This Free Game Helped Improve My Aim in Online Shooters (2024)

First-person shooters have been a personal favorite since my first time playing Halo as a kid. I typically do well in co-op games but have continually struggled in competitive multiplayer. That is, until I discovered this hidden gem.

How Aimlabs Improved My Aim

Aimlabs is an online first- and third-person aim trainer that sets tasks and playlists designed to hone core shooter skills like flicking, target switching, and target tracking. Tasks are designed to help players improve their speed, perception, and cognition skills in first-person shooter (FPS) and multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games.

After each task, Aimlabs offers players feedback and tips, game playback, and an accuracy heat map. Information gathered from each task is then used to suggest additional tasks. Lessons under the "Learn" tab work the same way.

Because Aimlabs breaks down the action of aiming into these various skills, I finally understood exactly what aspects of my aim I needed to work on. Within just a few days of play, I saw improvement in my overall reaction time, my ability to hit moving targets, and in tactical movements such as wall peeking.

After a few weeks of training, my kill-to-death ratio in other games started to see some improvement as well. As with any skill, though, consistent practice is the key to success. I had stopped playing for a few months, and there was a noticeable difference in my skill level when I returned.

The Science Behind Aimlabs

As its parent company explains, Aimlabs was created by “people who love gaming, who also happen to be neuroscientists, designers, developers, and computer vision pioneers.” This means that Aimlabs’ training plans and features are backed by scientific research and are curated by gamers, for gamers.

One feature that Aimlabs highly recommends players use is the Game Profile. This matches certain settings to that of whatever game you’re training for to help keep metrics uniform and give you the most accurate training scenarios possible. If you play Valorant or Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege, this feature is even more important as Aimlabs has been named the official FPS training partner for both games.

When I first started playing Aimlabs, I opted to keep my game profile in the default Aimlabs mode since I was looking to improve my foundational skills. I only played general training tasks such as Reflexshot, which trains your precision by having you aim for targets that randomly appear in your field of vision. In this task, targets also increase and decrease in size based on your performance to keep you training at your threshold.

Now that I’ve advanced to game-specific training for Valorant, some of my most played tasks have been Valorant Ascent Tracking, which helps players track moving targets; VCT Fracture Operator, which trains players’ sniper skills; and VCT Latam, which hones players’ flicking and peeking skills.

Another setting that Aimlabs urges players to adjust is the mouse or controller sensitivity. I opted to do this through Aimlabs’s Flick Optimizer, which runs players through three tasks several times at different sensitivity levels and analyzes the results to find your ideal sensitivity.

Users who upgrade to the Aimlabs+ subscription ($12.99/month) or purchase the ROG Harpe Ace Aim Lab Edition mouse can get further insights. However, the basic analysis will suffice for the majority of non-competitive players.

Aimlabs isn’t just about the right settings and solo training, though. Along with the official Aimlabs content, players can create custom tasks, weapons, and playlists. Additionally, you can collaborate with friends and create custom content to share with the community. Players are also able to compete against one another, either ranked or unranked, and you can track your progress through the community leaderboards.

How to Sharpen Your Shooter Skills

To get started on your aim training journey, Aimlabs can be downloaded for free on PC through Steam and Epic Games as well as on the Xbox Store, Google Play Store, and iOS App Store. As previously mentioned, users can opt to pay for an Aimlabs+ monthly, semi-annual, or annual subscription which provides more insights, the Discovery AI training engine which is replacing their ProGuides program, bonus Aimlabs Battlepass rewards, and more goodies.

That said, I’ve been very satisfied with the extensive free content provided, having only begun to scratch the surface of what Aimlabs has to offer. I highly recommend this training tool to anyone looking to build or sharpen your FPS and MOBA skills, regardless of which level you’re currently at.