After 28 years, the science-fiction action adventure FPS System shock is finally getting a remake, which is being developed by Nightdive Studios and will be released sometime this year. Despite being released in 1994, the game is still widely loved for being both an excellent experience and a historically significant FPS title.
Since the FPS genre has been around since the 1970s, System Shock is just one of the many games that led to modern FPS titles. Without games like fate, the history of this genre could have been incredibly different.
Maze (1973)
Maze, also known as maze war, is a 1973 multiplayer FPS developed by three high school students at NASA Ames Research Center. Starting out as a simple maze game where the player tries to find the exit, the programmers added the ability for two and later more players to shoot at each other as they traverse the maze. As the game grew, other features were added as well, such as a map editor, projectile images, and the ability to look around conners.
The game may be both the first 3D first-person game and the first FPS ever created. Mazesuccess led to other “rat’s-eye view” titles such as 1974’s spasim and from 1979 Akalabeth: World of Doom during the 70s and 80s.
Battlefield (1980)
Despite these games achieving some success in the eyes of man, the first FPS, and the first 3D game in general, to achieve mainstream success was the 1980 arcade tank battle FPS. Battlefield. Developed by Atari and inspired by their previous top-down shooter Tank, the game lets players use their radar to find enemy tanks and shoot them while also avoiding the enemy’s attacks.
To add to the experience, the arcade cabinet limited the player’s view, making it seem like they were looking through a periscope. Although a similar game was made as early as 1975 with the title panther, it didn’t all have the same success as Battlefield.
Wolfenstein 3D (1992)
Often regarded as the game that really started the FPS genre, Wolfenstein 3D is a 1992 FPS that was also a successor to the games from the 80s Wolfenstein Castle and Past Wolfenstein Castle. The player controls an American spy of Jewish and Polish descent named William “BJ” Blazkowicz as he destroys the Nazi regime. But the reason? Wolfenstein 3D is such a polished and well-made FPS for the time because of the similar titles that preceded it.
In 1987, Incentive Software created an early 3D engine called Freescape which was used for the 1988 FPS titles Dark side and Total solar eclipse. Other games also include the 1988 David Alan Smith game The colony and Core Design’s 1990 game company. Even Wolfenstein 3DThe developer of id Software, had already made two first-person shooters in 1991: Hover Tank 3D and Catacomb 3D. Instead of Wolfenstein 3D these games, which simply appeared out of nowhere, led to its success.
Downfall (1993)
Just a year after the official creation of the FPS genre, id Software changed history again by releasing the science fiction horror FPS fate, tracking an unnamed space marine. After a teleportation experiment on Mars goes awry, portals to hell appear and the player must defeat the demonic armies. unlike Wolfenstein 3D, Doom has variations in height, lighting effects and more unique level designs.
The overwhelming popularity of demise led to hundreds”demise clone” over the years, including several other influential titles such as Raven Software’s Heretic, LucasArts’ Star Wars: Dark Forces, and 3D Realms’ Duke Nukem 3D. Also, although the 1987 FPS MIDI maze was the first multiplayer “deathmatch” game, demise coined the term and popularized this gameplay mode.
System shock (1994)
The RPG elements from games like Core Design’s company and those from Looking Glass Studios Ultima Underworld duology, System shock is a science fiction horror action adventure game that fully established that FPS titles can have immersive worlds and stories. Set on a space station in the year 2072, the game follows an unnamed hacker who must stop an evil AI named SHODAN with the help of a counter-terrorism consultant named Rebecca Lansing.
Along with the sequel System shock 2, the System shock series featured revolutionary non-linear gameplay, graphics, physics engine, and detailed environmental stories. These aspects would later directly inspire other prominent franchises such as: Bioshock, Deus Ex, and Empty space.
Marathon (1994)
While the Halo franchise is wildly popular, many players are unaware that the series is actually a sequel to Bungie’s previous FPS titles, including the Marathon trilogy. Created as a sequel to the 1993 adventure dungeon crawler Roads to the darkness, the original 1994 Marathon follows an unnamed security guard aboard the large terrestrial colony ship UESC Marathon, which has been infested by both aliens and a rogue AI named Durandal.
With the help of the AI Leela, the player must face this threat by exploring the ship and fighting the aliens. The title’s success led to two sequels, and the series is known for groundbreaking gameplay ideas such as dual-wielding weapons, a “mouse-look” control scheme, collaboration with NPCs, and unique multiplayer modes. The focus on a detailed story would later reappear in the iconic Halo franchise and other Bungie titles.
earthquake (1996)
As you struggle to develop the next one demise episode, id Software made the 1996 FPS instead earthquake, who would spawn his own series. Combining Gothic fiction and Lovecraftian themes, the game became known as a successor to demise because of its dark art style, fully 3D graphics and extensive multiplayer modes.
similar to the plot of fate, the player must defeat a creature known as “Quake” and his armies that arrive on Earth through malfunctioning teleportation portals. although earthquake wasn’t the first FPS to use full 3D graphics, other titles like Jumping Flash! and Origin was released the year beforeQuakes graphics were even better than those titles, and the game influenced many modern 3D engines.
Golden Eye 007 (1997)
One of the titles that proves that licensed games can be good is the 1997 N64 game Golden Eye 007, which is based on the 1995 James Bond movie Golden Eye. Developed by Rare, who has created other well-known games such as Perfect Dark, Donkey Kong, Banjo-Kazooie, and battle toads, this game is known for its well-crafted multiplayer campaigns, some new gameplay ideas like the ability to perform headshots, and proof that the FPS genre could thrive on consoles.
As in the movie, the player follows James Bond as he tries to stop former MI6 agent Alec Trevelyan from using the deadly satellite GoldenEye. after this game, Halo: Combat Evolved would reaffirm that consoles can deliver excellent FPS titles.
Half-life 2 (2004)
In 1998, Valve published their historic debut title half-life, which follows a scientist named Gordon Freeman who witnesses a portal to another dimension named Xen at his workplace, the Black Mesa Research Facility. To escape from the facility, he must fight through aliens and evade the army, which plans to kill everyone involved in the incident. On its own, this game already had a major influence on the FPS genre through great graphics and a story told in scripted sequences.
But the FPS genre has really changed forever after the release of the game in 2004 Half-life 2, which again follows Gordon as he joins a resistance movement to save Earth from a multidimensional alien realm called the Combine. Inspired by the 1998 action-adventure game Offender, Half-life 2 introduced a new physics engine and detailed character models that revolutionized not only the FPS genre but all gaming, which is why fans are still waiting for Half-Life 3.
FEAR (2005)
Made by Monolith Productions, who also made other major franchises such as Blood, no one lives forever, condemned, and Middle-earth, FEAR First Encounter Assault Recon is a 2005 psychological horror action game and the first installment of the FEAR series. The player controls Point Man, a rookie member of a group within the United States military known as “FEAR”, which investigates supernatural phenomena.
While on a mission to stop an alleged ‘rogue state’, Point Man soon discovers something deeper is going on when he starts seeing a ghost girl and discovers that he has special abilities. While most aspects in the game are well made, FEAR is best known for its AI that seems to react to the player in ways that had never been done before.
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