History Main / LooterShooter

A sub-genre of RPG games that gained popularity in the latter half of the 2010s, a looter shooter incorporates both {{First|PersonShooter}}/{{Third|PersonShooter}}-person shooter with RPG mechanics focusing on PvE, great variety of gear to increase player engagement and getting better loot to make stronger character builds. Almost all [=RPGs=] have loot systems and shooters allow the player to pick up opponents' weapons, but the looter shooter combines them in a way where the primary gameplay loop is all about [[OnSiteProcurement finding better gear in the field]]. Instead of using that gear to use your character's abilities and attributes, the focus of the looter shooter's customization is the player's equipment, especially their gun.

* Arena Shooter: In arena shooters, players tend to load in with all the weapons they need, with pick-ups usually being power-ups, powerful weapons, or health boosts. Progression is based on performance rather than equipment acquired, and tends to be managed outside of the play-space.

A sub-genre of RPG games that gained popularity in the latter half of the 2010s, a looter shooter incorporates both {{First|PersonShooter}}/{{Third|PersonShooter}}-person shooter with RPG mechanics focusing on PvE, great variety of gear to increase player engagement and getting better loot to make stronger character builds. Almost all [=RPGs=] have loot systems and shooters allow the player to pick up opponents' weapons, but the looter shooter combines them in a way where the primary gameplay loop is all about getting better gear. Instead of using that gear to use your character's abilities and attributes, the focus of the looter shooter's customization is the player's equipment, especially their gun.

* Arena Shooter: due to the RNG factor where no single player may get the same weapon/item twice, and the very presence of character abilities.
* TacticalShooter: once again, due to its emphasis on gameplay over realism.
* HeroShooter: due to its emphasis on CompetitiveMultiplayer over this genre's CooperativeMultiplayer. Also, while characters may have abilities, they tend to use different weapons, and no two players may[[note]]they definitely ''can'', but the odds of such scenario happening is extremely low[[/note]] carry the same weapon.
* BattleRoyaleGame: while they share item rarities and looting better equipment off of defeated opponents, Battle Royales fight to be the last man standing, gradually acquiring gear in order to win, while Looter Shooters have the acquisition of better gear as the whole point.

Looter shooters often share a lot of elements with {{battle royale game}}s, such as item rarities and looting better equipment off of defeated opponents, but have a different gameplay loop. Battle royales fight to be the last man standing, gradually acquiring gear in order to win, while looter shooters have the acquisition of better gear as the whole point.

A sub-genre of a sub-genre is the Extraction Shooter, where instead of a persistent world like an RPG or a WideOpenSandbox, players instead load into a map, find loot, complete quests, fight enemies, and reach an extraction point in order to escape with their gains. The typical employment of permadeath, where players lose everything on their character if they die in the match, adds additional risk-reward tension.

* ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'': The series uses RNG to generate near-endless combinations of guns with any number of stats and attributes. Generally considered [[TropeCodifier the first popular example]] of a looter shooter.[[note]]There's also ''VideoGame/TalesFromTheBorderlands'', which is an AdventureGame[[/note]]

** The iteration of ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyZombies'' for ''[[VideoGame/CallOfDutyModernWarfareIII Modern Warfare III]]'' (2023) has many of the same elements as DMZ (to the point even its abbreviation of "MWZ" mirrors DMZ), though with the [=PvP=] elements removed and regular human NPC enemies replaced with several varieties of zombies.

* ''VideoGame/EscapeFromTarkov'' (2017) combines looter elements with extremely realistic gunplay. Gameplay takes place in timed matches where players enter a map, look and fight for loot, complete quests, and escape rather than explore an open world.

A sub-genre of RPG games that gained popularity in the latter half of the 2010s, a looter shooter incorporates both {{First|PersonShooter}}/{{Third|PersonShooter}} with [[RPGElements mechanics]] focusing on PvE, great variety of gear to increase player engagement and getting better loot to make stronger character builds. Almost all [=RPGs=] have loot systems and shooters allow the player to pick up opponents' weapons, but the looter shooter combines them in a way where the primary gameplay loop is all about getting better gear. Instead of using that gear to use your character's abilities and attributes, the focus of the looter shooter's customization is the player's equipment, especially their gun.

A sub-genre of shooter games that gained popularity in the latter half of the 2010s, a looter shooter incorporates [[RPGElements mechanics]] from {{role playing game}}s to increase player engagement. Almost all [=RPGs=] have loot systems and shooters allow you to pick up opponents' weapons, but the looter shooter, {{First|PersonShooter}} and {{Third|PersonShooter}}, combines them in a way where the primary gameplay loop is all about getting better gear. Instead of using that gear to use your character's abilities and attributes, the focus of the looter shooter's customization is the player's equipment, especially their gun.

A sub-genre of shooter games that gained popularity in the latter half of the 2010s, a looter shooter incorporates [[RPGElements mechanics]] from {{role playing game}}s to increase player engagement. While many [=RPGs=] allow you to customize your character's abilities and attributes, the focus of the looter shooter's customization is the player's equipment, especially their gun. While many [=RPGs=] have loot systems and shooters allow you to pick up opponents' weapons, the looter shooter, {{First|PersonShooter}} and {{Third|PersonShooter}}, combines them in a way where the primary gameplay loop is all about getting better gear.

* New equipment is usually acquired in the game world through an ItemDropMechanic, vendors, or on the ground/chests rather than automatically unlocking by levelling up. Loot is often [[RandomlyGeneratedLoot randomly generated]] and even within the same type of item, there are varying tiers and statistics that compel the player to search for better versions. Expect tiers like common, uncommon, epic, and legendary. Weapons can additionally be customized with GunAccessories such as stocks, scopes, laser sights, etc. that are also found in the world or are already attached.

* ''VideoGame/{{Vigor}}'' (2020)

* ''VideoGame/{{Outriders}}'' (2021)

* ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'': The series uses RNG to generate near-endless combinations of guns with any number of stats and attributes. Generally considered the first popular example of a looter shooter.[[note]]There's also ''VideoGame/TalesFromTheBorderlands'', which is an AdventureGame[[/note]]

* The ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'' series (2009) uses RNG to generate near-endless combinations of guns with any number of stats and attributes. Generally considered the first popular example of a looter shooter.[[note]]There's also ''VideoGame/TalesFromTheBorderlands'', which is an AdventureGame[[/note]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'' (2013)

A sub-genre of shooter games that gained popularity in the latter half of the 2010s, a looter shooter incorporates mechanics from {{role playing game}}s to increase player engagement. While many [=RPGs=] allow you to customize your character's abilities and attributes, the focus of the looter shooter's customization is the player's equipment, especially their gun. While many [=RPGs=] have loot systems and shooters allow you to pick up opponents' weapons, the looter shooter, {{First|PersonShooter}} and {{Third|PersonShooter}}, combines them in a way where the primary gameplay loop is all about getting better gear.

A sub-genre of shooter games that gained popularity in the latter half of the 2010s, a looter shooter incorporates mechanics from {{role playing game}}s to increase player engagement. While many [=RPGs=] allow you to customize your character's abilities and attributes, the focus of the looter shooter's customization is the player's equipment, especially their gun. While many [=RPGs=] have loot systems and shooters allow you to pick up opponents' weapons, the looter shooter combines them in a way where the primary gameplay loop is all about getting better gear.