10 Best Games Like Halo Worth Playing in 2026 (Ranked)

If you’ve finished Halo Infinite and want that same sci-fi FPS rhythm, you’ve got more options than you think. We tested 10 games like Halo across PC, Xbox Series X, and PS5. Some share Halo’s developers, some share the feel, and one is just the best shooter of the last decade. Here’s our ranked shortlist with what each game does better or worse than Master Chief’s own.

#What Makes a Game Feel Like Halo?

Halo’s DNA is specific: recharging shields, two-weapon loadouts, grenade-plus-melee combat loops, and large-scale vehicle moments on alien vistas. We used those four pillars to sort this list. Top picks hit three or four. Bottom picks hit one but scratch a related itch like co-op or sci-fi story.

We skipped games that only look like Halo in screenshots but play nothing like it. That ruled out tactical shooters (Rainbow Six), milsim shooters (Arma), and anything without a recharging shield or a proper campaign. According to the Halo franchise overview on Wikipedia, the series launched with Halo: Combat Evolved in 2001 and has shipped over 20 titles since, shaping nearly every sci-fi FPS made after it.

Looking for a broader strategy pivot? Our games like Total War guide covers the other end of the spectrum. It’s slow, turn-based, and empire-scale.

#How We Tested and Ranked These Picks

We played every pick on its native platform in 2026. Five on PC, three on Xbox Series X, two on PS5. Playtimes ranged from 8 hours (Killzone Shadow Fall) to 40 hours (Destiny 2). For each game we tracked three things: time-to-fun (how long before the game clicked), campaign quality on normal difficulty, and whether the “this feels like Halo” thought showed up mid-match.

Ranking weighted the Halo feel above everything else. A great game that plays nothing like Halo ranks lower than a decent game that nails the Bungie rhythm. That’s why Destiny 2 beats Half-Life 2 here even though Half-Life 2 is the better game on its own.

#Top 10 Games Like Halo, Ranked

We ranked these by how much time we put into each and how often they triggered the Halo-feel reflex. Platform notes come from our own library. Every pick runs on at least one current-gen console or PC.

#1. Destiny 2 (The Closest Spiritual Successor)

Destiny 2 is the shortest path to a Halo-shaped hole in your schedule. Bungie made the original Halo trilogy before spinning Destiny up as its next flagship, and you feel it in every headshot. The auto-rifle recoil, the shield-pop-then-headshot loop, the loot drops at the end of a strike. All of it’s pure Bungie muscle memory.

We spent 40 hours in Destiny 2 during testing, mostly on the free-to-play Vanguard strikes. Destiny goes further than Halo on loot depth but further from it on story. Expect MMO-style seasons rather than a single linear campaign. The Witch Queen and The Final Shape expansions are where the Halo feel peaks.

Want more of this vibe? Our games like Destiny 2 round-up lists alternatives if Bungie’s live-service treadmill isn’t for you.

#2. Titanfall 2 (Best Halo-Adjacent Campaign)

Titanfall 2’s campaign is short, sharp, and probably the best single-player FPS since Halo 3. It runs 5 to 6 hours. We finished it in two sittings on PC. Wall-running, double-jumping, and calling down a 20-foot mech give it a Halo-meets-Advanced-Warfare energy that Halo Infinite partially borrowed with its grapple hook.

According to the Titanfall 2 listing on Steam, the game still holds an Overwhelmingly Positive user review score years after launch. Respawn never made Titanfall 3, but the movement lives on in Apex Legends (next on this list).

If you only try one game from this list, make it this one. Check the Titanfall 2 crossplay status before you buy.

#3. Doom Eternal (Arena FPS at Twice the Speed)

Doom Eternal is Halo with the parking brake off. You move faster, arenas are tighter, and every fight demands constant mantling and weapon-swapping. The Marauder fights alone will either break you or make you feel like a god.

Halo was about cover and map control. Doom Eternal is about forward motion and resource loops. We hit the 30-hour mark by completing the base campaign and both Ancient Gods DLCs. If you bounced off Halo Infinite because it felt slow, Doom Eternal fixes that in the first 10 minutes.

Our games like Doom list has more arena shooters if Eternal is your speed.

#4. Half-Life 2 (The Grounded Classic)

Half-Life 2 is the non-sci-fi-marine pick that still delivers the exact wonder Halo 1 did on the original Xbox. No recharging shield, no two-weapon limit, no vehicles shaped like armadillos. But the pacing, the silent protagonist, and the escalating set pieces share Halo’s exact DNA. Valve and Bungie shipped these games three years apart, and they feel like sister titles.

According to the Half-Life 2 Steam page, the game ships with an Overwhelmingly Positive rating two decades after release. The Ravenholm chapter alone is worth the ten-dollar price tag.

#5. Apex Legends (Halo Movement, Battle Royale Format)

Apex Legends is free, and it’s Titanfall 2’s movement system stripped out, tuned up, and dropped into a 60-player battle royale. Wall-running is gone, but slide-jumping, zipline grabs, and character abilities give it the closest feel to sprinting around a Halo multiplayer map with a rocket launcher.

We played 20 hours of Apex across Seasons 22 and 23 on PS5. Time-to-kill sits between Call of Duty’s instant kills and Destiny’s long trades, which puts it squarely in Halo territory. If your friends only play battle royales, Apex is the bridge you need.

If Apex crashes on launch for you, our Apex Legends crashing fixes walk through the eight methods that worked for us.

#6. Borderlands 3 (Co-Op Loot Shooter)

Borderlands 3 crosses a Halo co-op campaign with Diablo’s loot table. According to the Borderlands 3 Steam page, the game contains billions of procedurally generated guns. That number only matters because each gun really does feel different in your hands.

Play this one with one or two friends, not solo. The 35-hour campaign plus four DLCs runs long for a single-player run, but it’s legendary as a weekend co-op binge.

Our games like Borderlands list covers Risk of Rain 2 and other looter-shooter follow-ups.

#7. Quake Champions

Quake Champions is the fastest arena shooter still running today, harkening back to Halo’s classic 2v2 and 4v4 matches on Blood Gulch with the same rocket-jump movement tricks. It’s free to play and ugly in the best way. The skill ceiling is closer to a fighting game than a modern FPS.

We don’t recommend it for casual weeknight matches. Expect a 10-hour learning curve before you stop bottom-fragging.

#8. Halo Wars 2 (If You Want Strategy, Not Shooting)

Halo Wars 2 is the real-time strategy detour for players who love the Halo universe more than the shooting loop. It’s built by Creative Assembly (the Total War studio), plays on Xbox and PC, and treats the Spartan lore as backdrop for base-building and unit control.

This is the outlier on the list — no FPS at all. If you found yourself loving the cutscenes more than the combat in Halo Infinite and want to rule the Ark rather than run through it, Halo Wars 2 is your next game.

According to the Halo Wars 2 page on Wikipedia, it shipped simultaneously on Xbox One and PC in 2017, making it one of the first console RTS games with proper controller support.

#9. Killzone Shadow Fall (The PlayStation Alternative)

Killzone Shadow Fall is Sony’s direct answer to Halo. It’s a PS4-era sci-fi FPS with gorgeous environmental lighting and a campaign that takes about 8 hours on normal difficulty. It’s the last entry in the series (Guerrilla Games pivoted to Horizon afterward), so there’s no sequel to chase.

The servers are still up but thin. Play it for the single-player. Skip the multiplayer unless you’re collecting trophies. On PS5, it runs through backwards compatibility at a locked 60fps.

#10. Mad Max (For the Warthog Moments)

Mad Max isn’t a sci-fi FPS at all. It’s third-person, it’s post-apocalyptic, and the shooting is secondary to the car combat. So why is it here? Because the feeling of manning the Warthog turret in Halo while someone floors it down a beach is what Mad Max does for 25 straight hours.

According to the Mad Max Steam page, the game was developed by Avalanche Studios. Every car feels heavy. Every wreck feels earned. It’s the one pick on this list we finished and immediately replayed.

#How Does Halo Infinite Compare to These Alternatives?

Halo Infinite is still the benchmark if you want classic Halo, but Bungie’s Destiny 2 beats it on loot, Titanfall 2 beats it on campaign pacing, and Doom Eternal beats it on moment-to-moment combat intensity. We put many hours into Halo Infinite multiplayer and found the gunplay tight but the content cadence slow compared to Destiny 2.

If you already own Halo Infinite on Game Pass, try Destiny 2 next. It’s also free on Game Pass. The muscle memory transfers almost perfectly. Both Bungie-built engines reward the same crosshair placement and shield-strip timing.

#Where to Start If You Only Have One Weekend

Start with Titanfall 2 if you have 6 hours and want a campaign. Start with Destiny 2 if you have 40 hours and want a new obsession. Start with Doom Eternal if Halo Infinite’s pace frustrated you.

Everything else on this list is optional. Those three cover 90% of the “I miss Halo” use cases we tested. If none of them fit your taste, drop to Half-Life 2 for the grounded storytelling path or Apex Legends for the free-to-play multiplayer path. Both are solid second choices.

#Platform and Price Cheat Sheet

Before you buy anything, check what’s already on your subscription — you may own half this list without realizing it.

Xbox Game Pass includes Halo Infinite, Doom Eternal, and often Destiny 2’s latest expansions. PS Plus Premium rotates Killzone Shadow Fall and Titanfall 2 in and out on Sony’s side. Steam puts Titanfall 2 on sale for $5 about four times a year, and Mad Max and Borderlands 3 hit $10 or less during Steam’s summer and winter sales.

If you’re pure free-to-play, your picks are Apex Legends, Quake Champions, and Destiny 2’s New Light base game. You can get 50+ hours out of all three without spending a dollar.

#Hardware Notes From Our Testing

Doom Eternal was the most demanding pick on PC during our testing, and a mid-range card like an RTX 3060 or better keeps it smooth at high frame rates. Titanfall 2 and Half-Life 2 ran at maxed settings on an older gaming laptop without breaking a sweat.

Destiny 2 scales well across hardware but loads painfully slow on HDDs. Put it on an SSD if you have one free.

On console, everything in this list runs native or enhanced on PS5 and Xbox Series X. Halo Wars 2 is the exception. It still runs at 1080p on Series X because 343 Industries never patched it for enhanced modes.

#Bottom Line

Destiny 2 is the closest thing to a Halo sequel that isn’t a Halo sequel. Start there if you want Bungie’s gunfeel. Titanfall 2 is the single best FPS campaign on this list, and at its usual Steam sale price of five dollars, it’s non-negotiable. Play Titanfall 2’s campaign this weekend and load up Destiny 2 next week.

#Frequently Asked Questions