In recent years, the industry has been absolutely wild about the open world concept. The appeal of getting utterly absorbed by a huge, detailed, vibrant world is easy to see, and incredible all-timer games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Red Dead Redemption 2 have really shown us what can be achieved in this arena. At the same time, though, these sorts of titles can represent a frightening time commitment, which is potentially off-putting for those who just want to blast their way through a campaign.
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There are some fantastic open-world games that are hard to put down, but if you're looking for something more action-heavy and linear, these FPS games will fit the bill perfectly, a selection featuring classics and more recent releases. Though some do have larger levels that offer stashed-away secrets, They're linear in that they're primarily all about pushing you forward to the next stage or objective.
6 Forgive Me Father
Sleek, Stylized Action
Historically, it's been quite difficult for FPS titles to stand out visually. Given the common settings, like the stark grey facilities we've fought our way through in so many corridor shooters, this isn't surprising. One aesthetic that has been very effective in immediately drawing attention to a FPS game's visuals, though, is the comic book-inspired look. It pairs so well with the unrelenting and brutal action these games often boast (see the chaotic and punishing Anger Foot for one such example), and Forgive Me Father achieves this potent blend too.
The player character, a journalist (a priest is also selectable) is called to the town of Pestisville after a desperate call for aid from their cousin Louis. He's nowhere to be seen on their arrival, the town has largely been abandoned, but enemies transformed by a deadly plague pursue the protagonist relentlessly. It's a game that slowly becomes more and more otherworldly as it proceeds, with stages that develop from the streets to the town's harbor and ultimately progress to the Dimensional Portals and a showdown with the mighty Cthulu. A roundup at the end of each stage tells the player how many of its enemies they defeated, the numbers of each secret they found, and overall completion percentage. There's considerable replay value in returning to try and do everything, particularly as the Skill Tree gives you a lot of freedom to customize your weapons and try a fun new approach.
5 Gears Of War 4
The Familiar Action Formula Of The Series
Subtlety isn't a word in the Gears of War series' vocabulary. From the moment Marcus Fenix was rescued from his cell at the beginning of the first game, the pace rarely let up all the way through the series. There have been glorious, emotional victories for the COG forces and there have been heart-shattering defeats, but there's always been high-octane, chainsaw whirring action that has buoyed the player along from checkpoint to checkpoint. 2016's Gears of War 4 was the last title to follow the familiar, rather linear level design, before the following title experimented with more open areas.
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The Locust Horde, seemingly destroyed by the Imulsion Countermeasure Weapon in the previous title, are ultimately revealed to be back as the Swarm. JD Fenix and a group of fellow Outsiders join forces with JD's legendary father, Marcus Fenix (and his own COG allies), in an attempt to pursue the Swarm and destroy their hive. Puzzling and exploration is at a minimum in this title, but what it does do is advance the familiar and gleefully brutal Gears gameplay. A sophisticated close-quarters mechanic is added by means of the combat knife, and vicious new weapons like the Buzzkill, which launches a series of blades, join the action. The transition from cover to tackling nearby enemies is made smoother through the new vault kick, too, ensuring that there's rarely any downtime amidst the action.
4 Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun
Stomping Footsteps, Devastating Weapons
The world of Warhammer 40,000 is one steeped in rich lore, so much so that it can be quite intimidating to dive into. In Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun, though, at least your objective is simple: Blast all who oppose you into smithereens. As Ultramarines Chapter Space Marine Malum Caedo, you've lost your squad members in a landing gone tragically wrong, and are now effectively alone against the assault of the Chaos Forces. Fortunately, Malus is a powerhouse to rival the Doomguy, as every booming step he takes will attest, and will accrue some monstrous weapons as the game goes on. From the Heavy Bolter to the Volkite Caliver, he has everything he needs to tear through hordes of enemies, and everything is immensely satisfying.
The game's three chapters will take you between a wide range of locations and a total of 24 stages. How Long To Beat estimates that the campaign is about ten hours long, but naturally, that depends on how easily you find your way around the expansive levels. There's a 'correct' linear path, if you aren't hunting secrets, but there's no map to rely on and the stages seem to get increasingly more elaborate.
3 Vanquish
Vanquish Your Foes In Style
In a post on the PlatinumGames Official Blog prior to Vanquish's release, the team explained that its original vision for a more open stage design was left behind in favor of "making each stage as visually dense as possible." The end result was a dynamic, futuristic, industrial-looking third-person shooter, set aboard SC-01 Providence. The United States space colony has been taken over by the Order of the Russian Star, and Sam Gideon is a member of an elite force dispatched to liberate it. Doing so, predictably, involves a lot of flashy gunplay, smoothly-animated moves, and carefully-timed evasive maneuvers.
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The campaign, according to How Long To Beat, is a breezy six hours or so long, and typically signposts the player's next objective quite clearly. The arsenal of weapons combines the conventional (assault rifle, machine gun, and so on) with the rather more unique, such as the LFE Gun. The pace of the game is dramatically increased by the capabilities of the suit Gideon wears, which allows him to perform the dramatic boosted slides that have become so iconic in the title.
2 Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
Return To This Brutal World
Warhammer 40,000's universe is a bleak, fascinating, lore-rich place, defined by the constant warfare that humanity must maintain to attempt to survive among its extraterrestrial enemies. It makes for a perfect setting for a dystopian shooter, then. Space Marine 2's take on it all is rather different to Boltgun's, being a third-person shooter, but its combat is just as visceral and the focus on carving a linear path from encounter to encounter remains.
The game is set during the fourth Tyrannic War, between what remains of humanity's forces and another invasion of the Tyranid race. The protagonist is Demetrian Titus, who lost his position at the end of the first game. Returning to the Ultramarines to repel the Tyranids with his allies, he must also engage with the threat of Chaos and the enigmatic Project Aurora. Players will find that cover is strictly limited here, and that high-octane encounters are all about timing parries and dodges, the better to blast and cut down foes as quickly as possible. Battles can be lengthy and taking some degree of damage is still inevitable, but this needn't slow down your onslaught: a system akin to Doom 2016's Glory Kills helps ensure that you'll rarely break your rhythm in combat. If you perfected the flow of combat during the game's campaign, you can continue to test yourself in the horde mode, in which a team of players cooperate to protect an Imperial installation for as long as they can.
1 BioShock Infinite
The World Beyond Rapture
The BioShock series is so well-regarded, in part, because of its incomparable atmosphere. The first two titles were set in the underwater city of Rapture, which is one of the most haunting, iconic, and creative settings in all of video games. The decision to depart from it was a bold one, and when Irrational Games did, they opted for an area that would be the complete inverse of it: Columbia, a great floating city in the sky. It may seem to be a starkly different setting, but the same themes of a splintered society and terrible secrets at the heart of what once seemed to be peaceful and happy remain.
Protagonist Booker DeWitt learns of his connection to Zachary Comstock, leader of Columbia, and the Tears companion Elizabeth can open to explore parallel worlds. Like the first game, we gradually learn more about why DeWitt is in the city and his links to it. Unlike a lot of FPS titles, it's a fascinating and multi-faceted narrative, one of those that sometimes requires another playthrough or two in order to fit things together more easily. Though players follow a stricter path around the city and backtracking is limited, there is still a good deal of customization available, in terms of weapon and vigor use and the gear system. Experimentation is important when it comes to your loadout, too, because different enemy weaknesses and resistances will surely mean that your preferred equipment is ineffective at times. You'll want to be sure your weapons are upgraded.
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