10 Incredible Open-Worlds WASTED On Disappointing Video Games

6. Post-Apocalyptic Earth - Rage

Rage 2009
Bethesda

The gaming world is not in need of any more post-apocalyptic open world games. By now the setting is about as overdone as zombies are as enemies (which does not bode well for the upcoming Days Gone, which boasts both of these are core features), but back in 2011, it was a rarity.

Sure, you had Fallout 3 opting for a semi-realistic version of a bombed-out Washington DC, but there was little else in the AAA space. In came Id Software's Rage, a first-person shooter set in a post-apocalyptic vision of Earth that had been destroyed after colliding with an asteroid. The design itself was more alien than realistic, focused on scorched deserts and shantytown outposts. To say it was very Mad Max influenced would be an understatement.

But Rage did a great job of making this sandbox feel like a place where humanity was actually trying to rebuild. Sure, it looked a little bit like Mad Max by way of a non-cell-shaded Borderlands, but that didn't matter because the developers made you believe this place could actually exist. It's just a shame the shooting itself was completely lifeless.

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Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.