Video games have skewed towards the futuristic ever since their inception. Most of the early classics like Space Invaders, Galaxian, and Asteroids were space-based future games, as were most of their subsequent successors in the shoot ‘em up genre. That’s not to mention the wide variety of future-based RPGs, platformers, first-person shooters, and more.
However, while some games play coy with their future settings, others give them an exact date. They could have been the near future, like the strange far-off 2020s, or the far-future like the 3000s. These games went for the slightly more attainable 2080s.
8 Binary Domain
While Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios is most famous for the Yakuza (or Ryu Ga Gotoku) series, they have worked on other games. One of their more interesting outputs was Binary Domain, a third-person shooter set in Tokyo in 2080. While its reception, both critically and financially, wasn’t warm, its unique Consequence System (any decision the player makes affects how their squad see them) and story made it a cult classic with those who gave it a shot.
After the climate crisis left most of the world inhabitable, and killed off most of the world’s population, the rest of humanity has become more reliant on robots to do all the work. New laws were put in place to limit the creation of ‘Hollow Children’ — robots that look exactly like humans. But after one such ‘Hollow Child’ killed a man, the Rust Crew is sent into Tokyo by the UN to bring in robotics CEO Yoji Amada for questioning. Things don't go so simply for them as they end up with more than they bargained for.
7 Robotron 2084
Skipping ahead to 2084, this classic game doesn’t exactly have a wealth of lore behind it — probably because it’s an arcade game from 1982. They didn't exactly need a saga's worth of stories to back them up. Inspired by George Orwell's novel 1984, as well as shooting games like Space Invaders and Berzerk, the player had to blast as many robots as possible, save any human survivors, and build up the highest score possible.
The game popularized multidirectional and twin-stick shooters, inspiring later classics like the Alien Breed series, Geometry Wars, and Smash TV, which was also made by Robotron’s co-creator Eugene Jarvis. It’s even been referenced in pop culture, being name-checked by the Beastie Boys in ‘The Sounds of Science,’ and ‘Down at the Arcade’ by Lou Reed.
6 Observer
Also set in 2084, this survival horror follows Polish detective Daniel Lazarski, a member of the Observers: a police unit with license to hack into people’s minds. When he gets a called from his estranged son Adam, he’s pulled into a mystery involving multiple murders and the Chiron megacorporation. Lazarski has to follow the trail and hack multiple minds for clues on his son’s whereabouts, as well as what he has to do with Chiron and a place called ‘Sanctuary.’
Released across nearly all platforms, from the PS4 and PS5, to the PC, Mac, and Linux, the game was made by Silent Hill 2 remake devs Bloober Team. It was also the first video game role for acclaimed actor Rutger Hauer, who played the part of Daniel. Though the game’s stealth mechanics and substance weren’t particularly strong, its cyberpunk world building, engaging soundtrack and mind-hacking mechanics were highly praised.
5 X-COM: Apocalypse
The third entry in the popular X-COM RTS games sees humanity locked in self-contained bubble cities. If the exploitation of citizens of the off-world Mars Colony wasn’t enough, humans are now under threat from a new race of shape-shifting aliens. Players have to use their X-COM agents, aircraft, and any other tools at their disposal to protect Mega-Primus and the other cities and finish off the aliens for good.
The game’s development was somewhat messy thanks to the tense relationship between developers Mythos Games and publishers MicroProse. Mythos made the game, but MicroProse wanted to do the graphics, and their attempts to use fancy new 3D models didn’t work out. Director Julian Gollop compared its creation to Apocalypse Now, a film whose behind-the-scenes drama was as disastrous as its story setting. But like Apocalypse Now, it still resulted in an engaging, entertaining RTS that received critical acclaim.
4 A Mind Forever Voyaging
This text adventure is technically set in the 2080s, just as it’s set in the 2030s, 2040s, 2050s, all the way up to the 2130s. Like the title says, the mind is forever voyaging. The player plays as PRISM, a supercomputer tasked with simulating a new economic plan through a man called Perry Simm. It simulates his life through successive decades, and it seems like a successful plan in the short term. However, it gradually breaks down the further PRISM goes.
The game was meant to be a critique of then-President Reagan’s US policies, though it didn’t cause the ripples of controversy its designer Steve Meretzky hoped. Probably because, while it’s a good text adventure game, it was still a text adventure game released in 1985. This was right when games with simpler narratives like 'save the princess' needed graphics to catch on.
3 Rad Warrior
Also known as The Sacred Armour of Antiriad outside the US, Palace Software’s game starts in the 2080s, then goes beyond it. After humanity nukes itself in 2086, the survivors form factions based around their anti-radiation tech and start a war with each other that lasts a thousand years. Just as peace seems attainable, an alien race emerges from the remains of the old civilization and enslaves the human race.
It’s up to a rebel called Tai to track down the Antiriad Armor (an anti-radiation battlesuit) piece by piece and free the people from their oppressors. The game was unique when it came out on the PC, Apple II, and microcomputers, being a platform/maze game where getting new items enabled the player to access blocked-off sections when they backtracked. In other words, it joined the original Metroid as being one of the first Metroidvania or ‘search action’ games ever made.
2 2088: The Cryllan Mission
If Rad Warrior seemed obscure, Victory Software’s RPG is practically underground by comparison. Released only for the Apple IIgs, it followed a space crew as they investigate what happened to their predecessors on the USS Houston after they landed on the planet Crylla. Chances are it wasn’t anything good. While the game follows in the vein of Ultima, it’s kind of the inverse of Lord British’s magnum opus.
Rather than being a fantasy RPG with some sci-fi elements, it’s a sci-fi RPG with fantasy elements instead. The protagonists are a Star Trek-esque crew of six explorers, but Crylla itself is a fantasy world of inns, dungeons, and a variety of monsters that would be at home in either a sci-fi future or a Tolkien-like past. It got positive praise from Apple IIgs magazines and users, but might have caught on more if it managed to spread elsewhere.
1 Front Mission 2089
Since this list started with the beginning of the 2080s, it may as well end with the end of the 2080s. Square-Enix’s fifth entry in the Front Mission series saw its peacekeeping forces OCU and USN clash over conflicts on Huffman Island. Players have to control Ernest Salinger and his team of mercenaries on recon and espionage missions for the OCU and discover why their other mercs have been going missing.
The game was originally released for Japanese mobile phones through the EZweb services. However, it didn’t sell well, because mobile gaming wasn’t so big in 2005. So, the game got a Nintendo DS remake in 2008 called Border of Madness, complete with new artwork, and a rewritten story. Sadly, both versions were Japan-only, so it may require some hunting down. Though if fans don't want to do that, the upcoming Front Mission 2089: Borderscape is scheduled for a worldwide release for smartphones and other platforms.