Best Shooter Games of 2024

It's been a pretty excellent year for shooter fans, as whether you're into fast-paced multiplayer action, third-person cooperative chaos, or single-player adventures, 2024 has presented at least one reason to get excited. It's also because of this that our top shooters list is a very competitive and strong one, a list that features some Game of the Year contenders, and a collection of others that no doubt missed out by only a minor margin. So, with that being the case, here's what we dub the Best Shooter Games of 2024.

5. XDefiant

When Ubisoft debuted XDefiant, there was only ever really a couple of things that held this game back. The first was quite boring progression and the second was a simple lack of content that many assumed the seasonal model would have fixed. It's been a tough 2024 for XDefiant since then as that hasn't really happened, and that's also a really sad realisation because otherwise and as far as an arena shooter goes, a project to rival the evergreen Call of Duty, XDefiant did almost everything right. It delivered tight and enjoyable action, well-paced and thrilling gameplay, engaging and fun maps, balanced and unique classes, and a simple yet refined presentation too. Ubisoft had a project with immense potential in XDefiant, it just has failed to really do anything with it since.

4. Helldivers II

If we were writing this article in March, this would be at the top of the list without a doubt. Arrowhead's cooperative multiplayer shooter is everything that makes the shooter genre so timeless and popular, as it combines the intense stress and action of pure cosmic combat with the kind of absurdity and explosivity we expect from a Starship Troopers-like experience. Helldivers II has only slipped down the rankings because of the fact that since its arrival a few questionable design, balance, and community-centric changes have been made and introduced, but also because some really strong competitors made themselves known too.

3. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl

Let us make one thing clear right off the bat. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is a fantastic game. But, and it's a very big but, it has a lot of bugs and performance demons. It's for this reason that GSC Game World's impressive project slips down the rankings, as beyond its ugliest elements there is a really complex and impressive first-person shooter action title that stands toe-to-toe with some of the best games we've seen in the entirety of 2024. We're willing to give it some leniency due to the situation the development team finds themselves in, but what that leniency won't see it beating out more technologically sound projects.

2. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II

What more is there to say about this incredible game. If it was the year 2010, we might have lauded this as the greatest piece of interactive entertainment all year, but as it's 14-years-later, we have to state the obvious in that the linear and almost Xbox 360-like design holds Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II back a tad. That's not to say it isn't effortless, action-packed, pure shooter fun however, because this game nails all of those things and then some, making it a top shooter for the year and also one of the best video games of 2024 too.

1. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

It might surprise some to see Treyarch's title on top, but frankly Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is the return to form the shooter series has needed. Ever since 2019's Modern Warfare, Call of Duty has felt like it's in a downward spiral when looking at the annual instalments, and it reached a point where we weren't convinced ahead of launch that Black Ops 6 and its revolutionary Omnimovement and nostalgic design elements would be enough. But it was. Be it a pure Black Ops campaign that impressed, Multiplayer that felt more exciting that ever thanks to returning Prestige systems and the pace and fluidity delivered by Omnimovement, and a back-to-basics Zombies that offered more traditional round-based tighter action, there wasn't much that this game didn't do right from a Call of Duty perspective.