History Main / RuinsOfTheModernAge

* ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' uses this trope in almost every scene.

* Both ''{{VideoGame/Metro 2033}}'' and ''VideoGame/MetroLastLight'' prominently feature the post-nuclear war ruins of Moscow, in the form of both the human-inhabited Metro tunnels and the devastated, overgrown, radioactive, mutant-infested city on the surface. ''VideoGame/MetroExodus'' goes further by showing the ruins of Novosibirsk and later, through DownloadableContent, Vladivostok.

* Both ''{{VideoGame/Metro 2033}}'' and ''VideoGame/MetroLastLight'' prominently feature the post-nuclear war ruins of Moscow, in the form of both the Metro tunnels (obviously) and the devastated, overgrown, mutant-infested surface city. ''VideoGame/MetroExodus'' goes further by showing the ruins of Novosibirsk and later, through DownloadableContent, Vladivostok.

* The ''VideoGame/{{STALKER}}'' games are set in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone in Northern Ukraine, with the ruins of the city of Pripyat. The rest of the world is just fine, though. For now.

* In ''VideoGame/XCOM2'', many of Earth's cities have been rebuilt into [[SpaceBrasilia shining, futuristic metropolises]] that the [[VichyEarth ADVENT Administration]] uses to [[GildedCage corral and control humanity.]] But on "wilderness" map types you can find old gas stations or rural homes now half-rotten and overgrown by foliage. The "ruins" maps introduced in the ''War of the Chosen'' ExpansionPack are even worse, perpetually-overcast urban areas consisting of apartment buildings, factories and businesses all covered in dust and rust, and teeming with [[OurZombiesAreDifferent the Lost]], the result of the aliens' use of bio-weapons during [[VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown the invasion twenty years ago.]]

* At the start of ''Film/TwelveMonkeys'', James Cole GotVolunteered to leave the UndergroundCity in a HazmatSuit to collect samples from the ruins of New York City. This serves to establish the post-pandemic world he lives in before he time-travels to the past.

* In ''Film/TwelveMonkeys'' one James' trips leads him into the ruins of New York City.

* ''VideoGame/{{RimWorld}}'' takes place on a frontier planet that obviously once supported an advanced civilization that has since collapsed. There are stretches of intact highways on the world map that make traveling easier, and just about every map tile has one or more ruins scattered around, complete with ancient monuments and sarcophagi. Some of these can be spruced up and utilized by your colonists, others are best broken down for building materials. More rarely you can find intact structures containing still-operational [[HumanPopsicle cryptosleep caskets]], but they usually have an [[DugTooDeep "ancient danger"]] guarding them. Odder still are deposits of "compacted steel" or "compacted machinery" your colonists can mine like ore veins for steel and technical components, respectively, suggesting that there's a ''lot'' more ruins buried just beneath the planet's surface.

* In the short story "By the Waters of Babylon", by Stephen Vincent Benét, the son of a priest goes on a spiritual journey to the ruins of an American city [[spoiler:which was once New York]] -- they call this "the Place of the Gods". This came out in 1937 and was written in response to the Bombing of Guernica during the UsefulNotes/SpanishCivilWar, where the Luftwaffe destroyed around two-thirds of a Basque town. It's strongly implied that civilization was destroyed in a war with bombings and poison gas at the least.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'': It has been many decades since the winds of the apocalypse blew in over America and took the old world with it, leaving only the Wasteland in its place. Post-war America is a central muse of this series. The only city shown that wasn't vaporized was Las Vegas; two close-range nuclear strikes and two centuries sitting alone and untouched in the Mojave Desert has worn her down but she still shines at night as [[VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas New Vegas]].
* ''[[VideoGame/AlienShooter Zombie Shooter]]'' uses this trope to an extent; several of the game's levels have a ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}''-like look.
* ''VideoGame/KrushKillNDestroy'' uses this trope. It is set AfterTheEnd, and two of the levels feature the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building half-submerged in the ground.
* ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' uses this trope in almost every scene.
* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'' has Crisis City, the ruins of Soleanna, when Sonic and Co. were forcibly warped to the future by Dr. Eggman and Mephiles.
* Wolfire Games' upcoming title ''Overgrowth'' (the sequel to their earlier ''VideoGame/{{Lugaru}}'') has some hints towards this trope, but the developers insist on leaving it to the players' interpretations.

* Large Staple of the ''VideoGame/MetalSaga'' series.
* The early stages of ''VideoGame/EnslavedOdysseyToTheWest'' are set in a New York that is actually in ''better'' shape than it should be.
* ''VideoGame/FragileDreamsFarewellRuinsOfTheMoon''
* The ''VideoGame/{{STALKER}}'' games are set in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone in Northern Ukraine, with the ruins of the city of Pripyat. The rest of the world is just fine, though. For now.

* In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer: [[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianDawn Tiberian Sun]]'', most of the world's battlefields are cluttered with the [[GreenRocks Tiberium]]-choked ruins of major cities - and occasionally the ruins of base designs from the previous game. The Yellow Zones of ''[[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberiumWars Tiberium Wars]]'' are no better, while the Red Zones are so far gone as to be [[HostileTerraforming hellish alien landscapes]].
* ''VideoGame/TokyoJungle'' has you take control of a feral animal in the ruins of an overgrown, post-apocalyptic Tokyo.
* In ''[[VideoGame/{{Crysis}} Crysis 3]]'', New York City has been abandoned and quarantined within a huge dome, and the old buildings are now covered in moss and greenery as [[MegaCorp CELL soldiers]] and [[AliensAreBastards the Ceph]] roam the streets.

* Two major dungeons from ''VideoGame/BreathOfDeathVII'' are ruins of modern looking cities that are roamed by hostile undead creatures (including possessed cars). The second city even has traversable SinisterSubway and an AbsurdlySpaciousSewer.
* Just about every environment in ''Videogame/{{Destiny}}'' takes place at least partially in some version of these (save for the Dreadnaught and the Black Garden, which are... [[EldritchLocation something else entirely.]]) Most of the action on Earth takes place in the ruins of the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Russia, which was the site of massive colonization ship launches up until humanity was attacked by the Darkness; the site is now being looted by [[SpacePirates the Fallen]]. On the Moon, the remains of lunar colonies and facilities are scattered across the surface, where the Guardians are fighting [[ReligionOfEvil the Hive.]] On Venus, the remnants of a large university and research campus known as the Ishtar Collective is spread across the [[{{Terraforming}} terraformed]] landscape, mixed in with the older structures of [[ClockworkCreature the Vex.]] Finally, on Mars, an old human city known as Meridian Bay hides scientific secrets and research being fought over by humanity and [[SpaceRomans the Cabal]].
* ''VideoGame/{{RimWorld}}'' hasn't got any actual ruined cities yet, at least in the vanilla game, but it's explicit that the world you are settling on once hosted an advanced civilisation before some unspecified catastrophe brought it down. You can excavate deposits of "compacted steel" and "compacted machinery" that were presumably once part of buildings and/or vehicles, and as of the most recent update there are decayed remnants of highways complete with rusty streetlights and weathered crash barriers. Almost every world-tile except the polar regions will also have a few scattered ruins, sometimes intact enough to be worth patching up and taking over for your own use, sometimes just battered stretches of wall useful only as a source of building material.
* In ''VideoGame/HorizonZeroDawn'' the world is absolutely littered with the ruins of the "Ancient ones", that is, people from TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture. Different tribes have different attitudes towards them; the Nora regard them with superstitious fear and consider them taboo whereas the Oseram mine them for raw materials and pieces of operable machinery.

* The vast majority of ''VideoGame/NierAutomata'' takes place in the ruins of an unnamed 21st century city, ten thousand years after it (along with the rest of the Earth) was [[VideoGame/NieR decimated by an]] [[VideoGame/{{Drakengard}} extradimensional curse/virus]]. It is subtly implied through the game that the reason why the buildings haven't crumbled to dust yet after such an astronomic time is that the Machine Lifeforms now controlling the Earth's surface keep the ruins in the state that they original found them in.
* ''VideoGame/{{Kamiko}}'' is set in one of these; the last level in particular features both ruined modern-era buses and vending machines, as well as some futuristic-looking buildings and devices.

* ''Music/Savoy Brown'' album Looking In has front and back covers featuring tiny humanoid/lizard people with medieval clothing looking at decayed human skulls overgrown with vegetation[[/folder]]

* This was something Albert Speer has included in his plans for buildings and entire cities for the Nazi regime in Germany, designing them in a way they looked imposing and impressive even when in a state of decay. The idea behind this was that, should the Third Reich enter a temporary period of decline during its thousand year duration, the ruins of its glory days would help fueling a renaissance-like effect (as the remains of ancient Rome did in Europe centuries earlier). Considering that the buildings were supposed to be built during the 20th century, they would quite literally have been RuinsOfTheModernAge.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''Webcomic/StandStillStaySilent'': The characters are exploring Denmark ninety years after it has become a ForbiddenZone DeathWorld, so plenty of ruins show up.

* This was something Albert Speer has included in his plans for buildings and entire cities for the Nazi regime in Germany, designing them in a way they looked imposing and impressive even when in a state of decay. The idea behind this was that, should the Third Reich enter a temporary period of decline during its thousand year duration, the ruins of its glory days would help fueling a renaissance-like effect (as the remainds of ancient Rome did in Europe centuries earlier). Considering that the buildings were supposed to be built during the 20th century, they would quite literally have been RuinsOfTheModernAge.

* "[=UrbEx=]," or "Urban Exploration," is an effort by independent filmmakers and Youtubers to explore structures and buildings in North America left abandoned by economic downturns, safety concerns, and various other societal shifts. There are a surprising number of shopping malls, hospitals, power plants, and residential developments in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions, left empty and crumbling because no parties are interested in utilizing them as-is, or are willing to assume the costs for refurbishing or demolishing them.

Want to make something set in the future? What better way than making it look like our current era has passed? Have all the trappings of our modern time fall into disuse and litter the landscape. Used to great effect in many AfterTheEnd pieces. Related to SceneryGorn and RagnarokProofing. See also MonumentalDamageResistance. For further down the line see TechnoWreckage.

* In the short story "By the Waters of Babylon", by Stephen Vincent Benét, the son of a priest goes on a spiritual journey to the ruins of an American city [[spoiler:which was once New York]]-they call this "the Place of the Gods" (the story's first title). This came out in 1937. It was written in response to the Bombing of Guernica during the UsefulNotes/SpanishCivilWar, where the Luftwaffe destroyed around two-thirds of a Basque town (this [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo foreshadowed]] [[UsefulNotes/AtomicBombingsOfHiroshimaAndNagasaki things]], obviously). It's strongly implied that civilization was destroyed in a war with bombings and poison gas at the least.
* In the novel ''Literature/TheRoad'', a man and a boy survive by scrounging materials from the ruined landscape AfterTheEnd, and pass by several abandoned cities.
* Becomes omnipresent in Robert Jordan's ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' at just about the point the reader starts thinking he's reading a standard fantasy tale. The Breaking of the World, followed by repeated wars and a slow depopulation, have left wrecked cities (along with the occasional ArtifactOfDoom) all over the world. Unexpectedly played for laughs when a mysterious museum artifact that "radiates pride and vanity" can be recognized by readers as a Mercedes hood ornament.

* Shows up in ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'' as The Land of Morytha located beneath the Cloud Sea that everybody lives above. While the lands above the clouds are standard magitech empires, with 19th century architecture at best, the ruins of Morytha are full of crumbling concrete skyscrapers and asphalt streets. Also, the techno-zombie survivors.

* "[=UrbEx=]," or "Urban Exploration," is an effort by independent filmmakers and Youtubers to explore structures and buildings in North America left abandoned by economic downturns, safety concerns, and various other societal shifts. There are a surprising number of shopping malls, hospitals, power plants, and residential developments in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions, left empty and crumbling because no parties are interested in utilizing them as-is, or are willing to assume the costs for demolishing them.

* "[=UrbEx=]," or "Urban Exploration," is an effort by independent filmmakers and Youtubers to explore structures and buildings in North America left abandoned by economic downturns, safety concerns, and other societal changes. There are a surprising number of shopping malls, hospitals, power plants, and residential developments in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions, left empty and crumbling because no parties are interested in utilizing them as-is, or are willing to assume the costs for demolishing them.

* "[=UrbEx=]," or "Urban Exploration," is an effort by independent filmmakers and Youtubers to explore structures and buildings in North America left abandoned by economic downturns, safety concerns, and other societal changes. There are a surprising number of shopping malls, hospitals, power plants, and residential developments in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions, left empty and crumbling because no one is interested in utilizing them or demolishing them.

* "UrbEx," or "Urban Exploration," is an effort by independent filmmakers and Youtubers to explore structures and buildings in North America left abandoned by economic downturns, safety concerns, and other societal changes. There are a surprising number of shopping malls, hospitals, power plants, and residential developments in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions, left empty and crumbling because no one is interested in utilizing them or demolishing them.

* The game ''KAMIKO'' is set in one of these; the last level in particular features both ruined modern-era buses and vending machines, as well as some futuristic-looking buildings and devices.

* Franchise/TheDCU's ''ComicBook/{{Kamandi}}'' by Creator/JackKirby was full of this, including the first issue cover which homaged/ripped off the Statue of Liberty from ''Film/PlanetOfTheApes''.

* ''Film/PlanetOfTheApes'': "You maniacs! You blew it up! Damn you! God ''damn'' you all to hell!"

* In the short story "By the Waters of Babylon", by Stephen Vincent Benét, the son of a priest goes on a spiritual journey to the ruins of an American city [[spoiler:which was once New York]]-they call this "the Place of the Gods" (the story's first title). This came out in 1937. It was written in response to the Bombing of Guernica during the SpanishCivilWar, where the Luftwaffe destroyed around two-thirds of a Basque town (this [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo foreshadowed]] [[UsefulNotes/AtomicBombingsOfHiroshimaAndNagasaki things]], obviously). It's strongly implied that civilization was destroyed in a war with bombings and poison gas at the least.

* In the short story "By the Waters of Babylon", by Stephen Vincent Benét, the son of a priest goes on a spiritual journey to the ruins of an American city [[spoiler:which was once Washington DC]]-they call this "the Place of the Gods" (the story's first title). This story came out in 1937. It was written in response to the Bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War, where the Luftwaffe destroyed around two-thirds of a Basque town (this [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo foreshadowed]] [[UsefulNotes/AtomicBombingsOfHiroshimaAndNagasaki things]], obviously). It's strongly implied that civilization was destroyed in a war with bombings and poison gas at the least.