Crysis

If you want more: Superhuman action, running around shooting guns
Notable differences: A military-themed first-person shooter experience with a linear narrative, no customization of the protagonist, a sci-fi setting closer to reality
Availability:
Crysis: Windows, Xbox 360, PS3
Crysis Remastered: Windows (Steam Deck YMMV), Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch

Crysis might feel a little out of place here, but as a science-fiction shooter featuring unique abilities that can radically augment standard first-person gameplay, and that offers an explosive superhuman fantasy, it might be a nice change of pace if you’ve wrapped up 2077 and just want more gun action.

Crysis features a more linear, action-focused experience than the winding, choice-driven, RPG-stat-heavy saga that is Cyberpunk 2077. But early missions offer a level of freedom that isn’t terribly common in games of this kind. In that sense, it stands to offer you more than what you may be used to from straightforward first-person shooters.

In Cyberpunk, builds often prioritize speed and absurdly lethal means of obliterating your enemies. For that level of fun, Crysis’ nanosuit is here with four selectable modes you’ll spin through on the fly, featuring boosts to armor, speed, or damage, and the always-fun invisibility mode. Crysis isn’t afraid to throw tough, lethal opposition at you, so you’ll have to stay on your toes, swapping suit modes to get an edge. The thrill of overperforming in battle thanks to high-tech capabilities taps into one of the core cyberpunk fantasies.

Let’s also not forget that before Cyberpunk became the amazing graphics extravaganza, machine-crushing benchmark that it is, Crysis was (and in some cases still kind of is) the uber determiner of a PC’s pixel crunching power. We ask “can it run Cyberpunk?” because we used to ask “can it run Crysis?”

And there are two sequels which, though more linear than the first entry, are pretty fun romps if you’re in the mood for a blasty sci-fi shooter trilogy.