With the eighth generation of home consoles coming to an end last year, it's safe to say that third-person action adventures ruled the era. The genre of gaming doesn't look like slowing down either, with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2, Elden Ring, and Grand Theft Auto 4 being three of the most highly anticipated titles for the next generation of gaming.

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Although sword-fighting titles have made up a bulk of the third-person genre, with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Dark Souls 3, and Monster Hunter: World leading the way, shooters have also carved themselves a spot in the popular genre of gaming.

Updated on April 26, 2023, by Ritwik Mitra: The Xbox One offers a wide variety of third-person shooters that are incredibly fun to play. These games offer thrilling gunfights, impressive graphics, and engaging storylines that will keep players hooked for hours on end. With the addition of gameplay enhancements like cooperative multiplayer modes and customizable characters, the Xbox One's library of third-person shooters provides endless hours of entertainment for gamers of all skill levels.

25 L.A. Noire (77)

L.A. Noire

L.A. Noire is a great detective title with TPS elements developed by Team Bondi and Rockstar Games. The combination of classic detective work with action-packed shootouts set in the backdrop of 1940s Los Angeles was a huge success that players still love to this day.

As Detective Cole Phelps, players investigate a series of criminal cases spread across different departments. The game's innovative facial animation technology brings the characters to life, making interrogations and investigations more immersive than ever... even if some people can look positively goofy at times.

24 Risk Of Rain 2 (79)

risk of rain 2 cover

Risk of Rain 2 is a fast-paced third-person shooter roguelike that takes place in an alien world filled with hordes of deadly creatures. Players must fight their way through increasingly challenging levels while collecting items and power-ups to enhance their abilities.

With cooperative multiplayer, players can team up with friends to take on challenging bosses and levels together. It's pretty much the definition of a perfect sequel, and the fact that Risk of Rain 2 is still wildly popular to this day is proof of just how brilliant this title really is.

23 Tom Clancy's The Division (80)

tom clancy's the division agent trash filled street

Tom Clancy's The Division, developed by Ubisoft, is a game set in a post-apocalyptic New York City. Players take on the role of an agent tasked with restoring order after a deadly virus has swept through the city.

With a focus on cooperative multiplayer and an extensive loot system, players can team up with friends to explore the dangerous streets of New York and take on other players in intense PvP combat. While a decent game in its own right, the title had its fair share of issues that were thankfully ironed out in its sequel.

22 Remnant: From The Ashes (81)

Remnant From The Ashes - Promotional Image For Swamps Of Corsus DLC

Remnant: From The Ashes is a Soulslike third-person shooter, a combination that many people assumed would never work... and yet, this title was wildly successful and is considered to be one of the very best in its genre. Set in a ruined world filled with terrifying monsters, players must explore dangerous environments and battle tough enemies while collecting powerful weapons and armor to upgrade their characters.

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The randomly-generated level layout means players will never experience the same game twice, adding to the title's replayability. To make things even better, players could tackle the game in co-op, allowing them to escape death with their friends time and time again.

21 Watch Dogs 2 (81)

watch-dogs-2-timelapse-city-video

Watch Dogs 2 is an open-world game set in a fictionalized version of San Francisco that had its work cut out for it, given how much players were disappointed by the first game. Thankfully, this game improved the hacking and combat in every way, allowing players to finally enjoy the experience they were promised with the first title.

Players control Marcus Holloway, a member of the hacktivist group DedSec, as they take down corrupt corporations, greedy millionaires, crime syndicates, and everything in between. With a focus on hacking and stealth, Watch Dogs 2 offers hours of exciting gameplay as players explore a rich and vibrant open world.

20 Sunset Overdrive (81)

Sunset Overdrive - character holding an oversized gun

Sunset Overdrive is a game that immediately tries to grab the player's attention, with its eye-catching visuals that are bursting with color and over-the-top action gameplay. Sunset Overdrive was developed by Insomniac Games, a studio that is well known for prioritizing fun over realism, and their 2014 action adventure is no different.

Sunset Overdrive was originally released as an Xbox One exclusive, which is funny to look back at now, considering how synonymous Insomniac Games are with PlayStation today. Sunset Overdrive still hasn't been released on the blue brand, though it did release on PC in November 2018.

19 Tom Clancy's The Division 2 (82)

Cover in the Division 2

Tom Clancy's The Division 2 is a tactical shooter that stands out with its role-playing mechanics and online-only play. The game is set a few months after its predecessor in Washington D.C. and improves upon the previous game in many ways, particularly with its excellent sound design, soundtrack, and combat mechanics.

Tom Clancy's The Division 2's Xbox One Metascore of 82 is a few marks off the PC version, which received an 84 score from critics but a brutal 4.6 from users.

18 Gears Of War: Ultimate Edition (82)

Gears Of War Ultimate Edition cover art

Gears of War: Ultimate Edition was released in 2015 on Xbox One before coming to PC the following year. The game is a remastered version of the original Gears of War, with updated visuals and new multiplayer modes.

Ultimate Edition's Metascore of 82 may seem fairly harsh, especially considering that the original game received an aggregated score of 94. However, players can look at the game's drop in score positively in some ways. The most common criticism was that the game's level design and gameplay mechanics had become dated, which is a testament to how influential Gears of War was between 2006 and 2015.

17 Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (83)

Deus Ex Mankind Divided cover art

The Deus Ex franchise has been a cornerstone of the cyberpunk genre since the iconic original game was released back in the year 2000. The latest game in the series, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, is set two years after the events of Deus Ex: Human Revolution. It puts players in a world plagued by a divide between regular humans and those who are artificially advanced.

Along with its impressive Metascore, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided received numerous accolades from the Canadian Video Game Awards 2016, including Game of the Year and Best Narrative.

16 Bayonetta & Vanquish 10th Anniversary Bundle (83)

bayonetta vanquish anniversary promotional image

Sega and PlatinumGames marked the 10th anniversary of cult classics Bayonetta and Vanquish by offering players remastered versions of the two games. Bayonetta is one of few hack-and-slash titles ever to release outside of the Devil May Cry and God of War franchises. However, it's Vanquish that will make the collection appealing to third-person shooter fans.

The game's futuristic setting isn't just for story purposes. PlatinumGames created a ton of interesting and exciting gameplay mechanics that center around sci-fi technology, making Vanquish feel unique even to this day.

15 Control (84)

control box art closeup

505 Games' Control was developed by Remedy Entertainment, the same studio behind Quantum Break and Alan Wake. As one would expect from the team, Control offers players a story-driven experience with numerous fantasy elements.

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However, Control differs from Remedy's previous titles. Its Metroidvania structure allows for exploration, as opposed to the linear format that most of the studio's releases follow. Metroidvania titles outside of their usual 2D side-scrolling style have always been fairly hit or miss. Thankfully though, Control ensures that it's thoroughly on the "hit" side of the spectrum. Its meticulously constructed world is a joy to explore.

14 Resident Evil 3 (84)

resident evil 3 - nemesis on fire

The remake of Resident Evil 2 enjoyed enormous praise from fans and critics, as well as considerable commercial success. Considering this, it was hardly surprising to hear that the game's sequel, Resident Evil 3, would be receiving the remake treatment.

Unfortunately, Resident Evil 3 didn't manage to reach the same heights as the Resident Evil 2 remake. Fans were particularly disappointed with how the Nemesis was implemented. Still, the game is thoroughly enjoyable for any fan of the Resident Evil series who wants to revisit the classic game.

13 Hitman 2 (84)

Agent 47 sitting in Hitman 2

The seventh main entry into the iconic stealth series Hitman was released in 2018. IO Interactive, the game's developer, didn't try to reinvent the wheel and kept the gameplay similar to its 2016 predecessor.

There were a few innovations, though, including concussive gadgets that provided players with valuable non-lethal tools; as well as a welcome return to Agent 47's briefcase, allowing players to inconspicuously carry large weaponry.

12 Gears Of War 4 (85)

Gears of War 4 Game Poster

The Gears of War series has quickly become one of Xbox Game Studios and Microsoft Studios' most critically acclaimed IPs. The first game in the series was released at a pivotal time for Microsoft, coming just a few days before the release of the PlayStation 3 to incredibly high praise.

Gears of War 4 was the Xbox One's first main series Gears of War entry and consequently had a huge weight of expectations on its shoulders. The game's appearance on this list proves that the game was a critical success, though its 84 score is still somewhat underwhelming in comparison to the series' original trilogy.

11 Gears 5 (85)

gears 5 xbox series x custscene 2

The latest Gears of War title dropped the "of war" part of its name but kept much of the gameplay similar to the series' previous Xbox One and PC game. The game takes place just a few months after the events of Gears of War 4, with Kait Diaz now taking center stage as the main protagonist.

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Although Gears 5 again fell short of the original trilogies 90+ Metascores, the game performed well awards-wise, picking up Best Xbox One Game awards from Gamescom and the Golden Joysticks Awards.

10 PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (85)

playerunknowns battlegrounds pubg dirt bikes

Despite being an enormous commercial success, it's fair to say that PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds was somewhat shortchanged when considering that it pioneered the battle royale genre's recent rise.

Epic Games' Fortnite was released almost exactly one year after PUBG and soon dominated the genre of gaming. PUBG Corporation took legal action against Epic Games over the similarity between the two games, though the lawsuit was dropped shortly after.

9 Fortnite (85)

fortnite the launchpad location

Speaking of Fortnite, the game matches its competitor PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds with an Xbox One Metascore of 85. If Epic Games did indeed settle a fee with PUBG Corporation out of court, then whatever they paid was almost certainly worth it, as Fortnite has become one of gaming's most profitable releases of all time.

Fortnite took the battle royale idea and ran with it, to the point where Fortnite is now essentially a money-making hub for pop culture icons. Although some gamers frown upon Fortnite's money-making practices, many of those who enjoy it have sunk hundreds of hours of fun into the game, either alone or with friends.

8 Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition (86)

tomb raider 2013 lara on beach

One of gaming's most iconic action heroes, Lara Croft, returned in 2013 with a rebooted series developed by Crystal Dynamics and Eidos-Montréal and published by Square Enix. The game was originally released on the Xbox 360. It came to Xbox One consoles a year later, with remastered visuals and all DLC included.

The first entry into the rebooted series, Tomb Raider, created a new origin story for the English hero. Crystal Dynamics' highly ambitious game seemingly took inspiration from Naughty Dog's Uncharted and The Last of Us franchises, with its combination of over-the-top adventuring and survival mechanics.

7 Rise Of The Tomb Raider (86)

rise of the tomb raider box art

Receiving the exact same score as this list's previous entry is Tomb Raider's successor, Rise of the Tomb Raider. Square Enix's Rise of the Tomb Raider was released just two years after its predecessor, despite Square Enix naming Tomb Raider (2013) as one of three games that they felt underperformed sales-wise.

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Despite the commercial disappointment, Rise of the Tomb Raider kept its core gameplay similar to the first rebooted game. Among the minimal changes to the gameplay was the game's heavier focus on combat, befitting Lara's origin story. This shows that she can now rely on her weaponry skills.

6 Hitman 3 (87)

Hitman 3 Agent 47

Hitman 3 capped off the World of Assassination trilogy in style with one of the long-running franchise's best-ever releases. Like its predecessors, the game only features a handful of levels. However, they are enormous in size and scope, both literally and figuratively in terms of how much there is to do and experiment with.

Although a game about a cloned Hitman may sound ultra-serious and gritty, Hitman 3 continues the series' tradition of not taking itself too seriously and letting players experiment with ridiculously complex and hilarious ways of assassinating their targets.