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With so many shooters coming out in the last 15 years, it's easy to feel shooter fatigue setting in. This feeling is made even worse by the returning focus on real military conflicts that triple-A shooters have driven into the ground. Luckily, there's one sub-genre from the past that is ever-exciting: the movement shooter.
Unlike their brown and beige military shooter counterparts, movement shooters continue to innovate, eager to throw in any off-the-wall idea and see if it sticks. Gone are realistic military skirmishes. In their place sit giant robots, ancient gods, and the most chaotic gameplay in modern gaming.
Updated March 29, 2023 By Ben Jessey: Movement shooters used to be all the rage in the '90s, but then they seemed to go away for a while. In recent years, though, they've made an incredible comeback. The genre is a bit different these days, as there is more wall-running and air-dashing, but the concept is still the same.
For this list, we highlighted the best movement shooters ever. Yet, some wonderful ones missed out. So, we've now updated the piece to add some more.
11 Halo 5: Guardians
Halo, as a series, isn't known for its movement. In fact, in the early games, you can't even run. Yet, the series has changed quite a lot over the years. So much so that Halo 5 can be considered a movement shooter.
Not only can you sprint, but you also can dash in different directions, slide, charge into things, and hover in the air. Along with that, the game offers the typical solid FPS experience that made the series famous in both the campaign and PvP multiplayer.
10 Sunset Overdrive
Sunset Overdrive is not the standard movement shooter, as it's also an open-world title. The said world is a metropolis whose populace has been mutation thanks to a toxic energy drink. At least, most of them have, as there are still survivors, including the main character, who attempts to get to the bottom of the mess.
They do so by utilizing their incredible movement skills. As them, you can run on walls, zipline, and skate around the place. This isn't just from getting from one place to another, either. You're encouraged to do all this stuff during fights, too.
9 DUSK
One look at DUSK, and you may think this game is from the '90s. This is by design, as the title is a love letter to games from that period, such as Doom and Quake.
Like those games, DUSK is a shooter where you're encouraged to be in perpetual motion. So, this isn't an FPS where you hide in cover and peek out occasionally to fire some shots. You take on all sorts of enemies simultaneously while running around and shooting them.
8 Super Cloudbuilt
Super Cloudbuilt is a parkour-platformer first and a shooter second. That's not a bad thing, though, as its extreme focus on fluid movement makes running and jumping just as satisfying as gunplay.
Tearing through Super Cloudbuilt's lonely world makes for a solemn experience when you're not shooting everything, and the marriage of these two very different vibes is what makes it so special. Super Cloudbuilt is a uniquely existential movement shooter, and should be recommended for anyone that likes to feel things while they blow everything up.
7 Bulletstorm
Bulletstorm is one of the edgiest games you'll ever play. Hailing from an era where games were dying to be as gritty and macho as Gears of War, it can certainly be a culture shock for anyone who's used to the nuanced, emotional characters that you'd find in a modern Naughty Dog or Santa Monica Studio release.
Despite that, Bulletstorm's unique combat scoring system and hilarious executions still provide a great time for anyone who can roll their eyes through all the dude-bro dialogue.
6 Ultrakill
Ultrakill is a game that revels in its own absurdity. Every design decision was made to make the game as cool as possible, and you can feel this over-the-top energy throughout the entire campaign. Gore flies out of every PS1-esque character model and high-speed movement cannonballs you towards unsuspecting enemies at hilarious speeds. Hell, even the name is awesome.
It feels like Ultrakill is constantly pushing you to shoot faster, move faster, and learn faster. It's an exhilarating, if exhausting, game to experience. Play Ultrakill, but only if you have a comfy place to lie down and relax once you're done.
5 Apex Legends
Apex Legends is an almost-sequel to the excellent Titanfall 2. Rather than creating another tight single-player experience, Respawn Entertainment decided to try its hand at the battle royale genre. And through some bizarre miracle, they actually ended up with a great game.
By melding hero shooter gameplay with battle royale mechanics, Apex Legends picks and chooses the best parts from each of the modern shooter crazes of the 2010s, leaving their rough spots at the door. Add in some expertly tuned movement and the most adorable robot friend ever, and you have the recipe for the best battle royale on the market.
4 Vanquish
Vanquish might be the most movement-obsessed shooter ever. It begs you to dash, jump, flip, and slide in the way only a space soldier with a robot suit could. Add in bullet time mechanics, and you have a uniquely extreme experience. As well as Matrix-style slow-motion acrobatics, Vanquish also offers a feeling of all-out war, with dozens of soldiers and robots fighting on the same battlefield as you. It's nothing short of a miracle that Vanquish came out on PS3.
Vanquish's story is a weak one, but that's easily forgotten once a cutscene ends, and you're back to taking down an evil robot army as sci-fi John Wick. Vanquish is a six-hour stint of intergalactic mayhem, and it's a crime that it never got a sequel.
3 Quake 3 Arena
Quake 3 Arena is probably one of the most talked about video games of all time, and for good reason. Its legacy is endless, its content groundbreaking, and its impact immeasurable. Even now, 23 years after release, there are still people in online lobbies in Quake 3.
One of the first online shooters, fans of the modern shooter juggernauts have a lot to thank Quake 3 Arena for. Even the most groundbreaking multiplayer experiences of today stand on the shoulders of this premillennial giant.
2 Doom Eternal
Doom Eternal needs no introduction. It's one of the most well-known and beloved movement shooters in recent memory. The series itself is one of the true pioneers of the movement shooter genre.
Eternal is Doom at its most pure. The Doomslayer propels through the air at inhuman speeds as you rip and tear through hordes of enemies, until, finally, it is done. Doom Eternal's campaign is movement shooting perfection, with every mission upping the ante right up until its spectacular ending.
1 Titanfall 2
Titanfall 2 is one of the most underrated video games of the modern era. Releasing at the same time as Battlefield, no amount of excellent gunplay, expansive movement mechanics, and adorable robot friends could save Titanfall 2.
Despite its failure to meet triple-A sales figures, Titanfall 2 has constantly gained popularity in recent years, as shooter fans slowly uncover what they missed out on while they were playing Battlefield One. What they missed out on was the tightest, most creative, most kinetically satisfying movement shooter to date.