Gameranx ranks top 10 post-apocalyptic games of all time

[SuAside]

Borderlands is not post-apocalyptic, even aside from the fact that it's not set on Earth. They should have narrowed their definition a bit. Maybe there aren't enough games that fit the bill, but it seems like there must be others.

Actually, Borderlands is post-apoc in many, regardless of not being set on Earth.

Pandora once had a totally functional society, until the megacorporation that was funding the whole ordeal pulled out and left all its workers behind on the planet because it would cost to much to relocate everyone again. As a result, the entire planet was cut off from supplies, people went batshit insane and became raiders and so on. After other megacorporations took an interest, transit to & from the planet was possible again (but by then, the marbles had already been lost ). Qualifies as a apocalypse to me if 75% of your population turns into violent rage fueled killing machines, tbh.

 

[TheGM]

Borderlands is not post-apocalyptic, even aside from the fact that it's not set on Earth. They should have narrowed their definition a bit. Maybe there aren't enough games that fit the bill, but it seems like there must be others.

Actually, Borderlands is post-apoc in many, regardless of not being set on Earth.

Pandora once had a totally functional society, until the megacorporation that was funding the whole ordeal pulled out and left all its workers behind on the planet because it would cost to much to relocate everyone again. As a result, the entire planet was cut off from supplies, people went batshit insane and became raiders and so on. After other megacorporations took an interest, transit to & from the planet was possible again (but by then, the marbles had already been lost ). Qualifies as a apocalypse to me if 75% of your population turns into violent rage fueled killing machines, tbh.

"Bullshit" - Tom Cruise in Top Gun.

Failed Colony does no equal post apocalypse. If anything Borderlands takes place in Space Detroit.

 

[Paul_cz]

I am enjoying Last of Us very much right now, even if it is merely a linear stealth action scavenger game, and not huge-ass sprawling open world reactive choicey and consequencey emergent RPG.
Stalker and Metro should be ahead of it though.
But Fallout first, I really agree with that for some reason.

 

[SuAside]

"Bullshit" - Tom Cruise in Top Gun.

Failed Colony does no equal post apocalypse. If anything Borderlands takes place in Space Detroit.

a·poc·a·lypse
noun
any universal or widespread destruction or disaster



The damage incurred on Pandora was quite as devastating as a nuclear war. So I don't quite see why you're being a hardass about this.

 

[Atomkilla]

I consider Borderlands post-apocalyptic in a similar vein that Mad Max (1 and 2) are considered post-apocalyptic.


On the other hand, the line between 'post-apocalyptic' and 'dystopian' is easily blurred.

 

[TheGM]

"Bullshit" - Tom Cruise in Top Gun.

Failed Colony does no equal post apocalypse. If anything Borderlands takes place in Space Detroit.

a·poc·a·lypse
noun
any universal or widespread destruction or disaster



The damage incurred on Pandora was quite as devastating as a nuclear war. So I don't quite see why you're being a hardass about this.

Not hardass. Logic-ass. Don't call a Cantaloupe a Honeydew, both may be round and fall into the purview of mellondom, but they aren't interchangeable.

Unless they added a nuclear war into B2, Pandora just sucked and it got worse when the companies pulled out, leaving the colonists to fend for themselves(who did a terrible job at it).

I consider Borderlands post-apocalyptic in a similar vein that Mad Max (1 and 2) are considered post-apocalyptic.


On the other hand, the line between 'post-apocalyptic' and 'dystopian' is easily blurred.

Blurred enough to even confuse the guy who brought it up.

Mad Max is dsytopian future when society has gone to shit.

Mad Max 2 is in a world that has gone to shit do to the sudden case of accidental nuclear holocaust.

 

[Atomkilla]

Mad Max 2 is in a world that has gone to shit do to the sudden case of accidental nuclear holocaust.

I think you're referring to Mad Max 3 here.



Besides, I don't think that an all-out conflict is necessary for a setting to be considered post-apocalyptic.

 

[SuAside]

Not hardass. Logic-ass. Don't call a Cantaloupe a Honeydew, both may be round and fall into the purview of mellondom, but they aren't interchangeable.

Unless they added a nuclear war into B2, Pandora just sucked and it got worse when the companies pulled out, leaving the colonists to fend for themselves(who did a terrible job at it).

You don't need nukes for an apocalypse.

A zombie apoc seems to count just as well, so a planet going crazier than a coconut counts just fine as an apocalypse.

Anyhow, here's a bit more info, I guess:
Pandora is mined by a megacorporation, who brings people there to mine that shit. They settle the planet and go about their business, kickstarting a nice little society.
Little did the megacorp realize that Pandora was in it's "winter" cycle, which meant its local animal population was largely dormant. Once the winter cycle ended, the corporation & the rich fags pulled the fuck out, leaving the poor fags to fend for themselves.
Without supplies, savagely hunted by the awakening wildlife and driven mad from exposure, the vast majority of the survivors became raiders, bandits & allaround bad guys. Along the way, the majority of the damn population got wiped out.

Now, I don't really know what it takes in your mind to be classified as apocalyptic, but the dictionary seems to be on my side here.

 

[Per]

Sounds to me as if it's a PA setting, but depending on point of view it's not necessarily a PA story.

 

[Crni Vuk]

does it really matter in the end ... ?

I mean yeah ... call it this. Call it that. Who cares if it tastes like chicken or cow, as long you enjoy the meat. No?

 

[Atomkilla]

I mean yeah ... call it this. Call it that. Who cares if it tastes like chicken or cow, as long you enjoy the meat. No?

You kinda ruined every even-slightly-nitpicky discussion out there with this.

 

[Sobboth]

Really a stupid best of list, there are so few PA games that it's ridiculous.
There must be something like what, 15 PA games out there ?
A top 10 yea sure., except the 5 that did not make it all the others are great.
It's me who is the dumbest though to comment that.

 

[Dead Guy]

Turns out that whether Borderlands is PA or not has very little bearing on whether it should be on a top 10 list or not.

The cover art of the games is a joke on their audience.

Also, as someone on RPG Codex discovered (I think? whatever) the list seemed to have been put together before Last of Us was even released?

Also, some brothers just want to watch NMA News Comments burn.

 

[Per]

TAlso, as someone on RPG Codex discovered (I think? whatever) the list seemed to have been put together before Last of Us was even released?

There's a note right at the top of the article that they updated it to add Last of Us. But for inscrutable reasons they also changed the date of the article to the same as the day of the update. You'd only know it was an old list if you browsed the comments.

Also, some brothers just want to watch NMA News Comments burn.

Burn = after two years getting two people to argue for four posts whether Borderlands is PA or not?

 

[Dead Guy]

Well, not that exactly. If he enjoys the type of discussion that tends to arise from posting top-## lists, then I'd say he likes seeing people fume about how shit top-## lists are.

Though this particular case might've been unusually civil. Maybe because everyone agrees this one is pretty bad.

 

[Jabberwok]

Borderlands is not post-apocalyptic, even aside from the fact that it's not set on Earth. They should have narrowed their definition a bit. Maybe there aren't enough games that fit the bill, but it seems like there must be others.

Actually, Borderlands is post-apoc in many, regardless of not being set on Earth.

Pandora once had a totally functional society, until the megacorporation that was funding the whole ordeal pulled out and left all its workers behind on the planet because it would cost to much to relocate everyone again. As a result, the entire planet was cut off from supplies, people went batshit insane and became raiders and so on. After other megacorporations took an interest, transit to & from the planet was possible again (but by then, the marbles had already been lost ). Qualifies as a apocalypse to me if 75% of your population turns into violent rage fueled killing machines, tbh.

I think what I meant is that the post-apocalyptic genre usually (for me) implies the decline and fragmentation of an entire culture and an evironment that turns against it. Pandora is in bad shape, but it appears to be just one part of a much larger, and vibrant interstellar culture. I assume you're talking about Dahl as the company that pulled out. I can see that, though I guess I had never thought of it that way. It feels more like an extreme ghetto in a place that is already naturally inhospitable.

 

[Hassknecht]

I'm surprised people complain about Borderlands being considered post-apocalyptic but not about Stalker...
Stalker isn't post-apocalyptic at all. It's a very confined zone that's merely abandoned with a few irradiated hotspots and weird anomalies. It might look post-apocalyptic, but unless I missed something big going on in the lore it's just not. There was no apocalypse at all.
The list is missing Metro: 2033, though. If only for the atmosphere.

 

[Atomkilla]

^

But Stalker has radiation and gas masks.

It's post-apoc immediately.

 

[SuAside]

Turns out that whether Borderlands is PA or not has very little bearing on whether it should be on a top 10 list or not.

The cover art of the games is a joke on their audience.

Oh, I wholeheartedly agree it has no place in the list at all. It's really not that interesting of a game.

The cover art fits the game just fine though.

Also, some brothers just want to watch NMA News Comments burn.

You aint seen nothin', kiddo.

I think what I meant is that the post-apocalyptic genre usually (for me) implies the decline and fragmentation of an entire culture and an evironment that turns against it. Pandora is in bad shape, but it appears to be just one part of a much larger, and vibrant interstellar culture. I assume you're talking about Dahl as the company that pulled out. I can see that, though I guess I had never thought of it that way. It feels more like an extreme ghetto in a place that is already naturally inhospitable.

More than the fact people were left behind to fend for themselves, it's the fact that the planet's winter cycle ended and that humans got their asses kicked is what makes it post-apoc by my standards.

As for needing it to be the decline of the entire human race for it to be truly apocalyptic? Well, I think that's of little comfort to the people living it.

I'm surprised people complain about Borderlands being considered post-apocalyptic but not about Stalker...
Stalker isn't post-apocalyptic at all. It's a very confined zone that's merely abandoned with a few irradiated hotspots and weird anomalies. It might look post-apocalyptic, but unless I missed something big going on in the lore it's just not. There was no apocalypse at all.

Arguably, STALKER is pre-apocalyptic, since the Zone is expanding.
Just like people label Dr Strangelove as post-apoc, it clearly isn't, but it might be closely related to the apocalypse.

 

[Ausdoerrt]

I'm surprised people complain about Borderlands being considered post-apocalyptic but not about Stalker...
Stalker isn't post-apocalyptic at all. It's a very confined zone that's merely abandoned with a few irradiated hotspots and weird anomalies. It might look post-apocalyptic, but unless I missed something big going on in the lore it's just not. There was no apocalypse at all.

I agree. Otherwise we could just go ahead and label all of modern post-Soviet space post-apocalyptic. It sure looks the part

Though same applies to BL2 - failed colonies have never been "PA" per se.