When the world comes to an end, how will you survive?
It doesn’t matter how it comes, everybody is worried about the end of the world, and what comes next. Thankfully we have the imaginations of game makers to help us prepare for that eventuality. Load up your emergency kit and travel these wastelands in preparation for the inevitable. Will you survive the dawn of the new world, or follow the dinosaurs into extinction.
6. Survarium
Genre: MMO FPS
Release Date: January 5, 2015
Studio: Vostok Games
In the end of the world, you’ll have to fight for everything.
In the wake of an environmental disaster, whose origin and cause is not known, only about 1% of humanity has survived to battle against one another and the changing environment for control of a new earth. Survarium is all about survival in a world that you can’t understand, but will learn more and more about through exploration and experimentation. If you can survive the many pitfalls and traps that await you, you will become a hero of the new world.
Survarium is a free to play cooperative MMO which will feature a progressive story line to play through with other survivors from around the world. Your character can progress along five skill trees (firearms, physical training, technical skills, medicine, and survivability) in order to develop into a hardy warrior worthy to hold a stake in the new world. Survarium also features a competitive PVP team mode in which players will fight for valuable resources and artifacts that will allow for continued survival. Welcome to the new “survival of the fittest”.
Currently, Survarium is in Early Access on Steam and has only the PVP mode available. From the rounds I have played this game packs a lot of potential. The sound is unsettlingly real, and the environment feel so natural you almost get the sense you are really fighting for your life.
What dangers lurk in the deceptively beautiful world of Survarium.
5. Dirty Bomb
Genre: Team based FPS
Release Date: June 2015
Studio: Nexon
Money still talks in a burnt out world.
A mysterious disaster has turned London into an irradiated wasteland. The only vestiges of civilization are Private Military Companies that employ mercenary teams to gain control of the riches that lay hidden around the post-apocalyptic London wasteland.
Dirty Bomb is a team oriented game that is meant to be played in groups rather than running solo (you still have the option to play solo, however). You choose from one of 20 different mercs in five different classes (recon, engineer, fire support, medic, and assault) with a guarantee that you will find a match for your play style. This game is no holds barred and has no aim assist which means no forgiveness for slow reflexes.
Cricket just got a whole new set of rules.
4. Borderlands
Genre: FPS, RPG
Release Date: October 20, 2009
Studio: Gearbox Softw, are, 2K Games
Get a taste of the wastelands from a “Role Playing Shooter”.
Visit the badlands planet of Pandora in search of a fabled vault filled with an invaluable treasure. Borderlands is a game that combines the action of a first person shooter with the progression elements of an RPG. Mix in some very aggressive local animals and some crazy local settlers (some of which exhibit some fun mutations) and you got yourself an entertaining romp through a unique wasteland.
Borderlands features a co-op system that allows you to share your game with friends and visitors at at moment’s notice, no waiting for long load screens or game session initialization. You also get to take advantage of a nearly endless content generation system that creates nearly infinite possibilities for weapon and item drops. If you survive this wasteland be sure to dive into the prequel and the sequel to continue your wasteland training.
Somehow “outmatched” doesn’t seem an adequate description.
3. Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: RPG
Release Date: October 19, 2010
Studio: Bethesda Softworks, Obsidian Entertainment
Welcome to Vegas, hope you enjoy your stay.
The Fallout series chronicles the sad state of the world after an all-out nuclear war decimated the entire world. New Vegas stands out in the series, because you are in an area of the world that is already quite inhospitable without needing an apocalyptic event; oh and you start the game shot in the head and buried in a shallow grave.
Life in New Vegas is about as easy as performing brain surgery while engineering a rocket to visit Mars. Each of your actions and decisions throughout the game influence the state of the Mojave Wasteland, and the way you develop your character will open and close story options, and ultimately decide how the game will end. Kick the game into hardcore mode to make the survival more realistic, and each battle even more desperate.
The sky heralds doom for all who venture to New Vegas.
2. The Walking Dead
Genre: Survival Horror
Release Date: April 2012
Studio: Telltale Games
Comics, TV, and Video Games, The Walking Dead is a triple threat!
Enter the world of the Walking Dead in a unique storyline independent from the comic books, and the hit TV series. There is no other apocalypse as unnerving as a zombie apocalypse. Not only has the world gone to hell, your best friends and loved ones are exerting all their effort to eat you alive.
The Walking dead makes this list because it takes you beyond mere physical survival and into the realm of psychological survival. Your decisions don’t just impact your life, but the lives of everyone around you including young orphan Clementine. The Walking Dead includes five episodes that will send you on an emotional rollercoaster which you will be dying to ride.
And you thought your childhood was rough.
1. Fallout 4
Genre: RPG
Release Date: November 10, 2015
Studio: Bethesda Softworks
It’s nice to know that even at the end of the world dogs are still man’s best friend.
When the bombs fell and wreathed the world in death many fled to nuclear-safe bunkers called vaults. You are the lone survivor of vault 111 emerging into the withered wastes of Boston, your drive and fortitude is the only hope or renewal in the angry wilderness.
Fallout 4 will bring back old character building favorites from previous Bethesda editions of the game, and will feature a few new additions that will secure Fallout 4 a place in the must own category. The extensive crafting system will not only include items and weapons, but also include the ability to establish and grow settlements. Other fun features will be the lack of level cap and opportunity to continue roaming the wasteland even after the main story is finished (a first for the series).
I’ve never wanted so bad to fight for survival in a post-apocalyptic wasteland; it’s a thing of beauty.
Not enough post-apocalyptic fun, check out these articles:
21 Best Zombie Games To Play in 2015
10 Best Zombie Survival Games To Prepare You For a Zombie Apocalypse
