List of first-person shooter engines

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

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 and textures

Game engine First used for Date Other first-person shooters
N/a The Super Spy 1990
Wolf 3D Engine 0.5 Hovertank 3D 1990
Wolfenstein 3D Engine 0.9 Catacomb 3D 1991
N/a Gun Buster 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 System Shock (1994)
KenTech Ken's Labyrinth 1993
Pie in the Sky Lethal Tender 1993 Terminal Terror (1994), Pencil Whipped (2000), various others (1994–1998)
id Tech 1 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: 3D texture mapping, beginnings of hardware acceleration

Game engine First used for Date Other first-person shooters
N/a Geograph Seal 1994
N/a Descent 1995 Descent II (1996), Descent 3 (1999)
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), 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), Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion (2000)
RareWare Engine GoldenEye 007 1997 Perfect Dark (2000)
Sith engine Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II 1997
id Tech 2 Quake II 1997 Heretic II (1998), SiN (1998), Kingpin: Life of Crime (1999), Soldier of Fortune (2000), Daikatana (2000)
Lithtech 1.0 Shogo: Mobile Armor Division 1998 Blood II: The Chosen (1998)

Late 1990s: 32-bit color, GPUs become standard

Game engine First used for Date Other first-person shooters
Unreal Engine Unreal 1998 Star Trek: The Next Generation: Klingon Honor Guard (1998), Unreal Tournament (1999), Deus Ex (2000), Clive Barker's Undying (2001)
GoldSrc 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)
Torque Starsiege: Tribes 1998 Tribes 2 (2001)
id Tech 3 Quake III Arena 1999 Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force (2000), Quake III: Team Arena (2000), Urban Terror (2000), Return to Castle Wolfenstein (2001), Medal of Honor: Allied Assault (2002), Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast (2002), Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix (2002), Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory (2003), Star Trek: Elite Force II (2003), Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy (2003), Call of Duty (2003), ioquake3 (2005), OpenArena (2006), Tremulous (2006)
Refractor Codename: Eagle 1999 Riding Champion: Legacy of Rosemond Hill (2000)
Lithtech 2.x The Operative: No One Lives Forever 2000

Early 2000s: increasing detail, outdoor environments, ragdoll physics

Game engine First used for Date Other first-person shooters
Serious Engine Serious Sam: The First Encounter 2001 Serious Sam: The Second Encounter (2002)
Real Virtuality Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis 2001 VBS1 (2002), ArmA: Armed Assault (2007), ARMA II (2009)
Cube Engine Cube 2001 AssaultCube (2008)
SAGE Command & Conquer: Renegade 2002
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), Unreal Tournament 2004 (2004), Thief: Deadly Shadows (2004)
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)

Mid 2000s: dynamic lighting, early shader implementation

Game engine First used for Date Other first-person shooters
Blam Engine Halo: Combat Evolved 2001 Halo 2 (2004), Stubbs the Zombie (2005), Halo 3 (2007), Halo 3: ODST (2009), Halo: Reach (2010), Halo 4 (2012), Halo 5: Guardians (2015)
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)
Zero Star Wars: The Clone Wars 2002 Star Wars: Battlefront (2004), Star Wars: Battlefront II (2005)
Unreal Engine 2.5 Tribes Vengeance 2004 Unreal Tournament 2004 (2004), BioShock (2007), Duke Nukem Forever (2011)
CryEngine Far Cry 2004 Far Cry Instincts (2005), Far Cry Instincts: Evolution (2006), Far Cry Instincts: Predator (2006), Far Cry Vengeance (2006)
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)
Source Counter-Strike: Source 2004 Half-Life 2 (2004), Half-Life 2: Deathmatch (2004), Half-Life: Source (2004), Day of Defeat: Source (2005), Half-Life 2: Lost Coast (2005), Half-Life Deathmatch: Source (2006), Half-Life 2: Episode One (2006), SiN Episodes (2006), The Ship (2006), Kuma\War (2006), 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)
Lithtech Jupiter EX F.E.A.R. 2005 Combat Arms (2008), F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin (2009)
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)
Treyarch NGL Call of Duty 2: Big Red One 2005 Call of Duty 3 (2006)
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)

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

Game engine First used for Date Other first-person shooters
Unreal Engine 3 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2006 Medal of Honor: Airborne (2007), Unreal Tournament 3 (2007), Turok (2008), Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway (2008), Aliens: Colonial Marines (2013), Borderlands (2009), Medal of Honor (2010. singleplayer only), Tribes: Ascend (2012), Borderlands 2 (2012), BioShock Infinite (2013), Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel (2014)
CryEngine 2 Crysis 2007 Crysis Warhead (2008), Entropia Universe (2009)
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)
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)
EGO engine Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising 2009
Real Virtuality 3 ArmA 2 2009
Chrome Engine 4 Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood 2009 Dead Island (2011)
id Tech 5 Rage 2011 Wolfenstein: The New Order (2014), Wolfenstein: The Old Blood (2015)
CryEngine 3 Crysis 2 2011 Crysis (2011, console versions), Crysis 3 (2013), Warface (2013), Enemy Front (2014)
Vision Engine 8 7554 2011
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)
Real Virtuality 4 ArmA 3 2013
Decima Killzone: Shadow Fall 2013 RIGS: Mechanized Combat League (2016)
Rockstar Advanced Game Engine Grand Theft Auto V 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)
CryEngine 4 Evolve 2015 Homefront: The Revolution (2016), Prey (2017)
Unreal Engine 4 Space Hulk: Deathwing 2016 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)
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 Half-Life: Alyx 2020 Counter-Strike 2 (2023)
Slipspace Halo Infinite 2021
Enfusion Arma Reforger 2022 Arma 4 (Upcoming)
Unreal Engine 5 Immortals of Aveum 2023 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

Specialized engines/engine middle-ware

See also

References

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