Top 10 Most Realistic First Person Shooters

The Top Ten
1 Escape from Tarkov

Escape from Tarkov is the most realistic shooter available as of 2018. Every aspect of the gameplay has been tailored to be as realistic as possible. I'm a huge Squad/Insurgency/Red Orchestra fan, but EFT takes the cake. ARMA and Squad exist for military operations, of course, but if you want the FULL first-person experience, you need EFT.

One of many examples of the stellar design in EFT is sound. Sound is one example of what many realistic shooters seem to forget nowadays. Footsteps are loud, rubbing past a branch or the rustling of clothing as you move all makes noise. This is all taken into account in EFT, which means you are always risking being spotted if you move too fast and someone is nearby. Gunshots draw people from all around. You cannot search the bodies of people you killed silently; zippers, searching through bags, it all makes noise. EFT does this near perfectly.

Hits from bullets are also something too many games do wrong. Being shot in real life in most ...more

If you want super realistic weapon and combat simulator, then you have to play EFT. The game is so realistic, so hardcore, & so immersive, it's gonna give you PTSD (casual players will quit it right away). The gunplay, gun mechanic, sound design, armor ballistic, survival system, rpg element, & many more are amazingly realistic.

I followed this game since october of 2016, and let me tell you I've ever been more amazed with a game in my life. The realism keeps you locked in to play, great game must have for anyone to experience

The game has realistic graphics, damage system, weapon customization, and more. This game is very promising and should be even better upon release

2 Arma 3

Heavy squad based multiplayer game play, if you join the right server you can wait maybe an hour for your squad leader to finish briefing, then they have to brief you. Unless your given just basic goals, this game can be super complex. And if you have some mods like ACE, medic systems are much more complicated than just picking up and using a first aid kit, or regenerating health like Call of Duty.

This must have the largest learning curve on this list. This is not my favorite game on this list. This is by far the most realistic game on this list.

I served in the military (infantry) and in afghanistan. There is a co-op mission in the game called "a normal day", It hit to close to home and I had to take a break because it was the first time I experienced PTSD.

The entire goal of this game IS realism. There are few games that come even close to the level of realism(in many ways) that Arma 3 and its predecessors offer.

3 Squad

I, literally, have no idea of why it is ranked below CS:S and Call of Duty 4. I know both are great games, but in terms of graphics reality, this game must have beaten up all those two. Either ArmA 3 or Squad, I honestly couldn't choose, but based on my experience playing ArmA 3, it seems that ArmA 3 runs not as smooth as this one even though I was on a pretty decent gaming laptop. I haven't bought this game, but by watching some of the gameplay videos at YouTube, I can assure you, this game deserves top 5 in the list, or even top 3 (either above or below ArmA 3).

Squad is definitely realistic. The way it simulates teamwork and military tactics, out of REQUIREMENT, should put it in the top 10. And that's not including bullet drop, realistic health levels, and (finally) great animations. Plus it's not even finished by far, and the updates are becoming more frequent and change more.

Even though it is still in alpha development this games is extremely realistic and simulates modern combat and the requirement of teamwork, highly recommend watching videos and buying this game I have over 700 hours on it.

"Squad is a 50 vs 50 multiplayer first-person shooter that aims to capture combat realism through communication and teamplay. Major features include vehicle-based combined arms gameplay, large scale environments, base building, and integrated positional VoIP for proximity talking & radio"

4 Red Dead Redemption 2
5 ARMA

The people who voted for Call of Duty either have never played a realistic FPS ever, or they think that Call of Duty is as close to a real war as they can get.

While I have never owned, Arma myself, I have played it multiple times before, and it is much more realistic than Call of Duty or Battlefield. Battlefield does have bullet drop, big maps, and in hardcore mode, one shot to the vitals is a kill. But the Arma games have much more realism and tactics in them, which I find to be more fun than bouncing around a small map quickscoping, running up to someone while they shoot at you to knife them, and throwing grenades all the way across the map. The Arma games are definitely the most realistic, and as soon as I get a computer with a decent graphics card I will be buying them.

How the hell are Battlefield and Call of Duty even on this list? Regenerating health? Please explain to me how the human body heals itself within thirty seconds of a laceration. In this game if you get shot, and there's no medic nearby you will bleed out. >90% of the combat takes place in wide open areas, with shots being taken at distances sometimes greater than a kilometer. If you want to hit anything, you'd best be lying down. Reloading places the semi-emptied clip back in your inventory for later use, meaning that you might accidentally load into your gun a magazine containing only 1 bullet. Cover is vital. You will want to stay behind a rock or dense trees if you don't want your face to be blown off in a hail of AKM bullets. And that is just the singleplayer campaign. I could go into how all the weapons and vehicles behave like they do in real life (or at least as close as technology will allow) but that would take me over 10 pages in Microsoft Word.

ARMA III, has nice graphics, huge areas, decent AI in the campaign and handles bullet drop over distance well, including windage etc..
It also has Helo's. Jets, Boats and all sorts of vehicles.
Call of Duty and boyfriend players might not like it as much as it is a totally different type of game, its more of a military sim than it is a game.. Call of Duty and boyfriend are like Hollywood, visuals and no realism, ARMA is great for tactics, and is much harder to play in terms of shooting skill etc especially on hardest difficulty..
It's a great series.. 10/10. I've played a lot of shooters and AMRA2/3 are the best by far in terms of realism.. There are others with better storys though, as ARMA is more like an actual military exercise.

Arma series is always dedicated to those hardcore gamers who want to experience shooting game to a reality extend. It's probably the most realistic shooting game you can get as for right now. With unlimited possible game modes thanks to huge modding community, this game has brought realism into a completely different level. If anything, you may actually need to take the first 10 to 15 hours to learn about the basics, including radio standard communication, following order from your superiors, etc.

6 Insurgency: Sandstorm
7 Insurgency

For people with minimal experience on real steel firearms, Insurgency is a way good. The gun physics, sounds, explosions and specially the suppression caused during firefights are pretty good. Aiming with your zoom sight is a weird task to achieve and takes some time to get used to it (like the real life, test the game and you will see). Insurgency teaches you that suppressive fire is as important as hit the target, as well. No ammo counting; the only thing displayed is how much spare mags you have. If you think you can hit something with automatic fire, you'll be dissappointed, Here, auto firing is only useful during suppression. If you want to blow up some heads, so do this in semi-auto mode.

Insurgency is very realistic, while yes it can pretty face paced sometimes it makes up for it in the game's chosen environment being CQB. It requires map awareness, checking corners, removing enemies from key hold downs that prevent your team from capping a point or progressing in anyway etc. People compare Insurgency to games like Arma and Squad, while yes all three are realistic I don't think Insurgency should be compared to them. Different map sizes, tactics, player size in games, vehicles (yet) and all those. Plus Insurgency is running on Source Engine while Arma is using the RV4 engine while Squad the unreal making "realistic" textures for Insurgency quite hard. I'm looking forward to Insurgency: Sandstorm giving Insurgency a complete overhaul adding more weapons, better graphics using the Unreal Engine, more insane maps and to top it off vehicles.

I honestly don't know how half of these games got on here but the thing I will say is that this is pretty darn realistic and deserves second behind arma because this game capture the "check your corners" perfectly in multi-player, but arma captures the engaging from a distance rather than from 15 feet like cod4. Call of Duty in general doesn't deserve to be anywhere close to this list along with crysis, I mean really a Nano suit, really?! But arma and insurgency are deserving of these spots.

It's a multiplayer FPS taking place in Iraq & Afghanistan, you can choose to be on either side/team (US Marines Or Insurgents) and has very realistic damage (people will die with 1-3 shots, even with a pistol), quite a bit of realistic weapons that are customizable, and suppression (when bullets hit you or close to you your screen will blur a bit).

8 Hell Let Loose
9 theHunter: Call of the Wild
10 Rainbow Six Siege

How is this game not on top?

you can't heal up without specific operators, you can't even live up to 5 shots, one shot head shot, fully destructible environment, and a special elite force that does what delta force can't do. Of course there are some glitches that are annoying, but what makes a good game without BS, and good content? Don't even come at me with Call of Duty because honestly if I can't one shot headshot with a pistol, just delete that off of my screen. please.

Most realistic console game. Team killing is always active, one shot headshots, the only complaints that I have about this game is how you can tell if a player is in a dark room because they are always lighter colored compared to their surroundings. Another complaint is that glitches are a plenty but of course this game has many updates to come.

To be honest this game was extremely refreshing, damage models are fairly realistic and the destruction in the game is incredible. Very intense and immersive.

This is by far the most realistic shooter I have ever played. This game is my favorite and I just hit level 105.

The Contenders
11 Call of Duty: Warzone
12 Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Cod4 was graphically amazing, but you also should think about the story and how it builds up. Cod4 has one of the better stories made in any fps. I'm not saying the best, but one of the best.

Extremely realistic, I'm amazed by how close to reality this game is.

Multiplayer is exactly like a real war, it's almost scary.

A great game to play. When I first saw it in 2007, I couldn't believe this was possible. The Movement from PS2 to PlayStation 3 was absolutely amazing!

Call of Duty is like being in war!

13 Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad

Barrel overheating, sight adjustment, when a tank crew member dies inside the tank, you move the body to the side to access take his position... lots of realistic details

Do you even scope bro? When you scope in Red Orchestra 2 only the telescope zooms to the target. I think insurgency has this feature too. Both are great games

One shot kills are very common in this game.

I love this game. Sadly, it isn't so popular.

14 Battlefield 3

I think this game is #1 in realistically because it has advanced physics, you can fly and drive vehicles, and the movements are realistic ( I. E gun moves all around in recoil, not just up), you can see YOUR shadow as well as others, and you can see your feet, and FINALLY it doesn't take 9 shots from a pistol to kill a person.

Look. It's way more realistic than Call of Duty in all aspects. Go ahead and tell me I'm wrong

Why counter strike is more realistic than Battlefield?

This game is the most real feeling fps I have ever played. People always say counter strike but this definitely takes the cake over CS

15 Counter-Strike: Source

This game, besides arma 2 should be higher. The game has a physics engine that allow the game to not only feel and look realistic, but act realistic. The accuracy of guns are comparable to the real world.

16 Project Reality 2

Many real. Much accuracy. Very wow.

Very good game

As you close as you can get to military simulator, at least until squad is released

17 Operation Flashpoint

Most realistic game I have ever played why you ask health regeneration is for Call of Duty players that do not know how to heal themselves and also does battlefield have multiple choice objectives is medal of honor open world buff said.

Cod4?! Are you insane? That is not realistic. This is. No regenarating health ever, more realistic guns and equipment. And who knows how real Red River will be when it's released.

While I know this game is very realistic, I voted for Arma because I played it instead of Op Flashpoint.

Get shot you die! Realistic gun fire, hard to hit enemies without aiming. Most realistic I have played.

18 Crysis

Realistic if you're imagining future warfare I suppose and a good game. I think it's the PLAYERS that make a game realistic. If Call of Duty players just slowed down and played more tactically and actually TALKED to each other without some little kid telling you to shut up or calling people "campers" then Call of Duty could be a very realistic shooter. The Taliban don't pop up and shout "camper" at REAL soldiers HOLDING A GOOD POSITION. THAT is a realistic tactic, not running around like idiots.

For me Graphic means the amount of reality, Crysis and Crysis 2 are definitely the best 2 video games with the best Graphics so I vote for that game.

19 America's Army: Proving Grounds

The most Tactical and realistic game there, I played Battlefield 4 then this. If we compare graphics Battlefield 4 wins, if we compare which is more tactical and Realistic. of course Americas Army is more tactical and even realistic. We stay in covers if we get out 3-4 Shots are enough To get us to ground and we start bleeding. Peace. Check the game out.

Since I own AAPG, and I play ONLY realistic shooters and grand strategies, for me proving grounds is the most realistic CQB simulator. It is not like Arma because the latter stresses on large scale warfare. Proving grounds on the other hand deals with intense CQB encounters, something the special forces have been doing it ever since.

Everything from weapon control to ballistics is very true to life.

Great game, very authentic, this game shows just how much teamwork can help immensely in completing the mission. For free.. This game should be near the top of this list!

No regenerating health here! Damage is high and one death and you are out but if you go down a teammate can patch you up (once)and put you back in the fight.

20 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2

Why is Call of Duty more higher on this list than a tactical shooter? In this game you die it's your fault, it can be poor planning or poor execution why you die. In Call of Duty it's someone destroying you while using an unpatched exploit or an overpowered gun.

This game is essentially Call of Duty but you die from less bullets. The older Rainbow Six games I would vote for, like Raven Shield, but the Vegas series are capitalizing on the modern FPS' popularity.

Because you use cover, weapon selection is very important, and you can't survive 20 shots like COD

21 SWAT 4

Developed by retired swat team members, how can it not be realistic. Gun goes to low ready (unlike many other games) Very tactical

I like this game because of the strict ROE. You can't shoot a suspect unless they shoot first.

I like it because you need to think before you shot at a person... I could be a civilian

One of the most immersive FPS, tactical and realistic, but the game is really old now...

Hardly waiting for "Ready or not".

22 S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl

Multiple weapons, different ammo for different weapons, somewhat realistic ballistics and recoil. Weapons can deteriorate and worse condition means Realistic inventory system that takes both weight and bulk into account and forces the player to make really tough priorities. Aggressive AI that is really trying to kill you - not just standing there waiting to get shot. Some elements of the game are highly unrealistic such as artifacts that are "magical" items from high radiation which gives you bonuses. Geger meters, wild mutant animals etc. makes every trip really exciting.
As the game progresses it becomes more unrealistic story-wise but it could also be seen as the protagonist going crazy from radiation and solitude.

Wonderful game all in all that didn't get the attention it deserved.

23 Battlefield 1

None of the other games are CLOSE to battlefield 1.

Definitely realistic. Just not the realest

Battlefield 1 is known for is its destruction, sound and graphic quality, realism gameplay

24 Rising Storm 2: Vietnam

This game is very realistic. It's 2 to 3 shot kill, or 1 shot wherever you shoot them.

25 Battlefield Bad Company 2

Seriously Modern Warfare No. 1, you guys really need to rethink what makes a game realistic, it's not just having realistic environments and weapons, you have to be able to do realistic things as well.

After I got fed up with how unrealistic the Call of Duty games are, I started playing this and was very satisfied with it. Not 100% realistic but a huge improvement in realism compared to Call of Duty!

Pretty realistic I love destructive environments way better graphics than Call of Duty and halo.

Call of Duty at number one? Call of Duty ought to be the MOST unrealistic FPS to have ever been made! The whole franchise has been that way!

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