that Predator: Hunting Grounds fits in here.

I was really trying to figure out how an asynchronous multiplayer shooter would work, but I am pretty sure we are looking for asymmetric here.

[Chraolic]

I was really trying to figure out how an asynchronous multiplayer shooter would work,

They could just be really laggy, I guess.

[Blackhawk]

It was late. Brain was tired.