Best Shooters of 2026: 9 FPS and Third-Person Games Worth Playing

The best shooters of 2026 are a surprisingly varied bunch. We’ve got a long-awaited Gears of War prequel, a tense extraction game where escaping matters more than your kill count, retro Warhammer carnage and a detective who looks as though he’s wandered out of an old black-and-white cartoon.

This list covers releases available by 14 October 2026, rather than filling the ranking with games still weeks away. We haven’t tried to pretend that a co-op zombie romp and a serious PvP shooter appeal to exactly the same person, either. The point is to find the right sort of gunplay for you, with platforms and a reason to pick each one.

Best shooters of 2026 at a glance

Here’s a quick comparison of the best shooters of 2026 before we get into what makes each one worthwhile.

1. Gears of War: E-Day: Third-person campaign and co-op

Release: 6 October, 2026. Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, PC.

One of the best shooters of 2026 for campaign fans, Gears of War: E-Day returns to the moment the Locust first emerge, long before the events of the original trilogy. Instead of squeezing another adventure into the current timeline, The Coalition brings Marcus Fenix and Dom Santiago back to the beginning, where the war still feels like an overwhelming catastrophe rather than familiar military business.

The chainsaw-equipped Lancer, weighty cover shooting and close-quarters encounters are the reason to come. This is the pick when you want a structured campaign with spectacular set pieces and a friend alongside you, not an endless seasonal unlock track. Its grim atmosphere also makes the moments of relief between fights matter. On the other hand, anyone looking for the constant freedom of a huge PvP map might be happier with Marathon.

If you’re comparing the best shooters of 2026 by feel rather than just the biggest franchise name, Gears of War: E-Day is worth considering for this particular style of play. The downside is that its strengths won’t appeal to everybody.

2. Marathon: Extraction PvPvE

Release: 5 March, 2026. Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC.

In the best shooters of 2026, Marathon is built around the excitement of a successful escape and the irritation of losing good equipment in the final minutes. Bungie’s extraction shooter drops you into Tau Ceti IV with other runners, hostile forces, loot and competing squads. Surviving is not the same as winning a conventional deathmatch: you need to decide when your backpack is valuable enough to leave.

The Runner shells give squads different strengths, while the risk of losing carried gear makes even a quiet encounter tense. It has a steeper learning curve than a traditional arena shooter. If you hate the idea of losing your loot, you’ll probably bounce off it. If every extraction feels like a story worth telling, few of the best shooters of 2026 do that job quite as well.

3. Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2: Fast retro first-person action

Release: 14 October, 2026. Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC.

Among the best shooters of 2026, Boltgun 2 makes a strong case for the pleasure of charging through a level and shooting every horrible thing in sight. Auroch Digital has kept the first game’s chunky retro look, but adds two playable characters: Ultramarine Malum Caedo and Sister of Battle Nyra Veyrath. They have different styles, so the choice should affect more than which character appears in the cutscenes.

The sequel expands the weapons, enemies and locations, while a branching campaign lets you take different paths through the carnage. This is a new release as of 14 October, so it is too early to make claims about its long-term balance or post-launch support. For immediate, old-school FPS action, though, the premise is wonderfully clear: move, blast, survive, repeat.

4. Mouse: P.I. For Hire: Stylised single-player FPS

Release: 16 April, 2026. Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch 2, PC.

Mouse: P.I. For Hire joins the best shooters of 2026 with what happens when a vintage rubber-hose cartoon crashes into a fast-moving first-person shooter. Detective Jack Pepper investigates a dark mystery in Mouseburg, with black-and-white animation inspired by the 1930s and more guns than a conventional animated detective story would ever allow.

Its biggest selling point is the personality of the world. The enemies, movement and weapons are wrapped in a cohesive cartoon style rather than using monochrome visuals as a quick gimmick. It is an inviting alternative to military shooters if you want something with an unmistakable visual identity, a solo storyline and no obligation to keep up with your friends’ multiplayer ranks.

If you’re comparing the best shooters of 2026 by feel rather than just the biggest franchise name, Mouse: P.I. For Hire is worth considering for this particular style of play. The downside is that its strengths won’t appeal to everybody.

5. John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando: Four-player zombie co-op

Release: 12 March, 2026. Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC.

Toxic Commando is the cheerful disaster movie among the best shooters of 2026 of this list. Saber Interactive turns an outbreak of sludge-born monsters into a four-player shooting trip, with huge hordes, different classes, vehicles and an unapologetically ridiculous tone. Its influences are easy to see, but it is much more interested in friends laughing through chaos than delivering solemn military realism.

Vehicles help the game stand apart from shooters where your only choices are to sprint or hide behind a crate. The best moments come from turning what should have been a straightforward drive into another barely survived encounter. It’s ideal when you’ve got a regular group, but a weaker match if you mainly want a richly plotted solo campaign.

6. High on Life 2: Comedy FPS

Release: 13 February, 2026. Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC.

Of the best shooters of 2026, High on Life 2 doubles down on talking weapons, absurd aliens and the idea that almost every encounter could be interrupted by an outrageous joke. If you found the original exhausting, the sequel won’t magically turn that style of humour into something restrained. If you loved it, the approach is part of the appeal.

What makes it worth considering among the best shooters of 2026 is the way comedy sits alongside recognisable shooting mechanics rather than replacing the action. You still need to move, aim, use the available tools and push through the game’s strange environments. Buy it for a silly single-player trip, not for competitive gunplay or tactical realism.

7. Pragmata: Puzzle-hacking and third-person shooting

Release: 17 April, 2026. Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, Switch 2.

Pragmata might be the least conventional of the best shooters of 2026. Capcom’s lunar sci-fi adventure pairs Hugh with the android girl Diana, and gunfire alone isn’t enough to handle the machines in their path. The central trick involves hacking enemies to expose vulnerabilities while you stay alive in real-time encounters.

That makes combat more demanding on your attention than simply choosing the most damaging weapon. You’re balancing a shooting problem with a puzzle under pressure. Anyone who wants enemies to fall after a couple of headshots might find that frustrating, but it’s exactly why Pragmata belongs here: it offers something different from conventional firefights.

If you’re comparing the best shooters of 2026 by feel rather than just the biggest franchise name, Pragmata is worth considering for this particular style of play. The downside is that its strengths won’t appeal to everybody.

8. Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War!: Retro bug-blasting FPS

Release: 16 March, 2026. Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch 2, PC.

Ultimate Bug War! leans into the ridiculous appeal of Starship Troopers: enormous swarms, military propaganda and bugs that aren’t inclined to give you space to reload. It plays with the look and energy of older first-person shooters rather than trying to become a realistic combat simulation.

That’s part of its charm. You know what you’re getting when you step onto a bug-infested battlefield, and there is an appeal to that straightforward set-up. It’s better suited to people after exuberant sci-fi shooting than somebody looking for a nuanced tactical sandbox or a sophisticated branching narrative.

9. Saros: Single-player third-person action

Release: 30 April, 2026. Platforms: PS5.

One of the best shooters of 2026 for solo players, Housemarque’s Saros follows Arjun Devraj on Carcosa, a dangerous planet shaped by an ominous eclipse. Like the studio’s earlier action games, it makes positioning, movement and reading projectile patterns central to surviving, but with permanent progression that carries through repeated attempts.

It’s the most appealing option here if you prefer mastering a responsive combat system on your own. Rather than treating death as the end of the evening, the game builds its rhythm around learning encounters and returning stronger. That also makes it quite different from extraction shooters, where another team can erase the reward for your last twenty minutes.

Which of the best shooters of 2026 should you play?

For a campaign you can share with a friend, start with Gears of War: E-Day. Marathon is the pick for players who enjoy risk, rival teams and an extraction that can go wrong at any moment. Toxic Commando offers less serious co-op fun, while Boltgun 2 and Mouse: P.I. For Hire scratch the retro-FPS itch in very different ways.

We’d choose Pragmata for an unusual shooting-and-hacking challenge and Saros when precise solo combat sounds like the main attraction. High on Life 2 is the comedy choice. Whichever you prefer, this ranking of the best shooters of 2026 is deliberately limited to games already out; Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 isn’t being judged before its 23 October release.

Official source: Focus Entertainment’s John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando page.