Games where you are the last survivor

Horror movies have nailed this concept. Most horror movies begin with a group of survivors who find themselves in dire situations, and one by one they die until only one person is left alive, usually a woman. Not all survival scenarios end this way, and this also applies to horror games.

Other settings may involve the concept of a lone survivor, as it does not have to literally mean that a character is left to survive in an empty world. They may be the last presumed of their kind, as in Hollow Knightor the world can be broken down as in Loop Hero. Be that as it may, these games have interesting survival situations in a wide range of genres.

Dead Space requires the ending to be spoiled, but everything else is spoiler-free.

Ball X Pit

Pinball Heroes

Ball X Pit begins with the funny name Ballbylon, a play on the fall of the historical Babylon, when it sinks to the ground. Players will start as survivors who can go down into the depths to fight monsters, collect materials and blueprints to rebuild the city one house at a time. The city builder aspects are minimal, but worthwhile as they give characters that unlock more passive bonuses.

There's no mission-based or dialogue dynamic between the unlocked characters or citizens, but that's all for the better because the ball-based roguelike gameplay is awesome, like a more RPG-infused pinball game. The lack of a real story also adds to the isolating atmosphere of players just trying to survive in a broken world.

Dark cloud

Toan and me

The original Dark cloud was Level-5's first game, and it opened with a cult resurrecting a dark spirit that wipes out almost an entire city, including buildings and people. The hero, Toan, who reminds a lot of Link from Zelda series, is the remaining warrior who can rebuild things.

There is a dungeon nearby where spirit encapsulated materials and NPCs in spheres. By fighting monsters and collecting these spheres, players could use them to rebuild the city, which worked well as an early PS2 game. Players also unlocked new heroes besides Toan, like Goro, who has a large hammer, over time, and it was an overall great first effort from Level-5 as an action RPG with building mechanics.

Dead Space

The first scream king

Dead Space is a different example of a survival game, as it is a literal survival horror game set in space. The main character, Isaac Clarke, is an engineer who accompanied a small crew to investigate a space colony, the USG Ishimura, after it went dark some time ago. On board, they discover that the crew has either been torn apart or turned into undead aliens known as Necromorphs.

One by one, the crew is violently dismembered or killed in multiple ways, with Isaac being the lone survivor in the end, essentially making him the scream queen of nightmares. Armed with all sorts of weapons, this original and the remake are still great examples of what the horror genre can do in gaming.

Dragon Quest Builders

A dark alternate ending

Dragon Quest Builders is an alternate reality game that takes the bad ending from the very first game and imagines the events, aka the end of the world. With the world destroyed, players wake up as a mythical hero known as a builder who has the power to repair everything. In each chapter, players will be presented with a town or area that they must fix, with some NPC survivors as well, asking for certain favors.

Players will level up in each area, but after moving between chapters, things reset again. It's an odd leveling system for one Dragon Quest game, but the building mechanics are very intuitive, as it is very similar to Minecraft, only with much better graphics and a more engaging story and quest system.

Dynasty Warriors: Origins

Wander no more

Dynasty Warriors: Origins is a semi-reboot of the franchise, focusing on an original character instead of one of the many figures from Chinese history. The character is known as The Wanderer, and their tribe was wiped out long ago. With no home to call his own, this silent protagonist chooses to ally himself with neighboring nations who are all trying to conquer China for themselves.

Players can make choices about who they support, which will change the story and also lead to new information about what happens to their home. Like everyone Dynasty Warriors game, players can expect plenty of action as they kill literally hundreds of enemies on each map with a wide variety of weapons and skills.

Hollow Knight: Silk Song

The Weaver's Call

Hollow Knight and Hollow Knight: Silk Song are both examples of stories that follow lone survivors from the homeland, but Hollow Knight: Silk Song has the advantage of the Hornet, who can talk unlike The Knight from the first game. The Hornet is a rare species of insect known as a Weaver, and in this new kingdom she will, against her will, reveal more about her Weaver culture and origins.

The religious cult that surrounds this kingdom is fascinating, with Team Cherry proving to be weavers as well in how they manage to world-build. Beyond the story, this 2D Metroidvania looks great as a hand-drawn game, and it plays well too, with impeccable response time between platforming and combat. No one could have asked for a better sequel.

The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild

Stand up Sir Link

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has one of the darkest openings to a Zelda game, when Link wakes up in a futuristic tomb only to find that Hyrule has been ravaged. He was put to sleep a hundred years ago to one day rise and become the hero to destroy Calamity Ganon once and for all. Most of the people Link knew when he was a soldier are now dead or incredibly old and too weak to fight.

Hyrule still has pockets of civilization left waiting for the hero to return, and through exploration, players can launch Link to get to where he needs to be. As an open world game, there's nothing better The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wildbecause it gives players real freedom in a wonderful post-apocalypse.

Loop Hero

And Around We Go

Loop Hero is another roguelike where the world is destroyed with only one hero left to sort things out. In each run, the map resets and players can determine their route by placing different things around, such as rocks and trees, which will attract different enemy types.

Combat is turn-based, but everything is automatic. A typical loop can last anywhere from ten to fifteen minutes, or even longer, depending on the luck of the draw. Since the game is so simple and easy to understand, Loop Hero may be one of the hardest roguelikes to put down.