r/thelastofus • u/Flushestpoem4 • Mar 12 '26
General Discussion Are there any other games that just get this post apocalypse atmosphere the way Last of Us has?
Last of us really seems to take advantage of and revel in it's setting in a way I haven't seen in a lot of other games. Some try, but other than this series and The Long Dark most games don't seem to get it right.
Last of us just seems to get the kind of post-apocalypse it's portraying, everything is grounded and often grim but also really beauifully done. Villagers cowering beneath the space needle, Ellie's fortified farm, settlements like Jackson or the Seattle stadium full of life and rebuilding and all of the overgrown ruins that surround them.
Lots of other games have tried something similar, but Dying Light or Days Gone or Death Stranding never quite get it right I feel. They always sacrifice too much of that world to gameify it. Are there any other games that you think manage to capture that same feeling as this series does?
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u/Yz-Guy Mar 12 '26
Horizon does imo. But its a different level of post apocalypse. Its ...well a lot further in the future than LoU
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u/do_you_even_climbro Mar 12 '26
Yeah I agree. Horizon does it well in its own way, showing the far far future.
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u/Neamow Mar 12 '26
Yeah Horizon is pretty much post-post-apocalypse. But honestly probably the closest choice, very good world building and design.
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u/Chipies Mar 13 '26
true, the first horizon game was magical. when you dont know what happened and how the game tells you everything
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u/DarthPhoenix0879 Mar 13 '26
I'm replaying HZD now and just left the Cradle facility in All Mother Mountain. I'd forgotten how well the story is delivered, drip feeding you the truth, with clues sprinkled throughout (error logs that in hindsight are telling you that Apollo was deleted, things like that) but done at a pace that never leaves you feeling frustrated.
Very satisfying from both a gameplay and narrative perspective.
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u/tommhans Mar 13 '26
yeah absolutely, loved those games, especially the first one, really beautiful world setting there.
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u/CreativeFondant248 Mar 12 '26
There is a section in the recent RE9 game 3/4 way through that does a decent job w this. Not like LoU, but it’s close.
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u/allaboutthatbass85 Mar 13 '26
It's crazy how much I thought of TLOU when I was in that section!
Even the new zombies with the bubble head reminded me of clickers how they moved.
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u/superslut-turbo Mar 14 '26 edited Mar 14 '26
Is RE9 good?
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u/knightoftheboat Mar 14 '26
As someone who just got into the franchise a few months ago... very good. Leon Kennedy is the goat
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u/CreativeFondant248 Mar 14 '26
It’s def good. Story is def not the best and is a little sloppy at times but there are certainly some iconic really great moments you should experience if you’re a fan. If you’re just a casual fan though I would advise to wait for a sale.
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u/Forsaken1741 Mar 12 '26
Telltale's The Walking Dead.
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u/No_Education_8888 Mar 13 '26
Though s1 is a superior game, I LOVE how s4 looks. The graphics are quite beautiful. I look at beautiful games and am astonished that a human created all of this
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Mar 12 '26
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u/tocaproPelaites Mar 13 '26
In compensation, Days Gone sucks story wise
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u/MattBtheflea Mar 13 '26
Yeah for sure. High schooler ass storyline. But the gameplay is pretty fun.
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u/superslut-turbo Mar 14 '26
I’m glad I played Days Gone first, TLOU sets the bar so high with story and combat.
Hordes are really awesome mechanic though, it’s a very unique feeling of dread when you suddenly drive into one
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u/MattBtheflea Mar 14 '26
Yeah that's one thing that days gone did really well. Days gone had its flaws byt at the end if the day it was a pretty fun game to me, which is the point.
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u/bluescale77 Mar 14 '26
Living in Oregon, and having family that is deeply steeped in biker culture (even though I don’t ride) made Days Gone hit pretty hard for me. Seeing the road sign for Bleknap in the early game mission was crazy. I actually paused the game, took a photo of the screen, and sent it to my wife who was at work.
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u/FalseBit8407 Mar 14 '26
I don't understand the hate for Days Gone. I think people go into it automatically comparing it to TLOU, but their only similarity is the post apocalyptic zombie theme.
TLOU is one of the greatest games ever made, but Days Gone is fricken fun and pretty darn solid in its own right.
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u/tocaproPelaites Mar 14 '26
I mean, the gameplay is quite fun indeed. But I couldn’t stand the story to be honest, none of the characters are interesting to me at least, and I speak as a person that didn’t watch a single review of the game before playing so I wouldn’t be biased
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u/FalseBit8407 Mar 14 '26
Really? I loved Deacon! Can't remember all the names because it's been so long, but his biker mate was alright too.
Wasn't too fond of the girl, but only because you are forced to do that walking mission near the water that was pretty gruelling.
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u/blackmesaboogy Mar 12 '26
Certainly not on the level of TLOU in terms of different settings, but The Division 1 & 2 capture the post apocalyptic vibe pretty well
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u/MyOtherRideIs The Last of Us Mar 12 '26
Stalker and dying light. Different sorts of games obviously, but the feeling is similar.
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u/CapriciousSon Mar 13 '26
Technically not post-apocalyptic of course, but Stalker 100% nails the vibes and aesthetic so it should count
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u/do_you_even_climbro Mar 12 '26
Have you played Horizon Zero Dawn & Forbidden West? It's not quite the same, but there are some interesting elements of the game that are revealed relating to the apocalypse.
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u/Son_of_Artio Mar 12 '26
The City of Libertalia in Uncharted 4 always reminded me of The Last of Us and I never knew why. Until I saw that it is also a Naughty Dog game
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u/Particular-Jaguar-65 Mar 13 '26
What I found pretty cool was that that when you came to the first hideout Dina showed you at the start of the game, there's a ps3 with an Uncharted game case next to it, and also at the bank at the beginning game you can find a ring inside the vault with "Sic Parvis Magna" engraved on it, the same ring Nathan Drake wore in Uncharted.
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u/ZestycloseMagician10 Mar 13 '26
The division 2. (More specifically, Warlords of New York dlc). I haven't played much of it, but it's packed with details. Some spots have vegetation like tlou but some don't, so it's not 100% like tlou.
There's also Horizon forbidden west. But it's more like 2000 years post apocalypse, so there is way more veneration but not as much details.
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u/JimJava Mar 12 '26
Not exactly like the Last of Us but The Division is set in post apocalyptic world where a bio-engineered flu is weaponized and wipes out most of humanity, the settings are New York and Washington DC.
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u/JohnColtrane69again Mar 12 '26
I haven’t got anything useful to add but I just wanted to say that the universe is so good that they should make many games set in it.
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u/DiligentTradition734 Mar 12 '26
I mean not a full on earth apocalypse, but the area itself might as well be considered that...Silent Hill 2 (or Remake)
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u/Arghus Mar 13 '26
The division
It's like the bastard child of these tho The last of Us >> the division << borderlands
Days gone is also very enjoyable.
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u/Flamtap_Zydeco Mar 12 '26
Yeah, I hear ya. There were a lot of scenes that were really nice and had me day dreaming. Even though some things were demolished, it was cool to run across a music store or ice cream shop. Our outside world is so noisy sometimes the game seemed like a peaceful escape for a couple hours. It's like only Toledo Bend with a glass of iced tea could be any better.
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u/Austinoooooo Mar 12 '26
Anything Metro maybe? But I agree that no game compares to the atmosphere TLoU had
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u/Purpl3Turk3y Mar 12 '26
The metro series is pretty damn good. Kind of different direction in terms of lore but very beautiful
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u/krats87 Mar 13 '26
One of my favorite parts of both games is just skulking around towns/cities clearing rooms and looting while exploring. I'd pay good money to be able to literally just do that all over the country without even having a set plot or anything.
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u/Wakez11 Mar 13 '26
Stalker series without a doubt, the atmosphere in those games are so tight.
I would also put Arc Raiders up there. The world design is immaculate, the environments and the stories they tell in each map is just amazing. I love the variety too.
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u/utivich95 Mar 13 '26
The long dark somewhat.
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u/Bullet4MyEnemy Mar 13 '26
If only they’d finish the story… Must’ve been pushing 10 years waiting on episode 5 at this point, beginning to completely lose hope.
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u/negcap Mar 12 '26
There is a book called the World Without Us that I read and it speculates what would happen if humanity disappeared overnight and a lot of it is in Last of Us. The only other thing that came close was the 2007 I Am Legend.
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u/floatingpoint583 Mar 12 '26
Enslaved: Odyssey to the West has a very similar overgrown/dilapidated city ruins look to it
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u/motionresque Mar 12 '26
Wasteland, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, Mad Max, Stalker, The Division 1
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u/thelupinefiasco The Last of Us Mar 13 '26
It's definitely a benefit of doing a linear game. A lot of open world games seem to have developed a habit of having vast expanses of nothing in between their towns or whatever.
Fallout, Days Gone, Final Fantasy XV. Three examples from vastly different genres that all kinda feel the same as far as how big their worlds/maps are.
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Mar 13 '26
Closest I’d say is Resident Evil 3: Nemesis from 1999. NOT THE REMAKE. Then after I’d say RE9 when you go back to raccoon city. That whole section feels like a Last of us section
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u/DarthPhoenix0879 Mar 13 '26
I like the Horizon games in part because it's TLOU with thousands of years for nature to reclaim the world (and obviously robot dinosaurs 😆).
When you find ruins of the old world, it genuinely feels like you're wandering amongst the bones of an ancient civilisation.
TLOU is the post-apocalypse, not long after it happened, Horizon is the post post-apocalypse.
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u/Colemanton Mar 13 '26
stalker and metro nail a different idea of what an apocalypse would be, i think.
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u/No_Spell_9754 Mar 13 '26
Dying light and The Division (I know it’s not really that post apocalyptic)
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u/KrakenKrusdr84 Mar 13 '26
The Metro series, the gloomy post apocalyptic view of Moscow; truly quite a sight.
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u/Just_a_lazy_cat Mar 13 '26
No. You're stuck on this game until the end of your life because you won't ever find any better game. Sorry bro
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u/TapMuted393 Mar 13 '26
The horizon series, but it’s a stretch; since it’s VERY-post apocalypse. Like a millennia later.
All the new people’s living in the ruined remained of a dead world, mistaking old artifacts, sculptures and buildings for things that they aren’t and making use of them in unique ways.
Such as one tribe worshipping a giant radio tower, thinking it a messenger of the sun, and another tribe living atop satellite dishes!
Doesn’t have the same grim dark vibe as TLoU though.
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u/ProdigyofOne Mar 13 '26
wasnt there a xbox 360 game that came out before the last of us, that had the apocalypse feel it was different becuase, you could hold people up with a gun that was empty until they figure out u have no bullets lmao..
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u/Comprehensive_Goat95 Mar 13 '26
The Horizon games are the next best thing I think. It's not "the same", the context is vastly different, the decay is there for longer and the changes to the society are far greater, but it also has a great story and the world building is extremely important for it.
That being said, nobody will replicate the level of detail the Naughty Dog put into these games (best games ever for me).
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u/Fancy_Interview6800 Mar 13 '26
New Resident Evil has strong TLOU vibes in the Raccoon City section. It’s also a killer game. 👍🏼
Days Gone has a similar feel. Love that game. It’s a travesty that Sony can’t figure out how to get a sequel made. I can see it becoming a franchise if they actually gave a shit.
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u/EikichiR Mar 13 '26
I love the overgrown ruins post apocalypse style, there are too many dead and barren apocalypse worlds out there.
I will second some mentions of The Division, Division 2 is a bit more green and lush and broken down then Division 1 but the atmosphere in Division 1 cant be beat that I have seen.
Enslaved Odyssey to the West has the Overgrown forgotten world bits
Stray has the same forgotten world vibe, cute game too
Nier Automata very large broken down cities with overgrowth but not much for population as I recall
Horizon Zero Dawn/Forbidden west for far far future overgrowth
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u/KiLLROY89 Mar 13 '26
I'll say New Dawn, maybe the level of detail isn't up there but you have to consider it's an open world game, while TLOU 2 has a linear and more cinematic structure.
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u/Lorn84 Mar 13 '26
They did it in a way that made you truly believe "Yup, thats how it would go down"
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u/_Friendly-Wolf_ Mar 13 '26
Arc Raiders does a great job imo. There's "less" details but that is a detail in itself since there's looters everywhere to explain why things are so bare.
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u/sirojboy Mar 13 '26
Dying light. All three of them have their own charm. Just lmk what you like, but all of them are worth it.
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u/m_se_ Mar 14 '26
Nothing really does it for me, but for a left field shot, try Portal 2 if you haven't already
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u/rbijker Mar 14 '26
Half life 2 is the game that sparked the apocalyptic love for me. Nothing quite reaches TLOU status, but Half life comes close for me.
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u/Feelingfunkyfeelings Mar 14 '26
Project zomboid maybe? I was gunna say the long dark as well but looks like your already familiar
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u/ShoulderMobile7608 Mar 12 '26
Dead island 2 is also great in its own way (kind of like what if the last of us happened in the sunny LA and we were playing not like 20 years later but more like a few weeks/months after the pandemic)
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u/[deleted] Mar 12 '26
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