Best Underrated Top-Down Shooters On Steam

The issue with first-person shooters is that players can’t see all that juicy action with a limited field of view. That’s a shortcoming that top-down shooters don’t have. For some players, the latter might offer a more preferable display of all the flashy violence. A quick glance at games like Enter the Gungeon, The Ascent, or Hotline Miami proves this point well enough. But as popular as those titles are, some top-down shooters don’t exactly get the recognition that they deserve. Some of them are due to being indie titles, while other cases boil down to player preference. Still, that doesn’t mean these following shooters offer a lesser experience.

Fans of shooter games ought to broaden their perspective by playing lesser-known top-down shooters. After all, there are so many games on Steam that some of them are bound to slip under the cracks. Players who decide to try out games that don’t have the biggest following but showcase a lot of heart will be more than pleased by what’s on offer in certain games that make the most of a top-down perspective. More often than not, the action in these games is in a class of its own and does a great job of letting players come to grips with the combat in their games before letting loose in the most action-packed manner possible.

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Updated January 15, 2025, by Mehrdad Khayyat: Top-down shooter is one of those genres in gaming that indie developers love to work on. There are a couple of reasons for that, but it’s usually because of the fact that it doesn’t require realistic visuals, and gameplay mechanics are quite simple.

Thankfully, there is a plethora of choices for fans of top-down shooters, even for those who prefer the game to feature top-notch visuals. This amazing variety in a single genre, however, makes it difficult to pick up the best experiences.

27

Thunder Tier One

Steam Reviews: 66% Positive

• Developer: Krafton
• Release Date: December 7, 2021
• Platform: PC

Don’t judge this game by its Steam reviews! A significant number of the reviews just point out the game’s empty servers and the dead PvP community, but it is still a lot of fun to play solo or with friends as a co-op experience.

Thunder Tier One is a tactical military shooter with realistic visuals. The game features a 9-mission story-driven campaign that takes place in a variety of locations. Before the mission, players get to choose the weapons and equipment required for the mission.

The gameplay provides a sandbox experience, where the player can decide how to approach the situation and accomplish the objective. Using drones and cutting-edge tech is also a fun part of Thunder Tier One‘s gameplay.

26

The Ascent

Steam Reviews: 75% Positive

Systems

Released

July 29, 2021

OpenCritic Rating

Fair

At launch, The Ascent sealed with some serious technical problems, but later updates gradually fixed the game and made it a solid experience. As a top-down shooter set in a cyberpunk world, players are in for an adventure with eye-catching visuals.

The story doesn’t play a big role in The Ascent, but the gunplay is quite fun. Players can upgrade their weapons as they make progress or search hidden corners of the city to find new guns. The boss battles are challenging overall, and the game has a dark tone. The good news is that The Ascent supports both online and local co-op.

25

Wizard With A Gun

Steam Reviews: 81% Positive

Systems

Released

October 17, 2023

Developer(s)

Galvanic Games

Lots of players love it when their top-down shooters have other gameplay loops working in tandem. Such players will love what Wizard with a Gun brings to the table. Each run strengthens players as they gather the resources needed to upgrade their wizard tower. With these elements of survival and base-building gameplay, it’s easy to see why players would find this game riveting.

Wizard with a Gun is a great title that deserves all the love it is getting, but it also deserves way more. Players can upgrade their meager pistols and use magic bullets with various spell effects to make combat easier. Each level is procedurally generated and unpredictable. Players who want to check out a unique top-down shooter will love what Wizard with a Gun offers.

24

Cluckmech Oasis

Steam Reviews: 88% Positive

• Developer: BlackLight
• Release Date: May 9, 2024
• Platform: PC

With elements of tower defense gameplay to make the top-down shooting feel more methodical and strategic, it’s easy to see why Cluckmech Oasis deserves more love. The game features multiple characters with unique powers and weaknesses to help them stand out as players embark on an adventure across multiple maps and levels to obtain unique machinery and save the world.

The game is as simple as can be, and the shooting gameplay feels tight and engaging. Players must adapt to the scenario in each level and enhance their firepower to show enemies who’s boss. It’s a fun title that fans of unique top-down shooting games will have a great time with.

23

Maniac

Steam Reviews: 92% Positive

• Developer: Transhuman Design
• Release Date: March 28, 2024
• Platform: PC

Players who just want to wreak havoc in an open world where everyone is a potential victim will love what Maniac has to offer. Fans of Vampire Survivors will find this title to be right up their alley. Players unlock new characters as they progress, to cause a ton of mayhem and attract security forces who will try and stop this rampage before it gets completely out of control.

Despite how cartoonish the visuals may seem, there’s no denying that the levels of violence in Maniac can become downright unbearable at times. Players who don’t mind laying waste to hundreds and pushing their limits with each run will love this title. The cathartic violence becomes more ridiculous as players make slow and steady progress in the title with each run.

22

Halo: Spartan Strike

Steam Reviews: 80% Positive

Systems

There was a time when Halo could give Call of Duty a run for its money as a dominant FPS series. While the allure of this series has waned over time, there are people who still put a lot of faith in the franchise despite its hit-or-miss history.

Still, this loss of mainstream appeal means that some Halo spinoffs won’t get the love they deserve, and Halo: Spartan Strike is a great example of the same. The game’s stages are well-constructed and the shooting is satisfying, even if the game itself doesn’t really try to attempt anything all that innovative.

21

Synthetik 2

Steam Reviews: 85% Positive

• Developer: Flow Fire Games
• Release Date: November 11, 2021 (Early Access)
• Platform: PC

Synthetik is a game that developed a small and loyal fanbase, loving its action-packed shooting and how people who struggled early on in the game managed to boss their opponents after a few hours of practice. So, it was only a matter of time before the developers would attempt to develop a sequel to this wonderful game.

While Synthetik 2 is still in Early Access, the promise shown in this build has left many fans salivating for more. Hopefully, this sequel lives up to the hype and serves as an excellent improvement over its predecessor. The intense tactical gameplay is better than ever and will allow players to enjoy some amazing top-down shooting gameplay unlike anything else that the genre has to offer.

20

Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor

Steam Reviews: 86% Positive

An amazing spin-off from a goated shooter! Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor is an auto-shooter, which means the player is in charge of aiming and choosing the path, but it is such a challenging experience with an utterly enjoyable gameplay loop.

Making progress with each character class opens up more equipment and upgrade opportunities for it, which helps players reach deeper dungeons on the next try. It’s a roguelike game, so there is no going back when the player dies. However, each death means the player will come back stronger with better gear. Think of it as a 3D version of Vampire Survivors.

Survivor is still in development and the developers have added multiple new biomes since its release.

19

Otxo

Steam Reviews: 94% Positive

Fans of Hotline Miami will absolutely love what Otxo brings to the table. The monochromatic art style makes the game’s violence more eye-popping than ever, and players will really have to think about their loadout before embarking on one of the many runs that this roguelike will entice them with. It can seem somewhat unfair to try and beat this game at times, especially with its many challenging boss fights, but Otxo excels in making players feel like they’re getting better at the game with each successive run.

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The very act of reloading itself becomes something that players can spend hours pondering over, trying to make this break in their shooting as beneficial as possible. It’s just one of the many small ways that Otxo immerses the player, giving them an intense sense of satisfaction when a boss that felt hard as nails early on turns into a laughing stock in no time flat.

18

Wizard Of Legend

Steam Reviews: 91% Positive

The arcade combat of Wizard of Legend is a blast, with players using a variety of spells to rain down a ton of pain on their enemies. The music is also great and something that players will love in this intense roguelike title that is most certainly one of Steam’s most underappreciated indie gems.

If there’s one thing that Wizard of Legend can be criticized for, it’s the lack of content. Just when things get good, players will have experienced everything the game has to offer, which is a downright shame.

17

Tiny Rogues

Steam Reviews: 96% Positive

Early Access can be both a boon and a curse, with developers using this medium to fund the development of their titles while players get to enjoy a taste of a video game that can potentially leave them salivating for more. While there are instances when the promises of Early Access don’t bear any fruit, many titles have managed to use Early Access to elevate the quality of their titles, and Tiny Rogues seems to be a great example of the latter scenario.

This bullet-hell roguelike can be pretty overwhelming early on, but it won’t take long for players to get into the groove of things. The game already has a wealth of content, with its selection of weapons being massive, so it’s easy to see why many fans can’t wait for a proper 1.0 release to wow them!

16

Westerado: Double Barreled

Steam Reviews: 92% Positive

Indie Games

Action-Adventure

Systems

Platform(s)

Microsoft Windows
, macOS
, Xbox One

Released

April 16, 2015

OpenCritic Rating

Strong

An open-world western top-down shooter with a classic revenge plot and procedurally-generated elements, Westerado: Double Barreled is one of the most underrated indie games of all time. Not many people have heard of this title, which is a shame since it brings a lot of innovative elements to the forefront and makes for an open-world title that is genuinely replayable.

The amount of urgency players have in the main story is pretty incredible, with the identity of the killer who burned down the player’s ranch and murdered their family changing with each playthrough. Players can ideally kill anyone and everyone they want in the game, which is truly remarkable in its own way.

15

Grand Theft Auto 2

Steam Reviews: 88% Positive

Before the series adopted the over-the-shoulder perspective and shifted to 3D, the Grand Theft Auto series was more arcade-y in nature. The games featured a top-down perspective where players had to accomplish a bunch of missions and rack up the highest scores possible as they caused mayhem and destruction in these worlds.

Grand Theft Auto 2 is a blast to play through, and exploring this game’s version of London is pretty fun in its own right. The gameplay may be slightly dated but gets the job done, and players will love checking out the history of what is now the most popular open-world franchises of all time! Fans can’t wait for the sixth title to come out, and they can definitely satiate themselves for the time being by playing this game instead.

14

Neon Chrome

Steam Reviews: 93% Positive

If players want to try out a game where weapons feel extremely powerful and upgrades improve one’s effectiveness in meaningful ways, then Neon Chrome is the way to go. This roguelite title is absolutely oozing in style, with the neon cyberpunk aesthetic being a blast to look at in every way. The striking art design of this game is more than enough to convince most people to check this game out for themselves!

The sheer amount of destruction that players can inflict on their enemies is truly amazing and does a great job of showing just how visceral the combat of this game is. It’s impossible for players to not be satisfied while playing this game, especially with their expanded weaponry. If players need another reason to check out this shooter, then players will be elated by the fact that Neon Chrome supports co-op gameplay as well!

13

Nuclear Throne

Steam Reviews: 96% Positive

Nuclear Throne is a post-apocalypse game that takes place in the aftermath of a nuclear winter. It does break away from the cliche by disregarding the notion of humanity saving the world from its mistakes. Instead, this game is about mutants who will be doing the saving.

This allows for even more freedom since mutants can simply collect radiation and mutate into something more powerful. Along the way, they get to test out a plethora of guns in this frenetic and high-octane bullet-hell shooter. If that doesn’t sound good enough, then the music during the shootouts surely will.

12

Brotato

Steam Reviews: 96% Positive

Brotato is one of the highest-rated games on Steam, which is proof enough of just how great this title really is. It was in early access for a year before seeing a full release recently.

The premise is simple enough—players control Brotato, an upstanding citizen of Potato World. But his spaceship crashed on an alien planet, and they’re not fond of French fries. So Brotato must survive by shooting waves and waves of aliens.

11

Red Hot Vengeance

Steam Reviews: 96% Positive

Ever wanted to see the unholy lovechild of Superhot and Hotline Miami? That would be Red Hot Vengeance. It’s a game with a stickman art style and visuals, and the only other color apart from black and white is red— hopefully, because of the blood of all the enemies.

In this game, players are vengeance made manifest as a betrayed hitman as they take on a violent gang by being more violent. It’s one of the smoothest gun carnage experiences in a top-down shooter, courtesy of the light graphics. After the story, there’s still plenty of fun to be had since the game has a level editor, and it’s also free.

10

Snake Force

Steam Reviews: 97% Positive

Snake Force offers something more unique compared to other formulae. It’s an amalgam of a top-down shooter, FPS, and the game Snake from those old Nokia cellphones (ask some millennial grandpas about it, they know it). Players will start as a lone gunman in FPS view.

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Once they have secured and rescued their soldier bros, it’s time to bring out the gun-toting snake in a top-down view. Such a novel idea deserves to be experienced and seen first-hand, as words do it no justice. In any case, it’s a fun game with a cute aesthetic and awesome execution.

9

Akane

Steam Reviews: 95% Positive

Fighting

Shooter

Beat ‘Em Up

Systems

Released

September 10, 2018

Developer(s)

Ludic Studios

It’s easy to see where the inspiration from Akane came from. It’s a Cyberpunk action game that took a healthy serving of inspiration from genre staples such as Ghost in the Shell and Akira. The music and the cityscape alone are enough to attract anyone looking for a definitive cyberpunk game.

Players take control of the titular character in a Kill Bill-esque plot as they fight their way out of Mega-Tokyo against cyber-Yakuza using the coolest weapons known to mankind (like the katana). There’s no shortage of blood, death, and neon lights here.

8

Synthetik: Legion Rising

Steam Reviews: 94% Positive

Don’t be fooled by the 16-bit visual style. Synthetik is a shooter game so loud and bombastic that the gunfire is almost palpable. The audio, the animations, and the general gameplay all work together here to offer one of the most intense shooter highs that even FPS games can’t reach. The game is also a roguelike, so be prepared for that.

There’s not much of a story here, like with most top-down shooters. Players are merely dumped into dangerous sci-fi military facilities where they must shoot their way to their goal, which is to free the world from the Machine Legion and their gods. It’s a pretty good excuse to start shooting up objects and feature the game’s primary strength.