The world hasn’t ended, but this area isn’t habitable any longer. Either by some force of nature, government efforts, or something else, the situation is contained and one is not free to come and go into this land.
Whether the world knows or not isn’t the issue at hand. What matters is why the protagonists are there. More often than not, they’re there for profit. Sometimes they’re hoping to solve a mystery involving the place. Even more rarely they’re hoping to stop a threat that’s growing from within this area. Combinations of the above have occurred.
This is the isolated wasteland, a type of setting that has popped up a few times in fiction, but most examples I know of come from games. Let’s discuss some of our favorites, or maybe just our thoughts about this setting as a whole. Ideas for versions of this setting are also acceptable.
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While I’m partial to Fallout: New Vegas’ desert, my favourite would have to be Harran from Dying Light