We may find ourselves playing apocalypse games and thinking ‘wow, this is pretty cool!’ but have you ever imagined what it would be like if some of them were real? Here’s a list of some of the most terrifying apocalypses in video games that we would definitely not want to be real-life scenarios.
- Fallout – Post-Nuclear War United States
In 2077, bombs were dropped throughout the United States, devastating the country and those living in it. Millions were killed on contact or died due to radiation exposure while other civilians were lucky enough to make it into one of many safe vaults (then again ‘safe’ isn’t the word I’d use what with the horrific experiments going on in them which were curated by the government itself.) Well over 100 years passed before vault dwellers could roam the wasteland that barely resembled what the Earth used to be. People who had miraculously survived the radiation were transformed into ghouls who had high chances of losing their sanity and lived for hundreds of years while animals and insects became horribly mutated and in most cases hostile too. In the more current games, The Wasteland is now survivable and new civilizations are popping up everywhere. The currency is bottle caps and you can trade the shiny new gun you found or the shirt off your back for useful supplies other survivors may have. Fallout’s take on the nuclear apocalypse is definitely one that’s both devastating and mesmerizing to look at.
- Gears of War – E-Day
When an underground civilization is threatened by a ruthless infection that was spreading fast, the Locust species fought humans above ground to seek refuge. However, humans were terrified of them and rejected the idea of co-habitation, thus starting a new war after just overcoming The Pendulum War six weeks earlier. The Locusts beat humans easily because of this, killing nearly 8 billion people in just one day. In an effort to fight back, the humans used a deadly weapon called The Hammer of Dawn. It successfully stopped the Locust horde in their tracks for a time, while also destroying 90% of the Earth. Only ash and rubble are what is left of many areas.
- Dark Souls – The Fading of the First Flame
In the world of Lordran, civilizations and godlike beings prospered for a while, thanks to the power of the first flame. However, when the fire began to wear-out, the people of Lordran began to panic because they were unwilling to enter a new era – and for good reason. Plagued by an undead curse, Lordran’s inhabitants were doomed to die and forever be reanimated as something less than they once were. Upon the first flame dying out, attempts were made to restore it, however, none of them were successful or long-term. Only one hopeful prophecy remains, about a chosen undead who is suppose to be able to rekindle it and bring good-fortune back to Lordran.
- Dead Space – The Marker and the Necromorphs
After Earth is threatened with extinction when their resources run out, their beacon of light becomes the Ishimura, a ship designed to explore other planets and extract their resources. ‘Planet cracking’ was the perfect solution and Earth was once again booming with resources and life. Upon the ships, mining of a previously quarantined planet named Aegis VII, it’s revealed that the ship was overcome by followers of a religious cult – the unitologists – who aim to recover an artifact called ‘The Marker’. Yet, uncovering the device leads to the ship’s inhabitants becoming increasingly paranoid, dangerous and eventually either killing each other or themselves. As if things can’t get worse, the ship is overrun with horrific creatures called necromorphs who invade dead bodies and become creepy, nearly invulnerable masses of flesh that aim to spread their infection. As a single distress signal is sent out from the ship, others are sent to Ishimura’s aid, only to be invaded by the darkness of the marker as well.
- The Last of Us – The Spread of the Cordyceps Brain Infection
In the grossest and scariest zombie apocalypse in gaming, the world is plagued by a mutation of the Cordyceps virus which now infects humans instead of just insects. With everyone under martial law and quarantine zones created to take refuge in, things seem pretty hopeless when the attempt at finding a viable cure fails. Until, that is, a paramilitary group called The Fireflies find a young girl named Ellie who seems to be resilient to the infection and may be the key to the cure they’ve been searching for.
