Best FPS Games On Xbox Game Pass

Key Takeaways

• Xbox Game Pass offers a variety of FPS titles that cater to different playstyles and preferences.
• Some of these entries offer a unique team-based experience with strategic elements and immersive gameplay.
• Others provide more of an engrossing single-player FPS experience with enjoyable combat and quirky characters.

First-person shooters have long been one of the industry’s most popular genres, and little has changed concerning that over the years. It’s easy to see why — stepping into a first-person perspective and blasting your way to a good time is a classic recipe for success.

Luckily for subscribers, the Xbox Game Pass library is full to bursting with exciting FPS titles that take the genre to new places. From tactical shooter experiences to rather epic slow-motion puzzle shoot-outs, Xbox Game Pass has you covered. Read on if you want to discover your next favorite FPS game.

Call of Duty Black Ops 6

Black Ops 6 is likely the first Call of Duty title in quite some time that manages to pack in high marks across the entirety of the experience. A strong single player campaign? Check. A multiplayer suite that maintains the series DNA while innovating enough to stay fresh and exciting? Double check. An addictive PvE horde mode to take on with buddies? Yep, triple check. Describing a contemporary Call of Duty title as “innovative” comes with a high set of expectations, but Black Ops 6 pulls it off with aplomb.

The campaign’s progression mechanics do well enough to keep it interesting, but its real strength is in the variation of mission types and design — yes, you’ll have plenty of classic gunfighty goodness, but wrap in a few “open-ended” stealth missions, a passable open world segment, and one particular twist that I won’t do you the disservice of spoiling, and you’ve got one remarkably solid experience on your hands.

The multiplayer, for the most part, packs in the nuts and bolts you’d expect from a CoD multiplayer affair, but it’s the tinkering they’ve done with the moment-to-moment gameplay mechanics that really make it sing. Black Ops has always been the more “movement-inclined” wing of the franchise, and Black Ops 6 moves the bar in that respect with its new “omni-directional” movement. All in all, Black Ops 6 is shaping up to be the franchise’s highest point over the past decade, and it’s worth hoping that trend continues.

Overwatch 2

Microsoft is really flexing their acquisition muscle with this one — but if you’re looking to sate some intensely team-based multiplayer FPS action, then it’s hard to go wrong with one of the biggest modern multiplayer shooters.

In the event you’ve somehow missed out on the game’s near-decade of life up to this point, Overwatch 2 is essentially the sequel and replacement to the original Overwatch — it’s a competitive hero shooter. You pick from a hefty roster of heroes with unique weapons and special abilities and head into one of a variety of competitive 5v5 game modes to take on the opposing team. If you think along the lines of a streamlined, stylized, and faster-paced Team Fortress 2, then you’re in the neighborhood.

Overwatch (2) is generally well-loved for its diverse roster of highly stylized heroes and the unique playstyles attached to them — from classic support healers like the angelic Mercy to faster-paced, in-your-face damage dealers like Tracer or Genji, there’s a playstyle flavor available for practically any taste. It’s also got a booming competitive scene that it’s never too late to get into.

Doom + Doom II

We’ve managed to get our hands on touched-up official ports of the original Doom classics before — for the most part, they’re pretty barebones beyond some absolute minimums on QOL improvements, or some cherry-picked modding support. But this time? Bethesda and id Software weren’t messing around.

Doom + Doom II is packed to the brim with additional content and modernized features. It’s packaged with no fewer than five complete expansion packs from throughout the game’s history (including a brand new one by Nightdive Studios and MachineGames), a totally remastered OST, full modding support, and online multiplayer matchmaking, practically making this a full remaster. Oh, and if you’ve got the full paid version of Doom or Doom II on your account, you get this for free, whether you’re a Game Pass subscriber or not.

Putting this together was a labor of love for the folks at id Software, and that love definitely shows.

Immortals Of Aveum

Immortals of Aveum is a sadly well-known game, recognized for flopping hard due to poor sales upon its release. However, despite this, the game itself is not bad at all. It’s actually an incredibly satisfying experience, and many speculate its poor sales had more to do with the triple-A giants that launched during the same release window, its exorbitant budget, and the risk of being a new IP. Its inclusion on Xbox Game Pass (through EA Play) makes it an enticing offering.

In Immortals, you step into a fantastical world where you play as Jak, an up-and-coming mage in a magical war that is tearing apart the different factions of Aveum. How then does this qualify Immortals of Aveum as a great FPS game? Well, it just absolutely nails “magical” shooting. Jak shoots different-colored magic from his fingertips, and while that is a juvenile description on my part, it’s heckin enjoyable combat.

Bright bolts and flashes of red, green, and blue magic fly across the screen accomplishing different things. (Each represents weapons like a shotgun, assault rifle, and sniper rifle.) And as you race through a battle, you’ll find yourself switching between each. So despite the fantasy-setting seasoning, the meat of Immortals of Aveum is an entertaining FPS game with a fun story. What more could you want?

Superhot

Superhot is an FPS experience like no other. You play as a geometric human figure engaging in a variety of shoot-outs against other geometric human figures. The notable difference between this game and others of its like is that time only moves when you do. Every step your character makes pushes time forward. If you stop moving, time stops and your enemies remain motionless.

This allows you to take stock of your position, dodge bullets, toss projectiles, and take cover at a measured pace. This slow take on the shooter genre makes Superhot feel more like a puzzle game, but witnessing your actions in real time after clearing a level makes you feel like a veritable bad-ass.

This won’t feel like a typical FPS game, so don’t necessarily go into it expecting twitch shooting or anything like that.

Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun

Boomer shooters have seen a resurgence in recent years, and none are as delightful in mimicking the aesthetic and providing absolutely solid gunplay as Warhammer 40K: Boltgun. You step into the shoes of a mighty Space Marine eradicating the forces of Chaos on a Forge World. And in glorious pixelated combat, you splatter and demolish Warp scum in red giblets with your boltgun and chainsword.

You do not need to have an understanding of the Warhammer universe to appreciate the sheer awesomeness of Boltgun.

You even have a dedicated ‘shout’ button that allows you to condemn foes and praise the emperor in the middle of a gunfight. The action is fast-paced and reminiscent of the good old Doom days, but some amazing quality-of-life adjustments, like that shout button and a melee button that allows you to close the gap with enemies if you hold it, make Boltgun a boomer shooter of the future.

Hell Let Loose

Though it may double-tick the boxes of “yet another WW2 shooter” and “yet another Battlefield clone” at first glance, Hell Let Loose actually brings a relatively fresh layer of strategy, teamwork, and situational awareness that your typical team-based frag-a-thon tends to leave by the wayside.

Matches are massive, fifty-versus-fifty battlefield affairs, but where Hell Let Loose stands out from the pack is in terms of teamwork and communication. Classes and roles are unique and expected to fulfill specific functions — and the squads themselves are further divided into infantry, recon, and armored roles, each with unique and specific classes designed to fulfill a niche that the others can’t. Your average rifleman can’t just hop into a tank and get to blasting, in other words.

Pulling all these disparate pieces together on either team is the commander role, given powerful tactical options to augment or assist their team, as well as direct communication to each squad leader in order to organize the chaos. Matches are made or lost on the back of these densely layered tactical implements, easily making for one of the most immersive FPS experiences available on Game Pass.

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide

Fatshark brought the signature cooperative horde-slaying formula it perfected with Vermintide into the 41st millennium with Darktide — and after nearly a year’s delay, it has managed to make its way to consoles. But considering the game’s teething problems upon launch on PC, it was well worth the wait.

Darktide puts you into the boots of one of four warriors drafted into the service of an Imperial Inquisitor attempting to uproot a particularly nasty band of cultists and traitors that have made a mess of Hive City Tertium. Choose between a mighty, tank-like Ogryn, a fanatical, melee-intensive Zealot, a sharpshooting Veteran trooper, or a Psyker wielding the dangerous, mystical energies of the warp, and after a bit of prologue, get right down to business taking on missions alongside three friends to slay horde after horde of Nurgle-worshipping cultists, plague zombies, and a host of deviously-designed special enemies.

The combat itself is best-in-class, with a wide selection of unlockable and upgradeable weapons available to each character — whether you get your kicks toasting traitors with a flamethrower, smashing through armored behemoths with a power-assisted maul, or slice-and-dicing heretics with a motorized chainsword, Darktide’s got a niche you’ll fall in love with time-and-time again.

Quake II

A single Quake game was never going to be enough for us. And now thanks to the surprise remastered release of Quake II, we’re just beginning to whet our appetite for phenomenal boomer shooters on Xbox Game Pass. And when we say phenomenal, we mean it in the literal sense of being a phenomenon. Though people widely cite Doom (1993) and the original Quake as being the forefathers of first-person shooters, Quake II did a lot to solidify the foundation for this juggernaut of a genre. And this remaster makes it so you can experience it in the best format possible.

Dive into a local multiplayer match with some friends or play through the co-op campaign, sprinting into the labyrinthine tunnels and colossal arenas of the Strogg city. It’s amazing how high Quake II’s fun factor remains after all these years, and you’re definitely missing out on a diamond of an FPS experience if you don’t give it a try at least once.

GoldenEye 007

GoldenEye 007 is undoubtedly one of the most aged FPS games you could play these days, but it’s an odd sort of delight to experience one of the landmark titles in the genre on a newer console. Now on Game Pass, GoldenEye lets you spy the wonders (and tribulations) of what it meant to be an FPS game back then. Graphically, the game is nowhere near the visual wonder of some other titles on this list.

But controls-wise, this plays way better on an Xbox Series X|S than it ever did on the Nintendo 64. If you have the time to spare for a little jaunt down memory lane, James Bond’s most classic video game is an ancient shining star in the Game Pass library.

Battlefield 2042

There are still issues that persist with Battlefield 2042, but given that it’s the latest entry in the Battlefield series, it’s also the one that is receiving some of the most support right now. New maps, specialists, and vehicles have been added in the time since its release, all of which have served to make it a decent offering in the Game Pass library, courtesy of EA Play.

Despite its incredibly problematic launch, Battlefield 2042 is now a serviceable game that’s a pleasure to dip into when you need some mindless multiplayer fun. It’s in no way the cream of the crop, but it’s nothing to scoff at when you’re craving those awesome Battlefield moments that the series is known for.

Deathloop

Deathloop is not your typical first-person shooter as you can very much stealth your way through the different areas of the game. Colt Vahn, our time-loop-breaking protagonist, can sneak his way around in his attempt to kill all the Visionaries on the island of Blackreef. But where’s the fun in that? Deathloop features a variety of guns that have a blend of old-timey and modern looks to them.

And if shooting your way through all those Eternalists is still not loud enough for you, you can add one of the most satisfying kick mechanics in the history of gaming into the mix. It’s more measured than your average FPS game, but it’s brilliant in its execution.

Perfect Dark

Even though Perfect Dark is definitely one of the more aged inclusions in our best FPS games list, it was ahead of its time when it was first released in 2000. And aside from the dated graphics, the game still holds up fairly well today. Frequently praised for letting players have the ability to shoot guns out of the hands of the enemy, Perfect Dark contributed to the groundwork for many of our favorite mechanics that we see in modern first-person shooters.

Using guns as melee weapons, open-ended levels, and a home base section where you could train and hone your skills are just a few of the features we love in the game. With a reboot on the horizon, it’s the perfect time to get into Perfect Dark once more.

Far Cry 5

The Far Cry games are some of the most entertaining FPS games out there, especially given their open-world nature. And Far Cry 5 is one of the greats, especially given that two players can participate in some campaign co-op fun. Admittedly, your jaunt into Hope County is not the absolute best Far Cry experience, but it’s a solid outing in the series. It’s got everything you could want from a Far Cry game: larger-than-life-but-eerily-familiar antagonists, rowdy wildlife, and an open-world sandbox. And you can experience the madness side by side with a friend.

Halo 5: Guardians

343’s sophomore entry into the illustrious Halo franchise was a bit of a divisive one among established fans. But factually, what they delivered was a solid FPS that iterated on the established formula in a number of ways. Halo 5 introduced advanced movement mechanics, new and redesigned weapons, and quite potentially the biggest ensemble cast of pivotal characters the series has ever seen.

The campaign picks up after the events of Halo 4. As with the second Halo game, we’re given two playable protagonists in the shape of Master Chief and Spartan Locke, each complete with their own fireteam. The narrative also establishes Cortana as a series villain, to the chagrin of most of the fan base. Story aside, the enhanced movement of Halo 5 makes the multiplayer facet of things an intense affair. Boosting, sprinting, clambering, and sliding became, at least in this entry, part of the Halo experience.

Doom Eternal

Doom 2016 revitalized interest in this grandfather FPS series, but Doom Eternal entirely redefined its formula. Already known for its fast-paced action and demon-slaying antics, Eternal ramped all of that up exponentially. The “dance” of glory-killing and shotgunning foes became far more tactical, as certain demon types require specific weapons to defeat and ammo counts across the board took a nosedive.

There is no other FPS game in the genre that requires split-second chess moves the way that Doom Eternal does. Add to that improved story environments and tougher challenges to complete, and Eternal is one hell of a game in the Xbox Game Pass library.

Halo Infinite

Halo is back in the form of Halo Infinite, the latest installment in the iconic series. The multiplayer is bombastic and fun, and the campaign breathes fresh air into the franchise. 343’s marriage of an open-world game with that classic Halo DNA might seem like an unlikely pairing at first blush, but experiencing Infinite’s campaign firsthand is something of an eye-opener concerning Halo’s vast potential for emergent gameplay.

Narratively, players get to experience the Master Chief’s most personal story to date, as his journey across Zeta Halo to defeat the remarkably credible threat of the Banished dredges up dust and echoes from his past. And now that campaign co-op has finally been added to the game, up to four people can engage in chaotic fun as they grapple their way across the ring.

Crysis

Courtesy of EA Play, subscribers of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate can experience the Crysis series in all of its glory. Though it has largely fallen out of the cultural zeitgeist, it was something of a graphical benchmark at the time of its release — the phrase “But can it run Crysis?” achieved memetic status with good reason. All in all, the first Crysis is still a first-person shooter game well worth revisiting.

The stylish nature of Crysis’ gunplay made it a fan favorite, and while some aspects of the game have aged, it is a callback to the blossoming of the genre. Plus, thanks to the next-gen hardware many now have in their homes, the question of whether or not Crysis will run on a given setup is more or less unnecessary.

Quake

Quake was as influential in the molding of the first-person shooter as its predecessor, Doom, and it’s an absolute must-play for any genre enthusiast. This remastering of the id Software classic comes with all the necessary trappings — including campaign expansions as well as full multiplayer support and matchmaking. It certainly does show its age when held up against contemporary shooters, but the fact is that throwing rockets around its timeless arenas while madly dashing for a Quad Damage powerup is every bit as fun today as it was fifteen years ago.

PAYDAY 2: Crimewave Edition

PAYDAY 2 was originally released in 2013 — and in some ways, it definitely shows its age. But the Crimewave Edition packs in a whole bundle of improvements and additions the core title has seen over the years to great effect. For the uninitiated, PAYDAY 2‘s a co-op crime simulator in which up to four players cooperate to pull off varying heists, ranging from smash-and-grab jewelry store robberies to intricate bank vault break-ins.

The approach is largely up to the crew, and the depth of planning and nuance that can go into each caper is extraordinarily gratifying. Certain missions reward certain tactics, of course. But whether you want to pull off a no-hitches stealth operation or a guns-blazing shootout, the world of crime is your (presumably stolen) golden oyster. Missions reward cash and experience, which can be used to buy better gear or sharpen your sordid skills, respectively. Once you come to grips with the options at your disposal and have roped a few friends into your scheming, PAYDAY 2‘s bound to become a weekend ritual for any dedicated group of friends.