So often the bleeding edge of games tech, yet so often fundamentally the same underneath: there’s a reason we can’t get enough of pretend shooting pretend people in their pretend faces. It is a pure test of skill and reflex, a game about movement at least as much as it is about violence, and done right it is absolutely delightful>. And hey, sometimes you get a decent gimmick or story thrown into the mix.

These are our favourite 50 first-person shooters on PC, from 1993-2017. Your favourite is at number 51.

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Eleven months after Tribes: Ascend [official site] unexpectedly received the ‘Out of the Blue’ update, reviving development on the superfast multiplayer FPS, here comes ‘Parting Gifts’. Update 1.4 is now out and seems to be the end for this fleeting reinvigoration. 1.4 is less flashy than some of the recent patches, mostly bringing one last set of balance tweaks and bug fixes. You’re a big boy now, Tribes: Ascend.

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Hi-Rez Studios stopped updating Tribes: Ascend [official site] in 2013 as they shifted focus to their MOBA Smite, but they have recently returned to the free-to-play jetpacking FPS. Following December’s ‘Out of the Blue’ update and another patch in January, last night Hi-Rez released version 1.3. This latest update has brought more balance tweaks and a new map named Hellfire.

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Tribes: Ascend [official site] is receiving another update this evening. Patch 1.2 will bring sweeping balance changes to the gotta-go-fast jetpack FPS, increasing heavy armour there, reducing blast radii here, making it so pressing ‘Q’ selects your previously held weapon, that sort of thing. There’s a full list of changes in this Google Doc and a chart of new weapon values in this here spreadsheet.

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Hi-Rez Studios gave up on Tribes Ascend [official site] for a couple of years, but a few months back made the unexpected announcement that they we working on a big ole update for their F2P jetpacking FPS. And they did release it! The ‘Out of the Blue’ update (or version 1.1, if you have no romance in your heart – if you wouldn’t pash with a plasma rifle) arrived last week, with new maps, new weapons, exploit fixes, and a whole hovershedload of balance tweaks.

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Say, reader dear, do you like the future? Do you like jetpacks? Do you like mechs? Do you like first-person shooters? Do you like multiplayer with vehicles and bases? Do you like classic series which folks grumble go forgotten too often? Do you like skill-based movement exploiting weird physics tricks? Do you like free video games?

If you answered yes to at least three of those, hie thee to this website, where Tribes Ascend folks Hi-Rez Studios are offering (almost) the full Tribes world o’games for free, from 1994’s Earthsiege through to 2004’s Tribes Vengeance (their own Ascend, of course, being free-to-play anyway).

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Hi-Rez Studios stepped away from Tribes: Ascend [official site], their free-to-play revival of the classic FPS series, in 2013 to focus on their MOBA Smite. When they recently announced a new F2P FPS, the MOBA-tinged Paladins, well, they chances of them returning to Tribes seemed even slimmer. And yet!

Over the weekend, Hi-Rez announced ‘Out of the Blue’, the first patch for Tribes since March 12, 2013. Emerging from between green and violet onto a public test server later this month, it’ll bring a new map, balance changes, and more.

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