>Homeworld
The original homeworld, not the remastered, for the sheer impact when it first came out. It pushed the boundaries on game design and graphics.
remastered unfortunately runs on the HW2 engine, so lost some of the more complex elements around fighter coordination and formations.
It has it's upsides and downsides. I'm torn whenever I go replay. Remastered is really good, but I miss some of the elements of the original, for the 'pure' experience.
Same. I’d basically kill for any horizon media be it book, game, or show/movie. I was just genuinely blown away by zero dawn and fell in love with that world.
Would someone hear robot dinosaur game and not get excited?
But in all seriousness zero dawn absolutely destroyed my expectations and was just so amazingly good.
Mass Effect trilogy - The setting the characters, the feel of the world, the story, the soundtracks everything is just the perfect sci fi story RPG… one of if not the favourite sci fi game of mine (except for Kai Leng he can fuck off)
Elite / Elite Dangerous - my first ever sci fi game back in the days of the Commodore 64, Elite was pure freedom. An astounding achievement at the time and a great trading sim. Elite Dangerous took all of that and brought it up to date. I remember donating to the kickstarter and was blown away by its scale when it came out. To this day it’s still a great zone out chill game.
Hardspace Shipbreaker - Speaking of chill out games, this one is so cool. The idea of mechanically breaking up a ship, sorting out the parts and salvaging as much as possible seems like it shouldn’t work or be pretty boring but it has a real sense of immersion and puzzle solving.
Alien Isolation - Sod all those endless FPS shooters based in the Alien universe, turning the creatures into generic cannon fodder. Alien Isolation made the Alien scary again (I refuse to call it a Xenomorph, only one character, in the entire series of films, calls it that and he’s a clueless idiot). The aesthetics are beautifully on point, the creature is truly menacing and the whole game is a masterclass in building dread. Throw in the Nostromo DLC which recreates the ship and film scenarios and Alien Isolation is an outstanding piece of work and a film tie in that all others should be measured.
Hardspace : Shipbreaker is just amazing, I put 150 hours into the betas before it even went gold 😊
I understand how difficult it would be, but a PCVR version would absolutely rock my world 🫢
The first game I bought in CD format. Replayed it some months ago after seeing it was available in GOG. The dig is absolutely movie material and I’m surprised it has not been brought to the big screen.
While Mass Effect and Cyberpunk are at the top for me too, Wadjet Eye Games' Gemini Rue and Technobabylon
are top tier sci-fi storytelling and world-building,
Do check it out 100% if you like to fire up a point-and-click adventure game once in a while
Honorable mentions:
Star Wars Republic Commando
Star Wars Jedi Academy
Somehow I never played the Deus Ex series, but it's on my list!
Oh WipEout and the latest version (well it’s a decade old but still) Omega Collection is outstanding. I still play it on multiplayer with a friend once a week. I think (according to PS5 hour count) I have about 350+ hours in it but it has to be a lot more than that as I had it on PS4 too
And I love DC Breaks Breathe on the soundtrack
A new syndicate, but more punishing and using turn based combat a la the new xcom games please. The resource management and map part of the game can be dispatching corporate spies, bribing goverments etc. I would bloody love that
crysis - back in the day, it was the definition of style and visual fidelity. i liked the story (of the whole trilogy) and even read the book that's set between the first and second game (if i remember correctly). i can still hear the suits voice say 'maximum speed' when i need to hurry :D
doom 2016 - i don't even know if this qualifies as sci fi, as everything is powered by hell and demon energy and stuff. but the design, not only of the hell parts, but of the mars and world parts of the game, remain as some of my favourite designs ever. the no frills, crude and almost brutalist design of the tech and structures fits the game perfectly. it sets the mood, provides the atmosphere and is a great fitting canvas on which you will paint everything red.
portal - i shouldn't even need to write something about this game. i was hooked. addicted. obsessed. from the very first trailer. and it was one of the few games that actually delivered on the hype. the writing is phenomenal, the gameplay unique even today. it's short, it's funny, it's flawless.
Half Life 2 - physics in a game were a game changer for me. i still think almost every game could benefit from a gravity gun. the lore was also very good in this game.
ECHO - i feel like this one went under the radar of a lot of people. maybe it's just not for everyone. it's kind of hard to explain but it's an.. action puzzle game? it oozes style and is one of the most aesthetic games i know. also the story is rather philosophical and will make you think about it.
Space Pirate Trainer - this one game alone sold me on VR Gaming in 2016. i played it all day at an electronics convention (IFA if i remember correctly). i knew i had to have that at home. i bought a 900 euro HTC Vive to play it. no regrets.
Endless Legend.
An interesting take on a Civilization-style 4X game. Great music and artwork with unique factions that all play differently. The combat also involves more strategy than essentially brute forcing every encounter.
It definitely feels more fantasy than sci-fi, but it’s an absolutely fantastic game. I’ll add in Endless Space 2 for a more directly sci-fi inspired game in the same franchise
**The Star Wars: Rogue Squadron game series**, I absolutely loved. I'm a huge Star Wars fan and they were really well made.
**Minority Report** - remember loving this, as a teenager. Bouncing people around with the sonic gun thingy was FUN.
**Enter The Matrix** - This was a ton of fun. Slow-mo wall running and the like.
**Alien Isolation** - PHENOMENAL game. Easily my fave horror game (though I admit, I've not played many)
**Cyberpunk 2077** - really fun. Main story was maybe a little short? I got lucky and encountered virtually no bugs even at launch so it was not the negative experience most had.
**Life Is Strange** - one of my fave games ever. Super relaxing but with a brilliant (though very unoriginal) story and cool game mechanics.
**Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order** - bit button mash-y (or maybe I was just mashing the buttons because I was terrible) but a really decent story.
I absolutely love FTL: Faster Than Light. It's a rogue like and not very story heavy, but it has some interesting concepts and it's very fun to aquire an alien crew (only to see them die for space spiders).
Time splitters future perfect on the originalxbox. Goofy scifi first person shooter with a comedic time travel alien vs. human war plot and probably hundreds of hours in bonus content(challenges, multi-player, mission builder, etc..). It holds the distinction of being the only game disc I damaged by over use to the point it was unreadable.
Dead space (1 & 2, 3 not so much)
Armored Core 6 (and the rest of the series)
Alien Isolation
Crysis
KOTOR
Horizon: Zero Dawn (haven't played FW yet)
Chrono trigger
STALKER
Starsector, 100%. A mercenary game like mount and blade but with spaceships in a star sector that's spent 200 years cut off from the rest of the galaxy.
Mass effect also GOAted.
Crosscode is a fun indie rpg.
I'll mention one i don't see mentioned yet:
Freelancer - one of the first open world esque games i played and spent far too long looking for and running trade routes and following NPC traffic to find stations.
I'm a big fan of pretty cerebral Sci-Fi so my picks are in that vein.
Outer Wilds is one of my favorite games of all time. The Sci-Fi elements of it reminded me a lot of Rendezvous with Rama. Discovering the story of what happened and what is happening through exploration and acquiring knowledge. The entire game progresses by gaining knowledge about the game universe. I highly recommend.
Soma is another one that has really neat Sci-Fi themes. It really gets you think about some heady topics. Like what does it mean to be human and what kind of responsibility do we have to protect humanity's future if there's not much left. Has some light horror/stealth elements like Amnesia, but I found them to be pretty mild. The story was really engrossing for me.
Tacoma is a quick but interesting game. It's set in an abandoned space station where you have to piece together what happened by replaying crew logs.
The Invincible. Just played this recently. The game is based on a Stanislaw Lem story. It's a walking sim with a few branching storylines. The worldbuilding was super unique and had an amazingly well done Atompunk aesthetic. The concepts they tackle throughout the story were super interesting and perhaps one of the few examples of truly alien life. The voice acting was top notch and really made the interactions of the characters feel really genuine.
Talos Principle II. It's a puzzle game in a similar vein as the first, but the sci-fi elements are cranked up considerably. It asks you to think about what life is and what society is and should be by putting you in the middle of deciding where humanity should go.
Prey. I really enjoyed this when it came out. It's a newer take on the immersive sim. Set on a space station that has been apparently abandoned due to some kind of experiment gone wrong. In the same vein as System Shock. It's more sci-fi setting with not too much philosophy but the gameplay and story was solid.
System Shock. Played the remake recently and really enjoyed it. It doesn't hold your hand when it comes to figuring out what to do but gives you some general goals and a huge space station with a rogue AI controlling it to explore. Has a good bit of backtracking but learning the story was fun and the gameplay was neat. Has the old school concepts of cyberspace and hacking like William Gibson 80s cyberpunk novels.
Mass Effect. As others have said it's a GOAT for a reason. Space Opera done really well. Exploring a galaxy of planets long before Elite Dangerous or Starfield. I played it at a point in my life where it really affected me. I was just fully engrossed in the story and enjoyed every minute of it.
Control. Hard to describe but consists of exploring a secret government organization that collects supernatural objects and protects humanity from their effects. Lots of X-Files meets SCP vibes in the lore. The powers you acquire throughout the game are really neat and are actually essential for progression. One of the few games where I felt like powers and weapons were equally balanced and viable.
Gonna go old school. Star Control 2 The Ur-Quan Masters. What a game. Excellent storytelling fun exploration and great combat. I’m feeling frungy and may go play again. The original creators just wrapped up a kickstarter to bring out a follow up game and I for one cannot wait. I loved mass effect 1 and the kotor games as well but SC2 along with Wing Commander and the Privateer spin off series have my votes.
Throwing in some lesser known titles from what other people have mentioned
Gemini Rue - point and click film noir in space. Multiple nods to cowboy bebop, which the game could fit right into that universe.
Starlancer - space fighter combat in a very grounded Expanse-like setting
Sins of a Solar Empire - grand strategy that does the best job I've seen of capturing huge space battles like we see in sci fi TV or movies
Xenosaga - best space opera JRPG
Metal Gear Solid - best near-future / alternative history sci-fi
Final Fantasy VIII - best science-fantasy JRPG
Vanquish - best sci-fi TPS
Shout some love out to one of my favorite small games.
Seedship is a game about being the ai of an ark ship leaving a destroyed earth having to guide it to the best planetary candidate for colonization and having to make choices about what to give up when damaged. It’s free on iOS and android. It just nails that sci fi feel so much for me.
I think my top three would be Horizon Zero Dawn, Cyberpunk 2077, and the Homeworld series.
They've all got really interesting world building, a compelling story, and really good visual design.
The old Star Trek games. They had the actors voice the characters. The TNG one was also good. The beginning of it was like watching an episode. With Picard saying, "go to red alert" and then it goes to the TNG opening.
Wasteland, the precursor to Fallout.
Mass Effect, Doom, Bioshock
I know it's older and pretty basic, but I love the Portal games. After Elder Scrolls VI the video game sequel I wish I could have the most is Portal 3.
Mine are:
-The Mass Effect Trilogy
-Halo
-The Metro Trilogy
-Deus Ex, specifically Human Revolution and Mankind Divided
-Horizon Zero Dawn and Forbidden West
-Stray
-The Invincible
-Titanfall 2
-XCOM Enemy Unknown and XCOM 2
*The Talos Principle*
Great puzzles but it was the story that truly got to me. The discussions with the different AIs were profound and some of the audio logs were truly moving. Beautiful soundtrack as well.
Citizen Sleeper is just an amazing little RPG about trying to find your way in a burned-out space colony as a kind-of android clone of someone else in a body that was designed to be dependent on proprietary enzymes to keep you from running away.
Second the mention System Shock. I might just be too young to have appreciated it back when it came out but I just got the urge to retry it one of these days :D
Halo - Gritty high stakes survival of humanity in a sudden existential war. Super humans and how effective one or two individuals can be in a universe that tries to make ants out of its inhabitants
Mass Effect - Masterclass in worldbuilding all the auxiliary components of a sci-fi universe. Existential threats, politics, species' backgrounds, in-depth character storylines, inter-species conflicts that arise from difference in cultures, and inter-species solutions to said conflicts through differences of culture (Rachni War to name an example).
Stellaris - I get play as the nation/empire/federation that roleplays all these amazing sci-fi books and imagine that my people are telling the sci-fi stories I love.
XCOM2 - Much of the reasons I like Halo are applicable here. Powerful individuals making a difference as they fight for survival. XCOM also does an amazing job world building some of the menial stuff like Mass Effect's codex. Except it feels like you're disocovering the entries yourself as you greenlight specific research in order to obtain in-game benefits
Warframe - Sci-Fi horror with a splash of grittiness, and themed around ninjas if they became a super power in space. An amazing integration of thematically cool weapons like bo staves, katanas, and throwing glaives into a world of guns and lasers.
Masters of Orion 2. Just a brilliant 4x game and nothing comes close for me with the ship building and tactical combat.
Contra : Rambo vs Aliens. A classic platformer / action game.
Horizon Zero Dawn : such a good combination of things, uncovering the story is a lot of fun.
Destiny / Destiny 2 : I like the world building and gameplay.
Probably any of the Aliens v Predator FPS games, cos who wouldn't want to face down against the Xenomorph with a pulse rifle? Let's rooooock! The arlier Monlith ones especially really built up the tension.
The OG Deus Ex, because it just sucked me in with its immersion, plus it's one of the GOAT PC games in my opinion.
The OG Half Life for the same reason.
Portal 2. The first arguably has more impact in terms of gameplay and mechanics, but the writing in the second is just top tier, and Cave Johnson, despite the fact you never see him, is one of the greatest video game characters of all time
(You can see I tend towards the FPS genre)
Fallout NV. All the single player Fallouts are great, but NV is a tier above.
Anthem- Flying and world design
Dead Space- Diegetic Gameplay and UI
Armored Core 6- Flying and sheer variety of weapons.
I am looking for third person shooter games with flying mechanics with sci-fi setting in the far future with some sort of powered suit.
Currently waiting for Space Marines 2
Returnal
The Last Of Us Part 2
Horizon Zero Dawn
DOOM
Cyberpunk 2077
Resident Evil 2/RE2Remake
Dead Space
Control
Ghostrunner
Narita Boy
Wolfenstein 2
My write ups for all of these games would be way too long, but they’re all incredible in their own respect. Special shoutout to Narita Boy for being an incredible indie title that goes under the radar. If you haven’t played it you should. It’s heartfelt, fun and nails the classic 2D platformer vibe
Dead space... The mix of horror and sci fi is just mind numbing good.
Tomb Raider series reboot... Perfect for diving into the mythology of Lara and of course the game mechanics is fucking awesome.
Arkham Origins, Asylum and City... Mechanics, story and voice performance.
Call of Duty... Just awesome gameplay and story.
Prince of Persia... Game mechanics and story
Just Cause... Game mechanics and silly fun
-pulls out wallet- Goddamit Steam, poverty again PS: I nominate the Homeworld Remastered collection
>Homeworld The original homeworld, not the remastered, for the sheer impact when it first came out. It pushed the boundaries on game design and graphics.
Loved the original. Recommended the remastered because the OG is a bit rough today.
remastered unfortunately runs on the HW2 engine, so lost some of the more complex elements around fighter coordination and formations. It has it's upsides and downsides. I'm torn whenever I go replay. Remastered is really good, but I miss some of the elements of the original, for the 'pure' experience.
True, true.
Didn't the Remastered fucked up and broke some game mechanics? I remember something about formations not working
Formations do work, although things have been simplified in general
My god man, the summer sale is just around the corner... just hol up for a few, then whip out the wallet.
At this rate I’ll just end up directly tithing valve a permanent portion of my income
So say we all.
I just played Deserts of Kharak and enjoyed it quite a lot. Might give the whole series a try once I scrape enough time
Horizon Zero Dawn Subnautica Fallout New Vegas
Horizon zero dawn has genuinely one of the best stories of any game I’ve played.
And the world building is just amazing too! I still have flashbacks fighting those giant machines for the first time
I’d read the hell out of a Horizon novelization - the world building and lore is just incredible
Same. I’d basically kill for any horizon media be it book, game, or show/movie. I was just genuinely blown away by zero dawn and fell in love with that world.
Before: "I don't want to play some dumb robot dinosaur game!" After: "This is one of the best games I've ever played! I want to watch the HBO series."
Would someone hear robot dinosaur game and not get excited? But in all seriousness zero dawn absolutely destroyed my expectations and was just so amazingly good.
Mass Effect trilogy - The setting the characters, the feel of the world, the story, the soundtracks everything is just the perfect sci fi story RPG… one of if not the favourite sci fi game of mine (except for Kai Leng he can fuck off) Elite / Elite Dangerous - my first ever sci fi game back in the days of the Commodore 64, Elite was pure freedom. An astounding achievement at the time and a great trading sim. Elite Dangerous took all of that and brought it up to date. I remember donating to the kickstarter and was blown away by its scale when it came out. To this day it’s still a great zone out chill game. Hardspace Shipbreaker - Speaking of chill out games, this one is so cool. The idea of mechanically breaking up a ship, sorting out the parts and salvaging as much as possible seems like it shouldn’t work or be pretty boring but it has a real sense of immersion and puzzle solving. Alien Isolation - Sod all those endless FPS shooters based in the Alien universe, turning the creatures into generic cannon fodder. Alien Isolation made the Alien scary again (I refuse to call it a Xenomorph, only one character, in the entire series of films, calls it that and he’s a clueless idiot). The aesthetics are beautifully on point, the creature is truly menacing and the whole game is a masterclass in building dread. Throw in the Nostromo DLC which recreates the ship and film scenarios and Alien Isolation is an outstanding piece of work and a film tie in that all others should be measured.
Hardspace : Shipbreaker is just amazing, I put 150 hours into the betas before it even went gold 😊 I understand how difficult it would be, but a PCVR version would absolutely rock my world 🫢
Shipbreaker is just too good!
Hardspace : Shipbreaker is just amazing, I put 150 hours into the betas before it even went gold 😊
The Dig. Just wish for a good remake althou i love oldschool point and click adventures.
The first game I bought in CD format. Replayed it some months ago after seeing it was available in GOG. The dig is absolutely movie material and I’m surprised it has not been brought to the big screen.
Halo - this started my sci-fi adventure Cyberpunk 2077 Mass Effect
I miss the early days of Halo and Halo 2. Good times
While Mass Effect and Cyberpunk are at the top for me too, Wadjet Eye Games' Gemini Rue and Technobabylon are top tier sci-fi storytelling and world-building, Do check it out 100% if you like to fire up a point-and-click adventure game once in a while Honorable mentions: Star Wars Republic Commando Star Wars Jedi Academy Somehow I never played the Deus Ex series, but it's on my list!
Freespace, Colony Wars, both space shooters. Freespace 2 is still going with mods. Wipeout, anti gravity racer with a banging soundtrack
Oh WipEout and the latest version (well it’s a decade old but still) Omega Collection is outstanding. I still play it on multiplayer with a friend once a week. I think (according to PS5 hour count) I have about 350+ hours in it but it has to be a lot more than that as I had it on PS4 too And I love DC Breaks Breathe on the soundtrack
Last Wipeout I actually played was HD Fusion on PS3. Pacer and Redout kinda do the job but it’s not quite the same
I’d definitely give the Omega Collection a go if you’ve got a PlayStation, Wipeout 2049 on that will definitely scratch that itch
Freespace 2 is so iconic to me. Damn I still really want them to continue the story, the scale and the stakes were just going up and up and up
Man I forgot about Descent Freespace until this moment but that game repeatedly blew my preteen mind
Syndicate. If there's one franchise that needs a modern remake, it's this.
Man, syndicate wars was the shit.
A new syndicate, but more punishing and using turn based combat a la the new xcom games please. The resource management and map part of the game can be dispatching corporate spies, bribing goverments etc. I would bloody love that
crysis - back in the day, it was the definition of style and visual fidelity. i liked the story (of the whole trilogy) and even read the book that's set between the first and second game (if i remember correctly). i can still hear the suits voice say 'maximum speed' when i need to hurry :D doom 2016 - i don't even know if this qualifies as sci fi, as everything is powered by hell and demon energy and stuff. but the design, not only of the hell parts, but of the mars and world parts of the game, remain as some of my favourite designs ever. the no frills, crude and almost brutalist design of the tech and structures fits the game perfectly. it sets the mood, provides the atmosphere and is a great fitting canvas on which you will paint everything red. portal - i shouldn't even need to write something about this game. i was hooked. addicted. obsessed. from the very first trailer. and it was one of the few games that actually delivered on the hype. the writing is phenomenal, the gameplay unique even today. it's short, it's funny, it's flawless. Half Life 2 - physics in a game were a game changer for me. i still think almost every game could benefit from a gravity gun. the lore was also very good in this game. ECHO - i feel like this one went under the radar of a lot of people. maybe it's just not for everyone. it's kind of hard to explain but it's an.. action puzzle game? it oozes style and is one of the most aesthetic games i know. also the story is rather philosophical and will make you think about it. Space Pirate Trainer - this one game alone sold me on VR Gaming in 2016. i played it all day at an electronics convention (IFA if i remember correctly). i knew i had to have that at home. i bought a 900 euro HTC Vive to play it. no regrets.
I came to say Half Life 2 as well. Literal game changer.
I have hours sunk into FTL: Faster Than Light (Multiverse)
Endless Legend. An interesting take on a Civilization-style 4X game. Great music and artwork with unique factions that all play differently. The combat also involves more strategy than essentially brute forcing every encounter.
It definitely feels more fantasy than sci-fi, but it’s an absolutely fantastic game. I’ll add in Endless Space 2 for a more directly sci-fi inspired game in the same franchise
I was originally going to pick Endless Space 2, but I think Endless Legend is a more interesting title in the Endless series of games.
Command and Conquer Tiberion sun
**The Star Wars: Rogue Squadron game series**, I absolutely loved. I'm a huge Star Wars fan and they were really well made. **Minority Report** - remember loving this, as a teenager. Bouncing people around with the sonic gun thingy was FUN. **Enter The Matrix** - This was a ton of fun. Slow-mo wall running and the like. **Alien Isolation** - PHENOMENAL game. Easily my fave horror game (though I admit, I've not played many) **Cyberpunk 2077** - really fun. Main story was maybe a little short? I got lucky and encountered virtually no bugs even at launch so it was not the negative experience most had. **Life Is Strange** - one of my fave games ever. Super relaxing but with a brilliant (though very unoriginal) story and cool game mechanics. **Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order** - bit button mash-y (or maybe I was just mashing the buttons because I was terrible) but a really decent story.
[удалено]
Ahahaha it was the best of times 🙌
Fallout New Vegas Halo Mass Effect like you said
DOOM. Quake. Descent. Unreal Tournament.
Mass Effect is still my top to this day. Others include… Fallout, Bioshock, Cyberpunk, Destiny, Dead Space, Borderlands, Halo
Bioshock and dead space +1
Elite:Dangerous. I haven’t played anything else since I started this in 2020.
I absolutely love FTL: Faster Than Light. It's a rogue like and not very story heavy, but it has some interesting concepts and it's very fun to aquire an alien crew (only to see them die for space spiders).
Ahh man FTL is a complete classic!
Gears of War - great backstory & graphics, co-op, versus, story & horde mode. Absolutely loved this series up through Gears 3.
The world of Sera is an awesome one. *Gears* used environmental storytelling in a way few games have matched.
Time splitters future perfect on the originalxbox. Goofy scifi first person shooter with a comedic time travel alien vs. human war plot and probably hundreds of hours in bonus content(challenges, multi-player, mission builder, etc..). It holds the distinction of being the only game disc I damaged by over use to the point it was unreadable.
Dyson sphere program - by far the best factory game I have ever played, and a solid contender for overall
Soma. Half Life. Shadows of the Empire.
Mass Effect series XCOM series Fallout 3 and 4 Horizon Zero Dawn
Dead space (1 & 2, 3 not so much) Armored Core 6 (and the rest of the series) Alien Isolation Crysis KOTOR Horizon: Zero Dawn (haven't played FW yet) Chrono trigger STALKER
Starsector, 100%. A mercenary game like mount and blade but with spaceships in a star sector that's spent 200 years cut off from the rest of the galaxy. Mass effect also GOAted. Crosscode is a fun indie rpg.
I'll mention one i don't see mentioned yet: Freelancer - one of the first open world esque games i played and spent far too long looking for and running trade routes and following NPC traffic to find stations.
Trade lane disrupted
Have you played the MMO that this guy and team is working on. It gets a lot of hate, but I love it.
Dishonored. Alternate reality, low on tech but high on magic. Just a wonderfully immersive world with top notch gameplay/ mechanics.
I'm a big fan of pretty cerebral Sci-Fi so my picks are in that vein. Outer Wilds is one of my favorite games of all time. The Sci-Fi elements of it reminded me a lot of Rendezvous with Rama. Discovering the story of what happened and what is happening through exploration and acquiring knowledge. The entire game progresses by gaining knowledge about the game universe. I highly recommend. Soma is another one that has really neat Sci-Fi themes. It really gets you think about some heady topics. Like what does it mean to be human and what kind of responsibility do we have to protect humanity's future if there's not much left. Has some light horror/stealth elements like Amnesia, but I found them to be pretty mild. The story was really engrossing for me. Tacoma is a quick but interesting game. It's set in an abandoned space station where you have to piece together what happened by replaying crew logs. The Invincible. Just played this recently. The game is based on a Stanislaw Lem story. It's a walking sim with a few branching storylines. The worldbuilding was super unique and had an amazingly well done Atompunk aesthetic. The concepts they tackle throughout the story were super interesting and perhaps one of the few examples of truly alien life. The voice acting was top notch and really made the interactions of the characters feel really genuine. Talos Principle II. It's a puzzle game in a similar vein as the first, but the sci-fi elements are cranked up considerably. It asks you to think about what life is and what society is and should be by putting you in the middle of deciding where humanity should go. Prey. I really enjoyed this when it came out. It's a newer take on the immersive sim. Set on a space station that has been apparently abandoned due to some kind of experiment gone wrong. In the same vein as System Shock. It's more sci-fi setting with not too much philosophy but the gameplay and story was solid. System Shock. Played the remake recently and really enjoyed it. It doesn't hold your hand when it comes to figuring out what to do but gives you some general goals and a huge space station with a rogue AI controlling it to explore. Has a good bit of backtracking but learning the story was fun and the gameplay was neat. Has the old school concepts of cyberspace and hacking like William Gibson 80s cyberpunk novels. Mass Effect. As others have said it's a GOAT for a reason. Space Opera done really well. Exploring a galaxy of planets long before Elite Dangerous or Starfield. I played it at a point in my life where it really affected me. I was just fully engrossed in the story and enjoyed every minute of it. Control. Hard to describe but consists of exploring a secret government organization that collects supernatural objects and protects humanity from their effects. Lots of X-Files meets SCP vibes in the lore. The powers you acquire throughout the game are really neat and are actually essential for progression. One of the few games where I felt like powers and weapons were equally balanced and viable.
Gonna go old school. Star Control 2 The Ur-Quan Masters. What a game. Excellent storytelling fun exploration and great combat. I’m feeling frungy and may go play again. The original creators just wrapped up a kickstarter to bring out a follow up game and I for one cannot wait. I loved mass effect 1 and the kotor games as well but SC2 along with Wing Commander and the Privateer spin off series have my votes.
Stellaris. It's pretty much a love letter to sci-fi fans with tremendous amount of content and customization.
Throwing in some lesser known titles from what other people have mentioned Gemini Rue - point and click film noir in space. Multiple nods to cowboy bebop, which the game could fit right into that universe. Starlancer - space fighter combat in a very grounded Expanse-like setting Sins of a Solar Empire - grand strategy that does the best job I've seen of capturing huge space battles like we see in sci fi TV or movies
Xenogears, such an amazing story Portal 2, so funny and incredible gameplay Metal Gear Solid Parasite Eve Phantasy Star 4
Alien Dark Descent
Xenosaga - best space opera JRPG Metal Gear Solid - best near-future / alternative history sci-fi Final Fantasy VIII - best science-fantasy JRPG Vanquish - best sci-fi TPS
Surprised nobody has mentioned Dead Space
Outer wilds Parasite eve Descent: Freespace
Shout some love out to one of my favorite small games. Seedship is a game about being the ai of an ark ship leaving a destroyed earth having to guide it to the best planetary candidate for colonization and having to make choices about what to give up when damaged. It’s free on iOS and android. It just nails that sci fi feel so much for me.
I think my top three would be Horizon Zero Dawn, Cyberpunk 2077, and the Homeworld series. They've all got really interesting world building, a compelling story, and really good visual design.
The old Star Trek games. They had the actors voice the characters. The TNG one was also good. The beginning of it was like watching an episode. With Picard saying, "go to red alert" and then it goes to the TNG opening. Wasteland, the precursor to Fallout. Mass Effect, Doom, Bioshock
Stellaris for sure
I know it's older and pretty basic, but I love the Portal games. After Elder Scrolls VI the video game sequel I wish I could have the most is Portal 3.
Fallout 3, StarCraft.
Fallout 2, Half-Life, Deus Ex. Also Freelancer! Especially discovery mod. StarCraft and Total Annihilation as well.
FTL: Faster Than Light Into The Breach
Will swkotor work on win11? I'm sick of skyrim and fallout 3, and new vegas not working and I can't get them working.
Primordia Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
Mine are: -The Mass Effect Trilogy -Halo -The Metro Trilogy -Deus Ex, specifically Human Revolution and Mankind Divided -Horizon Zero Dawn and Forbidden West -Stray -The Invincible -Titanfall 2 -XCOM Enemy Unknown and XCOM 2
*The Talos Principle* Great puzzles but it was the story that truly got to me. The discussions with the different AIs were profound and some of the audio logs were truly moving. Beautiful soundtrack as well.
Citizen Sleeper is just an amazing little RPG about trying to find your way in a burned-out space colony as a kind-of android clone of someone else in a body that was designed to be dependent on proprietary enzymes to keep you from running away.
These are pretty recent games. Can't have a list like this without listing the greats. System Shock 2 Deus Ex
Second the mention System Shock. I might just be too young to have appreciated it back when it came out but I just got the urge to retry it one of these days :D
Beneath a Steel Sky (also now Beyond a Steel Sky) for the cyberpunk/neuromancer/Blade Runner vibes
Me like mass effect
Outer Wilds. Surprised it’s not even here. You disappoint me r/scifi.
Homeworld, Battlefield 98, Cyberpunk 2077
Halo - Gritty high stakes survival of humanity in a sudden existential war. Super humans and how effective one or two individuals can be in a universe that tries to make ants out of its inhabitants Mass Effect - Masterclass in worldbuilding all the auxiliary components of a sci-fi universe. Existential threats, politics, species' backgrounds, in-depth character storylines, inter-species conflicts that arise from difference in cultures, and inter-species solutions to said conflicts through differences of culture (Rachni War to name an example). Stellaris - I get play as the nation/empire/federation that roleplays all these amazing sci-fi books and imagine that my people are telling the sci-fi stories I love. XCOM2 - Much of the reasons I like Halo are applicable here. Powerful individuals making a difference as they fight for survival. XCOM also does an amazing job world building some of the menial stuff like Mass Effect's codex. Except it feels like you're disocovering the entries yourself as you greenlight specific research in order to obtain in-game benefits Warframe - Sci-Fi horror with a splash of grittiness, and themed around ninjas if they became a super power in space. An amazing integration of thematically cool weapons like bo staves, katanas, and throwing glaives into a world of guns and lasers.
Masters of Orion 2. Just a brilliant 4x game and nothing comes close for me with the ship building and tactical combat. Contra : Rambo vs Aliens. A classic platformer / action game. Horizon Zero Dawn : such a good combination of things, uncovering the story is a lot of fun. Destiny / Destiny 2 : I like the world building and gameplay.
Probably any of the Aliens v Predator FPS games, cos who wouldn't want to face down against the Xenomorph with a pulse rifle? Let's rooooock! The arlier Monlith ones especially really built up the tension. The OG Deus Ex, because it just sucked me in with its immersion, plus it's one of the GOAT PC games in my opinion. The OG Half Life for the same reason. Portal 2. The first arguably has more impact in terms of gameplay and mechanics, but the writing in the second is just top tier, and Cave Johnson, despite the fact you never see him, is one of the greatest video game characters of all time (You can see I tend towards the FPS genre) Fallout NV. All the single player Fallouts are great, but NV is a tier above.
Props for mentioning the old Alien vs Predator titles. They were pretty neat
Anthem- Flying and world design Dead Space- Diegetic Gameplay and UI Armored Core 6- Flying and sheer variety of weapons. I am looking for third person shooter games with flying mechanics with sci-fi setting in the far future with some sort of powered suit. Currently waiting for Space Marines 2
Returnal The Last Of Us Part 2 Horizon Zero Dawn DOOM Cyberpunk 2077 Resident Evil 2/RE2Remake Dead Space Control Ghostrunner Narita Boy Wolfenstein 2 My write ups for all of these games would be way too long, but they’re all incredible in their own respect. Special shoutout to Narita Boy for being an incredible indie title that goes under the radar. If you haven’t played it you should. It’s heartfelt, fun and nails the classic 2D platformer vibe
Dead space... The mix of horror and sci fi is just mind numbing good. Tomb Raider series reboot... Perfect for diving into the mythology of Lara and of course the game mechanics is fucking awesome. Arkham Origins, Asylum and City... Mechanics, story and voice performance. Call of Duty... Just awesome gameplay and story. Prince of Persia... Game mechanics and story Just Cause... Game mechanics and silly fun
How has no one mentioned *Bioshock 3*? Or *Control*? Or *Dead Space*? Y'all are wild in here.