Dusk

It seems only fair to start with the game that coined the genre title, and indeed reignited the desire for these fast-paced, low-poly gib-fests. (And let’s be clearly—people have been making boomer shooters in between—hell, Devil Daggers was 2016—but this was the flag in the ground.) But crucially, Dusk wasn’t just a nostalgic harkening back to the games of 30 years ago, but rather something distinctly modern too. It took the speed, aesthetics and crudeness of the originals, but doesn’t pretend like we don’t want physics in our shooters these days.

This results in a game that’s evocative of a former time, but without dragging things down by that era’s limitations. It’s not beholden to its roots, and shines because of it.

However, it’s a game that knows where its bread is buttered, too. Load the game and it runs a fake DOS loading screen, accompanied by the scrunchy sound of a 90s hard drive whirring into life.

Dusk doesn’t stand out just by being the first big example of the type, however. It’s also a truly brilliant game in its own right, with level design every other FPS designer should study. It’s that rare example of a game that gets better with every level.