Best Shooter Games of 2025 According to Metacritic — Our Picks
• Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor, Heretic + Hexen and Arc Raiders top Metacritic in 2025 with Metascores around the mid-80s. • 2025's shooter slate blended genres: indie roguelikes, remasters, VR and tactical sims all earned strong reviews. • Big franchises returned in force — Battlefield 6, Doom: The Dark Ages, Borderlands 4 and Metroid Prime 4 were among the year's standouts. • Remasters and retro-style shooters showed that classic design can still compete with modern innovations.
The shooter landscape in 2025
Metacritic’s aggregated scores show 2025 was a diverse year for shooters. Top-rated entries included both experimental indies and polished AAA releases, while remasters and retro throwbacks found renewed acclaim.
Developers leaned into hybrid designs: guns were used for momentum in action-platformers, for puzzle-solving in colorful adventures, and as tools in survival-MMO and roguelite frameworks.
Top-scoring games to know
Leading the pack were Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor, Heretic + Hexen and Arc Raiders, each scoring around an 86 Metascore. These titles represent three different directions — a refined bullet-hell spin-off, a faithful remaster of classic boomer-shooters, and a smart third-person PvE experience.
Other high scorers included Earthion (85), Nightdive Studios’ System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster (84), Gradius Origins (84) and Battlefield 6 (84). Notable mid-80s and low-80s releases like Doom: The Dark Ages and The Outer Worlds 2 delivered fresh mechanics and tighter combat systems.
Where AAA and indie met
AAA franchises such as Battlefield, Doom and Borderlands showed they can still innovate within familiar frameworks. Battlefield 6 returned to large-scale multiplayer while Doom experimented with melee-parry mechanics in a bold prequel direction.
Indie entries like Shotgun Cop Man, Neon Inferno and FragPunk brought unusual mechanics — projectile-based movement, SNES-style aesthetic, and card-modified PvP — proving smaller teams pushed boundaries this year.
Remasters, VR and tactical sims
Remasters from Nightdive Studios and re-releases of classics like Heretic + Hexen and R-Type Delta found acclaim for balancing nostalgia with modern polish.
VR and realistic tactical experiences also stood out: Deadpool VR offered character-driven action in virtual reality, while Ready or Not graduated to mainstream attention as a tense SWAT sim on PC.
How to pick your next shooter
Choose by playstyle: pick Arc Raiders for tactical third-person action, Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor for bullet-hell roguelike fans, and Heretic + Hexen if you prefer retro boomer-shooters. Battlefield 6 and Borderlands 4 are best for players seeking large-scale multiplayer and loot-driven FPS action.
Metacritic’s list is a useful snapshot — check individual reviews to match a title’s tone and mechanics to your preferences before buying.
