Question: Context
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This morning while watching a video of Wolfenstein 3D from 1992 and [Doom (1993)](https://youtu.be/xcwlOllUdK8?t=171) I noticed that weapons don’t need to be compensated for any recoil. Then on my trip down memory lane I watched a Half Life (1998) video and there, automatic weapons at least seemed to have some form of recoil.

There must have been something happening in between that introduced this feature into the game design of FPS, that is almost ubiquitous nowadays.

Definition of recoil
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For the definition of recoil, I will use the definition used in the [Counter Strike wiki](https://counterstrike.fandom.com/wiki/Recoil), which I found to be a good summary of what I thought it is:

> 
> Recoil is the backward momentum of a gun when it is discharging bullets and causes players' screens to "shake". This often causes the shooter to sway away from their intended target after the first shot due to the momentum "kicking" the shooter's aim. The higher the recoil, the more the screen will vibrate.
> 
> 
> 

To which I will add a picture to illustrate (CSGO recoil pattern of AK47):

[![CSGO AK47 bullet spray](https://i.stack.imgur.com/JVLOc.gif)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/JVLOc.gif)

My question
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This led me to wonder:

**Which game introduced this concept of recoil when shooting and thus the compensation necessary to be accurate while shooting say, full auto or rapidly, in a FPS ?**

Answer: 
More of an RPG with FPS elements than a pure FPS, but the original [System Shock](https://www.ttlg.com/ss1/faq/#3.1) from 1994 had projectile weapon recoil.

> 
> This full-sized combat rifle is based on the 2064 Interlocutor KR-5.
>  It's not quite as powerful as it sounds, and it produces a big recoil and thus has a longer recovery time than the other weapons. Still, it's handy to have around, and can dispatch most enemies with a couple of shots. Penetrator ammo is very scarce, but highly effective.
> 
> 
> 

[![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/t5RV5.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/t5RV5.png)
According to [Phoenix: The Rise & Fall of Video Games, 3rd edition](https://retrocdn.net/images/e/e6/PhoenixtheFallandRiseofVideoGames_Book_US_3rd.pdf) : 

In **1989** :

> 
> Konix developed other controllers for the system. One was a light gun that had attachments to turn it into a light rifle. It even had a recoil when it fired to make it realistic.
> 
> 
> 

[According to wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konix_Multisystem), the system with recoil was first demonstrated in February 1989 at Earls Court Exhibition Center in London. 

(but this was physical recoil, not animated recoil) 

In the **March 1984** issue of [Crash: Micro Games Action, page 25](https://archive.org/details/crash-magazine-02/page/n23), the game "The Pyramid" is reviewed and the review says: 

> 
> there is even a recoil effect on the laser
> 
> 
> 

[![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/juafE.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/juafE.png)

(also if you consider military simulators, already by World War II there were [recoil simulators](https://patents.google.com/patent/US2398813A/en) for automatic weapon training)