Welcome to FOV 90, an FPS column from staff writer Morgan Park. Every other week, I cover topics relevant to first-person shooter enjoyers, spanning everything from multiplayer and singleplayer to the old and the new.
Organized FPS scrimmage is a time-honored tradition of PC gaming. Countless battles have been waged, friendships forged, and "GGs" exchanged in the name of contested territories, stolen flags, and almost-exploded explosives. FPS is my favorite genre because it's a canvas that accommodates endless modes of fun—formats that can happily coexist under the same banner to serve the current mood or group.
But if you had to choose just one, which would be the greatest FPS mode of them all?
That's what we're here to decide. We're pitting the greats against each other in a single-elimination tournament, voted on by readers like you. Round 1 starts now. Go go go!
Important Context
- As you probably noticed, there are more FPS modes in existence than the 16 I've included here. This is not an exhaustive exercise, but a curated battle of the most established, enduringly popular FPS formats of past and present.
- Broadly speaking, this is a tournament for modes that have appeared in many games, and does not include mode variants (Kill Confirmed, for example, is a variant of Team Deathmatch)
- The bracket uses generic mode names, but well-known aliases for modes are mentioned further down, where relevant ("Slayer" is Halo's "FFA", for example)
The Bracket
Round 1 - Vote!
Read up on the matchups below and vote for your favorite. Round 1 voting closes on Saturday, October 3 at 11:59 PM PDT. The more votes we get, the more interesting the results, so tell your friends! Next week we'll be back to share the results and begin Round 2.
Team Deathmatch or FFA/Deathmatch?
AKA: Team Slayer (Halo) // Slayer (Halo)
Would you rather fight alone or with a team?
Battle Royale VS Extraction
AKA: BR // Extraction Shooters
Two modes so large and complex that they've spawned vibrant subgenres.
Conquest VS Domination
AKA: Warfare (Hell Let Loose) // Territories (Halo), Domination Control Point (Team Fortress 2)
Large-scale point capture with vehicles and control point respawns popularized by Battlefield, or small-scale point capture with random respawns popularized by Unreal Tournament and Call of Duty?
Bomb Defusal VS Hostage
AKA: Bomb (Rainbow Six Siege), Plant/Defuse (Valorant)
The single-life elimination showdown. Bomb is historically the more competitive mode, but many have a soft spot for escorting NPCs out of buildings.
Gun Game VS Payload
AKA: Arms Race (Counter-Strike), Escalation (Valorant)
Selfishly race to kill with every gun in the game, or push a cart down a track with a coordinated team?
Infection VS Prop Hunt
AKA: They're pretty much always called Infection and Prop Hunt.
Two asymmetrical party mode greats, but only one is moving on.
VIP VS Capture The Flag
AKA: VIP Escort (Call of Duty)
Two legendary objective modes in which one person becomes the most important, yet vulnerable member of the team.
Attack & Defend VS King of the Hill
AKA: 2CP (Overwatch), Breakthrough (Battlefield) // Headquarters (Call of Duty)
I expect this one to get spicy. Take turns attacking and defending on a singular front, or fight over one moving control point?
