Punk’s not dead. It just got digitised. While you might not find mohawks and safety pins on every game shelf, punk rock has been quietly infiltrating video game culture for decades. Whether you’re looking to thrash through neon mutant wastelands, crash cars to the soundtrack of Rise Against, or spin reels to the sound of Mötley Crüe, there’s a game for that. So grab a can of spray paint, crank the volume, and check out these mosh-worthy games you need to try.
Tony Hawk: American Wasteland
A love letter to the skatepunk scene, American Wasteland doesn’t just let you grind rails; it throws you into an open world of graffiti, fanzines, and underground rebellion. The soundtrack features Misfits and Black Flag, while the aesthetic leans hard into classic punk ethos. It’s the first game in the series to fully embrace punk visuals as well as sound. The Clash even had their album art splashed across its promos. If punk had a home in the digital world, it’d be Los Angeles’ concrete jungle in American Wasteland.
Guitar Hero
No list of punk-infused games would be complete without a nod to Guitar Hero. Sure, the series went broad over the years, but that first game? Pure gold. The fact that the Sex Pistols reunited to record tracks exclusively for the game should tell you everything you need to know. Misfits, MC5, Dropkick Murphys, all present and ed for. With characters like Judy Nails and Johnny Napalm flying the punk flag, it remains essential mosh-pit material for your console.
Shadowrun: Dragonfall
Punk isn’t just about music; it’s a mindset. And Shadowrun: Dragonfall gets it. Set in a dystopian Berlin post-government collapse, this turn-based RPG lets you explore an anarchist cityscape with a punk rock singer in your crew. This isn’t about spiky hair and power chords, it’s about ideology, resistance, and DIY revolution. And yes, it’s all delivered through one of the slickest cyberpunk narratives in gaming.
Sunset Overdrive
If you like your punk with a splash of mutant gore and parkour, Sunset Overdrive is your jam. You’re a punked-out survivor flipping through the ruins of a corporate apocalypse, armed with absurd weapons and backed by an attitude that screams “no rules.” With garish colours and a punk-fuelled soundtrack, it’s chaos, creativity, and rebellion rolled into one massively underrated open-world shooter.
Burnout 3: Takedown
Anarchy? Meet acceleration. Burnout 3 turned racing on its head by making crashes not just acceptable, but essential. The game’s blistering punk rock soundtrack (Rise Against, Sugarcult, My Chemical Romance) only fuels the carnage. You’re not here to win, you’re here to wreak havoc with a stereo full of fury.
Mötley Crüe Slot – Play’n GO
Now, if you fancy taking a spin on the wild side, the Mötley Crüe slot game by Play’n GO is a must. Set outside a dodgy biker bar and pulsing with neon sleaze, it’s got three wild base game features, Free Spins triggered by pentagram scatters, and a bonus round that drops you into the “Girls, Girls, Girls” video. This has got to be one of the signature online slots games of all time. With a soundtrack featuring “Live Wire,” “Wild Side,” and more, plus visuals straight out of the Crüe’s most debauched music videos, it’s like Vegas met the Sunset Strip, and lost control.
From headbanging highways to pixelated punk riots, these games prove that rock lives loud in gaming. Now get out there and make some noise.
