Top 10 Games With The Best Dismemberment

Samurais, cavemen, and knights! Oh my! About a month later after the release of “Mortal Kombat” in 1992, we saw the arrival of “Time Killers”. This 2D fighting gave players the sever the limbs off your opponent at any given point in a match, just so long as you hit in the right places at the right moments. Thanks to the variety of savage characters, we were given a wide selection of methods to bludgeon our friends with, ranging from chainsaws and swords to stone axes and lightsabe…er…plasma swords. Unfortunately, dismemberment was the only reason this game was remembered – as a terrible Genesis port prevented it from reaching the cult status it may have deserved.

As enjoyable as it is to hear tales of knights fighting dragons and saving princesses, this game proves that knight warfare is way better. Tasked with storming fortresses and slaying opponents, “Chivalry” features some gory ways to slaughter those who oppose you, giving you access to maces, bows, swords, and axes. Of course, if traditional team play isn’t your style, you can take on single players in a series of duels, almost like tournaments you could watch at renaissance fairs. Only difference here is that this game isn’t as harmless as the jousts at those fairs. No survivors here.

Stab me once, I’ll keep going. Stab me twice, still going. Stab me three times, I’m still alive. We swear that has to be the motto of some of these foot ninjas. “Ninja Gaiden 2” teaches the player that just because your enemy is incapacitated, doesn’t mean they still won’t try to kill you. It’s sorta like if Monty Python’s Black knight was a ninja. Amidst the chaotic hack & slash gameplay, this little feature is pretty easy to miss one half-dead enemy. On top of that, the slicing and dicing of enemies is quite the spectacle to behold, adding to the game’s already graphic ultraviolence.

Remember how teary-eyed the announcement trailer was, how incredibly sad the story was? Do you also remember the blood bath created by dear old Dad? Now, let’s recreate that! Not the tragic scene, the blood bath. “Dead Island” has you set out to explore a tropical beach resort that has been infested with zombies. Unexpectedly, this resort has a pretty diverse array of weapons for you to find and use to tear into the flesh-eaters. So, grab your favorite axe, crowbar, spiked bat, or pistol, and slay! In the words of Karen O, “heads will roll.”

Even though Konami hasn’t exactly been a Gold-Star publisher in terms of how they treat their developers, giving this spin-off beat hack and slash title to Platinum Games seems like it was a good move. So, you ever want to take a break from the critically acclaimed “Metal Gear Solid”, there’s a good alternative for you blood-thirsty action fans in the form of “Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance”. “Revengeance” brings back fan-favorite Raiden for a sword slashing gore fest, and you immediately get that sense in the game’s prologue. Through the use of the game’s Blade Mode, hacking your victim’s limbs off never seems to get old. Has fast-paced combat ever made dismemberment more of a literal blood bath than this?

From the outside, “God of War” looks like your typical ultraviolent game. Up close, that’s exactly what the game is times a thousand. The “God of War series has made players slaughter the Greek gods through incredibly gruesome methods. Need some examples? Kratos relentlessly bashes his fists into Hercules’ face using gauntlets. Kratos tears off the head of Helios with his bare hands. Kratos smashes Poseidon’s head against blocks of ice before gouging his eyes out. Kratostears out the intestines of Cronos from inside him. You know what, we’ll stop now. That last one actually made us a little nauseous just talking about it…

Damn, this game is graphic! “Soldier of Fortune” is considered a technical achievement in kill animations, although we’re not sure if that’s something to be proud of. Dubbing the areas of effect as “Gore Zones”, this game gave players 26 zones to kill enemies. These included not only headshots, but also giving players the ability to shoot the neck, stomach, bowels, and of course, limbs. A little too squeamish to handle this game? There is a “Tactical Low-Violence Version” port that have removed all gore from the game. Can’t find a copy? Practice your marksmanship because the only peaceful way to progress is by shooting the weapon out of an enemy’s hand. Otherwise, raise some hell!

Can you believe this series is nearly twenty years old? Talk about feeling old. Yet it’s VATS system still serves up some of the most hilariously gory ways to dismember your enemies, well, starting with Fallout 3. Before then, it looked like this. Using the ole Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System, you can choose which appendages you wish to assault. Um, head? Duh. When you unleash your barrage of ammunitions, you’re often treated to some hilarious ragdoll physics. Seriously, what isn’t funnier than exploding the limbs of an under-level Raider after he spouts trash talk at you?

Surprised? Neither are we. Recent games have shown that despite its age, “Mortal Kombat” still has some creative ways of slaughtering our enemies and slicing up their limbs. While we’ve always had the classic Fatality system, the series has introduced death traps that grind or impale, X-ray moves that make you question how the victim is still standing, Brutalities that serve as shortcut kills, and a create-your-own fatality feature, which was pretty underwhelming. Regardless, the newer versions have proven to be just as hilarious (or disgusting) than previous installations. May we mention the cheeky “Shining” reference from Johnny Cage?

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few Honorable Mentions:

“Loadout” (2015)

“Doom” (2016)

“Left 4 Dead 2” (2009)

Yeah, it looked like an easy win for “Mortal Kombat” at first, but “Dead Space” provides a more unique take on dismemberment in video games as a key to survival. Most horror games allow simple headshots as kills. “Dead Space” requires you incapacitate necromorphs in order to escape unharmed. Not only was dismemberment vital as a gameplay mechanic, but according to “Guiness World Records 2010: Gamer’s Edition”, “Dead Space” set a record for Most Character Death Animations in a Video Game. This game really is an incarnation of pure dismemberment.

Do you agree with our list? Which games do you find excel in dismemberment? For more incapacitating Top 10’s every day, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.