Summary
The futureis one of the scariest things to think about. What will tomorrow bring? Besides that daily terror, there are also video games set in the far future that allow a lot of developers to be more creative than they could be in a modern setting, particularly with how scary the future might be.
One of the biggest games in the past few years wasCyberpunk 2077. From the futuristic cars to the hacking to the prosthetic limbs with swords hidden in them, there was a lot of tech to fall in love with. Are there any horror games quite as detailed in their depictions of the future? Let’s look into the digital crystal ball and find out.
The Callisto Protocoltakes place in the far future year 2320. While it begins on a spaceship, the game narratively takes place on a frozen planet in a penal colony. Jacob, the main character, is imprisoned after a deal goes bad and his spaceship crashes.
Jacob has to fight through other prisoners and weaponized alien monsters that are out to kill him. There are some futuristic things about the game’s design, like the menu interface being transparent and the various advanced tech in the game, from weapons to computers. However, it’s not the most futuristic horror game altogether, even with the year in which it takes place.
Alien: Isolationis, relatively, not that far away, at least compared toThe Callisto Protocol, as it takes place in 2137. It’s a continuation of theAlienfilm franchise, this time following Ellen Ripley’s daughter, Amanda, who is trying to find her mother after she disappeared on theNostromo. She instead finds an alien Xenomorph aboard her ship which stalks her constantly.
The game can easily be likened toResident Evil 3: Nemesisbecause the Xenomorph alien is one of the smartest AI enemies ever created for a video game. It will not stop, even on the easiest difficulty setting, which causes constant tension. Besides the ship itself feeling both retro and futuristic, probably the most high-tech thing in the game are the androids, which also (naturally) want to kill Amanda.
Preydoesn’t have an exact date for its setting, but it’s thought to be around 2035. While there are no colonies on the moon yet, there could be in eleven years, but the game takes place in an alternate history’s future where the space race never settles down, which justifies its future tech despite its implied near-future setting. Hopefully, there isn’t a problem with mimic-like aliens in real life in 2035, because they’re anepidemic inPrey.
Players will go around the Talos I space station and fight off creatures that take the shape of everyday objects like cups or chairs. It’s a cheap way to get jump scares out of players but admittedly effective nontetheless, as players will quickly learn they can’t trust anything; not even a plant. The game is hard at first too, because the weapon variety is low, and resources are scarce.
Returnalalso doesn’thave an exact future date, which makes sense, given that the entire game takes place in a time loop. Players crash land as Selene on an unknown planet. They fight off some alien creatures, die, and then realize they are right back where they crashed. There are a lot of questions in this game, and not all of them are answered by the end.
It’s up to the player to communicate with others online to form a narrative. It’s kind of like the effect theDark Soulsseries had on its community. What isn’t up for debate is how cool Selene’s weapons and gear are, as they feel straight out of a cheesy 1960s space novella, complete with super-grenades and laser swords.
TheDead Spaceseriesis the horror franchise set furthest from the modern era, as the games take place in the year 2508. Players begin as a humble engineer, Isaac Clarke, who is responding to the distress signal of a ship called the USGIshimuraalong with his fellow crewmates. Onboard, Isaac and his comrades discover that almost everyone is dead, and this planetcracker ship once housed hundreds of people.
The cause is a massive outbreak of alien creatures known as Necromorphs. Once a human is infected, they start to mutate into one of these creatures, and they can only be killed through the severing of their mutated arms and legs. Thankfully, Isaac has a whole collection of fun weapons and tools at his disposal, like a gun that fires saw blades, and, and apotent laser beam. The original game was scary, but the experience is much more intense in the remake thanks to the lighting, sound design, and current-gen graphics.
The Last of Usis another game that isn’t set that far out from now, as it takes place in 2033. It’s also the game that feels the least futuristic of the ones on this list, which makes sense. In the 2013 prologue, humanity suffers a mass extinction thanks to the spread of fungal pollen that is taking over the brains of people, turning them into zombified corpses.
Humanity doesn’t have time to worry about inventing flying cars or laser blasts. They’re too preoccupied with looking for a cure and surviving as long as they can. That makes this potential future all the more terrifying, because despite the hope that lingers around the edges, this is a world that is bleak and full of people doing terrible things to one another.
Half-Life 2doesn’thave an exact date for its setting, but it’s another game that seems to be set somewhere in the 2030s. This future is well-thought-out in that it is a harsh landscape ruled by an oppressive military force. It’s not as horror-driven as the original game, but there are certainly some iconic scary moments and an overall sense of dread.
The biggest of those moments happens in Ravenholm, which won’t be spoiled here despite being almost two decades old.Half-Life 2may focus on human targets just as much as monsters, but the unsettling nature of the world more than helps it qualify for this list. It’s also well-regarded as one of the best games ever made, for these reasons and many more.
