Welcome Wardens! Only the world’s most ruthless Warden can contain the world’s most ruthless inmates. Design and develop your personalized penitentiary in Prison Architect.

With over four million copies sold, this is definitely a major hit of a game. Why? Because it’s brilliant.

You take on the role of a contractor hired to build a successful for-profit prison, and whatever you say is what goes. All you need to do is keep the prisoners from breaking out, murdering each other, or killing all the guards. How hard could that be?

Prison Architect offers you the chance to build your prison however you want: go for a clean and neat rehabilitation center where even the most hardened criminals can learn peace and love; go the route of the sadistic Prison-Maxx, with armed guards ready to beat and shoot at the slimmest opportunity; build your prison in the shape of the USS Enterprise… the choice is yours.

The dark comedy of the game really makes it, providing huge replay value alongside the powerful construction system that offers a vast array of possibilities really only limited by your imagination and the 2D game factor. If you’ve played games like Rimworld before, you’ll feel right at home with Prison Architect.

Instantly unleash Godfall’s power! Godfall Challenger Edition immediately unlocks a maximum level Valorplate, spoils you with skill points, and equips you with a spread of deadly weapons. Challenge all three end-game modes!

The main Godfall game has been a roaring success since it’s 2020 release. The action-looter RPG has acquired a large playerbase in a really short amount of time, and for good reason: the game is a total blast.

Godfall draws inspiration from fantasy settings like those from Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive, and follows a classic model of “fight enemies, get better gear, progress” which, alongside the co-op mode, makes this a great addition to the action-RPG genre.

Not everyone has been a fan of the game, with people loving it initially but growing a bit tired of the repetitive waves of enemies. Which is why the studio behind Godfall, Counterplay Games, has been hard at work producing more content, more dynamic ways to fight and grind, and totally new ways to engage with the base game.

So what’s new in Godfall Challenger Edition?

Challenger Edition strips out all the story content of the game—in fact, it strips out all of the pre-endgame content altogether! Odd choice? Not at all.

This is the ultimate sandbox for Godfall players, a chance to dive into the special game modes that are usually unlocked by playing through the full game. Instead of grinding your way to the best and most powerful slot, you get to dive straight into your favorite mode as a fully powered and leveled-up Knight.

Combined with a backwards-compatible co-op mode that allows players of this version to connect with players of the standard version (who have completed the game already), Godfall Challenger Edition offers an amazing “bang for your buck,” especially when that “buck” is literally $0!

Destiny 2

Destiny 2 is exactly the sort of mythic-science fiction action game you need, and with its incredible free-to-play model, there’s no drawback to checking it out. Taking on the role of Guardians, players protect Earth’s last remaining safe city from various alien races and a growing power of Darkness that threatens to cover all the lands in endless night.

Not only is the story fun, but the first-person shooter gameplay is simply unbelievable, with some of the best in the genre. It’s not 3rd-person, like Godfall, but the team working on Godfall is filled with members from the Destiny 2 team, so you know you’re going to get something with a lot of passion behind it.

Rimworld

Rimworld is absolutely the best possible game to buy if you like this sort of top-down builder. While Prison Architect is highly specialized and specific, with great missions, goals, and objectives that help highlight the theme, Rimworld is basically free-form: do what you will and see what happens.

Want to add a mod that allows you to be rough survivors in a post-apocalyptic wasteland ruled by zombies? Go ahead. Build a towering city of the finest wood (and just hope it doesn’t burn down?) You can. Become a trade settlement and travel far and wide with your goods? Rock on, man. The possibilities are unlimited.

If you’re playing through CurseForge, that’s where your screenshots will be saved through. Open CurseForge then move to the next step.

Click into the profile or modpack that the world was played in.

Click the ... button to the left of the Play button. In the drop-down menu, click Open Folder.

A window will open that shows all the files in the instance you played. Find the Screenshots folder and double click to open it. Within are all the screenshots you made in your worlds!

There were a host of changes to gameplay and technical aspects of the game:

• Accessibility option to stop the sky from flashing during thunderstorms
• Online options screen where you can now find the Realms Notifications option
• Added an option to specify the audio device used by the game
• “Allow Server Listings” option to opt out of having your name displayed in server listings
• Added illageralt, rune-like font from Minecraft Dungeons (currently only usable via commands)
• New music by Lena Raine and Kumi Tanioka to the Overworld (when playing in Survival Mode) and the main menu
• Added telemetry for world loading which is diagnostic tracking to better understand players, improve their experience, help prioritize development, and identify pain points.
• Added world autosave indicator for single-player worlds
• Added “Toggle Sprint” and “Toggle Sneak” to the Controls settings
• Changed default brightness to 50
• Dripstone clusters can no longer be found in normal caves, only in Dripstone Caves biomes
• Generation range and build limits have been expanded by 64 blocks up and 64 blocks down, to a total range of 384 blocks
• Geodes now only generate up to height 30
• If it is raining, sleeping will stop the rain and reset the weather cycle
• Mob spawners can now override light checks for spawning
• Moved Keybinds out to their own settings screen, accessible from Controls
• New setting called “Simulation Distance” which is how far away the game will actually load entities and apply changes to them
• Players with higher than recommended render distance settings are now prompted to change it to the recommended value (BE only)
• Removed world types “Caves” and “Floating islands” from the world creation screen
• Servers can now set property hide-online-players to true in order to not send a player list on status requests
• Size limit for server resource packs has been increased to 250 MB
• Sprinting is no longer reduced to walking when gently brushing your sleeve against a wall
• Swamp trees can grow in water 2 blocks deep (instead of just 1 block deep)
• The terrain shape and elevation varies dramatically, independently of biomes. For example, forests and deserts could form up on a hill without needing a special biome just for that.
• Underground features, structures, and caves generate all the way down to y=-64
• Unrendered chunk holes in the world should not appear anymore while flying fast with high render distance
• View distance now causes chunks to load cylindrical around players instead of in a square
• Villages are slightly more spread out

Advancements

Advancements have also gotten some additions as well:

• Added “Caves & Cliffs” for falling from top to bottom of the Overworld
• Added “Feels like home” for riding strider on lava for 50 blocks in the Overworld
• Added “Star Trader” for trading with a villager at the build height limit
• Added “Sound of Music” for playing music with a jukebox in a Meadow biome

Another change is to the list of effects that used to pop up to the left of a player’s inventory.

They now will list on the right side and has two modes:

• Compact: a single icon for each effect
• Classic: pre-existing list of effects listed fully

The game will automatically switch between the two modes to suit the available screen estate (including having the recipe book open)

Updating old worlds to 1.18 will be basically seamless! With the mechanic Mojang calls “blending”, surface height, biomes, terrain, and caves will all blend together. In old chunks, if there is any bedrock at y=0, the sections below non-air blocks will be filled with new generation. The old bedrock between y=0 and y=4 in old chunks will be replaced with deepslate and a new bedrock layer is formed at y=-64.

We’d be remiss to not remind everyone that the Deep Dark biome has been delayed until 2022 to be released with the 1.19, the Wild, update. So we’ll all have to wait a little longer to be terrified of the Warden mob.

The Deep Dark biome will also be home to the sculk blocks and include loot chests and mysterious structures.

That’s right! You can finally find more emerald ore than ever before!

• Changed ore generation to match the new world height, and to add more strategy to mining.
• Coal Ore and Diamond Ore have reduced air exposure, so you will find more Coal Ore buried or underwater than exposed to air.

Here’s a chart of ore generation stats:

*Gold can be found more commonly in Badlands between levels -64 and 256, most found in 32 to 256.

There are a handful of changes to mob spawning and behavior:

• Monsters now only spawn in places where the light from blocks is 0 (skylight still prevents spawning like before)
• Axolotls now have their own, separate, mob cap and will only spawn in Lush Caves when in water that is above Clay Blocks
• Cod, Salmon, Pufferfish, Tropical Fish, Squid, and Dolphins now only spawn in water from height 50-64
• Glow Squids now only spawn in water blocks under height 30
• Illagers (Vindicator, Pillager, Evoker) no longer attack baby villagers
• Tropical Fish now also spawn in Lush Caves at any height

While there are little additions of blocks from 1.17 to 1.18, there are a few changes and additions to Minecraft:

• Added a new music disc from Lena Raine titled ‘Otherside’. This can be found rarely in Stronghold Corridor Chests, or much more rarely in Dungeon Chests.
• Enchanting Tables now emit a low amount of light
• Using Shears on the tip of a Cave Vine, Twisting Vine, Weeping Wine, and Kelp will stop them from further growing
• Copper Ore now drops 2-5 (formerly 2-3) Raw Copper items
• In the Stonecutter, a Block of Copper can be converted to 4 Cut Copper
• Restricted Big Dripleaf placement to Clay, Grass, Dirt, Farmland, Moss, Rooted Dirt, Podzol, and Mycelium
• Ore Veins are large, rare, snake-like underground ore formations. Copper Ore Veins form between height 0 and 50 and are mixed with Granite, while Iron Ore Veins form below height -60 and -8 and are mixed with Tuff.

While we already covered all the biome changes in another guide, we’ll still cover the exciting parts here. You can always read our other guide for deeper information and more changes (such as biome name changes). However, here are the new mountain biomes added!

Meadow

The meadow is a grassy biome filled with patches of flowers and turquoise-green grass or double tall grass. Rarely, a lone oak or birch tree of any size can generate and always has a bee nest. Both pillager outposts, and plains villages can generate in this biome, making this the only mountain biome where villages can generate. The meadow biome generates in the lower sides of some mountains but can also generate standalone in plateaus, mainly next to plains and other temperate biomes.

Grove

The grove creates a forest of spruce trees on the sides of a mountain. The surface is covered with snow, snow blocks, dirt, and a lot of powder snow instead of grass blocks. This biome generates in high altitudes beneath the peaks and on hilltops next to forested biomes such as dark forests and taigas, and can generate at lower altitudes if next to snowy biomes.

Snowy Slopes

The snowy slopes is a mostly barren biome covered in snow, multiple layers of snow blocks and powder snow, with some sides also having stone cliffs. This is the only mountain biome where igloos can generate. Just like the grove, this biome generates at the slopes of the mountain, beneath the peaks and in hilltops. They’re generally near areas with less forested biomes, like plains and snowy tundras, and can start generating at lower altitudes in snowy regions.

Jagged Peaks

The jagged peaks are one of the three peak biomes that generate only on the top of the mountain if they are tall enough, peaking at y=256. It is covered by a single layer of snow blocks with stone underneath often exposing ores such as coal, iron and emerald, and just like the snowy slopes, stone cliffs can generate in some sides of the mountain.

Frozen Peaks

The frozen peaks are covered with snow, snow blocks, glaciers of packed ice, and occasional small blobs of ice. Frozen peaks generate in smaller and smoother hills near snowy, cold and temperate biomes, but it can also generate in slightly jagged and taller peaks.

Stony Peaks

The stony peaks biome is a warmer variation of both the jagged peaks and the frozen peaks biomes that generates when a mountain peak is in a region with lukewarm biomes such as savannas, and jungles. It doesn’t generate snowy slopes or groves in the slopes of the mountain, unless there’s a colder biome bordering the peak. It is mainly covered by stone, with large strips of calcite and exposed ores. The grass and foliage in this biome have a unique vibrant light green tint.

Noise caves are the new cave generation method. The name isn’t because due to sound, it’s more of a technical term. While cave carvers (aka openings) and canyons generate the same, they’re combined with the three new types of caves:

• Cheese caves have large stone towers stretching from the bottom of the cave to the top, and are often large enough to allow safe elytra flight.
• Spaghetti caves are long, thin caves that have small aquifers and are more similar to original caves.
• Noodle caves are thinner, squigglier, and more claustrophobic variants of spaghetti caves.

Caves can contain aquifers, bodies of water with different heights, that are independent of the sea level. Aquifers can sometimes result in large underground lakes, form inside mountains, or on the surface. There’s even a chance they’ll generate as lava aquifers below y=0!

There are also two new biomes included with cave generation!

Dripstone Caves

Dripstone caves generate with dripstone blocks and pointed dripstone both hanging as stalactites and growing from the ground as stalagmites. Small water wells of 1 × 1 blocks are generated in the ground. This biome also generates larger copper ore blobs compared to other biomes.

Lush Caves

Lush caves generate underground at any height, usually in areas with forested biomes. Azalea trees generate on any empty space above a lush cave, with roots consisting of rooted dirt and hanging roots that generate down until reaching the lush cave.

Within, moss and ores covers the floors and ceilings, along with moss carpets, grass, and azalea bushes. On the ceiling, vines and cave vines with glow berries grow down and light up the caves. Spore blossoms grow from the ceiling and drip water particles. A lush cave contains springs and shallow lakes with clay where dripleaf plants grow out of them.

If you’re interested in even more information on the update (because yes, there is plenty more to learn), click the below links to your corresponding game version:

• Bedrock Edition
• Java Edition

“Many bioink designs have already been explored, none so far have fully leveraged the genetic programmability of microbes to rationally control the mechanical properties of the bioink.”

Attempts to print living microbial structures have been attempted with inkjet printing, contact printing, screen printing, and lithographic techniques, but so far, it’s extrusion, or 3D-printing that has allowed the field to truly advance.

Various forms of printed microbial structures have been experimented with before now, but all of these required some sort of additional polymer. Instead, the team has developed a type of bioink that is completely derived from proteins produced by E.coli cells. It is by then injecting other, genetically modified E.coli cells, that the living structures are formed to allow for drug release and toxin absorption.

The genetically modified E.coli produces this ink by fusing positively and negatively charged protein modules, which attach to one another and lock to create crosslinked fibers. After this, the team filtered the resulting product to further concentrate the bacteria in order to create a compound of the suitable viscosity and elasticity needed for printing.

The result? A gel that can be piped to produce threads half a millimeter wide: that’s half the size of a pencil tip! This thread is strong enough to hold up even when stretched 16 milliliters apart, a giant distance for something so thin. This proved that their new technique for making bioink worked, and that they could get away with creating a bioink from nothing more than the protein connections produced by the E.coli bacteria.

Once the researchers knew that their new microbial ink worked, they introduced genetically engineered microbes to the mixture. This produced 3D-printed living functional architectures: living material capable of carrying out a massive range of therapeutic applications.

By seeding this new bioink with a cancer-fighting drug called azurin, the researchers discovered that they could ensure the bioink released azurin whenever it detected a chemical called IPTG. These tests showed that the bioink could respond to its environment, actively producing the anticancer drug only when it needed to. This meant that the bioink could be further engineered to effectively control and/or induce cell growth and death, depending on the need of a patient.

Their next step was to see if their new biofilm could be taught to absorb something harmful. For this, the team chose the harmful chemical BPA (bisphenol A), an industrial chemical that has been used to make certain plastics and resins since the 1950s despite being shown to cause harmful effects.

The researchers added new modified cells that, via the same interlinking feature they used to connect to one another, could connect and trap particles of BPA: almost a full 30 percent of the toxin in the text liquid within just 24 hours.

The science is complex, but the outcome is simple and beautiful. Future bioinks will be able to respond to the environment they are inside: such as a human body. There, they can automatically release lifesaving drugs directly to the source of serious conditions.

These new bioinks will also be able to tackle toxins in a patient’s body by binding to those toxins (using part of the same bonding mechanism that holds the bioink together). They will then be able to thereby capture those toxins and remove them from the body.

Best of all, this new 3D-printing process is cost-effective, fast, and incredibly stable when compared to previous methods that have been used. It pushes the boundaries of what such technology can do and, while you probably won’t be able to 3D-print your own anti-cancer therapy any time soon, there might be a day in the not-so-distant future when some of our worst illnesses are combated from by genetically-engineered living structures that defend us from within.

Dead by Daylight is a multiplayer (4vs1) horror game where one player takes on the role of the savage Killer, and the other four players play as Survivors, trying to escape the Killer and avoid being caught and killed.

Have you ever wanted to live within a classic Slasher horror film? Well, now you can. As one of the four survivors you need to work together to find and repair power generators that allow them to escape from the nightmarish hunting grounds. For the killer, the goal is clear: hunt down the survivors before they can escape. But there are some fun twists, such as the limited 1st-person perspective for the killer, that make the game feel unique and adds to a great sense of horror themed tension.

Dead by Daylight has been out a few years now but it keeps releasing new content and manages to continue internal updates that keep things interesting. Random matches with other players aren’t always instantiates online, but there is a large enough playerbase to make it possible to find a party within a few minutes.

Behaviour Interactive has developed and produced a number of games over the years, including Fallout: Shelter and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. While they mostly develop mobile and console games, they clearly understand how to create a game that works well across multiple platforms.

In this game, you play as a coder who accidentally found out that their cat is extremely good at coding, but not as good at speaking human language. Now this coder (it’s you!) must learn all there is to know about machine learning and use visual programming to build a cat-to-human speech recognition system.

I absolutely adore games that allow you to do explore something real. Sometimes, that means engaging with a storyline that stirs the soul, other times it means learning a new skill or coming to understand the world in a new way. Ludeon.io (the studio behind while True: learn() desires to make games that help people learn about the world, all while being deliriously fun.

In this, they succeed in high degree. Their games all work to help players understand the world, learn skills from cooperation and teamwork, to actual coding, and they are constantly pushing the envelope of what games can be in the modern age.

Luden.io makes games that serve as learning enablers. They believe in a future where education is focused on helping people find their true passion and their games are here to let players have fun, learn by experimenting with different topics, and deep dive if they feel interested.

Among Us

This game got popularized recently, in part because of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez streaming herself playing it for hours on end! If you like the fun and danger of not knowing who the killer is, this game will absolutely provide that—and it will do so without the over-the-top violence of Dead by Daylight (but still with a wee bit of gruesome death).

SHENZHEN I/O

Another great logic game with a bit of a silly theme, SHENSHEN I.O features a wide variety of puzzles and uses the Assembly language to help you understand actual coding! Build circuits using a variety of components from different manufacturers, like microcontrollers, memory, logic gates, and LCD screens. Write code in a compact and powerful assembly language where every instruction can be conditionally executed.

Go to your settings and select ‘Update & Security.’

Once on your Updates & Security page, you’ll see several things.

First, you’ll be able to check if your current version of Windows has any updates. If you’re not looking to update to the newest version of Windows, and would rather just update your current version (if there’s one available), you can do so right here. As you can see on the image above, my current version of Windows does not need an update.

If you’re looking to update to a new version of Windows, check out step 3!

If you’re looking to update your version of Windows to the newest version, you’ll see an option to do so on the right side of your Updates & Security, as pictured above.

Please Note: Make sure your PC is compatible with the newest version of Windows. You should see a note that tells you if your PC is compatible, but ff you’re still unsure, you’ll see a link that says ‘Check device specifications’ that you can click on. Clicking this link takes you to a page where you can check if your PC is compatible with the newest version of Windows based on your PC’s CPU. I highly recommend this step if you have any questions about your PC’s compatibility.

If you’re ready to move forward, click ‘See if it’s ready to install.’

At this point you’ll see a message telling you whether or not the new version of Windows is available for you to download and install. As you can see, my PC is ready!

Click download and install, and your PC will automatically begin the process of updating your Windows version. You’ll still be able to do things on your PC while the process takes place, but you will be prompted to restart your PC once the new version of Windows has been downloaded and installed.

Once your PC is restarted, you’ll have the new version of Windows on your PC!

Price

159.00

Discount

Was $239.00

Description

Price

$269.99

Discount

Was $339.99

Description

A huge discount! This 3D printer is included in our list of the best budget 3D printers. What we loved about it was that it was encased, came pre-assembled, and was at a great price. This printer uses PLA-type filament and uses auto bed leveling.

Price

$236.00

Discount

Was $259.00

Description

You should all know our feelings about the Ender 3 series of 3D printers by now. They are definitely the gold standard when the comes to budget 3D printers and even this small discount of $20 makes a good enough reason to invest in one of these right away. The Ender 3 Pro is the quieter, less wobbly version of its close cousins the Ender 3 and Ender 3 V2.

Price

$179.00

Discount

Was $200.43

Description

While it does require proprietary FEP film, this Anycubic Printer uses UV light to print, and has a printing speed 2.5x faster than a regular 3D printer!

Price

$179.00

Discount

Was $249.99

Description

One of the greatest things about the Anycubic Mega-S is that it assembles in just three steps – needing just 8 screws and 3 cables.

Price

$149.99

Discount

Was $179.99

Description

Monoprice is one of the biggest names in budget 3D printers, and this price is really hard to beat for a good mini 3D printer. A nice bonus is that this 3D printer features auto-calibration to make it easier to calibrate your bed. This will be a nice bonus if you’re purchasing this for a young person.

Price

$319.00

Discount

Was $399.00

Description

The Anycubic Mega X is unique in that it is an excellent printer for both newbies and long-time 3D printer users. A nice feature is the high-strength extruder, leading to a reduced risk of nozzle clogging, as well as even output and stable rotation speed.

Price

159.00

Discount

Was $239.00

Description

Price

$269.99

Discount

Was $339.99

Description

A huge discount! This 3D printer is included in our list of the best budget 3D printers. What we loved about it was that it was encased, came pre-assembled, and was at a great price. This printer uses PLA-type filament and uses auto bed leveling.

Price

$236.00

Discount

Was $259.00

Description

You should all know our feelings about the Ender 3 series of 3D printers by now. They are definitely the gold standard when the comes to budget 3D printers and even this small discount of $20 makes a good enough reason to invest in one of these right away. The Ender 3 Pro is the quieter, less wobbly version of its close cousins the Ender 3 and Ender 3 V2.

Price

$179.00

Discount

Was $200.43

Description

While it does require proprietary FEP film, this Anycubic Printer uses UV light to print, and has a printing speed 2.5x faster than a regular 3D printer!

Price

$179.00

Discount

Was $249.99

Description

One of the greatest things about the Anycubic Mega-S is that it assembles in just three steps – needing just 8 screws and 3 cables.

Price

$149.99

Discount

Was $179.99

Description

Monoprice is one of the biggest names in budget 3D printers, and this price is really hard to beat for a good mini 3D printer. A nice bonus is that this 3D printer features auto-calibration to make it easier to calibrate your bed. This will be a nice bonus if you’re purchasing this for a young person.

Price

$319.00

Discount

Was $399.00

Description

The Anycubic Mega X is unique in that it is an excellent printer for both newbies and long-time 3D printer users. A nice feature is the high-strength extruder, leading to a reduced risk of nozzle clogging, as well as even output and stable rotation speed.

There is no doubt that the stories of H.G. Welles are some of the greatest feats of imagination in the western science fiction canon, bringing the fantastic futures to life from within his unique perspective of the other side of the 19th century. But, of his stories that have successfully maintained a huge impact on the world, few are as grand as The Time Machine, a tale of an 1800s inventor who discovers a means to travel through time, and the horrors of the future he discovers along the way.

The Time Machine (1960)

The Time Machine (1960) is absolutely a product of its time, but it was also a big-budget production for the early era of sci-fi, even with its measly sub-1-million-dollar budget. George Pal, the genius behind the film’s special effects, deserves the true credit for making the film what it his: he and the set designers and artists created a vibrant world of the future through combinations of matte paintings and extraordinary stop-motion photography.

Robur is a fanatical inventor who has designed an advanced airship with the desired goal of ending war. Long before the S.H.I.E.L.D. folks in Marvel’s franchise set about creating advanced airships that could eliminate threats, Robur set out out to force the governments of the world to give up war… or risk destruction via his own military might.

Master of the World (1961)

Master of the World (1961) stars the incredible Vincent Price as Robur, and it is largely due to his charisma that the film works. Many aspects of this film are common from small budget films of the fantastic of this era in that they reused footage from other, larger-budget films, and superimposed the Albatross airship over them.

The advanced submarine Seaview is on a mission in the arctic when a natural disaster occurs that threatens all life on Earth! Swiftly rising temperatures have caused the ice caps to melt, and the heat threatens to kill off the whole world’s population! Luckily, by lobbing a nuclear warhead at the problem, everything can be solved… if only the dang saboteurs will stop mucking about!

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961)

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961) came out at a unique time in history, not just because there was a renewed interest in science fiction at the time, but because actual milestones in scientific discovery and exploration were still being made. In 1958, USS Nautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine, became the first vessel to reach the North Pole. This, and other accomplishments of the era, made sci-fi films like this all the more believable to the public audiences who felt that anything might be possible.

It’s the 1960s and the Cold War reigns. While on a vacation, a family witnesses the destruction of L.A. via nuclear assault, and what follows is a harrowing struggle for survival against the worst elements of society that arise to take advantage of the destruction.

Panic in Year Zero! (1962)

Panic in Year Zero! is a film that drove at the heart of a terror filling the post-WWII generation. Looking back, it’s easy to remember the hoped-for futures of the 1950s and 1960s, where technology solved all societies ills, but by the mid-60s the cold war and threat of constant nuclear destruction. It’s the template for movies like The Purge, and generally speaks to a strange and violent insecurity in the American psyche that was fostered and enriched by the elements of the Cold War.

Strange lights from a meteor shower have blinded most of the population on Earth, making them easy prey for a species of carnivorous plants who emerge and begin hunting down the helpless survivors.

The Day of the Triffids (1963)

The Day of the Triffids was forever cemented in its place in history by another favorite of mine: The Rocky Horror Picture Show, with the line in the song “Science Fiction/Double Feature”: “And I really got hot when I saw Janette Scott/Fight a Triffid that spits poison and kills.”

This film is nowhere near as good as the 1981 BBC miniseries, but it has its charm, and is absolutely an important early piece of science fiction.

A multinational crew is sent aboard a spaceship to nearby Alpha Centauri., to explore a planet in that system. But things are going wrong, and whether through natural disaster or insanity-induced sabotage, the crew’s survival is in doubt.

Icarus XB 1 (1963)

Icarus XB 1 was released in the United States as Voyage to the End of the Universe, with major changes made to the story, as well as overt attempts to remove Soviet influences. The original, however, is a masterpiece of early science fiction, an early sign of true advancement in the genre. Everything from the script, to the characterization, to the camera angles and intelligent sets, make this a unique gem among a whole swath of lesser American products from the same era.

The 1954 novel I Am Legend by Richard Matheson would go on to spawn many adaptations, including the famous Will Smith version, but this much earlier take on the story has a haunting quality that cannot be denied. Vincent Price is Dr. Robert Morgan, the last man alive in a world where a plague has killed most and turned the remainder into vamperic beasts.

The Last Man on Earth (1964)

The Last Man on Earth (1964) is definitely better than other remakes, if only because Vincent Price’s incredible performance makes it so.

Lemmy Caution is a secret agent sent to the technocratic city Alphaville on a mission: discover the whereabouts of another missing agent and do whatever is necessary to destroy Alphaville’s dictatorial hold over its people.

Alphaville (1965)

Alphaville is a masterpiece by New Wave director Jean-Luc Godard, a film-noir epic that imagines a the future within the enshadowed world of Parisian streets. The performances and dialogue in Alphaville were heavily improvised, something common with Goddard’s works.

A scientist vital to the nation’s defense is injured and the only hope he has is a futuristic new technology that will shrink the crew of a special submarine so they can enter his body and repair the damage directly… but they only have an hour to do it before they begin to revert in size… and kill the scientist in the process!

Fantastic Voyage (1966)

Fantastic Voyage (1966) has now become a common trope, but in its heyday the concept came across as new and lavish. I highly recommend the novelization by Isaac Asimov for a really fun way to experience the plot.

In an all-too plausible future, people are glued to wall-sized televisions, ignoring the world around them, and determined to ban the books with which they disagree, the task of which falls to the “firemen.” But what happens when one begins to read, to expand their minds? Can one still act in limited fashion once one has access to the whole realm of human experience?

Fahrenheit 451 (1966)

Fahrenheit 451 was François Truffaut’s only non-French film, and has become a bit of a cult icon in recent years, with director Martin Scorsese directly citing it as one of the influences for his own work. This absolutely isn’t as deep as Ray Bradubury’s novel, especially with some odd casting choices. But the overall impression is more intriguing and unique than modern adaptations.

A doctor of medical hypnosis invents a device that allows him to control another person, and to feel everything they feel. The young man who is subject to their experiment believes he is going mad as the temptation to use this incredible power repeatedly becomes too much for the scientist’s wife.

The Sorcerers (1967)

The Sorcerers (1967) is a really superb little horror film, though its science fiction aspect is true dressing for the plot. As a late film for the incredible Boris Karloff, however, it succeeds, and manages to be alarming and gripping in equal measure.

When tests reveal that a man might have superhuman psychic abilities that allow him to control the minds of others and maybe even influence physical reality, a grim adventure begins that can only end in murder.

The Power (1968)

The Power (1968) is a potent little film that draws a lot of inspiration from earlier B-films, but manages to catapult itself into a more intriguing and artistic space, thanks in part to a strong script and unique attempts to expand beyond its limits.

When a NASA spaceship’s main engine fails to fire, the crew is stranded in space with little hope of rescue. Slowly suffocating in space, they must wait and hope that the minds on the ground can figure out some way to send help before it’s too late.

Marooned (1969)

Marooned (1969) came out just following the Apollo 11 Moon landing, and the designs and special effects of this film were conceived to be as close to the real footage coming back from those and prior missions as possible given the limitations of the technology of the time.

Based on short stories by brilliant author Ray Bradbury, the Illustrated Man tells the story of a traveler named Willie who encounters a mysterious tattooed man who claims that his skin illustrations tell the future.

The Illustrated Man (1969)

The Illustrated Man is one of those largely unfortunate films that nevertheless manages some moments of excellence and beauty. It’s worth watching for those moments, mind, when the film does work, though on the whole it falls flat. I think it’s worth seeing but definitely only after reading the original stories.

A young man attending a small college attempts to install a computer during a thunderstorm, only to have a lightning surge supercharge his mind with all the power and information in the computer he was working on.

The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969)

The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969) might have died in obscurity if not for the fact that Kurt Russel appears in the lead role. It’s not an especially good film but it manages to be funny and silly, and holds up well as a light family comedy from the era.