Top 10 Shocking Video Game Moments That Broke Players’ Hearts

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Video games are more than just fun — they can deliver some of the most emotional and shocking storytelling moments ever experienced. In this countdown, we reveal the Top 10 Most Traumatizing Video Game Scenes that left players speechless, heartbroken, and deeply moved.  From the unforgettable opening of The Last of Us, to the shocking choices in Spec Ops: The Line, and the heartbreaking endings in Red Dead Redemption, Final Fantasy VII, and The Walking Dead, these scenes prove that games can tell powerful stories just like movies and TV.  🎮 Which video game moment hit you the hardest? Share your thoughts in the comments! Don’t forget to like, share, and follow for more Top 10 Gaming Countdowns.

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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and let's take a look at the moments that we see in our

00:10minds eye seconds before falling asleep. These are the 10 most traumatizing video

00:15game scenes. It's hard to craft a moment that sticks with players long after the

00:19initial 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 is obviously

00:39the perfect scenario for traumatizing gamers. But if losing a loved one to a terrifying alien

00:44monster wasn't horrific enough, Prey takes it a step further by fusing that loved one's

00:49torso onto the creature. Yuck. Throughout the campaign, protagonist Tommy desperately searches

00:55for his missing girlfriend, and when he finally finds her, it's in the worst possible way.

01:00Not only has she been grafted onto a grotesque alien abomination, but she's still conscious,

01:05fully aware of her fate. Begging us to run, we watch our girlfriend's final moments in

01:09pure fear. I'm ready. I can't. I've gotta save you. You can't save me, Tommy. You can only let me go.

01:23I just realized it's gonna be real hard to make this list entertaining. I'm already super depressed.

01:28Number 9, Sarah's Death, The Last of Us.

01:31We'll talk about it in the morning.

01:32Woo.

01:33Alright, goodnight.

01:35Hey.

01:35Scoot.

01:39Monday at work, huh?

01:40From one loved one suffering to another, yay. Even a decade after The Last of Us first released,

01:46it's opening our what 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 protagonist Joel as he

01:58desperately tries to get his 10-year-old daughter Sarah to safety amid the chaos of a sudden zombie

02:02virus outbreak. When they reach a military checkpoint, a soldier under strict orders fires on them. Joel

02:08survives. Sarah isn't so lucky. Players have seen plenty of violence in games before, but this child's

02:15death unfolds before the opening credits even roll, and it is beautifully performed and deeply,

02:21deeply upsetting to watch.

02:22I'll pick you up. I know, baby. I know it hurts.

02:25Please. Come on, baby. Please. I know, baby. I know.

02:33Sarah.

02:36Baby.

02:40Don't do this to me, baby. Don't do this to me, baby. Come on.

02:44Number eight, finger chop heavy rain.

02:47Are you prepared to suffer to save your son?

02:51You have five minutes to cut off the last section of one of your fingers in front of the camera.

02:58Heavy Rain might be best known for its memes today, but beneath the jokes is an intense emotional

03:03thriller about a father's desperate fight to save his son. What was his son's name again? Our protagonist,

03:08Ethan, is forced to endure a series of brutal trials to prove how far he's willing to go to save his

03:14son. One of the most harrowing is the third trial, the lizard. The challenge? Ethan must cut off part

03:20of his own finger on camera to proceed. The player has to carry out this gruesome task through a tense

03:26series of quick time events. While various tools can be used to lessen the pain, there's no way to

03:32make it not horrifying. It's pretty gory, and it's like an interactive Saw movie.

03:43Number seven, the reveal, Spec Ops The Lion.

03:46Spec Ops The Lion is one of the most unsettling games ever made, not because of gore or dying

03:59daughters, but because of the devastating ethical and emotional themes the game takes on. While many

04:04games use war as a backdrop for exciting gameplay, Spec Ops does the opposite, forcing players to

04:09confront the true psychological toll of combat. Do I need to explain this moment at all? Surely no one's

04:16forgotten the white phosphorus reveal. After using white phosphorus to clear a path through Dubai,

04:21which by the way is a brutal way to attack your opponents, Protagonist Walker and his squad mates

04:25discover they haven't just wiped out enemy forces, they've massacred 47 civilians. The image of a

04:31melted mother holding her child sticks in my mind to this day. I hate to diminish the atrocity,

04:37but it's a pretty big oops.

04:38Civilians? Where'd they come from? There's no camp here. They took them from the nest.

04:48That hotel back at the storm wall? No, no, no, no, those can't be the civvies that got kidnapped.

04:53Number six, Benson L.A. Noire.

04:56How could you accuse me of having anything to do with that? I want to know all about Ewan Monroe,

05:00Curtis.

05:01In L.A. Noire, while investigating Curtis Benson, the Vice President of California Fire and Life and a

05:06key figure in L.A. Noire's web of corruption, you break into his home expecting to uncover evidence

05:11of fraud and bribery. Instead, you find something far more disturbing and, trigger warning, it's

05:17related to the abuse of a child. Among Benson's belongings isn't just proof of his shady dealings,

05:22but a young girl, and while the game never explicitly states what's happening,

05:26the implications are pretty sickening. Kelso questions her and learns that she's only 16 years

05:31old. Even more unsettling, she defends Benson, saying he buys her nice things.

05:34You can't do anything. You have to walk away, and you get a scarily accurate view

05:40at child abuse that stays with you till 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,

05:52and he buys me nice things.

05:53Get dressed, you're leaving.

05:54Number five, Lobotomy Bioshock Infinite Burial at Sea.

05:58Now, darlin', being that you were Suchong's lab assistant and all,

06:03why not tell me where me ace in the hole went to?

06:06I don't know.

06:07As I said, I'm no doctor.

06:09This moment left us all...

06:11Bioshocked.

06:13Okay, we're halfway, so I tried a joke to lighten the moon, and it didn't work.

06:15Let's just talk about Lobotomies. In Episode 2, The Ruthless Atlas uses this brutal procedure

06:21as a form of torture on Elizabeth, and players are forced to witness the entire thing from a

06:25first-person perspective. The worst perspective.

06:28Watching a metal spike being driven into your own skull is horrifying enough,

06:32but what makes this scene truly unbearable is the masterful combination of voice acting,

06:36sound design, and visuals, all working together to make this moment as visceral as possible.

06:42It's a shame that a lot of players checked out before this DLC, but it's also a blessing for them.

06:47It was just a wee top.

06:50But 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.

06:58Number 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

07:15disturbing by the fact that you experience it through a child's eyes. Playing as a young Farrah during a

07:20flashback to the Russian invasion, you wake up in rubble. Find your dead mum. Watch civilians get

07:25bombed, shot, and gassed. Watch your brother get beaten and kidnapped, and watch your dad get killed.

07:30You enter a stealth section and desperately kill your first man. Shoot your first gun and escape with your

07:35brother. Almost, you get captured again. The hits just do not stop. Even in a franchise known for shocking

07:43moments, this mission stands out. There's something uniquely gut-wrenching about seeing war through a

07:48child's eyes. And the game does not shy away from being accurate.

07:51Little devils that killed my soldiers.

07:56At least not.

08:00Number 3. Gregory Finch What Remains of Edith Finch

08:10If you're unfamiliar with What Remains of Edith Finch, it's an adventure game about exploring an old

08:14house and uncovering the tragic fates of its former residents. While the premise sounds macabre,

08:20the game's humour keeps it from feeling overwhelmingly dark, until… Gregory. Gregory was just a year old

08:26when he drowned in the bathtub, unnoticed by his mother, who was distracted by a phone call. What

08:31makes this moment particularly haunting is how the game presents it through the eyes of Gregory,

08:35lost in his own imagination. For a moment that could have easily felt gratuitous or overly sentimental,

08:41it feels both beautiful and deeply disturbing. I know it sounds odd, but it just works.

08:46I'm sure he's happy.

08:51He'd want me to be happy too.

08:55Good luck, Kay.

08:57Number 2. Arthur's Death Red Dead Redemption 2

08:59All makes sense now.

09:02No, it damn well doesn't.

09:05The death of Arthur Morgan is… I can't even talk about it. Anyways, let's talk about it. We're

09:13focusing on the bad ending for Arthur, which is made even worse, because it's way too easy to make

09:18it happen. You don't even have to be that bad. Arthur is in immense physical discomfort as the

09:24tuberculosis takes his body by storm, and when he is at his weakest, his comrades betray him. Micah beats

09:30him, and then shoots him in the face. He uses his last words on Dutch, who walks away, leaving him to

09:36die. It's very traumatizing. It fits the topic perfectly.

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10:05Joel's Death, The Last of Us Part 2

10:07I know this scene has been discussed endlessly, but no other moment in gaming

10:31has ever made me feel physically sick. The Last of Us Part 2 is 25 relentless hours of brutal,

10:37emotional, crushing storytelling. But one of the most gut-wrenching moments happens in the first hour.

10:42Joel's Death. Half of the game follows Abby, the daughter of the surgeon Joel killed at the end of

10:47the first game. Now let's jump back to the start of the game where we see Abby when she's finally

10:51tracked down Joel. We 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

11:03line is real and unfortunately really traumatizing.

11:07Joel, get up. Joel f***ing get up.

11:11Joel f***ing get up. Please stop. Please don't shoot. Joel, please get up.

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