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The FPS genre has been around for decades, pioneered by the likes of DOOM and Wolfenstein early on, before games like Halo and, of all things, Alien: Resurrection, finally nailed the feel of first person shooters on console. If you want to see an accurate timeline of the progression of video games, just look at how FPS games have evolved over the years. From basic, pixelated experience where you could barely tell which blob you were shooting to massive productions with mountains of detail, the FPS genre has improved immeasurably, with the PS5 showcasing the most engaging shooters you can buy. But what are the best PS5 FPS games so far?
For this list, we’re looking at all the essential FPS games you can play on the PS5 that have been enhanced for the new hardware, which of course means that any PS4 games that are playable on PS5 aren’t eligible. We love Titanfall 2 as much as the next outlet, but until it gets updated for the PS5, it’s not allowed here. With that in mind, here are the best PS5 FPS games you should be playing.
The Best PS5 FPS Games
15. Terminator: Resistance Enhanced
Developer: Teyon
Publisher: Reef Entertainment
It’s fair to say that Skynet’s big old robot has had a tough time at the box office, especially in more recent outings, but at least the Terminator film franchise has the masterpieces of the first two films to prop up the rest of the franchise. As far as game adaptations go, there hadn’t been one to truly nail The Terminator, until Resistance came along. If you want a love letter to The Terminator along with a decent FPS on top, Terminator: Resistance is your game.
Set in the far-flung future of 2028, where the planet is ruined and the robots have taken over, Terminator: Resistance sees players controlling Jacob Rivers as he works with fellow humans to try and survive the mechanical onslaught that is Skynet.
The Enhanced version for PS5 upgrades the game to take advantage of the new hardware, with improved visuals and loading times, so if you want the best possible Terminator experience, give this a shot.
14. Lemnis Gate
Developer: Ratloop Games
Publisher: Frontier Foundry
Admittedly, Lemnis Gate is a tricky one to wrap your head around. Most multiplayer shooters are pretty straightlaced in their execution, as players spawn into a map and complete a certain objective. Lemnis Gate operates in the same way, yet asks you to consider playing in four dimensions. Like we said, there’s a lot to get into with Lemnis Gate, but once you start to understand its mechanics, it’s one of the best PS5 FPS games you can play.
Combining a shooter with turn-based strategy, players take it in turns dropping into an arena to complete objectives. After the first player’s turn, the second player can then use their character to complete their own objectives or interfere with the other player. This is repeated for five turns, creating a chaotic mix of explosions and time shenanigans.
Once a match gets going, there’s nothing else like Lemnis Gate.
13. Necromunda: Hired Gun
Developer: Streum On Studio
Publisher: Focus Home Interactive
The Warhammer 40K universe is vast and expansive, so it’s no surprise that there have been quite a few video game adaptations of it over the years, but most of them tend to focus on the Space Marines and some kind of huge, interstellar war. There’s so much room to explore the ground level of a world like 40K, and that’s where Necromunda: Hired Gun comes in. It also happens to be a pretty fun movement shooter too.
Set on the mechanised planet that the game gets its name from, Necromunda sees the player taking on the role of a mercenary who works for the planet’s various underground criminal elements, taking on hits and taking down gangs as you cut a bloody swathe through the planet’s numerous rogue elements.
If that doesn’t sound like a good time already, you can also have a dog follow you around and kill enemies. Enough said.
12. Far Cry 6
Developer: Ubisoft
Publisher: Ubisoft
If you’re a fan of open world bombast and loads of content in your first person shooters, look no further than Far Cry 6. The Far Cry series has often championed the “more is more” approach to game development, throwing everything but the kitchen sink into their games, and while Far Cry 6 might be showing the cracks in an aged design, there’s a reason why the formula has endured for so long: it’s just decent, “head empty” fun.
You control Dani Rojas, a revolutionary in the region of Yara who is looking to oppose the despotic rule of Anton Castillo. Along the way, you’ll explore the region, blow up a ton of stuff and unlock a healthy supply of makeshift weapons that should make the revolution just that little bit more fun.
If that’s simply too much fun for you alone, you can even invite a friend into your campaign and complete the whole thing in co-op.
11. Back 4 Blood
Developer: Turtle Rock Studios
Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Turtle Rock Studios originally developed Left 4 Dead, which pretty much wrote the book when it comes to first person co-op shooters, so it’s no real surprise that Back 4 Blood is a similarly enjoyable zombie romp.
If you’ve got three friends to play with and like the idea of facing down an overwhelming horde yet still emerging triumphant Back 4 Blood is probably going to be your new favourite video game. Even if not, it’s still one of the best PS5 FPS games you can play.
Set in a post-apocalypse where the world has been overrun by a parasite that turns people into zombie-like creatures called the Ridden, you control one of several characters trying to eke out an existence. Each character has their own unique traits and abilities, but the real replayability comes when you start messing around with your deck creation. Players can use cards to modify and improve their abilities throughout a run, becoming more deadly as a result.
10. Cyberpunk 2077
Developer: CD Projekt Red
Publisher: CD Projekt Red
To see Cyberpunk 2077 go from a game that was removed from the PlayStation Store for the shocking state it launched into one of the better first person experiences on the PS5 is pretty remarkable.
While it might lean a bit more heavily into the RPG elements than some games on this list, it is still a first person shooter at its core. Unless you’re like us and enjoy running a melee build instead. Guess that would make it a “first person smacker” or “slasher”.
Anyway, Cyberpunk 2077 sees players creating their own playable character/thug in the form of V, who arrives in Night City and is seduced by the promise of infamy and riches. Everyone’s journey through the city and its various factions, both criminal and corpo, will be different, as players can build their character to focus on a variety of different skills, but one thing is a constant: carving your legacy into Night City’s history is pretty darned fun.
9. Deep Rock Galactic
Developer: Ghost Ship Games
Publisher: Coffee Stain Publishing
Deep Rock Galactic’s co-op extravaganza has been available for the longest time on PC and subsequently Xbox, but it took until 2022 for it to become available on PS5. Thankfully, this would prove to be a blessing for the game, as years of updates and refinement turned the game into one of the best co-op games you can play. Without a doubt, Deep Rock Galactic earns its place as one of the best PS5 FPS games.
Deep Rock Galactic sees players taking on the role of dwarves mining a planet for resources, but unfortunately, you’ll have to contend with hordes of vicious aliens hoping to turn you and your crew into lunchmeat. Players can choose from four playable classes, each with their own unique abilities, and complete a host of randomly generated missions with various objectives.
There’s beauty in Deep Rock Galactic’s simplicity, as you’ll be enjoying this one for a long time.
8. Resident Evil Village
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
While it moved the series to first person, it would be hard to call Resident Evil 7 an FPS game. Sure, there’s guns and monsters you can kill, but 7 very much fits the mould of a survival horror game. Thankfully for those looking for over-the-top shooters, Resident Evil Village drops most of the horror and focuses instead on carnage. The weapons are bigger, the enemies are more plentiful, and the fun is non-stop.
Following on from the events of Resident Evil 7, you once again control Ethan Winters as he’s made a life for himself in Europe with his wife and kid. Unfortunately, dark forces are at play and Ethan finds himself stranded in a hostile European village contending with vampires, lycans and weird creepy porcelain dolls.
Fortunately for Ethan however, he gets access to an arsenal that would make Doomguy blush, making for a rollicking good time.
7. Destiny 2
Developer: Bungie
Publisher: Bungie
It’s no secret that Bungie has found plenty of success with their Destiny series. Despite being years old at this point, Destiny 2 appears to be going from strength to strength as new content gets released (so long as you ignore the old content getting vaulted, which isn’t great). While the solo experience of Destiny 2 leaves a lot to be desired, the game comes into its own once you’ve got friends to share the experience with.
As a Guardian for one of the last bastions of humanity, you’ll travel around the galaxy completing missions and taking down aliens from across the universe looking to wipe you out.
With lots of campaign missions, along with more challenging strikes and raids that require more players, Destiny 2 is a game that demands a lot from its players, but the rewards it offers makes it one of the best PS5 FPS games you can play.
6. Metro Exodus
Developer: 4A Games
Publisher: Deep Silver
The Metro series has been considered in the top tier of horror shooters, with its nuclear hellscape proving to be a tense and gripping atmosphere to tell some wonderful, human stories. That’s not really surprising, given that it’s based on a book series, but Metro manages to take the original literature and create a series of games that entertain as much as they horrify. Metro Exodus is the conclusion of that series, and it’s a brilliant finale.
Like previous entries, Exodus sees players in the shoes of Artyom. Disillusioned with how life in the Moscow Metro system has become, and convinced that life must exist outside of Russia in this post-nuclear war world, Artyom is resolved to leave Moscow behind to find green pastures.
Joined by various cohorts, you’ll travel across the continent in search of land that’s been untouched by the ravages of war.
5. Borderlands 3
Developer: Gearbox Software
Publisher: 2K Games
The co-op first person loot shooter genre has exploded over the past decade or so, but the originator of it all was Borderlands 1. Years later, it would take Borderlands 3 to emerge and reclaim the crown for the series, offering the best action, graphics and gunplay that the series has ever seen. Sure, the comedy might lean too much into cringe, so much so that you’ll want to mute your TV, but the gameplay is brilliant.
As usual, you control Vault Hunters who have travelled to Pandora in the search of riches, however this time you’re dealing with Troy and Tyreen Calypso, twin rulers of the Children of the Vault. This violent cult is looking for a Great Vault which is believed to offer incredible power, and that simply won’t do, so it’s on you and your friends to take them out before it’s too late.
With four different playable characters, each with their own unique abilities, Borderlands 3 offers tonnes of replayability.
4. Deathloop
Developer: Arkane Lyon
Publisher: Bethesda
While there’s been plenty of games in recent years that have made use of the time loop mechanic, there’s none quite like Deathloop.
Arkane have made their name creating excellent first person experiences, and while Dishonored and Prey are worth your time, Deathloop is a proper shooter. That’s if you actually use the guns anyway, given the incredible powers you can play around with.
Deathloop features Colt, who’s trapped in a time loop on an island filled with violent party-goers looking to end Colt’s life. In order to break the time loop, Colt will have to kill the eight people who are maintaining the loop forever, but unfortunately for Colt, one of the eight is Julianna, a trained assassin who’s hunting Colt down across loops. You get to play as Colt, attempting to break the loop, or Julianna, out to kill Colt.
3. Apex Legends
Developer: Respawn Entertainment
Publisher: EA
Multiplayer shooters have evolved over the years from just simple team deathmatch games, with the massive battle royale genre allowing players to test their dominance against dozens of other players at once. It’s fitting that Apex Legends has the name that it does, because it’s the apex of the battle royale genre. If you want to feel the thrill of victory and defeat, Apex Legends is the best game out there, and it’s even free to play, which is just the icing on the cake.
Apex Legends features a unique roster of characters, each with their own special powers and abilities. Players form teams of three and try to survive against up to 19 other teams to become the Apex Champions, with different weapons scattered across the map.
Of course, if the battle royale mode is too much for you, the 3v3 Arenas mode offers faster, deathmatch inspired gameplay, but both modes definitely help Apex Legends qualify as one of the best PS5 FPS games you can play.
2. Rainbow Six Siege
Developer: Ubisoft
Publisher: Ubisoft
Is Rainbow Six Siege the most casual friendly multiplayer shooter ever made? Absolutely not. Trying to play Siege in 2022, especially as a new player, is going to get worse before it gets better, but the fact remains that Siege is the best multiplayer FPS you can play and one of the best FPS games on PS5. If you’re looking for a high skill, high reward multiplayer game, Rainbow Six Siege is the perfect choice.
Like Apex Legends, Rainbow Six Siege features unique characters, each with their own abilities and weaponry. Players are split between attackers and defenders, with each taking turns to defend heavily fortified positions. The gameplay of Siege is cerebral, slow-paced and tactical, but the reward for nailing some sweet headshots and clutching victory from the jaws of defeat is unparalleled. Just expect to get beaten badly in the early going.
1. DOOM Eternal
Developer: id Software
Publisher: Bethesda
DOOM Eternal is nothing short of the perfect FPS. It’s a bold claim, but one that DOOM Eternal rips and tears into until that claim is nothing more than a fine puddle of blood and guts. As single-player FPS games go, few are as intense or as challenging as DOOM Eternal, but if you’re willing to step up to the challenge, DOOM Eternal is worth it, even if it’s just for the soundtrack that makes you want to suplex the devil himself.
DOOM Eternal puts players in the power armour of the Doomguy as he continues his one man crusade against the forces of hell and everything else standing in his way. The gameplay builds on DOOM (2016), with its fast-paced violence and non-stop infusions of adrenaline, but the game offers plenty of depth with regards to its abilities to encourage the player to use the full extent of Doomguy’s arsenal. Without a doubt, DOOM Eternal is the best first-person shooter on PS5.
Maybe it’s even the best ever.
READ MORE: 14 Best PS5 Open World Games
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