A few titles will make you appreciate the pollen and maybe start recycling
The threat of annihilation by psycho nature is something we as gamers should be familiar with. After all, it’s well-known in most science fiction and dark fantasy that sooner or later Mother Nature will eventually lose her patience and break the seal on some pretty ghastly weather phenomena.
This year I’ve waded through the latest yellow airborne pestilence and I’ve watched fellow humans suffering at the whims of a biosphere gone horribly mad.
Being a gamer is about being exposed to the horrors of outside and of ideas, some scary ideas. Ideas that will make one thankful to just have a natural affliction cured simply by Allegra and not by hollow points.
So maybe these games could serve as hopeful reminders that our pale blue dot is only slightly angry at us, at least for now, hopefully. You may want to have your inhaler or Epipen on standby this list may cause irritable breathing, hives, and or genetic mutation.
Phoenix Point by Snapshot Games
The independent company headed up by the legendary Julian Gollop, father of the original XCOM, is creating a Lovcraftian inspired tactical xeno-shooter. As the world’s ice caps melt, a strange alien virus dubbed Pandora bleeds into the oceans causing all living things within to mutate into grotesque human eating chimeras. Eventually the virus goes airborne becoming a deadly mist over most of the planet. A few cults and paranoid, doomsday-prepared shadow corporations have managed to survive in this Post-Lovecraftian apocalypse.
Phoenix Point is in Alpha stage meaning only the core of the game is playable but already looks promising with some about-time-they-did-this mechanics. Features like body part targeting and bullet trajectory are two things that should have folks eagerly curious for final release.
Enemies with protective plating can be defeated with well-coordinated shots to vulnerable areas of the body so it’s possible to arc a seemingly impossible shot across the map and turn the tide of battle. Also enemies can and will evolve their DNA to counter the player’s tactics as the game progresses totally ratcheting up the anxiety.
I believe Snapshot’s crowd funded tactical shooter-in-a-death-cloud could breathe new life into an almost endangered species of a game genre.
Fortnite by Epic Games
If a mutating viral ink cloud wasn’t bad enough, imagine a storm that makes zombies. Let me repeat that: IT MAKES ZOMBIES! I’m not sure what people would have done to deserve that type meteorological calamity but it reeks of a Dean Koontz bestselling novel.
Thankfully it’s a more whimsical take on the sandbox zombie survival game and since its release last July it has built a tremendous fan base. Either solo or online, four hero characters will face against hordes of Tim Burton styled mist zombies all while attempting to rescue survivors, scrounge for supplies, and build/protect a fort.
There is also a free-to-play PvP Battle Royale that brings the undying fun of competitive face blasting and stuff building. Being airdropped from a dirigible school bus into an outlandishly silly shooter/builder becomes stupid addictive very quickly.
Fortnite could best be described as Team Fortress and Left 4 Dead having a pretty cartoonish baby with a penchant for mayhem and construction. It’s a very ridiculous and colorful spin of a zombie blaster and well worth your time to play it.
Naughty Dog’s Last of Us Part II
The sequel of a game that actually gave us a crash course in Mycology. The Last of Us taught us that a species of brain invading fungus creates zombies and actually exists. Cordyceps is the fictional version that infects humans, turning them into grotesque monsters called Clickers. Ophiocordyceps unilateralis is the real one, Google it for some nightmares.
The Last of Us is a story rich horror blockbuster that I won’t spoil for you. It’s an emotionally charged roller coaster that must be experienced firsthand and the sequel looks just as well-crafted as the first. This time the game will be played from the perspective of Ellie and she has grown up a lot meaner and fiercer since the last time.
New fully realized characters and newer versions of the nightmarish fungal-bitey-monsters return to what will be another case of how emotionally wrecked a game truly can make us. Prepare for periodic checkout sessions to weep in a corner due to an existential crises.
The Last of Us Part II is scheduled for release June 11. Be sure to stock up on Tinactin and stay away from carpenter ants if you know what’s good for you!
When not vaporizing zombies or leading space marines as a mousepad Mattis, Brandon Watson is making gourmet pancakes and promoting local artists.