The FPS skybox is underappreciated, so let's appreciate some

Videogames: they're fake. So they say, but occasionally artists do such a bang-up job that you almost forget (or don't want to acknowledge) otherwise. When folks champion games for their artistic prowess, they tend to look down—gazing at detailed leaves, worshipping believable reflections or stretchy pores. What they do less often is look up and marvel at the wheels keeping the whole illusion on track: the skybox.

The skybox is an underappreciated contributor to oh-so-coveted immersion. The exact confines of a skybox may vary by game, but they're typically everything in the background that's too far away to be properly modeled: mountains, hills, highways, trees, and of course, the sky. Sometimes they're a static texture, other times they're animated.

The skybox is far from a lost art, but I sometimes worry if its best days are behind us in an age when big-budget games choose to chase photorealism. In some cases, a modern skybox is more of a collection of complex weather simulations than a cohesive composition. As the unfavorable comparison of a 2026 Call of Duty map remade from a 2012 Call of Duty map demonstrates, "realer" skyboxes do not equal better.

Sure, that overcast sky is a dead ringer for an April afternoon on Earth, but those bright sunrays blasting through the best two-dimensional clouds an Xbox 360 could render just look way better.

So let's look at some great FPS skyboxes, old and new. This is far from an exhaustive accounting of the genre—it's largely based on personal favorites and what I have installed—but they're all great examples of skyboxes that aren't only beautiful. They tell stories, provide context, establish a vibe, or leave me asking new questions about the spaces they inhabit.

Halo

There's a lot of Halo in this, so let's get it out of the way first. Not only are the original games classics that hold up to this day, but they established Bungie as the undisputed kings of the skybox. Like, do you ever just look up in Blood Gulch and go "holy shit."

Halo: Combat Evolved

Halo 2

Halo 3

Halo Reach

Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun

My favorite throwback FPS of the moment is Boltgun, a game that doesn't just harness '90s chunk to make the same sort of environments 30 years later, but also to make very pretty skies like this.

Straftat

In the realm of arena shooters skyboxes, nobody is doing it like Straftat right now. Our favorite FPS of 2024 is overflowing with weird and wonderful maps (well over 70 of them, actually) with equally strange skyboxes. I couldn't pick just a few, so I chose nine.

Doom Eternal

This one falls firmly under the category of "I wasn't familiar with your game." Doom Eternal moves fast and I didn't always stop to sniff the roses—or should I say, the mind-meltingly awesome galactic vistas and hellscapes. Un-friggin-believable.

Battlefield 6

If CoD skyboxes have taken a step back in our photoreal future, DICE deserves credit for maintaining Battlefield's background beauty all along. Here's a few Battlefield 6 maps I really like looking at.

Marathon

Bungie just delivered another masterclass in skyboxes with Marathon. It's interesting how the skies of Tau Ceti IV are fairly understated compared to Halo. Distant celestial bodies look diffused and almost blurry, perhaps to sell how far away they are. They're incredible, but not at all flashy—perfect for environments where PvP can break out at any moment.

Source engine

Honestly, the skyboxes of classic Source games are not often impressive. When you load old maps in Garry's mod and godmode around them, you realize that Valve prefers to set the stage with large foreground structures and keep the skybox itself extremely simple. Maybe that's because Source Engine skyboxes tend to look flat, but occasionally it produces bangers.

Left 4 Dead 2

Team Fortress 2

Overwatch

A quick look at Overwatch, which has no shortage of very pretty maps but not as many memorable skyboxes.

I could stare at breathtaking virtual skies all day, so please tell me: What are your favorite videogame skyboxes? Which FPSes did I overlook? Comment below.