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Published Sep 8, 2026, 5:42 PM EDT
Luc Haasbroek is a writer and videographer from Durban, South Africa. He has been writing professionally about pop culture for eight years. Luc's areas of interest are broad: he's just as passionate about psychology and history as he is about movies and TV. He's especially drawn to the places where these topics overlap.
Luc is also an avid producer of video essays and looks forward to expanding his writing career. When not writing, he can be found hiking, playing Dungeons & Dragons, hanging out with his cats, and doing deep dives on whatever topic happens to have captured his interest that week.
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Juicy worldbuilding is one of the most appealing aspects of sci-fi. It's fun to get lost in a strange new planet or alien society, and even better if these fictional creations can reveal interesting sides of our own world.
The best worldbuilding isn't just cool or quirky but serves a key role in the story itself. With that in mind, this list looks at some of the most intriguing examples of sci-fi worldbuilding ever, from the gritty, gravity-starved realities of The Expanse to the terrifying cosmic mathematics of The Three-Body Problem.
8 'The Expanse' (2011–2021)
Image via Orbit Books"The stars belong to all of us." Across nine novels, James S. A. Corey (the pen name of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck) constructs a meticulously realized Solar System, colonized by humanity, riven by political tensions, economic strain, technological anxiety, and culture clash. It's a space opera about the escalating conflict between Earth, Mars, and the scattered settlements of the Asteroid Belt.
This is mostly hard sci-fi, leaning into the mechanics and implications of futuristic tech. For instance, people who have grown up in low-gravity environments have very different physiologies, and the spaceships need to be constantly moving in order to create their artificial on-board gravity. The space combat is also unusually brutal: any hull breach is catastrophic, and crews must depressurise their ships and wear vacuum suits during battle to prevent explosive decompression.
7 'Red Rising' (2014– )
Image via Del Rey Books"The worlds were built on hierarchy." Another tale of interplanetary colonization, Red Rising envisions a rigidly stratified society in which humanity has spread across the Solar System and divided itself into genetically engineered Color castes, each designed for specific social roles. Initially, we see all this through the eyes of Darrow, a Red laborer who infiltrates the ruling Gold elite. But as the story broadens, however, author Pierce Brown gradually reveals the political institutions, military organizations, economic systems, and competing cultures governing this vast fictional empire.
Most strikingly, pretty much all of our Solar System has been terraformed and populated. Mars is a harsh, iron-rich planet, basically a giant mine, and a hotbed for rebellion. Jupiter and Saturn are home to austere honor cultures, while the Moon is the capital of the empire, a marvel of colossal marble towers and glass pyramids encased within atmospheric domes.
6 'The Three-Body Problem' trilogy (2006–2010)
Image via Tor Books"The universe is far stranger than humanity imagined." One of the most impressive works of hard sci-fi of the last quarter-century, The Three-Body Problem books by Liu Cixin paint a tense, immersive portrait of humanity's first contact with an extraterrestrial species from the unstable Trisolaris system. These aliens are deeply shaped by their hostile home planet. Their world orbits three suns in an unpredictable, chaotic system, with stable periods followed by eras of apocalyptic heat or deathly cold. Needless to say, the alien society is as harsh and brutal as the environment they come from.
The Trisolarans also wield some mind-boggling tech. For instance, they can fold multiple dimensions into two just two, using this process to build proton-sized supercomputers that overshadow any machine made by human hands. These aliens can intercept all electronic communication and see everything that happens on Earth, all while communicating via thought.
5 'The Hyperion Cantos' (1989–1997)
Image via Doubleday"The universe contains more histories than any civilization can remember." This is one of the most imaginative sci-fi series ever. The Hyperion Cantos combine space opera, theology, philosophy, detective fiction tropes, and time travel into something truly unique. The series revolves around the Hegemony of Man, an interstellar civilization connected through instantaneous farcaster portals. Beyond humanity's core worlds lie independent colonies, artificial intelligences pursuing their own agendas, mysterious alien civilizations, and the enigmatic Shrike, whose existence appears to transcend ordinary concepts of time itself.
On top of that, we encounter "TreeShips" drifting through deep space, massive, monolithic structures known as Time Tombs that move backward in time, tools for digital resurrections, and cross-shaped parasites that can reanimate dead bodies. Most memorable of all is the Shrike, a four-armed, metallic, blade-covered creature of variable size that can teleport at will and delights in impaling its victims.
4 'Bas-Lag' Novels (2000–2004)
Image via Macmillan"The city itself is the greatest character." Few sci-fi settings are as strange as Bas-Lag. Across Perdido Street Station, The Scar, and Iron Council, author China Miéville constructs a world that refuses to fit comfortably into any single genre. In it, sci-fi, fantasy, horror, steampunk, weird fiction, and political allegory fuse into a potent concoction. Although each novel in the series tells a largely independent story, they all expand readers' understanding of Bas-Lag through different locations and cultures.
In these books, we meet mad scientists, golems, cactus people, insect-headed khepri, literal demons, deadly slake-moths, floating pirate cities, and a brand of magic known as thaumaturgy that has parallels with engineering or physics. There is also a mysterious magical force known as the Torque, capable of mutating flesh and twisting time. Finally, there is the Weaver, a god-like, multidimensional, spider-like entity that speaks in a continuous stream of avant-garde poetry.
3 'Dune' (1965–1985)
Image via Chilton Books"He who controls the spice controls the future." The Dune books boast one of the most colorful and memorable speculative societies ever. The series begins on the desert world of Arrakis, the only source of the invaluable spice melange, before steadily expanding to encompass an interstellar empire shaped by feudal politics, religious movements, competing noble houses, secretive organizations, and thousands of years of carefully planned human evolution. Every institution possesses believable motivations and every culture carries deep historical roots.
Intriguingly, this is a sci-fi universe without computers. Humans are used to crunch information in their heads, whether that's the enigmatic Bene Gesserit order or the spice-addled, future-seeing Guild Navigators. The spice itself extends human life, unlocks psychic awareness, and is vital for interstellar travel. Then there are the sand-worms, of course, the saga's most enduring image, colossal, armored creatures that roam the deep desert.
2 'The Foundation' series (1951–1993)
Image via Gnome Press"Empires rise. Empires fall." A truly sprawling and incredibly influential series, inspiring not just many sci-fi writers but countless scientists and tech entrepreneurs. Across decades of storytelling, genre legend Isaac Asimov charts the rise, collapse, and rebirth of a galactic civilization. The series begins with Hari Seldon's prediction that the empire will inevitably collapse, ushering in thousands of years of barbarism unless humanity intervenes. From that premise, Asimov builds a civilization encompassing millions of inhabited worlds.
The worldbuilding here includes a metropolis planet, an empire collapsing in slow motion, scheming religious authorities, calculating merchant princes, and a sweeping Encyclopedia Galactica, intended to contain the sum of all human knowledge. However, looming over all this is The Mule, a genetic mutant with the unique telepathic ability to directly manipulate human emotions, forcing anyone to feel absolute, fanatical loyalty to him. His arrival threatens the protagonists' carefully-laid plans.
1 'The Hainish Cycle' (1964–2000)
Image via Ace Books"The greatest discoveries come through understanding other people." The Hainish Cycle is a series of novels and short stories by the great Ursula K. Le Guin, author of A Wizard of Earthsea. The Cycle contains masterpieces like The Dispossessed, a socio-political allegory, and The Left Hand of Darkness, a perceptive sci-fi tale about gender. Taken together, it adds up to one of the most thoughtful and anthropologically rich fictional universes ever created.
The tales feature all sorts of memorable and powerful ideas: fallen civilizations, faster-than-light communication, near-fast-as-light space travel, planets covered in forest, planets covered in ice, aliens that can switch between sexes, competing societies with very different approaches to economics and freedom, and a mission to recover lost knowledge. Importantly, the focus is less on the speculative technologies and societies themselves but rather on what they can reveal about human nature.
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars
Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you'd actually make it out of alive.
💊The Matrix
🔥Mad Max
🌧️Blade Runner
🏜️Dune
🚀Star Wars
TEST YOUR SURVIVAL →
01
You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one.
APull on every thread until I understand the system — then figure out how to break it. BStop asking questions and start stockpiling — food, fuel, weapons. Questions don't keep you alive. CKeep my head down, observe carefully, and trust no one until I know who's pulling the strings. DStudy the patterns. Every system has a rhythm — learn it, and you learn how to survive it. EFind the people fighting back and join them. You can't fix a broken galaxy alone.
NEXT QUESTION →
02
In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.
AKnowledge. If you understand the system, you don't need resources — you can generate them. BFuel. Everything else — movement, power, escape — runs on it. CTrust. In a world of fakes and informants, a truly reliable ally is rarer than any commodity. DWater. And after water, information — the two things empires are truly built on. EShips and credits. The galaxy is big — you survive it by being able to move through it freely.
NEXT QUESTION →
03
What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you're honest about what you're actually afraid of.
AThat reality itself is a lie — that everything I experience has been constructed to keep me compliant. BA raid. No warning, no mercy — just the roar of engines and then nothing left. CBeing identified. Once someone with power decides you're a problem, you're already out of time. DBeing outmanoeuvred — losing a political game I didn't even know I was playing. EThe Empire tightening its grip until there's nowhere left to run.
NEXT QUESTION →
04
How do you deal with authority you don't trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.
ASubvert it from the inside — learn its rules well enough to weaponise them against it. BIgnore it and stay out of its reach. The further from any power structure, the better. CAppear to comply while doing exactly what I need to do. Visibility is the enemy. DManoeuvre within it carefully. You can't beat a system you refuse to understand. EResist openly when I have to. Some things are worth the risk of being seen.
NEXT QUESTION →
05
Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn't just tactical — it's physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.
AUnderground bunkers and server rooms — cramped, artificial, but with access to everything that matters. BOpen wasteland — brutal sun, no shelter, constant movement. At least the threat is honest. CA dense, rain-soaked city where you can disappear into the crowd and nobody asks questions. DMerciless desert — extreme heat, no water, and something enormous living beneath the sand. EThe fringe — backwater planets and busy spaceports where the Empire's attention rarely reaches.
NEXT QUESTION →
06
Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.
AA tight crew of believers who've seen behind the curtain and have nothing left to lose. BOne or two people I'd trust with my life. Any more than that and someone talks. CNobody, ideally. Alliances are liabilities. I work alone unless I have no choice. DA community bound by shared hardship and mutual survival — people who need each other to last. EA ragtag team with wildly different skills and total commitment when it counts.
NEXT QUESTION →
07
Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they're actually made of.
AI won't harm the innocent — even the ones who'd report me without hesitation. BI do what I have to to protect the people I've chosen. Everything else is negotiable. CThe line shifts depending on who's asking and what's at stake. DI draw a long-term line — nothing that compromises my people's future, even if it'd help now. ESome lines, once crossed, can't be uncrossed. I know which ones they are.
NEXT QUESTION →
08
What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.
AWaking others up — dismantling the illusion so no one else has to live inside it. BFinding somewhere — or someone — worth protecting. A reason to keep moving. CAnswers. Understanding what I am, what any of this means, before time runs out. DLegacy — shaping the future in a way that outlasts me by generations. EFreedom — for myself, for others, for every world still living under someone else's boot.
REVEAL MY WORLD →
Your Fate Has Been Calculated You'd Survive In…
Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.
The Matrix
You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You're a systems thinker who can't help but notice the seams in things.
- You're drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it.
- You'd find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines' worst nightmare.
- You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it.
- The Matrix built an airtight prison. You'd be the one probing the walls for the door.
Mad Max
The wasteland doesn't reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That's you.
- You don't need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon.
- You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you're good at all three.
- You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.
- In the wasteland, that distinction is everything.
Blade Runner
You'd survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.
- You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer.
- In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional.
- You're not a hero. But you're not lost, either.
- In Blade Runner's world, that distinction is everything.
Dune
Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.
- Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they're survival tools.
- You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory.
- Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You'd learn its logic and earn its respect.
- In time, you wouldn't just survive Arrakis — you'd begin to reshape it.
Star Wars
The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn't have it any other way.
- You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion.
- You'd gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire's grip can be broken.
- You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn't something you're capable of.
- In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference.
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