Tactical shooters include games of the first-person shooter (FPS) and third-person shooter genre of video games that generally simulate non-fictional, squad-based combat. This may come in the form of police fighting terrorists or other criminals, military combat in the recent past or hypothetical near future, and so on. The emphasis is on realistic modeling of weapon effects, terrain, and character capabilities, which lead to the possibility of other tactics being used in play than the more conventional FPS "shoot everything that moves" game style. Thus, Wolfenstein 3D is not considered a tactical shooter, although it involves military combat, because it doesn't involve teams and grants the player's protagonist unlimited physical stamina and an fantastical resistance to bullets.

Popular and influential tactical shooters include the Delta Force series, Counter-Strike, SWAT 3, Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon, Operation Flashpoint and America's Army.

In multiplayer games, the term can have a different, somewhat looser meaning. A multiplayer tactical shooter focuses on team cooperation to achieve objectives, rather than simply eliminating the enemy (as in traditional deathmatch games). The tactical emphasis is thus on joint goals and assisting team members, rather than on overcoming realistic individual limitations.

Tactical shooters involving military combat are sometimes known as soldier sims.