Forgotten Single-Player FPS Games That Aged Like Fine Wine

Single-player FPS games aren’t as common as they used to be, at least when it comes to AAA releases. We might get 3 or 4 big titles per year, and they tend to be either multiplayer-only or feature a single-player campaign that barely lasts 5 hours. I miss the days when publishers would drop experimental mid-tier shooters like Jurassic: The Hunted, The Conduit, Dreamkiller, and NecroVisioN, all of which came out in 2009.

While indie developers have picked up the slack and can keep most people busy, there is also the option to check out some forgotten FPS games from yesteryear, quite a few of which have aged well. The genre established its core mechanics in the early 2000s, and things haven’t changed that much since then; consequently, a 2010 shooter can feel just as good as a 2025 successor.

Call of Juarez: Gunslinger Is A Spaghetti Western Blast

Perfect Blend Of Style, Gameplay, And Story

• Stylized visuals have stood the test of time.
• The western setting still feels fresh.
• Just cool.

Call of Juarez doesn’t get enough love in general, and part of that might have to do with the series wrecking its momentum with The Cartel. After that misguided attempt to jump forward to the modern day, Techland and Ubisoft wisely opted to return to Call of Juarez‘s roots with Gunslinger​​​​​, although a digital-only release suggested a lack of confidence in its potential.

In a sea of brown and grey shooters, Gunslinger‘s colorful comic book-style visuals, Wild West setting, myth-based storytelling, and short-burst arcade gameplay let it float to the top; in fact, this combination is still unusual today, especially for an AA game by a major publisher. Blending history and fiction, the campaign casts you as Silas Greaves as he recounts his tales of misadventures as a bounty hunter, including run-ins with the likes of Billy the Kid and Butch Cassidy.

The framing device influences the mission’s presentation, with Silas occasionally changing the story and causing the world to morph around him. Although not the snappiest gunplay ever, Gunslinger still feels good to control, especially its Concentration system that lets you slow down time and snap off multiple shots at once. Showdowns are also a blast.

Gunslinger is perpetually on sale on the Nintendo Switch, and I really recommend picking it up.

Peter Jackson’s King Kong Is The Perfect Movie Adaptation

Don’t Be Scared By The Licensed Game Curse

• Immersive presentation with no HUD.
• Multiple gameplay styles.
• Incredibly ambitious for a licensed game from this era.

I will never miss an opportunity to discuss Peter Jackson’s King Kong, just to keep its name alive, considering it has been delisted for more than a decade now. During the 2000s, few phrases sparked trepidation quite like “movie tie-in game,” and hoping for anything better than a rushed mess was a recipe for disappointment. King Kong might be lumped in with other failures of the era, but it doesn’t deserve to be mentioned alongside the likes of Sega’s Marvel games, Fight Club, or Catwoman.

Once you get into gameplay, you will instantly realize that King Kong is something special. Why? Well, you won’t see a health bar, an ammo counter, or a traditional crosshair. Instead, you rely on sensory cues to figure out this crucial information, a decision that instantly showed that Ubisoft sought to create an immersive experience rather than just Turok with King Kong (as awesome as that sounds). You don’t feel like an action hero, and you certainly don’t become Rambo running through a forest and killing everything that moves.

The wildlife AI was fantastic for its era and still holds up pretty well. As ammo is scarce, the game encourages players to think outside the box and manipulate their environment to get past predators, including using weaker animals as distractions. Humans are weak, so they need to be smart.

Oh, right, you also play as Kong. It is as empowering as it sounds.

Project Snowblind Is Linear Deus Ex (And That’s A Good Thing)

Slow Down Time, Throw A Grenade, And Blow Up A Tank

Credit: Image via Square Enix

• Augmented gunplay and the many ways you can destroy enemies.
• A fast-paced linear shooter.

A Deux Ex game that ended up becoming something else entirely, Project Snowblind shows its lineage through its augmentations, top-notch gunplay, and sheer power fantasy factor. Dropping any immersive-sim elements in favor of linear arcade gunplay, Crystal Dynamics’ game has aged better than any of the older Deus Ex games, even though the original is still far more impressive today.

While you might be mostly walking down a straight path, Project Snowblind offers freedom through the techniques and abilities available to players. “Reflext Boost” lets you slow down time, while Cloak lets you go invisible, and the fun comes from figuring out ways to smartly implement them during missions. The weapon selection is also quite robust, even including an Icepick gun that takes control of electronics such as mechs or turrets.

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This article originally appeared on GameRant and is republished here with permission.