List of Dystopian Music, TV Programs, and Games - Games

Games

• A Mind Forever Voyaging (1985) by Infocom is set in the year 2031 where the economy of the United States of North America (USNA) is failing, great numbers of youths are dying in "Joybooths" and a new arms race involving nuclear weapons no larger than the size of a pack of cigarettes threatens to turn the USNA into a police state.

• American McGee's Alice (2000) features a matured Alice who returns to Wonderland to free it from its twisted state, imparted upon it by the decade-long despotic rule of the Queen of Hearts.

• Armored Core 3 by From Software features a future where the mankind has receded underground from the effects of an intensely destructive global war. A city called Layered was formed that is totally controlled by an artificial intelligence referred to as 'The Controller', a computer that makes the important individual decisions of everyone's life for them.

• Armored Core 4 and Armored Core: For Answer (2006 and 2008) both games take place in a future where the surface of the earth that is all but uninhabitable, rendered as such by pollution from a new defense technology vastly utilized during the corporate war of Armored Core 4.

• Back to the Future: The Game (2011) In episode 3, Hill Valley is controlled by Citizen Emmett Brown and Citizen Edna Brown.

• Beneath a Steel Sky (1994) by Revolution Software takes place at an unknown point in a dystopian future in Australia, where the Earth has been significantly damaged by pollution or nuclear fallout.

• Beyond Good & Evil (a title which is a reference to the existentialist Friedrich Nietzsche) by Ubisoft is an action-adventure game conveying the grim world of Hillys, which has become a centre for capitalism and idealism forced onto its inhabitants by means of propaganda, censorship, and limited travel at the hands of its militant group, the Alpha Sections.

• BioShock (2007) is set in a failed utopia. The game's creative director, Ken Levine, has stated in an interview that he had been obsessed with dystopic novels for all his life, especially Logan's Run.

• Blood II: The Chosen is a 1998 first-person shooter developed by Monolith Productions as the sequel to Blood. It is set in the year 2028 and the dark cult called the Cabal has effective control over the whole world through its front mega-corporation CabalCo, which, following its founder cult, is engaged in murder, brainwashing, the development of deadly weapons, and general evil. The world under CabalCo's dominance is also in a shambles, with widespread disease, over-population, homelessness, and mass violence.

• Borderlands set in a distant future on a once thought to be prosperous, rich in minerals planet, now a wasteland ruled by gangs and the remains of the colonizer megacorporation.

• Chrono Trigger (1995) by Square, whose theme is time travel. One of the eras that the player can visit is a dystopian future caused by the destruction of Lavos. The main plot of the game resolves around going back to the past to stop Lavos. Another feature of the plot is the ancient world of 12,000 B.C., where magic users, known as the Enlightened Ones, live in a floating continent in utopian conditions, while non-magic users, known as the Earthbound Ones, live in a frozen wasteland below.

• Crackdown (2007) is a third-person shooter developed by Realtime Worlds where a player plays as a super-cop developed by an idealist police state in order to combat a massive gang problem. The final scene of the game reveals that the government had funded and encouraged the growth of the 3 gangs of Pacific City in order to gain the submission of the citizens and to give them a mandate to form the police state.

• Crusader, a video game series developed by Chris Roberts of Origin Systems, takes place in the 22nd century in which Earth is now ruled by the World Economic Consortium, a global government that united the world's economies and countries after an economic meltdown in the 20th century.

• Deus Ex (2000) by Ion Storm, is a first-person shooter set in a dystopian 2052. Economic collapse, rampant terrorism, an increasing police state, and a global pandemic result in a dark world on the verge of collapse.

• Deus Ex: Invisible War (2003). Set after the events of the first Deus Ex in the 2070s, a collapse of the world's electronic infrastructure at the end of the first game's events have forced people into enclaves controlled by organisations with their own social agendas in mind.

• Deus Ex: Human Revolution (2011), The Greek myth of Daedalus and Icarus appears in Adam Jensen's dreams as an allegory to this thought, and also—given that both Daedalus and Icarus were the names of artificial intelligences in Deus Ex—an intellectual bridge to the original game.

• Dystopia cyberpunk-themed modification of the 2004 first-person shooter Half-Life 2 it was released after 3 years of development on Saturday February 24, 2007.

• Dystopian wars Tabletop Game A Game made by Spartan Games, it is set in 1870 where the industrial revolution occurred years before it did in the ultimate "Utopia". It features specialist ships that could have been available to them.

• The Fallout games are set in a retro-futuristic, post-apocalyptic world, where various groups citizens are sealed into nuclear bunkers called Vaults, which are secretly social experiments, or fend for themselves in post-apocalyptic wasteland on the surface.

• Final Fantasy VI, AKA Final Fantasy III in the USA; (1995) by Square is a world where the greedy Gestahlian Empire seeks to rule over the planet through the power of the Espers.

• Final Fantasy VII (1997) by Square features a world in which a power company called Shinra controls most of the inhabited world through its "Peace Keeping Forces".

• Forsaken, by Probe Entertainment (1998), a first/third-person shooter set in a future where Earth's surface and atmosphere were destroyed by a subatomic experiment, leaving a ruined planet for mercenaries to explore and raid.

• Frontlines: Fuel of War, a first-person shooter by Kaos Studios, is set in a dystopian 2024 where humanity is plagued by dwindling fossil fuels, collapsed economies, global warming, and a war between the Western Coalition and the Red Star Alliance over the last oil on Earth.

• Half-Life 2, which has an alien race known as the Combine ruling over the Earth. They gradually siphon the planet of its natural resources, as well as preventing human reproduction and turning them into workers and extremely loyal cyborgs.

• Homefront: Set in 2027, the game features a world in which the economic downturn of 2008 continued, resulting in a collapse of US and European economies. Meanwhile, North Korea gains power in Eastern Asia which culminates in an invasion of the United States two years before the events of the game.

• Jak II (2003 by Naughty Dog) In this game Jak, an adolescent who explored the previous vibrant and colorful world of the first game (Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy), suddenly finds himself through a rift gate and hundreds of years into the future, where once a jungle and beach stood, a dark, dirty dystopia ruled by an evil dictator known as Baron Praxis now stands. The city's inhabitants are forcefully oppressed by the Krimzon Guard, the Baron's protectors, who take part themselves in crimes such as bribery, gamblings, and assaulting civilians.

• Oddworld, a quintology by Oddworld Inhabitants (1997–2005).

• Oni by Bungie. The plot is quite similar to Syndicate's. The player controls Konoko, a female rogue agent subjected to an extreme experiment: an enhanced twin version of her was implanted in her body so that every time she gets hurt her "chrysalis" grows and makes her stronger. In her world the criminal organization Syndicate opposes the all-powerful government hiding the truth about the world outside the cities. Her mother died outside the areas protected by government, inhabited by deadly mutant creatures created by pollution.

• Mass Effect (series) many planets and locations, such as the Citadel Wards, Illium, the Krogan DMZ, and especially Omega, have dystopian features.

• Mega Man Zero series (2002-2005 by Capcom). A resistance force against a dystopian society called "Neo Arcadia," resurrects an ancient fighting robot called "Zero" to help them.

• Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (2008) by Kojima Productions. In 2014, the world's nations are dependent on a war economy which fuels the need for private military contractors. These contractors are employed by several nations to bring order to the collapsing economic and social infrastructures of the world. Many governments by this time have become totalitarian in their rule. The shadow organization known as "The Patriots" are responsible for this dystopian future.

• Mirror's Edge (2008) takes place in an unnamed city where a questionable regime monitors its citizens through invasive surveillance, tracking all forms of electronic communication in order to reduce crime and quell any challenge to its power.

• Neocron (2002) takes place in a post-apocalyptic 28th century. In the mid-22nd century, tensions rose between an expanded Chinese Empire and a joint European/North American Federation. The unexplained apparent destruction of the first Chinese interstellar colony ship results in China launching devastating nuclear strikes with stealth missiles.

• Paranoia (1984) by West End Games, which features every aspect of the above list of things typical of dystopias except for a protagonist who feels something is wrong.

• Portal (2007) and Portal 2 (2011) by Valve are both set in the same post-apocalyptic world as the Half-Life (series).

• Red Faction and Red Faction II first-person shooters. The first Red Factions talks about miners in Mars being used as guinea pigs for a technological experiment and the sequel talks about a resistance movement fighting against a totalitarian police state.

• Resident Evil series (1996–2009) by Capcom is a survival horror game set in a world where the characters try to prevent an outbreak of a zombie virus.

• The Sega Saturn video game Robotica features an attempt by human rebels in the 27th century to destroy Daedalus, a massive space station in Earth orbit in order to end the supposedly corrupt and archaic rule of the W.S.S.S., a planetary government fielding a massive robot army across the globe.

• Shadowrun (1989) by FASA, where corporations use magic and technology to create wonders but large swaths of the population have no rights.

• Shattered Union (2005) a turn-based strategy game where America collapses into a second civil war in 2014.

• Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri deals with many dystopian themes and elements, and even technologies such as the Self-Aware Colony.

• Simcity Societies is a city building simulator that allows the player to build various societies, including a dystopian authoritarian state.

• The Sonic series, where either Dr. Robotnik or another worthy villain has taken over the planet of Mobius or is planning to.

• S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow Of Chernobyl is a game set in the future, in the area around the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, site of the world's worst nuclear accident in 1986. Also its prequel, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky is based on a dystopian society.

• StarCraft/StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty a game that takes place in a colonial outer space setting. An oppressive government under the command of Emperor Mengst, known as the Dominion, controls a majority of the Koprulu Sector. It is under the guise of a democracy after the Sons of Korhal overthrew the oppressive Confederacy and established the Dominion. It is really a ruthless and fascist empire that outdoes its predecessor.

• Syndicate (1993) by Bullfrog Productions. In the future, after the collapse of government, the world is harsh and polluted - corporate crime syndicates rule in place of national governments. The population of the world are fitted with "Utopia Chips" to mask the misery and squalor of the world around them. The player controls cybernetically-enhanced agents, out to further the cause of the syndicate. The sequel Syndicate Wars was similar.

• The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay A futuristic universe where much of the population is plagued by crime, with whole planets being used as prisons.

• The Worm in Paradise by Level 9 Computing - a text adventure game for the ZX Spectrum and other 8-bit platforms, set in a dystopian future.

• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time by Nintendo. Although the game begins on good terms, there comes the point where Link, the main character is sealed away for seven years and awakens to a dystopian Hyrule after seven years of war by main antagonist Ganondorf.

• The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past An alternate version of Hyrule, which was once known as the Golden Land, became a dystopian world known as the Dark World after Ganon gained the power of the Triforce.

• The Moment of Silence by House of Tales - an adventure game set in 2044 New York, in a time when private information is becoming illegal.

• Warhammer 40,000 (1987) by Games Workshop features interstellar races which are cruel and heartless. The Imperium of Man, for example, had conquered the galaxy but is currently fighting a defensive battle against mutants, heretics and aliens.

• Wraith: The Oblivion (1994) by White Wolf, Inc., in which the world of the dead is run by the Hierarchy, a government with little compassion which seeks to enslave wraiths rather than help them "move on". Souls who do not agree with the Hierarchy and are caught are literally forged into money and goods.
• Command and Conquer
• Tropico 4-Modern Times'expasion
• End of Nations
• Anno 2070