The extraction shooter genre has gone from a fairly niche space within the gaming world to a hugely popular phenomenon, largely thanks to the success of ARC Raiders. The game has brought so many new players into a world that they may never have even considered before, with a lot of the praise being centered around the gameplay and, most importantly, the gunplay. For many longtime extraction fans, it delivers one of the best and most comprehensive experiences around, with every bullet feeling weighty and each weapon having something new for players to use and enjoy during a raid. With that said, the genre still has plenty of other exceptional games that manage to nail the gunplay side of things just a little bit better, giving players an even more satisfying gameplay feel than Embark's revolutionary masterpiece.
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These games accomplish this through interesting mechanics and polished gunfights that ensure players feel in complete control of their weapons at all times, without ever feeling too much like a traditional shooter. There is a fine line to be struck between planning and action, as too much intensity can turn the game into an arcadey mess, while a heavy focus on strategy pushes it further into the realm of tactical shooters.
Hunt: Showdown
Horrors In The Wild West
Details:
- Satisfying and weighty guns
- Slower, more deliberate combat
Hunt: Showdown delivers some of the most rewarding and satisfying gunplay in the extraction shooter space. Every weapon feels heavy, slow, and lethal, forcing players to treat each shot as a full commitment rather than just blindly spraying ammo until their enemies die. Also, because of how long some of the reloads are and how punishing the recoil is, missing a single shot can be all it takes to cost an otherwise winning fight, creating plenty of scenarios where positioning and timing become much more important than raw aim.
What truly elevates Hunt is how deeply audio design is tied into gunplay. In a similar way to ARC Raiders, the gunshots echo across the map, revealing player positions and turning small encounters into server-wide battles. At first, players may think they can get away with firing off a few rounds at some nearby enemies, but they will quickly realize that those bullets become cues for action, and if they aren't ready for it, they can be easily taken down by another group looking to make it out alive. The reason this concept is executed better here is because of how the horror elements feed into the gameplay. The fights don't play out as arcade-style duals across a modern landscape, and instead, they become tense fights to survive in a dark and gloomy world that is pitted against the player right from the start.
Escape From Tarkov
Pioneering The Entire Genre
Details:
- Extreme mechanical depth in both weapons and the world
- Realistic recoil and aim
Escape From Tarkov remains the gold standard for realistic gunplay in the extraction shooter genre. Every firearm is modeled with obsessive detail, from recoil patterns and ergonomics to ammunition types and weapon durability, meaning that players aren't just running around with a random firearm, but wielding an expertly crafted weapon that feels about as powerful as it really is. The gunfights are lethal and brutally unforgiving, often ending in seconds if the player's positioning or awareness slips, forcing them to think carefully about when to engage and what kinds of escape routes they have if things go south.
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Where Tarkov really pulls ahead is with the level of depth in a lot of the mechanics that are often pretty basic elsewhere in the genre. Recoil management becomes a much more active system that players need to learn and master, ammo choices become huge difference makers in those close encounters, and no matter how well-geared they may be, there are still chances for anyone to get the upper hand and succeed in a fight through skill and aggression alone.
Arena Breakout: Infinite
Precise Shooting From The Moment The Game Begins
Details:
- Responsive controls and weapon feel
- Tactical approach for more engaging fights
Arena Breakout: Infinite is clearly heavily inspired by the earlier games that really innovated the genre, but it manages to refine those mechanics into a smoother, more accessible experience without sacrificing depth. The weapons feel responsive and grounded, with aiming patterns that reward controlled bursts and disciplined firing rather than spray-and-pray tactics that can often make gunfights feel a bit sloppier than thought-out battles. This also results in far fewer run-and-gun moments, which can actually retain a lot more of the tension that makes the extraction genre much more compelling for players who are tired of the traditional COD-style shooters.
The game excels at clarity during firefights as well, something that ARC Raiders sometimes struggles with, particularly in much busier encounters. The feedback from each weapon is also significantly more enjoyable, giving players a visually clear but also satisfying response for every well-placed bullet they manage to land. It might not strike the same levels of realism as something like Tarkov, but it still manages to strike an effective balance between authenticity and playability, making fights from afar and up close feel rewarding and engaging at all times.
Witchfire
Bringing The Darkest Fantasies To Life
Details:
- Distinct weapon styles and roles that feed into one another
- Fast-paced action despite solo gameplay
Witchfire may not follow the traditional extraction shooter formula, but its gunplay stands tall among the genre’s best due to how immediately satisfying and mechanically sharp it feels. Being single-player only may make a lot of fans switch off immediately, yet once it gets going, the lack of real players is a non-factor, given how engaging the enemies are and how fun the actual gameplay is. There’s no sluggishness or excess animation drag to fight against, as the game prioritizes control and momentum, allowing players to stay fully engaged in combat rather than wrestling with systems that would otherwise take away from the experience.
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Unlike slower, more methodical extraction shooters, Witchfire thrives on rhythm and pace. Players will find themselves constantly pushing forwards, chaining shots, abilities, and movements into a seamless set of inputs that all serve a distinct purpose within each expedition. This focal shift over to aggression has allowed it to carve out a unique space within an otherwise crowded genre that is often dominated by hyperrealism or grounded gunplay that relies a lot more on careful positioning and timing than persistent action. In terms of pure mechanical satisfaction, overall, the game delivers a much sharper, more refined shooting experience than ARC Raiders, as well as many other games within the extraction space, proving that even without PvP combat, it is still possible to create an engaging shooter that can keep players hooked for hours on end.
Delta Force
Wide-scale Military Conflicts
Details:
- Exceptional readability even in the messiest of fights
- Big emphasis on controlled fire and calculated engagements
The modern revival of Delta Force leans heavily into realistic, military-focused gunplay that emphasizes tactical decision-making and control in every match. The weapon line-up isn't full to the brim with shoddy guns that struggle to take down other players; rather, the game is packed with rewarding guns that all come with their own learning curves and use-cases, creating a much more engaging shooter experience than a lot of other titles in the space. Where this idea really takes off is how well the gunplay flows in every kind of environment. It doesn't matter if players are engaging enemies at long range or slowly clearing interior spaces; the weapons always feel great to use, and their strengths really shine in the places they should.
The game also benefits from clean visual and audio design that keeps firefights clear even in chaotic situations that would otherwise make enemies hard to pick out from the action. And because the scale of certain engagements can reach pretty staggering heights, placing an emphasis on clarity means that players never need to worry about their vision being overly obscured or not being able to reliably track targets in the middle of a fight. Compared to more stylized extraction shooters, like ARC Raiders, the gunplay is designed in a much more thought-out way that results in far more consistent encounters and controlled firefights that never end in frustration, even when things go poorly.
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