The Best Post-Apocalyptic Games

Best post-apocalyptic games at a glance

How these post-apocalyptic games were selected

The ranking considers:

• How strongly the ruined world shapes mechanics and story
• Exploration, environmental storytelling and resource pressure
• Character builds, factions or consequential decisions
• Survival, crafting, combat and community-management systems
• Solo, cooperative and competitive modes
• Variety across RPGs, shooters, survival games and adventures
• Replay value through choices, sandboxes or multiplayer
• Listed PC memory and storage requirements

Outer Wilds centers on an approaching cosmic end rather than life after a completed apocalypse. Subnautica is an alien survival game, and Red Dead Redemption depicts the end of an era rather than a world-ending event. These adjacent choices are ranked below games that directly fulfill the post-apocalyptic setting.

1. Fallout: New Vegas

Best overall post-apocalyptic game

Fallout: New Vegas places the Courier among factions competing to control the Mojave and Hoover Dam.

Dialogue skills, reputation and alliances create alternatives to direct combat.

Attributes, perks and equipment support specialized characters built around speech, science, stealth, survival or weapons.

Major factions present different visions for the region’s future, making political choices central to the campaign.

The open world rewards exploration with settlements, side stories and evidence of how communities adapted after nuclear war.

Fallout: New Vegas is single-player. Minimum requirements include 2 GB RAM and 10 GB of storage.

Choose it for role-playing freedom, branching quests and a wasteland whose future changes according to the player’s allegiances.

2. Metro Exodus

Best atmospheric post-apocalyptic shooter

Metro Exodus follows a journey away from the ruins beneath Moscow and across a devastated landscape.

Large non-linear regions provide room for exploration while remaining connected by a focused narrative.

Ammunition, filters and crafting materials retain value, encouraging deliberate use rather than constant firing.

Weapons can be modified for different ranges and situations.

Stealth, weather, time of day and environmental hazards influence how areas are approached.

Metro Exodus is single-player with full controller support. Minimum requirements include 8 GB RAM and 59 GB of storage.

Choose it for immersive first-person combat, survival pressure and a story that reveals several forms of post-collapse society.

3. The Walking Dead: The Telltale Definitive Series

Best story-driven post-apocalyptic game

The Walking Dead: The Telltale Definitive Series collects four seasons, 400 Days and The Walking Dead: Michonne.

The experience emphasizes conversations, relationships and difficult decisions over complex combat.

Timed responses force choices before every consequence can be fully considered.

Decisions can alter character relationships and later scenes, even when the wider collapse cannot be reversed.

Its episodic structure follows survivors across a long period rather than one short emergency.

The game is single-player with full controller support. Minimum requirements include 3 GB RAM and 45 GB of storage.

Choose it for character-driven storytelling and moral pressure rather than an open-world survival simulation.

4. 7 Days to Die

Best post-apocalyptic survival-crafting game

7 Days to Die combines exploration, crafting, character progression and construction in a destructible zombie world.

Players scavenge buildings, gather raw materials and prepare a defensible base.

Zombies can damage structures, so walls, traps and routes must be designed around actual attacks.

Recurring hordes turn each cycle into preparation for a deadline rather than unrestricted building.

Co-op allows players to divide scavenging, construction, crafting and combat roles.

It supports single-player, LAN co-op, online co-op and online PvP with full controller support. Minimum requirements include 8 GB RAM and 15 GB of storage.

Choose it for a persistent survival sandbox where preparation is tested through repeated attacks.

5. Wasteland 3

Best tactical post-apocalyptic RPG

Wasteland 3 sends a Ranger squad into a frozen region where survival depends on a politically powerful local ruler.

Turn-based combat rewards cover, positioning, ability combinations and coordinated party builds.

Skills influence exploration and dialogue as well as combat.

Faction decisions can change relationships, quests and the wider outcome of the campaign.

The party structure allows several specialized characters to solve different problems.

It supports single-player and online co-op. Minimum requirements include 8 GB RAM and 45 GB of storage.

Choose it for tactical combat and consequential role-playing from a party-based perspective rather than a first-person one.

6. Dying Light

Best action-focused zombie apocalypse game

Dying Light turns the quarantined city of Harran into a first-person parkour environment.

Rooftops, gaps and vertical routes provide alternatives to fighting through every street.

Melee combat emphasizes stamina, spacing and improvised weapons.

The day-and-night cycle changes the threat level, making familiar routes more dangerous after dark.

Scavenged materials support crafting and equipment progression.

It supports single-player, online co-op and online PvP with full controller support. Minimum requirements include 4 GB RAM and 40 GB of storage.

Choose it for fast movement, cooperative action and a city designed around escaping as much as fighting.

7. State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition

Best post-apocalyptic community simulator

State of Decay 2 shifts attention from one permanent hero to a community of survivors.

Players recruit people with different skills, needs and weaknesses.

A base requires food, medicine, materials and secure facilities.

Scavenging trips therefore support the whole group rather than only the active character.

Injuries, fatigue and permanent losses can change who is available and what the community can do next.

It supports single-player and online co-op with full controller support. Minimum requirements include 8 GB RAM and 30 GB of storage.

Choose it for survivor management, difficult resource priorities and a campaign shaped by the community that endures.

8. Tom Clancy’s The Division

Best pandemic looter-shooter

Tom Clancy’s The Division takes place in New York after a deadly pandemic and institutional breakdown.

Third-person cover combat supports weapons, abilities and equipment builds.

Missions can be played alone or with an online group.

Loot progression provides the long-term structure, with improved equipment enabling harder activities.

Its urban setting emphasizes recent abandonment rather than a distant wasteland reclaimed by nature.

It supports single-player, online co-op and online PvP with full controller support. Minimum requirements include 6 GB RAM and 40 GB of storage.

Choose it for tactical shooting and multiplayer character progression rather than scarcity-driven survival.

9. RAGE

Best classic wasteland shooter

RAGE follows a survivor emerging from cryostasis into a world of settlements, mutants and hostile factions.

First-person combat is the strongest part of the experience, with several weapons and tools supporting aggressive encounters.

Vehicles connect distant locations and introduce racing and armed travel.

The campaign uses an expansive hub structure rather than a fully systemic survival sandbox.

Its straightforward pace makes it easier to enter than deeper RPGs such as New Vegas or Wasteland 3.

It supports single-player, co-op and multiplayer. Minimum requirements include 2 GB RAM and 25 GB of storage.

Choose it for direct shooting and vehicle action inside a classic desert-wasteland setting.

10. Axiom Verge

Best post-apocalyptic Metroidvania

Axiom Verge explores a surreal alien world filled with ruins, hostile creatures and unfamiliar machinery.

New weapons and abilities reveal routes through previously inaccessible areas.

The environment can be manipulated through glitch-like mechanics, turning apparent errors into exploration tools.

Its pixel-art presentation recalls older science-fiction action games while supporting a distinct world and mystery.

Progress depends on mapping connections and reconsidering earlier locations after gaining new abilities.

Axiom Verge is single-player with full controller support.

Choose it for non-linear exploration and a compact science-fiction interpretation of collapse and isolation.

11. Outer Wilds

Best end-of-world mystery

Outer Wilds explores a small solar system trapped in a repeating time loop.

Each expedition reveals information about planets, physical phenomena and an earlier civilization.

Knowledge is the central form of progression. The player rarely becomes stronger, but learns where to go and how systems connect.

The looming destruction creates urgency without turning the game into a conventional combat experience.

Its open structure allows mysteries to be investigated in different orders.

Outer Wilds is single-player with full controller support. Minimum requirements include 6 GB RAM and 8 GB of storage.

Choose it for curiosity and discovery at the edge of extinction. It is an end-of-world story rather than a traditional post-apocalyptic survival game.

12. Subnautica

Best survival outlier for post-apocalyptic fans

Subnautica strands the player on an alien ocean world after a spacecraft disaster.

Oxygen limits early dives, making route planning and equipment progression essential.

Gathered resources support tools, vehicles and underwater bases.

Environmental storytelling reveals what happened to previous expeditions and why escape is complicated.

The world creates pressure through depth, darkness and unfamiliar wildlife rather than ruined human cities.

Subnautica is single-player with full controller support. Minimum requirements include 4 GB RAM and 20 GB of storage.

Choose it for solitude, crafting and environmental discovery. It is survival after a personal catastrophe, not a strict post-apocalyptic setting.

13. Red Dead Redemption

Best end-of-an-era thematic outlier

Red Dead Redemption follows a former outlaw as expanding government power closes around the remaining frontier.

The open world presents towns, wilderness and communities undergoing social and technological change.

Its story focuses on the disappearance of an old way of life rather than civilization’s collapse.

Gunplay, travel and side activities support a character-driven Western campaign.

The sense of isolation and transition may appeal to players who value the melancholy of fading worlds.

Red Dead Redemption is single-player with full controller support. Minimum requirements include 8 GB RAM and 12 GB of storage.

Choose it for a narrative about the end of an era. Choose any of the games above for a literal post-apocalyptic world.

Which post-apocalyptic game should you play first?

Match the recommendation to the experience you want:

• Open-world RPG choices and factions: Fallout: New Vegas
• Atmospheric first-person shooting: Metro Exodus
• A character-driven interactive story: The Walking Dead Definitive Series
• Survival crafting and base defense: 7 Days to Die
• Turn-based tactical role-playing: Wasteland 3
• Parkour and zombie action: Dying Light
• Community management: State of Decay 2
• Pandemic looter-shooting: Tom Clancy’s The Division
• Classic FPS and vehicle combat: RAGE
• Metroidvania exploration: Axiom Verge
• A cosmic end-of-world mystery: Outer Wilds
• Underwater survival and isolation: Subnautica
• An end-of-an-era Western: Red Dead Redemption

Fallout: New Vegas is the strongest overall role-playing choice. Metro Exodus is better for a focused shooter campaign, while 7 Days to Die suits players who want to create their own survival story.

Best post-apocalyptic RPGs

Fallout: New Vegas provides the deepest faction-driven role-playing in this selection.

Wasteland 3 offers party construction, dialogue skills and tactical turn-based battles.

7 Days to Die uses RPG progression inside a survival-crafting sandbox rather than a narrative campaign.

Dying Light combines action abilities, equipment progression and co-op inside an open zombie city.

Tom Clancy’s The Division emphasizes loot and combat builds more than dialogue choices.

Best post-apocalyptic survival games

7 Days to Die provides the strongest combination of construction, scavenging and recurring horde defense.

State of Decay 2 focuses on the needs and losses of an entire survivor community.

Dying Light treats movement as a survival tool, especially when nighttime threats become more dangerous.

Metro Exodus uses supplies, filters and crafting to create pressure inside a story campaign.

Subnautica provides a strong adjacent survival experience through oxygen, equipment and underwater bases.

Best multiplayer post-apocalyptic games

7 Days to Die supports LAN co-op, online co-op and online PvP inside a persistent survival sandbox.

Dying Light supports cooperative exploration and campaign action alongside online PvP.

State of Decay 2 adds online co-op to its community-management structure.

Wasteland 3 supports an online cooperative RPG campaign, while Tom Clancy’s The Division combines co-op missions with online PvP.

RAGE lists co-op and multiplayer but is primarily recommended here for its single-player wasteland shooting.

Best story-driven post-apocalyptic games

The Walking Dead Definitive Series places relationships and choices at the center of a long episodic narrative.

Metro Exodus connects several devastated regions through one continuing journey.

Fallout: New Vegas gives the player more control over the political outcome through factions and branching quests.

Wasteland 3 uses party dialogue and regional politics to connect tactical battles to wider consequences.

Outer Wilds tells its story through exploration and accumulated knowledge rather than conventional cutscenes or combat.

Best post-apocalyptic games for lower-spec PCs

Fallout: New Vegas lists 2 GB RAM and 10 GB of storage.

RAGE lists 2 GB RAM and 25 GB of storage.

The Walking Dead Definitive Series lists 3 GB RAM and 45 GB, while Dying Light lists 4 GB RAM and 40 GB.

Outer Wilds lists 6 GB RAM and 8 GB of storage. Red Dead Redemption lists 8 GB RAM and 12 GB.

For Axiom Verge, compare the complete current requirements with the intended PC; minimum requirements do not promise ideal performance.

What makes a game post-apocalyptic?

A post-apocalyptic game takes place after a civilization-changing catastrophe rather than during an ordinary crisis.

The cause may be nuclear war, pandemic, environmental collapse, alien invasion or another event that destroys familiar institutions.

The strongest examples make that collapse affect play. Ammunition may be scarce, settlements may compete for resources and abandoned infrastructure may become both shelter and danger.

A bleak atmosphere alone is not enough. Red Dead Redemption depicts societal transition rather than apocalypse, while Subnautica begins with an isolated crash on a functioning alien ecosystem.

Outer Wilds examines an approaching cosmic ending, making it adjacent to the genre from the opposite side of the catastrophe.

More games for post-apocalyptic adventure fans

Readers seeking a broader mixture of exploration and story can continue with the best adventure games.

For online shooting and equipment progression in disrupted worlds, see games like Destiny 2. Separate guides cover Zelda games for Switch and LEGO games for Switch.

Final recommendations

Fallout: New Vegas is the best overall post-apocalyptic game for factions, character builds and meaningful choices. Metro Exodus leads for atmosphere and first-person shooting, while The Walking Dead Definitive Series provides the strongest character-driven narrative.

Choose 7 Days to Die for survival crafting, Wasteland 3 for tactical role-playing, Dying Light for parkour action or State of Decay 2 for community management.

For adjacent forms of collapse and extinction, choose Outer Wilds for a cosmic mystery, Subnautica for underwater isolation or Red Dead Redemption for the end of a historical era.

The right post-apocalyptic game depends on what should survive the collapse: one character, a community, a political ideal, a body of knowledge or the player’s ability to build something stable from the ruins.