Summary
Open-world games have a variety of settings, some taking the approach of setting themselves in a fictionalized version of a real-world city, and others choosing to take a much more medieval or outright science fiction-related approach on a far-off world.
However, a number of open-world games instead choose to set themselves and their beautifully designed maps in much darker versions of a future that sawsome sort of apocalyptic event. From near to far futures, these deal in everything from zombie infestations to robot apocalypses, leaving a lot of room for players to explore some incredible versions of what the future may hold.
Updated on July 28, 2025, by Chris Harkin:There are many great games continually being released that feature open worlds and post-apocalyptic settings. Neither of these ideas is going anywhere within the gaming industry, and it is likely that players will continue to be treated to these experiences, finding great new games of this style frequently wherever they look. With beloved franchises like Fallout and Wasteland having used this style for all of their games, and plenty of other individual games that are getting ready to add sequels or spin-offs, post-apocalyptic open-world games are going to consistently find new ground for years to come.
A game that delivers a beautiful open-world experience in a strange setting,Biomutantallows players to enter a world of mutated animals where the Tree of Life has been hit by a natural disaster and needs to be saved. The various tribes across the game can be influenced usingthe karma system, and players get to engage in all sorts of combat and activities.
Though it is an unusual game with a strange setting,Biomutantproduced a fascinating world with great lore, and players get to choose their own path thanks to the variety of choices. With critics calling it a “post-apocalyptic kung fu fable,” there are many reasons to check outBiomutantfor those who love freedom in an open world.
The world ofMad Maxis one of the most recognizable post-apocalyptic worlds in cinema, but it was quite a surprise how little interest was generated among fans in regard to the game. A severely underrated map and game, the open-world setting ofMad Maxdoes a great job of translating the world of the film franchise into something that can be explored in an interesting way.
While most of the knownMad Maxworld is made up of empty desert, that feeling is a great and intriguing one for a setting, and the desolate world provides a great backdrop for theheavy focus on vehicular combatthroughout. Players can easily traverse a wider area since they’re normally in a car, enabling them to see more of this broken land.
One of the easiest ways to set an open-world game after an apocalypse is to run with the zombie theme, andDays Goneis a fine example of a title that did that amazingly well. Set in Oregon after an outbreak that destroyed the world and turned most of humankind into “freakers,” which are essentially zombies, the premise provides the basis for azombie-related game with real heart.
Deacon is the player character, a former outlaw who is now simply trying to survive. When he discovers that his wife, Sarah, may still be alive, he goes on a journey after her. The open-world adventure is a wonderfully fun one. It features a fascinating amount of world-building that doesn’t settle for the “normal zombie apocalypse” style, preferring a more layered tone overall.
New Dawnwas an experimental title for theFar Cryfranchise, taking the opportunity for a fascinating spin-off following the canon ending ofFar Cry 5. In that, a nuclear bomb, now suspected to be owned by Pagan Min, goes off and destroys Hope County, leaving it a much more desolate placeby the 2030s. This meant some fascinating things for the map that was created forNew Dawn.
Instead of generating a completely changed location, the open-world map used inNew Dawnis essentially the same as the build of Hope County fromFar Cry 5; there is merely a different look to it, and several areas have changed somewhat. This made the development process easier, and it was also a fascinating return to a known area for players, albeit with many more mutated animals and colorful flowers spread across this “new world” version of Hope County.
There are few games likeDeath Stranding.This cinematic experienceis based on a courier who lives in a post-apocalyptic world where horrific creatures roam the Earth. Players have to make it through the desolate wasteland in order to deliver packages to isolated cities, seeing much of the broken world around them.
Already scheduled for a sequel and a film adaptation,Death Strandingis built on the premise of being more than a game. This experience has polarized some, but it is unquestionably one of the most original gaming experiences that has been released in the last decade.
The most famous post-apocalyptic RPG franchise isFallout, and there is no better game in the franchise thanFallout: New Vegas. While this is a hotly contested topic,New Vegasdoes so many things well, particularly with the open world that players can explore, feeling so full and rich and filled with different lifeforms and events that players can deal with or run from.
New Vegasis still highly beloved byFalloutfans, and theMojave Wasteland is an areathat many players are hoping will be returned to in the future of the franchise.New Vegasand theFalloutworld, in general, are quite bleak in many respects, with super mutants, ghouls, and a sense of loss that pervades many characters despite the apocalypse taking place hundreds of years ago. It is the perfect blend of fun gameplay and a bleak story that reminds everyone playing what was lost when the bombs went off.
One of the best post-apocalyptic franchises, which has just kept improving with each new entry,Wasteland 3makes players feel like they needmultiple runs of the game, much more so than most RPGs. This is because the character build and choices made during the game can seriously affect much of what happens.
Set in post-apocalyptic Colorado, this entry in the franchise sees two rangers attempting to gain support from a local leader for their cause by dealing with his three heirs. Along the way, they must deal with his heirs and also come to realize quite how brutal and oppressive the leader really is, prompting some challenging moral choices in a dark and wide open world.
A much different post-apocalyptic “robot” focused setting can be found inNieR: Automata. Set thousands of years afterNier, still ina post-apocalyptic Japan, the world of the proxy war between androids and machines is a fairly bleak one, with a dark tone that matches the story told throughout the multiple playthroughs that the game requires.
Areas oscillate between much darker, more mechanical colors and styles in areas of the open world, and some are more green and natural still. The bleakness of the world and story don’t take away from the fact that this open world is a fascinating interpretation of what the Earth could look like thousands of years after such an apocalyptic event.
Horizon: Zero Dawn’s Aloylives in a world ruled by the machines that she stands against. It is a post-apocalyptic version of the United States, although a much different one than is seen in most similar games. The machines now rule the Earth, and there is a general peace with the humans, until the Derangement.
The world ofHorizonis a beautiful one, with the natural world having taken over again in the absence of human rule. It helps that the over-saturation of colors provides a slightly dreamy and unrealistic look to much of the game, allowing players to be sucked in by the open world and all that can be explored in and around it.
