The Best Historical First-Person Shooters
After strategy games, first-person shooters (FPS) were, quite possibly, the genre of games that molded my gaming experience the most. I started out playing Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, Rainbow Six, and Call of Duty (2003). The genre always struck me as a sort of stepping stone into a digital time machine, you know? While many first-person shooters deliver heart-pounding action, a select few go a step further, transporting players to the front lines of history’s most pivotal conflicts. I always loved that, and they achieve it by putting you in the exact perspective from which real people also saw things, from their own vantage point on the ground. The best historical shooters are more than just games; they are immersive experiences that blend thrilling gameplay with a deep sense of authenticity, allowing us to walk in the boots of soldiers from bygone eras. From the gritty battlefields of the American Civil War and World War I to the harrowing beaches of Normandy on D-Day, and beyond, these titles don’t just tell a story. They put you right in the middle of it. In this definitive list, I’ve curated the 10 best games that allow you to witness and experience history firsthand.
10 – Medal of Honor: Allied Assault – War Chest
Before Call of Duty became a household name and started to dominate the first-person shooter (FPS) market, Medal of Honor: Allied Assault was the gold standard for World War II shooters, offering an unparalleled cinematic experience at the time it came out, in 2002. The legendary Warchest collection combines the original, groundbreaking game with its two expansions, Spearhead and Breakthrough, providing a comprehensive and immersive tour through the European and North African theaters. I know the launch of the game is long behind us, but it’s never enough to highlight how, at the time, Medal of Honor: Allied Assault came out, it was the most groundbreaking experience you could have on a PC.
The game’s most famous moment, the chaotic and visceral D-Day landing on Omaha Beach, is a masterpiece of game design that set a new benchmark for the genre and influenced countless games that followed. This scene was inspired by Saving Private Ryan, and the game had Spielberg involved in its development, too.
Beyond its most famous set piece, Allied Assault and its expansions immerse players in historically inspired missions, ranging from covert sabotage operations to major battles such as the Battle of the Bulge and Monte Cassino. The title was praised for its commitment to historical details, featuring a vast and accurate arsenal of WWII weapons, from the M1 Garand to the Thompson submachine gun, all with realistic sound design that heightens the sense of immersion. If you never played this game before, it’s an important piece of first-person shooter (FPS) history, and an amazing historical title as well.
9 – ARMA Reforger
Positioned as a standalone experience and a glimpse into the future of the franchise, ARMA Reforger is a military simulator that sets itself apart by its commitment to a specific historical period: the Cold War in 1989. The game’s setting might take place on the fictional islands of Everon and Arland, nostalgic nods to the very first Operation Flashpoint game, but its attention to detail has very few fictional aspects to it. ARMA Reforger is a military sandbox, and the game is a blank canvas for players to create and engage in their own scenarios, from large-scale territorial control to intense, small-unit skirmishes, all governed by the series’ signature focus on realistic ballistics, complex vehicle physics, and tactical communication.
What makes ARMA Reforger a compelling historical shooter is its meticulous attention to Cold War-era details, but as you can imagine, the modding community has already elevated the game to simulate every conflict you can imagine.
8 – Battlefield 1
I still find it amazing how DICE’s Battlefield 1 masterfully captures the brutal, chaotic, and technologically evolving nature of World War I, making it a spectacular historical shooter despite its arcade-style gameplay. The game’s single-player “War Stories” campaigns offer a poignant and varied look at the Great War through the eyes of different soldiers across the globe, from an ANZAC runner in the Gallipoli campaign to a British tank driver on the Western Front, an american fighter-pilot, and an Italian soldier in the Royal Italian Army’s Arditi regiment. While the game takes takes a lot of creative liberties with historical timelines and weapon availability for the sake of engaging gameplay, it presents one of the most respectful and emotional narrative that I have ever seen in a video game, and focused on the highlights, the personal struggles, and sacrifices of the era.
The game’s prologue has since become widely known in the gaming world, and it’s one of the best game openings ever created, with the player going over several soldiers in a couple of minutes, showcasing how impersonal, brutal, and uncaring World War 1 truly was for the young men that fought it. Here’s a video of the prologue:
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