2021 was disappointing for FPS fans, especially with the big failure of Battlefield 2042. Ready or Not has arrived at the last second but it’s still in the early access stage and has a lot of ways to go so it wasn’t an instant remedy. Halo Infinite held up pretty well but it’s still apparently designed for the comforts of Console gamers with issues such as aimbot-level aim assist and the overall game design that’s just simply better to play with a controller.

Maybe this year will be the tiebreaker in the FPS genre, and put an end to the drought that’s going on since the pandemic hit the world.

A warning before I go on: There won’t be a CoD: Modern Warfare II in this list. Activision has failed us so many times to get us excited again :), some of these on the list has already hit the shelves and some are still upcoming but these are the FPS titles of 2022 that you can't miss.

Ad-break is over,

#1 S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl

–Important update: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2’s release date has been postponed to December 2022, and then postponed indefinitely after the crisis in Ukraine

Smells like Kolbasa and campfire already. Stalker was in development, and then it wasn’t, and then it was again. But this time for real with an announced release date of 28 April, just two days after the anniversary of the Chernobyl Disaster of 1986. It is also where the game takes place as old fans of the Zone would know already. The game is developed in the Unreal 5 engine and the graphics already look impressive. This time we will play as the stalker known as Skif. Loot, investigate and roleplay our way through anomalies, mutants, bandits, and all kinds of depressive stuff we remember from our fond memories in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

The Series has become a cult classic and it still has an ultra-active modding community and a player base that keeps the game alive. There are even multiplayer mods for the original trilogy. To put it into perspective for new readers, this game is the ancestor of the Metro 2033 series and is responsible for all the Russian Doomer music craze and Eastern Bloc nostalgia on the internet single-handedly. It is by far my most anticipated game for 2022. Oh, it also will have a Multiplayer mode. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Esports one day? Who knows.

There’s another game with heavy Soviet vibes down in the list. Stick until the end :)

#2 Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Extraction

Name Rainbow Six used to invoke so many good things. Hardcore tactical action, planning and execution. Hearing the mission success line after you slice through terrorists like a butter knife, and rescue the hostages. Now it’s Nanites this, pay this much for that operator that. From being an ancestor to tactical FPS to an arcade esports title.

The game was previously known as R6 Quarantine, went off the grid for a while and returned as Extraction. It’s a PVE title –but who knows what Ubisoft’s up to in the future– with heavy Left 4 Dead vibes hand in hand with R6 Siege elements: operators and abilities and such. So it has the potential to bring a fresh wind to the genre that’s left open by Valve and the marginal success of Back 4 Blood and that gets me excited. It's a proper PVE against alien parasites coupled with tactical elements that's as good as it sounds.

#3 Shadow Warrior 3

Oh hell yes. Fans of the original Shadow Warrior and its sequel, Quake, CoD, MoH, Unreal Tournament, Wolfenstein, Doom, well anyone alive since before the 2000s UNITE! or anyone who isn’t also UNITE!

Lo Wang is back.

With more gore, more arena action, more blood and slicing more everything from our favourite arena shooter genre. SW3 like its predecessors is very fast-paced and goofy, aesthetically beautiful and fun. Because it’s always fun to run and slash your enemies with an overpowered katana from an FPS perspective. Need a jolt to get your heart pumping. This will be your game in 2022. Check out the gameplay and see for yourself.

#4 Dying Light 2: Stay Human

Dying Light hyped us a lot back in the day. Then it turned out to be a mehhh game. But Techland never gave up, it’s still releasing DLC’s to this day and constantly improving the game even whilst DL2 is still in development. They proved themselves over and over by not giving up on their game and made it into a legendary zombie survival game in recent years.

DL2, with its classic parkour like and melee-focused gameplay will be the new zombified Mirror’s Edge of 2022. This time your whole concern won't be the zombies though, 15 years into the apocalypse. There are factions for you to deal with, adding the human element and promises of more branching storylines that will affect how your world looks like. It’s also a co-op title and it's thrilling as hell.

#5 Atomic Heart

Combine S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Prey, Alien: Isolation and Control and you get Atomic Heart. It’s been in development for years and I’ve been expecting it since its first trailer was released in 2018.

It’s an FPS with horror and RPG elements taking place in a Soviet apocalypse where the official designation of your objective is:

“A global system failure happens at the Soviet Facility №3826 that leads machinery to rebel against the people. You are Major P-3 and your task is to eliminate the consequences of a large-scale accident and prevent the leakage of classified information threatening to destroy the whole world.”.

The game has a very interesting Atompunk aesthetic, or even: Sovietpunk. A mish-mash of aforementioned punks. A whole new aesthetic on its own, and that's an A+ for a game in my book. Even if the game couldn’t live up to its hype, the atmosphere alone will make it unforgettable.

Stalker was a buggy mess, Dishonored was a meagre game IMHO. But they were both blessed with incredible settings and an original atmosphere that continued to live within us. Letter’s art director was Victor Antonov, the legendary name that brought us the world of Half Life 2. Do you see where I’m going with this?

This game has an incredible potential to be an unforgettable experience. Please don’t mess it up Mundfish.

Check out the weird world of Atomic Heart:

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