The success of an open-world game often depends on the world itself. Game devs have to put all their efforts into crafting environments that players will want to spend countless hours exploring. Sometimes that means designing unique visuals. Other times, it means writing a compelling story and lore will be enough to keep players scrounging for information.

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One good thing about the apocalypse is that it accomplishes both these things. The end of the world is inherently interesting, prompting players to wonder what exactly happened to make things the way they are. And, as games like The Last of Us proved, a post-apocalyptic landscape can actually be pretty beautiful. Here are some open-world games that use a post-apocalyptic setting to great effect.

6 Raft

Like Waterworld Meets Minecraft

Raft is one of those games that keeps things simple but fun, both in terms of gameplay and story. Players start out on a little raft in a world entirely covered by water, with nothing but a hook to grab random floating debris. Gather materials, improve the raft, and occasionally fend off a pesky shark in the name of survival.

Some players just focus on making the most tricked-out raft they can conceive of, but those who skip the story are missing out. Turns out, the endless ocean isn’t just the player's perspective because the raft is in the middle of nowhere. There’s nowhere to go other than a few miniature landmasses. Something flooded the entire world, and no one knows why, or how to fix it.

5 Death Stranding

Incomprehensibly Fascinating

Death Stranding has some of the most experimental storytelling of any game in recent memory. It’s like if an arthouse film and an abstract painting had controls and starred Norman Reedus and a baby. Even if its story is hard to grasp, that’s sort of the point. And it uses its bizarre post-apocalyptic setting to make that point.

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From the get-go, this broken America tells a story of time with our loved ones slipping through our fingers. It can be overt, like Sam’s dying mother, or more obscure, like the rain that ages whatever it touches. Connecting what’s left of humanity via a network becomes symbolic of how important it is to maintain human connections. The world is never so destroyed that it can’t be put back together again.

4 Days Gone

Isolation Versus Connection

In Days Gone, the world has gone south thanks to the always-classic worldwide zombie outbreak. With so few of the global population remaining, folks tend to either group up in settlements with their loved ones or try to go it alone. After Deacon St. John believes he’s lost his wife, he chooses the latter. It’s just him, his motorcycle, and his biker buddy Boomer against hordes of Freakers in the forests of Oregon.

Of course, that self-imposed lone wolf mentality ends when Deacon learns there’s a chance his wife is still alive. From there, players need to explore their surroundings, either fighting off or running from zombies, and search for clues to complete their objectives. Days Gone packs in a lot of fun quests, weapons, and opportunities for doing things in different ways. It also suggests that maybe during the apocalypse, the “go it alone” mentality is a bit overrated.

3 Horizon: Zero Dawn

The Land Of Earth, Water, And Steel

Horizon: Zero Dawn is easily one of the best open-world games on all fronts. It’s got a beautiful world, awesome gameplay, and one of the best female protagonists in recent years. As Aloy seeks to save the world and solve the mysteries of her origins, players also get to uncover the mysteries of the world’s end.

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The tribal-age civilizations Aloy encounters exist centuries after a cataclysmic robot uprising, ending the semi-futuristic world of the past. The land is littered with the skeletons of skyscrapers and killer robots that have assumed the forms of animals, making the landscape equally dangerous and beautiful. It’s got that Last of Us style nature-reclaiming-cities look that’s both sad and serene. Except now, with added robots.

2 The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild

Hyrule On The Cusp Of Annihilation

Breath of the Wild shook up the Legend of Zelda formula in a number of ways. The overly linear, hand-holding design of previous installments was thrown out in favor of open-world exploration. Hyrule is bigger and better than ever before, and players are finally free to explore it.

However, Hyrule has changed a lot since gamers last saw it. Better stated, Hyrule as they knew it barely exists anymore. In this installment, Ganon’s nearly-successful attempt to destroy the kingdom left it in shambles, without its princess to lead or its hero to protect it. Now, with Ganon’s return imminent, both he and Link must race to finish what they started a century ago.

1 Fallout 4

Not So Bad Outside The Vault

This entry should come as no surprise. Fallout 4 isn’t just any post-apocalyptic open-world RPG. It’s the post-apocalyptic open-world RPG. Fans of the series are well-acquainted with Bethesda's grungy world by this point, built on the carcass of a 1950s nuclear war. There’s radiation and feral ghouls everywhere, but that’s what makes it feel like home.

What truly makes Fallout 4 so engrossing is how it embraces what most people like about apocalypse stories. It’s not just about how the world ended, but how it stubbornly chooses to keepgoing despite it all. Life in the wasteland is never easy, but it persists, like a radroach. Players build their settlements out of garbage and rubble, because what else is there to do other than pick up the pieces and keep going?

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