DOOM Eternal
Genre: Shooter | Developer: id Software | Platform: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, Google Stadia | Release: March 20, 2020
The DOOM series is legendary. As “Doom Guy” you blast your way through endless hordes of demons who threaten to overrun the world, sometimes even following them to their home and making them… well, feel the heat of hell.
DOOM is known for its brutality, especially evident in the “Glory Kills”. You will often see how you ram your grappling hook through the eye of helpless demons, to then crush their skulls with your flat fist.
DOOM Eternal is the latest installment in the series and has now been expanded with 2 DLCs. The shooter is not only popular for its strong gunplay and diverse weapons, but also for its story and atmosphere.
The heavy metal soundtrack of the game underscores the brutality with which you extinguish the lights of demons one after another and even blast the body parts of huge bosses off.
While you play the campaign of DOOM Eternal alone, the game does offer an asymmetrical online PvP mode. Here, a single Doom Slayer faces off against 2 powerful demons that he must kill simultaneously to win. This ensures long-term motivation and a multiplayer aspect.
Hunt: Showdown
Genre: Shooter | Developer: Crytek | Platform: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S | Release: August 27, 2019
Hunt: Showdown is a somewhat different shooter, even from the setting. Hunt is set in an alternate Louisiana at the end of the 19th century. A strange disease infects the swamps and seems to resurrect the dead, attracting something evil.
As bounty hunters, you are tasked with hunting down this evil and delivering your prey. You compete in rounds with up to 12 players either alone or in 2- or 3-player teams.
Each round starts fresh, you begin with a hunter and previously purchased gear. If you survive, you can keep everything. If you die, everything is lost. Bringing back prey nets you big rewards.
However, Hunt plays differently than the battle royale it sounds like. Instead of shooting wildly, you mostly move quietly. Shots and even melee attacks can be heard from far away, attracting other hunters who want to prevent you from claiming their prey.
The contemporary weapons give the game a unique flair. Teamwork and stealth gameplay make Hunt a special kind of shooter. Zombies and other opponents create a constant threat and an unusual, historical story setting. If you want to get involved, we have a guide for you:
Fallout 76
Genre: Survival | Developer: Bethesda Game Studios | Platform: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S | Release: November 14, 2018
An atomic war has destroyed the world as we know it. You are among the few who were safe from the explosions and the subsequent radiation in one of the huge bunkers, the “Vaults”.
In Fallout 76, you are one of the first pioneers whose vault opens and you are supposed to help rebuild the US state of West Virginia. To do this, you first explore what is left of the USA and investigate a mysterious disease.
The Fallout series is already one of the best end-time settings and offers interesting worlds and characters. Fallout 76 is the first part that is purely focused on multiplayer. You play together with other players on each server.
In doing so, you build your own bases and even expand your own vaults, explore the world, and complete tasks. By now, many NPCs and factions can be found in the game with whom you can interact and explore their stories.
Unlike most games on this list, Fallout 76 does not want to score with pure brutality. Instead, you’ll find some pretty weird humor such as self-ironic, radioactive ghouls or depressing, sad places that tell a story themselves. But of course, there must not be a lack of violations of the Geneva Convention, such as portable atomic bomb launchers and intact missile silos…
Conan Exiles
Genre: Survival | Developer: Funcom | Platform: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S | Release: May 8, 2018
You are tied to a cross in the burning sun in a desert as a criminal and left to die. Then Conan the Barbarian himself appears, frees you, and then leaves again.
Mercy? Not necessarily, but at least you can choose how you die. Conan Exiles is a rough survival game set in a barbarian setting, where you follow a rough story and try to escape your exile.
During your journey, you encounter few friendly NPCs, but a whole world full of hostile creatures that want to kill you. In the vast desert, the humid jungle, or the snowy mountains, you will find giant spiders, gorillas, or frost giants that want to hunt you down.
As a survival game, Conan Exiles is designed to be dangerous. To survive, you must build a base, defend it, and provide food, water, and equipment. Everything you need can be found in the world. You just have to be strong enough to take it.
Conan Exiles is not picky. Slavery, flying body parts, and (optional) excessive nudity are constant companions. However, the setting invites many fans not only to PvE and PvP, but also to role-playing of all kinds on appropriate servers.
By now, in Conan Exiles, there’s even magic with the “Age of Sorcery” update with a pretty crazy system where you have to write spells yourself. In addition, the game now features a battle pass for cosmetics instead of DLCs. You can play Conan Exiles through the Xbox Game Pass.
