9 Times Gaming Was Too Real

1. Horizon Zero Dawn's Impossible Question

One of my all-time favourite philosophical questions any game has ever proposed, Horizon Zero Dawn dives head-first into the quandary that is history being written by the victor, and repeating the mistakes of the past.

Coming towards the close of the game when you're chasing after the pre-apocalyptic actions of one Ted Faro and his company of murderous robots, it's accepted amongst those planning for the future, that there should be some record of everything that went before.

The crux of Zero Dawn's world being mostly devoid of human life comes from a whole ton of scientists perishing over time underground, but leaving systems and archives in place, so the Earth could be repopulated again.

Said archives would be made up of everything from humanity's historical records to how buildings are constructed and financial transactions work.

Only... in the moment where this plan is being put in motion, project lead Ted Faro chooses to delete everything that came before, dooming the emerging humans to a life without information on their own species.

Why? Because Faro thinks that by including all these things, he's instead providing a rulebook on how to doom the Earth all over again.

Think about it: Would you provide information on Agent Orange, the nuclear bomb or any catastrophic event, assuming humanity would learn from its mistakes... or have you only planted the idea in their heads?

How much can you really trust human nature as a force for good, or do we all need saving from ourselves?