Summary
The idea of dystopia and dystopian societies have helped a lot of movies, television shows, and much more in the wider world of media find a footing. Narratively, it is a fantastic place to begin telling a story, as the hope of creating a better world from one of unimaginable horror or oppression makes for a neat narrative.
Video games find the same attractiveness in the idea of a dystopian world, and use this frequently. Particularly in horror games, where the terror of being trapped in such a world with little to no hope of escaping can be a dark place to begin, or end, a terrifying story.
Many early first-person shooter games found their roots in the horror genre, so whileHalf-Lifeisn’t a franchise considered to be horror today, it is hard to deny the terror involved in both the setting of this series and some of the specific locations visited.Half-Life 2is considered one of thebest Valve games of all time, and the narrative matches it.
Gordon Freeman is awoken at the beginning of the game and is told that he must help humanity regain Earth in a world where aliens known as The Combine have taken over. This horrific world was beautiful, inspired many other games, and helpedHalf-Life 2go down in history, despite not being remembered for the influences it has also had on the horror genre.
A unique idea for a video game setting,We Happy Fewputs players in a town called Wellington Wells whereeverybody initially appears to be happyall the time. However, this is only the case because everyone is on a drug called joy, and when the player stops using that product, they find themselves the target of a tyrannical society.
We Happy Fewsets itself in an alternate timeline involving World War II having a different outcome, leading to everyone in Wellington Wells being completely traumatized. While this game allows players to take on different characters and follow their attempts to escape the town, the terror is very real in every case.
An absolutely terrifying world to visit,Insideis a puzzle platformer with many horror elements. Players take control of an unnamed child who is attempting to sneak into a facility in a dystopian world controlled by a corporation, and players can see many experiments being performed on animals and people throughout the game.
The horrors of this world help raise the difficulty of the game, and give it a constantly creepy atmosphere, asplayers try to sneak pastmany of the people who would wish to stop them from reaching their goal. The stealthy nature, promoting the idea of the entire world being unsafe and something that must be run from, gives little comfort, even the ending feels bleak in a strange way.
One of the easiest ways to create a dystopian world in the near future is to have a zombie apocalypse wipe out most of mankind. While some games do this to focus on the zombies, others, likeDays Gone, enjoy the idea of humanity being brought back to basics and having to fight, sometimes against each other, just for survival.
Zombies are still a large piece ofDays Gone, but the narrative and theworld-building in this bleak settingare a large part of what makes it great as well. While horror elements aren’t focused on so much as the bleak depressing state of things, there are plenty of zombie chase sequences that get the heart pumping with fear.
One of the many games that have dealt more recently with the concept of AI and what or who is real,SOMAinvolves a man whose consciousness is experimentally uploaded modern-day after a car crash. He awakens to find himself in a new body in the year 2104, shortly after the destruction of Earth leaves very few people or their consciousness preserved.
Trying to escape before Earth is completely destroyed, Simon must question reality itself as he helps launch a black box containing more of humanity. Coming into contact with creatures that each represent themes, SOMA is a message game, but it is also terrifying at points and acts primarily as a survival horror in a bleak future world thatdoesn’t seem to think life matters.
Another game set in a confusing world filled with messages,Little Nightmares 2is one of the best puzzle platformers available, particularly in the horror genre. In a bleak place, two children attempt to make their way through a distorted city, seeing the horrors of schools and hospitals in their world, before making their way to the building that seems to control everything.
While the children exhibit powers of their own, they are mostly no match for the huge creatures or “adults” that pursue them. The terror of many of the chase sequences throughoutLittle Nightmares 2, not to mention the bleakness of the ending, presents a dystopia that feels more fantasy than science-fiction but stays with players long after they’ve finished playing.
One of the best examples of a dystopia set in the past,BioShocktakes place in the 1960s in Rapture, an underwater city created by a billionaire in an attempt to preserve society and escape the modern world. Rapture is a terrifying place filled with horrors, including the big daddies and little sisters, and players have to attempt to escape while helping end Rapture once and for all.
BioShockfocuses greatly on ADAM, a substance that gives humans supreme abilities, and the focus on that is precisely how Rapture turned from a potential Utopia society into adystopian horror FPS game. Players can choose the morality of Jack, the protagonist, as they continue the game, affecting the ending in various ways, but Rapture meets its doom, in the end, either way.
Another zombie-filled world,The Last Of Ushas created one of the most memorable dystopian worlds ever with the plant-infested zombie creatures that are at its core. The conflict between humans that takes priority over the zombies themselves is one of the reasons this game became so massively popular.
Seeing how people react to losing everything, how characters like Ellie react to growing up in such a bleak world, is one of the best dystopian studies in humanity itself. WhileThe Last Of Usdoesn’t always focus on the horror elements, the horror of the world and many of its themes, as well as the genuine need for stealth in many situations,make this a thrilling survival horror journey.
