Early access multiplayer shooter Out of Action is, ironically, full of action, with cyborg ninjas blasting each other in a mix of Titanfall and Max Payne

Between games like Dusk, Amid Evil, Prodeus and Ultrakill, indie gaming has long taken over from the big-budget devs in delivering the best single-player shooters (though id Software can still pack a punch when it wants to). But lately, small developers have been beating the mainstream in the multiplayer sphere too.

With Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 falling flat on its face and Battlefield 6 struggling to maintain its promising initial momentum, I've turned increasingly to the throwback deathmatch...