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Crowning the greatest FPS mode of all time through 1v1 combat—SEMIFINALS!
A reader poll on classic and modern first-person shooter modes has reached its semifinals, with more than 2,500 votes cast in the previous round. The results show strong support for established team formats, setting up a contest over which modes deserve to reach the final.
Team Deathmatch beat Battle Royale by 82 per cent, while Conquest defeated Bomb Defusal. The remaining matchups are Halo’s Team Slayer against Hell Let Loose’s Warfare, and Payload against Capture the Flag; voting closes on 8 November at 11.59pm PDT.
In short
- More than 2,500 votes were cast in the previous round.
- Team Deathmatch beat Battle Royale by 82 per cent.
- The semifinals pit Team Slayer against Warfare and Payload against CTF.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Team-based modes can be seen as the most enduring and broadly appealing parts of FPS games: they create clear objectives, reward cooperation and communication, and offer satisfying contests across a wide range of skill levels. On that view, Team Slayer and Warfare, or Payload and Capture the Flag, merit the final because their mix of individual skill and shared purpose captures what makes multiplayer shooters compelling.
The case against
A mode’s greatness need not depend on team play or broad popularity; distinctive rules, tense individual decisions, and the way a format reshapes a game can matter just as much. Battle Royale and Bomb Defusal, for example, offer different kinds of suspense and strategic depth, so a poll favouring established team formats may overlook modes whose appeal lies in higher stakes or more specialised play.
Explained simply
First-person shooters are video games played through the viewpoint of a character, with players aiming and moving through a three-dimensional environment. Many offer different modes, which set the objective and rules for each match, such as defeating opponents, capturing areas or escorting an object.
Team Deathmatch and Halo’s Team Slayer award progress for defeating opponents, while Capture the Flag centres on taking an opposing team’s flag and returning it to base. Conquest and Hell Let Loose’s Warfare involve teams contesting areas of a map, and Payload asks one side to escort an objective while the other tries to stop it. These formats shape how players work together and what counts as winning.
The poll compares modes from games such as Halo and Hell Let Loose, alongside formats found across many shooters. Its results reflect the preferences of people who voted, while the comparison highlights how different objectives have become familiar parts of the genre.