Science fiction was invented in 1818 with the publication of Mary Shelley’s novelFrankenstein. In the two hundred years since, it’s spun off countless subgenres and become an indelible part of modern culture. The possibilities offered by technology, and the associated dangers, make for powerful, compelling stories.
While many games try to keep up with current trends and aesthetics, sometimes you can’t beat the look established in a bygone era. Some retro sci-fi nailed their themes so perfectly that they became a genre all their own. These games in particular do a great job of bringing back an old sci-fi look.
8Wolfenstein Series
Weird War 2 Retrofuturism
If you need a truly detestable villain, it’s hard to find an entity worse than theThird Reich. InWolfenstein, players have been stopping Nazi schemes to use occult rituals and weird science for decades. The most recent incarnation of the series drops you into a global resistance movement in the aftermath of an alternate Second World War where the Axis won.
Known for its over-the-top action and weird science, Wolfenstein portrays cybernetic and bio-enhanced enemies andindiscriminate mid-20th-century experimentation. You’ll have access to lasers and other gadgets, but expect to be outgunned at every turn in this series.
7Blade Runner
Tech-Noir
Based on the 1968 Phillip K. Dick novelDo Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?,Blade Runnerchallenged audiences to consider what it means to be a person when it hit theaters in 1982. The 1997 video game adaptation of the same name lets you explore the dark, mysterious world of the film and solve a new mystery.
Games this faithful to the films that inspired them naturally have an edge when it comes to style - after all, the movie provides all the visual inspiration you need. If you can, though, play the original - the 2022 remasterdidn’t live up to expectations.
6Space Invaders
The Purest Form Of Retro
When you think of video game aliens, the adorable pixelated menaces fromSpace Invadersare sure to come up sooner or later. They’ve come to serve as an icon for retro video games as a whole, not just sci-fi.
Who could have imagined, watching the blocky horde descend on a flickering CRT monitor in 1977, that Space Invaders would give rise to games likeMass EffectorStarfield?Playing Space Invaders was living in a sci-fi prologue, getting hints of things to come.
5Alien: Isolation
’70s Cinematic Sci-Fi Horror
We all know the xenomorph is the big draw of theAlienfranchise, but spare a thought for the tech, especially in the first movie. The bare-bones interfaces and clunky machinery might seem like fossils compared to modern technology, but as a vision of how the future could look without the benefit of hindsight, the Nostromo offers a consistent, detailed blueprint.
While later films in the franchise advanced the in-universe technology,Alien: Isolationreturns to the original ’70s sci-fi look. Combined with its tense cat-and-mouse gameplay, it’s easy to see how it became the best Alien game ever.
4Fallout Series
1950s Parody Retrofuturism
WhileFalloutis very firmly rooted in post-apocalyptic sci-fi, its world is built around 1950s retrofuturism - the “world of tomorrow” promised by atomic energy and modern capitalism. The series makes it very clear that those things invited the downfall of human society, and spares no effort in lampooning its clean, sanitized aesthetic juxtaposed with the harsh reality of the destroyed world.
The Fallout TV series leans even further into this, flashing back to the events leading up to the War in a way that the games only touched upon.
3Shadowrun
Cyberpunk Meets D&D
TheShadowruntabletop RPG launched in the 1980s, adding magic and fantasy to the cyberpunk genre. While it’s always been fairly niche, it’s still being published and supported.
A handful of video games have come out of the franchise, most notably theShadowrun Returnstrilogy, which offered tactical combat and important decisions that could affect the fate of the neon-soaked Sixth World. If you want a truly retro Shadowrun experience, though, try the1994 Sega Genesis gameif you can find a copy.
2Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2
Cold War Weird Science
Red Alert 2isCommand & Conquerat its pulpiest. The United States and the Soviet Union go to war with arsenals of absurd, high-tech weaponry, from weather-control devices to weaponized bears and psychic troopers.
The expansion,Yuri’s Revenge, adds a menacing third faction of mutants, telepaths, and other B-movie terrors. The only thing it’s missing is Tim Curry, an oversight that would be gloriously rectified in the third game.
1BioShock
Art Deco Futurism
BioShock’sunderwater city of Rapture is one of the most memorable sci-fi settings of all time, in no small part due to its appearance. The sleek, smooth art deco look is elegant and imposing even when it’s covered with blood and grime; we get a glimpse of the city in its full glory inBurial At Sea, but beyond that we’re left to imagine how grand it must have been before it collapsed.
Art deco reached its peak of popularity in the 1920s and 30s, when Andrew Ryan would have been a young man. It’s likely that films likeMetropoliswould have influenced his vision for the utopia he would attempt to build, even as he ignored the warnings in those same movies.
