First-person shooters remain among the most popular and best-selling games in the industry. Pioneering releases like Doom (1993) and GoldenEye 007 (1997) laid the foundations decades ago, and now, we can enjoy a sprawling space of different themes, stories, and mechanics under the same umbrella of FPS console games.
FPS games remain a mainstay for their core simplicity, but that's not to say that the sub-genre and even the wider shooter genre haven't evolved significantly. It's not merely run-and-gun gameplay but rather infused with RPG elements, survival traits, puzzles, and much more.
Now that we're well into 2023, we're looking at the very best FPS games available on consoles as well as giving a nod to other shooters worth a look to demonstrate the range of this ever-popular corner of gaming.
Top 10 best first-person shooters in 2023
Before delving into a closer look at the games that made the cut here, this is the top-ten list of top FPS games that you can play in 2023 on consoles:
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Deathloop
Rainbow Six: Siege
Doom Eternal
Star Wars: Battlefront 2
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2
Halo 3
Apex Legends
Overwatch 2
Metro Exodus
Left 4 Dead 2
The biggest name in the FPS sub-genre right now is Call of Duty. Having successfully dispatched the Medal of Honor franchise decades ago, it's become the go-to FPS title and a guaranteed best-seller each year. The one that makes this list is the remastered version of the 2009 release, which truly cemented CoD as a gaming powerhouse.
Similarly, you'll find several other classics in the top ten that continue to hold up to this day and even represent the pinnacle of their own themes. Available through backward compatibility, Left 4 Dead 2 is still the ultimate team zombie shooter, and GRAW2 is the best of the Ghost Recon series to date.
The more recent release on this list is Deathloop. A wonderfully crafty FPS that's all about getting a little bit further along the story before resetting to come back stronger. It won over the glut of critics, even earning a perfect score from some outlets. Leaning heavily into the story side, Metro Exodus was a superb conclusion to the FPS trilogy.
An expansive genre of gaming
Of all of the genres of gaming, shooting games are among the most diverse. As the genre's developed and evolved, it's expanded into just about every other theme and has explored a whole heap of other mechanics and gameplay features. These now include shoot'em ups, shooting galleries, looter-shooters, third-person shooters, tactical shooters, team-based shooters, battle royales, and, of course, FPS titles.
This year will only add to expand the shooter genre further, with Bethesda's highly-anticipated Starfield, RoboCop: Rogue City, and Atomic Heart all set to arrive in 2023. Some of the most exciting releases, however, are remakes and remasters. Classic sci-fi horror Dead Space was welcomed, and there's a Max Payne Remake on the way.
In one of the more interesting developments of shooting games, one even proved to be the inspiration for an incredible scene in one of the most popular ongoing action film series. John Wick: Chapter 4 has an overhead running shot that was inspired by the gameplay of the shooter puzzle game The Hong Kong Massacre.
FPS games will never fade in popularity as they're simply too action-packed, immersive, and skill-based. These are the best games now, but some releases this year could rival the list.
