Upcoming Post-Apocalyptic Games

Highlights

• Humanity’s fascination with apocalyptic scenarios has led to a popular genre of post-apocalyptic fiction in various mediums.
• Post-apocalyptic settings in video games often explore themes of survival, human nature, and rebuilding societies.
• Upcoming post-apocalyptic games like
  Death Stranding 2
  and
  Metro 4
  are expected to offer unique and immersive experiences in devastated worlds.

An apocalypse, in its simplest definition, is a cataclysmic event that causes mass destruction and upends whatever natural or social order exists. As long as humanity has existed, it has been fascinated by such occurrences. Stories of the world being drowned in a flood persist from Sumeria to early Christianity. Norse mythology envisioned the Nine Realms falling apart at Ragnorak. Aztec mythology has four different apocalypses, with a fifth looming over the horizon. Humanity’s uncanny talent for envisioning its own downfall has given rise to the genre of post-apocalyptic fiction. That is, stories set in a unique world born out of a major catastrophe. From H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine to the popular Fallout series, settings shaped by disaster continue to resonate with audiences.

The mechanism by which the apocalypse happens can vary widely: alien invasions, nuclear war, robot uprising, reanimated feral cadavers, global warming, asteroids, etc. The scale of the disaster can range anywhere from a single localized area to threatening the cosmos itself. But there are some common elements. Many post-apocalyptic stories explore themes of human nature, survival challenges posed by a changed environment, and efforts to rebuild some form of social order. Post-apocalyptic worlds have become quite popular in video games. Games like Half-Life, Fallout, Metro, Death Stranding, and the Horizon series thrive on immersing the player into unfamiliar worlds ravaged by disaster. Fans of post-apocalyptic settings can expect to see more coming in the future.

Updated February 27th, 2024, by John Hitchcock: Post-apocalyptic survival games continue to perform well commercially, with the allure of trying to stay alive in a dangerous new world from the comfort of one’s home being a tantalizing prospect for many gamers. This article has been updated to contain new information, including several upcoming post-apocalyptic survival games that have been announced since the original publication and updated information on specific entries. One entry, The Last of Us Multiplayer, has also been removed due to the game’s cancellation.

7 Death Stranding 2: On the Beach

Return to One of the Most Bizarre Post-Apocalyptic Worlds

Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding told the story of a postal worker rebuilding America after a very strange apocalypse. The game quickly gained a reputation for its David Lynch-esque weirdness. Now Kojima’s back with a sequel that has a good chance of out-weirding its predecessor.

The main story once again features Sam Bridges taking on the role of courier while trying to connect human survivors of the Death Stranding, only this time moving outside of America. There is also something about a woman encased in tar, a stop-motion puppet, the uncertain fate of Lou (who may or may not be dead), and a guy who looks like George Miller. This looks like it will be a pretty crazy ride.

6 The Forever Winter

Work Together to Survive Against Relentless Machines

• Developer: Fun Dog Studios
• Expected Platform(s): PC
• Release Date: Uncertain

Fun Dog’s indie shooter is a co-op adventure set in a Terminator-esque world where machines have taken over, only this time there’s no John Connor to lead the human resistance. The world has been decimated by robots competing for power and dominance, while humanity has been reduced to small pockets of survivors trying to avoid getting caught in the crossfire.

Players have to work together to survive, a task which often means fighting off the smaller robots while evading the larger ones, as well as scavenging for resources to keep everyone going. It is a bleak vision of the future, even by the standards of this list.

5 Frostpunk 2

Take the Reigns of Society and Keep it From Falling Apart

Developer: 11 Bit Studios

Expected Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S

Release Date: Q1/Q2 2024

11-Bit Studios’ Frostpunk was a challenging strategy game about leading the remnants of humanity after the world is engulfed in a volcanic winter. The game is somewhat notorious for being really difficult, as the player has to juggle responsibilities for construction, maintenance, resource management, and the implementation of laws, all of which come with difficult choices.

Frostpunk 2 takes it to the next level. The player’s city has grown but now faces new problems in the form of resource shortages, energy crises, and internal conflict. Even the best leaders are expected to struggle to keep their civilization going, especially since they can’t help everyone and every decision has unintended consequences. The developers have described it as being a game very much about how humanity can be undone by its own nature.

4 Metro 4

Return to Post-Apocalyptic Russia

• Developer: 4A Games
• Expected Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
• Release Date: Uncertain

4A Games has been busy with the latest installment of their popular series about post-nuclear Russia. While it is unclear exactly where the fourth game will go, Exodus made a distinct jump from the previous games by leaving the Moscow Subway tunnels to explore the surrounding area. It stands to reason that the next game would want to build on that, maybe even do something crazy like going full open world.

Whatever they do, if the previous games are anything to go on, it will likely be structured as some sort of journey experienced by its protagonist that explores the dualistic nature of humanity. There is also a good chance of encountering some new environments that have been affected by the nuclear war.

3 S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl

New Mysteries Lie in the Exclusion Zone

Developer: GSC Game World

Expected Platforms: PC, Xbox Series X/S

Release Date: 5 September 2024

GSC’s revival of their popular S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series brings players back to the Chernobyl Exclusion zone, an environment that has become quite lethal after the infamous disaster of 1986 and, in this timeline, a second disaster that exacerbated the danger. Although the game might not feature an “apocalypse” on the same level as some of the other games on this list, it certainly feels like one.

The abandoned, run-down buildings, high radiation, dangerous mutants, and general lack of social order all give the sense of a world that’s fallen apart. Stalker 2 will hopefully offer a whole new experience of the zone compared to its predecessors.

2 Stellar Blade

Turn the Tide of A Brutal War

Shift Up’s action RPG takes place on a post-apocalyptic Earth that has been ravaged by an alien invasion. The invaders (called “Naytiba”) have taken over the world. Not much is left of humanity, and a lot of what remains has been forced into hiding, with only one real stronghold remaining. The protagonist, a soldier named Eve, is the one hope of turning the situation around.

A lot of Stellar Blade involves exploring a war-torn environment while also fighting off Naytiba and encountering other survivors, some of whom are hostile while some offer sidequests. Eve may have to think critically about whom to help in some cases. In any case, it is up to her to rally together humanity and actually give them a fighting chance.

1 Sword of the Sea

Restore a Lost World In Style

Developer: Giant Squid

Expected Platform(s): PC, PS5

Release Date: Uncertain

Giant Squid Studios, the indie studio behind Abzu and The Pathless, is back with a post-apocalyptic fantasy skateboarding game. As bizarre as it sounds, it’s an homage to the skateboarding genre, though it also has some fun blurring the lines between skateboarding, surfing, and snowboarding. Admittedly, details about the plot are a bit vague, but it seems to be set in a place called the “Necropolis,” a once lively but now desolate world. The player controls a character known as “the Wraith” who rides a hoversword through barren deserts on a quest to restore its past life, along the way uncovering secrets of the world’s history.