The first-person shooter is a mercurial concept. Is it defined by deathmatches or cinematic campaigns? Battle royale or loot-shooting? The truth is that the genre has never been just one thing. And three decades into its existence, it refuses to stand still – instead strafing and bunny-hopping into new and unexplored territory.
What we can nail down are its punctuation points, the moments when one FPS game has fundamentally altered the rules for what the genre can and can’t be. Grab a coffee, flick off the safety catch, and join us over the page for an explosive celebration.
PUBG: Battlegrounds
FORMAT PS5, PS4 / PUB KRAFTON DEV PUBG STUDIOS / RELEASED 2018
01 Warzone couldn’t have pulled us collectively through lockdown if PUBG hadn’t already set the template for the FPS as battle royale. It’s janky, but it’s all here: the parachute jump with 99 other players; the encroaching circle; the too-quiet ghost towns that promise both the possibility of life-saving gear and life-ending
