Summary
Speculative fiction is a broad and beloved genre, encompassing everything departing from realism. This covers fantasy, the supernatural, utopian and dystopian tales, alternative histories, the futuristic, and much more. Naturally, these themes are some of the most popular in games, offering the real potential for players' imaginations to run wild, exploring distant concepts that are far from lived experience.
Open-world games serve as a great setting for speculative fiction, offering vast and open-ended exploration experiences,with deep histories and rich lore that truly bring surreal elements to life. Many of these games take their players on exciting journeys where learning and gathering knowledge about the fantastical and mysterious informs gameplay creatively.
Sitting firmly within thehistorical fantasy subsection of speculative fiction,Assassin’s Creed: Odysseybrings Ancient Greece to life at the time of the Peloponnesian War. Mythological and historical elements heighten the gameplay experience, as players get the chance to fight iconic monsters and partake in conquest battles based on real events.
Assassin’s Creed Odysseybrings to life the fascinating tapestry of Ancient Greek culture through its sprawling map, which covers a number of essential locations. The scenery is punctuated with gorgeous azure waters and picturesque mountains in the distance.
Players ofThe Witcher 3: Wild Hunttake on the role of Geralt of Rivia, a monster hunter on his quest to find his daughter Ciri, who is being attacked by a supernatural force known as the Wild Hunt. The game balances great combat and exploration with a focus on the rich lore of the open-world setting.
By way of speculative fiction,Wild Huntcombines Slavic folklore with high fantasy in a complex and intriguing way. Fans love the storytelling in particular, and its exploration of destiny and power through its immersive world of magic and monsters.
Subnautica’ssurvival-focused gameplay begins with players stranded on an alien planet, 4546B, which is covered in ocean. Exploring reveals vast biomes where it’s possible to craft items, investigate the ecosystem of the planet, build underwater habitats, and face mysterious dangers that lurk in the deep.
The game takes on many aspects of the science fiction genre, which is especially evident in the setting, and the technology used throughout the story. There’s also plenty of tension created by the isolation of underwater exploration.
Fallout: New Vegastakes place in the Mojave Wasteland,a post-apocalyptic interpretationof the Mojave Desert. Players take on the role of a courier who wakes up after being shot in the head, and begins to track down the fate of his final delivery.
The gameplay combines survival aspects and detailed storytelling that explores conflict and morality, with player actions having a tangible impact. This post-apocalyptic style of speculative fiction offers critiques on the reconstruction of society and the human struggle for power after global disasters.
This open-world space adventure is set in a procedurally-generateduniverse full of wonderful alien planets, each with unique ecosystems. Players can mine resources, build bases, and unravel mysteries against the vast backdrop of endless space.
Naturally,No Man’s Skyleans heavily into science fiction. It focuses on the exploration and discovery of distant planets, challenging players to embrace the awe of an infinite and complex universe full of millions of unique alien worlds. The solitude of space exploration heightens this experience, encouraging the sense of wonder and discovery.
Another science-fiction game,Outer Wildsoffers a different approach to space exploration compared withNo Man’s Sky. The player is the pilot of a small spacecraft, exploring a mysterious solar system while stuck in a short time-loop. The time-loop mechanic prompts free investigation of the environment, with players exploring interstellar mysteries.
This mechanic makes the game poignant and philosophical, with an existential edge that other science fiction games don’t always have.Outer Wildsprompts a sense of wonder and mystery when it comes to questions of life, death, and the purpose of the universe.
Cyberpunk 2077dips into the dystopian elements of speculative fiction. Against thesprawling backdrop known as Night City, players can explore ideas of social inequality and futuristic technological advancement. Players take on the role of a mercenary named V, involved in the power struggle for the chaotic Night City.
The game’s neon-lit, gritty streets capture the allure of the cyberpunk genre, alongside the heavy technology usage. The art style is aesthetically pleasing and ties well into the story, with its themes that are equally fitting within cyberpunk stories.
Elden Ring’sdark fantasy style pulls players into a long, engaging journey that is filled with mystery, exciting combat, and complex lore. As they embark on a quest to reclaim fragments of the Elden Ring and reinstate order throughout the world, players can work alone or with friends.
This game is a classic example of the fantasy genre, with an intricate and surreal open-world setting full of cryptic details that reveal lore gradually. Players get the opportunity to engage in conflicts with cosmic consequences.
Earth has been reclaimed by nature,with tribal societies living in the ruins of a bygone civilization. Players work as Aloy, an outcast who fights for survival among humans and machines as she tries to find out what led to the collapse of society.
Horizon Zero Dawncombines several speculative genres, including cyberpunk aesthetics, science-fiction, and dystopian elements to explore numerous themes, like artificial intelligence, technological development and ecology. The gorgeous open world is designed to intertwine the organic and synthetic succinctly, creating perhaps a perfect post-apocalyptic setting.
A popular recent iteration in theLegend of Zeldafranchise,Breath of the Wildtakes place in a stunning, vast open-world version of Hyrule. Link awakens to find the world in ruins and must work to defeat the malevolent enemy who is threatening the world, which involves puzzle solving, exploration and some combat.
WhileBreath of the Wildis largely a fantasy tale, it has some elements of post-apocalyptic storytelling too. The once glorious kingdom of Hyrule exists in ancient ruins. Modern technology and mysterious secrets that can be explored at the player’s own pace, with little guidance and maximum freedom.
