Articles S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl

First-person shooters have remained one of the most popular genres for several decades, encompassing everything from major AAA blockbusters and hardcore tactical FPS games to unusual indie experiments. The best first-person shooters on PC and consoles deliver a sense of adrenaline, precision, and control, where every well-placed shot can decide the outcome of a fight. For this selection, we have gathered the truly best FPS games — titles with compelling stories, cinematic action, deep co-op gameplay, and competitive multiplayer. Here you will find classic shooters, current online projects, the best shooters for low-end PCs, and modern hits that every fan of gunplay should try.

At the same time, we are not chasing arbitrary numbers or filling out empty lists with a hundred entries: every game in this ranking of first-person shooters was selected for its specific mechanics, atmosphere, and player reception. Some people value story-driven shooters with memorable characters and a well-developed world; others prefer realistic military simulators, tactical online shooters, or fast-paced arena action. The list includes both the best first-person shooters on PC and recent shooters from 2024–2026 that are only beginning to build their audience. Throughout the article, we will also highlight games for low-end computers, co-op projects, free online shooters, and unconventional indie action games, helping you quickly find the format that suits both your hardware and your mood.

The best post-apocalyptic games go far beyond Fallout and Metro: RPGs, shooters, survival sims, and indie gems. Here are 52 of the best post-apocalyptic games on PC, PS5, Xbox, and Switch.

The most demanding PC games are not the same thing as poorly optimized games. They are projects that put high-end hardware under real pressure for the sake of actual technology and visuals. The distinction matters, and this list follows it strictly. A demanding game pushes a top-tier graphics card and CPU because it is rendering expensive tech: path tracing and full ray tracing, Nanite and Lumen in Unreal Engine 5, dense world simulation, and the streaming of vast open spaces without loading screens. The drop in frame rate is compensated by a clear visual payoff: on a flagship system, these projects become showcases for what a PC can do and rank among the best-looking games of today. Crysis once set the bar, and the question “but can it run it?” became a meme for years. Today, there are far more games like that: they demand powerful hardware, but at least they justify it with their visuals.

The first half of 2026 has already dropped a stack of strong releases, and with GTA 6 and Marvel's Wolverine still to come, there's plenty to keep you busy in the meantime. This is our running list of the best games to play right now across PC, PS5, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch 2 — some brand-new, others a few years old but still at the top of their genre thanks to regular updates. We've split everything by genre, so jump to whatever you're in the mood for. One thing to set straight up front: this is a "what to play now" list, not a "came out this year" one. A few entries are older, but they keep pulling players back with new seasons, expansions and patches.

During one of the first PlayStation 5 presentations, we got our first look at Unreal Engine 5: Epic Games showcased an impressive demo with unprecedented photorealism running on PS5. Later, the technical demo The Matrix Awakens was released, further proving that current-generation consoles can indeed deliver hyper-realistic graphics. The future of Unreal Engine 5 seemed promising. However, when games on the engine finally started coming out, many gamers' enthusiasm quickly faded. Here's why some players are unhappy with Unreal 5.

The announcement of NVIDIA's new RTX 50 series graphics cards at CES 2025 has been met with enthusiasm across the internet. Many social media users were pleased with the advertised features: improved gaming performance with ray tracing enabled, higher clock speeds, and access to the latest and greatest versions of DLSS and frame generation. However, not all gamers, hardware reviewers, and industry experts share the general enthusiasm. Their main argument is that if you strip away all the "crutches" of the new cards, the actual performance increase might not be as significant as expected. And there are concerns about those "crutches" too.

The announcement of a console from one of the market leaders is always an exciting event that sparks heated discussions online. Everyone talks about the device's design, specs, and features. However, gamers primarily purchase gaming platforms not for their looks, screen size, or special buttons, but for the games. Unfortunately, there’s little official information about future titles for the Nintendo Switch 2, and it’s unlikely we’ll learn much before April. So, while we wait, let’s analyze the situation and speculate about what we might play on this highly anticipated hybrid console in the coming years.

Over the past few years, the graphics in games have hardly changed. We have become accustomed to high detail, high-quality textures, and realistic faces of characters. Perhaps the situation will change after the release of new video cards, but in 2024, the graphics remained at about the same level as before.

That is why, when compiling this article, we primarily paid attention not to the number of pixels in the hero's boot, but to the artistic component. Combined with advanced technologies, it is able to impress even today.

If you read reviews of the second «Stalker» from the Western press, you might have noticed that all the journalists criticize the game for having bugs. Some critics suggest ignoring technical flaws, while others advise waiting for patches that should fix everything. Otherwise, you risk being disappointed in «Heart of Chernobyl». In this article, we have collected the funniest glitches that were encountered in the game.