FPS games are among the most popular in the entire space, letting players step into the shoes of unstoppable soldiers and mighty warriors, and take on fearsome enemies of all kinds. Over time, video games have gone from being fairly affordable to pretty damn pricey, with modern triple-A titles reaching $70+ price tags despite having the same, if not less, content than much cheaper ones.
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More and more players are seeking value with their purchases, looking at how much game time they can get out of a single experience and whether or not it is worth taking the plunge. Within the FPS genre, there are plenty of great value games that players can easily play for dozens of hours without getting bored, whether due to their sheer size or the replay value that comes from the late-game content, or by having a roguelike loop with virtually no limits.
Deep Rock Galactic
Endless Mining Together
Details:
- Constant progression through greater difficulties
- Multiple classes adding more replay value
Deep Rock Galactic delivers absurd value for players by giving them an endlessly replayable loop that can be enjoyed both solo and in co-op. The procedurally generated caves ensure no two missions feel the same, while the distinct classes dramatically change how each run plays out, letting each player feel important from the moment they enter the depths.
What really elevates the value is how much additional content has been added post-launch. New biomes, enemies, weapons, and seasonal updates are added without any additional cost, letting players constantly progress forward and grind through those harder levels without ever breaking the bank.
Hunt: Showdown
A Different Kind Of Extraction Shooter
Details:
- Darker, horror-oriented action
- Engaging loop that offers plenty of content for all
Hunt: Showdown stands out as one of the most unique extraction shooters in the genre, delivering a slow and tense experience that feels distinct in a space filled with modern, military-style games. Every match feels like a high-stakes gamble where a single mistake can end a run, making victories incredibly rewarding and losses pretty devastating.
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Because of how many different weapons and objectives there are to fight, players can easily jump into countless runs without feeling as though they are just retracing their steps. And for players who really enjoy the longer-term grind, there are plenty of grindable mechanics for them to focus on, allowing them to continue playing and fighting for 10s if not 100s of hours.
Titanfall 2
So Much Action In A Single Package
Details:
- Frequent sales, but still cheaply priced
- Great FPS campaign and amazing multiplayer
Titanfall 2 is, for many, one of the best FPS games ever made, nailing both the single-player campaign and multiplayer in virtually every way. The missions themselves all feel distinct, introducing specific mechanics that change how the levels play out and how players engage with the enemies within them, and the PvP has so much depth that players are still figuring out new strategies and techniques all these years later.
Over time, the price has slowly crept downwards, but it is also frequently on sale for well under $10, giving more players a chance to pick up an exceptional FPS game that gives them basically everything they could want, from a stellar campaign to a satisfying and replayable PvP experience.
ULTRAKILL
Absurd Intensity Right From The Get-Go
Details:
- Fast and fluid gameplay with huge skill expression
- Range of levels to master and replay
ULTRAKILL is a love letter to the early shooter days, thrusting players into a brutal world where humanity has gone extinct, and forcing them to shoot through hordes of creatures of all shapes and sizes. Movement and gunplay become one in the same, as players sprint through stages, building up their style points through a range of different attacks and moves.
The value comes from the number of different levels and the replay value that comes from trying to master each one. It is common to see players repeating the same stage over and over to try and squeeze out a slightly better score, requiring a huge amount of skill and precision to reach the top for even the best FPS players out there.
Left 4 Dead 2
The Best A Zombie Game Can Be
Details:
- Excellent cooperative PvE gameplay
- Community maps bring endless ways to play
Left 4 Dead 2 remains one of the best zombie games ever made over a decade since its release, and a large part of that comes from the sheer amount of gameplay on offer. Players can jump into a level and shoot their way through hordes of undead, then quickly move onto another with a completely different feel, and that's without factoring in community content, which only gives them even more choice.
Interestingly enough, there aren't any experience systems or real points of progress, only learning to get better and taking on harder and more intense levels later on. Even without traditional progression, the game still manages to keep players invested for countless hours, all for a low price point that is beyond a steal by today's standards.
Fallout 4
Factions And Quest Galore
Details:
- Huge open-world packed with content
- Big modding community on top of an enormous amount of quests
Fallout 4 manages to blend satisfying FPS gunplay with deep RPG mechanics in an expansive open world, all for an affordable price. Players gain access to a huge amount of content without needing to buy any additional DLCs, as the base game has so many different questlines and arcs to follow that they can easily get 50+ hours of game time without repeating anything.
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But because of how different playthroughs can be from one another, if players still want more from the wasteland, they are free to start a new character and focus on a whole new build completely different from their first. This means that this single RPG can end up consuming a player's entire life, leading them on adventures across the whole map and letting them truly feel immersed in one of gaming's most well-loved universes.
Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora
Fighting Alongside The Na'VI
Details:
- Solid gameplay and a fairly long set of campaign missions
- Large-scale open-world with branching storylines
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora brings the gorgeous cinematic world to life in the best ways possible. The environments are visually stunning, allowing players to explore huge vertical islands and vast expanses of land, with each location offering numerous quests and points of interest to discover.
The gameplay is also incredibly diverse, as one minute players can be gliding through the skies, and the next, shooting down mechs on foot, creating a fascinating dynamic between the natural and human worlds. For fans of the franchise, it is the perfect way to experience the IP in a whole new way, bringing the animals, settings, and characters closer than ever before.
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide
Horde Shooting At Its Best
Details:
- Character variety for multiple playthroughs
- Replayable missions for additional loot and rewards
Darktide is a standout in the FPS genre, bringing with it a level of brutality and gore that very few other games even come close to. The blend of melee and ranged combat means that players have a lot of choice in terms of how the game is played, and with each class offering a distinct role on the battlefield, the replay value becomes incredibly high right from the start.
As players progress, they gain access to new and exciting weapons, alongside powerful abilities that transform their characters and allow them to compete with the harder enemies later down the line. There's even a nice end-game grinding loop for players who really want to stick around, giving them even more ways to play without even factoring in paid DLCs.
Deadzone: Rogue
Constant Rewards Throughout
Details:
- Roguelike loop is inherently replayable
- Constant improvement without grinds
Roguelike games are inherently high-value purchases, and Deadzone: Rogue is no exception. Players can jump into a run and will always be presented with different weapons and modifiers that keep the gameplay feeling fresh, which remains true even after countless runs and deaths.
The progression is also fairly linear and steady, meaning that players can't just jump ahead and finish all the content in a single session, instead needing to slowly learn the ropes and improve over time to fully witness all of the additional enemies and items that are accessible to them later on.
Barony
Old School Visuals With Modern Mechanics
Details:
- Cooperative dungeon crawling
- Build diversity across several distinct classes
Barony is a unique genre blend that takes the concept of RPG dungeon-crawling and turns it into an intense FPS experience that can be played in single-player and multiplayer settings. Procedurally generated dungeons are where the value really comes in, but even outside of the levels, players still have a huge ocean of class mechanics and items to uncover as they delve deeper.
Despite having a pretty minimalist aesthetic, the game is surprisingly mechanically modern and fluid, giving both hardcore FPS fans and RPG lovers something to enjoy. At such a low price, it almost feels like robbery, as players will soon find themselves investing so much time into run after run, without ever feeling like they are reaching the end of the content line.
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