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Wonderful Wastelands

It's the end of the world as we know it, and we're totally fine with that.

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There's something rather fascinating about wastelands. Perhaps our collective obsession with post-apocalyptic settings ties into the same curiosity we have about how humanity fares when societal restrictions are taking away, much like in survival situations like The Poseidon Adventure or even Lord of the Flies. Will you resort to lawless theft, or will you be the ones to reestablish the law and order that separates man from beast? Wastelands are an opportunity to explore these various avenues of morality, and provide us with a world where you either adapt to the climate around you or stick to the humane logic of a world long forgotten; who are you inside when the gloves are off and the rules are out the window?

It's not all super serious moral debates though, as there's the other side of the coin: wastelands let you do weird and wonderful stuff. We're talking about hulking mechs, cars made of salvage and spikes, and a hostile world full of asses to be kicked. Whether it's a nuclear blast that has flattened cities or a plague that has killed off humanity, you know that there's always fun to be had crawling, jumping, and battling across what's left of the world... even if it is a little bleak wading through all the skeletons.

In terms of where these wasteland wonders are set, most developers tend to go for real-world settings. Why? Because it means that you get to see the juxtaposition between the remnants of a familiar world that's overgrown or overrun and whatever comes after the fall. Fallout prides itself on this, letting you see the crumbled Washington in Fallout 3; flattened Vegas in Fallout: New Vegas; and a decimated Boston in Fallout 4. Each location includes just enough detail to keep it feeling familiar, however, all of the landmarks that once stood proudly are now reduced to nothing more than a run-down mess.

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Wonderful Wastelands
When civilisation falls, all that's left are the ruins of what once was.

Not every wasteland is set in the land of the free and the home of the brave though, as plenty of stories draw inspiration from the nuclear tensions of the Cold War, meaning Eastern Europe is also a big focus when it comes to depicting the aftermath of the nuclear apocalypse. Notably we're talking about Russia, which we've seen in the Metro games. Metro 2033 and sequel Last Light both had us taking shelter in Moscow's metro system, but in a move that's classic apocalypse, different factions are at war with one another and the player-character (Artyom) is embroiled in these events while trying his best to survive the mutated beasties.

The infamous town of Chernobyl, the site of a notorious nuclear power plant explosion in 1986, has also been the subject of a lot of curiosity when it comes to wastelands and post-apocalyptic fiction, and in contrast to most of the scenarios mentioned in this article, this is an event that actually happened in real life. Liberties have been taken though, as you can see in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, where we encounter plenty of mutated monsters during our excursion into the ill-fated town. A load of ex-S.T.A.L.K.E.R. developers more recently went on to work on the upcoming Battle Royale game Fear the Wolves, which operates on a similar premise of fighting to survive in a hostile, irradiated world.

Wonderful Wastelands
The ruins of Chernobyl serve as a bleak backdrop for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
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Not every wasteland as an overgrown wreckage, however, and there seems to be a mysterious fascination with sand, as we can see in games like Rage and its upcoming sequel. Perhaps it's the Mad Max influence, but a ton of games - including online shooter Crossout - love the barren nature of the desert, which of course goes hand in hand with vehicular traversal and combat. We're not complaining though, because the rolling hills and dunes make for pretty epic jumps, especially when you're colliding with others in screeching battles to the death.

Then there are the games that take the post-apocalypse in a whole new direction, like Nuclear Throne. Vlambeer's twin-stick shooter doubles as a roguelike that takes us past the apocalypse into a time when humans are gone. Like, extinct gone. Here it's all about the monsters such as huge scorpions and giant explosive grubs. Meanwhile, in the Brütal Legend version of the end of the world, Jack Black takes us to a wasteland that's more attentive o the music. The sombre vibes of other wastelands are thrown out the window and we're instead treated to the light-hearted side of over-the-top post-nuclear action. Who said the apocalypse had to be depressing?

What is slightly more depressing though is Frostpunk's unique brand of survival. In this version of the 18th century, an ice age has brought humanity to its knees, and you're not a glorious hero here, a wanderer of the wastes, but instead you're the leader of a community who has to make tough calls that hopefully ensure the survival of your people. Every move you make can have negative consequences, but desperate times call for desperate measures, and if you need policies like child labour and sawdust in your food to stay alive then so be it. Impact Winter pulled a similarly ice-cold trick.

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Frostpunk introduced a chill to the wasteland setting.
Wonderful Wastelands
Where would the wasteland fun be without giant guns?

You couldn't have a discussion about wastelands and the post-apocalypse without mentioning all of the different kinds of tech and weaponry that comes with it. After all, life would be boring if all that was left after the apocalypse was just a pile of sticks and the odd shrubbery. It'd be damn boring, in fact. Technical gadgets and newfangled doohickeys keep us entertained like toddlers with a rattle, and nowhere is this technological advancement more bombastic than in the Fallout franchise, where hostile robots roam the wastes and you're able to disintegrate enemies into actual goo with an arsenal of plasma weapons.

With the help of The Institute, androids are at an advanced level where they're able to disguise themselves as humans in Bethesda's futuristic franchise, but that's not all, as there's also a surge of robots once programmed to help humanity in everyday tasks who have now been unleashed to bite us in the ass (we were warned!). Have no fear though, because to tackle these robo-pests and the other baddies like bandits and super mutants, we have everything from lasers to grenades to protect ourselves with. Oh, and a Fatboy that shoots mini-nukes.

Not every robot you'll meet in the wasteland is bad though - just take Claptrap from the Borderlands games (okay, they're not post-apocalyptic, but they're still wastelands), who's a jolly little companion who joins you on your murderous pursuits. He is kind of annoying, granted, but don't tell us you didn't feel a little bit bad for him when nobody showed up to his birthday in Borderlands 2? He means well, bless him, and just like an aggravating R2D2 he just wants to help. The robotic animals of Horizon: Zero Dawn aren't bad guys either, they're just looking after themselves like animals are want to do - after all, we're the ones trying to dismantle them for parts. Shame on us.

Wonderful Wastelands
Horizon: Zero Dawn provides a rather unique version of a future wasteland.

There's plenty of tech to help us deal with everyday life in the wasteland too, because lord knows rummaging through scrap and eating squirrels can be a chore. The gas masks in Metro are a big help to prevent an untimely demise, and like the power armour in Fallout they can mean the difference between life and death in certain radioactive situations. Fallout also includes the Pip-Boy, a computer terminal strapped to your arm which allows you to manage quests, inventory, and even provides a map of the world. Where would we be without the Vaults too, which housed us during our formative years and kept us safe from nuclear war, just like the pods from Rage that sheltered us from destruction?

Fallout Shelter is a slightly more Vault-focused experience as well, tasking us with managing the lives of citizens within our abode rather than focusing on the ghoulies looking to have us for dinner outside. Sheltered is a similar concept too, which is all about managing supplies to make sure that you can survive the desolate conditions, while 60 Seconds! offers a darkly comic twist on things (in the mad rush to shelter, you might forget your daughter, for instance; it happens to the best of us).

Speaking of Rage, that game just goes to show how helpful vehicles can be. All you need is a bare shell of a car, some wheels, and some scrap and you've got a handy way not only to traverse the desolate plains but also to kick some ass at the same time. For some reason, bandits love to pick a fight with lone wanderers, and so being in an armoured monster is always a wise choice, as Mad Max learned in his 2015 outing when he used his signature love for vehicles to upgrade his ride so it could better smash bad guys to smithereens.

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If you're looking for vehicular destruction, Mad Max is your guy.
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Deathclaws are just one of the wasteland horrors we can't un-see.

They say the most beautiful thing you can witness is the birth of new life, but whoever said that clearly hasn't witnessed the things that are born in the aftermath of a nuclear apocalypse. Like Fallout's Centaur's taught us, the horrors of the wasteland cannot be unseen, but they can be shot thankfully. Fallout actually has plenty of these monstrosities, from the towering and unnecessarily shouty super mutants to the likes of the ghouls with their mangled faces and who populate the everyday settlements. Unless they're feral of course. In fact, mutants are a common sight in the post-apocalyptic wastelands of tomorrow, and the creatures we've encountered in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and Metro are among the grizzliest you'll meet in gaming.

One can't forget about the cauliflowers... we mean, clickers, from The Last of Us either. As much as they might act like them, they aren't zombies, but instead are afflicted with Ophiocordyceps Unilateralis, and love snacking on flesh, especially the flesh belonging to Joel and Ellie (the game's protagonists). It's actually a fungus that has taken over their bodies, meaning they're not only unpleasant to be around, but they also make this ominous clicking sound. They're damn ugly to look at too. Just make sure you have some shivs spare guys.

We also have plenty of overgrown plants to deal with during our time in the aftermath of worldwide devastation. As we've seen in the likes of The Little Shop of Horrors, just because something doesn't have a brain doesn't mean it won't have you for lunch. Fallout's Vault 22 has a sign outside that says "Stay out!! The plants kill!", for example, but we didn't heed that warning and found not only a vault overgrown with all kinds of lovely trees and flowers but also green mutants hiding in the flowers, scaring our socks off as soon as they leapt from the leaves.

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The Last of Us didn't provide the same wasteland as others like Fallout, but it's still a bleak future.

And don't get us started on bandits. For some reason whenever the law goes to pieces, there's always a group of ne'er-do-wells looking to rob and steal and murder their way to the top. Take, for instance, the bandits that populate the dusty dunes of Mad Max, who are always looking to start a fight despite Max consistently delivering a knuckle sandwich to each of them. Much like the film, they're wild and often don't wear shirts for some reason, and it's precisely this insanity that makes us remember them so vividly. Hell, even a group of old ladies got on board with the bandit lifestyle in Fallout: New Vegas, as Maud's Muggers could assault you in Freeside at any time.

We've somehow got this far without mentioning Wasteland, so let's rectify that now. The 1988 classic directed by Brian Fargo back in his Interplay days not only helped establish a wider taste for the wastes that has captivated gamers ever since, but it also inspired a number of other isometric RPGs including the original Fallout games.

Yes, hipsters of the gaming world will no doubt be familiar with the pre-Bethesda Fallout days where instead of VATS-filled gunplay and first-person action we had to explore the world from an isometric perspective. It wasn't unrecognisable from the series it went on to become, as there were still action points and the iconic retro-futuristic setting that we all know and love, but it was a long way away from the later instalments in the franchise, especially considering the combat was turn-based too.

Wasteland 2 came along in 2014 to throw us back into this desolate world (26 years after the original), featuring a heavy emphasis on tactical combat. Rather than your own skills being the determining factor for survival, this time you've got various stats to think about, and you have to take care of a whole party of adventurers in order to make it in this hostile world. A third game is even coming our way next year (hopefully, but you know how these things go), so there's clearly still a taste for wastelands where not everything is third- or first-person combat.

Wonderful Wastelands
If isometric is your style, Wasteland 2 is a classic to try out.

What's coming up though? The future of Bethesda's series looks assured with Fallout 76, but Rage 2 is also making a relatively surprising return sometime in the near future, with Avalanche's take on the post-apocalypse coming with all the coloured mohawks and explosive carnage you'd expect. Just as exciting are the mutated creatures of Metro: Exodus and Fear the Wolves, both of which will once again take us back east for very different perspectives on the end of the world.

With all that history behind us, and with so many exciting games on the horizon, it's clear that gamers love nothing more than scavenging the bleak wastelands of the future. They might be barren, dangerous places to explore, but there's something uniquely compelling about surviving the end of the world.

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