Some might see video games as a waste of time, but that's usually because they don't know this amazing world well enough. They're missing out on great stories or unforgettable moments with friends, and that’s just scratching the surface of what games offe
We’ve put together a list of games where humanity deals with existential problems and added a chilling look at whether you should be worried about a specific scenario or not.
Detroit: Become Human – Robot and AI Domination
Let’s start with a game where we can tell you right away about its likelihood in real life. Yes, this could happen, and to some extent, it’s already happening.
We're talking about Detroit: Become Human by the French studio Quantic Dream, which lets you enter a society full of androids and artificial intelligence. While the story leans towards the traditional sci-fi theme – whether a robot or artificial human can become self-aware – the game also brings up unemployment several times. In other words, whether human jobs will be replaced by robots and automation in the future.
Looking around, some industries are already starting to feel this closely. While AI currently exists only in computers and phones, it’s beginning to replace many tasks humans did before. When more robots or androids like those in Detroit: Become Human emerge, it could eventually lead to a revolution. That’s what happens in the game, and depending on your decisions, it can end in various ways.
This game is a must-play for sci-fi lovers and might even teach you something.
The Long Dark – Geomagnetic Storm, Climate, and a Return to Nature
If Detroit: Become Human is a warning about a technological future, The Long Dark takes the exact opposite route. It shows a world where technology fails almost overnight.
The Canadian survival game by Hinterland throws you into icy wilderness after a geomagnetic storm hits the Earth. Electronics stop working, the modern world falls apart, and all that's left is humans, nature, and very harsh conditions. No zombies, no enemies with rifles. Just cold, hunger, exhaustion, and a constant fight to survive another night.
That’s what makes The Long Dark disturbingly realistic, showing how a more powerful geomagnetic storm could affect the electronics we rely on. You’re probably familiar with blackouts or power outages, like the recent ones that affected many Czech cities simultaneously. Chaos ensued, and everyone quickly realized how fragile our daily routines actually are.
This game won’t teach you how to survive an apocalypse by navigating Canadian forests, but it will make you think in a way modern humans have long forgotten.
The Last of Us – Parasitic Fungi and the Collapse of Society
The game – and now excellent series – The Last of Us is one of the most famous examples of an apocalyptic video game that doesn’t rely on nuclear war or alien invasions. No, the core issue is much more subtle.
The story of a world crumbling due to a mutated parasitic Cordyceps fungus initially seems like pure sci-fi. But the inspiration from real fungi that can control insect behavior, like the Chinese Cordyceps, gives the scenario a disturbingly real undertone. It takes only a tiny push for infrastructure, governments, and even interpersonal trust to collapse.
If you're familiar with The Last of Us, you know that in this world, morality becomes a luxury, and the line between protecting loved ones and pure selfishness is razor-thin. These themes aren’t far from real-world issues. Watching society split into opposing factions is something we can even witness here, even without it being militarized.
And despite Czech mycologist Jan Borovička stating in a past interview that a pandemic like in The Last of Us would take a long evolutionary process and its emergence seems more theoretical, any other apocalypse with similar consequences could happen. The memory of COVID is, therefore, chillingly vivid.
Consider The Last of Us more as a warning about how easily everything can change when established rules cease to function overnight.
Watch Dogs – Loss of Privacy and Digital Control
Unlike the other games, Watch Dogs doesn't depict a post-apocalyptic world but one on the verge of disaster. More precisely, it’s set in a world where people haven’t even noticed that a catastrophe is looming.
The central ctOS system connects cameras, traffic, personal data, and security forces, allowing almost unlimited surveillance over city residents. The player hacks into the system, but the game constantly reminds that the problem lies not with the hackers but with the existence of such a dangerous infrastructure.
Loss of privacy in Watch Dogs isn’t portrayed as a sudden collapse but as a quiet, gradual process that most people accept for convenience.
Watch Dogs today feels less like an indefinite dystopia and more like a reflection of a reality filled with smart cameras, movement tracking, targeted ads, and data collection for various interests. Sure, you don’t have to delete your social media and disconnect from the internet now, but it’s worth considering the digital footprint you leave and whether that data could be misused.
Death Stranding – Isolation and Logistics
While the games listed above might prepare you for moving through a collapsed society, Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding focuses heavily on the psychological aspect of individuals.
How would you react to loneliness, lack of information, resources, and supplies? These are questions that will cross anyone’s mind who starts preparing for a real apocalypse. The central theme of Death Stranding is the loss of connection between survivor groups and the need to re-establish them.
It also shows the importance of infrastructure and logistics, which you might see as a necessary evil in a functioning society. Trucks on highways, delivery delays on ordered goods, unexpected price changes due to factors beyond direct control.
This game teaches that to survive an apocalypse, in the best scenario, you shouldn’t need weapons, but rather good boots, patience, and willingness to communicate with others—even if you never see them face to face. It’s a psychology lesson we’ve all practiced in recent years, but hopefully, we won’t need to use new insights and lessons from Death Stranding soon.
This War of Mine – Nothing but Survival
Most war games hand you a weapon and send you off to save the world. But as you’ve realized, our selection consists of slightly different video games that could be a lesson or just a means for reflection. And sometimes, that’s enough.
The final title we chose for you is the strongest when it comes to realizing what it is like in a place where war is happening. Polish game This War of Mine from 11 Bit Studios may be old, but you’ll agree it still strongly resonates today. The player takes on the role of a terrified civilian trying to survive another day by any means necessary. Food has run out, friends are dying because you lack medicine, and trust only yourself.
This game shows that a real apocalypse isn’t about epic battles but about endless waiting, hunger, and dirty compromises. Will you risk your life at night to loot a nearby house? And what if you find only an old couple worse off than you? Will you steal their last can to save your people, or leave empty-handed and let your friends starve? This truly delivers one of the harshest lessons in priorities that you just don’t want to face in real life.
The proximity to real conflicts occurring only a few hundred kilometers away makes this game an emotionally unpleasant "survival simulator" from which you don’t walk away a winner but as someone who understands what truly matters.
Entertainment or Survival Course?
So, games probably won’t teach you how to start a fire with flint or repair a nuclear reactor. But they give you something more valuable—a mental map. They teach you not to panic when systems collapse, think three steps ahead, and understand that every choice has consequences. So next time you see someone spending hours on a post-apocalyptic RPG, don’t see it as a waste of time. That person might just be taking a survival course for the 21st century.
