Retrofuturism refers to an art design that portrays the influence of what people from the midcentury thought the future was going to be like. It combines the technology of yesteryear, such as steampowered engines or tape-based computing, with the imagery of what the future would have looked like, and often provides a vast playground for video games to explore in terms of settings.
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Simply put, retrofuturism is the future seen from the past and the past seen from the future. From dystopian cities under tyrannical rule to adventures across post-apocalyptic America, retrofuturism brings you to a different time and place, but slightly skewed, where the unfamiliar meets the familiar, and brings you to almost entirely different worlds.
8 Fallout 2
Cult classic and cornerstone of the Fallout series, Fallout 2 starts in the town of Arroyo along the West Coast of America, where the Chosen One is tasked with retrieving a mythical piece of technology called the Garden of Eden Creation Kit— GECK, for short—, in order to save their village from a catastrophic drought.
Set 164 years after the nuclear bombs were dropped on America, the game brings you through the entire post-apocalyptic West Coast, and all the strangeness that comes with a century of irradiation. From battling the remnants of the United States government to driving around the desert with a sentient lizard as a passenger, Fallout 2 remains one of the entry points into retrofuturism for its setting.
7 BioShock
The father of all video games centered around dystopian cities, BioShock takes place in the underwater city of Rapture during 1960, a few years after a civil war that turned a once-thriving haven for scientists, artists, and countless high-society elites into a crumbling city of drug-addled, mutated creatures and desperate survivors.
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Rapture’s Art Deco interiors, mixed with heavy inspiration from Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, turn the city into a nightmarish labyrinth that you must traverse, with only your wits and a friendly voice on the radio to help you in hopes of seeing the surface once more.
6 The Outer Worlds
Sci-fi western The Outer Worlds is set in the distant future of an alternate timeline where megacorporations rule society, and have begun sending out colony ships in order to colonize the vast reaches of space and terraform the landscape to suit their own needs.
Inspired by the Fallout series and Westerns such as Deadwood and True Grit, The Outer Worlds’ art style evokes pulp fiction serials and a Western-themed feel that is reminiscent of the first few days of the Wild West’s frontier push.
5 Prey (2017)
Prey (2017) is another alternate history game where the Space Race is accelerated, resulting in an earlier creation and usage of orbital stations. However, it is soon discovered that a group of aliens, called the Typhon, have infiltrated one of the satellites, leading both the Soviet Union and the United States to capture and defend Earth from these aliens, unbeknownst to the general population.
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Taking place on the orbital station of Talos I, a prison for the Typhon previously under Soviet control, Prey draws inspiration from various architectural designs due to the station constantly changing hands: from the brutalist architecture in the older parts of Talos I to Art Deco in the more publicly accessible areas, each section of the station tells a story.
4 We Happy Few
Set in an alternate history universe where Nazi Germany successfully invaded and occupied England, We Happy Few takes place in the island town of Wellington Wells, and places you in the shoes of three unlikely protagonists who must uncover the secret behind why their island was voluntarily released from colonization.
With its Tesla-styled weapons and automated security systems, the town is a dystopian police state where its citizens are forced to ingest Joy, a drug that suppresses bad memories and induces users into a constant euphoric state, in order to forget the atrocities of the war. After all, who doesn’t want to be happy all the time?
3 Deathloop
Arkane’s Deathloop takes place in a 1960s-era timeline where, on the island of Blackreef, an infinite time loop is being exploited by a group of scientists in order to achieve immortality.
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In the role of Colt Vahn, a member of this secluded community, you are tasked with breaking the loop once and for all, all while being hunted by your comrades for wanting to destroy everything they stand for.
With its art style inspired by the Swinging Sixties and spy films of the era, Deathloop is a perfect run through an unending party of blood and guts, with a dash of mystery sprinkled on top.
2 Jazzpunk
Jazzpunk is a surreal-retrofuturistic game set during the 1950s in an alternate timeline where the Empire of Japan conquered most of North America. The plot centers around Polyblank, an agent working for a top-secret espionage organization working out of an abandoned subway station in fictional Japanada.
Inspired by film noir and the cyberpunk genre, Jazzpunk’s cartoony art style and plot draws influences from the works of films like Blade Runner, 1980s cyberpunk literature, as well as the works of Saul Bass, all combined to create a larger-than-life world with memorable characters.
1 Atomic Heart
Atomic Heart takes place on the grounds of an esteemed Soviet Union scientific research hub in an alternate history version of 1955. Due to a manmade plague wiping out a large percent of the population during the events of World War 2, there has been a rise in the need for Soviet-made robots to fill in the gaps of the workforce.
As Agent P-3, you are tasked with assisting in the rollout of the latest update of technology at the facility, only to arrive there and discover the robots have massacred most of the human personnel. Atomic Heart’s art direction is rooted in Soviet-era architecture and the dieselpunk genre, breathing life into a world that wants nothing but to kill you.
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