Summary
The hero shooter genrehas exploded in popularity over the last decade, and it’s shown no signs of slowing down any time soon. On the surface, these types of games can seem like little more than traditional FPS or third-person shooters that everyone’s already familiar with, but what makes them unique is how they incorporate different characters who all come with their own abilities. Players are, therefore, free to experiment with a host of different classes to see which suits their preferred playstyle the most, but while some hero shooters are considered easy to pick up and play, others can take a lot of time and practice to get good at.
There are numerous ways that a hero shooter can end up being difficult; sometimes, it can be due to thetricky gunplay, while in other instances, it comes down to how much needs to be learned to grasp the most basic mechanics of the game. Either way, there have been quite a few difficult but worthwhile hero shooters that have appeared over the years, but the ones listed below are often considered by fans of the genre to be the hardest of the bunch.
The hardest part ofDirty Bombis getting used to the game’s rock-solid gunplay. Anyone who has playedCounter-Strike: Global Offensivewill feel right at home when firing off a few weapons in this game since the two largely feel the same in their core gameplay, but newcomers might want to dedicate a little bit of time practicing first before jumping into a match.
Because so many players can take part in a single match, it also means gunfights can get hectic pretty quickly, so everyone needs to be on their A-game to stand any chance of coming out the victors. In terms of the playable mercenaries, there’s a staggering number of them to choose from, and not only do they have their own abilities, but they also come with different stats. This encourages players to experiment as much as possible in order to land on someone they like the feel of since they’re all vastly different in how they play and their designated roles.
Once players skydive onto the battlefield upon entering a match inRogue Company, they will be tasked with completing objectives alongside their team to not only earn points, but also money too. This can then be spent between rounds onspecific upgrades, weapons, and perks, and though this is an interesting mechanic that helps keep the gameplay fresh and fun, it can also be easy for players to lag behind if they don’t perform well enough.
Each Rogue in the game can utilize numerous different abilities, many of which can have drastic effects, such as turning a character invisible or piloting a drone to fire down rockets on any enemies in sight. Figuring out how to deal with these characters can take quite a bit of time, but it’s also satisfying to counter a specific character after being bested by them on so many previous occasions.
Apex Legendsis a pretty unique game in the sense that it somehow manages to blend atraditional battle-royale formulawith a hero-shooter gameplay system. As a result, while players do have a selection of unique heroes to choose from when booting up the game, the map they’re dropped into is much larger than ones seen in other games and is also packed full of supplies and equipment to gather. Because of this, it means it can be easy for one squad to become much more powerful than all the others from the get-go if they get their hands on some valuable loot straight away.
To counter this, though, the game heavily encourages players to stick together and use their characters' abilities simultaneously to fend away enemy squads and buff one another in combat. The randomness ofApex’s loot does mean players will need a lot of luck to survive until the very end, but learning a specific hero and discovering how to use them to their full potential can still help to tip the scales of a match.
Before players can really start digging into the deeper mechanics ofQuake Champions, the biggest hurdle they will need to overcome is the movement. Strafe jumping, for example, is a crucially important technique that allows a character to stay on the move so they don’t get caught out with a barrage of bullets, but pulling this off is a lot easier said than done. It’s also important to try and stack up as many items as possible throughout a match since one-on-one gunfights can often be dictated by how much armor or health a person has acquired.
The guns featured inQuake Championsare also very different in their overall stats, with some, primarily theRailgun and Lightning Gun, being much more powerful than others, so seeking them out is always a good idea. It’s not easy to keep this all in mind during those first few hours of gameplay, but the game does admittedly become much more manageable after mastering the complex movement system.
ThoughValorantended up becoming incredibly popular when it launched in 2020, primarily thanks to big streamers showing the game off, it’s not exactly the most accessible game out there. In fact, it can be quite brutal to get into, especially because of how much there is to learn.The Agents inValorantare all designed to complement one another through their abilities, so the game will severely punish anyone who tries to act as a lone wolf and take on the whole team by themselves.
Voice communication is therefore crucial when playingValorantto ensure the team are always on the same wavelength, otherwise, a match can go down the drain in no time at all, considering how fast the time to kill is.Valorantalso requires players to learn the layouts of its maps in order to avoid flanks and dangerous sightlines, so getting picked off in those first few matches is more or less a guarantee and is simply part of the learning process.
Rainbow Six Siege’sintimidating learning curve has prevented a lot of people from picking up the game, but it’s also one of the most rewarding hero shooters out there to get good at. The matches follow a simple 5v5 formula where one team defends and the other attacks, but what makesSiegeso difficult is its deeper mechanics and systems, which players are required to learn about. Because of the sheer amount of gadgets that are now in the game, it can be easy for newcomers to become overwhelmed with all the random symbols popping on the screen and noises going off in the background, so learning how they each work is a necessity.
Similarly toValorant, players will need to know their way around the game’s maps in order to react in time to any breachers or roamers who might be lurking around a building. The good news is,Ubisoft have introduced plenty of accessibility modes and optionsover the years, including a shooting range which can help out with the gunplay, but needless to say, there are many reasons why many people saySiegehas one of the steepest learning curves in gaming.
LawBreakersis quite an interesting game as although it’s often considered painfully difficult in its core gameplay, the truth is,it’s not actually available to play online anymore. After lackluster sales, the game’s servers were shut down in late 2018, but despite this, it has held a lasting legacy as being one of the hardest FPS hero shooters ever made.LawBreakersis a game that emphasizes high-speed action over everything else, with each map containing a plethora of energy ramps that can send characters flying across the arena to get the drop on the enemy team if they’re skilled enough.
Though it can take quite a few shots to fully kill an enemy, because of how lightning-fast everyone moves, it can be quite tricky trying to focus the reticle for long enough to even damage someone, let alone take them down for good. In the leadup toLawBreaker’srelease, Cliff Blezinski dubbed it as being the “Dark Soulsof competitive hero shooters,” and as many people got to experience, this certainly wasn’t a lie.
