Summary
- Bright Memory: Infinite is a visually stunning indie FPS game with exciting combat mechanics and a rewarding style point system for creative attacks.
- Gloomwood is a genre-blending FPS stealth horror game set in a Victorian-era city, offering a unique and fascinating experience inspired by franchises like Resident Evil and Thief.
- DUSK is a hilariously fun boomer shooter game that pays homage to classic 90s FPS games like Doom and Quake, offering smooth gameplay and modern twists while poking fun at its inspirations.
FPS games are known for usually having high-budget, wide-reaching stories with convoluted plots and heroic, grand, white knight characters that will accomplish their goals and defeat their enemies at any cost. FPS games are hard to get right without quite so large a budget, but occasionally a brave indie studio will attempt to make one of their own.
With the gaming industry becoming more accessible for smaller publishers, even lone developers can make great games. FPS games may be more difficult to create than some other genres, but this hasn’t stopped these indie studios from developing some truly great FPS games that should be recognized alongside some of the very best that the genre has to offer.
7 Bright Memory: Infinite
Though it is a relatively short FPS, Bright Memory: Infinite is worth an evening of play for sure, especially for fans of the FPS style. Bright Memory: Infinite was created by indie developer FYQD Studio. Developed after an initial game, simply called Bright Memory, was successful, Infinite simply remade the game while adding more to it.
Players control Shelia, who has not only guns and a sword for melee attacks, but psychokinesis and energy blast powers as well. The combat of Bright Memory is hugely fun and memorable for an FPS game, and the games are both simply beautiful to look at, uncommonly so for an indie-developed game. The best part about Bright Memory: Infinite though is definitely the style points, as players are rewarded for how creative the combinations of attacks are that players put together.
6 Gloomwood
One of the best things about indie games is the risks that they can afford to take over bigger game companies, and that includes some amazing genre-blending. For example, Gloomwood is an FPS stealth horror game set in a Victorian-era city. The retro style, mixed with both FPS and horror elements, makes for a truly unique experience that all gamers should try out.
Gloomwood allows players to traverse a city as an unnamed doctor, having to choose in different situations to focus on stealth or combat. The game is filled with inspirations from franchises like Resident Evil and the Thief series, and it has managed to create a unique and fascinating experience from these.
5 DUSK
As one of the most recent additions to the boomer shooter genre, DUSK is a hilariously fun experience with a very tongue-in-cheek style, inspired by classic 90s FPS games like Doom and Quake. While the “boomer shooter” sub-genre has gone mostly out of fashion, indie developers are attempting to keep it alive with great games like this one.
DUSK is set in a fictional town in Pennsylvania where Lovecraftian Ruins are uncovered and demonic creatures overtake the town. The nameless player character is caught while trying to find treasure in the town and is forced to fight the various monstrosities. Despite the retro look, DUSK plays incredibly well and in a modern way, while poking fun at the infamous 90s games it takes inspiration from.
4 BPM: Bullets Per Minute
Another game featuring an especially interesting genre mash-up, BPM is a roguelike FPS rhythmic game. This means that in spite of being a first-person shooter, the game features a choice between different characters, each featuring unique abilities, and the dungeons that players must traverse are all procedurally generated.
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Additionally, like many rhythm games, players will have to reload and shoot their weapons to the beat of the heavy metal music that plays throughout the game. This fascinating blending makes for a shockingly fun time, and players have been loving Bullets Per Minute since it was initially released in 2020, prompting ports to various platforms.
3 Superhot
One of the most fascinating and bold additions to the FPS genre over the last decade, Superhot is an FPS game where time only moves when the player moves. This makes for one of the few truly unique experiences in video gaming in recent times.
Superhot is extremely minimalist in style and gives the player very few weapon options. This means players have to beat enemies and take their weapons to advance for the most part. Originally a prototype browser game, Superhot was developed further to have over thirty levels. It even got a VR release, which has been proven to be one of the best VR games released to this day, and most recently Superhot: Mind Control Delete was released to further the franchise.
2 Neon White
An indie FPS and puzzle-platforming mash-up with beautifully styled anime art that was released for multiple platforms in late 2022, Neon White is a perfect example of how great the indie world is for the FPS games right now, as the video game industry becomes a more accessible place and indie successes are no longer considered anomalies.
Neon White features a group called the Neons that come from Hell for a competition to kill demons running loose in heaven, hoping for a chance to remain. This plot, similar in style to something like Suicide Squad, features multiple missions, each split into a variety of levels that make for a beautiful and fun game that expands the bounds of the FPS genre in some unique ways, prompting some fans to call for it to be a game of the year contender.
1 Paladins: Champions Of The Realm
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While most of the great indie FPS games released in recent years are single-player solely, Paladins boldly steps into the multiplayer realm. This free-to-play hero shooter game was released in 2018 for PC and the Nintendo Switch, taking place in a fantasy world populated by elves, dwarves, dragons, and more, and it is one of the best fantasy shooters on the market.
Paladins is a team-based shooter, meaning two teams of five players compete against each other for combat-based goals of various types. The game’s animation and style have been hugely praised, in addition to the variety of options that players have for gameplay. There are siege, onslaught, team deathmatch, and special ranked modes in addition to limited-time game modes that pop up occasionally.