Video games have taken players from the beginning of time to the end of the world. Grim as it may sound, the apocalypse has made for some of the most entertaining settings gamers have experienced. Exploring a radioactive city, surviving against the walking undead, fending off rogue machines, there’s just so much potential.
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Just as there have been dozens of prophecies foreseeing the end of all things, there have been just as many gaming franchises centered around them. Well, there’s no point in staving off doomsday. So, grab a Geiger counter and put on a gas mask, because it’s time to head into the wasteland and explore the top series centered around the apocalypse.
8
Wasteland
Join The Desert Rangers
If you want a series that’s come a long way, look no further than the Wasteland games. From the bloated DOS box of the late 80s to the modern PC, the games are set in the future of a post-apocalyptic America. You join a group known as the Desert Rangers, a new form of law enforcement trying to bring order and aid to the unruly wasteland.
Between the bandits, mutated horrors, and mad machines, you’ll have your hands full. While much has changed between games, from Wasteland 1’s encounter system to Wasteland 3’s turn-based combat, the formula has remained the same. Fight, loot, and make choices that will impact the factions you side with.
However, if you need more reason to check out the series, the third installment includes co-op, meaning you can face the apocalypse with a friend.
7
The Walking Dead
Make Your Choice
You can’t have an apocalypse without zombies. They go together like moldy bread and expired butter. Among the various franchises that pit players against the undead, one of the most highly recommended is what many consider Telltale Games’ magnum opus: The Walking Dead.
Based on the AMC series, spanning several games and spin-offs, the player takes the role of a different protagonist every season, where the decisions you make will carry from each episode and impact the world around you. Whether you’re trying to do what’s best for everyone, or just yourself, actions have consequences in a world with rotting corpses roaming the streets. So be prepared, and while you’re at it, keep a box of tissues handy.
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Frostpunk
The Frost Is Coming
Sometimes the freakiest Armageddon is not caused by nuclear weapons or zombie outbreaks, but by the very elements themselves. In Frostpunk, the Earth has frozen over, collapsing society and killing off most of the population. Leading only a handful of survivors, it falls on the player to build a city that can endure the snowy apocalypse.
As a survival game focused on rebuilding society, you design the city based on your specifications while making decisions on how to govern it—from the work hours to the laws. But as your city grows, so will the population’s demands. Faced with moral conundrums, you decide what’s best in keeping the city running or keeping the people happy. Whatever you choose, always remember you can’t have a city without citizens.
5
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
Enter the Zone
For a series that captures the terror and fear of trying to survive in a radioactive wasteland, the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games will give you a scare. Set in Chernobyl after a second disaster ravaged the land, spawning strange anomalies and mutated horrors, with various clans and organizations vying for control. Now, only the brave and foolish would dare venture into the hostile borders of the Zone.
Besides the fact that it’s rare to get a game featuring a Ukrainian perspective, the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series remains disturbing and even haunting despite their age. Though it features FPS-style combat, along with an inventory system to manage weapons, don’t go in expecting an easy run. The games can be difficult, and even brutal, for newcomers, but in a way, that’s part of their charm. Because no one ever said surviving a desolate wasteland would be a walk in the park.
4
Gears of War
“It’s A Very, Very, Mad World”
Not every apocalypse has to occur on Earth, and not every game has to focus on survival. For Gears of War, the location is the fictitious planet of Sera, and the only choice is all-out war. The world has been invaded by an underground menace known as the Locust Horde. As Marcus Fenix, it falls on you, your team, and whatever weapons are at your disposal to battle the Locust and save what remains of humanity.
The Gears of War games stand as one of the most depressing Xbox-exclusive action series. The entire world feels empty and hopeless, populated by an encyclopedia of terrifying enemies and antagonists. The series is widely known for revolutionizing cover-based combat, leading to some of the most intense combat maps in gaming.
It’s also the first franchise to feature an assault rifle with a chainsaw for a bayonet.
3
The Last of Us
There’s a Fungus Among Us
Though exclusive to the Sony library, there’s a reason the Last of Us games are found on must-play lists for every PlayStation owner. As if taken from the pages of Dawn of the Dead, society has all but crumbled after a parasitic outbreak turns most of the populating into infected nightmares. The player follows the stories of Joel and Ellie, an unlikely pair with unfortunate backstories just trying to survive in this broken world.
Featuring gameplay that balances third-person action with stealth and survival, the levels feel almost like an open world, with items and secrets scattered about. Though with infected prowling every corner, you’re in for a terrifying and tragic adventure. Just remember, in the world of Last of Us, the infected aren’t the only monsters out there.
2
Fallout
“Uranium Fever Is Spreading All Around”
When it comes to games with an apocalyptic setting, the Fallout games stand as the longest-running series. Set in an alternative timeline where America never grew out of the 1950s trend, the world has been decimated by nuclear fire. Now, over a hundred years later, the wasteland has become populated by mutated monsters and various factions striving for survival or control.
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Fallout: New Vegas – 10 Best Mods
The Wasteland is already an intense and unforgiving landscape in Fallout: New Vegas, but with these creative mods, you can spice it up even more.
Each game has something that makes it stand out. Whether it’s the brilliant speechcraft and exquisite writing of New Vegas, or the customization and heavy combat of Fallout 4, there’s more than a handful of games to choose from. No matter which you pick, you’ll have the freedom to go wherever you please and do whatever you wish. Become an explorer trying to save the wasteland or give in to your dark side and wreak havoc. The choice is yours.
1
Metro
“You Reap What You Sow”
Based on the book series by Dmitry Glukhovsky, the Metro series stands as the perfect post-apocalypse game for its setting and feeling of horror. In the subway tunnels beneath Moscow, the survivors of the last great war have made a new life underground, while the surface has become a radioactive wasteland. Yet even the station is no longer safe, with rabid mutants prowling the passageways, and the other factions going to war for control of the underground.
The weapons all have punch to them and even the enemies feel powerful, not bullet sponges. You can go in guns blazing or take it stealthy; how you approach each encounter is your decision. The number one item that makes the game stand out though is the gas mask. While exploring, your mask will be the only difference between life and death. Just make sure it doesn’t shatter, or worse, run out of air.
