Post-Apocalyptic Worlds

Daily Ramble 79: Post-Apocalyptic Worlds

Today seems to have been a day looking at a future time where humanity has run into some problems. In Horizon Zero Dawn, society has collapsed and the machines seem to run wild all over the countryside. Tribes of humans struggle to survive and avoid the machine beasts that can kill them pretty easily. In The Realm, we enter a similar world where society is in shambles but this was not cause by machines, but rather orcs, goblins, and dragons. There’s strange magic and despotic kings and our hero looks to guide people through the worst of it. Both the game and the comic are a bunch of fun so far and I’m gonna keep up with both…

Learning the Basics

Last time with Aloy, I found an earpiece that showed me things from the old, machine, days.

As I turned it on, the cave I was stuck in came to life with color and lights and I could see how things from the old days connected to each other. Luckily, this enabled me to guide Aloy out of the cave and back to Rost. Now that he recognized that I was too curious not to go exploring, he figured it was time for me to learn some things about the area we live in. Apparently the Nora tribe protects the area we live in and keep out the most dangerous machines.

First he showed my about gathering and medicinal herbs, then he warned me about the machines.

This first one he showed me is called a Watcher, I suppose because they watch. The best thing to do, according to Rost, is to stay hidden till they pass and don’t let them see you. As a little girl, Aloy agrees – these things look pretty dangerous. But crouching down in the tall grass, it’s easy to hide from these guys.

Then we found some Striders. These seem kinda like horses but I’m not really sure why there would be machines in the guise of horses – do they mow the grass or something? In any case, Rost teaches me to use rocks distract the Watchers so we can get closer to the Striders. And I figure the reason we go after these guys at all is that they provide materials for crafting arrows and such.

Then he guides me through the paces of killing my first Strider.

First Look: The Realm #1

I decided that since I’ve gone through some important titles from the big 2 recently, I’d take a look around to see what else is out there and found this gem.

Created by Jeremy Haun and Seth M. Peck, The Realm, published by Image Comics, seems to be dungeons and dragons set in an apocalyptic future where humanity isn’t doing so well. Orcs, goblins, dragons and more infest this world where our protagonist, Will Nolan seems to be some kind of guide in the wild lands of middle America. The first mission we meet him on sees him escorting a girl to the king of Costco and things get pretty interesting from there.

We’ve got everything you could want in here – kings, bows and arrows, orcs, gas masks, crumbling skyscrapers, some weird magical blood sacrifice, guns, and a bunch of toothbrushes (not sure what they’re all about yet). The art’s well done, the concept is exciting, and the pace and plot of the story makes me want more. I’d definitely recommend this one and since it just came out in September, I feel like I’m on the cutting edge (at least for me). I’ll take a deeper look into it after I let my first impressions sink in, but I think this’ll be something I keep up with.