Preface
This is something I've wanted to talk about for a long time. I've been playing video games since 1999 and one thing was clear was that FPS were my go-to genre for playing games. These past few years, it was great to see the FPS genre evolve into something so much more. With games like Titanfalls 2, Apex Legend which followed up from TF2, CoD Modern Warmake Reboot, Destiny 2, Resident Evil 7 & 8, and Rainbow Six Siege. (Am sorry if I didn't add Battlefield, the recent ones just don't really cut it)
After playing so many games, the perfect one for me would be the one that comes with the best qualities of all them but be primarily a sandbox open world shooting game where you could literally do almost anything you wanted.
A Perfect Military Sandbox Shooter
Let me tell you what an idea sanbox game is like. In fact, the most ideal game I've played was Crysis back in 2007. With my old, dillapitated PC at the time, the game ran, but it was far from being the most perfect game to play. Not just on performance scale, but the content and design choices as well. Right now, playing it the game feels basic as sandbox shooting games can get really.
No, the ideal sandbox games are something that provides so much to do as a military shooter as well as turning the maps into literal playgrounds.
The games that are the epitome of first-person shooters would be ones with intense situations that require you to analyze, and use strategy and tactics as well as skill to overcome the obstacles in front.
While you could jump, strafe, lean, crouch, prone etc. Like any other shooting games out there, I think the interesting part of it would be how to use them intuitively. But there's only so much I could do. Games like MGSV weren't ideal fast-paced shooters because they were designed with tactics in mind, same as the Splinter Cell games. Some borrowed game philosophies from here and there, but also something mostly new.
Proposition
What I want is a game where you can equip all sorts of weapons, being able to utilize modern and semi-futuristic gadgets and weaponry. Like controlling drones, being able to go into camouflage mode, use hooks on walls to run on them or climb, being able to deploy defense turrets and heavy weapon mounts, have sensors that can tell me where my enemy is, being able to point a laser at a targeting designation before air bombardments, and so on.
All of this while having to be able to control a super soldier who is capable of taking so much damage yet can also be easily killed if they aren't careful. Having that soldier able to do his mission with so much on his hands, it would be an intense game to play. Especially with competent A.I design unlike most shooters these days. These guys wouldn't always screw around. Not to mention of course, maybe sprinkle some RPG elements here and there.
Then lastly, destructive environments. And am not talking just buildings. Being able to deploy enough explosions to dismantle a tank or shoot a helicopter rudder off clean. Those are something that would make my life's dream come true. After seeing what the UE5 has shown when it comes to small particle physics, it has proven that we live in a generation where games can finally reach close to the uncanny valley.
With a perfectly good shooting game like this, sky is the limit. Added with an in-game editor, the modding community could go insane with this.
A game like this would be a pretty huge undertaking, something akin to making Cyberpunk 2077 but who knows, in this day and age, sometimes too much just isn't enough.