Mad Max is one of the most legendary video games set in a post-apocalyptic world.
It takes inspiration from the Australian action film series and media franchise of the same name. In the game, you play a highway patrol officer who becomes a survivalist as he roams around a desert wasteland and tries to construct a vehicle called the Magnum Opus.
If you’ve played Mad Max before, you’ll know that it’s an immersive, open-world title with some of the best vehicular combat and exploration gameplay around. It captures the gritty aesthetic of the original franchise perfectly.
We’ve searched high and low to bring you the best of the best if you’re a Mad Max fan looking for more. Here are the best 8 games like Mad Max.
Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden
Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden is a tactical RPG from the team at The Bearded Ladies and it came out in 2018. Road to Eden came out in 2018 and is available for Windows, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation 4.
The game takes inspiration from a tabletop role-playing game called Mutant Year Zero
The game is set in a post-apocalyptic world. The Earth went through many things that led to it becoming a wasteland, including a lethal pandemic and extreme climate change. To top it off, there was another world war with nuclear weapons. Following all of these events, humans have become nearly extinct.
Some of the humans that survived these global catastrophes became mutants due to nuclear fallout. Others became ghouls, stuck worshiping the old world civilization. However, ghouls have become extremely violent and out of touch with reality.
You have to scavenge the resources you find in the wasteland to survive. But it’s too dangerous to go alone, so you must recruit some companions. The game is a tactical adventure and it features turn-based tactics. It puts a heavy focus on exploration.
Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden has got a lot of praise for its graphics, which makes sense since former designers of Hitman and Payday are part of the development team that made it. Fans of games like Mad Max will love the overall aesthetic.
Rage
Rage is one of the most notable games set in a post-apocalyptic world. Just like Mad Max, it includes vehicular combat gameplay. Rage came out on iOS initially before being made available for Windows, Xbox 360, OS X, and PlayStation 3.
In case you’re looking for an extremely similar game to Mad Max with regards to both the in-game environments and gameplay in general, Rage is the perfect video game for you.
Unlike most games set in a post-apocalyptic environment, the global devastation in Rage isn’t the result of a nuclear war. Instead, a massive asteroid crashes into Earth which has catastrophic consequences for the whole planet. The wasteland becomes full of mutants and bandit gangs and you need to fight for your survival.
Rage consists of FPS elements and driving segments. There are different events you can take part in if you really enjoy driving such as checkpoint rallies and races. Be careful though, because there are weapons at some races and you’ll have to fight for your life to win.
Apart from the fun combat mechanics, Rage provides you with a world worth exploring. You get a chance to see beautiful environments, talk with unique characters, and go on plenty of side quests.
Metro Exodus
Metro Exodus came out in 2019 and got very positive reviews from both critics and players. It represents the third entry in the Metro trilogy. If you haven’t played the first two parts, you could check them out first. But this is only optional, considering that most people view this entry as the best game in the trilogy.
The game came out in 2019 for Windows, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. Versions for Stadia, Linux, Luna, and macOS came out sometime after. Metro Exodus was a commercial success as it sold more than six million copies.
The story in Metro Exodus takes place 25 years after a nuclear war. Most of the global population is long gone and the ones that survived have adapted to life in the tunnels of the metro. You play a survivor in the former Russian Federation who must navigate the dangerous world filled with hostile humans and mutated creatures.
All three Metro games take inspiration from novels of the same name written by Dmitry Glukhovsky. In Metro Exodus, you will set out on a journey to find new life in the East. You’ll do this by boarding a modified steam locomotive. As you go on your adventure, you will encounter many beautifully-designed scenes in the post-apocalyptic wilderness.
Be prepared to engage in combat often. You will have to use your arsenal of hand-made weapons to defeat all enemies. The decisions you make in the game will have an effect on how the story develops.
If you want, you can check out more games like Metro Exodus. It’s a fantastic pick for fans of games like Mad Max.
The Surge
The Surge came out in 2017 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Windows.
It’s an action RPG from the team at Deck13 Interactive and is described as a spiritual successor to Lords of the Fallen. The Surge takes inspiration from the old-school fighting game Rise of the Robots and RPGs like Dark Souls. The Dark Souls inspiration is evident considering how challenging the quests are.
The story of The Surge takes place in a dystopian future where the rapid improvement of technology has led to the downfall of humanity. You play a character named Warren who gets a job for one of the largest tech conglomerates on the planet. This company makes everything from simple appliances to the most advanced exoskeletons.
Warren is in a wheelchair and wants to implement an exoskeleton made by CREO. After he wakes up from the surgery, Warren sees the CREO facility he was at is in complete ruins and drones are attacking the personnel. From there, the story gets crazy and you’ll have to play the game to experience it.
The Surge is a very underrated video game that fans of games like Mad Max will love.
It’s worth noting that the story isn’t the best thing about the game but rather its combat mechanics. If you’re into games similar to both Mad Max and Dark Souls, then this is the perfect one for you. Players have various weapons they can use to fight off everything from small drones to huge robots.
Borderlands
Borderlands is a video game that combines action RPG gameplay with first-person shooter elements. The game came out in late October 2009 and sold more than two million copies by the end of the year, making it a commercial success. It also received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics after its release and is considered by some to be among the best games ever made.
The story of Borderlands takes place in a world where huge corporations take control of planets so that they can use them for their resources. During one of these missions, the Atlas Corporation discovers an ancient vault built by aliens that contain advanced weaponry.
With access to advanced alien weapons, Atlas quickly takes over the competition. They start searching for other similar vaults but fail to find any and stop looking. Groups called the vault hunters don’t give up the search but instead travel to the planet Pandora to find a vault with alien tech. That’s where you come into play.
Borderlands is essentially a role-playing shooter. You have an option to choose from four different characters when you start the game. There is a huge in-game world to explore and going through the dangerous environment is a lot of fun when you have many cool weapons at your disposal.
The game is available for Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Mac OS X, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.
Fallout 4
Fallout 4 was one of the most anticipated games of 2015. It came out seven years after the third entry in the series. The game comes from the team at Bethesda Game Studios and is available on Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
The events in the game take place ten years after the story in Fallout 3. If you never played a Fallout game before, you won’t necessarily know what happened prior to the events in Fallout 4. The main story is that a world war fought with nuclear weapons led to a global catastrophe. Most people are now ghouls or mutants.
The only survivors who are still human and healthy were born and raised in underground vaults. Countless years have passed since the opening of these vaults.
There are plenty of skills you can boost for your character in Fallout 4. Whether you want to hone your combat skills or improve your speech so you can be more persuasive when talking with other characters is completely up to you.
Fallout 4 features an incredibly advanced crafting system. As you collect items by wandering through the wasteland, you’ll be able to craft thousands of items. You can also upgrade various items, including weapons and armor. The game features some classic items from the previous releases in the series, such as a personal computing device called the Pip-Boy.
If you like the detail and immersion that games like Mad Max offer, you’re sure to get a kick out of Fallout 4. It might be worth checking out the other Fallout games, too.
Rust
Most of the games on this list have only a single-player mode. But now we’ll talk about a game that only has a multiplayer mode.
Rust is a survival video game where you need to manage your health, hunger, and thirst in order to avoid death. It takes the survival elements notable in post-apocalyptic games like Mad Max and takes it to a whole new level with its multiplayer-only gameplay.
Rust was in early access for five years before its official release in 2018. A year before the release, Rust sold more than five million copies and only became more popular after the full game came out. It comes from the teams at Double Eleven and Facepunch Studios. You can play Rust on Windows, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and macOS.
Other than the fact that players need to keep an eye out on their thirst and hunger levels at all times, they have to also watch out for hostile threats. Everything from the wildlife to other players to the environment itself will try to kill you. But you have to survive.
The game starts on a mysterious island where you wake up with only a torch and a rock. You need to use what you have to build a shelter, gather resources, find food, and then explore the island.
You have the option to choose how you’ll play the game. Will you focus on trading with other players to get what you need or will you rob and kill them? It’s up to you. Rust is one of the most impressive survival games on Steam.
State of Decay 2
In this article, you’ve heard about games set in a post-apocalyptic world following everything from nuclear war to an asteroid impact. But this list wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t include a zombie apocalypse story. State of Decay 2 is an open-world survival-fantasy game in which a small group of survivors needs to rebuild society while facing a huge threat.
State of Decay 2 comes from the team at Undead Labs. It came out in 2018 and is available for Xbox One and Windows. There is both a single-player and multiplayer mode. It is a direct sequel to State of Decay, which came out five years earlier.
In the game, you’ll have to fight both hostile humans who want to claim your territory and violent zombies. You have to use knives, guns, and any other weapons you find to protect yourself.
You will control multiple characters in State of Decay 2, but only one at a time. Each character you control will have its own sets of flaws and advantages.
There are many different missions you’ll need to go on to ensure your group survives. This includes everything from building your base to managing your resources. The resources you’ll have to manage include ammo, food, construction materials, and medicine. Death is permanent in the game so make sure you protect your characters at all costs.
This is one of the best zombie games on Steam, and fans of games like Mad Max are sure to fall in love with it.
