Software:List of first-person shooter engines

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

Early first-person shooter graphics engines

Game engine First used for Date Other first-person shooters
N/A Maze War 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), 3D Construction Kit (1991), 3D Construction Kit II (1992)
N/A The Colony 1988

Early 1990s: wireframes to 2.5D worlds and textures

Game engine First used for Date Other first-person shooter
N/A The Super Spy 1990 Crossed Swords (1991)
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 (1993), Operation Body Count (1994), Corridor 7 (1994), Blake Stone (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 (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 (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 Maiden (2019)
Aleph One Marathon 2 1995 Marathon Infinity (1996), Prime Target (1996), ZPC (1996), Damage Incorporated (1997)
Jedi Engine Star Wars 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 1996
N/A Assassin 2015 1996 Goosebumps: Attack of the Mutant (1997)
N/A Chasm 1997

Mid 1990s: 3D models, beginnings of hardware acceleration

Game engine First used for Date Other first-person shooters
N/A Geograph Seal 1994 Jumping Flash! (1995), Jumping Flash! 2 (1996), Robbit Mon Dieu (1999), Pocket MuuMuu (1999)
N/A Descent 1995 Descent II (1996), Descent 3 (1999)
XnGine The Terminator 1995 The Terminator: SkyNET (1996)
Quake Engine Quake 1996 Hexen II (1997), Malice (1997), X-Men (1997), Laser Arena (2000), Wrath (2019)
SlaveDriver PowerSlave (Sega Saturn version) 1996 Quake (1997, Sega Saturn version), Duke Nukem 3D (1997, Sega Saturn version)
TurokTech Turok 1997 Turok 2 (1998), South Park (1998), Turok (1999), Turok 3 (2000)
RareWare Engine GoldenEye 007 1997 Perfect Dark (2000)
Sith engine Star Wars Jedi Knight 1997
id Tech 2 Quake II 1997 Heretic II (1998), SiN (1998), Kingpin (1999), Soldier of Fortune (2000), Daikatana (2000)
Lithtech 1.0 Shogo 1998 Blood II (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 (2002, PC version), Day of Defeat (2003), Counter-Strike (2004)
Dark Engine Thief 1998 System Shock 2 (1999), Thief II: The Metal Age (2000)
Torque Starsiege 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 (2002), Star Wars Jedi Knight II (2002), Soldier of Fortune II (2002), Wolfenstein (2003), Star Trek: Elite Force II (2003), Star Wars Jedi Knight (2003), Call of Duty (2003), ioquake3 (2005), OpenArena (2006), Tremulous (2006)
Lithtech 2.x The Operative 2000

Early 2000s: increasing detail, outdoor environments, rag-doll physics

Game engine First used for Date Other first-person shooters
Serious Engine Serious Sam 2001 Serious Sam (2002)
Real Virtuality Operation Flashpoint 2001 VBS1 (2002), ArmA: Armed Assault (2007), ARMA II (2009)
Cube Engine Cube 2001 AssaultCube (2008)
SAGE Command & Conquer: Renegade 2002
Unreal Engine 2.0 America's Army 2002 Unreal Tournament 2003 (2002) Unreal II (2003), Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3 (2003), Devastation (2003), Postal 2 (2003), Unreal Tournament 2004 (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: lighting and pixel shaders, physics

Game engine First used for Date Other first-person shooters
Blam Engine Halo 2001 Halo 2 (2004), Stubbs the Zombie (2005), Halo 3 (2007), Halo 3 (2009), Halo (2010), Halo 4 (2012), Halo 5 (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 (2011), Payday 2 (2013), Raid (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 2004 Red Eclipse (2011)
id Tech 4 Doom 3 2004 Quake 4 (2005), Prey (2006), Enemy Territory (2007), Wolfenstein (2009), Brink (2011)
Source Counter-Strike 2004 Half-Life 2 (2004), Half-Life 2 (2004), Half-Life (2004), Day of Defeat (2005), Half-Life 2 (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 (2012), Consortium (2014), Fistful of Frags (2014), Day of Infamy (2017), Black Mesa (2020)
Lithtech Jupiter EX F.E.A.R. 2005 Combat Arms (2008), F.E.A.R. 2 (2009)
IW engine Call of Duty 2005 Call of Duty 4 (2007), Call of Duty (2008), 007: Quantum of Solace (2008), Call of Duty (2009), Call of Duty (2010), Call of Duty (2011), Call of Duty (2012), Call of Duty (2013), Call of Duty (2015), Call of Duty (2016), Call of Duty (2018), Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019), Call of Duty (2020), Call of Duty (2021), Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (2022), Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III (2023)
X-Ray Engine S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2007 S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (2008)
Unity Deus Ex (2013), Interstellar Marines (2013),Dead Effect (2013), Superhot (2016), DUSK (2018)

Late 2000s to 2010s: the approach to photorealism

Game engine First used for date Other first-person shooters
Unreal Engine 3 Gears of War 2006 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six (2006), Medal of Honor (2007), Unreal Tournament 3 (2007), Turok (2008), Brothers in Arms (2008), Aliens (2013), Borderlands (2009), Tribes (2012), BioShock Infinite (2013)
CryEngine 2 Crysis 2007 Crysis Warhead (2008), Entropia Universe (2009)
Dunia Engine Far Cry 2 2008 Far Cry 3 (2012), Far Cry 3 (2013)
Frostbite Engine Battlefield 2008 Battlefield 1943 (2009), Battlefield (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 (2020), Battlefield 2042 (2021), Dead Space (2023)
EGO engine Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising 2009
Real Virtuality 3 ArmA 2 2009
Chrome Engine 4 Call of Juarez 2009 Dead Island (2011)
X-ray engine 1.6 S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2009
id Tech 5 Rage 2011 Wolfenstein (2014), Wolfenstein (2015)
CryEngine 3 Crysis 2 2011 Crysis (2011, console versions), Crysis 3 (2013), Warface (2013), Enemy Front (2014)
Vision Engine 8 Dizzel 7554 (2011)
Real Virtuality 4 ArmA 3 2013
CryEngine 4 Ryse 2013 Evolve (2015), Homefront (2016), Prey (2017)
Decima Killzone 2013 RIGS (2016)
Tiger Engine Destiny 2014 Destiny 2 (2017)
Tesseract Tesseract 2014 Red Eclipse (2011)
Unreal Engine 4 Daylight 2014 LawBreakers (2017), Hypercharge (2017), Insurgency (2018), Borderlands 3 (2019), Bright Memory (2019), Descent (2019), Postal 4 (2019), Atomic Heart (2023),
Source 2 Dota 2 2015 Half-Life (2020), Counter-Strike 2 (2023), S&Box (TBA)
id Tech 6 Doom 2016 Wolfenstein II (2017), Doom VFR (2017), Wolfenstein (2019), Wolfenstein (2019)
Dawn Engine Deus Ex 2016
CryEngine V Hunt (2018) 2016 Crysis Remastered (2020)

2020s: 8K and high frame rates

Game engine First used for date Other first-person shooters
id Tech 7 Doom Eternal 2020
Slipspace Halo Infinite 2021
Unreal Engine 5 S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 2024
CryEngine 6

Specialized engines/engine middle-ware

Some features may be integrated into engines. For instance for trees and foliage a special "engine" is available, SpeedTree, that does just that (or could be integrated into general engines). The Euphoria character's 3D animating engine can be used independently but is integrated in the Rockstar Advanced Game Engine and the game Grand Theft Auto IV.

See also

References