Video games are uniquely suited among mediums to bring science fiction worlds to life. Being a genre based in ideas and world-building, the immersion offered by games has been used by creators to craft intriguing and iconic sci-fi stories. Big ideas like humanity's relationship with technology, the ethics of augmentation, and the morality of actions in extreme environments can be made more intimate and personal through putting the player in the driver's seat. Or we can just blow through some crazy-looking aliens with big laser guns too. Video games 𒈔are meant to be fun after all.
But while s🏅ome games can pull off the balance of fun and big ideas to create gripping stories and exciting gamepla🍌y experiences, some miss the mark entirely. Maybe the controls are too wonky, maybe the visuals are bland, or maybe the story is just too cliche and boring. The camera will usually be bad too. But whatever the reason, these bad games can't meet their peers when it comes to making both good video games and good sci-fi.
In that spirit, we're going to take a look at both in this list. The good and the bad. We're going to celebrate the games which create new and ♈memorable science fiction stories and put the ones that don't measure up under the microscope to see why their sci-fi stinks. Whether that sci-fi is laser gunning aliens or examining complex issues. These are the 15 Best Sci-Fi Video Games Ever (And 15 That Missed The Mark).
30 ꦗBest🃏: Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic
Ask any Star Wars fan what the best video game in the franchise is, nine out of ten will say Knights of the Old Republic. A sprawling RPG epic, KOTOR as its called took players to the distant past of the Star Wars galaxy to tell a grand story of good and evil. The plot twist at its heart still sends shivers down fans' spines. KOTOR's strength lay in remixing the familiar elements of a Star Wars story to build a new story on a strong 🍸RPG framework. It was what many fans wanted out of a prequel.
29 Worst: M𓆏ass Effect: Andromeda
With the popularity of Mass Effect, it's no surprise that Bioware would plan a spinoff for the franchise. Too bad it didn't quite pan out. Andromeda took players to a whole new galaxy with hundreds of new planets that wouldn't be generated until the player wit there. That was the plan at least, but after five years of development, Bioware couldn't get Andromeda to measure up to that promise. Combined with bad graphical animation and a muddled story, fans reacted to it with disappointment. No sequel is planned at this time, possibly ending the Mass Effect brand.
28 Best: Deus Ex: Hum꧒an Revolutꦍion
If Blade Runner is the most cyberpunk movie, then Deus Ex: Human Revolution is the most cyberpunk video game. It has all the hallmarks of the subgenre of sci-fi; megacorporations, hackers, and that particular Philip K. Dick question of the line between human and robot. On the gameplay front, its mix of role-playing game, fiܫrst-person shooter, and stealth elements created a unique experience that brought players into its engrossing if archetypal world. The story of Adam Jensen and its themes of transhumanism rang true in our increasingly digital world.
27 Worst: S𒐪tar Trek (2013)
Movie tie-in games are almost universally terrible. Cheap, quick cash-ins made to ride on the movie's name. They get even worse when connected to such a storied sci-fi property like Star Trek. Made to coincide with the equally terrible Star Trek Into Darkness, Star Trek (2013) was bad even for a tie-in. Plagued by hacking mini-games and badly implemented co-op, this game reduced one of the most thoughtful franchises in sci-fi to a boilerplate cover shooter. Players had the option of playing as either Kirk or Spock, but in single player, the computer controls the other൲ character. And the computer controls about as well as a broken golf cart.
26 ꦍ Best: X-COM: Enemy Unknown
The alien invasion is a central story in the sci-fi genre and many games have used it as a backdrop. What makes X-COM special is that it portrayed an alien invasion in the present day from a tactical point of view. An updating of a classic PC game, Enemy Unknown brought its turn-based tactical gameplay into the 21st century. Not only do you lead troops into battle but you also manage resources, create new weapons, and plan strategies on a global scale. This is the game to play if you want to act out the fantasy of supreme ꦍcommander fighting off the alien invasion.
25 ♏ Worst: Perfect Dark Zero 🅘
Perfect Dark was a seminal game for the Nintendo 64. Developed by the same team behind Goldeneye, it was a unique shooter that built on that legendary title with a bran𝔍d new story. Anticipation was high for a sequel over the 5 years of development.
But when Perfect Dark Zero was released in 2005, the results were disappointing.
Time had passed the series by. The gameplay was stuck in the previous generation and the enemy AI was bad. But worst of all, the setting that was so unique on theꦍ N64 was cliched oꦬn the Xbox.
24 Best: EVE Onli𝐆💙ne
Sci-fi wouldn't be sci-fi without spaceships and EVE Online is all about spaceships. An MMORPG with a major emphasis on the exploration of space, EVE is notable for hosting all of its players on the same mega-server. It's hard to beat when to comes to size. Thousands of players have come together in EVE, building huge fleets and conquering the stars through the game's meticulous management system. It's also unique in that the best stories come not from the game's narrative but from the machinations of the community itself. If you're looking to found your own Galactic Empire, with all the bureaucracy that entails, EVE Online is your game.
23 𓆏 Worst: The Thing (𝕴2002)
Based on John Carpenter's classic 1982 sci-fi/horror classic, The Thing video game couldn't miss what made that movie great more if it tried. Set up a𒁏s a sequel to the movie, its first mistake, what starts as a decent experience soon devolves ✨into another generic survival horror game. Gone is the mystery and paranoia of the monster, replaced by generic guards and boring monsters. Some elements of the original movie survive but they're buried under lame shootouts and bad graphics. Why they made this 20 years after the fact, I'll never know.
22 🅷 Best: Space Invaders
Science Fiction has been with video games since the beginning. This is all the proof you need. While light on themes or story, Space Invaders did have simple to learn yet impossible to master gameplay th🍰at marked the best of the old arcade cabinets.
The game also had a huge impact in popular culture.
It was one of the first video games the mainstream took notice, due to its ubiquity in bowling alleys and pizza parlors. Space Invaders' simplistic alien invasion may🌞 not have rich or complex but it paved the way for all the great sci-fi games to come.
21 𝄹 ✤ Worst: E.T The Video Game
Few games are so bad that they nearly destroy an entire industry. E.T. The Video Game is one such game. A bad adaptation of the classic 1982 film for the Atari 2600, E.T. has become infamous for its bad🍷 control🌠s and lousy gameplay.
But what cemented its legendarily awful status is what it did to the games industry.
Atari made 15 million copies of E.T. but word got out about the ga💝me's near-unpla꧒yability and stores all canceled their orders. Along with other bad games not selling, the market nearly collapsed.