First-Person Shooter is a videogame subgenre of shooters and a really popular form of them. Its basic style of play is exactly what the name says: the players see things in first person, from the eyes of the character, and the action revolves around shooting within a three-dimensional environment. Its basic input commands control movement, aiming, shooting and environment/NPC interaction. Depending on the subgenre (see below), other controls may be required such as inventory display and item usage.
These games have origins in flight Simulation Games, dating as far back as Sega's Jet Rocket (1970), the Ur-Example of the genre, as well as Adventure Game and Role-Playing Game titles which were played in the first-person perspective, but weren't quite 3D because they were rendered in discrete steps, view of the surroundings, typically a dungeon, and which had sensible and consistent worlds, NPC interaction, relatively few artificial restrictions, plotlines, and puzzles. Several games of this type were full 3D with freedom of movement, notably Action RPG titles Star Cruiser (1988) and Ultima Underworld (1992).
As for the genre per se, it was first popularized by id Software, via the Trope Maker Wolfenstein 3-D (1992) and especially the Trope Codifier Doom (1993); indeed, before the genre's name finally crystallized, many following games were referred to as "Doom Clones"; these games boast full freedom of movement in pseudo-3D environments (unlike fellow first-person genres Light Gun Game and Rail Shooter), and Doom even had a hand in the introduction to game modding and multiplayer play to the then-nascent genre. Two later games, Bungie's Marathon (1994) for Apple Macintosh and 3D Realms's Duke Nukem 3D (1995) introduced vertical aiming and vertical movement to the mix, as well as the "mouse look" feature, environmental interaction and (in the case of the former) more intricate story that tried to avert both Excuse Plot and A Space Marine Is You.
But it wasn't until the advent of actual 3D game engines with Quake, also from Id Software, in 1996, and Epic Games's Unreal and especially Valve Software's Half-Life in 1998 that the genre took off, expanding its possibilities well beyond what was thought possible. Id's game further refined and popularized "mouse look", game modding (thanks to the dedicated QuakeC programming language) and online play (with the Quakeworld and Threewave CTF game mods). Epic's offering not only introduced the world to the now-ubiquitous Unreal Engine, but also popularized the Secondary Fire feature which a lot of games use nowadays, and pulled off the genre from its cramped spaces and into the open world, with its lush environments paving the way for more games to follow its footsteps. Meanwhile, Valve's game introduced Video Game Set Pieces replacing cutscenes, physics-based puzzles and friendly allied NPCs, and its intricate and complex story and more grounding in realism paved the way for other companies to follow suit. Other games from the era such as SiN (1998) and Starsiege: Tribes, while not as groundbreaking as the previously mentioned games, also had contributions of their own such as vehicle driving sections, which eventually became commonplace.
At the same time, while the genre was dominating the PC world, two games paved the way for the console market: Rare's GoldenEye (one of those games that defied The Problem with Licensed Games and showed how well an FPS could work on console) and especially Bungie's Halo: Combat Evolved, which finally found a way to make Competitive Multiplayer work in these machines and also left the door open for the flourishment of the genre.
And all of this doesn't count the countless innovations on the multiplayer side. While Doom and Quake made significant contributions to it, it wasn't until the end of The '90s, with the release of three gamesnote , that the multiplayer FPS scene finally entered the nascent e-Sports scene: first, it was one of the fiercest videogame rivalries ever, with Epic Games's Unreal Tournament and Id Software's Quake III: Arena, both released in 1999 and with only two days of difference, two games that took their respective franchise's multiplayer side and distilled them to their most basic elements, giving birth to what was known as the "Arena Shooter" subgenre, as well as popularizing many tropes still present in today's multiplayer games. The third game, perhaps one of the most important of the period, is Counter-Strike, a Game Mod for Half-Life that puts two squads in realistic environments with diverse objectives in round-based matches. The mod featured localized damage; unprotected shots to the head usually put an end to any player's avatar and a buyout section where players could buy weapons, ammo and items. It paved the way for more realistic shooters, among them the Call of Duty series.
Since then, companies have been trying to expand the genre to different degrees of success, even giving birth to subgenres as wildly different and mixing it with every other genre out there, but that maintains the genre's core elements; see the subgenres for more info on them.
Contrary to popular belief, it's not always about shooting the first person you see.
See also: Standard FPS Guns and Fackler Scale of FPS Realism. If a game never breaks from the first-person perspective of the player character, that's Unbroken First-Person Perspective. Some Third Person Shooters have similar gameplay.
Contrast Fixed Camera (in terms of perspective).
Subgenres spawned by the First-Person Shooter genre include
Examples of this genre:
- 007: Agent Under Fire
- 007 Legends
- 007: Quantum of Solace
- 7 Days to Die
- 8Bit Killer
- 77p: Eggwife, one of the weirdest (and fun) Psychedelic-themed FPS ever made
- 7554: Glorious Memories Revived
- The Abyss: Incident at Europa
- Ace Of Spades
- ADACA
- The Adventures of Square
- Aftertime
- Alien Breed 3-D
- Alien Breed 3-D II: The Killing Grounds
- Aliens: Colonial Marines
- Aliens Online
- Alien Trilogy
- Alien Rage
- Alien: Resurrection
- Alien vs. Predator:
- Alien vs. Predator (1994; Jaguar)
- Aliens versus Predator (1999)
- Aliens vs. Predator (2010)
- Aliens vs. Predator 2
- Predator: Hunting Grounds – depending on the mode
- Alien X
- Alliance of Valiant Arms
- Alpha Prime
- AMC Squad
- America's Army
- AmsterDoom
- AMID EVIL
- The Anacrusis
- Anaksha: Female Assassin
- Anomalous
- Apex Legends
- Apocryph
- Area 51 (FPS)
- Blacksite: Area 51
- Arizona Sunshine
- Armorines: Project S.W.A.R.M.
- Atomic Heart
- Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora
- A.W.O.L.
- Back 4 Blood
- Back Track
- Bad Toys
- Ballistic Weapons (mod for Unreal Tournament 2004)
- Battleborn
- Battle Corps
- Battlefield
- The Battlestrike series, an indie series of 8 games set in World War II
- Battlezone (1980) - a very early example
- Battlezone (1998) - incorporates Real-Time Strategy elements
- Battlezone (2006) - a PSP remake emphasizing multiplayer Vehicular Combat
- Battlezone (2016) - an early PSVR game emphasizing virtual reality immersion
- Beach Invasion 1944
- Bet on Soldier (2005)
- Betrayer
- Beyond Sunset
- BioShock:
- Black
- Black ICE
- Blacklight Retribution
- Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold
- Blake Stone: Planet Strike
- Blood
- BLOODCRUSHER II
- Bloodhound
- Bloodline (2005)
- Blood West
- Bloodwings: Pumpkinhead's Revenge
- Bloody Good Time
- Bodycount (2011)
- Boiling Point: Road to Hell
- Boneworks
- Borderlands:
- BPM: Bullets Per Minute
- BRAHMA Force: The Assault on Beltlogger 9
- Breakdown
- Breathless
- Breed
- Brink!
- Bright Memory
- Brothers in Arms
- Bulletstorm
- Cabela's Dangerous Hunts
- Call of Duty:
- Call of Duty
- Call of Duty: Finest Hour
- Call of Duty 2
- Modern Warfare
- Call of Duty: World at War
- Call of Duty: Black Ops
- Call of Duty: Black Ops II
- Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified
- Call of Duty: Zombies
- Call of Duty: Ghosts
- Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
- Call of Duty: Black Ops III
- Call Of Duty Infinite Warfare
- Call of Duty: WWII
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019)
- Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
- Call of Duty: Vanguard
- Call of Juarez (slightly Action-Adventure)
- Carnivores
- Catacomb Fantasy Trilogy
- Chaser
- Chasm: The Rift
- Chex Quest
- Chernobylite
- Chop Goblins
- Chrome (2003)
- The Citadel
- Classified: The Sentinel Crisis
- Clive Barker's Jericho
- Clive Barker's Undying
- Coded Arms
- Coded Arms: Contagion
- Codename Eagle
- Codename: Tenka
- Cold Winter
- The Colony
- Combat Arms
- Commandos: Strike Force
- Command & Conquer: Renegade
- Condemned: Criminal Origins (also Survival Horror)
- The Conduit
- Contagion (Monochrome)
- Consortium
- Corridor 7: Alien Invasion
- Counter-Strike
- Contract Wars
- Creature Shock
- Crime Boss: Rockay City
- Crossfire
- Cruelty Squad
- Cryostasis: Sleep of Reason
- Crysis
- CTHON
- Cube
- CULTIC
- CyberMage: Darklight Awakening
- Cyberpunk 2077
- CyClones
- Daemon Summoner
- Daikatana
- Damage Incorporated
- Darkest of Days
- Darkwatch
- Dark Forces Saga
- The Darkness
- Day of Defeat
- Day of Infamy
- Day One: Garry's Incident
- Dayz
- Dead Effect
- Deadlink
- Deadhunt
- Dead Island
- Dead Island: Riptide
- Dead Man's Hand
- Deadfall Adventures
- Dead Trigger
- Death in the Water
- Death Mask
- Deathless Hyperion
- Deathloop
- Deep Rock Galactic
- Decaying Winter
- Delta Force
- Dementium: The Ward
- Descent
- Desolate
- Depth
- Destiny
- Deus Ex
- Devil Daggers
- Devastation
- Die Hard: Nakatomi Plaza
- Die Hard: Vendetta
- Diluvian Ultra
- Dino D-Day
- Dino Trauma
- Dirty Bomb
- Dishonored
- Disintegration (2020)
- Disruptor
- Doom series:
- Doom
- Doom II
- Final Doom
- Doom 64
- Doom³
- Doom (2016)
- Doom Eternal
- Action Doom 2: Urban Brawl
- Aetherius
- Ashes 2063
- Batman Doom
- Brutal Doom
- Brutal Wolfenstein 3D
- Call of Dooty
- Demonsteele
- Ghouls vs. Humans
- Grezzo 2
- Guncaster
- Hideous Destructor
- High Noon Drifter
- Highway Acceleroid Booster
- Massmouth
- Mega Man 8-Bit Deathmatch
- Quake Champions: Doom Edition
- Reelism
- Russian Overkill
- Shadow of the Wool Ball
- Strange Aeons
- Trailblazer
- Trench Foot
- TurboCharged ARCADE!
- Venturous
- Viet Doom
- Zdoom Wars
- Dragon Rage
- Dread Templar
- Dreamkiller
- Drunken Robot Pornography — Yes, it's an FPS, you didn't read it wrong.
- Duke Nukem 3D
- DUSK
- DUSK-12
- DUST 514
- Duty Calls
- Dying Light
- Earthfall
- The Ebola trilogy
- Eldritch (2013)
- Eliminate Pro
- The End Times: Vermintide
- The Endless Nightmare series
- Enemy Front
- The Entropy Center
- Eradicator
- Escape from Tarkov
- Eternal Evil
- Ethnic Cleansing
- Evolve
- Executive Assault
- Expedition Zero
- Expert
- E.Y.E: Divine Cybermancy
- Face Raiders
- Fallout (Also Western RPGs)
- Far Cry
- Farpoint
- Fashion Police Squad
- Fears
- Fear the Wolves
- Fern Game Series
- Final Combat
- The Finals
- Firefall
- Fire Warrior
- First Encounter Assault Recon
- Fishgun
- Fobia: St. Dinfna Hotel (combined with Survival Horror)
- Forgive Me Father
- Forsaken
- Fortunes Run
- Fossilfuel
- Friends vs Friends
- Frontlines: Fuel of War
- G-Police
- Gastro Force
- GAME OF THE YEAR 420BLAZEIT
- Geist
- Gemini: Heroes Reborn
- Generation Zero
- Gene Troopers
- Genetic Species
- Gentlemoon Two
- Get Even (2017)
- Ghost in the Shell: First Assault Online
- Ghost Recon
- Ghostship
- Global Operations
- Gloom (Amiga) - and Gloom 3, no there isn't a Gloom 2. Not to be confused with a 2017 game with a similar name
- Gloomwood
- Going into the Unknown
- GoldenEye (1997)
- GoldenEye: Rogue Agent
- Golden Light
- Goosebumps: Night of Scares - the second game's final stage is a hilarious spoof of FPS games, where you can collect a laser to blow up armies of anthropomorphic Gummi bears trying to eat you.
- Gore: Ultimate Soldier
- Gotham City Impostors
- Grand Theft Auto V (Playstation 4, Xbox One, and PC versions have this as an available gameplay mode)
- Graven
- Gravity Bone
- GTFO
- GunBuster
- GunFu Fighter
- Gungriffon
- Gunfire Reborn
- Gunman Chronicles
- Hacx
- Half-Life series
- Half-Life
- Half-Life 2
- Half-Life: Alyx
- Afraid of Monsters
- Cry of Fear
- Counter-Strike
- Cthulhu: An Unspeakable Mod
- Dystopia
- Entropy : Zero
- Grey (Half-Life 2)
- Heart of Evil
- The Hidden: Source
- MINERVA: Metastasis
- Missing Information
- Nuclear Winter
- Sven Co-op
- They Hunger
- Garry's Mod
- NeoTokyo (2014)
- 1187
- Scientist Slaughterhouse
- Sweet Half-Life
- Halo
- Halo: Combat Evolved
- SPV3 (A mod of Halo: Custom Edition)
- Halo 2
- Halo 3
- Halo 3: ODST
- Halo: Reach
- Halo 4
- Halo 5: Guardians
- Halo Infinite
- Halo: Combat Evolved
- Hands of Necromancy
- Hard Reset
- Havoc
- Haze
- Hedon
- Hellbound
- Hellforces
- Hell In Vietnam
- Hell Let Loose
- Heretic
- Heroes & Generals (The Action Game part)
- Hexen
- Hidden & Dangerous
- High on Life
- History Channel Civil War Games — yes, the same TV network just made a collection of Edutainment Games that teaches about the Battle for the Pacific and American Civil War while allowing you to shoot Confederate soldiers in the face.
- Homefront
- Homefront: The Revolution
- Hour of Victory
- Hovertank 3D
- HROT
- Hunt: Showdown
- Hypercharge Unboxed
- Hyperviolent
- I. M. Meen
- Immercenary
- Immortal Redneck
- Impaler
- Incision
- INDUSTRIA
- Inner Chains
- In Pursuit of Greed
- Instinct
- Insurgency
- Ion Fury
- illWill - do not confuse this with Ill Will
- Iron Grip (on the La Résistance side; The Empire side is either a player-controlled RTS or AI-driven)
- Iron Storm
- Isle of the Dead
- Jet Rocket
- JFK: Reloaded
- Jonathan Kane: The Protector - sometimes marketed as The Mark 2 as a Dolled-Up Installment
- Judas
- Judge Dredd: Dredd vs. Death
- Jumping Flash!
- Jurassic Park: Trespasser
- Jurassic: The Hunted
- Ken's Labyrinth
- The Kileak duology
- Kileak: The DNA Imperative
- Kileak 2: Epidemic
- Killer7
- Killing Floor
- Killing Time
- Killzone
- Kingdom of the Dead
- Kingpin: Life of Crime
- KISS: Psycho Circus: The Nightmare Child
- Krazy Ivan
- Kreed
- Krunker.io
- Landfall Archives
- Land of the Dead: Road to Fiddler's Green
- Land of War - The Beginning
- Last Rites
- LawBreakers
- Left 4 Dead
- Legendary (2008)
- Legend of the Seven Paladins 3D
- Lethal Omen
- Lichdom: Battlemage
- Lost in Vivo
- Luna Abyss
- Mace Griffin: Bounty Hunter
- Magic Carpet
- Marathon
- The Mark
- MAG (ties in with MMOFPS)
- Maze War
- Meatgrinder
- Medal of Honor
- Memoirs of Magic
- Men in Black: The Crashdown
- Men of Valor
- Metal Head
- Metal: Hellsinger
- Metro
- Metroid Prime Trilogy (Also falls under Action-Adventure)
- Midnight Ultra
- Mission Against Terror
- Mob Enforcer
- Modern Combat
- Moon Chronicles
- Mortyr
- Mullet Mad Jack
- MythForce
- Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance
- Nerves of Steel
- Neuro
- Nightmare Reaper
- Nitemare 3D
- Natural Selection 2 (Hybrid with Real Time Strategy)
- Necromunda: Hired Gun
- NecroVisioN
- Neon White
- NeonXSZ
- Nexuiz
- Nightmare of Decay (Survival Horror from a first-person perspective)
- No One Lives Forever
- No Players Online
- Nocturne In Yellow
- Northern Journey
- Nosferatu: The Wrath of Malachi
- Nuclear Dawn
- Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath
- Office Jerk and its other versions
- Office Point Rescue
- Onslaught
- OpenArena
- Operation Body Count
- Operation Flashpoint
- Operation: Matriarchy
- ORION: Prelude
- The Outer Worlds
- Outer Realm
- Outlaws
- Overkill's The Walking Dead
- Overload
- Overwatch
- Painkiller
- Paladins
- Paper Dolls — a Chinese horror-themed FPS, don't let the title fool you
- Paranautical Activity
- Paranoiascape — sort of, you control a pair of bone pedals in first-person and consistently use it to deflect an energy orb back and forth at enemies
- Pariah
- Pathways into Darkness
- PAYDAY: The Heist
- Pencil Whipped
- Perfect Dark
- Perilous Warp
- Perish
- Peter Jackson's King Kong
- Phlegethon
- Pirates Vikings and Knights
- Pistol Whip
- PlanetSide
- PO'ed — it's like Doom, but you're a Chef of Iron instead of a Space Marine
- Police 911
- Polygod
- Post Void
- Postal
- PowerSlave note
- The Precursors
- Prey (2006)
- Prey (2017) (also Immersive Sim)
- Primal Carnage
- Prime Target
- Prodeus
- Project Blackout
- Project Downfall
- Project I.G.I.
- Project Remedium
- Project: Snowblind
- Project Warlock
- Propagation series
- Pursuit
- Putrefaction
- Quake
- Quake
- Arcane Dimensions
- Beyond Beliefnote
- Contract Revokednote
- Deathmatch Dimensionnote
- Honeynote
- The Punishment Duenote
- QDOOMnote
- Rubicon 2note
- Shrak For Quake
- Slave Zero X: Episode Enyonote
- Spiritworldnote
- Terranote
- Underdark Overbrightnote
- X-Men: The Ravages of Apocalypse
- Quake II
- Quake III: Arena
- Quake IV
- Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
- Quake Champions
- Quake
- Quantum Conundrum
- Radix: Beyond The Void
- RAID: World War II
- Rage (2011)
- Rainbow Six (Also squad-based Simulation Games)
- Rambo: The Video Game (2014)
- Ravenfield
- Ready or Not
- REAVER
- Receiver
- Receiver 2
- Red Alliance
- Red Dead Redemption 2 (has this as an available gameplay mode just like GTA V)
- Red Faction (the first two)
- Redfall
- Redline: Gang Warfare 2066
- Redneck Rampage
- Red Ocean
- Red Orchestra
- Red Steel
- Remorse: The List
- Requiem: Avenging Angel
- Resident Evil series (primarily Survival Horror, but some games are in this genre):
- Resistance
- Retro Virus
- The Riddick spin-offs:
- Ripout
- Rise of the Triad
- RoboCop: Rogue City
- Robotica
- Rogue Warrior
- Rust
- SAS: Anti-Terror Force and SAS: Secure Tomorrow
- SCP: 5k (previously SCP: Pandemic)
- SCP: Secret Laboratory
- Sanctum
- Scathe
- Scorn
- Second Extinction, a Spiritual Successor to Dino D-Day where you shoot dinosaurs throughout
- Secret Service
- Section 8
- Selaco
- Sentry
- Sensory Overload
- Serious Sam
- Serious Sam: The First Encounter
- Serious Sam: The Second Encounter
- Serious Sam Advance
- Serious Sam: Next Encounter
- Serious Sam II
- Serious Sam 3: BFE
- Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope
- Serious Sam 4
- Severed Steel
- Shadow Master
- Shadow Ops: Red Mercury
- Shadow Warrior
- Sharpshooter 3D
- Shattered Horizon
- Shatterline
- Shaw's Nightmare
- Shellshock 2
- The Ship: Murder Party
- Shogo: Mobile Armor Division
- Sift Heads
- Signal Ops
- Silent Debuggers
- Silent Hill The Escape
- SiN
- SiN (1998)
- SiN Episodes: Emergence
- Singularity
- Sker Ritual
- Skibidi Toilets: Invasion
- Slayers X: Terminal Aftermath: Vengance of the Slayer
- Sniper: Ghost Warrior
- Sniper: Path of Vengeance (unrelated to the Sniper series above)
- Solarix
- Soldier of Fortune
- South Park
- Space Beast Terror Fright
- Space Hulk: Deathwing
- Space Hulk: Vengeance of the Blood Angels
- Spasim
- Specimen Zero
- Spectre (1991)
- Splitgate
- The Spy Who Shot Me
- Squad
- The Stalin Subway
- S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
- Strafe
- Starship 1
- Starship Troopers
- Starship Troopers Extermination
- Star Wars: Battlefront
- Star Wars: Republic Commando
- Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire
- Star Trek: Elite Force
- Star Trek: The Next Generation - Klingon Honor Guard
- Stormland
- Strife
- Sub Rosa (FPS Game)
- Super 3D Noah's Ark
- Superhot
- The Super Spy
- Supplice
- Survival & Horror, an upcoming indie-quadrilogy
- S.W.A.T. — though only the third and fourth game in the series and the spin-off SWAT: Global Strike Team:
- Syndicate (2012)
- Syndrome
- System Shock
- Takedown: Red Sabre
- Team Fortress 1 (mod for Quake)
- Team Fortress Classic
- Team Fortress 2
- Teardown
- Terminator Future Shock
- Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
- Terminator Rampage
- Terminator: Resistance
- They Came From Dimension X
- Thief — First Person Sneaker.
- Time Crisis 4 — It has a Japan-exclusive special edition which is in first-person starring William Rush as a playable hero
- TimeShift
- TimeSplitters
- Time Warpers
- Titanfall (combines this with Mecha Game)
- Tower of Guns
- Trepang2
- Tribes
- TRON 2.0
- Turbo Overkill
- Tunnel B1
- Turning Point: Fall of Liberty
- Turok
- Ubersoldier
- ULTRAKILL
- UNLOVED
- Umbrella Corps (half hybrid with Third Person shooter)
- Unkilled (mobile game)
- Unreal series:
- Unturned
- The Uprising series, including Uprising: Join or Die and Uprising: X
- Urban Chaos: Riot Response
- Urban Terror
- VALORANT
- Verdun
- Vietcong
- Viscerafest
- Vivisector: Beast Within
- Void Bastards
- The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners
- The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct
- The Walking Zombie duology
- War Brokers
- War of Rights
- Warface
- Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun
- Warhammer 40,000: Darktide
- Warhammer 40000 Fire Warrior
- Warstride Challenges
- Warsow
- Wasted
- Water Warfare
- The Wheel of Time
- White Hell
- Will Rock
- Witchaven
- Witchfire
- Wolfenstein
- Wolf Team
- The World Is Not Enough
- World War II Online
- World War 3
- Wrack
- WRATH: Aeon of Ruin
- Writhe
- XIII
- Xonotic
- XS
- You Are Empty
- ZAR
- ZPC
- Zeno Clash
- Zeno Clash 2
- Ziggurat
- Zombie Massacre
- ZombiU (with elements of old school Survival Horror)
- Z.O.N.A: Shadow of Lemansk
- Zortch