Best Shooter of 2025 - Article
by Lee Mehr , posted on 11 January 2026 / 2,450 Views
Welcome to VGChartz's 19th annual Game of the Year Awards! It's essentially a prerequisite for any gaming site to have one. But our means of cataloguing the year's best comes with a particular nuance: both users and staff get a 50/50 split influence across every category. Throughout the month we'll be celebrating the best games of 2025 across various genres and other special categories, before finally revealing Game of the Year. And what better way to begin this opening salvo than with Best Shooter?
Before getting into the nominees, there’s one interesting omission worth noting: Black Ops 7. This marks the first time in this decade when Call of Duty has consecutively failed to reach our shortlist. Regardless of its popularity, that sends a clear signal as to what these nominees – ranging from AAA to indie – bring to the table. And given the impressive vote share between them (none eclipsing 35%), it's safe to say shooter fans got their fill last year. Without further ado, here are the nominees…
The Shortlist:
Battlefield 6
BALL x PIT
ARC Raiders
DOOM: The Dark Ages
The Runner-Up:
Battlefield 6
It’s important to preface this by acknowledging VGChartz’s Head of Curmudgeonly Critiques didn’t carry the same enthusiasm: "From odd naming schemes & multiplayer dynamics (Battlefield V), to missing campaigns & buggy launches (2042), the Rolodex of chefs tasked with cooking this mainline entrée – altogether coined "Battlefield Studios" – only wanted to follow an easy recipe. Considering the self-imposed face-plants they're avoiding, caution is warranted; on the other hand, how high can one truly reach with tempered ambition?"
Even with that in mind, this doesn't diminish the greater enthusiasm shared by the community since Battlefield 6 dropped. Because, in all honesty, it feels really fucking good to shout the phrase "Battlefield is back!" with your whole chest. That sort of general consensus hasn't been reached since Battlefield 1 – nearly one decade ago. For whatever misgivings there are with its campaign or certain design qualms, the multiplayer stories made via emergent tactical play more than make up for it. Turns out the best foundation was the 'ole reliable one all along.
The Winner:
DOOM: The Dark Ages
Whereas our runner-up succeeds by returning to the familiar, our winner took a different path. It's not easy to impress on the average layman how disparate the last three DOOM games truly are. Sure, they're all first-person shooters with gnarly executions at first blush, but the changes are about cadence rather than genre-flipping innovations. Eschewing Eternal's "Battle Chess" template for a heavier melee emphasis makes for something that feels new compared to either its precursor or the 2016 reboot. Whether or not these risks – mechanically, narratively, or even aesthetically – clicked with everyone, the fact that id Software is consistently interested in challenging itself is what makes it one of the greatest shooter studios of all time.
