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Maybe shooters aren't? I'm not into it and i still find the "just one more hour" games pretty much as regularily as ever (except the 2017-2019 which were really fucking dark age if you weren't into button mashing or platform jumping)
Shooters definitely aren't. I'm a dyed in the plaid Unreal and Quake head; and... There ain't shit for us anymore. I don't have words for how much contempt I have for the pvp FPS space between the Pentagon propagandizing on one side, the lackluster live services on the other, and battle royales at the very center. Like... XIV and Minecraft used to be my 'there's no good matches right now' backup games. Now they're my mains.
Have you heard about Battlebit Remastered? I kinda like it right now. I've never played Battlefield but people are saying this is what they wanted Battlefield to be like and its got indie graphics and no cringe campaign filled with propaganda for now. Also 15 bucks and no microtransactions I just had to try
Have you tried free and open source alternatives to Quake and Unreal Tournament such as Xonotic, Red Eclipse, and Warsow? (The list goes on, including Cube 2: Sauerbraten, Unvanquished, etc.)
I would also suggest giving Minetest a try for a Minecraft alternative. It has MineClone2 as one of its games developed by the community, which is close to Minecraft, though I admit it is still very alpha and has a long road ahead. Nevertheless, there are other interesting games made with the Minetest engine that are simply not possible to make with Minecraft alone. I find NodeCore and Exile to be interesting, though they are more hardcore survival-esque than Minecraft. Where the potential of the game engine is demonstrated is in games like Little Lady and Builda City.
I also recommend Veloren as an RPG-style Minecraft alternative. It reminds me of Trove.
I also find enjoyment in some people's obscure hobby projects such as King's Crook. Not sure if that is your cup of tea, though.
I thought Xonotic was the one that was like... Duel-focused only, so I avoided that one if only because I've never been one for 1v1s; but I'm wondering if I'm not confusing it with another Quake-based project. I remember trying Warsow and Sauerbraten; but neither of those really felt populated enough for the kind of chaotic, high-speed deathmatching that I missed. It's like the curse of open-source arenas is there's maybe only a dozen people in 'em tops anymore.
On the Minecraft front, I've been playing heavily modded for so long at this point that I'm not really sure the alternatives can replicate the loops that the mods I run do without a WHOLE LOT of intervention on my part that'd likely mean learning Java myself. I am interested in Veloren though, mostly because I don't believe Cube World will ever come out, and it looks like this achieved all of that project's goals in magnitudes less time
Xonotic has various game modes, including the high-speed deathmatching you like. You're probably thinking of another game.
Also, at the time I read this on the site, it said:
442 players and 654 games in the past day. 77 changes by 13 contributors in the past month.
The game seems to be pretty active still.
UTRAKILL has that fast quake combat and OP weapons, it's only singleplayer
Yeaaaaah, I've got like half of Ultrakill prime-ranked by now; the only reason its lack of pvp isn't a detriment is because I don't wish netcode development on any solo developer. I've seen what that stuff looks like; and I don't blame Hakita in the slightest for not.
Counter-Strike.
I file that in the same military spectacle bucket as CoD and Battlefield tbhwu. I don't do multicam, or existent cop/armed forces organization insignias.