Field guide · eight games compared

The best cartoon FPS games on PC, cel shaded, comic book or hand drawn

By Whale Development Studios, the studio behind Iron Curtain Call. Published 5 November 2026. Every date, price, platform and demo below was checked on the US Steam store on 5 November 2026; the sources are listed at the end.

Iron Curtain Call: shot out of a circus cannon high over an election carnival at dusk, balloons, bunting and a shooting gallery below, fireworks in a purple sky — Iron Curtain Call, chapter 4, Landslide. A real gameplay frame.

The short answer

Any shooter that looks like a cartoon.

This guide is for any first person shooter that looks like a cartoon, whether cel shaded, comic book or hand drawn, from any era. The narrower look, 1930s rubber hose animation in the style of MOUSE: P.I. For Hire and Cuphead, has its own page: rubber hose and 1930s cartoon FPS games.

The long running names are Borderlands 2, a comic book looter shooter you can play with friends, and Team Fortress 2, a free to play team shooter drawn like an illustration. XIII is the comic book original, and Void Bastards and The Darkness II carry comic book art into a spaceship roguelike and a supernatural crime story. Fallen Aces hand draws its noir. MOUSE: P.I. For Hire and Iron Curtain Call go back to 1930s animation, and Iron Curtain Call’s demo is free on Steam.

Two of the eight had a free demo on Steam on 5 November 2026: Iron Curtain Call and The Darkness II. Team Fortress 2 is free to play outright. The Iron Curtain Call demo is Mission 1 and has no parry; the parry comes with the full game on 11 March 2027.

At a glance

Eight cartoon shooters, side by side.

Checked on the US Steam store and the games’ Wikipedia articles on 5 November 2026. Prices are list prices in US dollars before any sale; Steam sets its own prices in other countries. Team Fortress 2 is free to play: it needs no demo and has no price.
Game	How cartoon	How it plays	Free demo on Steam	US price	Out
Iron Curtain CallOur game	1930s rubber hose cartoon with ink lines, in full color	Single player campaign; fast and close range; parry pink attacks in the full game	Yes, free: Mission 1, about 15 to 20 minutes	Not priced yet	11 March 2027Free demo since 28 October 2026
MOUSE: P.I. For Hire	Hand drawn, black and white rubber hose animation inspired by 1930s cartoons	Single player detective campaign with more than 20 noir levels	No	$29.99	16 April 2026
Borderlands 2	Comic book artwork: cel shaded style with hand drawn textures, from the first game	Action role playing shooter with loot; alone or four player co op	No	$19.99	17 September 2012
XIII Classic	Cel shaded comic book style, with comic strip panels and sound effect words	Single player spy conspiracy story, with stealth in some missions	No	$12.99	11 June 2020First released in 2003
Team Fortress 2	Cartoonish illustrated look with a 1960s spy film feel	Team multiplayer only, nine classes; free to play	No	Free to play	10 October 2007
Void Bastards	Comic book art style, praised by critics	Single player strategy shooter and roguelike, ship by ship	No	$29.99	28 May 2019
The Darkness II	Comic book influenced “graphic noir”, hand painted and cel shaded	Single player campaign and a four player co op mode	Yes, free	$29.99	9 February 2012
Fallen Aces	Comic book noir, with all art and animation hand drawn	Single player in Early Access; plays like a shooter from the 90s	No	$14.99	14 June 2024Early Access

The games

One by one, who each is for.

Each entry says who the game is for, what it is and how it differs from Iron Curtain Call. The facts under each come from its Steam page on 5 November 2026; the look from its Steam page and its Wikipedia article.

Iron Curtain Call

Our game

Play it if you want a cartoon shooter built for speed, drawn like a 1930s cartoon, and you want to try it for free first.

It is 1965, year three of World War III. Humanity ran out of soldiers, so the war is fought by wind up tin robots run by the Supreme Chancellor, a customer service machine that was handed a country. You are Corporal Punishment, a silent soldier delivered to the front like cargo, and Colonel Panic is on the radio: “I’d send backup, but you are the backup.”

The look is a 1930s rubber hose cartoon with ink lines, in full color, with white cartoon gloves in front of the camera and comic words on every hit. The fighting is close: a Knuckle Sandwich punch gives you health, the Can Opener cracks a robot open for ammo and the Hot Take shoulder flamethrower feeds your armor. In the full game pink attacks can be parried. Robots burst into bolts, springs and scrap; there is no blood.

The free demo is Mission 1, Welcome to Rubbleton: about 15 to 20 minutes, ending with the first boss, Major Disaster. It has no parry; that comes with the full game.

Developer and publisher: Whale Development Studios
Out: 11 March 2027
Free demo out: 28 October 2026
On Steam: Windows and macOS (demo on Windows, macOS and Linux)
US list price: Not priced yet
Demo: Yes, free

Play the free demo Play 60 seconds in your browser, no download

Iron Curtain Call in first person: a white cartoon glove holds a typewriter submachine gun as a grinning steam train marked 6:15 bursts out of a brick tunnel — Chapter 1, Rubbleton: the 6:15 express, in the free demo. A real gameplay frame.

MOUSE: P.I. For Hire

Play it if you loved the black and white look of early 1930s cartoons and want a full detective campaign.

Fumi Games’ shooter casts you as Jack Pepper, voiced by Troy Baker: a war hero turned private eye in Mouseburg, a town of mice styled on 1930s New York. Everything is drawn by hand, frame by frame, in black and white rubber hose animation, and it moves to a big band jazz score. Steam lists more than 20 noir levels, cases to solve and collectibles to find.

It is the closest match in look, and the reason our rubber hose guide exists. It had no demo on Steam on 5 November 2026.

Developer: Fumi Games
Publisher: PlaySide
Released: 16 April 2026
On Steam: Windows
US list price: $29.99
Demo: None on Steam

Borderlands 2

Play it if you want a comic book shooter with endless guns, to play alone or with friends.

Gearbox Software’s Borderlands 2 is an action role playing shooter set on the planet Pandora, where four new Vault Hunters take on the tyrant Handsome Jack. A loot system generates weapons and gear in countless combinations, and you can play alone, in split screen or in four player co op, online or on a LAN.

Its look is the reason it is here. The series is drawn as comic book artwork: a cel shaded style made of hand drawn textures with outlines around the major shapes. Borderlands 2 kept the style of the first game, a mix of comic book visuals and more realistic imagery that its makers call a concept art style.

It is a loot and level shooter, where Iron Curtain Call is a straight run through twelve chapters. The cartoon is comic book ink rather than rubber hose.

Developer: Gearbox Software
Publisher: 2K
Released: 17 September 2012
On Steam: Windows, macOS and Linux
US list price: $19.99
Demo: None on Steam

XIII Classic

Play it if you want to see where comic book shooters began, and you like a spy story with stealth.

Ubisoft Paris Studio’s XIII first came out in 2003, loosely based on the Belgian graphic novel series of the same name, and Steam has sold this Classic edition since 11 June 2020. You wake with amnesia, a safe deposit key and a mysterious tattoo, wanted for the murder of the President, with the FBI, the CIA and a gang of killers after you. Some missions ask for stealth.

The cel shaded comic book look is the whole idea: comic strip panels pop up on screen, sound effects appear as words in speech bubbles, and blood splatters are drawn in a cartoon manner. Wikipedia notes it got mixed reviews and sold poorly at launch, and has gathered a cult following since. A separate remake exists; this entry is the original.

It is the oldest game here, and slower and more stealthy than Iron Curtain Call.

Developer: Ubisoft Paris Studio
Publisher: Microids
Released: 11 June 2020
On Steam: Windows
US list price: $12.99
Demo: None on Steam

Team Fortress 2

Play it if you want a cartoon shooter to play with other people, for nothing.

Valve’s Team Fortress 2 is a multiplayer shooter: two teams, RED and BLU, nine classes with different jobs, in modes such as capture the flag, control point, payload and king of the hill. Steam lists it as free to play, and says you can pay for hats and items but do not need to.

Valve drew it as a cartoon on purpose. After years in which it was meant to be realistic and militaristic, the game became cartoon like, influenced by 20th century commercial illustration and a 1960s spy film feel, and each class is drawn so you can tell it apart at a glance. Many reviewers praised its cartoon styled graphics.

It is team multiplayer with no campaign; Iron Curtain Call is a single player game. Steam showed Windows and Linux for it on 5 November 2026.

Developer and publisher: Valve
Released: 10 October 2007
On Steam: Windows and Linux
US list price: Free to play
Demo: None on Steam

Void Bastards

Play it if you want a comic book shooter that rewards planning, played in short runs.

Blue Manchu’s Void Bastards is a strategy shooter. You lead freed prisoners through derelict spaceships, plan each run from the ship’s layout, scavenge for food, fuel and supplies, and choose when to fight and when to run. When one prisoner dies, another steps forward. Steam describes a campaign of 12 to 15 hours.

Critics praised its comic book art style, its dark humor and its gameplay, according to Wikipedia, and its makers took inspiration from BioShock and System Shock 2.

Slower and more planned than Iron Curtain Call, with a comic book look that is flat and graphic rather than animated.

Developer and publisher: Blue Manchu
Released: 28 May 2019
On Steam: Windows and macOS
US list price: $29.99
Demo: None on Steam

The Darkness II

Play it if you want a comic book shooter with a grim story and supernatural powers, and a demo to try first.

Digital Extremes’ The Darkness II is based on the comic book series from Top Cow Productions. You are Jackie Estacado, head of a New York crime family, who wields a supernatural force called the Darkness: its Demon Arms slash, grab and throw while both your hands fire guns. It also has a four player co op mode.

Its artists hand painted most of the game’s assets in a comic book influenced “graphic noir” style with high contrast colors, and one reviewer called the cel shaded graphics evocative of the comics. It is a comic book look on a dark story: Steam calls the story twisted and brutal, with supernatural horror.

A free demo of it was on Steam on 5 November 2026, Windows only. Next to Iron Curtain Call, a war satire with no blood, it is the grim end of the shelf.

Developer: Digital Extremes
Publisher: 2K
Released: 9 February 2012
On Steam: Windows and macOS (demo on Windows)
US list price: $29.99
Demo: Yes, free

Fallen Aces

Play it if noir is what you are after, and you would rather settle a fight with your fists.

Trey Powell and Jason Bond’s crime noir game looks like it came right out of the comics and plays like a shooter from the 90s. The guardians of Switchblade City are being taken down one by one, and it is up to one man with two fists to find out why. The world is your weapon: knives, pipes, bats, trash cans, frying pans, nail guns and Tommy guns.

Steam says all its art and animation are original and hand drawn, down to the comic cutscenes. It is in Early Access.

Its noir is hand drawn comic book art rather than 1930s animation, and it had no demo on Steam on 5 November 2026.

Developers: Trey Powell and Jason Bond
Publisher: New Blood Interactive
Entered Early Access: 14 June 2024
On Steam: Windows
US list price: $14.99
Demo: None on Steam

The look

What counts as a cartoon FPS?

Three looks make a shooter feel like a cartoon. Hand drawn animation is the rarest: every frame is drawn, as in MOUSE: P.I. For Hire and Fallen Aces. Cel shading, in Wikipedia’s words a way of making 3D graphics look flat and hand drawn, often to mimic a comic book or a cartoon, is the most common: XIII, Borderlands 2 and The Darkness II use it. And illustrated cartoon styles, like Team Fortress 2’s, draw 3D characters so they read like a poster.

Two famous cartoon games are left out on purpose. Cuphead is a 2D run and gun seen from the side, and Bendy and the Ink Machine is a first person horror game about puzzles and ink, with a few weapons you pick up along the way. Both are covered in our rubber hose guide.

The 1930s look

If it is the 1930s cartoon you came for

Our first guide goes deeper on the oldest cartoon style: rubber hose animation, MOUSE: P.I. For Hire, Iron Curtain Call and the rest of the 1930s cartoon shooters, with the same facts checked on Steam, in ten languages. If it is speed you want, our melee FPS guide compares the fast shooters.

Or skip the reading: play 60 seconds of Iron Curtain Call in your browser, no download.

Questions

Questions players ask

What are the best cartoon FPS games on PC?

Borderlands 2 and The Darkness II for comic book shooting, Team Fortress 2 for free team play, XIII for the comic book original, Void Bastards for a comic book spaceship roguelike, Fallen Aces for hand drawn noir, and MOUSE: P.I. For Hire and Iron Curtain Call for 1930s cartoon animation. All eight are in the table above.

Is there a cartoon FPS with a free demo?

Yes. Iron Curtain Call has a free demo on Steam: Mission 1, Welcome to Rubbleton, about 15 to 20 minutes, with no parry (that comes with the full game). The Darkness II also had a free demo on Steam on 5 November 2026.

What is the best free cartoon FPS?

Team Fortress 2 is free to play on Steam, a team shooter with a cartoon look. For a single player cartoon FPS, the Iron Curtain Call demo is free, and you can also play 60 seconds in your browser with no download.

Is Cuphead a first person shooter?

No. Cuphead is a 2D run and gun seen from the side. For its 1930s cartoon look in first person, see our rubber hose guide.

What is cel shading?

A way of rendering 3D graphics so they look flat and hand drawn, often to mimic a comic book or a cartoon. XIII, Borderlands 2 and The Darkness II are cel shaded shooters.

Which cartoon FPS games are single player?

Iron Curtain Call, MOUSE: P.I. For Hire, XIII, Void Bastards and Fallen Aces are single player on Steam. Borderlands 2 and The Darkness II add co op, and Team Fortress 2 is multiplayer only.

What is the difference between a cartoon FPS and a rubber hose FPS?

A cartoon FPS is any shooter that looks like a cartoon, cel shaded, comic book or hand drawn. A rubber hose FPS looks like a 1930s cartoon, with limbs drawn as flowing curves; MOUSE: P.I. For Hire and Iron Curtain Call are the two. They have their own guide.

Sources

Every fact on this page comes from these pages, read on 5 November 2026. Prices and dates change; the store page always has the final word.

Iron Curtain Call, Steam store page
MOUSE: P.I. For Hire, Steam store page
Borderlands 2, Steam store page
XIII Classic, Steam store page
Team Fortress 2, Steam store page
Void Bastards, Steam store page
The Darkness II, Steam store page
Fallen Aces, Steam store page
Cel shading, Wikipedia
Borderlands (video game), Wikipedia
Borderlands 2, Wikipedia
XIII (2003 video game), Wikipedia
Team Fortress 2, Wikipedia
Void Bastards, Wikipedia
The Darkness II, Wikipedia
Mouse: P.I. for Hire, Wikipedia

World War III now has a free trial.

Mission 1 of Iron Curtain Call is free on Steam. Play it, and if the war wins you over, wishlist the full war: it arrives on 11 March 2027.

Play the free demo Wishlist on Steam Play 60 seconds in your browser, no download