15 best online shooters on the PC

One of the most popular genres in the computer games industry is shooters, or shooters in Russian. This genre is one of the most ancient, it appeared long before the strategies, not to mention the MMORPG. Modern shooters are so numerous and diverse that conditional division into subgenres has already been adopted, depending on the setting, style, gameplay features and other aspects. The editors of expert.bigbadmole.com/en/en/ present you the rating of the most iconic and popular "shooters" today, which can be played on a PC online, and not alone, but with other real players located anywhere in the world.

Ranking of the best online shooters on the PC

Nomination	a place	Name of product	rating
The most realistic online shooters on the PC	1	Counter strike	5.0
	2	Arma 3	4.9
The best post-apocalyptic shooters on the PC	1	Stalker online	5.0
	2	Scavengers	4.9
Best Marine Shooters on PC	1	World of warships	5.0
	2	Steel ocean	4.9
	3	Sea of ​​thieves	4.8
The best shooters on combat vehicles	1	Crossout	5.0
	2	World of Tanks	4.9
	3	Overload	4.8
Top Space Shooters	1	Star conflict	5.0
	2	Battlezone Combat Commander	4.9
	3	Dreadnought	4.8
The best non-military shooters on the PC	1	theHunter: Call of the Wild	5.0
	2	Far cry 3	4.9

The most realistic online shooters on the PC

First, consider the online shooters who deserve the highest recognition among gamers who value realism. Here we have in mind not only flawless photographic graphics, but also the accuracy of physics, game mechanics, and even the behavior of non-player characters. Here, the player feels everything to the maximum: the return of weapons, the lack of ammunition, the influence of obstacles and weather conditions, the availability of medicines and other factors of real combat situations.

Counter strike

Rating: 5.0

And “number one” among the most realistic online PC shooters is, of course, the legendary Counter Strike, namely, the successful sequel to the classic “Counter” - Global Offensive. The sound combination of “KSGO” was repeatedly heard even by people who are indifferent to video games, but who are not indifferent to the Internet.

In the revived CS, the secret of success was not so much innovation as the preservation of all the advantages of the classic game. Improvements touched mainly the quality of graphics and increase the realism of physics. In general, the game mechanics and concept remained unchanged. Game modes have also been added.

As before, in the updated CS you can play for terrorists or special forces - the first take hostages and plant a bomb; the latter must defuse the bomb, eliminate the opponents and free the hostages, if possible without casualties. In GunGame mode, the player and his character will have to methodically shoot opponents, getting more and more new and better weapons. There is also a command mode, where one team has the task of destroying a certain object with an explosion, while the other must prevent it with all forces.

In CS: GO, we also see an expanded selection of weapons - Molotov cocktails, napalm grenades and other interesting and spectacular "toys." Each type of weapon sparkles with excellent graphic design, however, like the whole environment.

It is worth mentioning that this game as of 2024 is far from new, but it does not lose relevance and is not going to - CS: GO is a universally recognized "canonical" cybersport discipline.

As for realism, it is difficult to find serious shortcomings.Everything is real: the recoil is such that automatic aimed fire can only be conducted with good-quality skills; it is no longer possible to run freely under heavy fire - every hit of a bullet slows down the movement; there is no automatic recovery of health.

Arma 3

Rating: 4.9

The second bright online shooter for the PC in our ranking is Arma 3. Despite the fact that the events in the game unfold in the near future, everything else is frighteningly “real”. Arma is a whole series of hyper-realistic online games in the tactical shooter genre, and we will consider the most successful, in the opinion of most fans, the third part.

In a nutshell, this online shooter can be described as an extremely complex military simulator. And the complexity here is a direct consequence of realism. The maps in the game are huge, the races are many kilometers long, the injuries create serious problems, the ballistics are correct, the return is felt as if the surrounding reality sometimes sometimes confuses reality and virtuality.

The main action of the game takes place on the Greek islands and represents an acute phase of the conflict of very unexpected parties - the NATO bloc, the Greek partisans and for some reason Iran. The equipment here is represented in large numbers, including various aircraft. Not far behind in diversity and weapons. Basically, this weapon is “as it were” of the near future, but almost every one guesses a modern prototype.

The plot of the game is inherited from its predecessor - Operation Flashpoint. The main character, having lost his comrades, after wandering through the forests, discovers the survivors and knocks together a new team for a future offensive. Managing fighters is quite difficult - you need to get used to a complex submenu with a lot of commands and parameters for a long time. But this is not a disadvantage, but a feature - the threshold for entering Arma 3 is by definition not the lowest.

At times, the game becomes more interesting in cooperation with other participants online, even if the team needs to confront only the "soulless" game AI. Aerobatics in the game - online multiplayer mode. But here it makes sense to be thrust only with a very impressive experience, and it is desirable to do it at first with an even more experienced mentor. But if we manage to get past the initial inferiority complex, the multiplayer will open up tremendous prospects for obtaining bright emotions, interacting with legendary players, and participating in serious special operations as part of played clans on closed servers.

Unfortunately, against the background of all advantages, Arma 3 is “famous” for noticeable bugs, but today there is virtually no alternative to such ruthless military realism. Perhaps, such will be Ready or Not, but its release still needs to wait.

The best post-apocalyptic shooters on the PC

The second selection in the ranking of the best online shooters for PC according to expert.bigbadmole.com/en/en/ is online shooters, made in the style of post-apocalypse. This is a popular subgenre in literature and cinema, so it is only natural that he found a worthy place in the field of video games. The ominous, but in its own way, engaging atmosphere of the abandoned ruins of the lost world with the most unpredictable dangers at every turn - all this attracts gamers with good imagination and fans to tickle your nerves.

Stalker online

Rating: 5.0

The first number in the post-apocalyptic collection of online shooters for PC is the iconic game Stalker, and if it is, then its online version, which has important differences from a single shooter. Being created in a characteristic style with a well-recognized setting and artifacts of the post-Soviet space, it is especially close to our compatriots, including very age-related ones.

The idea of ​​the Zone, in which the familiar laws of physics do not really work, but, on the contrary, all kinds of unexplained anomalies occur, is borrowed from the Strugatsky brothers and is qualitatively implemented. The player will face the most unpredictable dangers, but the big risks are worth it, because the Zone is full of not only threats, but also amazing artifacts with inexplicable power of possibilities.

The gameplay in "Stalker online" is fully expected - the execution of orders, the search for useful artifacts, fighting with opponents. The latter may represent ordinary people, just enemy groups, and may even be mutants, in which little is left of the human form. The game also allows you to closely cooperate with other players, to unite in groups, to conduct entire military campaigns.

“Stalker online” is primarily an online shooter for the PC, but there is also a bit of an economic component here, vyzhivanschina in a broad sense, elements of the RPG and the open world. So, this cult toy will definitely have the liking of many.

In 2021, the release of the long-awaited sequel is expected - the updated online shooter for the PC "S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - 2 ". So, if the first “Stalker”, even being at the peak of its popularity for some reason, passed by you, there is still plenty of time to enjoy the cult classics before going on to continue.

Scavengers

Rating: 4.9

The second example in our ranking is a stunning implementation of the idea of ​​a post-apocalyptic shooter for a PC with an online component - this is Scavengers. Just say, this is the freshest project, and the official release has not yet been, but is currently undergoing final beta testing, and millions of potential fans are frozen in anticipation. Therefore, nothing can be said about the weaknesses of the game, but our experts could not include it in the review because of the high expectations of the audience and literally “from day to day” of the upcoming release.

From the point of view of graphics and artistic side, the game promises a true work of art. In the intervals between violent exchanges of fire, it will be possible to get no less vivid impressions, contemplating the endless and amazingly beautiful ice wastelands.

Actually, these wastelands themselves arose because of a planetary catastrophe that befell the Earth due to the collision of a huge asteroid with the Moon. Contrary to possible concerns, the game world will not be monotonous here. Designers at Midwinter Entertainment have managed to design something completely special based on the Unreal Engine 4. In any case, this can be seen in trailers.

The player will be expected at every turn a variety of dangers. It can be both aggressive gangs of marauders, and not less fierce representatives of the fauna of the cold post-apocalyptic future of our planet. A kind of "highlight" is the non-illusory opportunity to die from hunger, cold, or even from trivial overwork.

Such a concentration of hostile manifestations of the surrounding reality in the most unambiguous way hints the player to the need to act together with other players. Exactly this way, joining the group and assuming obligations by force, the player will significantly increase their chances of survival and success.

Gameplay will be built in the format of matches online.Small teams of 2-4 players get on the general map and must complete the task. The match takes place in three stages: crafting weapons, hunting for enemies and passing a location, searching for a cache for trophies.

Best Marine Shooters on PC

The third collection in our ranking is a subgenre of online marine shooters. Here you can take part in violent sea battles. Our experts have identified three games in different styles - ship battles, clashes of underwater combat vehicles, and pirate battles for lovers of medieval marine romance.

World of warships

Rating: 5.0

Let's start with the sea "incarnation" of the stunning Belarusian hit World of Tanks - the online sea shooter World of Warships, produced by the same Belarusian studio. The creators completely managed to re-implement all the approaches that led to the world success of the iconic WoT.

For this game, similar organizational moments are peculiar to other gaming products of the studio - the classification of combat vehicles, pumping algorithms, the social system and so on. The player has at his disposal a shipyard where ships are produced in a huge variety of models and specifications.

This tactical shooter provides the player with opportunities not only tactically, but also strategically. In the course of the battles, you will have to plan deceptive maneuvers, master the real techniques of naval combat of those times, hone your shooting skills from all guns in a frontal collision.

In addition to the player’s personal qualities in terms of fleet management, the ability to cooperate with other participants will be extremely useful. In some contexts, the ability to negotiate, act together, think about the interests of the group and the common goal will literally be decisive.

The basis of the combat component are the ships in a decent number of species - destroyers, combat boats, cruisers, battleships, aircraft carriers and others. At your disposal, you can also have auxiliary ships - kanlodki, mine-sweeping ships, escort ships, etc. All this diversity has been multiplied by the history of shipbuilding in many countries and military alliances over several eras.

Steel ocean

Rating: 4.9

The second number in the selection of the rating of the best sea shooters for PC is to consider the arcade alternative to the above-described game especially for those who find World of Warships excessively realistic, insufficiently “shooter” and dynamic.

Indeed, the Chinese product has been more than successful, and gamers are fond of the speed, dynamics, mind-blowing action, and at the same time uncomplicated and accessible. Here are large and small surface vessels and submarines.

The game was created on the Unreal Engine 3 engine, which means there are no special complaints about the quality of graphics. The realism of physics, however, is lame - the ships start from the spot deliberately quickly, the impact on the hits is not always convincing, they don’t perceive the rocking of the court at all. All these seeming flaws are actually made by the developers quite consciously in order not to overload the player, and to give an opportunity “from the heat, from the heat” to break into another hot sea fight.

There are quite full-fledged elements of “serious” RPGs in the game - ships can be pumped by hanging additional equipment and weapons. You can also pump crew members and other parameters - the attack distance, the speed of movement and reloading of the guns.

Fights take place almost exclusively at close range.This automatically implies that the player’s battles are waiting for hot ones: powerful shooting, smoke, fire, explosions, crushing rams.

The team game here is similar to World of Warships - medium-sized ships are tacking heavy cruisers, battleships and other torpedo-carrying "trifles" trying to attack the battleships in the tail, submarines are deadly mass murderers in ambushes, but they are also defenseless like infants to deep-seated bombs.

Sea of ​​thieves

Rating: 4.8

The third sea shooter online in this selection of our rating will take you to ancient times, when desperate daredevils cruised the seas and oceans - real sea pirates, greedy for profit, adventure and a fierce fight.

In addition to the hot battles, firing and explosions, which are so close to lovers of shooters, this game also contains a lot of other interesting content. And that's great, because otherwise the game would quickly get bored. The player is waiting for a fascinating journey in search of treasure, the study of a variety of locations on ancient maps, battles with competitors and otherworldly monsters. Communication with colleagues in the craft will be accompanied by fervent peppercorn - drinking in taverns with permanent fights, wherever without them. The creators of Sea of ​​Thieves made this pirate shooter really with a soul, drawing inspiration from many literary works, so that lovers of the pirate theme will find many “old acquaintances” in the game.

The online social component is more than serious here. Going on the first trip, you have to work closely with other crew members. And the most important "trick" of the project is that the whole team is the avatars of living people! That is, absolutely everything on the ship - from captain to coca, all sailors, gunner and navigator are not bots, but real players.

You don’t have to be bored here, because there is always an occupation for everyone - to control the helm, raise or lower the sails, shoot cannons, patch holes and lots of other things.

The best shooters on combat vehicles

The next nomination in our ranking is a selection of three online shooters for the PC, where the player will have to carry out hot battles on combat vehicles. In addition to shooting, another “adrenaline” factor was added here - chase and persecution, especially in the Crossout.

Crossout

Rating: 5.0

The idea of ​​this game project of the Russian development team Targem Games appeared immediately after the dizzying success of restarting the Mad Max franchise. Actually, the direct adaptation was made by the Swedes from Avalanche Studios, but the Crossout is so stylistically similar to the Miller universe that the game is sometimes mistakenly attributed to it. And this phenomenon describes it very well.

This dizzying racing shooter with insane chases, battles in the arenas of different locations, different game modes, which for the most part still boil down to one thing - the total destruction of each other by the players. The locations themselves are a stunner, fascinating with its disastrous apocalyptic beauty - scorched heaths, dilapidated megalopolises, abandoned industrial facilities and other similar territories.

In this online shooter there is also another important aspect, in addition to shooting. This is the design of the combat vehicles themselves. The player is invited to collect the deadly armored car. Here you can show imagination with might and main, and the game engine will take care of the physical realism of the design - hanging a mountain of uniforms on a flimsy chassis will not work, and so on in everything.

For participation and victory in battles, the player gets experience, in-game money, access to more advanced equipment and details. In order to achieve maximum results, to win more often and with less losses, you need to remember about cooperation with other participants. But the command mode, although recommended, is not a verdict - the game gives decent opportunities to convinced loners too.

World of Tanks

Rating: 4.9

Continuing in our ranking, the topic of online shooters on combat vehicles, we can not ignore hit hits - product number 1 of the Belarusian studio, which created the above World of Warships. This is the famous "tanchiki" - a tactical shooter, and at the same time simulator World of Tanks.

The main conceptual component of the game is tank battles in the wartime setting of the mid-20th century. In fact, this is the first full-scale tank action in the world, where infantry running has been abolished, and everything is concentrated on the powerful battles of armored vehicles of various models and tactical and technical characteristics.

The gameplay of WoT at first glance is extremely simple. Players in the two teams of 15 participants each are landed on the map and immediately enter into a hot battle with chases, pursuit, tactical maneuvers and hot shooting. The confrontation lasts until the last tankman. However, this is not an arcade shooter, and there are other important aspects: pumping combat vehicles, interaction with other players online, session cards, reliable armored equipment, amazingly realistic physics.

Game achievements are encouraged by game bonuses - experience and in-game currency, for which you can buy new equipment, attract more trained crews, effective equipment, and with this all good destroy the enemy with tripled force. Many even draw parallels, they say WoT is the same Counter Strike, only on tanks and with advanced features.

In the game there are as many as five classes of machines, each of them presents a whole set of models. All of them with maximum accuracy embody the real combat vehicles of the Second World War, and they represent different tank building schools - Soviet, American, Japanese, etc. There are even models that in life were implemented only on paper in the form of projects, and found their virtual embodiment in Game.

Overload

Rating: 4.8

The third shooter in the selection of the rating of the best online PC games in this genre is something special. This is a simulator of a combat space boat, which is a dizzying anti-gravity shooter. Despite the Sci-Fi-style, this game was not defined by our experts in the category of space shooters, since there is not so much outer space here, but more specifically combat vehicles from both the player and the enemy.

Overload has become a real breath of air for lovers of just such a game concept, when the full six degrees of freedom (6DoF) are implemented. You can move and dodge in six directions, and the developers immediately reinforced this opportunity with compatibility with modern virtual reality helmets.

The game features 15+ story campaign levels aimed at a single player game. The author of the story, by the way, was made not by anyone, but by the screenwriter who created the plot of the legendary space simulator Freespace 2. A dozen more levels are available in Test mode.But in the single-player game, of course, the developers were not obsessed, and provided for an exciting multiplayer online mode with up to 8 players.

The gameplay is built on collisions with unfriendly robotics, various obstacles and insidious traps. There will even be unique bosses, which will have to be fired from all the guns in order to inflict significant damage. Fortunately, it will shoot from what - at the disposal of the player will gradually get 15 types of deadly weapons of the future, which everything else can also be improved.

Top Space Shooters

Now, in the ranking of the best online shooters for PC according to expert.bigbadmole.com/en/en/, we will open a full-fledged space theme and consider three iconic games that best implemented various aspects of open space battles, for which they deserved a mass audience for fans of science fiction of this style.

Star conflict

Rating: 5.0

And again we return to the products of domestic igrodelov, who do not cease to amaze with quality products. Star Conflict is not a novelty (the first official release took place in 2014), but it does not lose relevance. It was created by the Russian StarGem development team with the support of the publisher Gaijin Entertainment.

For lovers of shooting here is a real expanse - in the game the most colorful and dynamic space battles are implemented in combat starships and light boats. Moreover, both oppositions between players in PvP mode and collisions with unfriendly manifestations of the environment in PvE mode will be equally fascinating.

A new player will have to start small, but there is definitely something to strive for - as you progress and gain experience in large and small battles, the participant accumulates energy and game currency, which can be sent to buy new, more powerful ships or to improve the existing fleet.

Game modes here can really satisfy any temperament and any mood. A dynamic PvP battle takes place brightly and quickly - up to 10 minutes, and open-world sessions are not limited in time at all. By the way, this open world is great in every sense. The player can travel through the galaxy through the hyperspace gate, gradually exploring the colossal map.

The idea of ​​an alien mind is very interestingly implemented in the game. Here you will not see big-eyed humanoids or reasonable octopuses. In the game, the enemy ships themselves are intelligent beings, not counting the pirate ships that are operated by humans.

This space-based online shooter is formally free, as it is claimed to be distributed in a free-to-play business model. But in the course of the game, it quickly becomes clear that without a donat, the possibilities will be extremely limited. Donat itself is being imposed rather aggressively, and the balance is clearly not clearly flawed, deliberately deliberately - in order to push the player to invest real money. This circumstance is almost the only factor of objective negative feedback.

Battlezone Combat Commander

Rating: 4.9

The second number in the selection of the best online space shooter is revived and updated Battlezone Combat Commander. The first version came out exactly 20 years ago, and even had success, but still did not become a hit. The release of the modern version took place in 2018, and the game still has a chance to win a solid audience.

The game takes place in the distant future. Mighty powers have forgotten past squabbles and contradictions, having united into a single military alliance to fight against external threat - alien civilizations that are not distinguished by friendliness.

It introduced some game aspects that will greatly delight players who prefer versatile gameplay, and not just shooting. The player is waiting for two dozen exciting missions with interesting stories, multiplayer mode with up to 14 online participants at the same time, six strategically important planets with the necessary resources, and, of course, colorful epic battles online. All this is wrapped in a motley "package" of high-quality graphics and sound sound design.

Gameplay includes versatile activities for the development of space bases, the construction of fortifications, defense, collection and processing of resources. Types of various combat vehicles are counted in dozens - only about 30.

Dreadnought

Rating: 4.8

The third number in this selection of rating consider the real “dream of a giant-man” - a space shooter dominated by gigantic asteroid-sized warships, and these monsters dictate space battles of the corresponding scale.

Strictly speaking, the space combat fleet here, of course, is not limited to super-heavy ships. Being a session class space action game, Dreadnought includes five classes of ships:

1. Destroyers - the main, most balanced combat unit;
2. Sapports - tactical cruisers, designed mainly for the operational re-equipment of warships and damage recovery, but also capable of inflicting painful injuries with a well-aimed long-range laser on the enemy ship;
3. Snipers - artillery cruisers, beating from afar with powerful volleys of "rays of good", hiding behind the hulls of more massive comrades;
4. Corvettes - the most unprotected, but nimble and nimble ships capable of effective single combat;
5. Dreadnoughts - in fact, the very juice of the game - a hefty, awkward, but thick-skinned and heavily armed giant gangs capable of making hyperspace jumps.

These types of ships are also divided into fractions that differ in characteristics, equipment, speed, armor and even appearance.

The game includes several modes - classic DeathMatch, team destruction in two rounds, onslaught - the most demanded mode, for which they give the most points - the player in cooperation with other participants must destroy the enemy's command ship.

The best non-military shooters on the PC

At the end of the ranking of the best online shooters for PC, we move away from a comprehensive military theme, and remember that you can shoot not only in war. Just for fans of non-combat shooting, our experts included in the rating a bright shooter about hunting, where the target would not be an enemy in a military sense, but prey or any threat from wildlife; and the second game in the compilation, although it has common moments with military themes, but in the full understanding of the war is infinitely far.

theHunter: Call of the Wild

Rating: 5.0

In the genre of shooters there is a special subgenre - hunting simulators. They are very popular for their unique qualities - tracking, pursuit, excitement, adrenaline rush and satisfaction of the earner's instinct. One of the most successful implementations of such shooters is theHunter: Call of the Wild.

There are some drawbacks in this game, but they can even be ignored against the background of unconditional merits. Here, the player is waiting for colorful graphics - the creators squeezed the most out of the graphics engine, excellent dynamics, variety of content, "intelligent" behavior of animals, and much more.Experts have included the game in the review, since the niche of hunting simulators in video games is presented extremely poorly, and subgenre fans have to be content with what they have, and this shooter is without any exaggeration the best.

From the good about this particular shooter you can praise the huge, perfectly detailed locations, the richest variety of goals - from small birds to fierce predators, several dozen types of hunting weapons.

The action takes place in the dense forests of Europe. The player will have to track down prey, drive, lure, and kill from different weapons. We will have to show not only accuracy, but also patience, perseverance and ingenuity. The game character can be pumped in every possible way, improving skills and acquiring new abilities. Over time, you can teach the character to be almost invisible and leave no traces.

The developers also took care of far-reaching goals. A single mode in such a game inevitably quickly bored, and in this case there is an online mode with cooperation and competitions. Multiplayer allows for the participation of up to 8 real players. Thus, as part of a squad, you can arrange coordinated raids on large targets.

Far cry 3

Rating: 4.9

And the final shooter in our ranking is the undisputed hit of the last years of Far Cry 3. This is a fascinating shooter with a powerful and complete sandbox component. Unlike the deserted and lifeless second version, Far Cry 3 blooms with wild colors of wild nature. Against the background of the beautiful nature of the player in abundance are waiting for all sorts of trouble that will have to face.

Events unfold on a picturesque island, where the main character falls, instantly finding himself in the hands of villains-pirates. But he instantly manages to escape, after which he himself becomes a predator in the broadest sense.

The player will have to survive in the wild jungle, and, in the most violent way. It will be necessary to take care of food - for this you can hunt small and medium animals. Also constantly need to be alert, so as not to become prey yourself - large predators without hesitation attack the player’s character. Mined animals are not only food, but also the source of crafting - skins and wool for the manufacture of belts, clothes and all sorts of products.

Having gotten into the woods and got stronger, you can think about taking outposts. It does not have to cost Rambo out of himself - you can quietly track down the guards, think up a plan and cut out the unfortunate thugs with a lightning throw.

You can maintain the economic component by completing interesting quests. Weapons can be acquired and captured, as well as improved. The open world in the game is perfectly flavored with a spicy mixture of humor, outrageous, and even psychedelic trips under the influence of "not quite simple" grass. Here there is a place for a completely insane combination of characters: CIA agents, frostbitten gangsters, long-legged and cool-looking beauties in tattoos, religious fanatics, and anyone else.

For fans of multiplayer in the game there are four special online modes. The most exciting - a cooperative for four. It is in many ways reminiscent of the stunning missions of Left 4 Dead, if you remove the zombies from them.

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Attention! This rating is subjective, is not advertising and does not serve as a guide to the purchase. Before buying, you should consult with a specialist.