Science fiction is a broad genre featuring anything from robots and aliens to zombies and mutants, and just about anything scientifically fascinating in-between. Whether it be the remnants of a mostly destroyed world struggling to survive a new normal, or spacefaring adventurers befriending aliens and conquering planets, one thing is for sure; I love Sci-fi games!
10. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
Though perhaps not the obvious first pick for best science fiction game, the Metal Gear franchise explores and expands upon the genre by interweaving aspects of sci-fi with a somewhat realistic modern framework. Blending tactical espionage action with deep historical and scientific lore, Metal Gear Solid 2 creates a fascinating world to sneak and shoot your way through.
MGS 2 is in my opinion the most sci-fi oriented of the bunch, as it mixes high tech stealth tech and cutting-edge equipment, with more fantastical components such as a cyborg ninja, a mostly immortal vampire, invisibility cloaking devices, rogue AI, virtual reality battle simulations, and most importantly the giant battle mechs from which the game derives its name, the Metal Gears.
9. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is a testament to a good studio’s ability to build a fresh and engaging new story within the universe of an already wildly popular and successful brand. The game allows the player to create a custom character and pursue a path of either light or darkness, going the way of the true Jedi or perhaps descending into the evil ways of the Sith.
With a focus on player freedom through weapon, gear, skill, and party member choice, as well as dialogue options that change the course of the story, it allows for an immersion into the Star Wars universe like never before. Whether you want to be a lightsaber wielding Jedi or a blaster shooting scoundrel, the choice is yours, and the game likes it that way.
8. The Last of Us
The Last of Us is a heart-wrenching, pulse-pounding tale of perseverance in the face of adversity, that spans the course of 20 years from the initial outbreak of a fungal parasite turning people into zombie-like creatures, to a post-outbreak world that has left few survivors.
The combat is varied with stealth mechanics and tool crafting to get out of seemingly impossible situations, as well as a multitude of firearms to shoot your way through groups of hostile bandits and hordes of the infected as they attempt to devour you and your young ward. I found myself connecting with the characters in such a way, that each new combat encounter felt more high stakes than the last.
7. Dead Space
Dead Space is one of those rare classics that just seemed to hit all the right notes. You travel through a seemingly abandoned spaceship cloaked in darkness, shrouded in mystery, and infested with mutated alien beings that will dismember you without a moment’s hesitation.
Left with nothing but some high-tech mining tools and an upgrade shop to keep you alive, you will be jump-scared, overwhelmed by terrifying monsters, and all-the-while curiously enthralled in the science fiction universe you get to immerse yourself in. The technology is fascinating, and the weapons and armor upgrades are equal parts intriguing and practical for the particular situation that you find yourself in.
6. Mass Effect 2
In a world of space travel, aliens, biotic abilities, laser weapons, and robots, Mass Effect 2 finds a way to ground the story in a relatable struggle for humanity’s safety. The universe is in danger due to the impending threat of a highly intelligent and hostile alien race, and it’s up to the crew of the Normandy SR-2 to save everyone… again.
Further expanding upon the universe and lore set forth in the first game of the series, Mass Effect 2 kicks things up a notch with much deeper interactions with your crew members, smoother and more varied combat, a heightened focus on character customization with new weapons, skills, and gear, and a great deal of new sci-fi centric enemies and allies.
5. Gears of War 3
With a returning cast of beloved characters from the previous entries in the series, and some new faces joining the squad, Gears of War 3 proves that some sequels can stand out as the best game in the series. With gorgeous, updated visuals, improved gunplay and mobility, and a host of new enemies and weapons, Marcus, Dom, and the rest of the Gears must once again try and save the world from the Locust horde.
Featuring arguably the best competitive multiplayer in the franchise, as well as one of the most memorable and emotionally immersive co-op campaigns in gaming history, Gears of War 3 shows that it’s not just about the rifle mounted chainsaws, futuristic armor, alien foes, and lasers fired from outer space; It’s about brotherhood, cooperation, and a determined will to survive and fight for the soldier beside you.
4. Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Deus Ex: Human Revolution is one of my all-time favorite cyberpunk role playing games. It’s got stealth, gun fights, hacking, stealing, loads of exploration, a tremendous deal of hidden areas and secrets to be discovered, and it even has NPCs that you can coerce with clever dialogue, threats of violence, or the simple activation of certain neural implants.
What makes this game so special is something that makes many RPGs special to me, and that’s the freedom to play how you see fit. You can do a completely non-lethal playthrough using futuristic tech, or you can level your combat skills and weapons and blast your way through each area with reckless abandon. You can even choose to remain mostly human by not agreeing to get many cybernetic implants, leading to changes in the story as well as your combat and dialogue proficiency throughout the game.
3. Fallout: New Vegas
Though Fallout 3 was a classic and forever memorable experience for me, Fallout: New Vegas is the one that I find myself revisiting most often. FNV is an open world Bethesda RPG including everything that comes with that; Tons of funny bugs, a crazy number of weapons and armor, recruitable companions, and a ton of player choice. I’ve played as a cowboy gunslinger, a long-range sniper, an assault rifle proficient soldier, and even a psycho with boxing gloves and a super high strength stat just to see how that would go.
With improvements to the gunplay and combat as a whole, as well as slight graphical adjustments and a much more involved story and character progression, FNV remains one of the best ways to experience the post-apocalyptic United States in gaming still to this day. Featuring a ruined world filled with quirky robots, powerful laser and plasma weapons, grotesque mutated creatures, and a mess of other nightmare fueling abominations, it is a true sci-fi experience through and through.
2. Halo 3
Featuring the best co-op campaign in the franchise with Master Chief and the Arbiter teaming up to face an alien covenant between many species of foes new and old, and my personal favorite online competitive multiplayer from the franchise, Halo 3 is not only one of the best sci-fi games of all time, but truly one of the best games of all time.
With a vast array of exciting and unique futuristic vehicles to drive and pilot, new high-tech weapons and abilities to give you the upper hand in battle, and a story campaign that will knock your socks off, this game has it all for fans of first-person shooters and sci-fi alike. What do you get when an outcast alien and a human super soldier team up to save the world alongside a cast of memorable allies? You get Halo 3. To this day, it remains some of the most fun I’ve ever had while playing an online game with friends.
1. BioShock
Kicking off one of the most interesting trilogies I’ve ever experienced in the realm of science fiction, BioShock started out as a horror game for me when I was young and frightened by tweaked out splicers roaming the spooky water-logged corridors, waiting to jump out and whack me with a wrench. As I’ve grown older and wiser and revisited the game through the remastered trilogy a handful of times, I realize that it is even more impressive than I gave it credit for all those years ago.
With a visually distinct art style and a reliance on art deco architectural designs and set dressing in a collapsing underwater attempt at utopia, I always find myself standing around in awe of the world they managed to create. With lore that spans three games and circles back around in such a way that would boggle the minds of even the sharpest theoretical physicists, I find that the simplicity of the first game is what makes the series so special.
Injecting yourself with plasmids to gain powerful seemingly magical scientific abilities, upgrading weapons with wild inventions that border on the steampunk aesthetic, and facing off against the dreaded hulking armored protectors known as Big Daddies so you can either rescue or harvest the little sisters that they defend with their lives.
The game plays with the idea of a player’s interactions with games in general; Having you follow quest markers and do whatever you’re told, only to tie that into a philosophical conundrum that left at least me wondering what I had done with my time, and still wondering why I keep returning for more? Perhaps it’s because it is simply a fun game, with visceral close quarters gunplay, fascinating and practical scientific powers, and a story that keeps you guessing. It’s my kind of sci-fi for sure.
