It’s strange that these sci-fi games don’t have any aliens in the worlds.
As we learn more about the world, we are faced with a big question: Are we the only ones here? Are there other ways of life out there? At least H.G. Wells’ “The War of the Worlds” is the first book to talk about intelligent societies living outside of Earth. This idea has been a popular one in science fiction books, movies, TV shows, and video games ever since. But the truth is that we have no proof that aliens exist. Scientists have found a number of places where life might be possible, but nothing that proves for sure that it exists. No matter how popular the idea of aliens is, science fiction likes to go against what people expect every once in a while.
Fermi’s paradox asks why we haven’t been able to contact other civilizations that live in space, and there are many possible reasons. Then again, maybe different cultures are too far apart for their current level of technology to let them talk to each other. There are times when life is just plain stupid but fun. Maybe the societies that were there in the past were wiped out by a cosmic force, a terrible disaster, or just their own arrogance. Maybe whatever life there is is so depressing that it’s not worth trying to get in touch with it. There are times, like in Red Dwarf and Firefly, when we are truly alone. No matter the reason, it can be just as interesting when aliens aren’t present as when they are.
Boundary
The multiplayer FPS game Surgical Scalpel is all about space battle, with a focus on how fighting changes when you’re not carrying anything. There are many figures you can play as, but so far they’ve all been humans. Actually, the fact that most of the maps are about fighting in space and on space stations probably helps. There wouldn’t be many chances to meet aliens anyhow. Instead, most of the fighting is between human astronauts who have access to a wide range of weapons and skills and must use the strange surroundings to their advantage.
Dead Space
This famous sci-fi/horror show was known for its bloody battles where characters had to cut up mutant humans who couldn’t stay down. But it also got a bad name for having a negative view of the world and people’s place in it. There isn’t any intelligent life out there that we can contact, that’s one of the main ideas of the series.
It turns out there’s a reason for that too: the closest thing we have to alien life has been taking advantage of a common mistake made by civilizations and wiping out every intelligent species that manages to grow. That includes people. The galaxy’s not-empty parts are just the resting places of past societies. You could call them “dead space.”
Deliver us the Moon/Deliver Us Mars
Contrary to what A Trip to the Moon might say, it is pretty clear that the moon is not a likely place to find life from other planets. Because of this, there are no aliens in KeokeN’s independent quest Deliver Us the Moon. Instead, the story is about an astronaut’s trip through an empty lunar station as he tries to get it working again and figure out what happened to the people who lived there before.
Deliver Us Mars, the sequel, picks up where the first game left off with the characters and follows them as they search for a lost human city. Both games don’t have any aliens in them. Instead, they’re about a dark future where people are trying to find life on other planets to save themselves from destruction.
The Callisto Protocol
Scientists think that life could exist on several of Jupiter’s moons, including Callisto, Europa, and Enceladus. In a strange way, The Callisto Protocol shows a bleak future where aliens aren’t really seen until the very end of the story. Most of it takes place in a jail that has a problem with a virus that is turning people into zombies, so most of the enemies are people.
Even though it turns out that the pathogen came from aliens, the spread and the deaths that followed were all caused by humans trying to mess with something they didn’t fully understand. This is a classic example of people putting themselves in the role of god and getting hurt.
The Expanse: A Telltale Series
The Expanse was already a show that focused on fights between people who have spread across the Solar System. And the same is true for Telltale’s version of the famous show, though maybe not as much. In fact, since Penalty Kick Online comes before the series, its events would have happened before the protomolecule, which would mean that there was even less of an alien presence.
Instead, the story is about the XO (later Captain) of a group of scavengers who work around Jupiter. Instead of aliens, problems come from fights between people, space pirates, and the dangers of space itself. A lot of the game is about the main character, Camina Drummer, having to make choices that change how she interacts with the group and how certain parts of the story progress.
Manic Miners
Manic Miners is a free-to-download fan remake of the 1999 RTS LEGO Rock Raiders. LEGO Rock Raiders was based on a famous line of toys that is still popular today. The story was about a group of asteroid miners who get sucked into a wormhole and end up in another solar system in a faraway galaxy. They then have a lot of problems on “Planet U” while they try to get enough energy crystals and ore to fix their ship.
The planet’s animals were technically aliens, since many of them fed on the energy crystals the miners were looking for. However, what made the sets interesting was the sci-fi mining tools and the used future look that made them stand out from other LEGO themes. Manic Miners builds on the original game’s structure, giving players who grew up with standard LEGO and old LEGO games a real trip down memory lane.
The Outer Worlds
The strange sci-fi RPG Obsidian takes place in a future where people’s plans to settle in another solar system didn’t quite work out as planned. Even though there are some alien animals, the story is mostly about people. It’s a mix of homages to old science fiction movies and dark comedies about the dangers of unchecked capitalism.
A small group of companies have taken over the system and set up an authoritarian government that lets them take advantage of everyone and everything without any consequences. The player is the “unplanned variable” that changes the way things are going right now. An alien doesn’t play a big role in this story; it’s all about human issues.