The 18 best free-to-play shooters of all time

The free-to-play games market is booming. More and more developers are positioning their free-to-play games. Shooters in particular are enjoying increasing popularity. Why spend a lot of money when great gaming fun is also possible for free?

Below we have compiled the 18 best free shooters for you. This way you can save your wallet and still have a lot of fun in a hail of bullets.

1st Call of Duty: Warzone

Metacritic: Critic Rating: 80/100

That Warzone, of all games, is at the top of this list should probably come as no surprise. After the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Activision surprised 2020 with their new and, what’s more, free Battle Royal spin-off. This clever move brought Warzone to a whole 30 million players in just the first 10 days.

As in other battle royal games, players jump out of a plane onto a huge map with the goal of being the last player alive. Warzone offers the option to work together in a group of up to four players, but of course there is also a solo option. As the large map shrinks over time, players try to equip themselves with better and better loot, such as weapons and armor, to have an even better chance of survival.

Furthermore, Warzone offers a small side mission after your character is killed. If you die for the first time, you can compete against another killed enemy. The winner is sent back into the game as a reward, but loses all of their equipment except for a pistol.

2nd Valorant

Metacritic: Critics Rating: 80/100

Riot Games is no stranger to the free-to-play genre. With League of Legends, the developer has already had a worldwide hit in the free-to-play sector. With Valorant, they are now trying to get into the shooter category as well.

Valorant has similarities with Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Overwatch. Two teams of five players each compete against each other here. The task of one team is to plant a bomb. The other team, in turn, tries to defuse it. Whoever wins the most rounds wins the game. Each player also has special hero abilities that can help them win. Valorant doesn’t offer too many new ideas, but it is still an excellent free-to-play shooter.

3. Apex Legends

Metacritic: Critic Rating: 89/100

The battle royal game Apex Legends is very reminiscent of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4’s Blackout mode, the only difference being that you can play as one of 13 legends, each with their own abilities.

Like other Battle Royale games, Apex is set on a huge map. Up to 60 players fight for survival in teams of two or three. If you are killed, teammates can retrieve your banner and revive you. If you don’t like the position you spawn in, you can also fling yourself back up into the air using a discoverable device.

It seems that the shooter was made just for players who couldn’t do much with Battle Royal before. Apex Legends attracted more than 50 million players in its first month.

4. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Metacritic: Critic Rating: 83/100

No list of the best shooters would be complete without Counter-Strike. Few shooters are as challenging and competitive as Global Offensive. A high level of skill and strategy is required to succeed against other players. And the best part is that the game runs on virtually any PC.

CS:GO has several game modes. In the central competitive mode, two teams of five compete against each other. The terrorists’ task is to place a bomb on the map and defend it against the anti-terrorist unit until it detonates. Alternatively, you’ll achieve victory by completely eliminating the opposing special unit. Their mission, on the other hand, is to eliminate the terrorists or defuse the bomb that has already been planted. The number of players has grown more and more in recent years. Especially the transition to a F2P formula at the end of 2018 has increased the range immensely.

5. Halo Infinite

Metacritic: Critic Rating: 87/100

Halo Infinite marks the return of the classic console arena shooter to Xbox and PC. The team at 343 has been hard at work creating new maps and modes to keep players interested despite the initial sparse content.

Halo Infinite offers good gameplay at its core. The controls are responsive, the movements are fluid, and the sound is strong and sonorous. The Halo series has always been an interesting change from the fast-paced, realistic shooters where battles last a few seconds at most. The extended battles in Halo increase the satisfaction of each kill and give competent players a chance, even if their opponent surprises them.

6. warface

Metacritic: Critic Rating: 62/100

With Warface, Crytek proves years of experience in developing first-person shooters. Through its class divisions, the game forces teams to work together. Engineers, for example, are able to repair the armor of their teammates, medics can heal with a shotgun at close range and inflict heavy damage.

While most first-person shooters focus exclusively on competitive multiplayer, Warface also has a cooperative mode, in which you’ll be rewarded for completing missions and playing well together as a team. If you want to compete online against other players, you can do so in the traditional kill-based mode. Since 2017, there has also been a Battle Royale mode.

7. Quake Champions

Few games have achieved such an impact in the shooter scene as Quake. The lightning-fast shooter put reflexes and skill above all else, becoming a popular e-sports title that spawned several sequels. With Quake Champions, which has been free to play since August 2018, id Software delivers classic Quake action.

Quake Champions features a variety of different game modes, including traditional deathmatch and both 1v1 and 2v2 duels. It also includes a mix of classic and brand new weapons. If you’re a fan of Id Software’s other games, you can even play as Doomslayer from the Doom series and B.J. Blazkowicz from the Wolfenstein series. However, a powerful system is required to run the game.

8. Fortnite: Battle Royale

Metacritic: Critic Rating: 85/100

Hardly any other game has shaped the Battle Royale genre like Fortnite. Although it wasn’t the first game with this concept, it triggered a legendary hype. Following the Battle Royale principle, you fight against 99 other players on the map. But the game also offers another distinctive feature: building. As you walk around the Fortnite map, you collect materials and weapons that you can use to build walls and ramps. That way you’ll be able to cross the map faster, protect yourself in gunfights and, in general, get an advantage over the enemy.

By now, Fortnite has lost some of its hype, but it is still an extremely powerful game.

9. splitgate

Metacritic: Critic Rating: 71/100

Current shooters are focused on mimicking the look and feel of real combat (with a few notable exceptions). That’s fine for those who like that sort of thing, but what if you’re in the mood for something more outlandish? We recommend Splitgate if you’re looking for a sci-fi shooter.

The principle of the well-known portal gun was adapted by the developers of Splitgate. The result is quite entertaining. The ability to open portals during multiplayer battles adds a fresh twist to the proven concept. For those with a creative streak, the portals offer a wealth of cool possibilities that make for an innovative first-person shooter.

10 Team Fortress 2

Metacritic: Critic Rating: 92/100

With its iconic graphics and balanced class system, Team Fortress 2 appeals to casual players and professionals alike. In its seven years, the game has built a huge player base on Steam. Team Fortress is an unwavering blend of fast-paced combat and intense strategy, with each of the game’s nine classes having their own strengths and weaknesses.

Game modes are straightforward and consist primarily of pitting two teams against each other to move a car, capture selected points, or steal a briefcase. Few games have held up so well over the years.

11 Destiny 2: New Light

Metacritic: Critic Rating: 76/100

After Bungie parted ways with Activision, they’ve gone the F2P route with Destiny 2: New Light. While New Light is only a part of the paid main game, it still offers full access to its diverse PvP battlegrounds. Destiny 2: New Light is a purebred loot shooter that is heavily inspired by the well-known Halo series. With your created character, a so-called guardian, you can participate in both traditional PvP battles and challenging PvE activities. Additionally, there are story missions that advance the main story.

12. PUBG: Battlegrounds

Metacritic: Critic Rating: 86/100

PUBG: Battlegrounds was not the first game to use the Battle Royale formula, but it was the first to become commercially successful. The goal of the game is to become the last survivor. To do this, players drop into a large area, collect the necessary equipment and hunt down other players.

PUBG changed its business model in January 2022 and is now available for free on all platforms. Like many other games, PUBG started out as a third-person shooter, but was later expanded to include a first-person mode.

13. planetside 2

Metacritic: Critic Rating: 84/100

No other multiplayer shooter offers the same scope as Planetside 2, with over 1000 players able to fight simultaneously on a single map. This results in huge mass battles between infantry, tanks and even aircraft. As one of three factions, you fight to capture enemy bases and resources to gain control of the planet Auraxis.

The varied battles ensure that no game is ever the same. Battles here can last entire days or even weeks. Players also have the possibility to unlock weapons, skills and other components through the game’s intuitive leveling system.

14 Paladins: Champions of the Realm

Metacritic: Critic Rating: 74/100

Similar to Overwatch, Paladins is a hero shooter. Here, too, you choose between different characters. These are distributed across various classes and each offers a different play style to help your team to victory.

Unlike the classes and abilities offered in Overwatch, Paladins lets you customize your heroes using a deck-building system. However, you can also join the battle with one of the pre-made deck-building variants. With the different game modes – Siege, Rush and Team Deathmatch – you’ll have plenty of opportunities to try out your skills.

15th Black Squad

If you’re looking for a thoroughbred first-person shooter, Black Squad is a good choice. NS Studio has created a simple and precise multiplayer experience here, which should be extremely interesting, especially for fans of earlier Call of Duty and Counter-Strike titles.
The military shooter offers enough variety for players of all styles and abilities. A kill results in a delightfully over-the-top sound effect and a heavy splatter of blood on nearby walls, so there will never be any doubt about whether your target is down.

Black Squad promises no “pay to win” mechanics, and no game-oriented microtransactions are available. Instead, you can unlock certain cosmetic items, such as weapon skins, through in-game currency. Due to the low system requirements, the game runs without problems even on older computers.

16 Argo

Metacritic: Critics Rating: 86/100

Argo is a tactical shooter that has been on the market since 2017. The video game is a free-to-play MMO set on a fictional island called Malden, where a space station has crashed. As a mercenary of one of the two rival factions, your objective is to claim the remains of the crashed space station.

However, other game modes are also available. One example is the Combat Patrol mode, where players must complete a variety of tasks. Link, a game mode that takes place on a smaller map and in which players have to hack a central computer, is also interesting. Furthermore, Argo has an editor that lets you craft your own missions.

17 Line of Sight

Metacritic: Critics Rating: 68/100

Line of Sight is another FPS title that was released in 2017. According to the developer, the video game is a mix between the BioShock series and the Call of Duty franchise. Players not only have a wide range of weapons to choose from in their battles, but also play with so-called psychic abilities. You can use these supernatural skills to your advantage, either by eliminating enemies with them or using them as a means of support.

Line of Sight features over twenty different maps spread across the globe. Are you looking for a true free-to-play experience where you don’t have to spend money to improve your items, then Line of Sight might be the choice for you. The developers promise that there are no weapons that can be improved by spending real money.

18th Ring of Elysium

For those who have lost track of the whole Battle Royale genre and are still looking for a game worth playing, we recommend the game Ring of Elysium. This game isn’t exclusively about beating the other players on the map. Instead, you’ll also have to concentrate on escaping.

In Ring of Elysium, you’ll be dropped into a large, open world where you’ll have to survive an approaching storm. But other players can also become a danger to you. To brave the storm, you can even get to your destination by snowboarding or by flying a kite. However, the safest way is to get a seat in the highly competitive helicopter that can take you out of the death zone. However, to get such a place, tactical and precise action is essential.

Conclusion:

Spending a lot of money on good shooters is by no means necessary. If you keep your eyes open, you will find a huge selection of excellent and free shooters on the market. With this enormous variety, every shooter’s heart is guaranteed to be served. We wish you a lot of fun shooting through the virtual worlds!