Summary
First-person shooters have gone through many evolutions throughout the decades. There were the PC immersive sims of the late 1990s that added new layers to the gameplay, the standardization of two analog sticks on controllers to make them more playable on consoles, and the online multiplayer domination of Call of Duty followed bylive-service behemothslike Destiny.
Despite all the changes, or maybe because of them, it is always good to go back to the classics and relive the glory days. For newer generations of gamers who were not around when these 30-year old games came out, the titles below serve as a fascinating history lesson as to what the genre was up to back then. 1995 doesn’t have a lot of heavy-hitters, but it didn’t leave fans hungry, either.
7Marathon 2
Bungie Before Halo
Developer Bungie has a knack for making incredible FPS experiences.Even before Halo, it had already established itself as a master of the genre with Marathon. The debut entry was notable for being one of the first games to allow for aiming with the mouse, allowing for more precise aiming the keyboard alone could not offer.
Marathon 2 is a big step up from its predecessor, featuring radically improved graphics. The levels are also more open and varied than the first game which mostly took place on a single ship. Like the Halo series that followed afterward, Marathon offers both a memorable sinlge-player campaign and a multiplayer suite that was popular in its time.
As of 2005, the whole Marathon trilogy is available for free.
6Terminator: Future Shock
A Bethesda First-Person Game That Isn’t An Open-World RPG
Turns outBethesda is not only goodat making epic first-person RPG adventures. It also can make a great, straightfoward first-person shooter without the role-playing bells and whistles, as evidenced by Terminator: Future Shock. It’s still not as straightforward as other FPS games of the time.
The environments do a great job at recreating the post-apocalyptic future of the Terminator series and the levels are not just labyrinthine shooting galleries. You have to watch out for irridated areas and can even use a couple of vehicles.
Most 1990s FPS games were steeped in science fiction. Hexen: Beyond Heretic dives deep into the fantasy genre for its story. It’s not just window dressing, either. The gameplay reflects this too. You choose between three classes to play through the campaign.
Each of them has their own abilities along with certain strengths and weaknesses. The game also features numerous items that give you an advantage in battle, and their utility is also affected by the different classes. Beyond Heretic is the second game in a trilogy, sandwiched between Hexen and Hexen 2.
4William Shatner’s TekWar
Starring William Shatner
TekWar is a science fiction series by William Shatner, written with the help of ghost writer Ron Goulart. It might seems weird to make a video game based off something made by William Shatner andisn’t related to Star Trek,but the 1990s were a different time and gaming was in a different place.
Putting William Shatner’s face on a game in that decade was a logical move if you consider that science fiction aficionados were more likely to adopt PC gaming earlier than others. William Shatner’s TekWar is notable for its levels being interconnected by a subway system along with NPCs reacting accordingly to certain actions.
For example, cops will attack if your gun is drawn and civillians will cower in fear. In true 1990s fashion, the game features FMV cutscenes that feature William Shatner himself.
Star Wars: Dark Forces takes a lot of cues from Doom, but you cannot blame it for taking inspiration from perfection. It was hardly the only FPS of the time to do so, considering the widespread use of the term ‘Doom clone’.
Despite the graphics of the time, Dark Forces does a great job at recreating the Star Wars aesthetic. The game also introduced fans to Kyle Katarn, who became a mainstay in Star Wars extended-universe lore until Disney scooped up Lucas Film.
PO’ed does a lot to steer away from FPS tropes of the time. You have a jetpack for freer movement, the environments are fairly large, and the arsenal at your disposlal includes a lot of melee weapons in addition to alien weaponry.
Its setup is a little wackier than most too, with the plot of a chef escaping alien captivity feeling more like Duke Nukem than Marathon or Doom. Unlike a lot of games 1990s FPS games, PO’ed came out on the 3DO first and was not available on PCs untilNight Dive Studios remastered itin 2024.
1Witchhaven
A First-Person Shooter With Some RPG Elements
Like many FPS games of the time, a lot of Witchhaven’s gameplay is traversing through mazes to find keys and unlock other parts of the level until you reach the end goal. The fantasy FPS sets itself apart from other games by having a stronger focus on melee combat in addition to more RPG elements.
You level up and gain HP as you earn experience through defeating enemies. Despite this, the game is still firmly an FPS as opposed to an RPG like Elder Scrolls. It also featured competitive multiplayer, a feature notably absent from first-person RPGs of the era.
