Summary
- Though you might not expect this, the Nintendo Switch offers a wide variety of first-person shooter games.
- The games we showcase here provide different experiences, from puzzle-solving to battling iconic enemies to exploring the wild west.
- Some notable FPS games on the Switch include Superhot, Quake 2, and The House of the Dead Remake.
The first-person shooter genre always comes with a ton of variety, whether you desire more story or more gunplay action, and the Nintendo Switch has a lot of that in store. You'd think a company known for content like Mario or The Legend of Zelda wouldn't have many blood-soaked options, but we stand corrected.
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PostsThe library of FPS titles on the Switch offers a selection where there is something for everyone. Whether you like horror with your FPS mechanics, appreciate a bit of a retro redesign, enjoy revisiting remastered classics, or wish to unleash as much carnage and chaos as you can, these are worth noting.
Updated on May 29, 2024, by Dennis Moiseyev: More and more FPS games are constantly getting ported over to the Switch, even though it may seem like there aren't that many of them compared to other genres. Here are the latest FPS experiences you may want to check out on the console!
25 Ion Fury
Ion Fury is probably the most underrated and least known of all the FPS shooters you'll see here. It's actually made by the developers behind the Duke Nukem series and 2006's Prey. In fact, it's on the same Build Engine as the classic shooter, bringing a modern take on retro FPS, and is considered to be a successor to the Duke Nukem games.
The protagonist in Ion Fury is Shelly 'Bombshell' Harrison of the Global Defense Force, and it's a cyberpunk-style story and level design where she must stop an evil scientist named Dr. Jadus Heskel. The levels are all handcrafted with no procedural generation and the main antagonist is voiced by Jon St. John, the original voice actor behind Duke Nukem.
24 Grounded
Grounded
Survival Horror RPG Released September 27, 2022 Developer(s) Obsidian Entertainment Publisher(s) Xbox Game Studios Platform(s) Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 Powered by Expand CollapseCheck out our 4.5/5 star review of Grounded.
If you take the Disney films Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and A Bug's Life, you get Grounded, a backyard 'bug-topia' survival game where you're a tiny character faced with some giant bugs to fend off. This is a surprise multiplayer survival experience from Obsidian, a studio more well-known for single-player RPGs like Fallout: New Vegas, Pentiment, The Outer Worlds, and South Park: The Stick of Truth.
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PostsAlthough Grounded is grounded (get it?) as more of a survival game experience, part of that does entail some first-person shooter combat (even though you're given the option to play from both third and first-person perspectives). The ranged weapons you can wield are a bow and crossbow, and there are also plenty of melee weapons at your disposal to defeat some monstrous bugs in first-person.
23 Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster
Star Wars: Dark Forces was one of the earliest Star Wars FPS games to come out in that period in the '90s when the genre was taking off and evolving, and it's now been remastered with a launch on Nintendo Switch. This is also one of those rare few Star Wars games where you're not playing as a Jedi... yet.
The main character here is a freelance mercenary and eventual Jedi Knight named Kyle Katarn who assists the Rebel Alliance in a series of missions to derail the Galactic Empire's Dark Trooper Project, headed by villain General Rom Mohc. It still has the early 3D game charm but with sharper renders and better FPS.
22 Serious Sam Collection
Serious Sam is developer Croteam's answer to the Doom series. The main protagonist and enemy design is like a cross between Duke Nukem and Doom, with Sam Stone looking nearly identical to Nukem and sounding the same, and certain creatures like Major Bio-mechanoids, Khnum, and Scrapjacks resembling Arachnatrons, Barons of Hell, and Mancubi (respectively).
It's a very unashamed clone and a satire in itself of sci-fi first-person shooter games, the game title and the main hero giving that away. With the Serious Sam Collection on Nintendo Switch, you get the first three games in the series – Serious Sam: The First Encounter, Serious Sam: The Second Encounter, and Serious Sam 3: BFE, plus its expansions – in their more graphically stunning HD remakes.
21 The Outer Worlds
The Outer Worlds
RPG Released October 25, 2019 Developer(s) Obsidian Entertainment Publisher(s) Private Division Platform(s) Switch, Xbox One, PS4, PC Powered by Expand CollapseCheck out our 3.5/5 star review of the Nintendo Switch port of The Outer Worlds.
Another Obsidian FPS game you can find on Switch also happens to be one of the studio's best RPGs since Fallout: New Vegas. The Outer Worlds is an alternate-history sci-fi game set in a star system known as Halcyon, and its story, mechanics, and gameplay are a mix of Borderlands, Fallout, and Starfield.
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PostsOn top of all the FPS action and alien creatures you encounter, the gameplay is story-driven with branching dialogue and lots of decision-based opportunities. All the main characters and NPCs are wonderfully written, especially Parvati Holcomb, but don't expect an in-depth romance system with your companions.
20 Portal: Companion Collection
Portal
Puzzle Released October 10, 2007 Developer(s) Valve Publisher(s) Valve Platform(s) PC, PS3, Switch, Xbox 360 Powered by Expand CollapseThough not your traditional first-person shooter, both Portal and its sequel have arrived on Nintendo Switch through the Companion Collection. While it leans more toward puzzles and is probably one of the most iconic puzzle games of all time, you won't get anywhere in the facility without shooting your Aperture Labs portal gun to create passageways through floors and walls.
Portal is a level-based game where solving solutions with portals gets more creative and intense as you progress. The new feature in the sequel offers a co-op mode in addition to a singleplayer campaign, and the AI GLaDOS remains the central antagonist throughout both Portal games.
19 Star Wars: Republic Commando
Star Wars Republic Commando
FPS Released February 28, 2005 Developer(s) LucasArts Publisher(s) LucasArts, Aspyr, THQ Nordic Platform(s) PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox (Original) Powered by Expand CollapseIt's always rarer to find a Star Wars game in first-person since they're almost always a third-person narrative-driven adventure. But if you're on Nintendo Switch, you're in luck with a great classic Star Wars game that also happens to be a first-person shooter called Republic Commando.
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PostsIt follows Delta Squad as they battle through a campaign filled with iconic enemies from Star Wars canon, along with some new ones created for the game. And the story will take you to familiar planets during the Clone Wars like Kashyyyk and Geonosis.
18 Call Of Juarez: Gunslinger
Check out our 3/5 star review of Call of Juarez: Gunslinger for the Nintendo Switch!
If you enjoy Westerns and FPS games, Call of Juarez is the ultimate game for the Switch since Red Dead Redemption 2 isn't on the platform yet. Though the storytelling is nowhere near the scale of Red Dead and is quite linear and much shorter, there's no denying the setting, gunplay, and gore are definitely similar to Rockstar's title.
In Call of Juarez: Gunslinger, you play a bounty hunter going after some of the most infamous outlaws and historical figures of the period, like Jesse James and Billy the Kid. While you also have duels with opponents, bullet time, and a weapon wheel, the level design is broken into episodes and plays very much like an arcade-style shooter, moving you to your next enemy-filled area.
17 Post Void
Post Void is another one of those games that brings a retro 'boomer shooter' aesthetic to the modern FPS market. However, this one is visually unique because not only do you have pixelated graphics, but the environments purposefully create a psychedelic effect.
Your goal is to make it through each level, trying to stay alive by taking out enemies coming at you from all corners of the trippy level design (also procedurally generated). The way the health system works is also different from most FPS games, as it's a form of liquid stored in an idol you hold in your other hand.
16 Superhot
Check out our 4/5 star review of Superhot for the Nintendo Switch!
Superhot is not your ordinary FPS game and is one that truly stands out in the genre. Aside from the art direction, which imagines enemies as red faceless figures made of pixelated glass scattered amid a plain white geometric environment, you also have some strategy elements to play with as well.
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PostsSuperhot is a strategy movement shooter, where the game time stops if you don't move, allowing you to assess the situation and execute a plan for dealing with foes since you can't regenerate health or pick up ammo (only an enemy's weapon). And the gunplay animations are super satisfying.
