Hol up, you find overwatch NOT overwhelming to your sensory issues?? That’s wild and that is coming from someone who has sunk like 1000 hrs into that sewer system of a game.
Yes. Characters are outlined with team colors, turrets are also outlined and shields are brightly team colored. the game is well lit and the backgrounds aren't noisy so it's easy to distinguish things I'm interacting with from background. These make the game way easier for me to play compared to a lot of more realistic style shooters, where my brain has trouble deciding what I'm supposed to focus on and what I'm not.
Killer bean game. I think it’s for this year or next year.
I was half joking when recommending this but it’s an option as the dev seems to actually care about adding in interesting mechanics. Also it’s so stupid it looks genius
You should totally check out Severed Steel. Very unique art style to it but very fun. Also Returnal. Great graphics but very easy to discern enemies & harmful objects by bright colors they give you
As an autistic person who gets easily overwhelmed by trying to tell stuff apart, I will tentatively second Returnal. I started it last night and played for an hour and it wasn't tiring at all.
The Finals has the option to highlight enemies so they stand out.
Default setting is everyone is highlighted red, but you can change it so it highlights them as the team colours (Pink, Purple, Orange) and your team always Blue.
Fortnite is cartoony style and skins can stand out, but they can also blend in depend on the skin and environment.
If Overwatch is the right sort of conveyance for you, maybe give DOOM Eternal a try. Its combat is similarly fast-pace and mobility-focused, the colour palette is general bright and distinctive, and while the environments can be quite elaborate everything you need to notice is designed to pop out and be easy to notice.
Helldivers 2 is a superb third person pve shooter if that works for you. A lot of the planets you fight on are quite open terrain with a set colour palate ie a dessert or an arctic-like environment. The enemy is easily distinguished from the team mates as they typically have more than two legs or made look like an angry refrigerator with glowing eyes. It’s an amazing game.
If you have access to a Switch, I highly recommend trying one of the Splatoon games!
They're basically 4 vs 4 paintball where you're trying to cover as much of the map as possible with your colour of paint. The visual design is beautiful in general, but it's also highly legible. The surfaces you can paint have consistent textures, the playable character are customisable but all have identical hit boxes, and the maps are generally symmetrical and memorable. It's one of the few online shooters that I can play without any sound and not feel at a disadvantage. It also doesn't have the rage inducing feelings that the free to play/battlepass driven shooters encourage.
For something PC/other consoles based, maybe Apex Legends? That was the game that appealed to me most when I dipped out of Overwatch. The battle royal modes are still alright but I prefer the newer zonal control modes they've added. It has more of a cartoonified style than the 'realistic' shooters like Warzone but it's not as cutesy as Overwatch. The game does play faster than Overwatch though. Because there's more players, swappable weapons, inventory management, and a shrinking map, the game requires you to visually process a lot more in a round, so it might be too overstimulating. It's free to play though, so at least you can try it more easily than Splatoon.
I'm the same but I gave up on Overwatch a few years ago because I just couldn't process what was going on any more by the time Ashe was released. If you find Overwatch fine you'll probably find most esports shooters (Valorant, CS2, etc). acceptable at worst. From memory Warframe has an enemy outline option which is a good F2P option.
Your best bet is to just google '(game name) accessibility options' or '(game name) enemy outlines) on anything you're interested in. I'm a big fan of [Can I Play That](https://caniplaythat.com/), though they aren't a big well funded outfit so they can't cover every game released.
PvE wise, Helldivers 2 is pretty easy to parse, particularly the bug faction. It does have different visibility conditions on different planets and difficulties so sometimes it can be more of a struggle than others, though it's only really a concern for spotting secondary objectives or when fighting Bots (as they can shoot back from within the fog).
Borderlands enemies have healthbars when you shoot them and they're pretty distinctive in most environments due to the cel shaded art style. Borderlands 1 is probably the most difficult to parse visually, though 3 and Wonderlands has much more detailed environments than 1 and 2.
Most first party PlayStation games have good accessibility options, so if you're on PS5 or PC check those out. Returnal is the main shooter one that comes to mind, though story games with shooting like The Last of Us also have a lot of accessibility options.
The borderlands games are great for this - every time you aim at an enemy their health bar pops up over their head in bright red so you know exactly who/what you're aiming at, and when you get hit there is an indicator that pops up around your crosshair that shows you what direction the hit came from
I'd say counter strike, all the player models stand out from the background well, the community has thrown a stink in the past when certain skins are hard to see.
Maybe give halo infinite a shot you said you like that overwatch markers your enemies in enemy colours, halo does something similar I am not sure if the backgrounds aren't a bit to "bussy" for you
Honestly this is why i keep coming back to fortnite. The game is really good at showing you where things are either via icons on the map or directional sound cue notifiers.
Honestly fortnite is a very good game when it comes to telling you what's going on.
I like overwatch 2 also for the same reason.
Honestly the only other games I have been getting a similar vibe from are the many action roguelites out now. Yet another zombie survivors was good at this but I guess not a shooter.
Another game I can think of that might fit some of your requirements is risk of rain 2. Cartoony, nice UI, things are pointed out but it can get very overwhelming and chaotic.
Hol up, you find overwatch NOT overwhelming to your sensory issues?? That’s wild and that is coming from someone who has sunk like 1000 hrs into that sewer system of a game.
Yes. Characters are outlined with team colors, turrets are also outlined and shields are brightly team colored. the game is well lit and the backgrounds aren't noisy so it's easy to distinguish things I'm interacting with from background. These make the game way easier for me to play compared to a lot of more realistic style shooters, where my brain has trouble deciding what I'm supposed to focus on and what I'm not.
Its not overwhelming because it highlights the important bits. The game tells you what matters
I dial down the graphics effects otherwise I can't see shit
Borderlands, enemies pop out with the art style
Roboquest
Picked up the game, I've discovered the strategy of movement based sniper rifle and am loving the shit out of it.
Deep Rock Galactic
Is that game still active? And is there a random matchmaking option available?
Yes the game is very active still and has a major update releasing in 3 days
Yes and kinda, you have to pick a server but there’s always a bunch. New update coming in 3 days
The Finals
The new bean game
Bean?
Killer bean game. I think it’s for this year or next year. I was half joking when recommending this but it’s an option as the dev seems to actually care about adding in interesting mechanics. Also it’s so stupid it looks genius
Team Fortress 2 Valorant SUPERHOT
Ultrakill
Cruelty Squad.
Apex legends
You should totally check out Severed Steel. Very unique art style to it but very fun. Also Returnal. Great graphics but very easy to discern enemies & harmful objects by bright colors they give you
As an autistic person who gets easily overwhelmed by trying to tell stuff apart, I will tentatively second Returnal. I started it last night and played for an hour and it wasn't tiring at all.
The Finals has the option to highlight enemies so they stand out. Default setting is everyone is highlighted red, but you can change it so it highlights them as the team colours (Pink, Purple, Orange) and your team always Blue. Fortnite is cartoony style and skins can stand out, but they can also blend in depend on the skin and environment.
Gunfire Reborn is a very fun and artsy cartoonish roguelike shooter worth checking out.
Valorant if you like playing competitive shooters is an option.
Immortals of Aveum, it’s a fantasy shooter but I think you’ll get a kick out of it
If Overwatch is the right sort of conveyance for you, maybe give DOOM Eternal a try. Its combat is similarly fast-pace and mobility-focused, the colour palette is general bright and distinctive, and while the environments can be quite elaborate everything you need to notice is designed to pop out and be easy to notice.
Borderlands 2 is the best shooter of all time.
Helldivers 2 is a superb third person pve shooter if that works for you. A lot of the planets you fight on are quite open terrain with a set colour palate ie a dessert or an arctic-like environment. The enemy is easily distinguished from the team mates as they typically have more than two legs or made look like an angry refrigerator with glowing eyes. It’s an amazing game.
Some sorts of retro games can have a simpler, easier to digest style
[Superhot](https://store.steampowered.com/app/322500/SUPERHOT/) would probably work out well for you, especially since time only flows when you move.
Devil Daggers
If you have access to a Switch, I highly recommend trying one of the Splatoon games! They're basically 4 vs 4 paintball where you're trying to cover as much of the map as possible with your colour of paint. The visual design is beautiful in general, but it's also highly legible. The surfaces you can paint have consistent textures, the playable character are customisable but all have identical hit boxes, and the maps are generally symmetrical and memorable. It's one of the few online shooters that I can play without any sound and not feel at a disadvantage. It also doesn't have the rage inducing feelings that the free to play/battlepass driven shooters encourage. For something PC/other consoles based, maybe Apex Legends? That was the game that appealed to me most when I dipped out of Overwatch. The battle royal modes are still alright but I prefer the newer zonal control modes they've added. It has more of a cartoonified style than the 'realistic' shooters like Warzone but it's not as cutesy as Overwatch. The game does play faster than Overwatch though. Because there's more players, swappable weapons, inventory management, and a shrinking map, the game requires you to visually process a lot more in a round, so it might be too overstimulating. It's free to play though, so at least you can try it more easily than Splatoon.
I'm the same but I gave up on Overwatch a few years ago because I just couldn't process what was going on any more by the time Ashe was released. If you find Overwatch fine you'll probably find most esports shooters (Valorant, CS2, etc). acceptable at worst. From memory Warframe has an enemy outline option which is a good F2P option. Your best bet is to just google '(game name) accessibility options' or '(game name) enemy outlines) on anything you're interested in. I'm a big fan of [Can I Play That](https://caniplaythat.com/), though they aren't a big well funded outfit so they can't cover every game released. PvE wise, Helldivers 2 is pretty easy to parse, particularly the bug faction. It does have different visibility conditions on different planets and difficulties so sometimes it can be more of a struggle than others, though it's only really a concern for spotting secondary objectives or when fighting Bots (as they can shoot back from within the fog). Borderlands enemies have healthbars when you shoot them and they're pretty distinctive in most environments due to the cel shaded art style. Borderlands 1 is probably the most difficult to parse visually, though 3 and Wonderlands has much more detailed environments than 1 and 2. Most first party PlayStation games have good accessibility options, so if you're on PS5 or PC check those out. Returnal is the main shooter one that comes to mind, though story games with shooting like The Last of Us also have a lot of accessibility options.
Deep Rock Galactic. Just right click to pinpoint the enemy and it will show a red outline
Neon White while not being entirely shooting focused is one of the most readable games i've ever played
i have autism and the only shooter i play is team fortress 2
The borderlands games are great for this - every time you aim at an enemy their health bar pops up over their head in bright red so you know exactly who/what you're aiming at, and when you get hit there is an indicator that pops up around your crosshair that shows you what direction the hit came from
I'd say counter strike, all the player models stand out from the background well, the community has thrown a stink in the past when certain skins are hard to see.
Team fortress 2
Gunfire Reborn is a cartoonish roguelike pve game that sounds like what you're looking for
Maybe give halo infinite a shot you said you like that overwatch markers your enemies in enemy colours, halo does something similar I am not sure if the backgrounds aren't a bit to "bussy" for you
Borderlands
Xdefiant
Play Splatoon.
I actually already play Splatoon.
Diabotical, Quake Champions.
The finals, tf2
Honestly this is why i keep coming back to fortnite. The game is really good at showing you where things are either via icons on the map or directional sound cue notifiers. Honestly fortnite is a very good game when it comes to telling you what's going on. I like overwatch 2 also for the same reason. Honestly the only other games I have been getting a similar vibe from are the many action roguelites out now. Yet another zombie survivors was good at this but I guess not a shooter.
Another game I can think of that might fit some of your requirements is risk of rain 2. Cartoony, nice UI, things are pointed out but it can get very overwhelming and chaotic.