What Books/Movies/Games are Fallout-ish? (Post Apocalyptic Related)

[Skree000]

Does anyone have any cool books/movies or games that are Post Apocalyptic in nature or deal with wasteland survival in general?

EDITED: Compiled complete list of everyones Books/Movies/games so far! Keep em coming!

 

 

BOOKS:

 

Unforsaken Hiero (by Sterling E Lanier)

Hieros Journey (by Sterling E Lanier)

a 2 part novel series from the 80s revolving around a character named Hiero and his trek through the radioactive wasteland, 5000 years after a massive nuclear holocaust...

 

The Chrysalids (by John Wyndham)

Its about post apocalyptic survival in a frontier village on the brink of radioactive badlands. THe community rabidly exterminates any signs of mutation and has almost created their own religion around the purification of mutations from the gene pool. "All newborn babies must have only 5 fingers and 5 toes, 2 arms and 2 legs, ... etc"

From the perspective of a young adult growing up in the community, as they grow up they eventually try to leave and explore what lies beyond the wastes! Tales of desolation and radioactive horrors trickle in from surrounding communities...

 

Roadside Picnic (by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky)

A classic.. (needs more info)

(supposedly what the game STALKER is based on)

 

A Canticle for Leibowitz (by Walter M. Miller Jr.)

a really good post apocalyptic sci-fi book. It's about a catholic monk hiding technology after much of it is destroyed by mobs angry at technology for WW3's heavy destruction. I think the whole idea of The Brotherhood of Steel is kind of an homage to the book of sorts.

 

The Dark Tower (series) (by Stephen King)

You don't get much more post-apocalyptic than this. Seven novels of pure awesome.

 

Rifts (need Author)an apocalyptic war that killed so many people at once, the massive departure of souls from the planet ripped open space and time rifts and pretty much collided many dimensions together

it's practically a checklist for fallout:

Republicans with power armor, check.

Crazy drug addicted wasteland warriors, check.

A total disregard for "lore" when it gets in the way of Awesome, check.

An economy based on killing things and taking their stuff, check.

 

Gamma World

(need author/more info)

 

2000AD (Comic Series) (involving The Cursed Earth.)

(need author(s)/more info)

Fallout is so open to relive some classic 200AD story lines. Strontium Dog or The Angel Gang?

 

Go Go Girls of the Apocalypse (by Victor Gischler)

if you want a book with a half decent fallout vibe, It's a fun read

 

Kadavermarch (Danish book)

(need author/more info)

I don't know if it's available in any other language, but Danish; but it is basically a Zombie book, but very post-apok.

 

World war Z its a zombie apocolypse book, its split into different acounts of people from round the world, from the outbreak to how the militery handel it ect. its worth a read

 

 

Akira (Manga)

Not the movie, really (Although it does takeplace 30 years after World War III), but the manga very much is. The Manga is 6 volumes, at roughly 300-400 pages each.

*SPOILERS*

At the end of the third volume, Akira awakens and destroys the city, and the remaining three volumes take place in a super-city wasteland.

 

 

 

The Road (by Cormack McCarthy). Extremely gritty post apocalyptic novel. (The road is a really good post apocalyptic book. Its being made into a movie.)

 

The Ashes (by William Johnstone.)

(need info)

 

Prayers for the Assassin (by Robert Ferrigno) Not a really good book, and too religious to fit the bill, is amusing, nonetheless.

 

The Stand. (by Stephen King?)

 

The Long Walk (need author/info)

 

Trucks (need author/info)

 

Starship Troopers (by Robert A. Heinlein) reakin' great and should be read by all. Nothing whatsoever to do with the movie, they are worlds apart.

Power armor and mini-nukes make it fallout-ish...

 

Farnham's Freehold (need author/info)

 

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (need author/info)

 

Sixth Column (AKA The Day After Tomorrow) (need author/info)

 

The Survivalist (series) (by Jerry Ahern) They tell the story of John Rourke an american black opps agent who survives WWIII along with his friends and family.

He deals with soviet invaders, survives the ionization of earth's atmosphere and beyond.

 

Planet of the Apes

Beneath Planet of the Apes

Battle for Planet of the Apes (need author/info) Get your hands off me you, Dirty Ape! He can talk he can talk! Dr Zaius, Dr Zaius! (sings)

 

Logan's Run (need author/info)

 

Starman (by Andre Norton) about a young woman who is living hundreds of years after a apocalyptic event. She leaves her village and explores the land and a ruined city which might have been Washington DC. I remember there were ghoul type critters in the city, and she had the company of a empathic big cat of some sort. Turns out the starman reference is to the star-like badge that sheriffs use today, and in this post-apocalyptic world the badges represent people who travel and learn about the old world.

 

Judge Dredd (Comic) plenty of wasteland-type elements

 

Deathlands (by James Axler) The Deathlands series deals with a group of people traveling around a blasted landscape 100 years after a nuc war. They deal with mutants, insane Barons who run the small settlements, and their sec men who give them grief. Most of the time they "fast travel" via mat-trans units located in abandoned government redoubts. There are a lot of similarities with Fallout.

 

Outlanders(Series) (by James Axler) The Outlanders series takes place 100 years later and is less like Fallout (dealing with aliens who instigated the war and run the world, still there are some similiar themes. Check out the Deathlands books you'll see what I mean.

 

War of the Worlds (book) Although not Post-Apocalyptic, War Of the Worlds and, to varying degrees, the many films and comic books based upon it all have the "Lone Wanderer" feeling to them.

 

Z for Zachariah (need author) neat little novel about a girl who lives in a secluded valley that due to its geography shelters her from the nuclear radiation blowing in the winds across the globe.day by day people from her village leave the valley to find out what happened in the world outside, and never return....really spooky tale, and she has a hunting rifle too!

 

Day of the Triffids (by John Wyndham) inwhich a comet crashes to earth blinding almost everyone, and spawns massive man-eating mobile plants that hunt down the blinded humans like prey.

 

Alas, Babylon (by Pat Frank) deals with the aftermath of a nuclear war in a small Florida town. More or less what you'd expect, but very well written and intensely realistic.

 

The Tripod Trilogy (by John Christopher) is set some hundreds of years after an alien invasion reduced human civilization to a mind-controlled society with pre-industrial revolution technology. The humans ascend to an entirely unforgettable level of awesome with the means they use to secure victory.

 

No Blade of Grass, (by John Christopher), follows a family attempting to escape London after a germ-induced famine leads to total societal collapse.

 

Wolf in Shadow (by David Gemmell) . He's written several Jon Shannow books but I think thats the firtst. But I suspect the list is almost endless.

 

Earth Abides (need author/info)

 

 

 

TV & MOVIES:

 

well... we've all seen em... so here goes, a list of Post apocalyptic movies Ive seen! :)

 

28days later

28weeks later (these two movies are awesome. Zombie-virus called 'Rage' rips England apart. The first film depicts the struggle to survive/escape. The second depicts the struggle to return and re-settle... then survive and escape again. This series has a really good soundtrack. Zombies also run really fast, and are 19% scarier than other film-zombies. Nothing beats seeing your family members turn into zombies in 9 seconds because the virus gestates that quickly :) (Second film has more of a post-apocalyptic feel, and lots more shooting of zombies. Boom headshot!)

 

Road Warrior (series) The Road Warrior (1981): Max is travelling in a post apocalypse Australia where Gasoline is the most valuable commodity. He becomes involved in a struggle between bandits and a town that has build defenses around a small refinery. (Mel Gibson's career launching epic series. The first of the three films is widely accepted as the best, although some do like the second. (Tina turner kind of ruins the third one). This series follows a lone man and his dog surviving in the Australian wasteland after WW3. This series gave inspiration to most of the Fallout series. He also wears a leather jacket with only 1 sleeve.

 

Waterworld (Kevin Costner plays a mysterious nomadic man sailing the oceans on a raft alone. The world was buried under vast oceans after the icecaps melted, and he possesses some strange ability to hold his breath and swim down to the very bottom of the seas to reclaim soil, now a rare commodity, since there is no more dry land. He also drinks his own urine right at the beginning! :) (Before Titanic this was the most expensive film ever made) (and arguably well worth the money!)

 

I am Legend (Will smiths career continues in this post-apoc flick about a lonesome man, his dog, and his brand new ford Mustang... trying to survive in zombie-virus-ridden NYC. It appears to be 50% product placement for ford, and 50% a modern remake of Omega man, with less pasty albinos, and more scary hairless zombie-lookin things.)

 

Reign of Fire (a look at what would happen if ancient Dragons were awoken in modern day London, and the apocalyptic-scale devastation that occurs. Lots of cool scenes showing destroyed and devastated england, and a guy leaping through the air with an axe trying to chop a dragon in the face.

 

Resident Evil: Extinction (a purely unique Resident evil movie, much unlike the others. This one features a ragtag band of desert mostly young, attractive survivalists trying to survive the harsh climates... and hordes of zombies. Lots of homages to mad-max here with pimped out mack trucks and dunebuggies. Nothing beats zombies that come shipped in sea-containers.

 

The Day After (1983): A graphic, disturbing film about the effects of a devastating nuclear holocaust on small-town residents of eastern Kansas. (Old movie documenting the panic, preparations and inevitable devastation occuring when America gets nuked. Remember to stack those sandbags high around your basement windows!)

 

The Day After Tomorrow (More apocalyptic, less post-apocalyptic. A new ice-age rages across the planet, countries dissolve as humanity tries to survive)

 

Terminator Series (esp. Salvation) (The survivalist-scenes of Sarah Connor in the desert and the nuclear devastation of LA are the best parts of these films. Salvation should be good (we hope), as long as nobody trashes Christian Bale's lights.

 

Jericho (Tv show about a small american town enduring a nuclear war and its aftermath. 2nd season ended abruptly since it started depicting the efforts to re-organize the broken-american union, as travelling politicians made their influence known across the shattered states. (supposedly it shone a negative light on the political race that was happening in the states at the very same time in real life, at the same time as it was airing so it got canned quickly)

 

The Postman (w. Kevin Costner is again in a post-apocalyptic world, this time delivering the mail like some kind of mail-delivering bounty-hunter man, riding a horse.

 

A Boy and His Dog (1975): A post-apocalyptic tale based on a novella by Harlan Ellison. A boy communicates telepathically with his dog as they scavenge for food and sex, and they stumble into an underground society where the old society is preserved.

 

Konec srpna v Hotelu Ozon/The End of August at the Hotel Ozone (1967): A Czech movie filmed on a Warsaw Pact training range. A wizened female survivor of the apocalypse leads 7 young women gone feral on a scavenging journey through the wasteland. The come across the Hotel Ozone, where we discover the greatest loss was their humanity.

 

Ever Since the World Ended (2001): Twelve years ago, a plague swept through, wiping out most of the population; in San Francisco, only 186 people remain...a low budget pseudo documentary.

 

Le Dernier Combat/The Last Combat (1983): In the post-apocalyptic future, only a few humans are left. No one is able to speak; the film contains no dialogue, and characters communicate non-verbally. A determined loner befriends a reclusive older man and these two battle against vicious thugs for food, shelter and life itself. An early film by Luc Besson with Jean Reno (Leon: the Professional).

 

Pisma Myortvogo Cheloveka/Letters from a Dead Man (1986): The world after the nuclear apocalypse. Pale light lits the scenery of total destruction. The surviving humans vegetate in wet cellars under the nuclear winter. But somehow human spirit still sees somewhere the dim light of a new and better future.

 

On the Beach (1959): A US submarine is on patrol when the Northern Hemisphere is destroyed by nuclear war. They land in Melbourne, Australia where they live with the rest of the city which has less than 12 months to live. They travel back to the west cost of the US and witness the holocaust.

 

The Quiet Earth (1985): A man wakes up to find himself literally alone in the world, and goes about trying to find other survivors, as well as to find out what happened. He suspects that a government research project he was involved in had something to do with the disappearance of everyone.

 

Le Temps du Loup/Time of the Wolf (2003): Immediately before a global catyclysm, Anna and her family arrive at their holiday home in the countryside only to find it is occupied by a group of complete strangers. This confrontation is just the beginning of a painful learning process, as they discover that nothing will ever be the same again.

 

Testament (1983): Nuclear war in the United States is portrayed in a realistic and believable manner. The story is told through the eyes of a woman who is struggling to take care of her family. The entire movie takes place in a small suburban town outside San Francisco. After the nuclear attack, contact with the outside world is pretty much cut off.

 

 

Threads (1984): Documentary style account of a nuclear holocaust and its effect on the working class city of Sheffield, England; and the eventual long run affects of nuclear war on civilization.

 

Futurama ( kind of fits the bill, even though it's not specifically a post-apocalyptic world. Sure, there's been like 6 or 7 apocalypses - but they didn't really seem to matter all that much. But it's a world where things don't work by science, but by... SCIENCE! The giant mutant ants, glowing zombies, ray guns, nuclear soda, and clanking power armor could have come straight out of any episode.)

 

Living Dead movie-series; George A. Romero's zombie-cavalcade, gory and very post-apok. Well worth your time.

 

Six String Samurai "Only one man could kill this many Russians." Cheesy as hell, but Fallout seems to have drawn 1 or 2 inspirations from it.

 

The Omega Man Charlton Heston is the last man alive... or is he? A real classic that defined the genre. Sadly many scary albino hippie zombies crash his party!

 

Blast from the Past w/ Brendon Frasier. It is a comedy, but really has the FO3 theme going for the first half.

 

Children of Men (I think this is the one where no more males are born... or no more babies, or something.) a sorf of Post Apocalyptic movie

 

Doomsday (2008) (a gorey bloody homage to every post apocalyptic movie made to date. Really fun car chase, mad-max-esque. Chick in leather kicking raider ass.

Its basically Escape from NY + 28 days later + Road Warrior + Aeon Flux + Underworld + James Bond.... if you can imagine that..

 

The Survivors (TV Series, 1970s) where approx. 1 in a million people survived a virus that got spread all over the world.

 

Tank Girl a silly movie, but civilization has essentially fallen apart from a world wide mega-drought.

 

Judge Dredd plenty of wasteland-type elements

 

Defcon 4 (is another old schooll ,and similar to fallout as have the "mutants" whoo are very similar to the ferals ghouls of the game.)

 

War of the Worlds (film(s)) Although not Post-Apocalyptic, War Of the Worlds and, to varying degrees, the many films and comic books based upon it all have the "Lone Wanderer" feeling to them.

 

Outer Limits (various episodes) (need episode #'s/names) There was one outer limits episode about some kind of Solar incident happening on the other side of the globe, since its nighttime where they are, they were trying to decide if the sun went nova or if it was intense solar radiation burst due to massive solar flares... But if the sun went nova, it wouldnt take long for the explosion to consume the earth.. not post, but pre-apocalyptic.

 

Twilight Zone (Various episodes) (need episode #'s/names)A ton of the Twilight Zone episodes dealing with the Atomic Bomb have fallout-ish feelings.

There is, of course, "Time Enough at Last", where Burgess Meredith comes out of a bank vault to find that everybody has died after a H-Bomb hit the city. At first he's all bummed (obviously) but then he realizes he can finally catch up on all of his reading. You know what happens then, even if you haven't seen the episode.

But even better and more fallout-ish is the classic "Old Man in The Cave". A town is only able to survive after the war because of a "Old Man" in the cave giving them info on fallout, radiation poisoning, etc. They still are only barely getting by, though: they show cars being driven hooked up to horses and cows to move, for example. Then some survivalists show up, try to make themselves kings of what is left of America. Then, and here is the biggest Fallout thing, they go into the Cave to tell off the "Old Man"... and it ends up the "Old Man" is actually a computer.

 

Things to Come by H. G. Wells is set in a world where the Second World War (which hadn't happened yet when it was filmed) brought about the end of civilization as we know it with a combination of aerial bombardment, biological, and chemical warfare. Following the war, there is a lengthy period of barbarism during which the residents of an English town struggle to survive with ruined technology and dictatorial rulers... then the movie shifts to the rebirth of civilization and a rebellion against scientific progress. The great-granddaddy of all post-apocalyptic movies.

 

Neon city (need info)

 

Escape from NY

Escape from L.A Snake Pliskin is a badass eyepatch-wearing merc sent into these two prison-cities to extract his targets, or they'll blow up a bomb in his head! Dont mess with the Snake! Lots of cool scenes depicting totally devastated Raider-ridden urban centers.

 

GAMES:

 

Fallout 1,2 - if you dont know these games, you are missing out on the best part of the Fallout universe

 

Fallout Tactics - Not a bad game, added some interesting locations and stories. Mostly a tactical combat type game. Struggled to maintain the traditional fallout-ish feel though. Feels a bit forced and not as natural as Fallout 2.

 

Fallout Brotherhood of Steel (Console release, Baldurs-gate-ish. Hack n slash type top-down angle. Melee weapons are best since the camera doesnt show much on screen for range weapons. Really cool voiceovers... you can also take off your cahracters clothes ;) Fighting radscorpions in the buff! w00t.

 

Stalker (or S.T.A.L.K.E.R.) (Shadow of Chernobyl + Clear Sky) (return to radioactive Chernobyl to discover a dark secret. Multiple endings depict what really is going on in there)

 

Car Wars (need more info)

 

Wastelands (the predecessor of the Fallout series)

 

The Fall - Last Days of Gaia (only available in German, but there is a fan-made translation, floating around the web)

 

Phantasy Star 3 (need info)

 

Shadowrun. P&P or Genesis/Master System, and SNES versions. Not really post apocalyptic, more cyberpunk, where the apocalypse is our subjugation to corporate facism.

 

Half-Life (Series) (PC) It gives you a good impression of everything going wrong in Black Mesa. In Half Life 2 and onward, you get the alien apocalypse idea.

 

Twilight 2000 RPG - featured a Europe that was devastated by a limited nuclear war. Very Falloutish.

 

Paranoia----- Your turn! C'mon it's a huge vault controled by a crazy-computer!

 

Earthbound. Although that isn't post-apocalyptic in any way (well, it's Japan-Only sequel is apparently like that. Earthbound/Mother may be the only franchise more brutalized and screwed over than Fallout), it is so full of weird references and situations (some of which are quite risque for a Nintendo game) that I couldn't help but see some similarities.

[grumbler]

BTW does anyone recall if that sleeper movie "The Postman" (kevin Costner) was a post apocalyptic tale? I heard from somewhere it was... wondering...

Yes, it is post-Apocalyptic. The book is much better than the movie, though the end is just as deus-ex-machina-like.

 

The Silent Earth is a good post-Apocalyptic movie - maybe the best one. For books, read Earth Abides.

[Skree000]

OH YEAH the silent earth was great, forgot about that one. Its been so long lol

[deliverance6]

The Postman wasnt actually bad, and yeh that was all post apocolyptic. very erm.. Mad Max

[omgwtf666]

The Quiet Earth (did you mean this when you said silent Earth?)

Neon city

Six string samurai

a boy and his dog

Reign of fire (about dragons actually, but nice)

Escape from New York (+Escape from L.A.)

Testament

[Gamingboy]

A ton of the Twilight Zone episodes dealing with the Atomic Bomb have fallout-ish feelings.

 

 

There is, of course, "Time Enough at Last", where Burgess Meredith comes out of a bank vault to find that everybody has died after a H-Bomb hit the city. At first he's all bummed (obviously) but then he realizes he can finally catch up on all of his reading. You know what happens then, even if you haven't seen the episode.

 

But even better and more fallout-ish is the classic "Old Man in The Cave". A town is only able to survive after the war because of a "Old Man" in the cave giving them info on fallout, radiation poisoning, etc. They still are only barely getting by, though: they show cars being driven hooked up to horses and cows to move, for example. Then some survivalists show up, try to make themselves kings of what is left of America. Then, and here is the biggest Fallout thing,

they go into the Cave to tell off the "Old Man"... and it ends up the "Old Man" is actually a computer.

 

 

 

--

 

As far as the irreverant, pop-culture reference heay humor of Fallout, the only game I've played that was quite like Fallout as far as Humor was involved would probably be Earthbound. Although that isn't post-apocalyptic in any way (well, it's Japan-Only sequel is apparently like that. Earthbound/Mother may be the only franchise more brutalized and screwed over than Fallout), it is so full of weird references and situations (some of which are quite risque for a Nintendo game) that I couldn't help but see some similarities.

[Tycho77]

The Road

By Cormack McCarthy. Extremely gritty post apocalyptic novel.

[Kellao]

Pokemon the first movie.

[vicious_squid]

How about Monty Python?

[flobalob]

Does anyone have any cool books/movies or games that are Post Apocalyptic in nature or deal with wasteland survival in general?

Here are some I've found in my days...

 

You could try Wolf in Shadow by David Gemmell. He's written several Jon Shannow books but I think thats the firtst. But I suspect the list is almost endless.