Borderlands is not the only franchise that drowns players in weapons. These are the best looter shooters.
“Shlooter” was coined by Giant Bomb’s Alex Navarro and basically combines “looter shooter” into one glorious Frankenstein phrase. With the subgenre’s most well-known franchise releasing its third entry recently, this seems like a perfect time to take a look at the best looter shooters on the market.
As a concept, looter shooter is still in its infancy in the grand scheme of things. Consequently, the genre’s defining traits are somewhat flexible, as there isn’t an authority on what constitutes a looter shooter. In general, representatives tend to be first-person or third-person shooters with progression tied to obtaining better guns (or weapons). While isometric action RPGs like Diablo and Path of Exile share many traits in common with looter shooters, ranged combat is not encouraged above simply taking a hammer and whacking away at the enemy. The same can be said about Monster Hunter: World.
What are the best looter shooter games on the market?
Updated September 23, 2023 by Mark Sammut: New looter shooters are not a monthly occurrence, which has allowed the subgenre to avoid becoming oversaturated. While there might not be a huge number of games that fall within this descriptor, there are more than enough to keep someone engaged for potentially years. 12 Outriders
Designed by the team responsible for Bulletstorm and Painkiller, People Can Fly’s Outriders lives with a mixed reception, a consequence stemming from inconsistent marketing, an underwhelming launch, and some frustrating systems. Despite having an endgame and sharing some similarities with live-service projects like Destiny and Borderlands, Outriders should be treated as a single-player third-person shooter akin to the developer’s previous projects.
The endgame largely revolves around grinding loot to craft more powerful builds, but Outriders is a bit too stingy with its drops, so the experience tends to be slow and annoying rather than rewarding. When focusing just on the campaign, this game becomes an enjoyable, albeit unspectacular looter shooter.
11 Roboquest
In early access, Roboquest has come a long way over the last two years. Compared to its 2020 launch state, which largely consisted of untapped potential, the roguelite has developed into a highly entertaining first-person shooter, even if it is still somewhat rough around the edges.
Basically an arena shooter, Roboquest features five playable classes, nine maps, and an impressive selection of weapons. The latter is the best part of the package and will be the main reason most players keep coming back for more. 10 Shadow Warrior 2
Flying Wild Hog went in a completely different direction with its sequel to 2013’s decent Shadow Warrior. Rather than a series of levels set within somewhat spacious maps, Shadow Warrior 2 drops Lo Wang in a hub area that can then be used to undergo a vast range of missions, with only some being directly related to the main story.
With over 70 weapons available in the game, including everything from katanas to rocket launchers, Shadow Warrior 2 definitely ticks the boxes of a looter shooter. As a homage to old-school shooters from the ’90s, just with a heavier focus on loot, Shadow Warrior 2 is pretty decent.
