Both first-person and third-person shooters saw a plethora of all-time classics released across a number of platforms during the aughts, while the immense success of consoles such as the PlayStation 2 and 3 and Xbox 360 helped spearhead the genre's push into the mainstream. More than two decades later, many of those games remain standard-bearers for shooters as a whole. Many of the most notable shooters from the 2000s have been remade over the years, as their impact and enduring popularity make them attractive candidates for a modern overhaul.
Others have received remasters, which aim to preserve the game's original experience while updating elements such as visuals, performance, resolution, and more for newer hardware. But which shooters from the 2000s remain so good that they still don’t need a full-blown remake? After all, we must "finish this fight." Note: Games that have received remasters are eligible for this list, but those that have received a complete, from-the-ground-up remake are not.
There are few shooters from the 2000s quite like STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl. Set in an alternate version of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, GSC Game World's first-person shooter (FPS) throws players into a radioactive wasteland filled with mutants, hostile factions, bizarre anomalies, and valuable artifacts — all the while mixing traditional shooter gameplay with engaging RPG and survival-horror elements. That combination makes simply surviving "The Zone" an adventure unto itself.
Ammo and medical supplies are extremely limited (especially on higher difficulties), and firefights can turn into one-sided bloodbaths swiftly. Furthermore, the game's A-Life system helps enemies and creatures feel like inhabitants of the world rather than cannon fodder waiting around for the player to show up, then blow them up. Shadow of Chernobyl might be rough around the edges, but that almost feels appropriate for a game this grimy, hostile, and ruthlessly atmospheric.
A modern remake could certainly smooth out some of the game's more infamously janky elements (such as enemies occasionally getting stuck or quests reappearing), but doing so might also scrub away some of the weirdness that made STALKER such a cult classic in the first place. Upon seeing a game with the title of Prey, you might be thinking: "Hey, wasn't that remade in 2017 by Arkane Studios to critical acclaim?" Although it shares the title, Arkane's 2017 Prey is an entirely different game than the 2006 original. Developed by Human Head Studios, the original Prey follows Cherokee mechanic Tommy Tawodi after he, his girlfriend, and his grandfather are abducted aboard a gigantic alien vessel known as the Sphere.
From there, things get progressively wilder and more intense, with Prey using portals, gravity manipulation, wall-walking, and Tommy's spirit-walking ability to flummox the player's sense of direction as well as traditional FPS expectations. Those mechanics are what make Prey feel remarkably distinct even two decades later. Shooting enemies through portals, fighting while the room itself seems to turn upside down, and navigating environments that deliberately ignore the normal rules of physics give the game an identity that few shooters have successfully replicated since.
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