It isn't a game review, but this is a question that has been bothering me for some time. Why is the post-apocalyptic story so popular these days. Fallout, RAGE, Half-Life, Left 4 Dead, Dead Island, The Walking Dead, The Passage, The Zombie Survival Guide, 28 Days Later, Shaun of the Dead, every genre of gaming, books, and movies has its own spin on this type of story. But why? What about the end of the world is so fascinating. For anybody else out there that has been wondering, I think I've pieced it together.
To begin with, human beings are obsessed with death. Actually, we're just obsessed about bad news in general. The thousands of surgeries that went well today will be overshadowed by the single surgery that was botched. The thousands of cats whose lives were saved over the last month are overshadowed by the single animal cruelty case. And of the 316.1 million people in the United States of America, four have contracted Ebola. Four. So you, as a reader, have a 0.0000013% chance to catch Ebola in the US. In overall world population considerations, 0.000071% of people have caught it. And considering the extremely low likelihood that any of you fine folks actually even know any of these patients, the vast majority of you probably have literally no chance at all whatsoever even slightly to contract Ebola. So why do we even panic so much? I can't fathom it, but evidently people do care enough to give themselves high blood pressure from this. And this primal part of us is also what fuels intrigue into post-apocalyptic stories. What would happen if the entire world as we knew it suddenly ended, and we have to start again? How would people adapt? Would we even survive? These questions will probably never be answered in real life, but anything is possible in the world of fiction, so this genre attempts to answer the question. And usually, it's an extremely interesting answer, so the tragedy gets our attention and then holds it with intrigue and violence.
I think the second part is that, even though it's terrible, it's a completely equal world once an apocalypse happens. Your billionaire CEO and your weed-smoking neighbor Steve have the same exact status in that world. No more company executives deciding your salary, you actually mean something. Not just to yourself, but then entire world at large. You are a survivor, the future of the human race. That in and of itself says a lot. There are no longer set societal rules and pay ladders to climb, if somebody steals your stuff, you kill them. The only law in a dead world is not to upset the wrong people, and that makes life a heck of a lot simpler. You want to have sex on a car in the middle of the day? What's stopping you, your non-existent neighbors? Your non-existent government? Nope. Have as much sex on the highway at high noon as you want. Ever feel like bumming it across the US? Doesn't get much bummier than this. The world is nothing but one giant possibility. There aren't any taxes, there are no politicians, and no middle management.
And the last thing that is the most appealing about these things is that the world... is beautiful again. Think about it. There's no more smog. No more eyesore buildings because they're now overgrown with beautiful plants. There's no TV or phones or texting or cable. There's no record companies or gas stations or car salesmen. It's not just an end to all life, it's very frequently played as a rebirth. It's another chance for humanity. And while it brings out bad things in some, it brings out good things as well. And that's something that I think people need to hear in modern times. While the US is bombing ISIS and terrorists are taking over the world, there are people out there who are dreaming that all the violence, no matter how utterly devastating, will bring about beauty. So that's my ultimate message to everybody out there. No matter what happens, don't ever stop being awesome. Because there are still people who believe in the future of the human race, so make them right.
And that's why we like it.
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