List of first-person shooter engines

This is a sortable list of first-person shooter engines.

Early 1970s - Late 1980s: wireframes to flat-shaded 3D

Game engine First used for Date Other first-person shooters
N/a Maze 1973
N/a Spasim 1974
Arsys Software Plazma Line 1984 Wibarm (1986), Star Cruiser (1988), Star Cruiser 2 (1992)
Freescape Driller 1987 Dark Side (1988), Total Eclipse (1988), Castle Master (1990), Castle Master II: The Crypt (1990), Total Eclipse II: The Sphinx Jinx (1991)
N/a The Colony 1988

Early 1990s: 2.5D environments, sprites, and textures

Game engine First used for Date Other first-person shooters
The Super Spy 1990
proto-Wolfenstein 3D engine Hovertank 3D 1990
Catacomb 3D 1991
N/a Gunbuster 1992
Wolfenstein 3D engine Wolfenstein 3D 1992 Spear of Destiny (1992), Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold (1993), Operation Body Count (1994), Corridor 7: Alien Invasion (1994), Blake Stone: Planet Strike (1994), Rise of the Triad (1994), Super Noah's Ark 3D (1994)
Underworld Engine Ultima Underworld 1992
KenTech Ken's Labyrinth 1993
Pie in the Sky Lethal Tender 1993 Terminal Terror (1994), Pencil Whipped (2000), various others (1994–1998)
Doom engine Doom 1993 Doom II: Hell on Earth (1994), Heretic (1994), The Ultimate Doom (1995), Hexen: Beyond Heretic (1995), Master Levels for Doom II (1995), Hexen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel (1996), Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders (1996), Strife: Quest for the Sigil (1996), Final Doom (1996), Chex Quest (1996), Chex Quest 2: Flemoids Take Chextropolis (1997), Doom 64 (1997)
Aleph Zero Marathon 1994
Build Engine Legend of the Seven Paladins 1994 Witchaven (1995), William Shatner's TekWar (1995), Duke Nukem 3D (1996), Witchaven II: Blood Vengeance (1996), Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition (1996), PowerSlave (1996, PC version), Redneck Rampage (1997), Blood (1997), Shadow Warrior (1997), Redneck Rampage: Suckin' Grits on Route 66 (1998), Redneck Rampage Rides Again (1998), NAM (1998), Extreme Paintbrawl (1998), World War II GI (1999), Ion Fury (2019)
Aleph One Marathon 2: Durandal 1995 Marathon Infinity (1996), Prime Target (1996), ZPC (1996), Damage Incorporated (1997)
Jedi Engine Star Wars: Dark Forces 1995 Outlaws (1997)
Gloom Gloom 1995 Gloom 2, Gloom 3, Gloom mods (1995–2015)
BreedTech Alien Breed 3D 1995
BreedTech 2 Alien Breed 3D II: The Killing Grounds 1996
N/a Assassin 2015 1996 Goosebumps: Attack of the Mutant (1997)
N/a Chasm: The Rift 1997

Mid 1990s: True 3D Environments, texture mapping/polygons, sprites-to-polygons animation transition, beginnings of 3D Graphics hardware acceleration (3dfx glide-NVIDIA)

Game engine First used for Date Other first-person shooters
N/a Geograph Seal 1994
System Shock Engine System Shock 1994
N/a Descent 1995 Descent II (1996)
RenderWare 1.x CyberStreet (Tech Demo) 1994
RenderWare 2.x Active Worlds 1995
XnGine The Terminator: Future Shock 1995 The Terminator: SkyNET (1996)
Quake engine Quake 1996 Hexen II (1997), Malice (1997), X-Men: The Ravages of Apocalypse (1997), Quake II (1999, N64 Only), Laser Arena (2000), Wrath: Aeon of Ruin (2019)
SlaveDriver PowerSlave (Saturn) 1996 Quake (1997, Saturn), Duke Nukem 3D (1997, Saturn)
TEngine (Turok Engine) Turok: Dinosaur Hunter 1997 Turok 2: Seeds of Evil (1998), South Park (1998), Turok: Rage Wars (1999), Armorines: Project S.W.A.R.M. (1999), Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion (2000)
RareWare Engine GoldenEye 007 1997 Perfect Dark (2000)
Sith engine Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II 1997

Late 1990s: 32-bit color, per-vertex-animation-to-skeletal animation transition, fixed-function pipeline, peak-software-renderer-era

Game engine First used for Date Other first-person shooters
Quake II Engine Quake II 1997 Heretic II (1998), SiN (1998), Kingpin: Life of Crime (1999), Soldier of Fortune (2000), Daikatana (2000)
NetImmerse Spellbinder: The Nexus Conflict (1999) 1997 The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (2002)
Unreal Engine 1 Unreal 1998 Star Trek: The Next Generation: Klingon Honor Guard (1998), TNN Outdoors Pro Hunter (1998), Unreal Tournament (1999), Deus Ex (2000), Clive Barker's Undying (2001), Duke Nukem Forever (2011), Duke Nukem Forever: Restoration Project
Red Storm Engine Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six (video game) 1998 Rainbow Six: Eagle Watch (1999 expansion)  Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear (1999), Rogue Spear expansions: Urban Operations (2000),Covert Ops Essentials (2000), and Black Thorn (2001)
Lithtech 1.x - Talon Shogo: Mobile Armor Division 1998 Blood II: The Chosen (1998), TNN Outdoors Pro Hunter 2 (1999), KISS Psycho Circus: The Nightmare Child (2000), The Operative: No One Lives Forever (2000), Sanity: Aiken's Artifact (2000), Vietnam: Black Ops (2000), Vietnam 2: Special Assignment (2001), Alien Vs. Predator 2 (2001), Crisis Team: Ambulance Driver (2002)
N/a Trespasser 1998
GoldSrc (Modified Quake Engine) Half-Life 1998 Counter-Strike (2000), Gunman Chronicles (2000), James Bond 007: Nightfire (2002, PC version), Day of Defeat (2003), Counter-Strike: Condition Zero (2004)
Dark Engine Thief: The Dark Project 1998 System Shock 2 (1999), Thief II: The Metal Age (2000)
AtmosFear Carnivores (video game) 1998 Carnivores 2 (1999)
Darkstar Starsiege: Tribes 1998
N/a Redline (1999 video game) 1999
E.A.T. Engine Requiem: Avenging Angel 1999
Asura Alien Vs. Predator 1999 Judge Dredd: Dredd vs. Death (2003)
Fusion Descent 3 (1999) 1999
Insanity 3D Hidden & Dangerous 1999
IC Mortyr 2093 - 1944 1999
Hammerhead Studios Engine Quake II (PlayStation Only) 1999
N/a Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six (PlayStation) 1999 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Lone Wolf (PS1), Delta Force: Urban Warfare (2002)
N/a Medal of Honor (1999 video game) 1999 Medal of Honor: Underground (2000)
Refractor Codename: Eagle 1999 Riding Champion: Legacy of Rosemond Hill (2000)
Phoenix VR Dracula: The Resurrection 1999
N/a SWAT 3: Close Quarters Battle 1999
Eurocom (007: TWINE) 007: The World Is Not Enough 2000

Early 2000s: End of Software Renderer, First GPU (GeForce 256)-GPUs become standard, Increasing detail, outdoor environments, skeletal animation-standard, baked lightmaps/dynamic lighting, Fixed-Function-To-Early Programmable Shaders Transition, Single-Threaded CPU, Real-Time Physics

Game engine First used for Date Other first-person shooters
id Tech 3 (First engine to require Hardware-Accelerated GPU) Quake III Arena 1999 Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force (2000), Quake III: Team Arena (2000), Urban Terror (2000), OpenArena (2006), Tremulous (2006)
Zero Battlezone II: Combat Commander 1999 Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2002), Star Wars: Battlefront (2004), Star Wars: Battlefront II (2005)
Ptero Engine Flying Heroes 2000 Vietcong (2003), Vietcong 2 (2005)
Phoenix3D The Messenger (2000 video game) 2000 Iron Storm (2002), Inquisition (2002)
RenderWare 3.x RoboCop (2003 video game) 2000 Call of Duty: Finest Hour (2004), Cold Winter (2005), Battlefield 2: Modern Combat (2005), Black (2006)
N/a TimeSplitters (video game) 2000 TimeSplitters 2 (2002), TimeSplitters: Future Perfect (2005)
N/a Project I.G.I. 2000 I.G.I. 2 - Covert Strike (2003)
id Tech 3.5 Heavy Metal F.A.K.K. 2 2000 With UberTools (Ritual Entertainment): James Bond 007: Agent Under Fire (2001), Medal of Honor: Allied Assault (2002), Star Trek: Elite Force II (2003), James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing (2004), Call of Duty (2003)

Other Modified Branches: Return to Castle Wolfenstein (2001), Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast (2002), Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix (2002), Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory (2003), Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy (2003), ioquake3 (2009)

Serious Engine Serious Sam: The First Encounter 2001 Serious Sam: The Second Encounter (2002)
Torque Game Engine Tribes 2 (2001) 2001 Desert Gunner (2006)
Geo-Mod Descent 4 (Cancelled) 1998/2001 Red Faction (2001), Red Faction II (2002)
Real Virtuality Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis 2001 VBS1 (2002), ArmA: Armed Assault (2007), ARMA II (2009)
Cube Engine Cube 2001 AssaultCube (2008)
Chrome Engine 1 Survival: The Ultimate Challenge 2001 Chrome (2003), Chrome SpecForce (2005), Terrorist Takedown: Covert Operations (2006), Terrorist Takedown: War in Colombia (2006)
Blam Engine Halo: Combat Evolved 2001 Halo 2 (2004), Stubbs the Zombie (2005)
N/a Secret Service: In Harm's Way 2001
SAGE Command & Conquer: Renegade 2002
AMP Engine Gore: Ultimate Soldier 2002 Secret Service 2: Security Breach (2003)
Unreal Engine 2 America's Army 2002 Unreal Tournament 2003 (2002) Unreal II: The Awakening (2003), Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield (2003), Devastation (2003), Postal 2 (2003), Deus Ex: Invisible War (2003), Thief: Deadly Shadows (2004), Unreal Tournament 2004 (2004), Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (2006, Xbox only), Killing Floor (2009)
N/a Turok: Evolution 2002
Refractor 2 Battlefield 1942 2002 Battlefield Vietnam (2004), Battlefield 2 (2005), Battlefield 2142 (2006)
Lithtech Jupiter No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way 2002 Tron 2.0 (2003), Contract J.A.C.K. (2003), Combat Arms (2008)
Eurocom Engine (007: Nightfire) James Bond 007: Nightfire (Console Only) 2002
Treyarch NGL Spider-Man 2002 Call of Duty 2: Big Red One (2005), Call of Duty 3 (PlayStation 2/Xbox Only)
LS3D engine Hidden & Dangerous 2 2002 Mafia (2002)
JADE Engine Beyond Good & Evil 2003 Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game Of The Movie (PlayStation 2/GameCube/PSP/Xbox)
Gamebryo Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth (2005) 2003 BlackShot (2008), Fallout 3 (2008), Fallout New Vegas (2010)
N/a Breakdown (Xbox) 2004
Argon Mortyr 2: For Ever 2004
N/a Killzone 2004
N/a Project Snowblind 2005
Entropy Engine Area 51 (2005 video game) 2005 N/a
Red Storm Engine 2.0 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Lockdown 2005
Serious Engine 2 Serious Sam II (Xbox) 2005
N/a Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Critical Hour 2006
N/a Urban Chaos: Riot Response 2006

Mid 2000s: Dynamic Per-Pixel Lighting, High-Dynamic Range (HDR) lighting, Global Illumination, Multi-Threaded CPU, Advanced Physics, fully programmable shader implementation/pipeline

Game engine First used for Date Other first-person shooters
Diesel Ballistics 2001 Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (2006, PC version only), Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (2007, PC version only), Payday: The Heist (2011), Payday 2 (2013), Raid: World War II (2017)
CryEngine Far Cry 2004 Far Cry Instincts (2005), Far Cry Instincts: Evolution (2006), Far Cry Instincts: Predator (2006), Far Cry Vengeance (2006)
Starbreeze Engine The Chronicles Of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay 2004 The Darkness (2007), The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena (2009), Syndicate (2012)
Cube 2 Engine Cube 2: Sauerbraten 2004 Red Eclipse (2011)
id Tech 4 Doom 3 2004 Quake 4 (2005), Prey (2006), Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (2007), Wolfenstein (2009), Brink (2011)
Unreal Engine 2.5 Tribes: Vengeance 2004 SWAT 4 (2005), Bioshock (2007), Bioshock 2 (2010)
Source Counter-Strike: Source 2004 Half-Life 2 (2004), Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines (2004), Half-Life 2: Deathmatch (2004), Half-Life: Source (2004), Half-Life 2 (Xbox Port), Day of Defeat: Source (2005), Half-Life 2: Lost Coast (2005), Half-Life Deathmatch: Source (2006), Half-Life 2: Episode One (2006), Sin Episodes: Emergence (2006), The Ship (2006), Kuma\War (2006)
id Tech 3.5 (MOHPA Branch) Medal Of Honor: Pacific Assault 2004
Chrome Engine 2 Xpand Rally 2004 Code of Honor: The French Foreign Legion (2007), Battlestrike: Force of Resistance (2007), The Hell in Vietnam (2007), Sniper: Art of Victory (2007)
Lithtech Jupiter EX F.E.A.R. 2005 Condemned 2: Bloodshot (2008), F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin (2009)
Kt Engine Bet on Soldier: Blood Sport 2005 Bet on Soldier: Blood of Sahara (2006), Bet on Soldier: Black-out Saigon (2007), Speedball 2: Tournament (2007)
IW engine Call of Duty 2 2005 Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007), Call of Duty: World at War (2008), 007: Quantum of Solace (2008), Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009), Call of Duty: Black Ops (2010), Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011), Call of Duty: Black Ops II (2012), Call of Duty: Ghosts (2013), Call of Duty: Black Ops III (2015), Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (2016), Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (2018), Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019), Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War (2020), Call of Duty: Vanguard (2021), Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (2022), Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III (2023), Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (2024), Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 (2025), Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 (2026)
Unity GooBall 2005 Deus Ex: The Fall (2013), Interstellar Marines (2013),Dead Effect (2013), Superhot (2016), DUSK (2018), Escape from Tarkov (2025), ULTRAKILL (Early Access)
Treyarch NGL (COD 3) Call Of Duty 3 (Xbox 360/PlayStation 3) 2006
Chrome Engine 3 Call of Juarez 2006
Unreal Engine 3 Gears Of War 2006 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas (2006), Medal of Honor: Airborne (2007), Unreal Tournament 3 (2007), BlackSite: Area 51 (2007), Turok (2008), Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway (2008), Borderlands (2009), Medal of Honor (2010. singleplayer only), Singularity (2010)
N/a Resistance: Fall Of Man 2006 Resistance 2 (2008)
X-Ray Engine S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl 2007 S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky (2008), S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat (2009)
Blam Engine (Halo 3) Halo 3 2007 Halo 3: ODST (2009)

Late 2000s to 2010s: high-resolution textures, widescreen resolution, unified shader model

Game engine First used for Date Other first-person shooters
Source 2007 (The Orange Box branch) Half-Life 2: Episode Two 2007 Team Fortress 2 (2007), Dystopia (2007), Left 4 Dead (2008), Left 4 Dead 2 (2009), Zeno Clash (2009), NeoTokyo (2009), Bloody Good Time (2010), No More Room in Hell (2011), Nuclear Dawn (2011), Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (2012), Consortium (2014), Fistful of Frags (2014), Day of Infamy (2017), Black Mesa (2020), G String (2020)
CryEngine 2 Crysis 2007 Crysis Warhead (2008), Entropia Universe (2009)
Evolution Dark Sector 2008 The Darkness II (2012)
Dunia Engine Far Cry 2 2008
Frostbite Engine Battlefield: Bad Company 2008 Battlefield 1943 (2009), Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (2010), Medal of Honor (2010, multiplayer only), Battlefield 3 (2011), Battlefield 4 (2013), Battlefield Hardline (2015), Star Wars Battlefront (2015), Battlefield 1 (2016), Star Wars Battlefront II (2017), Battlefield V (2018), Star Wars: Squadrons (2020), Battlefield 2042 (2021), Battlefield 6 (2025)
N/a Killzone 2 2009 Killzone 3 (2011)
EGO engine Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising 2009
Real Virtuality 3 ArmA 2 2009
Chrome Engine 4 Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood 2009 Sniper: Ghost Warrior (2010)
Serious Engine 3/3.5 Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter 2009 Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter (2009), Serious Sam 3: BFE (2011)
Blam Engine (Halo Reach) Halo: Reach 2010 Halo 4 (2012), Halo 5: Guardians (2015)
id Tech 5 Rage 2011 Wolfenstein: The New Order (2014), Wolfenstein: The Old Blood (2015)
Unreal Engine 3.5 Batman: Arkham City 2011 Tribes: Ascend (2012), Borderlands 2 (2012), Aliens: Colonial Marines (2013), BioShock Infinite (2013), Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel (2014), Killing Floor 2 (2016)
Chrome Engine 5 Dead Island 2011 Call of Juarez: The Cartel (2011), Dead Island: Riptide (2013), Call of Juarez: Gunslinger (2013)
CryEngine 3 Crysis 2 2011 Crysis (2011, console versions), Crysis 3 (2013), Warface (2013), Enemy Front (2014)
Vision Engine 8 7554 2011
Creation Engine The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim 2011 Fallout 4 (2015), Fallout 76 (2018)
Dunia 2 Far Cry 3 2012 Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon (2013), Far Cry 4 (2014), Far Cry Primal (2016), Far Cry 5 (2018), Far Cry 6 (2021)
id Tech 4.5 (Includes some features from id Tech 5) Doom 3: BFG Edition 2012
Real Virtuality 4 ArmA 3 2013
Decima Killzone: Shadow Fall 2013 RIGS: Mechanized Combat League (2016)
Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (GTA V) Grand Theft Auto V (PS4/Xbox One) 2013 Red Dead Redemption II (2018)
Source (Respawn Entertainment branch) Titanfall 2014 Titanfall 2 (2016), Apex Legends (2019)
Tiger Engine Destiny 2014 Destiny 2 (2017)
Sledgehammer Games Engine Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare 2014 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered (2016), Call of Duty: WWII (2017), Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered (2020)
Unreal Engine 4 Space Hulk: Deathwing 2014 LawBreakers (2017), Hypercharge: Unboxed (2017), Insurgency: Sandstorm (2018), Borderlands 3 (2019), Bright Memory (2019), Descent (2019), Postal 4 (2019), Squad (2020), Tiny Tina's Wonderlands (2022), Atomic Heart (2023), Payday 3 (2023) Delta Force (2025, multiplayer)
Chrome Engine 6 Dying Light 2015
CryEngine 4 Evolve 2015 Homefront: The Revolution (2016), Prey (2017)
id Tech 6 Doom 2016 Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (2017), Wolfenstein: Youngblood (2019), Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot (2019)
Dawn Engine Deus Ex: Mankind Divided 2016
CryEngine V Hunt: Showdown (2018) 2016 Crysis Remastered (2020)

2020s: 8K, real-time ray-tracing

Game engine First used for Date Other first-person shooters
id Tech 7 Doom Eternal 2020 Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (2024)
Source 2 (HL:A Branch) Half-Life: Alyx (2020) 2020 Counter-Strike 2 (2023)
Slipspace Halo Infinite 2021
Enfusion Arma Reforger 2022 Arma 4 (Upcoming)
Unreal Engine 5 Immortals of Aveum (2023) 2022 RoboCop: Rogue City (2023), The Finals (2023), Concord (2024), S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl (2024), Delta Force (2025, singleplayer), Squad (2020, updated to UE5 from UE4 in 2025), Borderlands 4 (2025), Halo: Campaign Evolved (2026), Bodycam (Upcoming)
id Tech 8 Doom: The Dark Ages 2025
CryEngine 6 TBA TBA

See also

References

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