A Sub-Genre of RPG games that gained popularity in the latter half of the 2010s, a looter shooter incorporates both First/Third-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 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.
Having the roots in other RNG genres such as Hack and Slash and Role-Playing Game, it wasn't until the release of Borderlands in 2008 that the genre's tropes would be set in stone, with other games following suit after the success of that game and its sequel, Borderlands 2, in 2012.
Looter shooters tend to incorporate the following elements:
- Players complete quests, gain levels, unlock better equipment and advance a storyline in an open world, similar to an RPG. Power is usually gained through Equipment-Based Progression, though advancement of the character's stats themselves through Skill Scores and Perks is not out of the picture.
- New equipment is usually acquired in the game world through an Item-Drop Mechanic, vendors, or on the ground/chests rather than automatically unlocking by levelling up. Loot is often 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 Color-Coded Item Tiers like common, uncommon, rare, epic, and legendary. Weapons can additionally be customized with Gun Accessories such as stocks, scopes, laser sights, etc. that are also found in the world or are already attached.
- There is a heavy emphasis on combat, particularly gunplay, over other interactions that promote role-playing, distinguishing them from loot-based action-RPGs like Diablo and RPGs with gun customization like Fallout 4.
- Survival and crafting mechanics are sometimes present, making players look for resources and materials in addition to weapons. However, this is not to same extent as Survival Sandbox games and means of interacting (and getting resources) from the game world is limited. Trees aren't cut down for wood, for example.
- Due to the nature of randomly generated loot and balance issues thereof, multiplayer tends to be co-op PVE with elements from MMORPGs, though that doesn't preclude PVP modes from also existing.
Differs from the other First-Person Shooter subgenres in the following ways:
- 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.
- Tactical Shooter: While Looter Shooters may have strong tactical elements due to its emphasis on player equipment, tactical shooters may not have looting or survival elements in favor of traditional gameplay modes.
- Hero Shooter: Due to its emphasis on Competitive Multiplayer over this genre's Cooperative Multiplayer. Also, while characters may have abilities, they tend to use different weapons, and no two players maynote carry the same weapon.
- Battle Royale Game: 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.
A sub-genre of this is the Extraction Shooter, where instead of a persistent world like an RPG or a Wide-Open Sandbox, 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.
Examples
First-person- 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.
- Borderlands (2009)
- Borderlands 2 (2012)
- Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel! (2014)
- Borderlands 3 (2019)
- Tiny Tina's Wonderlands (2022)
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (2022) has DMZ mode, where players can roam the Warzone map to perform quests, loot materials and defeat enemies before extracting.
- The iteration of Call of Duty: Zombies for 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 most regular human NPC enemies replaced with several varieties of zombies.
- The Cycle: Frontier (2022) takes after Tarkov as players scavenge an abandoned exoplanet colony before extracting back to orbit.
- Destiny (2014)
- Destiny 2 (2017)
- Escape from Tarkov (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. It was the first to popularize the "Extraction" game mode.
- Fallout 76 (2018) deviates from previous Fallout titles with a focus on multiplayer and less emphasis on RPG elements, especially with the initial absence of NPCs.
- Far Cry 6 (2021) allows you to craft weapon modifications and gear from materials you find the world, and in a deviation from previous games in the series, skills and abilities are tied to the gear you equip rather than unlock through a skill tree.
- Hunt: Showdown (2018)
- A new entry into the Marathon franchise, announced in May 2023 (release date unknown).
- Marauders (2022, currently early-access) is Zeerust game set in outer space following an apocalyptic version of World War I. Players spawn into a raid and proceed to pilot spaceships; either to fight other ships then board them, or enter a main point-of-interest and duke it out with other players and hostile NPCs roaming about abandoned space stations.
- Shadow Warrior 2 (2016), an attempt to bring Looter Shooter mechanics into the franchise.
- Wolfenstein: Youngblood (2019), an attempt to bring Looter Shooter mechanics into the Bad Future of the Wolfenstein franchise.
Third-person
- Anthem (2019)
- The Division (2016)
- The Division 2 (2019)
- Ghost Recon Breakpoint (2019) marks a significant genre shift in the franchise with the addition of a tiered loot system, though "Ghost Experience" makes the randomly generated loot optional.
- Hell Is Others (2022) is an extraction shooter with a top-down perspective.
- Outriders (2021)
- Vigor (2020)
- Warframe (2013)
- Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League (2024)
