To make a good FPS game, you need plenty of qualities, but the sound design is one of the most important. A huge part of what makes using guns feel realistic, and conveys the impact of hitting your targets - giving that euphoric feeling - is how they sound. Get a good headset or sound system, and you are ready to go.
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It’s not just about guns though. Plenty of games will have satisfying sounds relating to other activities you need to do as you progress. Whether collecting items or opening up a door for the next area, effects always make every action feel far more satisfying and these FPS games do it best.
10BioShock
It might be getting up there in age, but the firstBioShockwas groundbreaking during the era it was released. Its graphical fidelity was top-notch for the Xbox 360 and PS3 days, but its sound design brought the underwater city of Rapture to life.
BioShock was an action-packed shooter while also being a haunting horror experience. Besides electrifying enemies in water with a Plasmid, and gunning them down gangster-style with a Tommy gun, you can hear the mutated residents and creaking of the city which sends chills down your spine.
9Doom Eternal
Id Software laid the groundwork for the FPS genre and continued to push the envelope further with the rebooted series ofDoom. Eternal found itself to be a worthy sequel, mostly due to an expanded sound effect system encompassing the extra weaponry at your disposal and the demons who awaited you.
It’s not all about the diegetic sounds, either, like gunfire and the roars of a Fireborne Baron. Picking up the glowing orbs for ammo, health, or armor gives a satisfying click, making everything feel as chunky and aggressive as possible.
8Battlefield 2042
Military shooters aim for realism, but few do it likeBattlefield 2042. Battlefield has always toed the line between a chaotic online sandbox and an immersive military FPS. In 2042, the sound design is of the quality you’d expect from a Battlefield entry in the era of the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.
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Having a high player count per match creates battles that always have something happening in an atmospheric haze of sound. People are always shooting guns, exploding something, or driving loud military vehicles across the map. You can hear it all happening from a distance or echoing off of the walls of a destroyed building. When inside buildings, the echoes bounce off walls like the ricochet of bullets and shrapnel creating an immersive experience.
7Rainbow Six Siege
Matches inRainbow Six Siegeoften start quietly, leaving the smaller sound design choices to shine. You get the wooden boards being lifted when barricading, to being on attack and hearing the rope of your rappel as you get ready to go up or down a building. Once matches rev up, then things get meaty with explosions and gunfire. Some games don’t rumble so greatly that you can feel them in your chest, but Siege does.
Operators all hold their own unique weapons and gadgets. After hours of playing, you will also recognize distinct sounds. You learn the sounds of the sizzling of Ace’s special breaching charge or the concussive blast of Nomad’s Airjab. That recognition leads to instinctual reactions to counteract the enemy’s moves.
6Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
Similarly paced and as wild with its world as Doom,Wolfenstein II: The New Colossusalso pushes you to the ground with its sound design. MachineGames clearly knows its guns well, as you can hear the power in every shot when firing. The gunshots are meaty, and the impact is meatier. You can hear the wear of armor of heavily armored soldiers or mechs when blasting them with machine guns.
The analog sci-fi technology gives a crisp feel to everything you interact with in the world. Sci-fi often leads to touch screens and holograms, things that sound and feel airier compared to the sharpness of analog. Being able to work machinery or see the stomping of mechs creates a tactile world.
5Deathloop
Arkane has become a masterful studio in the art ofFPS immersive sims.Deathloopis a James Bond-styled example of its eye for visuals and ear for sound design.
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The 60s-70s era setting with a sci-fi twist lets you have old-school guns and weird powers that meld together for fluid combat. Between hearing your weapons and abilities, you’re able to hear the world come to life. Each region you travel to has its own look and sound. From the music playing on record players, to hearing people on loudspeakers in the distance, you get a sense that Colt’s world is real.
Left 4 Dead 2is not only a great horde shooter, but it has an impressive sound design for a game that was released in 2009.
The sounds of the guns are loud and brash, the melee weapons all carry their own weight, and the zombies make all sorts of disgusting, terrifying sounds. Those iconic sounds, like a Witch crying or the roar of an incoming horde, can be recalled when mentioned. If you have heard it, you will remember those sounds for life.
3Chivalry 2
Sure, you can go into third-person inChivalry 2, but combine the first-person view with its immersive sound design, and then you will truly feel like a Medieval knight in the middle of a battlefield. Plenty of games capture that point in history, but not many match up to Chivalry or its sequel due to its stylistic take on a Medieval online experience.
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Whether it’s swords clinging, a mace crushing bones, or an arrow flying through the air to pierce someone through the eye, you will get the full experience of the time period with the bold personality of Chivalry.
2Half-Life 2
It may show a little rust over time, butHalf-Life 2holds up in many ways, from its fun physics to its memorable sound design. Not many developers can say they made iconic sounds that players recognize decades later from the revving of the gravity gun to the breaking of wooden boxes.
Sound is how you can bring characters to life. When in the horrifying level Ravenholm, the infested town throws zombies and headcrabs at you. The squealing of the creatures is a prime example of how audio can give creatures an identity and scar you enough to never forget the sounds they make.
1Alien: Isolation
It is a dark day if horror lets you down on sound design, particularly an FPS in the genre.Alien: Isolationditches the adrenaline-pumping take that James Cameron had and goes back to the original film by Ridley Scott. Scott made the Xenomorph iconic between its design to how it sounded, but now in video game form, you get to slowly walk through halls that echo with its roar, if it doesn’t just kill you from above or behind.
Trying to survive means you have to pay attention to every little sound. The alien has a mind of its own, so it is roaming the ship freely throughout a large majority of the game, with some exceptions for scripted scenes. You can hear it moving around the area, and sometimes in those quiet moments, all you have is the beeping of your motion tracker to signal when death is coming.
