Bethesda’s reputation may rest on sprawling RPGs and post-apocalyptic open worlds, but the publisher has also quietly become one of the most consistent backers of top-tier shooters. From over-the-top boomerang chaos to high-speed demon slaying, its portfolio includes some of the most inventive, brutal, and stylish first-person games of the last two decades.
These are the shooters that stood out, aged well, and in some cases, redefined what FPS games could be.
1 Rage
The Boomerang FPS That Had No Right Looking That Good
Released in 2011, Rage was id Software’s return to the FPS stage after Doom 3, and technically, it was ahead of its time. Powered by the id Tech 5 engine, it stunned players with megatextures that made every rock, rusted signpost, and canyon wall look eerily realistic for the era. For a game that opened with a guy crawling out of a cryo-pod in a ruined desert, it ran absurdly smoothly, even on consoles.
But Rage wasn’t just a pretty wasteland. It blended corridor gunfights with Mad Max-style vehicular combat, letting players upgrade and armor their dune buggies while mowing down bandits with miniguns. Weapons felt punchy, especially the wingstick—a razor-edged boomerang that somehow became the unofficial mascot of the game. The AI, while not revolutionary, was unusually mobile, with enemies diving over cover and rushing in with flanking tactics that showed some serious scripting chops.
It fell short on narrative impact, and the abrupt ending remains one of the most complained-about conclusions in shooter history, but for its gameplay loops and presentation, Rage still earns its cult status.
2 Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus
When A Shooter Goes Full Tarantino
Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus opens with B.J. Blazkowicz in a wheelchair, gunning down Nazis aboard a burning U-boat while his legs barely work. That alone says everything about its tone—loud, fearless, absurdly violent, and politically unflinching.
MachineGames doubled down on the pulp energy from The New Order, tossing players into an alternate-history 1960s America under full Nazi control. From the Ku Klux Klan patrolling small-town Roswell to the flaming ruins of Manhattan, every level felt like a warped, satirical take on Americana. But beneath all the blood and absurdity, The New Colossus had real emotional weight. B.J. grappling with his mortality, memories of childhood abuse, and the burden of resistance gave the game a rawness that caught a lot of players off guard.
Gunplay was deliberately intense, with dual-wielding returning and weapons like the Dieselkraftwerk turning entire squads into flaming piles of regret. Yet the pacing was often divisive—cutscenes ran long, stealth was half-baked, and some boss fights leaned into bullet sponge territory. Still, it delivered a narrative-heavy shooter like few others, unafraid to be weird, bold, and angry.
3 Rage 2
Neon-Pink Mayhem In A Desert Of Missed Potential
Where Rage played things gritty and grounded, Rage 2 grabbed a can of Monster Energy and said, “Let’s go full chaos.” Avalanche Studios co-developed it alongside id Software, and it showed. Driving felt smoother, explosions were bigger, and every enemy encounter looked like it belonged in a comic book scrawled in marker and gunpowder.
Combat was undeniably fun. Nanotrite powers let players slam into the ground with devastating force, deflect bullets, and hurl enemies like ragdolls. Combined with id’s signature weapon feel—especially the shotgun—every shootout was fluid and kinetic, bordering on superheroic.
But Rage 2 had one big problem: it didn’t know what to do between the fights. The open world was huge but oddly empty, full of copy-pasted outposts and unremarkable side objectives. The story, which should’ve given players a reason to care about Walker or the Authority, barely got going before it ended.
Still, when it was firing on all cylinders, it felt like Doom with an open-world twist—and that’s not a bad thing to be, even if the game forgot to breathe between shootouts.
4 Wolfenstein: The New Order
Nazis, Robots, And One Very Tired Man
The surprise hit of 2014, Wolfenstein: The New Order resurrected a long-dormant franchise by doing something unexpected: making B.J. Blazkowicz human. Not just a one-liner machine, but a man carrying years of trauma behind tired eyes, fighting in a world where the Allies lost.
The alternate-history setting was grim but fascinating, where a Nazi moon base was somehow less absurd than the idea of Jimi Hendrix joining the resistance. Stealth mechanics were simple but rewarding, with players able to knife commanders before they raised alarms. When things got loud, they got loud—especially when dual-wielding auto-shotguns or tearing through armored enemies with the Laserkraftwerk.
The pacing stood out. Players jumped between timelines, infiltrated prisons, mounted raids in massive mechs, and dealt with choices that changed parts of the narrative. It wasn’t perfect—stealth sometimes felt like an afterthought, and the checkpointing could be brutal—but it reinvented Wolfenstein for a new generation without losing its roots.
5 Prey
The Most Underrated Shotgun In Sci-Fi History
Calling Prey a shooter feels weird. It’s technically true—there’s a shotgun, a pistol, and the GLOO Cannon, which shoots foam that freezes enemies and doubles as a climbing tool—but Prey plays more like a psychological puzzle box in zero-G.
Set aboard the Talos I space station, Prey puts players in the shoes of Morgan Yu, trapped in a facility crawling with shadowy mimics and mind-warping aliens called Typhon. What made it special wasn’t just the combat, but the freedom. Players could explore every inch of Talos I, finding alternate paths using powers, environmental manipulation, or just smart object placement. Want to stack boxes to crawl through a tiny vent that skips half a level? Go for it. Want to glue a path up a wall, then shoot aliens mid-jump? That works too.
Narratively, it was all about identity and consequence. Choices had weight, NPCs remembered actions, and the deeper players dug into Talos I’s history, the more disturbing it became. It borrowed the immersive sim DNA of System Shock and Deus Ex, and while its sales were underwhelming, Prey slowly built a reputation as one of Arkane’s most ambitious and brilliant projects.
6 Doom
Rip And Tear Until It Was Cool Again
The 2016 reboot of Doom had no right being as good as it was. After a troubled development cycle that originally pitched the game as a gritty, Call of Duty-style war shooter, id Software pivoted hard and made something loud, fast, and gloriously violent.
This Doom reimagined the Slayer as a silent force of nature. The narrative, while present, knew when to shut up—usually because the player already smashed the monitor explaining things. The real star was the combat loop: kill demons with style to regain health, use chainsaw fuel for ammo, and mix weapons mid-fight like a death metal jazz solo. No cover mechanics, no regenerating health, no downtime.
The level design echoed classic Doom, full of secrets, verticality, and arena layouts that pushed players to stay mobile. Even the soundtrack, composed by Mick Gordon, became iconic, with chainsaw riffs and distorted bass drops perfectly syncing with every kill.
It didn’t just reboot a franchise—it reminded the entire FPS genre what it meant to be aggressive, agile, and unrelenting.
7 Doom Eternal
The Chess Match Of Demon Slaying
Where Doom 2016 let players unleash chaos, Doom Eternal asked them to master it. Every demon, weapon, and resource mechanic was now part of a violent ballet that punished hesitation and rewarded precision. Players didn’t just shoot things—they solved combat puzzles at 200 beats per minute.
Resource management was key. Need ammo? Chainsaw. Need armor? Use the flame belch. Need health? Glory kill. This tight loop made players juggle constant decisions mid-fight while flying through arenas with monkey-bar gymnastics and dashes that felt lifted from a platformer.
The storytelling, surprisingly, went full lore-heavy. The Slayer became a mythic figure in a cosmic war, and cutscenes showed off everything from ancient betrayals to mecha-slaying battles with kaiju-sized demons. Not everyone vibed with the heavier story tone, but it gave the franchise a kind of Lord of the Rings by way of Slayer albums energy that somehow worked.
