Strife: Quest for the Sovereign

Strife: Quest for the Sovereign was built on a modified Doom engine but combined classic shooter action with elements that were utterly unusual for the FPS genre in 1996 — dialogue trees, quests, factions, and the ability to decide, in a world ruled by a totalitarian theocracy called the Order, whom to kill and whom instead to spare or recruit as an ally. The player becomes a member of the rebel organization known as the Front, fighting against the Order, and besides shooting must complete tasks for various characters in the city, buy equipment from merchants, and build reputation with factions, bringing the game closer to an action RPG than a pure arena shooter.

The graphics were based on the same technology as Doom and Heretic, but the level design was more open and interconnected, with a central city serving as a hub for quests, shopping, and conversations with non-player characters. The music and sound effects maintained a dark, industrial atmosphere fitting the theme of an oppressed world ruled by a religious dictatorship, and the voiced character dialogue gave the story unusual depth for the time, when most FPS games told their story only through text interludes. The player could also improve character attributes such as accuracy or stamina over the course of the game, bringing it even closer to a hybrid between an action game and an RPG.

Strife never commercially matched the success of Doom or Quake, partly because it was released at a time when players' attention was already turning to fully 3D-accelerated titles, but among connoisseurs it earned a reputation as a forerunner of later immersive sims and hybrid action games, such as the later titles from Looking Glass Studios, thanks to its ambitious blend of FPS and RPG elements. In hindsight, Strife is praised precisely for how early and how naturally it managed to incorporate elements into the FPS genre that would only become commonplace in action games many years later.