Doom wasn't the very first FPS, but it was the game that would shape popular culture's understanding of exactly what the genre would be all about. Action of an almost unparalleled intensity, a soundtrack to match, and a steadily growing arsenal of fantastic weapons. All of this remains critical to the formula decades later, as does a real sense of urgency and speed.
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Broadly speaking, these aren't games for lengthy exposition sessions. Let's take a look at some of the most fast-paced FPS titles ever made.
10 Post Void
Slowing Down Will Be Fatal
Often, FPS titles don't literally have a time limit that pushes the player forward. It's simply destructive momentum that keeps leading them onwards. Post Void takes a different approach, with its unique totem mechanic. The protagonist holds a grisly skull in one hand, a relic that acts as both health meter and time limit. The level of "liquid" within the totem is that meter, and taking hits from enemies will reduce it while taking them down will give you some back.
Managing this precious resource, then, is all about dispatching enemies with deadly accuracy as you constantly move. We don't really receive any context about who the protagonist is and why they're rampaging through these colorful levels full of human and not-so-human enemies, but perhaps it's best not to question it. There is some strategy in the form of an upgrade system, but Post Void is much more of a bite-sized experience than many of the titles on this list. No less frenetic for it, though.
9 BPM: Bullets Per Minute
Blast Baddies To The Beat
If you've played Dragonforce's legendary Through The Fire And Flames in expert mode in the Guitar Hero series, you'll know that rhythm games can be fast. Outrageously fast. In 2020, Awe Interactive decided to leverage this fact, blend it with all the drama and action of the FPS series, and deliver BPM: Bullets Per Minute.
The player is cast as a Valkyrie warrior, but not a lance-wielding one as tradition dictates. This Valkyrie has a gun, more of which (and more Valkyrie warriors with unique abilities) become available as the game progresses. Beginning the game in Asgard, your only objective is to slay the horrific foes that have defiled this beautiful place, but the twist is that you have to do it to the beat of the music. Right from the first note of the first stage, it's clear that the music's going to be worthy of such a spotlight, and it becomes increasingly intense as you go. Some don't have the rhythm for such things and will surely tire of dashing and reloading to the music, but this is great looking (and sounding), satisfying fun with an engaging combo system for those high-score chasers.
8 Borderlands 4
The Most Agile Vault Hunters Yet
The Borderlands series defines the fast-paced and chaotic FPS. With a wide cast of colorful characters from Marcus Kincaid to Handsome Jack, there are silly slapstick moments and some that offer surprisingly in-depth lore. It makes for a bit more of a different experience than some of the arcade-based titles in this list. That's not to say that the games are lacking in action, though. In the earlier titles, the Vault Hunters were much more static in their actions, being firmly grounded for the majority of the time. Borderlands 3 improved this with the ability to climb up ledges, Doomguy-style, and the further addition of a slide with both offensive and defensive utility. The fourth game then added a further layer on top of that, in the shape of a dash and grappling hook.
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You want to be able to keep pace with agile foes, but also dash behind them or evade incoming fire.This improved roster of moves allows for that, and the grappling hook has a lot of utility too. Borderlands remains the wild catalogue of carnage it's always been, but it's much smoother and faster to travel around battlefields and the world at large. There are even aerial maneuvering options, and the latest game's cooking up quite a lot for fans in 2026.
7 Hard Reset Redux
The Return Of A Legend
It's always gratifying to see some of the classic pillars of old-school game design return. The high-octane action of the boomer shooter genre is a perfect example of this, and there have been some excellent entries. Hard Reset Redux makes an excellent case for being one of the fastest, though. It lacks the glorious 90s visuals of the boomer shooter, but the action in this futuristic world more than brings it to mind.
It also has a bold attempt at telling quite a deep story that may make players think about the nature of humanity, what the human consciousness is worth, and what it can do. We take the role of Major Fletcher, who is defending the last bastion of humanity, Bezoar. Using a strictly limited but nicely customizable rifle selection, he fights back the robotic monstrosities who seek to wipe us out for good. The best arena shooters master that constant carnage and feeling of having your back against the wall, and this title certainly achieves that. It also granted the protagonist a dodge, as Borderlands 4 did, with similar benefits to the dynamism of the action.
6 Painkiller
Bringing The Pain, And The Kills
The Neons of Neon White would love a chance to get into their games' depiction of Heaven. Painkillers' protagonist, as it turns out, is also battling demons for the very same prize. After his tragic death in a car accident, he is separated from his lover, and tasked with assassinating four top generals from Lucifer's army before they can be reunited. That very dramatic opening over, he arrives in the first level, the cemetery. It's eerily quiet for a moment or two, as you stock up on your first ammo, and then the heavy metal kicks in and the first enemies rise.
The 2004 original is comprised of five chapters, and given the premise, the game takes the liberty of setting them in different historical periods. One section set in Babel sees the player beset by hordes of armored knights, for instance. A (seemingly) final confrontation with Lucifer awaits at the end of the time-hopping campaign, an affair as frantic and fast-paced as anything Serious Sam has to offer.
5 Dusk
What Lies Below
Darkest Dungeon brought the world the tale of a band of adventurers tackling the horrors unleashed in the depths of a once-glorious estate. If you were to blend this notion with Doom, then, you'd get Dusk. Instead of a party of Heroes, it's just one lone man captured in the terrifying town of Dusk, where the most shocking of secrets await. Along with a wealth of hideous enemies, naturally.
Across the game's three chapters, you'll proceed from the outskirts of Dusk to the deeply disturbing Facilities in its core. Similarly to Bloodborne, the action has more of a conventional horror aesthetic earlier on, before turning towards the Lovecraftian as it concludes. It does so in spectacular fashion, too, with an encounter against an iconic figure from Lovecraft lore on an entirely different plane of existence. Movement is very fast and smooth, as is the animation of weapons, and though it's far from the longest FPS around, the eerie atmosphere keeps the player unnerved throughout.
4 Ultrakill
One Of The Flashiest FPS Titles Around
There are some games that are almost as enjoyable to watch as they are to play. Constant high energy and excitement. One such spectator sport is Ultrakill, which takes the movement options and freedom of a typical FPS and really pushes them to the maximum. From the moment the player first picks up the revolver in the center of that room, the game's logo appears and the beat kicks in, you know this is going to be something special.
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Ultrakill doesn't have a time limit, as such, but the combo system, which informs you that your exploits are CHAOTIC, DESTRUCTIVE, and other superlatives, relies on chaining kills within a strict time limit (indicated by the bar counting down to the right of the screen. The sleek and futuristic UI contrasts wonderfully with the pixelated look of the world, and a curious story unfolds in which protagonist V1, a robot, proceeds through the layers of a Dante-esque interpretation of Hell. In this Early Access phenomenon, movement speed is astonishing, but it's not just about running: The character's agility enables advanced techniques like wall jumping to be chained together, a feeling similar to Ghostrunner.
3 Turbo Overkill
An Exhilarating, Futuristic Ride
FPS fans have been blessed with a history of gloriously violent, exaggerated and super-fast shooters. The issue with this, however, is that it's important for these titles to bring us something new, to keep building on what came before, lest they risk losing their impact. Turbo Overkill brought us a protagonist who fell from a great height onto an enemy and then used chainsaw-boots on their feet to tear up what remained of the foe. This is certainly something you don't see every day, and neatly sums up exactly what the game has to offer.
Very much akin to Ultrakill, this title puts two very important things in the spotlight: Absurdly high-powered weaponry and agility to match. The protagonist can perform a sliding maneuver for mobility, but also as a direct attack. To survive each encounter, it's critical to remain aware of enemy positioning, not stop moving for a moment to avoid incoming attacks, and proceed from target to target. Think about how you'd maneuver after activating a Gore Nest in Doom 2016, and emulate that to (hopefully) survive. The "dystopian future city" stylings of the game may be slightly generic, but the effects, from the beams of the weapons to the satisfying way that waves of foes burst apart, means it's endlessly appealing.
2 Doom Eternal
Rip, Tear, And Dash
We've celebrated a lot of the most chaotic and relentless FPS games of all time here, but let's not forget the one that the rest all owe a tremendous debt to: the Doom series. The recent rebooted trilogy is particularly interesting, because while Doom: The Dark Ages has more of a defensive, shield-bashing focus, its predecessor, Doom Eternal, revolves around chaining glory kills and dashing from foe to foe, as with the original reboot.
In his quest to destroy the Hell Priests and, ultimately, the Icon of Sin, Doomguy has some convenient new tools. The most prominent of these is perhaps the Meat Hook, which dramatically enhances mobility by propelling our protagonist around the environments. Eagle-eyed players will notice all kinds of clever ways to make use of it, and it plays an important part in keeping the game as dynamic and relentless as it is.
1 Neon White
Speed Up, Slow Down, Repeat
We're always warned of the dangers of burning the candle at both ends. Even the very best of us, after all, can't keep up that absurd pace all the time. Neon White seems to have fully embraced this concept, delivering an experience that's frantically fast in some instances and very slow in others. An intriguing blend of gameplay styles.
The game is so named because the player is a Neon, a resident of Hell on a sort of field trip to Heaven, known as White. There are several other Neons here too, and White must complete the game's levels as fast as possible to prove his dominance over the others. Each stage is a brief trip to a portal, requiring precise, fast platforming and shooting in equal measure. Weapons only last for the duration of the level, and you've got to determine when to when you need them to destroy enemies and when it's safe to relinquish them for the rest of the level in order to gain a special ability (such as a ground pound unlocked by leaving the SMG behind). For the best players, levels are just brief blurs lasting a few seconds, with all sorts of unlocks acquired for a good performance. As an opportunity to take things a bit slower, you can visit the realm of Central Heaven between stages, speaking with other Neons and developing relationships with them as in titles like Hades. The relationships system isn't quite so deep as in that game and its sequel, but the game's certainly very fast indeed when it wants to be. Just see if you're fast enough to collect those infamous red medals.
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