Despite how many video games there are aboutsurvival, there aren’t many around that delve into characters dealing with a number of natural disasters. Even though it’s a fairly simple concept, only a handful of games have attempted to bridge the gap and provide an experience that truly encapsulates how hopeless and terrifying a situation like that can get.
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From earthquakes to incomprehensible man-made horrors, when everything goes wrong there’s nothing you’re able to do but horde resources and find other people to socialize with and rely on. Even though some video games aren’t exactly hyper-realistic, the charm’s still there when they attempt to deliver an overwhelmingly bleak scenario with barely any odds of survival in a crumbling hostile environment.
9Life Is Strange
AlthoughLife is Strangedoesn’t necessarily revolve around dealing with or the aftermath of a natural disaster, it still heavily features one by the end of the story. All of the events and choices you make lead up to this impending storm, and you’re tasked with making sure it stops before your hometown gets swept away.
Life Is Strange is more of a visual novel with choices rather than a fully-fledged video game, there’s no shooting or platforming involved. All you get is a good narrative and events you get to prevent using time travel.
8Exit
As a master escape artist, it’s your job to make sure you use your skills to help all sorts of people escape buildings that were dealt a bad hand by nature. The video game features all sorts of natural disasters befalling innocent civilians of all kinds, and it’s your job to make sure they all escape.
With complex puzzles, simple controls, and fairly nerve-wracking scenarios, Exit will keep you engaged for days on end as you try to figure out the solution to each unique problem you’re bound to encounter.
7Disaster: Day Of Crisis
As if weathering natural disasters wasn’t bad enough, Disaster: Day Of Crisis throws an orchestrated terrorism plot your way without any warning. You get to shoot your way through at some points, but for the most part, the gameplay centers around having you struggle to survive everything all at once.
The game is a mish-mash of all sorts of interesting concepts, but it feels like an overwhelming barrage of wackiness that’s actually fairly entertaining. Everything feels unpredictable, and that’s what makes the gameplay that much more enjoyable. It’s not selling you a message, it’s just fun.
6Metro 2023
This stealth-heavydebut to the franchise features a story where you’re dealing with the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust. You get to travel through devastated terrain and fend off mutated beings while juggling your way around complex political systems.
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Metro is an FPS video game that features tight controls, innovative game mechanics, andgod-tier stealth missionsthat aged fairly well. The map you get to explore is detailed and surprisingly engrossing with its visuals.
5Swan Song
Anadult visual novelthat revolves around surviving a devastating earthquake with a bunch of other survivors, Swan Song features some captivating art and a stellar narrative that will keep you engaged. Despite the overall emphasis on its ecchi sequences, the story still keeps you on your toes with complex decision-making.
Since it’s narrative-heavy, there’s enough dialogue here to keep you entertained for hours. The game excels at making you relate with the characters you interact with and offers choices that have an impact on your sense of morality. It offers a world of complex characters that don’t fit any conventional molds.
4Disaster Report
A not so complex survival adventure game series that usually features a cast of confusing characters that barely know how to survive. This collection of puzzles and random go-fetch missions video game features all sorts of random events for you to survive through and overcome.
The first game in the series features some drab dialogue and clunky controls, but also a unique game mechanic that revolves around staying hydrated, whilst the later sequels take things up a notch and lets you create your own custom character with a morality point system instead of the route Irem (the previous developers) took.
3City Shrouded In Shadow
Although you’re not dealing with your run-of-the-mill earthquakes or tsunamis, City Shrouded In Shadow thrusts you smack-dab in the middle of a city getting destroyed by a giant Kaiju. Your goal is to explore and survive Godzilla’s attack as you traverse through a devastated landscape.
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The video game features witty dialogue, decent controls that don’t feel clunky, and a barrage of destruction that you have to avoid as you run away from monsters and humans alike. You get to customize your own character, and you also get to choose what you do without your actions having any consequences, for the most part. It doesn’t shy away from throwing a few surprises at you every now and then either.
2The Long Dark
Now that you’re stuck in a frozen wasteland reeling over the aftermath of a new ice age, it’s time to leave your hut and explore your surroundings since there’s no electricity to keep you warm and your resources are slowly dwindling away.
The Long Darkis a survival game that makes you feel like you’re a part of the world, it’s immersive enough to have you envision yourself in your protagonist’s shoes. Revel in the scenery, thrive off the land, hunt, and scavenge for survival while taking advantage of the easy control scheme
1Raw Danger!
With some puzzles, light platforming, and complex narratives, Raw Danger is the perfect tsunami simulator you’ve probably never heard of. This video game delves into some complex subject matter and features a unique health mechanic that has you contemplating how to keep yourself warm and dry all the time.
Keep an inventory, socialize with other survivors, and eat to stay warm as you navigate through some of the worst floods to ever hit an island nation. Accompanied by captivating music, the dated graphics will slowly grow on you.
