20 Greatest Sci-Fi Video Games Of All-Time

We play games to escape from the stress of contemporary society with its commutes, phone bills and income tax, so it seems only natural that a destination of escape favoured by many gamers should be a sci-fi universe. With their hordes of aliens, advanced robots, scintillating spacecraft and arsenals of formidable weapons, it comes as no surprise that we should want to get away to these universes which are so unlike our own for a few hours. It is fascinating to see what has become of humanity in the minds of sci-fi games€™ developers. Have we progressed to some enlightened state where technological advancements have allowed us to thrive or have we devolved into a species struggling to survive against a powerful alien life form? The best sci-fi games featured on this list often feature human characters which bare similar character traits to those shown by our species today €“ there seems to be some kind of inherently human quality which means we aren€™t so different many years into the future. It must be said that generally speaking most developers have a pessimistic view of humanity€™s future €“ we are always shown as being involved in some kind of conflict (this is necessary as we need an excuse to use all those amazing guns of science-fiction). Here are the 20 finest games to have ever taken us into the future and made us wish we could stay there (even if we had to spend every hour shooting the life out of an alien swarm):

20. Dune II

Based on the David Lynch film adaptation of Frank Herbert€™s novel, Dune II follows the aftermath of Frederick IV€™s challenge to the three Houses that whichever faction can amass the greatest quantity of the drug melange (or €˜the spice€™) will be rewarded with the desert world of Arrakis. Though we might dispute how desirable a prize the barren Arrakis is, there can be no questioning the quality of Westwood Studio€™s seminal RTS game. The engrossing world of Herbert€™s novel provides a compelling premise for the strategic management of elite, futuristic soldiers and vehicles that Dune II centres on, as you attempted to force your will on the other two houses. The other spice-obsessed factions aren€™t your only problem though €“ as you send out your harvester to gather the melange, you must be wary of Arrakis€™ marauding sandworms that can swallow the vehicle your entire economy is based on in an instant. Dune II introduced the unique combination of mouse-controlled military micromanagement, a resource gathering economic model and a fog-of-war which would go on to influence other classic sci-fi RTS games like Total Annihilation, Starcraft and Homeworld.