# List of first-person shooter engines

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

## Early 1970s - Late 1980s: wireframes to flat-shaded 3D

| Game engine | First used for | Date | Other first-person shooters |
| — | Maze | 1973 | |
| — | 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) |
| — | The Colony | 1988 | |

## Early 1990s: 2.5D environments and textures

| Game engine | First used for | Date | Other first-person shooters |
| — | The Super Spy | 1990 | |
| Wolf 3D Engine 0.5 | Hovertank 3D | 1990 | |
| Wolfenstein 3D Engine 0.9 | Catacomb 3D | 1991 | |
| — | 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 | |
| — | Assassin 2015 | 1996 | Goosebumps: Attack of the Mutant (1997) |
| — | Chasm: The Rift | 1997 | |

## Mid 1990s: 3D texture mapping , beginnings of hardware acceleration

| Game engine | First used for | Date | Other first-person shooters |
| — | Geograph Seal | 1994 | |
| — | 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 (Sega Saturn version) | 1996 | Quake (1997, Sega Saturn version), Duke Nukem 3D (1997, Sega Saturn version) |
| TurokTech | 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 1 | 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) |
| Lithtech 2.x | The Operative: No One Lives Forever | 2000 | |

## Early-To-Mid 2000s: increasing detail, outdoor environments, ragdoll physics, dynamic lighting, early shader implementation

| 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) | Tribes Vengeance (2004) BioShock (2007) | 2004 | Unreal Tournament 2004 (2004), BioShock (2007) |
| 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) |
| 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) | 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 | 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) |
| Unity | GooBall | 2005 | Deus Ex: The Fall (2013), Interstellar Marines (2013),Dead Effect (2013), Superhot (2016), DUSK (2018) |

## 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), 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) |
| 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) |
| Tiger Engine | Destiny | 2014 | Destiny 2 (2017) |
| 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), Tiny Tina's Wonderlands (2022), Atomic Heart (2023), Delta Force (2025) |
| 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 | |
| Unreal Engine 5 | Immortals of Aveum | 2023 | RoboCop: Rogue City (2023), The Finals (2023), Concord (2024) |
| CryEngine 6 | TBA | TBA | |

## 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.