Compared to the traditional FPS title, hero shooters not only allow players to use a wide array of unique weapons but also characters with wonky abilities that almost always change the way a match is played. The way how games like Overwatch lets players choose a character with abilities related to their backstories is vastly different from the customizability offered by the likes of Warzone, where players can customize the way their characters look and rely heavily on the gamer’s weapons of choice.
However, one of the biggest appeals of hero shooters isn’t just the way character abilities affect the match, but rather the game’s lore. Some of the most acclaimed hero shooters out there don’t just offer exciting gameplay loops, but also stories to meet the intensity of every match. Some hero shooters with the best lore include the return of a superpowered task force after their disbanding, a secret task force investigating activities of a parallel universe counterpart, and even participants in a battle royale to the death.
8 Overwatch (2016)
If the expansive universes of Warcraft and Diablo are any indication, Blizzard has had an impeccable eye for immersive worldbuilding that Overwatch had the fortune of experiencing. Originally a more realistic multiplayer shooter called Titan, a design overhaul created not only a hyper-intense action shooter with visually appealing characters and abilities but also a game that would popularize the “hero shooter” subgenre.
The Overwatch in the game’s name describes the eponymous peace-keeping group, previously disbanded after having dealt with the robot uprising that was the Omnic Crisis. Various group members gather together once more with the threat of factions disturbing the peace, with some characters serving as former Overwatch members or people from other factions such as the black-ops team Blackwatch, the terrorist group Talon, and even the Omnic group called Null Sector. Popular Overwatch characters almost always have lore that shares what they’ve been doing since the team’s disbandment, with original leader Jack Morrison becoming the vigilante called Soldier: 76, and Gabriel Reyes who led Blackwatch becoming the mysterious Reaper.
7 Valorant (2020)
The lore of Valorant primarily revolves around the hunt for the mysterious substance Radianite, which the Spike bomb can release from the surface. Attackers need to set the Spike to gather Radianite, with the Defenders having to protect their homeland. Things get more interesting when it’s revealed the Valorant Protocol is from Alpha Earth, tasked to defend the world from the Valorant Legion, an alternate-reality version of the organization from another world called Omega Earth.
Each playable character in Valorant is called an Agent, with unique abilities and gimmicks stemming from their superhuman nature or a combat niche on top of personal stakes. For instance, shadow manipulator Omen loses his humanity after being experimented on by poison specialist Viper. Meanwhile, KAY/0 is a robot from an alternate future where humanity has won a war against the Radiants, with life-manipulator Reyna being of keen interest due to her eventual crimes against humanity.
6 Apex Legends (2018)
Players know Apex Legends as the simple shooter-focused spinoff of the mecha action game Titanfall that would become one of the most prominent battle royales out there. Unlike games like PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds or Warzone, gameplay in Apex Legends involves building teams of three Legends with unique backgrounds and abilities in the hopes of dominating the competition.
Set in the gladiator-style Apex Games in the Outlands, the enigmatic Mercenary Syndicate calls for hopeful Apex Legends to get fame, glory, and credits as they compete in broadcasted battle royales far outside the reach of the IMC and the Frontier Militia. The backstories of each Legend are intertwined in both personal and overarching ways, with the likes of flying Valkyrie being the daughter of Titanfall minor villain Viper. Even in-game brands and weapons in the game have some relationship with Titanfall, with classic weapons such as the R-201 Carbine becoming the more improved R-301 Carbine in Apex Legends.
5 Paladins (2018)
Unlike most hero shooters in modern or near-future settings, Paladins brings the “shooter” genre into a fantasy setting, with various Paladins characters across different classes being armed with magically-empowered weapons. Set in a world called the Realm, the Magistrate tries its best to restrict the use of magic to avoid its corrupting effects, with the opposing Resistance deeming magic too valuable to be prohibited from the public. However, other factions are also taking advantage of the power vacuum opened by this conflict, such as extradimensional monsters of the Abyss, the angelic-like Pyre who wants to destroy the Abyss, the Thousand Hands Guild criminal organization, and even aliens from the Maw.
Aside from character designs with unique takes on muskets, crossbows, and bows to meet the “shooter” aesthetic, Paladins has quite a rich in-game history scattered in its different media. Moreover, despite the presence of numerous factions, Paladins presents a rather cohesive narrative that expands from the original Magistrate versus Resistance conflict and eventually transforms the game’s story into a grand concept mashup.
4 Rainbow Six Siege (2015)
Compared to other hero shooters, Rainbow Six Siege offers a tactical FPS experience where players take on the role of various counter-terrorism agents tasked to deal with different threats. This inclination to the “tacticool” is in virtue of the fact that Rainbow Six Siege takes place in the same world as Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six, with the story surrounding a reactivated Rainbow Program that has begun recruiting fresh talents.
Not to mention, the operatives become intertwined in their narratives that largely affect the progression of the shooter’s main story. For instance, a chance encounter reunites foam barrier specialist Azami and remote grenadier Hibana, with Azami forming a grudge against Nighthaven after their weapons were used in an ambush against her employer. However, Nighthaven was a sub-faction of Team Rainbow that split up from the team after differences in principles, with sniper Kali motivating other agents to defect to her side.
3 Team Fortress 2 (2007)
While Overwatch jumpstarted the popularity of the hero shooter, it’s Team Fortress 2 that practically built the framework of the genre. While the game initially followed the military realism design aesthetic while playing in any of its FPS modes, Team Fortress 2 had been known for its comedic-cartoonish style with slapstick humor that befits its bombastic cast of characters. At its core, its central story revolves around Redmon “Red” and Blutarch “Blu” Mann fighting over their position as heirs to the fictional Mann Co., a shipping company. The heirs have begun hiring mercenaries to eliminate the other side, represented by the players and their antics.
While there’s not a lot of profound lore about the overarching story arc of the game, Team Fortress 2 characters feature both enjoyable gameplay and backstories, especially those who don’t feel “cut out” to become mercenaries but end up participating in the conflict anyway. Examples of these polarizing comedic stories are Soldier, whose identity is a “military man” who’s never served in the military, and even Medic who doesn’t quite follow the Hippocratic Oath.
2 Rogue Company (2020)
Released roughly a few months apart, one would look at Rogue Company and treat it as a more “realistic” Valorant knock-off. However, while the eponymous Rogue Company is also tasked with saving the world from various threats, the game’s adherence to a more “fashionable military” aesthetic sets it apart from its peers. All characters or Rogues in Rogue Company feature unique backstories, as well as abilities that tie to a gadget or piece of hardware, specifically catered to do their job on the battlefield.
Compared to other hero shooters, Rogue Company begins with a relatively straightforward premise. With the activities of the terrorist group Jackal getting the attention of Rogue Company, it’s up to these heroes to stop the nefarious faction from fulfilling its mysterious objectives. Moreover, other factions such as the technologically-invested Furmi.62 and the police force Justicars also have objectives they wish to pull off.
1 Quake Champions (2017)
While technically the fifth sub-entry within a sequel, Quake Champions is a revival of the Quake Arena concept for modern consoles in the hopes of ushering a revived arena concept. Boasting the same massive stages and bullet-heavy gameplay, Quake Champions helps achieve the original objective of Quake Arena: to return to Quake’s more eldritch horror roots.
Unlike other hero shooters, the rich lore of Quake has less to do with a direct story and more with its subtext. The dimension-hopping technology in Quake’s fictional future has given other franchises a means to enter the game’s world, which allowed the likes of Doom’s Slayer and even Wolfenstein’s B.J. Blazkowicz to blast the heads of aliens and demons for an experience already familiar to fans of their franchises. Quake Champions has lore that is easy to get into for fans of action-heavy gameplay, possessing enough intrigue to motivate fans to play other games in the series to get a more cohesive picture of the overarching narrative.