F.E.A.R.

R. series are first-person shooters and all share multiple game mechanics. R. R.

R. R. 2: Project Origin, the player controls Sgt. R.

R. was announced for Microsoft Windows at E3 2003. The foundational concept was to make a game where the player felt like the hero of an action film. This led to the development of reflex time, with Writer, director, and lead designer Craig Hubbard stating that he wanted "to make combat as intense as the tea house shootout at the beginning of John Woo's Hard Boiled".

Defeating "enemies with style" was crucial to this. Another key influence was the Wachowskis' The Matrix (1999). In particular, the lobby scene was the team's initial point of reference for how the game's combat should look and feel. In a 2008 interview, Hubbard explained,

The PC version of the original game received very positive reviews, with the AI garnering especial praise. Critics also lauded the graphics, atmosphere, sound design, music, and combat mechanics. Common points of criticism were a lack of enemy variety, a weak plot, and repetitive level design. IGN's Tom McNamara called it "one of the best shooters this year".

GameSpot's Jason Ocampo said it "elevates the genre to a whole new level of intensity". Eurogamer's Tom Bramwell called it "fresh and compelling." Game Informer's Adam Biessener praised the "smartest AI-controlled opponents I've ever faced" and called the combat mechanics "intense almost to the point of sensory overload".