Some first-person shooters are great from the start, giving everything they need to have fun, and they do not let up. Halo: Combat Evolved, for example, was released in 2001, and whether fans play the original game on an original Xbox or an updated version on the Xbox Series X/S, players are going to have a good time from start to finish.
10 Best FPS Games With Deep Progression, Ranked
These FPS games give you way more options than just picking a gun, allowing you to tune your character with skills, upgrades, and maybe even classes.
There are other shooters out there that get better over time for different reasons. There may be progression systems that give players more to use in combat, or maybe things start more challenging than most and eventually even out. Whatever the case may be, these first-person games need a little warming up.
Who’s That Character?
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Easy (7.5s)Medium (5.0s)Hard (2.5s)Permadeath (2.5s)
Cyberpunk 2077
Hacking Your Progress
Cyberpunk 2077 is probably the best example of a shooter that gets progressively better as players engage with it. No matter what origin point players pick, they aren’t going to have a lot of money, weapons, or cybernetics. As they embark on missions, their arsenal will expand, granting them access to rarer content and enabling them to tackle missions in their preferred way.
They can learn to hack enemies or terminals, get boosts in damage against certain enemy types, and so on. Players may wish to approach missions stealthily at first to avoid conflict, as they may be weaker. However, as more players unlock, they will become more compelled to play missions like a straightforward shooter, which just so happens to be set in a futuristic cyberpunk world.
Destiny 2
Becoming THE Guardian
Destiny 2 players will customize their characters’ looks, race, and class, which all dictate what players can use and do in combat. A Warlock, for example, can glide while exploring, and their special skills are more magical, but any class chosen can use nearly every type of weapon in the game, from pistols to rocket launchers to swords.
Leveling up and acquiring new skills is one thing, but it’s the equipment that will matter the most to a build, which will affect the overall performance against enemies. Destiny 2 has changed dramatically since it launched in 2017, but the one thing that hasn’t is how fun it is to build up their character into godhood status with every major and tiny mission they take on. It’s also fun being able to show off progress to others in the HUB areas of the game.
Borderlands 4
Broadening Your Class
Players get to choose one of four heroes before they start Borderlands 4, each having three branching skill trees within. Vex the Siren, for example, can summon ghostly clones to attack enemies with scythes, or they can summon a pet tiger familiar to wreck enemies. Players can see every skill they can pump points into from the start, allowing them to get a feel for how they want their chosen hero to play out.
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Being able to see the road ahead will make players more eager to level up than in other RPGs. For a game all about shooting billions of guns, the class-based skills are rather complex, making it one of the more in-depth systems in a Borderlands game. If players don’t wish to engage as much with these systems, the game works just as easily as a shooter, and there literally are billions of guns to find through random loot drops.
Resident Evil Village
Winters Is Coming
Resident Evil Village is a direct sequel to Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, continuing the misadventures of Ethan Winters. While players get a gun much faster than in the previous installment, it’s still a slow-paced, atmospheric survival horror game. There will constantly be more enemies than ammo, health potions, and supplies available. Through rationing, players can eventually upgrade weapons, craft things like ammo, and even buy newer and better guns.
By the end, Ethan should be well-armed, but players still can’t let their guard down. The brilliance of Resident Evil games is that there is usually a new game+ mode that lets players carry over materials and weapons, and that’s true for this eighth major installment. If players really want to feel like they’ve become a badass werewolf hunter, then they should go into a new playthrough and absolutely go ham on everyone.
BioShock 2
Popping Plasmids
BioShock 2 may not have the atmospheric horror edge that the original game had, but it does have better combat. Players could now dual-wield between one weapon and a Plasmid, the latter of which were supernatural powers players could gain throughout the game. Each Plasmid could be upgraded, like the ability to shoot lightning out as if players were Emperor Palpatine from the Star Wars franchise.
The cooler weapons and Plasmids players got, the more ways they had to deal with their enemies, thus opening up combat situations more. BioShock 2 doesn’t necessarily have a slow start, but the acquisition of more powers and weapons will make things more fun as a shooter taking place deep underwater.
Deathloop
Getting Better Through Self-Experience
Deathloop was developed by Arkane Studios, and while progression is more limited than their more popular Dishonored games, it’s easy to see the similarities between both franchises. As Colt, a man suffering from slight amnesia who is stuck on an island of assassins, players have to help him eliminate his enemies to escape. The catch is that this is a time loop game, meaning that when players die, everything will be reset.
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As players discover secrets about each biome and assassin, they will grow naturally. Players can find new powers and weapons to assist them in the current and next run. To win, players need to get better at the gameplay, so Deathloop is very demanding, but once players get the hang of it, they should be able to escape.
Mullet Madjack
Cyberpunk For Andreline Junkies
Mullet Madjack is a cyberpunk game like Cyberpunk 2077, but it’s also an homage to what anime dreamt cyberpunk societies would be like in the 90s. Players had to keep their hero alive by keeping his adrenaline up in combat, and dipping below a certain threshold would cause their body to give out, thus ending the run in this first-person roguelike. Gameplay is very linear on missions, with players quickly going from one room to another with enemies waiting by the droves.
The more creative players get with their kills, like kicking an enemy into a vending machine and then blasting them with their pistol, or using a shotgun to blast them into a wind turbine, the more points they will accrue to stay alive. With vibrant anime/PS1 aesthetics, Mullet Madjack is certainly one of the more stylistic games on the list. As a roguelike, it’s another example where players can get better the more they play, as they will start to learn the patterns of enemies and layouts, and also learn what temporary upgrades work best together.
Roboquest
Robots R Us
Roboquest is the final first-person roguelike on the list, and the progression system is quite extensive. As a hulking robot, players will go through randomly generated levels, blasting other robots to smithereens. The violence is very cartoony, similar to the Ratchet & Clank games, making it a good shooter recommendation for all ages, plus there is co-op.
On runs, players can get temporary upgrades and random weapons from laser blasters to freeze ways, along with an upgradable currency that they can use back at camp. The more they play and upgrade, the better the next run will be, which is a standard gameplay loop for a lot of roguelikes.
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