In a genre where milliseconds matter and people boast about their small pings, it might seem like first-person shooters are the hardest game genre to enjoy in the cloud. We’re here to make ten relatively informed arguments to the contrary. Because like other cloud games, shooter games are just about as likely as others to make you forget that you’re playing on a connection rather than a console.
Check out our list of the ten best shooters in cloud gaming – the Geforce Now, Stadia edition.
Note: We’ll have a separate, equally massive roundup of the best shooter games you can play on PlayStation Now and Xbox Cloud gaming. Be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook so that we can let you know when new content is ready.
1 – Borderlands 3
While headshotting several Psychos and other minions in rapid succession and unleashing your ultimate to deal the death blow to the boss, you probably won’t be thinking about the fact you’re playing Borderlands in the cloud.
If you’re new to the series, Borderlands 3 on Stadia offers the perfect spot to jump in. You don’t need to know the story arc of the first two titles to enjoy the third. And the looter shooter series certainly didn’t take a step back with Borderlands 3.
Roll solo or join up with fellow cloud gamers for a co-op adventure that lures you from vault to vault, with plenty of guns to loot and psychos to shoot in between. Yeah, this isn’t just one of the best shooters in cloud gaming — it’s also one of the best co-op games you can play in the cloud right now.
Platform: Stadia | Review Scores: Metacritic 81%, Opencritic 80%
2 – Hunt: Showdown
Too much symmetry in your shooters? Hunt: Showdown offers an unnerving, asymmetrical fps romp where you and your teammate go up against other teams as well as the environment. The environment includes plenty of supernatural hazards, from toxic materials to beasts and monsters disturbing enough to wake you in a cold sweat or warm… let’s not digress.
Teams of up to three players seek out and follow clues around the game world to track down their bounty, along with the monster guardian the treasure. After defeating the boss and securing the prize, the team must reach the extraction point. Complicating things are the rival teams who want to escape with the bounty as much as you do.
Platform: GeForce Now | Review Scores: Metacritic 81%, Opencritic 77%
3 – Metro Exodus
No, the combo of fps plus a post-apocalyptic setting is far from original. Games and film have long warned us that when an apocalypse hits, we’ll all be shooting at lots of abominations – large and small. But Metro Exodus distinguishes itself with raw atmosphere.
As you follow the tale of a group of survivors who emerged from waiting out the end of the world in subway tunnels, the volumetric lighting and gritty venues of Metro Exodus immerse you. And with its punchy, believable sound design – those feelings of dread will come from the unsettling sounds of the game’s terrifying mutants and relentless human enemies rather than the dismay we get from frame drops and stuttering.
Platform: Stadia, GeForce Now | Review Scores: Metacritic 83%, Opencritic 83%
4 – Destiny 2
There aren’t a lot of free games to play in the cloud right now, though we’re preparing a living list of them to share soon. Destiny 2 isn’t just a free, sci-fi shooter that you can play in the cloud. It’s also a blockbuster title with plenty of content to get lost in.
Destiny 2 is a massively multiplayer online, third-person shooter game that sends you around the solar system shooting and looting your way to peace. You get to choose from three classes of guardian and roll solo, cooperate with friends of link up with randos to protect the last of humanity together.
Platform: Stadia, GeForce Now | Review Scores: Metacritic 85%, Opencritic 84%
5 – Doom Eternal
If loading screens feel like purgatory, playing Doom Eternal might feel like you’re in the fast lane to hell. Stadia gets you to the game’s hellish landscape in little time. There’s a reason Google brought this game to E3 2019 and let the public go hands-on with it. This game runs silky smooth in the cloud, important for a franchise the build its brand on twitchy gunplay and hyperspeed level traversal.
Platform: Stadia | Review Scores: Metacritic 87%, Opencritic 89%
6 – Far Cry 5
If you want to play the absolute best in the series, play Far Cry 3 on GeForce Now. But if you’ve finally waiting to see what Far Cry is all about, the first three games in the series may feel a little dated now. The fourth game might turn you away, but Far Cry 5 offers the same foundation the series is known for, plus it’ll help you prepare for Far Cry 6 – which may just have the makings of a game of the year contender, but so did Far Cry 4. We look forward to adding Far Cry 6 to our list of the top shooters in cloud gaming.
Far Cry 5 checks all of the boxes: far-flung location (Montana this time), unlocking map regions by clearing outposts of enemies, light crafting, a charismatic villain, a gang of enemies, and the ability to level up skills to levels spilling into superhuman territory.
Platform: Stadia, GeForce Now | Review Scores: Metacritic 81%, Opencritic 82%
7 – Sniper Elite 4
Does the term “camping” seem to you like a way to disparage the patience and planning it takes to find and capitalize on a good spot to snipe from? If so, you’ll probably have dozens of hours of fun with this one. Though, the fun might be dampened by seeing what each of your shots does to the human body, slowly exploding through living flesh and bone, when playing Sniper Elite 4 with the “X-Ray” kill cam turned on.
Platform: Stadia, GeForce Now | Review Scores: Metacritic 77%, Opencritic 78%
8 – Tom Clancy’s Rainbox Six Seige
It’s tense, moment-to-moment action cramped within the bounds of close-quarters combat. Like Counterstrike? Organized paintball? Or escape rooms? Rainbow Six Seige might remind you a little of all three, yet it certainly feels distinct.
Two teams of “operators” battle it out within a confined space, with each match starting with the two teams preparing for the impending assault. The defending team fortifies their position while the attackers surveil and prepare to breach. There’s no respawning, reviving or health restoration. You’ve got to make your one life count in Rainbox Six Seige.
If you like tight gunplay, destructible environments and high-tech gadgets, you’ll probably love this game. Not only is it one of the best shooters games in cloud gaming, but it’s also one of the best competitive shooters around. But if you feel you’re too late to the party, the spin-off, Rainbow Six Extraction, is due to arrive on Stadia in September of 2021.
Platform: Stadia, GeForce Now | Review Scores: Metacritic 79%, Opencritic 76%
9 – Superhot
Super, hot. Super, hot. Super, hot. Once you can’t get those words out of your head, you’re probably pulling off Jason Bourne-level shooting in this game. The game world doesn’t move until you do, giving you time to pause and plan out your attack against waves of faceless enemies in this stylized first-person shooter. Complete the level and you’ll get a playback of all of the action, without your pauses – and it’ll all just look super, hot. Super hot…
Platform: Stadia, GeForce Now | Review Scores: Metacritic 82%, Opencritic 82%
10 – Tom Clancy’s The Division 2
Yeah, the original game certainly could have made this list. Both games put you in control of a special agent who’s part of a team trying to rebuild and fortify homeland security after a pandemic, much worse than COVID-19, turns the streets into survival of the fittest.
Beyond setting, the major differences between the two are story and gameplay. A lot of us feel the first game had the better story, while the second game felt more polished and implemented a more rewarding gameplay loop. You can’t go wrong with either game, especially if you’ve got an itchy trigger button finger and want to satisfy it with weaponry that feels weighty and powerful.
Platform: Stadia, GeForce Now | Review Scores: Metacritic 82%, Opencritic 83%
Already played a lot to these on another platform? Check out our list of 5 of the Best Games on Playstation Now.