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You know what, I'm going to say it...I'm tired of Post-Apocalyptic games. Why can't we just have more Apocalyptic games?

Bman94

Bman94

Member
Oct 28, 2017
2,553
From a narrative standpoint I get it. Have a ton of mystery and have the player uncover it piece by piece as the narrative goes, but you know what? I'm sick of this trope. One of my favorite aspects of the world building in BioShock Infinite was that you were apart of that world going into complete shit. Or the Resident Evil series slowly getting worse and worse (in terms of the outbreak) as games progress. I like being apart of the fall of society. Half-Life being just a routine day on the job and suddenly having your whole world turn up side down I feel is way more relatable than the game dropping you 10 years after shit went down. I feel like too many games we are just thrust into the action and basically told "we don't have any time to explain, take this gun!". Halo, Gears of War, Doom, Fallout. The Last of Us starts off so strong, with the confusion of this strange illness, emergency services failing, this small town going into complete chaos, and then bam, time skip. That premise was so great and I really wanted a survival horror in the moment of a zombie outbreak, but it just doesn't deliver.
 
Kcannon

Kcannon

Member
Oct 30, 2017
5,663
Aren't most action games apocalyptic by nature?

At least the ones featuring demons, aliens and shit attacking humanity.
 
CQC

CQC

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,711
I liked the way Horizon went with it, a future wayyyy past the apocalypse and humanity beginning to prosper/recover.

I'm with you OP, PUT ME IN THE APOCALYPSE COACH!
 
nsilvias

nsilvias

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,790
the part in batman arkham knight
where the whole city gets covered in toxin made me want more games during an apocalypse.
 
Weiss

Weiss

User requested ban
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
64,265
Post-apocalypse is one of the most boring settings so I agree.

Shin Megami Tensei might be up your alley since it is frequently set in either burning decaying Tokyo or in a fascist police state built on top of it.
 
Akira86

Akira86

Member
Oct 25, 2017
19,589
too hectic. you expect to survive the apocalypse? by going to the front lines of the apocalypse? that's some true optimism, sir.
but yeah basically nobody survives, except for the ones who miraculously DO survive, and that's where people think the story is.
apocalypse? not much of a story besides show up and get obliterated by universal and cosmic forces.


like that one painting of the apocalypse where it's just this giant wave of fire and lava and this huge canyon, and you can see the tiny bodies flailing about? I'm not sure anyone makes it out of that.
 
Buckle

Buckle

Member
Oct 27, 2017
41,117
Can't say I feel the same myself.

Its my favorite genre, particularly when they're RPGs like Fallout, Wasteland and Atom RPG.

Also zombie games. I'm that guy.
 
Raide

Raide

Banned
Oct 31, 2017
16,596
I feel like they normally do post apocalypse since if the game was just apocalypse, most stuff would just die. Press start, load into game, die. Lol


Of course there must be some more interesting variations on the apocalypse, not just nuclear wasteland stuff.
 
Tawpgun

Tawpgun

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
9,861
CQC said:
I liked the way Horizon went with it, a future wayyyy past the apocalypse and humanity beginning to prosper/recover.

I'm with you OP, PUT ME IN THE APOCALYPSE COACH!
Click to expand...
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In a way this is Destiny as well.

Current Day humanity visited by Traveler -> awesome golden age -> collapse -> guardians formed -> rebuilt to a somewhat thriving humanity, but under constant threat.

A zombie game set AS the outbreak is hitting would be cool. Think the beginning of Last of Us.
 
Wil Grieve

Wil Grieve

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,079
Screw that, give me more pre-apocalypse games!

Witness the collapse of society in the months leading up to an asteroid strike or some shit.
 
Shoichi

Shoichi

Member
Jan 10, 2018
10,456
Apocalyptic games just make me think of the SMT series. I'd also enjoy more games that take place way past post-apocalyptic (Horizon) that talk of a distant future where the event is in legends/distant past
 
McNum

McNum

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 26, 2017
5,195
Denmark
Post apocalypse stories fail a basic test for me in most cases.

In general, you should be telling the most interesting part of the story. And if the world ended in nuclear fire, or to disease or just fell apart into lawlessness because reasons, this sounds like a very interesting story. So why am I relegated to walking around the aftermath of this really interesting thing that happened but won't be a part of the story other than a backdrop?

Some post apocalypse game do end up having a boring apocalyspe (zombies?) and tell interesting stories afterwards, but still. It's the end of civilization as we know it. That's really hard to beat in being interesting.
 
Yerffej

Yerffej

Prophet of Regret
Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,561
Tired of the apocalypse altogether. Post, pre, during...fuck it all.
 
Dogui

Dogui

Member
Oct 28, 2017
8,813
Brazil
I feel like more than half of jrpgs are full of apocalyptic stuff happening in the last story arc, or sometimes even before that.
 
Ashes of Dreams

Ashes of Dreams

Unshakable Resolve
Member
May 22, 2020
14,462
Weiss said:
Post-apocalypse is one of the most boring settings so I agree.

Shin Megami Tensei might be up your alley since it is frequently set in either burning decaying Tokyo or in a fascist police state built on top of it.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I would categorize Shin Megami Tensei as post-apocalypse. None of them are set during an active apocalypse. 1 and 3 kinda brush up against it, but 1 is more set pre and post, and you skip over the apocalypse itself. 3 has it happen during the game but it's so instant and then it's a very different sort of thing afterwards that's way more post in aesthetic. 2 and 4 are both set very firmly in post.
 
Mg.

Mg.

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,979
Walking Dead Season 1 is pretty much this, right?

I guess a 2012-esque game (yes, the shitty movie) could be interesting? Where you're constantly running from the earthing shattering around you?
 
Spazgadget

Spazgadget

Member
Oct 25, 2017
631


This. Unfortunately was set to release, and the Sendai earthquake and tsunami occurred. Extremely unfortunate timing for what was actually an incredibly good game.
 
skeezx

skeezx

Member
Oct 27, 2017
20,172
there's really not many avenues other than "fantasy" and post apocalyptic

post apocalyptic is fine just do cool shit with it like Horizon, not just zombies and Fallout-like
 
Tawpgun

Tawpgun

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
9,861
McNum said:
Post apocalypse stories fail a basic test for me in most cases.

In general, you should be telling the most interesting part of the story. And if the world ended in nuclear fire, or to disease or just fell apart into lawlessness because reasons, this sounds like a very interesting story. So why am I relegated to walking around the aftermath of this really interesting thing that happened but won't be a part of the story other than a backdrop?

Some post apocalypse game do end up having a boring apocalyspe (zombies?) and tell interesting stories afterwards, but still. It's the end of civilization as we know it. That's really hard to beat in being interesting.
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Division (the first one) did this ok I feel.

It was about going into post apocalypse new york and along the way you find out the secrets of what caused it. That and the ECHO's you find that show what happened at that moment months ago were great story telling. Game oozed environmental story telling and atmosphere. I almost wish they'd ditch the Diablo in it and just make a cool, tight shooter in that environment
 
Ryo Hazuki

Ryo Hazuki

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,506
25mUZ63.jpg
 
Goddo Hando

Goddo Hando

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,723
Chicago
how about a post complete recovery from a post apocalypse setting

*player enters a set piece with waist high barriers all over a nice park that was built over what used to be a smoking crater 20 years ago. they really fixed this place up!*
 
SnazzyNaz

SnazzyNaz

The Wise Ones
Member
Nov 11, 2019
1,874
Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs let's you walk in the streets as an aporkalypse is starting. High point of the game tbh.
 
Vico

Vico

Member
Jan 3, 2018
6,383
You just make me want a War of the Worlds game. I guess something like Resistance kinda comes close to that.
 
Fjordson

Fjordson

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,010
Post-apocalypse is used a lot I think because it gives you chance to build a completely new society that's somewhat alien compared to the real world. Seeing how civilization would carry on with a "new normal" is interesting imo and I'd imagine it gives writers and designers a lot of creative freedom as far as worldbuilding. They're not tethered to our reality because we thankfully don't know what a global apocalypse looks like. And it works well for RPG's since you can have quieter segments observing every day life to help build your characters. It's not all just action for 40 hours.

It definitely has to be done right, though. Like the early Fallouts or Primordia. I'd agree that some games in that type of setting come off as somewhat bland.
 

Deleted member 17627

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5,364
I really miss when zombie games were about fighting against zombies.

Instead these days we have "post-apocalyptic zombie settings," where we see zombies every now and then, but for the most part we fight against other humans for various unexplained reasons, only for the game to give off the "Are we humans the REAL monsters????"

To which this moment from Left 4 Dead, responds perfectly:

4EA103A89051574B96FF6EE00E432887DCE7A98A


I miss Left 4 Dead so much...
 

Deleted member 51248

Banned
Dec 25, 2018
1,926
Elitist1945 said:
Yeah I want this too. But only as long as its faithful to the novel. Not some modern day take (as much as I love the Spielberg film).
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Or based on Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds, could probably do a point and click adventure with some Telltale-ish choice and consequences on how you survive and who you save/ leave to the be taken by the martians or deal with people gone mad, profiteering off the chaos.
 
Scottoest

Scottoest

Member
Feb 4, 2020
11,360
King of Dreamland said:
I really miss when zombie games were about fighting against zombies.

Instead these days we have "post-apocalyptic zombie settings," where we see zombies every now and then, but for the most part we fight against other humans for various unexplained reasons, only for the game to give off the "Are we humans the REAL monsters????"

To which this moment from Left 4 Dead, responds perfectly:

4EA103A89051574B96FF6EE00E432887DCE7A98A


I miss Left 4 Dead so much...
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Even the post-apocalypse has social media pile-ons.
 
Addleburg

Addleburg

The Fallen
Nov 16, 2017
5,068
King of Dreamland said:
I really miss when zombie games were about fighting against zombies.

Instead these days we have "post-apocalyptic zombie settings," where we see zombies every now and then, but for the most part we fight against other humans for various unexplained reasons, only for the game to give off the "Are we humans the REAL monsters????"

To which this moment from Left 4 Dead, responds perfectly:

4EA103A89051574B96FF6EE00E432887DCE7A98A


I miss Left 4 Dead so much...
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Haha, I think I remember this. Lord knows I put in hundreds of hours into L4D1 and 2.

I miss that game, too. I happily sucked up the fumes of World War Z last year just to get close to that feeling.
 
Veelk

Veelk

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,707
I've actually been thinking about how we need more positive post apocalyptic fiction. As in, "wow, old world sucked, good thing that shit ended, now we got this new world without the hassles of the old systems"

I think Horizon Zero Dawn is kind of like this. Once you get past the killer robots, the worlds pretty awesome.
 

Deleted member 51248

Banned
Dec 25, 2018
1,926
King of Dreamland said:
I really miss when zombie games were about fighting against zombies.

Instead these days we have "post-apocalyptic zombie settings," where we see zombies every now and then, but for the most part we fight against other humans for various unexplained reasons, only for the game to give off the "Are we humans the REAL monsters????"

To which this moment from Left 4 Dead, responds perfectly:

4EA103A89051574B96FF6EE00E432887DCE7A98A


I miss Left 4 Dead so much...
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Amazing LOL, never played L4D(not really into zombie games) but the vibe I picked up from the comic that was in that Valve Graphic Novel it seemed to have a bit of a 'tongue in cheek' vibe to some of the well known conventions of the genre.
 
HeRinger

HeRinger

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,303
You need some Disaster: Day of Crisis in your life,my good sir.

Not exactly Apocalypse, but it sure feels like it!
 
Pyro

Pyro

God help us the mods are making weekend threads
Member
Jul 30, 2018
14,505
United States
I completely agree and this is why I'm looking forward to SMTV.

Also:

www.resetera.com

Don't sleep on Disaster Report 4, especially if you enjoy quirky Japanese games

Hit a progress halting bug in Deadly Premonition 2 and decided to take a break and give Disaster Report 4 a shot. Went from feeling somewhat bummed to striking gold. This game is pretty darn wonderful. It's got loads of charm, endearing characters, lots of heartfelt moments and that goofy quirky...
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