Upcoming FPS game with epic new mechanics

It is not easy for one first person shooter to innovate the genre's established mechanics. First-person games generally have many ways to innovate, but once you throw the “shooter” element into the pot, there are expectations that must be met, which also limits the amount of creativity a developer can show. Even though the genre is a proven hit every year, that doesn't mean it rewrites the formula every time.

That's why it's so exciting when a upcoming FPS showcases some impressive new mechanics which has the potential to shake up the established norms. These mechanics don't even have to be unique; they just need to change things up in a way that makes the photography aspect feel fresh. That's what these upcoming shooters are trying to do. They have some cool ideas that either push their franchise forward or introduce something new to the genre that we haven't seen before. With any luck, they will become the most popular FPS games for years to come.

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Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 4

There is movement, and then there is movement like this

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 has already introduced a major reinvention of the series' movement mechanics with its controversial Omnimovement system. Many of these changes, such as directional sprinting, were criticized by long-time players, especially console players, for their negative effects on the game's competitive scene.

The 2026 century Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is taking steps to fix this story. Some features, such as slide-to-backrest mechanics, will remain, while directional sprinting is gone. The biggest change, however, is the ability to roll over objects and vehicles without losing speed. It may seem small in theory, but in practice it is already visibly changing the way Call of Duty looks in game. It almost feels like Titanfall 2's movement, with how fast you can move through the map. Giving players a more tactile connection to their surroundings is never a bad thing, and it looks like it MW4 is strongly focused on that mission.

Sick

Brutal visible damage to enemy models

Sick is one of those games that looked a little too good to be true when it was first re-discovered, but now that we've seen a second trailer at Sony's latest State of Play, it looks like the game could be very real. If so, so be it very gory, to a degree we've never really seen in a video game before.

The main thing here is the incredibly visceral damage that enemies take depending on where you shoot them and with which firearm. The first trailer showed an enemy getting his arm blown off with a shotgun, but things got even more brutal in the 2026 trailer. Legs and heads are removed with ruthless abandon, and the way enemies react to that damage is astounding, not only moving differently afterwards, but looking where their severed limb used to be. It's so organic and believable that it makes the violence that much more palatable. Whether that translates across the entire game won't be known until 2027, but it's hard to deny right now that Sick trying to do something really special here.

Valor Mortis

A soulful first-person shooter

The developer One More Level is best known for Ghostrunner game, a duology of first-person action platformers with demanding battles that punish even the slightest mistake. These are tough, fast-paced games that have gained a well-deserved audience. The studio's next game, Valor Mortisis a departure from that in some respects, while sticking to the developer's strengths in others.

For example, Valor Mortis is a self-confessed zombie, despite being a first-person shooter with some swordplay in the mix. That alone presents a unique mechanical challenge, as there aren't many Soulmates that have tackled the first-person perspective, and certainly none from a developer of this pedigree. There are also some BioShock thrown into things with what look like supernatural abilities you can throw from your left hand, as well as some difficult platforming that proves the studio hasn't completely moved on from its cyberpunk ninja roots.

THE CUBE

An ever-changing environment

THE CUBE is another project published by Mundfish, alongside the aforementioned Sick, but in this case we're looking at an online PvE shooter rather than a single-player survival horror game, and one that's in the publisher's “Atomic heart universe” no less. It has a giant, perfectly symmetrical cube as its setting, and players must venture into, explore, and try to discover the cube's true nature in hopes of eventually “solving” it.

Easier said than done. After each expedition, the cube will rearrange itself, changing the environment, enemies and the items you find along the way. It has RPG elements that allow you to permanently upgrade your character and equipment, and even the ability to play solo if you so desire. It's kind of like a mix of an MMORPG and an extraction shooter, but with a focus solely on PvE rather than switching between PvE and PvP. The shifting environments are the real star here, as the game can presumably change its environments in real-time while you play, not just between missions.

Project Spectrum

A PvEvP horror shooter where you can also play the monster

Project Spectrum

System

Developer

Team Jade

Publisher

TiMi Studio Group

Multiplayer

Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op

Remember Develop, 4v1 hero shooter from 2014 that let one person play as the monster while four others teamed up to try and take down the monster? It seems like Project Spectrum takes a lot of influence from Turtle Rock's ambitious but flawed games, and that's good news, because this is a niche that hasn't been filled since. The twist here is that the player-controlled monster is not the main focus of the team of players exploring each area. About like Hunt: Showdown, instead they scour the map for the area boss so they can clear the region.

There are some Phasmophobia there too, using a camera to dispel the horrors after they've been defeated, and of course some subtle nods to Ghostbusters, but the main feature is definitely the player-controlled monster. The idea of ​​making them a side challenge as opposed to the main focus is a clever twist that will hopefully mitigate Evolve lacks. It allows the monster player to be more stealthy and use the element of surprise, rather than the entire enemy team knowing you're there and letting them set up for you. Additionally, there are also regular monster enemies to take down, creating dangerous distractions when something bigger lurks in the shadows. Project Spectrum takes a lot of familiar ideas and puts clever spins on them, and could result in one of the standout shooters of the year if it sticks to the 2026 release window.