- 4 months ago
Some gaming moments leave permanent emotional scars. Join us as we count down the most deeply disturbing scenes that haunted players long after they put down the controller. From brutal deaths to psychological torment, these unforgettable moments challenged our emotional resilience and redefined what games could make us feel.
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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo and let's take a look at the moments that we see in our
00:10mind's eye seconds before falling asleep. These are the 10 most traumatizing
00:14video game scenes. It's hard to craft a moment that sticks with players long
00:19after the initial trauma but these games did it. Let's go.
00:23Number 10 rescuing Jen Prey
00:28You'll find a few moments on this list where the player loses a loved one which
00:38is obviously the perfect scenario for traumatizing gamers but if losing a
00:43loved one to a terrifying alien monster wasn't horrific enough Prey takes it a
00:47step further by fusing that loved one's torso onto the creature. Yuck. Throughout
00:52the campaign protagonist Tommy desperately searches for his missing girlfriend and
00:56when he finally finds her it's in the worst possible way. Not only has she
01:00been grafted onto a grotesque alien abomination but she's still conscious
01:04fully aware of her fate begging us to run we watch our girlfriend's final moments
01:09in pure fear. I'm ready. I can't. I've got to save you. You can't save me Tommy. You
01:20can only let me go. I just realized it's gonna be real hard to make this list
01:25entertaining. I'm already super depressed. Number nine Sarah's death The Last of Us.
01:30We'll talk about it in the morning. Alright goodnight. Hey. Scoot.
01:36Monday at work huh? From one loved one suffering to another. Yay. Even a decade after The Last of Us
01:44first released its opening hour remains one of the most gut-wrenching sequences in gaming history. I remember
01:50finishing this back in 2013 and whispering out loud what the f**k. This scene follows
01:56protagonist Joel as he desperately tries to get his 10-year-old daughter Sarah to safety amid the
02:01chaos of a sudden zombie virus outbreak. When they reach a military checkpoint a soldier under strict
02:06orders fires on them. Joel survives. Sarah isn't so lucky. Players have seen plenty of violence in
02:13games before but this child's death unfolds before the opening credits even roll and it is beautifully
02:19performed and deeply deeply upsetting to watch.
02:24I know baby. I know it hurts. Come on baby. Please. I know baby. I know.
02:31Sarah. Baby.
02:36Don't do this to me baby. Don't do this to me baby. Come on.
02:43Are you prepared to suffer to save your son? You have five minutes to cut off the last section of one of your fingers in front of the camera.
02:57Heavy Rain might be best known for its memes today but beneath the jokes is an intense emotional thriller about a father's desperate fight to save his son. What was his son's name again? Our protagonist Ethan is forced to endure a series of brutal trials to prove how far he's willing to go.
03:11to save his son. One of the most harrowing is the third trial, the lizard. The challenge? Ethan must cut off part of his own finger on camera to proceed. The player has to carry out this gruesome task through a tense series of quick time events. While various tools can be used to lessen the pain, there's no way to make it not horrifying. It's pretty gory and it's like an interactive Saw movie.
03:36Number 7. The reveal. Spec Ops The Lion.
03:43Spec Ops The Lion is one of the most unsettling games ever made. Not because of gore or dying daughters but because of the devastating ethical and emotional themes the game takes on.
04:03While many games use war as a backdrop for exciting gameplay, Spec Ops does the opposite forcing players to confront the true psychological toll of combat.
04:12Do I need to explain this moment at all? Surely no one's forgotten the white phosphorus reveal?
04:17After using white phosphorus to clear a path through Dubai, which by the way is a brutal way to attack your opponents, Protagonist Walker and his squad mates discover they haven't just wiped out enemy forces, they've massacred 47 civilians.
04:30The image of a melted mother holding her child sticks in my mind to this day. I hate to diminish the atrocity, but it's a pretty big oops.
04:37Civilians? Where'd they come from? There's no camp here. They took them from the nest. That hotel back at the storm wall? No, no, no, no, those can't be the civvies that got kidnapped.
04:52Number 6. Benson, LA Noire.
04:55How could you accuse me of having anything to do with that?
04:58I want to know all about you and Monroe, Curtis.
05:00In LA Noire, while investigating Curtis Benson, the vice president of California Fire and Life and a key figure in LA Noire's web of corruption, you break into his home expecting to uncover evidence of fraud and bribery.
05:12Instead, you find something far more disturbing and, trigger warning, it's related to the abuse of a child.
05:18Among Benson's belongings isn't just proof of his shady dealings, but a young girl, and while the game never explicitly states what's happening, the implications are pretty sickening.
05:28Kelso questions her and learns that she's only 16 years old. Even more unsettling, she defends Benson, saying he buys her nice things.
05:35You can't do anything. You have to walk away and you get a scarily accurate view at child abuse that stays with you to the end of the game and, for me, beyond.
05:44Get dressed, you're getting out of here.
05:45He's not so bad. He just lays on top of me and grunts for a few minutes. He's kind. And he buys me nice things.
05:52Get dressed, you're leaving.
05:54Number 5, Lobotomy Bioshock Infinite Burial at Sea.
05:57Now, darlin', being that you were Suchong's lab assistant and all, why not tell me where me ace in the hole went to?
06:05I don't know, buddy.
06:06As I said, I'm no doctor.
06:08This moment left us all bio-shocked.
06:12Okay, we're halfway, so I tried a joke to lighten the mood and it didn't work. Let's just talk about lobotomies.
06:17In Episode 2, The Ruthless Atlas uses this brutal procedure as a form of torture on Elizabeth, and players are forced to witness the entire thing from a first-person perspective.
06:27The worst perspective.
06:28Watching a metal spike being driven into your own skull is horrifying enough, but what makes this scene truly unbearable is the masterful combination of voice acting, sound design and visuals, all working together to make this moment as visceral as possible.
06:41It's a shame that a lot of players checked out before this DLC, but it's also a blessing for them.
06:46It was just a wee tap.
06:48But I don't expect it'll take more than a few of those to reach the meat.
06:53And then we might find you a bit less than you.
06:57Number 4, Farrah Flashbacks Call of Duty Modern Warfare.
07:10Mission 9 of the Modern Warfare reboot is a relentless onslaught of trauma made all the more disturbing by the fact that you experience it through a child's eyes.
07:18Playing as a young Farrah during a flashback to the Russian invasion, you wake up in rubble.
07:23Find your dead mum.
07:24Watch civilians get bombed, shot and gassed.
07:26Watch your brother get beaten and kidnapped and watch your dad get killed.
07:30You enter a stealth section and desperately kill your first man.
07:33Shoot your first gun and escape with your brother.
07:36Almost, you get captured again.
07:38The hits just do not stop.
07:40Even in a franchise known for shocking moments, this mission stands out.
07:44There's something uniquely gut-wrenching about seeing war through a child's eyes.
07:49And the game does not shy away from being accurate.
07:51Little devils that killed my soldiers.
07:55Excellent.
07:59Number 3, Gregory Finch What Remains of Edith Finch.
08:10If you're unfamiliar with What Remains of Edith Finch,
08:12it's an adventure game about exploring an old house and uncovering the tragic fates of its former residents.
08:17While the premise sounds macabre, the game's humour keeps it from feeling overwhelmingly dark.
08:22Until...
08:23Gregory.
08:24Gregory was just a year old when he drowned in the bathtub,
08:27unnoticed by his mother who was distracted by a phone call.
08:30What makes this moment particularly haunting is how the game presents it through the eyes of Gregory,
08:34lost in his own imagination.
08:36For a moment that could have easily felt gratuitous or overly sentimental,
08:40it feels both beautiful and deeply disturbing.
08:43I know it sounds odd, but it just works.
08:45I'm sure he's happy.
08:47He'd want me to be happy too.
08:52Good luck, Kay.
08:55Number 2, Arthur's Death, Red Dead Redemption 2.
08:59Oh, makes sense now.
09:01No, it damn well doesn't.
09:04The death of Arthur Morgan is...
09:09I can't even talk about it.
09:11Anyways, let's talk about it.
09:12We're focusing on the bad ending for Arthur which is made even worse
09:16because it's way too easy to make it happen.
09:19You don't even have to be that bad.
09:21Arthur is in immense physical discomfort as the tuberculosis takes his body by storm
09:26and when he is at his weakest, his comrades betray him.
09:29Micah beats him and then shoots him in the face.
09:32He uses his last words on Dutch who walks away leaving him to die.
09:36It's very traumatising.
09:38It fits the topic perfectly.
09:40I gave you all I had.
09:46I did.
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10:04Joel's Death, The Last of Us Part 2.
10:07I know this scene has been discussed endlessly, but no other moment in gaming has ever made me feel physically sick.
10:20The Last of Us Part 2 is 25 relentless hours of brutal, emotional, crushing storytelling.
10:38But one of the most gut-wrenching moments happens in the first hour.
10:42Joel's death.
10:43Half of the game follows Abby, the daughter of the surgeon Joel killed at the end of the first game.
10:47Now let's jump back to the start of the game where we see Abby when she's finally tracked down Joel.
10:52We are forced to watch helplessly as Abby mercilessly beats him to death with a golf club.
10:58Watching this beloved character face an unfiltered, raw and brutal death without even a cool exiting line is real and unfortunately really traumatising.
11:07Joel, get up.
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