Summary
- Mutations in post-apocalyptic games are often caused by virus outbreaks, allowing players to immerse themselves in open-world experiences.
- Games like Dying Light and Vampyr present players with moral dilemmas and deep storytelling in virus-infected worlds.
- Post-apocalyptic games like Prototype and Sunset Overdrive offer satisfying combat mechanics set in a virus-ravaged world.
When it comes to post-apocalyptic games, it is usually some sort of mutation that pushes humanity to the edge of extinction and forces people to turn hostile toward each other when surviving becomes more and more difficult.
These mutations, however, don't happen on their own. There is always a reason behind the sudden mutation of people, and usually, it is a virus outbreak. Many games welcome players to their universe by showing a massive virus outbreak as the background story, but not many of them take this concept to an open-world experience.
Best Post-Apocalyptic Settings In Video Games
Not all post-apocalyptic settings in video games are created equal. Here are the best ones that gamers can come across.
7 Once Human
A Virus That Merges Humans And Objects Together
Once Human
- Released
- July 9, 2024
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Starry Studio
- Genre(s)
- Survival, Shooter, Open-World
- OpenCritic Rating
- Fair
Not exactly a virus, but Once Human's world also suffers from a widespread entity that infects humans and turns them into weird, mutated monsters. The source of diseases in Once Human is a substance called Stardust that has spread all over the earth due to illegal experiments run by a company known as Rosetta.
The player assumes the role of a Meta-Human, an enhanced version of a human being that has been infected with Stardust by Rosetta itself without being mutated. Meta-humans are capable of using Stardust to their favor rather than letting it control their brain.
Wiping the virus doesn't seem like a viable option for this MMO adventure, but players get to fight AI-controlled enemies and other players within different scenarios. They start from scratch, build and enhance their bases, and then follow different quests to collect valuable items and grow in levels.
6 Sunset Overdrive
When The Thirst For A Drink Ruins An Entire City
Sunset Overdrive
- Released
- October 28, 2014
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Insomniac Games
- Genre(s)
- Third-Person Shooter, Open-World
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
Sunset Overdrive is well-known and loved for its light-hearted storytelling, but it is also part of the reason why gamers like this game. The chaos in Sunset Overdrive was raised during a single night! A beverage company decides to hold a party to announce and serve a brand-new drink, but the problem is they are so excited about launching this new beverage that they skip the safety-check tests of the new formula.
So, when people test the new Overcharge FizzCo beverages at the party night, they quickly mutate into some hot-head monsters taking over the entire city. The protagonist is also a janitor of FizzCo, who is miraculously rescued from the monsters and then teams up with other survivors to clean up the city!
It's quite fair to say that the story doesn't really play an important role in Sunset Overdrive, but it's mostly the satisfying combat and movement mechanics that turn it into an enjoyable experience with a big open world to conquer!
5 Days Gone
A Story About Lost Ones In The Midst Of A Virus Outbreak
Days Gone
- Released
- April 26, 2019
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Bend Studio
- Genre(s)
- Open-World, Action, Adventure
- Platform(s)
- PC, PlayStation 4
- OpenCritic Rating
- Fair
Unlike most games on the list, where the characters are trying to fix the world and get rid of the virus, Days Gone tells a different story within a virus-infected world. In Days Gone, it's accepted by the people that the virus outbreak is something out of control, so they have to live with it.
As such, the game doesn't really try to give many clues about the origins of the virus or how it spread in the beginning, but making progress throughout Deacon's personal life also sheds some light on how the virus spread and what can be done to get rid of its consequences. However, the story never runs deep into those themes as it cares about the personal journey of Deacon.
As a story-heavy survival experience, Days Gone does offer great combat mechanics. The game also offers Deacon's bike as an important vessel that can be upgraded over time to provide more value to the player's expeditions.
4 The Division
A Realistic Version Of A Virus Outbreak That Could Happen In Real Life
Tom Clancy’s The Division
- Released
- March 8, 2016
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Massive Entertainment
- Genre(s)
- Third-Person Shooter, Open-World
- Platform(s)
- PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
The Division is one of the few games where everything starts to collapse with a virus outbreak, but it doesn't turn people into zombies or mutated creatures. The Division focuses more on the lack of law and order once a deadly disease takes spans all of the United States.
The virus outbreak in The Division occurs on Black Friday and spreads through printed ink on cash, which makes people call it the Dollar Virus. With massive interaction between people on Black Friday, it didn't take the virus long to spread all over New York and kill people.
The game itself, however, begins sometime after the outbreak. When New York is raided by different outlaw groups, the player is deployed in Manhattan along with some other national forces to take the city back and discover the origins of the virus.
The Division 2 still receives new content from the developers, and it managed to deliver a great balance between PvP and PvE gameplay experience while also offering a fair and enjoyable progression path for the players.
3 Prototype
A Complicated And Twisted Story About Secret Experiments Of Elite Scientists
Prototype
- Released
- June 9, 2009
WHERE TO PLAY
Although it is now a discontinued franchise, Prototype is still remembered as a fairly balanced game with satisfying combat mechanics and a complicated story. In the first iteration, the player is welcomed to a dystopian New York, where the Blacklight virus has already infested many people, turning them into mutated monsters.
The protagonist himself is also infected, but he tries to use his mutated form as a means to kill the hostile infected and find his past, as he starts the game with amnesia. As the story progresses, the player comes to the realization that he himself was one of the reasons behind the virus outbreak, though there are many twists in between.
9 Best Open World Games For Monster Movie Fans, Ranked
Video games such as Vampyr and Maneater pay homage to monster movies of the past through their characters and enemies to fight in an open world.
The story in the second entry is less twisted, but it is still a continuation of the original game, where the original protagonist becomes with main antagonist.
Both games feature utterly satisfying movement mechanics that allow the player to traverse across Manhattan quickly and engage in fast-paced combat. Prototype 2 comes with even more combat innovations, allowing players to make use of environmental objects as weapons.
2 Dying Light
A Content-Rich, Post-Apocalyptic Adventure
Dying Light: Definitive Edition
- Released
- October 19, 2021
WHERE TO PLAY
The events in both games of Dying Light happen after a colossal outbreak, but they are also connected to each other. The original Dying Light is set in the city of Harran, a fictional location in the Middle East. The origins of the virus are never clarified, but it spreads at a quick pace, turning everyone infected in Harran into a mutated, hostile creature.
The player deploys to the city as an agent of a global organization that tries to extract some vital data about developing a cure for the virus, but the data ends up in the hands of the wrong person. While the player eventually manages to extract the data, and it does lead to a global vaccination to end the threat, the sequel sees the virus spreading all over the world in a much stronger state.
This time, however, the origins of the outbreak are known to everyone, as the organization that developed the cure was trying to turn the virus into a biological weapon, but they mess up, and this time, the entire world is infected instead of a single city.
Both Dying Light games deeply benefit from the open-world settings, as the game offers so much content to experience other than the main quests. The original Dying Light is still supported by developers and receives new updates, making it one of the most content-rich zombie-oriented games of all time!
1 Vampyr
A Story About Sacrifices And Betrayals
Vampyr
- Released
- June 5, 2018
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Dontnod Entertainment
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Switch, PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4
- OpenCritic Rating
- Fair
If it wasn't for technical issues and some combat system mechanics, Vampyr could've been much more popular than it is now. The game forces the player to make tough decisions, similar to previous Don't Nod games, but the consequences are more severe this time.
Vampyr is set in London during the peak of the Spanish Flu. The protagonist is a doctor who returns to London to help people in need as the number of infected people grows significantly, but some incidents turn the doctor into a vampire. Now, the players are faced with a dilemma about taking lives or saving them.
On the one hand, the player needs to suck on other people's blood to continue to live due to their vampiric nature, but on the other hand, the protagonist is a doctor, and killing innocent people is in direct contrast with his morality.
The game does an excellent job of trapping players between difficult moral decisions, and as they make progress in the story, they learn more about the nature of the disease and how to stop it. The open-world environment of Vampyr allows the player to plot their moves and find their victims at their own pace.
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