First-person shooter games might prioritize multiplayer these days, but nothing can beat a tight single-player campaign. Even mediocre ones are a lot of fun, while the best examples keep the action rolling for a perfect few hours. These FPS games resist the urge to add unnecessary padding through massive open-world maps or side quests, instead maintaining peak momentum while respecting our time.

If you are exhausted by 30-hour marathons with occasional moments of brilliance, these shooters should be the ideal pick-me-up, as they hit the bullseye from their opening level to the credits (and maybe even beyond for repeat playthroughs). Fleeting perfection is hard to achieve, and these FPS games somehow keep it going for their entire campaigns.

OK, let's get the most obvious one out of the way. Along with great multiplayer, Titanfall 2 features the strongest single-player FPS campaign of the 2010s, which still means something, even as the genre gradually declined over the decade. Nowadays, we are used to Call of Duty tacking on a 5-player campaign to shut up players, but TF2 doesn't treat its single-player as a distraction that exists solely to meet a directive.

Over its 6 hours, the game constantly shakes things up, introducing new gimmicks while changing the environment. The time-jumping "Effect and Cause" level feels completely different than the platformer-driven "Into the Abyss," and that extends to the other 7 missions. The distinct chapters stand well on their own while still combining to create a whole greater than the sum of its parts.

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