Role-playing games are home to some of the most epic, high-stakes stories, so it’s no surprise that countless RPGs explore pre- or post-apocalyptic settings, conflicts, and themes. After all, it takes a great hero (you) to prevent an entire species from being annihilated, save a planet from destruction, or deal with the consequences of a world already devastated by disaster. From cosmic forces and ancient powers to alien invasions, there’s no shortage of threats on a global scale.
The RPGs below approach the end of the world in different ways, but all stand out for their apocalyptic themes, environments, moods, and the challenges they throw at our heroes. From classic post-apocalyptic scenarios where survival is all that’s left to worlds one step away from catastrophe, and even the rare chance to witness the natural order itself coming to an end, here are some of the best RPGs about the end of the world.
Warning! Some minor story and ending spoilers for the games below!
7
Darksiders 2
The Greater Risk Is To Do Nothing
Part of an often underappreciated action-RPG series, Darksiders 2 is widely regarded as one of its best entries, largely thanks to its premise, memorable protagonist, and epic quest. The world as we know it has already ended: humanity was wiped out by the premature Apocalypse in the first game, and one of the Four Horsemen, Death himself, sets out to resurrect it and clear War’s name. Your entire story revolves around dealing with the end of the world and undoing its biggest consequence.
Having opened with humanity’s extinction, Darksiders 2 keeps raising the stakes beyond Earth, with Corruption eventually threatening all of Creation. Traversing the dead and ruined human world, exploring abandoned cities and empty buildings, you witness the aftermath of its destruction firsthand. Other realms are visibly breaking down too, as Corruption spreads and entire cosmic systems seem to be failing. Even if the series’ epic scale occasionally goes through the roof just for the sake of it, Darksiders 2 delivers a unique take on the end of the world, one of truly Biblical proportions.
6
Fable 3
You Will Never Escape The Darkness. It Flocks To You. Always
Fable 3 offers a very interesting take on the end of the world, turning preparations for it into a direct gameplay mechanic. This layer takes center stage in the campaign’s final stretch, when the Hero becomes Albion’s ruler. By then, you’ve encountered the Darkness and its leader, the Crawler, whose forces threaten to consume everything and everyone in the kingdom. With limited time before the invasion, it’s up to you to prepare the country and its citizens for the apocalypse, which directly feeds into what kind of ruler you become.
The final stretch of Fable 3 is divisive, but to me, it was definitely the highlight of the experience and took me by surprise. You’re propelled through conflicts, dilemmas, and choices in a sort of strategy-like management sim, desperately trying to prevent doomsday. Sure, saving everyone by having enough money is very Fable-ish, and the concept is far too simplistic, yet putting those preparations directly in your hands deserves praise. Even with its limitations, Fable 3 shows how tough ruling can be. Maybe all those fairy-tale tyrants were actually fighting an even greater battle?
5
Grim Dawn
Don’t Get Killed Out There
Grim Dawn is among the best RPGs at depicting a post-apocalyptic world where humanity is on the verge of extinction, brought to its knees as otherworldly forces clash across Cairn. Featuring some of the most interesting lore to uncover among loot-focused games, it presents a truly grim world caught between horrifying invaders: Aetherials and their possessed hosts, Chthonian horrors from the Void, and bloodthirsty cultists. Even the gods and their heralds have their own agendas, offering little reassurance to the people caught in the middle.
Everywhere you go in Grim Dawn, you find ruins, desolation, and the remnants of a former civilization. Huge cities have become smoldering battlegrounds, interdimensional portals spill terrors of all shapes and sizes, and mad cultists meddle with forces they barely understand and clearly can’t control. This world feels doomed, and who knows how long it has left? Even your victories don’t neatly solve Cairn’s problems; instead, they offer struggling humanity a little breathing room in what feels like an attempt to delay the inevitable.
4
Remnant 2
To Become One. To Become All. And In Becoming, To End
Continuing from the first game, in which the Root had already devastated Earth, Remnant 2’s post-apocalypse feels both fresh and familiar. The classic desolate atmosphere of Ward 13, one of the small pockets where humanity still hangs on, is just the beginning of a sprawling adventure. Makeshift settlements, scavenged technology, and monsters roaming beyond the few safe refuges create an eerie, unsettling feeling. There’s little of Fallout’s jaunty wasteland charm here. Only the fittest can survive, as the apocalypse takes different forms, all equally deadly.
The most interesting thing about Remnant 2 is how its apocalyptic themes stretch beyond Earth. Across Losomn, N’Erud, and Yaesha, you encounter worlds ravaged by different catastrophes, from a disastrous collision of realms to a civilization’s fatal journey into a black hole and the Root’s relentless invasion. Their inhabitants are warped, infected, consumed, or pushed toward extinction. Melee weapons and scavenged gear coexist with experimental technology and ancient artifacts, creating an unusual blend. Anything goes when the stakes are much bigger than saving Earth: the Root must be stopped before it destroys reality itself.
Click on the game with the higher OpenCritic rating.
3
Dark Souls 3
You’ve Done Quite Enough, Now Have Your Rest
The trendsetter for an entire subgenre, the Dark Souls series firmly established its distinctive feeling of a dying world lying in ruins. Nothing captures that desolation and sense of the end times quite like Dark Souls 3, especially with The Ringed City DLC. The First Flame is fading, the Lords of Cinder have abandoned their thrones, and even the sun turns into a dark eclipse, bleeding darkness into the world. Everything becomes bleaker as you progress. And yes, even Dark Souls 3’s muted color palette strengthens that inescapable feeling of fading, not because FromSoftware saved all the color for Elden Ring.
Most games involving the apocalypse offer some way to stop or avoid it, but Dark Souls 3 makes even that prospect feel hopeless. You can link the First Flame again, yet its feeble response hardly suggests a world restored. Alternatively, you can let the Age of Fire fade or become the Lord of Hollows, fundamentally altering the world’s order without delivering a comforting rescue. Dark Souls 3 is a hard game, but for many, the hardest part is how the series’ endings leave them feeling powerless and depressed like little else out there.
2
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
For Those Who Come After
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is full of rare poetic beauty, and even its end-of-the-world premise reflects that. Its Gommage, which erases people at or above an annually shrinking age threshold, is both terrifying and gorgeous, turning them into red petals in an instant. No one in Lumiere knows why the Paintress does this, and after many failed attempts to stop her, it’s up to Expedition 33 to venture out, find answers, and break the relentless cycle.
Unlike many RPGs centered on an apocalypse that’s either approaching or already happened, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 captures both the looming threat and a world already scarred by catastrophe. Doomsday has followed its main characters their entire lives, and now they’re willing to do whatever it takes to stop it. Powerful moments and unexpected revelations turn things upside down more than once, but it’s hard to forget the dread of encountering the mysterious White-Haired Man or your party’s helplessness when finally reaching the Paintress, only to discover that even your deadliest blows do her no harm. One of Clair Obscur’s greatest strengths is how vividly its characters react to their mission and the odds that keep stacking against them.
1
Mass Effect 3
The Reapers Are Here
Few games deal with the end of the world as thoroughly and convincingly as Mass Effect 3. From its opening moments, when a full-scale Reaper invasion reaches Earth after two games of buildup, you witness their unstoppable power across multiple worlds. Bringing down a single Reaper took everything in the first Mass Effect, so what will it take to stop an entire armada? The clock is ticking as Shepard desperately tries to unite unlikely allies and find a solution, or rather a miracle, to prevent total annihilation while millions die every day.
Mass Effect 3 does a fantastic job of taking you through familiar and new locations, showing how the invasion has upended life across the galaxy. The ongoing war is felt everywhere, with few safe harbors left. Even the galaxy map reflects this, as scanning Reaper-controlled systems risks drawing their attention to the Normandy. From the quiet fear and suffering of ordinary people to large-scale ground operations and battles against colossal foes, Mass Effect 3 delivers it all, standing among the best RPGs focused on the world ending right in front of you.
