Another year is almost in the bag? Where did the time go? Oh, that's right, it went into playing all of 2017's awesome FPS titles!
This year killed it on the first-person-shooter front, with behemoths like Destiny 2 arriving to dominate team-based play and awesome single-player experiences in Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus and Call Of Duty WW2 offering up all the Nazi-slaying you could ever want.
After Doom got its return to the spotlight not too long ago, it was obvious we'd see other classic titles get rebooted. That's what happened when Quake returned with Champions (although it sadly seems to have faded into obscurity again already) and, of course, the long overdue Lawbreakers finally arriving.
But enough of the past: now its time to look to the future! From horror to comedy and plenty of historic battle recreations, there are 11 FPS games you should be looking forward to in 2018. Here they are.
Far Cry 5
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Platforms: PC, Xbox One, PS4
Release Date: February 27, 2018
Just like Wolfenstein 2 somehow caused a stir with its "Nazis are bad" stance, Far Cry 5 managed to get the politically-minded all riled up with its primary mob of baddies -- a conservative cult in rural Montana.
We've already covered that faux controversy at length, so all I'll say here is that I'm a rural Montanan, and I can't wait to play this game! When someone wisecracked that it's "just Far Cry Primal 2", I legitimately laughed out loud, and seeing the backwoods of my terrifying state rendered digitally should be an explosively good time.
If you've loved the previous Far Cry games, it's a good bet this one will deliver -- and that's not to mention we're finally getting rid of the overused tower system in favor of newer mechanics. There will also be a buddy system implemented here, forcing you to convince other people to fight for your cause. And of course, there will be more animal taming shenanigans, which always a good thing.
Metro Exodus
Developer: 4A Games
Platform: PC, Xbox One, PS4
Release Date: 2018
It's been four years since Metro: Last Light, and it's beyond time for a return to this bleak vision of humanity's blasted future. Artyom will reprise his role as the main character in Metro Exodus. The story will pick up from Metro: Last Light, but put a few years between the two narratives for storytelling purposes. Expect plenty of twisted, mutated beasties, some mind-shattering alien something-or-others, and a new crafting system!
System Shock Remastered
Developer: Night Dive Studios
Platform: PC, Mac, Linux, PS4
Release Date: 2018
This granddaddy of FPS hybrids was rightly heralded as an amazing breakthrough when it arrived in 1999, and there's no question the series played a major role in influencing beloved FPS titles like Bioshock.
Now it's coming back, bigger and more beautiful than ever, recreated in the Unreal 4 engine. Although it's called a "remaster," it's essentially being re-built from the bottom up and will feature the talents of legendary game designers like Chris Avellone.
A substantial update about the state of the game's development also just landed on Kickstarter and can be read here.
Anthem
Developer: Bioware
Platform: PC, Xbox One, PS4
Release Date: Q4 2018
Bioware and EA have teamed up for a new take on Destiny's popular shared-world shooter formula -- and it looks pretty spectacular so far. The focus here is on playing with your friends and acquiring new loot as your squad of Freelancers blow up anything and everything that moves using your super-powered exosuits.
Call Of Duty 2018
Developer: Treyarch
Platform: PC, Xbox One, PS4
Release Date: November 2018
Treyarch returns to the Call Of Duty rotation next year following 2015's Black Ops III, and it's totally up in the air as to what we could be getting. Considering we just ping-ponged from the far future in 2016's Infinite Warfare back to the 1940s with this year's WW2, anything is possible.
There are rumblings COD 2018 will return to a modern-day or near-future entry based on some recent job postings at Treyarch, but who knows if that's accurate. Every year the speculation comes in hard and heavy, and it's usually wrong (we never did get that Vietnam entry or Ghosts 2). So it looks like we'll just have to wait and see.
Deep Rock Galactic
Developer: Ghost Ship Games
Platform: PC, Xbox One
Release Date: Sometime 2018
Honestly, they had me at "space dwarves," although I am a little worried this is just going to be Space Hulk: Deathwing with cutesier graphics. This 1-4 player co-op FPS features procedurally generated levels that you will have to dig through to make your own tunnels, choke points, and defensive positions while battling waves of enemies. The fully destructible environments seem like the big draw here, potentially revolutionizing how shooters of this style work.
Enlisted
Developer: Gaijin Entertainment
Platform: PC
Release Date: 2018 (maybe)
Gaijin is already known for its historical MMOs like War Thunder, and now we're getting a boots-on-the-ground WWII entry that focuses on the soldiers rather than the tanks and planes.
These battles are supposed to be absolutely huge, with up to 150 players fighting each other at once, and the game is currently slated to run on an F2P model.
Whether the game actually arrives next year is a little up in the air, as at this point, there's nothing even approximating a release window from the developer and no actual video trailers have arrived featuring anything resembling finished gameplay.
Ready Or Not
Developer: Void Interactive
Platform: PC
Release Date: 2018
Seriously, how amazing is that title? Tackling the Rainbow Six Siege style and focusing on SWAT teams, this one is shaping up to be pretty spectacular. Competitive and co-op modes for up to eight players will be featured in multiplayer alongside a single-player campaign.
Based on the trailer released earlier this year, it seems like Ready or Not is going to get gritty and dive into uncomfortably dark topics, from school shootings to human trafficking.
Hell Let Loose
Developer: Black Matter
Platform: PC
Release Date: Q2 2018
Another large-scale WWII simulator, Hell Let Loose is aiming for a realistic style. It's mechanics focus on teamwork (along the lines of Squad) as you set up forward bases and weapon nests across the battlefield.
Yes, it will be massive -- as these games need to be -- with up to 100 players battling each other at once. There's also a painstaking level of work going into the game's maps, with the developer recreating 1945 French villages based on archived footage and satellite photos. So needless to say, this game is going to be accurate.
War Of Rights
Developer: Campfire Games
Platform: PC
Release Date: 2018
When it comes to shooters, there aren't too many games centered on the U.S. Civil War -- probably because tactics in that war consisted of "line up, stupidly put your Colonel in front, and fire at each other while running forward until you run out of ammo."
War Of Rights aims to rectify that oversight, featuring as much historical accuracy and realism as possible. From the uniforms and units to weaponry and more, everything here is designed to be historically accurate. Expect large-scale battles in this one as well.
Hunt: Showdown
Developer: Crytek
Platform: PC
Release Date: Q4 2018
This one was originally supposed to be a radically different game titled Hunt: Horrors Of The Gilded Age. It was a game we were looking forward to all the way back in 2015.
Fast forward and development has since changed hands and shifted radically to this free-to-play online FPS. PvP and PvE elements are on full display in Hunt: Showdown, packing a survival experience with strong horror leanings into match-based shooter gameplay.
There are some really interesting elements that make the game worth checking out, from its non-standard old-west monster hunting style to interesting mechanics where your powers pass through bloodlines to new hunters when you die. Look forward to alpha arriving this winter and the full game launching some time in 2018.
While these 2018 FPS games are the ones we're most looking forward to, there are undoubtedly many, many more that will arrive next year.
There are also several in development that currently don't have solid release dates and may show up around Christmas time. However, those games, such as Borderlands 3, Serious Sam 4, and Metroid Prime 4, will likely slip past 2018.
What 2018 shooter are you most looking forward to playing, and what upcoming FPS titles did we miss that should have made the list? Let us know in the comments below!
Published: Nov 14, 2017 05:35 pm