Fantasy shooters are one of those genres that look niche and hyper-specific but are actually loved by a dedicated and substantial audience. 1994’s Heretic is arguably the first shooter with a fantasy setting, though it might just be the first fantasy first-person shooter.
Even if Heretic incorporated elements typical of RPGs into the FPS formula to great success, that doesn’t have to be true for every fantasy shooter. Modern takes on the genre like AMID EVIL show us that fantasy FPSs can be just that and that they don’t even need to be story focused or do any worldbuilding at all.
10 Warhammer: Vermintide 2
Calling Warhammer: Vermintide 2 a shooter isn’t entirely accurate, but it can be played as one. This first-person, co-op, survival action game takes the core gameplay of genre staples like Left 4 Dead and Killing Floor and gives it a unique melee twist.
By choosing the right class, players can highly customize their experience with Vermentide 2. Thankfully, every party can use one or two ranged classes. The best ranged classes for beginners are the Bounty Hunter, the simplest ranged class, and the Waystalker, for her passive ammo regeneration.
9 Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath
Most fans of the Oddworld series are only familiar with the first two games, both classic platformers in the PS1 catalog. The fourth game set in the odd universe, Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath, is instead a hybrid first and third-person shooter.
Oddworld, the setting named after the series, isn’t a common flavor of fantasy. But even if this world displays a certain level of technological development, it is certainly closer to traditional fantasy than science fiction. What’s more, of all the entries in the series, Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath is the one that spends the least time in grimy factories and industrial plants.
8 Paladins: Champions Of The Realm
Paladins was the Hi-Rez response to the incredible success of Overwatch. This fantasy hero shooter has been consistently updated for years since its release, maintaining a large audience to this day. A highlight of the game is the unique character roster that sees elves and humans go head-to-head with a living bomb and a turtle with a cannon for a hand.
Paladins isn’t Hi-Rez Studios’ first time publishing a MOBA shooter. The studio has been a powerhouse of the genre since they released Smite in 2014, to critical and commercial success. They even gave the battle royale genre a spin with Realm Royale, though that would hardly count as fantasy.
7 Heretic
Heretic is a classic DOS shooter from 1994, developed by Quake 4’s Raven Software and published by FPS powerhouse id Software. In Heretic, players take the role of a wizard elf, fighting off hordes of undead monsters and closing up the portals that called them.
To some players, just seeing the release date might be enough to write Heretic off entirely. Admittedly, some things haven’t aged so well: the level design is experimental and outdated, and so is the engine, an adaptation of DOOM’s original. Meanwhile, the setting and the sense of place that the levels communicate hold up surprisingly well.
6 Project Warlock
In Project Warlock, players take the role of the titular Warlock as he cleans dungeon after dungeon of its fantasy monster inhabitants. Some, understandably, might not call this a fantasy shooter, with its modern guns and leather jacket-wearing protagonist. On the other hand, the game might argue, warlocks and monsters aren’t real.
Project Warlock namedrops Hexen in the first line of its Steam description, and for good reasons. Still, this is a far more innovative game than the standard fair of retro shooters, with an original level-up system and a frankly excessive 38 weapon types.
5 Graven
Graven is a retro-shooter inspired by the likes of Heretic and Hexen. Some of the talent behind the game even comes from that classic era of shooters, like team member Chuck Jones, character designer for Duke Nukem 3D. Once a priest, the undead protagonist of Graven must discover the cause of the plague that has infested the land to earn eternal peace.
Graven doesn’t stop at replicating the design of the shooters of old but modernizes the formula with unlockable skills and exploration-focused backtracking. Graven is currently in early access, but it has seen stable updates since its beta release. It’s still unclear when it will leave early access.
4 Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands
Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is a standalone sequel of the Borderlands 2 DLC, Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep. Just like the rest of the Borderland series, this is a team-based looter shooter that can be played solo but shines when one or two friends are tagging along.
The fantasy setting in Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is a spoof on the classic tabletop RPG Dungeons and Dragons, referred to by the game as Bunkers & Badasses. For the first time in the series, players can create their own character from the ground up. Creating a character and leveling up is very freeform, especially how skills can be selected from different classes.
3 Hexen: Beyond Heretic
Hexen: Beyond Heretic is an indirect sequel of the classic FPS series Heretic, but it became so popular as to spawn a series of its own. Hexen introduces multiple characters, each with their strengths and weaknesses. With its updated engine, players can even look up and down without the world warping around them.
Unlike most classic shooters (and old PC games in general), Hexen: Beyond Heretic can be played on modern machines without issue, no DOS Box required. And unlike its contemporaries, it allows controller inputs and can even be played on Steam Deck, granted that players use the GZDoom version.
2 Hedon Bloodrite
Hedon Bloodrite is a retro shooter with adventure game sensibilities set in a fantasy “crystalpunk underworld”. While it certainly takes some inspiration from classics of the genre like Heretic and Hexen, it has some PC RPG and immersive sim DNA too.
Hedon Bloodrite is actually a two-in-one package including the original Hedon and its sequel. This is by far the best value for money for players looking to get into the series. Those who are looking to spend a bit less can always get the original as a standalone product, with the option of upgrading it to the combined product later on.
1 AMID EVIL
AMID EVIL is one of the most successful retro shooter projects published by New Blood Interactive, of Dusk and ULTRAKILL fame. AMID EVIL is easily the biggest fantasy FPS title of the last few years. Even on an all-time basis, it would probably come second after the Hexen and Heretic series.
AMID EVIL boosts 7 wholly different and highly replayable worlds, a large set of unique weapons, and a fast and satisfying core gameplay loop. There are no RPG elements and no real world-building to speak of, making this a game for dedicated FPS fans.