Top 10 Best FPS Games of 2015

August 2015 Update: We've removed a couple of games from this list that were either canceled (Dead Island 2) or delayed (Homefront: The Revolution) and replaced them with better entries that fans of the FPS genre will no doubt have a lot of fun with. Be sure to check out what we've added to this list! 

Ah, first-person shooters. 2014 was a pretty good year for the genre, with solid titles like Wolfenstein: The New Order, Call of Duty Advanced Warfare and Titanfall, but 2015 is looking even better, with some fresh spins on older series and even some completely new stuff.

Whether you want something fast-paced and mindlessly fun, something slower and more strategic or something in between those two, there’s bound to be something for you on this list.  

Needless to say, companies like Activision and Ubisoft are going to be bringing out the heavy hitters, but those aren't the only games we have covered in this list--which includes titles from lesser known or indie developers. 

Feel like we left something out? Tell us in the comments!

 

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege

We’re always up for interresting spins on traditional multiplayer shooters, and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege is looking like it’s just that. While there apparently is a singleplayer portion of the game like in previous Rainbow Six games, Ubisoft are focusing very heavily on the multiplayer aspect, and this is what we know about it so far:

Siege is team-based, pitting five SWAT cops against five terrorists in close-quarters urban combat. In the E3 2014 presentation of the game we got to see a mode called Hostage Rescue, where the SWAT team has to infiltrate a house and rescue hostages from the hostage takers on the other team. The environments will apparently be highly destructible, and the SWAT team will be able to decide where they’ll enter the house – through the roof, for example – while the hostage takers get to fortify the house with cover, traps and other things.

There’s not a lot more information to go on, but it’s looking like Siege is doing some pretty interesting things with the Rainbow Six formula, and we definitely want to see what else the game has up its sleeve when it comes out on PC, PS4 and Xbox One in 2015.

 

Killing Floor 2

The original Killing Floor was a perfect blend of run-n’-gun zombie-blasting fun and slower, more strategic play. The six-player multiplayer shooter has been a huge success ever since its release back in 2009, thanks in part to the developers continuing to support the game to this very day with new updates, levels, characters and weapons. 

Now, five years later, Killing Floor 2 is looking like it won’t necessarily reinvent the wheel as much as it will throw a bunch of extra, insanely violent stuff on there. We know that the gore will apparently be more advanced and that the melee combat and perk system will be improved, but outside of that and a few trailers and screenshots there’s not a lot more to be said.

Still, Killing Floor 2 is looking like a heap of fun, and we look forward to blasting away wave upon wave of zombies when the game comes out on PC and PS4 sometime in 2015.

 

Battlefield Hardline

Despite some – considering recent events - iffy marketing and concepts (a police power fantasy just isn’t all that appealing, y’know?), it seems like Visceral Games is doing some interesting stuff with the Battlefield series with Battlefield Hardline. The singleplayer looks surprisingly interesting, inspired by crime shows on TV and by the looks of it recent Far Cry games, but the cops-n’-robbers multiplayer is definitely where it’s at. 

There are several new game modes in Hardline, and they all sound really fun. There’s Heist where the robbers try to pull off a bank heist while the cops try to stop them, Rescue where the cops try to free hostages held by the robbers, Blood Money where the two teams have to try and steal money from each other and Hotwire where the cops have to chase down the robbers in explosive, high-speed vehicle chases. 

The open beta for Hardline was unpolished but fun, and we’re definitely looking forward to trying out the full game when it hits PC, PS4, PS3, Xbox One and Xbox 360 on March 17, 2015.

 

Evolve

After having created the excellent co-operative shooter that is Left 4 Dead, it’s looking like Turtle Rock Studios is taking several of the best things from said game and taking them to their logical extreme. Remember how tense battles against the Tank were? Well, how about a game that’s all Tank battles? Evolve is a 4v1 multiplayer shooter, pitting four human bounty hunters against a giant alien creature. It’s a race against the clock for the hunters, as the alien evolves and grows stronger the longer the match goes on. Let it become strong enough and the hunters will become the hunted. 

With several classes to choose from, multiple alien types and a really awesome concept, this is looking like it just might become a multiplayer mainstay for years to come. Evolve is out on PC, PS4 and Xbox One on February 10, 2015.

 

Wolfenstein: The Old Blood

Designed as a prequel to Wolfenstein: The New Order, this first-person shooter takes place a short time before the events of the previous game and offers a pulpy, grindhouse setting with all of the gravitas of the original title.

There's a lot more ludicrous stuff happening this time around, with Nazi zombies and other supernatural, as well as science fiction elements in The Old Blood.

The game itself takes place through two interconnected stories set across eight rather extensive chapters and offers replay value in the form of its challenge modes.

Overwatch

When Blizzard announce something new, everyone sits up real straight and pays attention. They’ve done pretty well for themselves with some titles you might have heard of like Starcraft (I hear South Korea thinks that game is pretty alright) and World of Warcraft, and now they’re stepping away from their usual RPG and strategy games and treading a whole lot of new ground with their latest title (and first new IP in 17 years) Overwatch.  

Announced at Blizzcon 2014, this team-based 6v6 multiplayer shooter looks familiar but fresh, taking elements of games like Team Fortress 2 and League of Legends and putting a new spin on them. The most interesting thing about the game is by far the really imaginative characters. From robot monks to shotgun—wielding ninjas and hyper-intelligent gorillas in power armor, it’d be hard to find another shooter with such an eclectic and fun cast. 

With fast-paced combat, an excellent cartoony art style and fun-looking and varied characters and levels, Blizzard may just get us hooked on yet another one of their games with Overwatch. There’s no confirmed release date yet, but there’ll at least be a beta in 2015 which those who are interested can sign up for right now.

Dying Light

Dying Light is the only game on this list that offers full-fledged melee combat, with a host of moves and attacks that are certain to please...viscerally, that is.

Set in a vast and dangerous open-world setting in a Mediterranean city presumably somewhere in Turkey, Dying Light takes place in the event of a zombie apocalypse (at least for the city) that's under quarantine.

The game makes clever use of a day-and-night cycle, inviting players to roam during the day while avoiding hordes of mindless flesh-hungry zombies while gathering supplies, or at night, where the infected grow in strength and nocturnal predators come out to hunt you down. With missions that take place all across the day and night, you must make use of all your skills and any available means to survive the hostile environment.

Halo 5: Guardians

In 2007, everyone thought they’d once and for all finished the fight in Halo 3, and that the tale of Master Chief was over for good. However, it wasn’t long before Microsoft announced another trilogy in the works by 343 Studios. 

Halo 5: Guardians is the first new mainline Halo game on the Xbox One and sees Master Chief going AWOL and trying to cope with the events of Halo 4. On top of that, he’s being hunted down by Agent Locke, a character who first appeared in the TV series Halo Nightfall and who will apparently be very prominent.

There’s not a lot more info to go on at the moment, but the Halo games always manage to be quite fun so we’re looking forward to seeing what 343 has planned for this next installment. Halo 5: Guardians is coming exclusively to the Xbox One in Fall 2015, and there’s currently a multiplayer beta going on for those who want to get their hands on it early.

 

Call of Duty: Black Ops 3

The third entry in the on-going Black Ops saga of the Call of Duty franchise takes players into the dark, and twisted future where a new breed of soldiers emerges thanks to cutting edge warfare technology, which isn't unlike the stuff offered in last year's Advanced Warfare.

The game offers a four-player cooperative campaign with extensive character customization, making it the first title in the series in a long while (since World at War, in fact) to offer co-op gameplay outside of the Zombies mode that usually shows up in the Call of Duty games.

Star Wars Battlefront

It was a sad, sad day for shooter fans and Star Wars fan alike when Pandemic closed its doors back in 2009, as it seemingly marked the death of the Star Wars Battlefront series. The two Battlefront games were some of the very best shooters of their time, but it was looking like a third entry would never happen. 

However, you can’t keep a good franchise down. Fast forward to E3 2013, where EA announced that Battlefield and Mirror’s Edge developer DICE was in charge of developing a reboot of the series in the Frostbite 3 engine.

There’s not a lot of info to go on outside of the developer making the game, the engine being used and that there will be levels based on Hoth and Endor (a shocking revelation indeed), but the simple fact that we’re finally getting another Battlefront game is reason enough to be really excited.

Star Wars Battlefront is coming to PC, PS4 and Xbox One holiday 2015.