Summary
- Realism in science fiction can be educational and challenging, teaching audiences about empirical science while encouraging them to question the world around them.
- Some science fiction games use real science as a basis for fictional stories, such as The Last of Us, which is based on a real parasitic fungus.
- Accurate science fiction can also offer incisive critiques of society by taking real social issues to dramatic extremes.
Every science fiction game has a different approach to accuracy, whether it's Cyberpunk 2077's elevation of real, present-day issues. The issue of accuracy in science fiction is a prickly one. The two elements it's made up of - hard, demonstrable science and fanciful, speculative fiction - seem inherently opposed to one another. As a result, different works of sci-fi have different approaches to balancing the two halves, with some using reality as a jumping-off point for fantastical concepts, while others seem to conjure pseudoscientific ideas from thin air.
Both approaches certainly have their merits, but there's something to be said for realism in science fiction. It can be educational and challenging, teaching its audience about empirical science while demanding that they interrogate the world around them. It requires the persistent willingness to get bogged down in the technical details of natural phenomena, and the creative courage to expand on them. For the eternally curious, here are some of the most realistic science fiction games worth marveling at.
10 Wildest Science Fiction Movies That Could Actually Happen
Typically, science fiction movies aren't grounded in reality, but some come across as stories about events that could actually happen in real life.
10 The Last Of Us (And TLOU 2) Are Action Games Based On Real-World Fungi
On PS4 And PS5
The Last of Us is an imaginative, deeply human zombie game series that happens to be based on a real parasitic fungus. Ophiocordyceps unilateralis is commonly called the zombie ant fungus for its ability to take over certain insects' behavior. Once it's taken root, the fungus compels an infected ant to move to a more hospitable environment for fungal growth, at which point it spreads its spores. It can't affect humans in reality, but in The Last of Us and its sequel, it turns people into bloodthirsty zombies. It's the perfect example of using real science as a basis for a fictional story, but other games take this even further.
9 Cyberpunk 2077 Is An ARPG Set In A Realistic Megacity
On PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, And Xbox Series X/S
Cyberpunk 2077 includes one of the most immersive depictions of a realistic, near-future megacity. Environmental pollution from combustible fuel has run rampant, creating a deadly new type of extreme weather called Inversion Smog. Wearable tech, which Cyberpunk calls Cyberware, is universal; smartphones have effectively been replaced with neural implants, which many people can't imagine living without. Advertising and consumerism pervade every aspect of daily life, and megacorporations have as much sway as government agencies. Cyberpunk provides a bleak view of a realistic future, one in which some of the biggest issues facing society today are taken to every possible extreme.
8 Mass Effect Is An ARPG That Explains Scientific Concepts
On PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, And Xbox Series X/S
Mass Effect begins in the late 22nd century, when humanity has discovered the secret to faster-than-light travel and set out to explore the stars. However, the game doesn't simply drop that fact on the audience and move on. Mass Effect takes the time to explain how interstellar travel works: in short, it's the result of mass negation. This is based on the actual concept of negative mass in theoretical physics, a hypothesis proposed to explain the existence of dark matter in space.
The Mass Effect series also has a unique approach to alien species, portraying them not as mere green-tinted humans, but as unique organisms with distinct bodily systems, cultures, and ways of thinking. There are four games in the series, three of which can be bought as a collection in the Mass Effect Legendary Edition, and hints of a Mass Effect 4 coming soon.
7 Metal Gear Solid 2 Is A Stealth Action Game That Predicts The Near Past
On PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, And Xbox Series X
Metal Gear Solid 2 may not seem like science fiction today, considering it's set in 2007 and mostly revolves around real concepts. But when it first came out in 2001, things like military drones, social media, and advanced artificial intelligence only existed in the imagination. Now, however, all those things are real, or at least in development, for better or worse. MGS2 also addresses the use of fake news to manipulate the public, a concept that has always existed to some extent, but has become more prevalent since the 2016 US presidential election. It's available now through the MGS: Master Collection, a perfect entry point to the series.
6 Death Stranding Is A Stealth Adventure Game That Predicts The Present
On PC, PS4, And PS5
Death Stranding tells the story of an America on the brink of destruction. Horrific natural phenomena have killed millions, and the survivors are stuck indoors for their own safety. The country is held loosely together by a primitive form of the Internet, and a complex network of delivery workers who operate within it. Sound familiar? Well, Death Stranding came out in November 2019, only a couple of months before the COVID-19 pandemic made much of that a reality, and was in development for far longer. There's also plenty of scientific realism in Death Stranding's mechanics, with accurate carry weight physics and a variety of buildable structures based on simple machines.
5 Blade Runner Is A Detective Game That Predicts The Future
On PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, And Xbox Series X/S
The title Blade Runner refers to both the film and video game adaptations of Philip K. Dick's 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Dick always had a knack for predicting the future, and this is one of his most prescient works. Blade Runner explores the concept of AI so advanced that it's indistinguishable from humanity. It takes place in an enormous, cosmopolitan megacity, where ments are as big as buildings and can address consumers directly.
It's more detailed in the novel (but also implicit in the adaptations) that environmental destruction has decimated most animal species, driving Earth's richest to colonize other planets while everyone else is stuck below. Like Cyberpunk, it takes some of humanity's biggest problems to the extreme, an alarm bell for the future.
4 Rimworld Is An Accurate Space Colonization Simulator
On PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, And Xbox Series X/S
Rimworld is one of the most accurate and advanced simulation games in existence, based on the much earlier Dwarf Fortress. But unlike Dwarf Fortress, which is fantasy-themed, Rimworld uses a futuristic setting in which humanity has begun the colonization of space. However, it's one of few sci-fi games to acknowledge the difficult reality that faster-than-light travel may not be possible. As a result, most colonies exist in near-total isolation. In Rimworld's default scenario, a group of characters crash lands on a procedurally generated planet, and must obtain food, water, and shelter while staying sane and fending off hostiles.
There's also realism in how flexible its engine is; it's possible to recreate almost the entire human experience in Rimworld. The colonists will go through birth, death, love, hate, creation, destruction, progress, stagnation, poverty, prosperity, and just about anything else imaginable over several generations of history.
3 Stellaris Is A 4X Strategy Game That s For Everything
On MacOS, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, And Xbox Series X/S
Stellaris is developed by Paradox Development, known for complicated strategy games the likes of Crusader Kings, Hearts of Iron, and Victoria. But where those games take on realistic historical settings, Stellaris is set among the stars, in a distant future of space travel and interspecies competition. Not unlike Rimworld, its realism comes from the variety of experiences it makes possible. Stellaris simulates a real, living economy, shifting interplanetary relations, and a wide variety of different societal models. Players must progressively develop technology before they can utilize it, and the istrative decisions they make affect the course of future history.
For fans of Star Trek's approach to sci-fi realism, there's also an official adaptation of Stellaris set in The Next Generation era: Star Trek Infinite is available on PC.
2 Elite Dangerous Is A Hyperrealistic Space Economy Sim
On MacOS, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, And Xbox Series X/S
Elite Dangerous takes economic realism to the max: its in-game economy is constantly shifting, and is largely controlled by player actions. Set in the distant future of 3300 and beyond, players take control of a spaceship pilot in an open-world galaxy, and are entirely left to their own devices. Sure, there are missions and factions. Players can take on bounty hunting targets, transport people or cargo from one world to the next, mine asteroids, steal from other players, et cetera, but just like in real life, there's no single, overarching story. Players make their own fun by deciding what kind of pilot they want to be.
1 Kerbal Space Program (And KSP 2) Realistically Gamify Astrophysics
For Linux, MacOS, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, And Xbox Series X/S
Kerbal Space Program represents one of the most realistic depictions of astrophysics ever to appear in video games. Players control squads of little green creatures trying to reach space, making incremental progress toward exploring the stars. Beyond the most basic tutorials, KSP doesn't hold hands. Players are left to their own devices, repeated cycles of trial and error until they finally get off the ground. It can be confusing, frustrating, and even alienating to more casual players - but then, the same could be said of astrophysics. The sequel, Kerbal Space Program 2, is in Early Access via Steam.
In order to break a rule, one has to know why it exists and how far it extends. That's the principle followed by all good, realistic sci-fi: it takes real-world concepts and dramatizes them until they're thought-provoking and interesting. Accurate science fiction can hold a funhouse mirror to society, offering incisive critiques within an entertainingly elevated framework.
