Insurgency: Sandstorm

This game is a cross between a military sim and COD. It doesn't have 10 ways of crouching but its not run and gun either. You kill in 1 or 2 shots, you rarely see the enemy, but it's not CONFUSING. Maps are long hallways with open areas and a lot of CQC. Running is not advised and you are constantly crouching and peeking, Definitely recommend 100%. Extremely easy to run if your PC is not good.

Best gunplay among even the most modern FPS shooters. Not a lot of players tho, braindead people prefer to follow loud advertisements, lootboxes and battle passes.

After growing tired of Counter-Strike, Insurgency: Sandstorm has become my go-to online shooter. It strikes a near-perfect balance between tactical and arcade gameplay. The guns look and sound authentic, and shooting feels incredibly satisfying. While shooting skill is important, situational awareness and teamwork are even more critical. You could get just five kills in a match and still earn MVP if you focus on supporting your team, capturing objectives, and providing fire support.
On the downside, getting from spawn to the nearest objective can feel tedious, and the game introduces a significant element of randomness due to large maps with numerous rooms and hiding spots. It's impossible to control every situation on your own, so without good team coordination, failure is almost inevitable.
One standout feature is the proximity voice chat. If you're unsure whether there's an enemy in a room, you can say something provocative over the mic, like how you took his mom on a date - nine times out of ten, he'll react, giving away his presence.

---{ Graphics }---
☑ You forget what reality is
☐ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS
---{ Gameplay }---
☐ Very good
☑ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't
---{ Audio }---
☑ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf
---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ Grandma
---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☐ Decent
☐ Fast
☑ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer
---{ Game Size }---
☐ Floppy Disk
☐ Old Fashioned
☐ Workable
☑ Big
☐ Will eat 10% of your 1TB hard drive
☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it
☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data
---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☑ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls
---{ Grind }---
☐ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☑ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding
---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☑ Some lore
☐ Average
☐ Good
☐ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life
---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☑ Average
☐ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond
---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☑ Worth the price
☐ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money
---{ Bugs }---
☐ Never heard of
☑ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs
---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☐ 7
☐ 8
☑ 9
☐ 10

6 YEARS after the initial release and we're STILL getting free content updates including new maps, game modes and weapons. This game is nothing short of absolutely amazing.

The game is ridiculously underrated. It took a bit of time learning the flow of the game, but after that it was smooth sailing.
REMEMBER, in this game your KD DOES NOT MATTER. You're going to die very quickly to people you don't see sometimes, but you'll be also killing people very quickly in places they can't see sometimes too. KD does not matter, PLAYING THE OBJECTIVE IS ALL THAT MATTERS. Staying alive and picking off random enemies is not always beneficial to your team, but if you take points and give support, NO ONE CARES EVEN IF YOU'RE GOING 2:5:10 (KAD). Once I understood this the game became super fun, and honestly for me personally it hits the perfect line between realism and arcade. Your character isn't handling their guns like an unexperienced 10 year old with an AR 15 (like in squad), games don't take too long to the point your life is sucked away (like 10-20 minutes and smooth transitions to the next game), and the TTK is quick but rewarding. Also shotguns in this game are as strong as rifles, as unlike games like cod they can actually kill people from pretty damn far away even with buckshot (I FUCKING LOVE THE KS 23). Also even though the game isn't super popular its still not hard to find a lobby, sometimes the game gets me one in like under 5 or 10 seconds.
tl;dr: the game is fucking fun, please try it, it IS worth it in 2025. 8.5/10 nice c0ck

One of the most unique FPS games in the market. Slower paced gameplay and does a good blend between hardcore sim and casual.

It's been out for a while now and changed studios ownership and some drama around that but nowadays it doesn't receive much updates anymore to freshen things up.

It's not a dead game overall, it has a small dedicated player base, you'll find lobbies to play and will probably see the same names

There isn't much a sense of progression in here as everything comes unlocked and you choose what you want to play, it's more about the experience. It's a smaller scale re imagination of battlefield breakthrough but no health bars, you die with 1 headshot, no enemy markers and generally slower animations for everything.

It has a somewhat challenging PVE mode as well to be played in coop.