Success is not a random occurrence. It’s not spontaneous or unfounded, and it’s not a matter of sheer luck. Success is born out of trial and error–out of blood, sweat, and tears. It is created through equal parts innovation and imitation, through careful observation and meticulous work. Success is not random, but rather a grind, with the hope that the end result leaves you better. It takes work, and it takes time. And in that sense, I cannot help but be reminded of one of the newest and most successful genres in video games: the looter-shooter.
Looter-shooters, also referred to simply as “shlooters,” is a sub-genre of video games defined by its inclusion of procedurally generated weapons and equipment, fast-paced gunplay, and the grind to get said procedurally generated weapons to have the absolutebestfast-paced gunplay. In addition, looter-shooters have a tendency to strive for longevity, with the randomness of its loot drops and on-going content provided via expansions, season passes, and more, keeping players engaged. Just like in RPGs–one of the two genres fundamental to this hybrid–the focus of these games is character progression, though whereas having a skill tree or level system is not necessarily required in a looter-shooter, equipment that continuously bolsters your character is.
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Ultimately, looter-shooters combine the long term reward of character growth with the immediate gratification of high-octane shoot-outs, and create a truly unique and psychologically satisfying experience. In 2021, looter-shooters hold a special place in the hearts of many gamers, with titles such asBorderlands,Destiny, andWarframeamong the most popular games within the genre. However, this sub-genre’s now staple-like status in the games industry makes it all the more interesting that it only originated 14 years ago.
In 2007, the experiment began with Flagship Studios’Hellgate: London. Developed by a team led by former Blizzard employees,Hellgatewas the first game to combine the action role-playing game genre with first-person shooter mechanics to create an entirely new beast. The game succeeded in creating a moderately satisfying grind for players that centered around equipment randomization and upgrading your character’s stats. Additionally,Hellgateheavily promoted itself as what we now commonly refer to as a “games as a service” title, meaning the developers plan to continue to support and create additional content for the game even after its release–though generally at a price.
Both of these qualities would go on to become hallmarks of looter-shooters and provide the sub-genre with a longevity matched only by MMOs, or massive multiplayer online games. However, despiteHellgatenailing the whole “looter” part of the looter-shooter genre, the “shooter” portion left much to be desired, perhaps due to the developer’s lack of experience with shooters. Whereas Flagship thoroughly understood how to implement melee combat into the game–hence the majority of the six classes utilizing it–the ranged classes quite simply failed to deliver the punchy, kinetic gunplay we’d come to expect from shooters. It fell completely flat.
Overall, the game was met with extremely mixed reviews when it came out, with outlets citing the game’s bugs, repetition, gunplay, and high price-tag ($10 monthly or $150 for life) as some major problems in an otherwise interesting game. In 2008, just one year afterHellgate’srelease, Flagship shut down due to bankruptcy. While Bandai Namco Games continued to provide support to players until February 2009, it was clear the ideas behindHellgateneeded serious work before they would achieve any mainstream popularity. Lucky for us, the restructuring and subsequent “birth” of the looter-shooters as we know it today was merely a few months away.
In 2009,Cage the Elephant’s’ “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked” accompanied us as we first set foot on Pandora, a dusty planet riddled with treasure-hunters seeking advanced alien technology and riches beyond their wildest imaginations. We were introduced to four “Vault Hunters”–Lilith, Brick, Mordecai, and Roland–as well as theBorderlandsseries, which now rests as perhaps the most iconic of all looter-shooters. Unlike Flagship,Borderlandswas developed by Gearbox Software, a studio known for its work in, you guessed it, shooters. And, whereas Flagship struggled with creating compelling gunplay, Gearbox had the art pretty damn well nailed down. Gearbox’s experience with shooters, coupled with Gearbox co-founderRandy Pitchford’s love of RPGs, led the studio down the same path asHellgate, and towards the creation of a new genre.
“The thing that compels us towards that growth and that discovery and that choice in typical RPGs, that sort of long-range loop, it’s not mutually exclusive with all the short term, visceral, base-level joy we get from the right kind of moving and shooting in a shooter,” Pitchford saidin an interview with Glixel. “These two elements were just sitting there. Given that these two things aren’t mutually exclusive, if we marry them together, there’s a real opportunity there to pave new ground. That wasBorderlandsfrom the very beginning.”
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So whileBorderlandsdecidedly did not entirely pioneer the shooter-looter genre, it created its current mold as well as firmly cemented itself in video game history with its comedic dialogue, cell-shaded graphics, and innovation. However, the firstBorderlandsgame was merely a jumping-off point for Gearbox, and in a few years they would push the genre even further.
In 2012,Borderlands 2was released and received nearly universal praise as well as several award nominations for its visual design, performances, and overall gameplay.VentureBeat went as far as to claimthat the game “nearly perfects” the looter-shooter genre, andDestructoid called itthe “funniest, cleverest script to grace a game sincePortal 2.” Compared to the firstBorderlandsgame,Borderlands 2offered significantly more content, with four add-on campaigns, new characters, and several content packs and updates. In addition, Gearbox tweaked the procedural generation system for its guns from the first game and established manufacturers with trademark styles to ensure the guns would be more distinct both visually and in overall feel. Upon release,Borderlands 2became publisher 2K’s best-selling game, leading to a lot of anticipation for what was next for the franchise. Luckily for fans, the next entry in theBorderlandsseries,Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, would come out just two years afterBorderlands 2, but not before two other iconic looter-shooters were released.
In 2013, a free-to-play looter-shooter developed by Digital Extremes namedWarframehit the market. The game was released fairly quietly and met with mild reactions and moderate enthusiasm. However, what the game lacked in initial response, it’s made up for in sheer longevity. Just this past July,Warframesaw over 150,000 players online; the game currently rests as the16th most popular game of all-time on Steam, surpassing evenAmong UsandDead by Daylight. So, what keepsWarframekicking after all these years? As recently as earlier this month, the game received a new, free expansion, marking the tenth since its 2013 release. With its thorough community and game support,Warframefirmly established itself as a GaaS, or “game as a service.” In 2020,Warframecommunity managerRebecca Fordwas evennamed one of Forbes “30 Under 30”for her work in community engagement.
However, to compensate for both the game and expansions being free-to-play,Warframeintroduced an existing but controversial idea in video games to the shooter-looter genre: microtransactions. While the game is entirely possible to play with good ol’ fashioned grinding, microtransactions allowed players to purchase in-game items using real money and avoid the tedium the looter-shooter genre can possess. Since microtransactions implementation inWarframe, nearly all looter-shooters to follow would come to adopt this system, including our next title, which began using them a year into its life cycle.
In 2014, developer Bungie releasedDestiny, a looter-shooter created by the team behind theHaloseries. As you may imagine–because, you know,Halo–Destinywas one of the year’s most anticipated games, and for the most part, it delivered.Destinywas met with fairly positive reviews, with some criticism pointed at the title’s post-game content which some believe was lacking. However, due to its nature as a “service” title, this was an issue that was remedied with time.Destinywent on to win the 2014 BAFTA Award’s Game of the Year award and, more importantly, marked a noticeable shift in the trajectory of looter-shooters.
While much of the game pulls from the established looter-shooter formula, there are a few qualities that setDestinyapart from the titles that came before it, including its various MMO elements. Despite rejecting the title and marketing itself as a “shared-world shooter,”Destinyshares a considerable amount of traits with many modern MMOs–apart from its “shared-world.” First and foremost,Destinyfeatures clans, which essentially act the same as the guilds typically associated with MMOs. It also contains strikes, raids, and other timed events that are regularly updated by the developers which, thankfully, come at no extra cost nor require a subscription fee. Furthermore, the game features a centralized hub, generally filled with twenty or so other players you’re able to interact with and, when traversing the various planets, public events occur where you can join up with other players and take down larger targets. So, while not an MMO in the traditional sense,Destinydoes utilize many of their best features and has certainly placed an innovative spin on the looter-shooters as a whole.
Beyond this, however,Destinyhas also pushed for a better online multiplayer experience overall, and has a number of player-versus-environment (PvE) and player-versus-player (PvP) modes that set it apart from theBorderlandsseries. And, while on the subject of better experiences, from 2014 to 2016 Bungie released four expansions forDestinythat consistently utilized player feedback to create content users craved. To this day, theDestinycommunity management remains one of the most attuned to its fans and serves as a good example of what “games as a service” can be.
From 2014 to 2016,Destinyheld the title ofthemultiplayer looter-shooter to play. WhileBorderlands: The Pre-Sequel(which notably was developed by 2K Australia rather than Gearbox) released in late 2014 to moderate success, we wouldn’t see any real movers-and-shakers until 2016, whenTom Clancy’s The Divisionhit shelves.
The Division, developed by Massive Entertainment, was an incredible commercial success for publisher Ubisoft, shattering the company’s records for number of first-day sales and surpassingDestiny’srecord for highest sales of a new intellectual property. It went on to become Ubisoft’s best-selling game–an incredible feat when you consider the other titles they put out, such asAssassin’s Creed,Watch Dogs,Far Cry, andJust Dance. Furthermore,The Divisiontapped into something no other looter-shooter had done up until this point: realism. While there certainly are elements of science-fiction within the game, compared to the other titles on this list,The Divisionis, quite literally, down-to-Earth.
Apart from the new setting,The Divisioncarried over several of the hallmarks of the looter-shooter genre, including generated weapons, progression via equipment, daily and weekly missions, PvP and PvE modes, expansions, frequent updates, and cosmetic microtransactions. However, by this point, the sheer novelty of the genre was beginning to be seen as not enough, and looter-shooters were sharply approaching the point of seemingly overly formulaic. InArs Technica’s review of the game, they claimedThe Divisiondid very little to break away from “what is fast becoming the general form of the “loot shooter” genre,” and its overall reception suffered for it.
2016 also marked the release ofAlienation, a Housemarque title published by Sony Interactive that separated itself from previous looter-shooters with an isometric view and a twin-stick shooting style. While the twin-stick mechanics were considered a triumph by most reviewers, a lack of diversity in weapons and memorability keptAlienationfrom being a true stand-out title. Housemarque supported the title with new assignments post-game, free and paid expansions, and updates, such as the inclusion of local co-op mode, but ultimately it failed to reach the level of success and recognition its predecessors reached. That success, however, directly contributed to rapidly approaching new franchise entries.
In 2017, we got the first of these new games with the most current title in theDestinyseries,Destiny 2. WhileDestiny 2retains much of what made the first game such a vital entry in the looter-shooter genre, the changes Bungie made resulted in a game widely considered significantly better than the first. The greatest of all these changes is the increased breadth of the game’s story mode, something which was often critiqued in the first game, which seemingly valued the gameplay loop and multiplayer modes above their single-player campaign. In addition,Destiny 2has made remarkable strides to understand their community’s wants and needs, responding to feedback quickly and implementing game-balancing changes that keep veteran players satisfied while still remaining accommodating to more casual fans.
In 2019, bothThe DivisionandBorderlandssaw their series expand withThe Division 2andBorderlands 3. Just likeDestiny 2,The Division 2proved to be markedly better than its predecessor, and received positive reviews and sold fairly well–even if itdid not hit Ubisoft’s target goal.Borderlands 3, however, faced the opposite problem, selling extremely well but facing a bit more criticism for its lack of innovation–as well as for Gearbox founderRandy Pitchford’s laundry list of fairly serious accusations.
We also saw the release ofRemnant: From the Ashes, a Gunfire Games title inspired by theSoulsseries but with all the dressings of a looter-shooter.Remnantwas met with fairly average reviews, citing the difficulty and multiplayer as fun but the overall game as underwhelming and convoluted.
However, the big news in 2019–truly the one to watch- -was thought to beAnthem, the upcoming title from the legendary studio behind both theMass EffectandDragon Ageseries, BioWare. Unfortunately forAnthem, this anticipation only contributed to greater pressure on the team to release an incredible game–one that would deliver updates andcompelling new content for next seven to ten years. Even more unfortunately, that’s not quite what happened.
Production forAnthemstarted back in 2012 helmed by the team that had just wrapped up theMass Effecttrilogy. The project was codenamed “Dylan,” in reference toBob Dylan, in hopes that the game would prove to be as much of a timeless success as the American folk singer. What exactlyAnthemwould be was yet to be determined at the time when development first began, but the general idea was it would be a multiplayer survival game where you controlled an Iron Man-esque character and completed missions with friends. Work proceeded as usual on the game, untilCasey Hudson–Anthem’sprimary supervisor and the executive producer of theMass Effecttrilogy–left. The role was then given toDavid Gaider, a writer on theDragon Ageseries, who attempted to alter the story to something more along the lines of a traditional BioWare game until he ultimately left the studio in 2016.
In 2017, several things happened that altered the course ofAnthem. Firstly,Mass Effect: Andromedafinally shipped, and was met with scathing criticism due to its abundance of bugs and issues, placing greater pressure onAnthemto deliver. Slightly later in the year, several BioWare staff members quit and one of the game’s lead gameplay designers,Corey Gaspur, passed away. As a result, Hudson came back to the series and staff members who were previously working onDragon Age 4were reallocated to work onAnthem, which was at this point significantly behind schedule. Lastly, when BioWare showcased a demo ofAnthemat E3 2017, people were confused by how vastly different it was from what they anticipated, as well as how much it looked a bit too much like a certain Bungie title previously mentioned in this article.
Despite all these issues–as well as difficulties with the game’s engine–Anthemwas released in February 2019, and, much likeMass Effect: Andromeda, was met with criticism. The game was called boring, repetitive, frustrating, tedious, and disappointing by various outlets, and currently rests at a 59% on Metacritic. In 2019,Anthemdevs told GameDaily.bizthey anticipated spending the next seven to ten years working on supportingAnthem. In February 2021,it was announced the team would no longer be developing any new content for the game. If there were a point in which the popularity of the looter-shooter began to show signs of waning, it was with the release ofAnthem, and unfortunately we still haven’t seen a significant bounce back.
In 2020, one new looter-shooter and one too-important-to-not-talk-about looter-shooteradjacenttitle, were released. The first wasRisk of Rain 2, which finally left early access and was released on all consoles in August. While the originalRisk of Rainwas published by Chucklefish back in 2013,Risk of Rain 2was published by none other than Gearbox, which might explain the series’ sharp pivot from “Metroidvania” to looter-shooter. However, despite this transition in genre,Risk of Rain 2held onto the roguelike elements from its predecessor, which not only helped the game capitalize on the current roguelike trend, but also gave it the edge it needed to be considered a fairly innovative entry in the genre. The game received fairly positive reviews and as of this month has sold over four million copies on PC alone.
But, just as 2019 was meant to be the year ofAnthem, 2020 was to be the year ofMarvel’s Avengers, which, while not a looter-shooter proper, contains similar elements. Announced in 2017, Crystal Dynamic’sAvengerswas billed as a multiplayer, loot-based “service” game that would allow players to experience the Marvel Universe as they took on the role of one of the Avengers. With an all-star cast of voice actors and that Marvel brand power, it felt like a surefire AAA success.
However, upon release, it was praised for its good single-player campaign and the endearing Ms. Marvel while also panned for being repetitive, uninspired, and technically lacking. Despite the game launching in September, by November 2020Forbes reported Avengers had now dipped to less than 1,000 players onlineon PC, which both led to issues with matchmaking and foreshadowed the demise of the brand new title–much likeAnthem. In addition, the game is said to have lost nearly $63 million for publisher Square Enix.
After watching bothAnthemandAvengersessentially fail back-to-back–as well as observing the noticeable lull in titles likeDestiny 2,The Division 2, andBorderlands 3–it begs the question: What isn’t working?
The team behind the new looter-shooter titleOutridersseems to think they know.
“Our roadmap is releasing the game in 2020,”Outriderslead writerJoshua Rubinsaid inan interview with US Gamer. People Can Fly’s title is not a “game as a service,” and could be a breath of fresh air in the looter-shooter genre. While some questions remain up in the air, such as whether or not there will be DLC or microtransactions in the game’s future, the studio has expressed that the game will be complete in-and-of itself; their focus is on the immediate product rather than its future. For some, this uncertainty could perhaps be off-putting in a time when so much emphasis is placed on the longevity of games and developer support. For others, however, People Can Fly’s sales model could be seen as being more appreciative of player’s time and money, requiring only the initial purchase to enjoy the game’s full experience rather than more purchases down the line every few months.
All things considered, looter-shooters are an incredibly new genre, and while the base concept is fully-formed, how this concept is best executed is still up for debate. Is longevity found in the game’s grind or the developer’s community involvement and continued development? And how much does longevity truly matter anyways? Do we treat these titles like standard games with short lifespans and numerous entries, or do we view them more like MMOs, an ever-expanding, long-term commitment? And howdowe balance single-player campaigns and high-octane multiplayer action, or microtransactions and redundancy?
Outridersis looking to be an interesting experiment in what folks truly want out of the looter-shooter genre. It just might also answer a few of these questions, as we’ll see if less is truly more, when it’s succinct.
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