Old Ground

thematically connected

Neuromancer

Gibson invented the word "cyberspace" — the founding text of the genre

thematically connected

The Road

McCarthy's Pulitzer novel strips survival to its most elemental — love between father and son

thematically connected

All Quiet on the Western Front

The anti-war novel — inside the trenches of WWI with no glory, only mud

thematically connected

The Last of Us

The defining post-apocalyptic story in games

thematically connected

Outer Wilds

The most meditative space exploration game — about curiosity and loss

thematically connected

Spec Ops: The Line

A third-person shooter that becomes an indictment of the genre and its players

thematically connected

Blade Runner 2049

Villeneuve's sequel expands the philosophical questions of the original

thematically connected

Apocalypse Now

Coppola's hallucinatory vision of Vietnam as a journey into the heart of darkness

thematically connected

Princess Mononoke

Miyazaki's most complex environmental fable — nature and industry locked in tragic war

thematically connected

True Detective

McConaughey and Harrelson in the Louisiana dark — philosophical noir at its peak

thematically connected

Station Eleven

What survives of us is art — a hopeful post-pandemic fable

thematically connected

Black Mirror

Brooker's anthology of technology-enabled social collapse