Mad Max

Mad Max is the open-world action game built around the post-apocalyptic universe of George Miller's films. You play Mad Max, a reluctant hero and survivor whose only real goal is to leave the madness behind and find solace in the storied Plains of Silence. Standing between him and that quiet is the Wasteland — a hostile landscape of bandits, gangs and ruined civilization that requires constant violence to navigate.

Vehicles are the central mechanic. Max needs the right car to survive, and most of the game runs through scavenging, salvaging and upgrading the Magnum Opus — his under-construction battle vehicle — with help from his loyal mechanic Chumbucket. Engines, chassis, wheels, body work, paint, weight distribution, weapons; every modification changes how the car handles and what it can do in vehicular combat against rival gang vehicles.

On-foot combat is brutal melee work supplemented by a shotgun whose ammo is precious. The thunderstick — an explosive weapon you can lance into an enemy's chest like a fuse-lit dynamite charge — is one of the game's signature kills. The Harpoon, used from your vehicle with Chum riding along, lets you tear apart enemy cars and turret installations. A slow-motion targeting system handles vehicular combat when driving and aiming simultaneously.

The Wasteland is properly open and dangerous. Treacherous missions, dangerous landscape, scavenging for parts and oddly tender quiet moments between the violence — the game leans into Max's reluctance as both character trait and structural choice. Online functionality was retired in 2020, so what's here is the single-player experience the campaign was designed around. The crafting system, base capture, scavenging and many small player-direction choices make this one of the more substantial open-world action games of its generation.