10. Insurgency: Sandstorm
Insurgency slows down military combat to core moments of tension. You aren’t a Call of Duty super soldier running through open fire like a terminator. The pace is slow. Weapons are incredibly deadly and players don’t respawn until after their team completes an objective - meaning every shot fired can be the difference between victory and defeat. This places more reliance on patience, teamwork, and skill; creating a gameplay loop that feels both highly realistic and incredibly rewarding.
9. Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2
This game feels like the lovechild of the first-person shooter and puzzle genres. The gameplay focuses on using your stealth, scouting and adaptability to plan and execute the most deadly and accurate long-range attacks possible. Finally seeing your carefully laid plans pay off after figuring out the ideal path forward through trial and error never ceases to satisfy - but hey. If you get discovered, you can always shoot your way out.
8. Borderlands 3
Borderlands 3 has a playful honesty - it’s a little bit mental, chaotic, a bit naughty. It takes all the strengths of old Borderlands games and dials them up to 11, improving on everything you’ve ever loved about them. It doesn’t feel as brave or original now that loot-based multiplayer games like Destiny 2 have caught up, but it’s the attitude that keeps it entertaining - and it has that in buckets.
7. Saints Row The Third: Remastered
It’s been a decade since Saints Row: The Third ripped up the rulebook of what a crime sandbox could and should be. Offering a much more over the top experience, it’s the digital manifestation of the phrase ‘balls to the wall’. Featuring all available DLC content, updated graphics and textures and the same delightfully silly gameplay, this is the best and most complete version of the game to date.
6. Battlefield 1
If there’s one thing that most modern FPS games seem to have, it’s some element of sci-fi and futurism. That’s probably why it’s so refreshing to play a game like Battlefield 1 - taking us all the way back to World War I through human-focused stories in single-player and wonderfully dynamic multiplayer modes. The destructible environments, the classes, the personality - they all come together to create a truly refreshing play.
5. Far Cry 6
Far Cry 6 takes a familiar formula we’ve grown to love over the course of the Far Cry series and brings it into the next generation. The traditional Far Cry narrative theme of a guerilla fighter bringing down a tyrant is reborn brilliantly here, and strong cast performances make it easy to get lost in the world of the fictional Caribbean island of Yara. The incredible range of vehicles and weapons available to you while traversing it are the cherry on the cake.
4. Call of Duty: Vanguard
On the surface, Call of Duty: Vanguard is a first-person shooter set during World War II. But take a look under the hood, and it’s three distinct games in one - a blockbuster single-player campaign with incredible cinematic visuals and performances, a world-class multiplayer shooter with some of the best gameplay in the genre, and the infamous Zombies mode, which has evolved into a fantastic run-based format that leaves you coming back again and again. Unmissable!
3. Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War
Serving as a direct sequel to the original Black Ops, Cold War is an absolute triumph, and one of the best CoD games in years. From the campaign, through to the vast array of multiplayer modes, it’s a total blast for newcomers and seasoned veterans alike. And with the promise of free downloadable content coming soon, there’s every reason to jump back on the Call of Duty bandwagon.