List of first-person shooter engines
This is a sortable list of first-person shooter engines.
Early FPS graphics engines
Early 1990s: wireframes to 2.5D worlds and textures
| Game engine |
First used for |
Other First-person shooters |
| N/A |
The Super Spy (1990) |
Crossed Swords (1991) |
| N/A |
Hovertank 3D (1990) |
|
| N/A |
Catacomb 3D (1991) |
|
| N/A |
Gun Buster (1992) |
|
| Wolfenstein 3D engine |
Wolfenstein 3D (1992) |
Spear of Destiny (1992), Rise of the Triad (1994), Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold (1994) |
| Underworld Engine |
Ultima Underworld (1992) |
System Shock (1994) |
| N/A |
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), HeXen (1995), Strife (1996) |
| N/A |
Marathon (1994) |
|
| Marathon 2 |
Marathon 2: Durandal (1995) |
Marathon Infinity (1996), Prime Target (1996), ZPC (1996), Damage Incorporated (1997) |
| Jedi Engine |
Star Wars: Dark Forces (1995) |
Outlaws (1997) |
| Build Engine |
Witchaven (1995) |
Tekwar (1995), Duke Nukem 3D (1996), Blood (1997), Shadow Warrior (1997), Redneck Rampage (1997) |
|
|
Mid 1990s: 3D models, beginnings of hardware acceleration
Late 1990s: 32-bit color, GPUs become standard
| Game engine |
First used for |
Other First-person shooters |
| Unreal engine |
Unreal (1998) |
Unreal Tournament (1999), Deus Ex (2000), Clive Barker's Undying (2001) |
| Dark engine |
Thief: The Dark Project (1998) |
System Shock 2 (1999), Thief II: The Metal Age (2000) |
| Torque Game Engine |
Starsiege: Tribes (1998) |
Tribes 2 (2001) |
| id Tech 3 |
Quake III Arena (1999) |
Star Trek: Voyager: Elite Force (2000), Urban Terror (2000), Return to Castle Wolfenstein (2001), Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix (2002),
Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast (2002), Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy (2003),
Call of Duty (2003), Star Trek: Elite Force II (2003),
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault (2002), ioquake3 (2005), OpenArena (2006), Tremulous (2006), |
| Lithtech Talon |
No One Lives Forever (2000) |
Aliens vs. Predator 2 (2001) |
| Fusion engine |
Descent 3 (1999) |
|
| GoldSrc Engine |
Half-Life (1998) |
|
Early 2000s: increasing detail, outdoor environments, rag-doll physics
| Game engine |
First used for |
Other First-person shooters |
| Refractor Engine |
Codename Eagle (2000) |
|
| Serious Engine |
Serious Sam: The First Encounter (2001) |
Serious Sam: The Second Encounter (2002), Serious Sam: Next Encounter (2004) |
| Refractor 2 |
Battlefield 1942 (2002) |
Battlefield Vietnam (2004), Battlefield 2 (2005), Battlefield 2142 (2006) |
| Glacier engine |
Hitman: Codename 47 (2000) |
Hitman 2: Silent Assassin (2002), Freedom Fighters (2003), Hitman: Contracts (2004), Hitman: Blood Money (2006), Kane and Lynch: Dead Men (2007), Kane and Lynch: Dog Days (2010) |
| SAGE Engine |
Command & Conquer: Renegade (2002) |
|
| LS3D engine |
Mafia (2002) |
Hidden & Dangerous 2 (2004), Chameleon (2005) |
| Unreal Engine 2.0 |
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) |
| Lithtech Jupiter |
No One Lives Forever 2 (2002) |
Tron 2.0 (2003) |
| Lithtech 2.5 |
Global Operations (2002) |
|
| N/A |
Metroid Prime (2002) |
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (2004) |
| Cube Engine |
Cube (2002–2005) |
Assault Cube |
| Real Virtuality |
Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis (2001) |
VBS1 (2002), ArmA: Armed Assault (2007), ARMA II (2009) |
|
Mid 2000s: lighting and pixel shaders, physics
| Game engine |
First used for |
Other First-person shooters |
| Zero (proprietary Pandemic Studios engine) |
Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2002) |
Star Wars: Battlefront (2004), Star Wars: Battlefront II (2005), The Lord of the Rings: Conquest (2009) |
| Unreal Engine 2.5 |
Tribes Vengeance (2004) |
S.W.A.T. 4 (2004), Unreal Tournament 2004 (2004), Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction (2010), Duke Nukem Forever (2011) |
| PAIN engine |
Painkiller (2004) |
NecroVisioN (2009) |
| CryEngine |
Far Cry (2004) |
Aion: Tower of Eternity (2008) |
| Cube engine Version 2 |
Cube 2: Sauerbraten (2004–present) |
Eisenstern, Red Eclipse (2011) |
| id Tech 4 |
Doom 3 (2004) |
Quake 4 (2005), Prey (2006), Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (2007), Wolfenstein (2009), Brink (2011) |
| Halo engine |
Halo: Combat Evolved (2001) |
Halo 2 (2004), Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse (2005) |
| Source engine |
Half-Life 2 (2004) |
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines (2004), Day of Defeat: Source (2005), Dark Messiah of Might and Magic (2006), Empires (2006), Sin Episodes - Emergence (2006), Half-Life 2: Episode 1 (2006), Half-Life 2: Episode 2 (2007), Team Fortress 2 (2007), Portal (2007), Left 4 Dead (2008), Zeno Clash (2009), Left 4 Dead 2 (2009), Portal 2 (2011), Postal III (2011), Counter-Strike Source (2004) |
| Lithtech Jupiter EX |
F.E.A.R. (2005) |
Condemned: Criminal Origins (2005), Condemned 2: Bloodshot (2008), Combat Arms (2008) F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin (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) |
| Unity3D |
Unknown |
Battlestar Galactica Online |
Late 2000s and beyond: the approach to photorealism
| Game engine |
First used for |
Other First-person shooters |
| Unreal Engine 3 |
Gears of War (2006) |
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas (2006), BioShock (2007), Medal of Honor: Airborne (2007), Unreal Tournament 3 (2007), Turok (2008), Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway (2008), Aliens: Colonial Marines (2013), Mirror's Edge (2008), Borderlands (2009), Tribes: Ascend (2012), BioShock Infinite (2013) |
| CryEngine 2 |
Crysis (2007) |
Crysis Warhead (2008) |
| Dunia Engine |
Far Cry 2 (2008) |
|
| Dunia Engine 2 |
Far Cry 3 (2012) |
Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon (2013) |
| Frostbite Engine |
Battlefield: Bad Company (2008) |
Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Medal of Honor (2010, multiplayer only), Battlefield 3, Need for Speed: The Run, Mirror's Edge 2 (TBA) |
| 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) |
| Halo Reach Engine |
Halo: Reach (2010) |
Halo 4 (2012) |
| X-ray engine 1.6 |
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat (2009) |
|
| CryEngine 3 |
Crysis 2 (2011) |
Crysis (2011, console versions), Crysis 3 (2013), Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 (2013), Warface (2013) |
| Fox Engine |
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (2014) |
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (2015), Silent Hills (2015), P.T. (2014) |
| id Tech 5 |
Rage (2011) |
Doom 4 (TBA), Wolfenstein: The New Order(2014), The Evil Within (2014) |
| LithTech |
|
Shadow of Mordor (2014) |
| REDengine |
|
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings (2011), The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition (2012), The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015) |
| Snowdrop Engine |
|
Tom Clancy's The Division (2015) |
| Vision Engine 8 |
Dizzel |
7554 (November 26, 2011) |
| Real Virtuality 4 |
ArmA 3 (2013) |
|
| Unreal Engine 4 |
|
Unreal Tournament (TBA) |
|
Specialized engines/engine middle-ware
Some features may or may not 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 also integrated in the Rockstar Advanced Game Engine and the game Grand Theft Auto IV.
See also
References