I'm surprised no one has mentioned Horizon Zero Dawn yet. Or are we being PC elitist?

Fall out series.
Favorites are Fallout 3 and New Vegas

Doc Apocalypse
An unusual post apocalyptic point and click.
You may have caused the end and have to go back and fix it.

Wasteland
I have it but have not been able to get into the game.

I enjoyed WB's Mad Max and Spiders' Technomancer but am looking for something with a bit more management. The Long Dark looked interesting for awhile, but it doesn't seem to have any base-building. How to Survive 2?

Fallout 1 and New Vegas.
Telltale's The Walking Dead, if that counts too.

CDDA, project zomboid and 7 days to die.

Many good suggestions here, with Fallout series being my favourites too. As HeathGCF already said, Dying Light is an excellent game, underrated I would say. Dead Island is similar, more like a precursor.

My understanding is that you're more interested in apocalyptic/survival games with some base management in them, so Dead State: Reanimated, Project Zomboid and Judgment: Apocalypse Survival Simulation are probably the ones to look at.

Not sure if it fits the apocalyptic category, but RimWorld is another very good game, with lots of management.

Some other interesting games, that could technically be considered post-apocalyptic, are the ones made by Big Robot. I personally enjoyed The Signal From Tolva (give the Lorebook a read if you'll play it) and Sir, You Are Being Hunted is good too. Their latest one, which is in early access, The Light Keeps Us Safe looks and seems quite good, so maybe keep an eye on its release. Hopefully it will come to GOG too, since their other games are here.

Sorry to derail the topic I just think this is a perfect thread to ask this in..

Can someone explain to me the allure of post-apocalyptic games? I feel like I have the wrong perspective, because I always think "Why should I play a game set in a dead environments, when I could go explore beautiful forests?"

Don't need a detailed explanation to waste your time, I just need some pointers so I can see if I can adjust my mindset better before delving into one of these games.

I think modern post-apocalyptic games are in fact re-worked westerns... which were sad by nature. TBH I hate post-apocalyptic games... but then I'm a child of the Salt II treaties and remember daily fear of a nuclear war. That being said, I think some post-apocalyptic games (a very few) teach important lessons in disaster response/control and resource management. I play them in an emergency services family and we quite often talk about the scenarios and their validity (or lack thereof).

But there's no reason you have to like or play them. If you believe we are on the brink or worry alot, it can be hard to boot one up and just have fun. In my case I couldn't get into fantasy games until recently... I just couldn't understand something like WoW. To each their own. ;)

Apparently it's just not the favourite postapoc game for people. :P

Honestly, there are a lot of famous games that weren't mentioned yet. C&C: Tiberian Sun, Tiberium Wars, for example. Final Fantasy. Half-life 2.

For starters, why do you think post-pocalyptic game wouldn't feature beutiful forests?

And besides, the whole point of most postapoc games is to find something good and vibrant among desolated landscape. It's about a sense of hope and discovery.

I have a post-apocalyptic game for you... Elex. It has forests, snowscapes, and deserts... Mad Max-style settlements, medieval fantasy style settlements, and high-technology and robotic settlements. If you can stand the combat, IMO it's a great RPG.

I think I'm one of the few people in the world who like Fallout 2 more than the original.

Fallout series, Borderlands, Horizon Zero Dawn.

Neo Scavenger

Fallout: New Vegas Ultimate Edition. In my view, the best game of all time. Love the setting, the amount of player choice/roleplaying possibilities, (along the same lines) the factions, and the general gameplay. Additionally it was illuminating to me regarding human relations and affairs. I don't know why this hadn't happened previously, but New Vegas got me to realize that regardless of other antagonists in the game, the NCR aren't the "good guys". It was and is still so cool to grow personally with your character in the game. Now that's deep roleplaying!

I just remembered Contra 3 and Run Saber! (I used to have a SNES)