Top 10 Video Game Moments Where The Hero Couldn't Have Survived

Top 10 Video Game Moments That The Hero Couldn’t Have Survived

That should’ve hurt a lot more than it did. Welcome to WatchMojo.com and today we’re counting down our picks for the top 10 Video Game Moments That The Hero Couldn’t Have Survived.

For this list, we’re looking at the scenes in video games where heroes suffered through what should have been fatal injuries, yet still lived on to save the day or finish their mission. We’ll be placing a limit of one game per franchise, and be warned that there will be some spoilers.

#10: Bullet to the Head

“Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne” (2003)

Conventional wisdom dictates that a gunshot wound to one’s head would almost guarantee death. This sound principle doesn’t seem to apply to NYPD officer Max Payne, who finds himself cornered by ally-turned-adversary Vladimir Lem in the third-to-last mission of “Max Payne 2”. After a brief chat Lem shoots Max – but rather than dying instantly, Max instead experiences an extended dream sequence and awakens thanks to quickly applied CPR. On top of that strange occurrence, Max doesn’t even require recuperation; he keeps barreling through to game’s end with no concern for the long-term impact of his injury.

#9: Leaps of Faith

“Assassin’s Creed” series (2007-)

So is this the vaunted historical accuracy Ubisoft claims to strive for, or no? A recurring mechanic in the “Assassin’s Creed” games is Synchronization, which allows the playable Assassin of choice to uncover nearby locations and map markers. The catch is that they must climb to the top of various large buildings and structures to do so, with the only way down being to leap off the highest point. These Leaps of Faith, as they’re called, result in the player character landing completely unharmed in hay bales or the closest equivalent – which almost certainly defies several laws of physics.

#8: Attacked by Harbinger

“Mass Effect 3” (2012)

In a last-ditch effort to activate the Crucible device, Commander Shepard, and company charge alongside human and alien forces to a vital transport beam. Alas, their efforts are cut short when the Reaper known as Harbinger shows up, hitting everyone present with energy blasts. The situation appears dire, with panicked radio chatter in the distance and none of the task force appearing to have survived… and then Shepard gets back up. What makes this scene especially bizarre is that Shepard was hit full force with energy and is sporting severe burns that definitely should have killed him.

#7: Knife in the Chest

“Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2” (2009)

Late in the campaign of “Modern Warfare 2”, Captain John MacTavish – known also by his nickname Soap – follows his ex-CO Captain Price on a vengeful mission to Afghanistan. The duo ends up chasing their target General Shepherd off a waterfall, which all three managed to walk away from. Already stretching believability to its limit, the sequence comes to a head when MacTavish is stabbed in the chest with a combat knife. MacTavish, in true logic-defying action hero fashion, pulls the knife from his own body and manages to throw it one-handed into Shepherd’s eye. To top it off, this wound wouldn’t kill MacTavish until complications from another brutal injury in the next game.

#6: Surviving an Explosion

“Tekken 5” (2004)

Explosions mean nothing now, it would seem. Right in the opening moments of “Tekken 5”, we’re reintroduced to Heihachi Mishima and his son Kazuya, who are forced to work together to battle Jack-4 androids attacking the Hon-Maru dojo. Heihachi is eventually abandoned by Kazuya and left to the mercy of the Jacks, with their course of action being to self-destruct while surrounding Heihachi. Dramatically starting one’s game with a death by fiery detonation has merits as an attention-getting move… but then the game reveals Heihachi survived and is still in fighting shape. So what, then, was the point of making it seem that Heihachi’s story had reached its end?

#5: Falling Off a Cliff

“Horizon: Zero Dawn” (2017)

You’d think the multitude of stacking wounds and conditions would be fatal here. As “Horizon: Zero Dawn” gets underway, we’re slowly introduced to Aloy, an outcast seeking acceptance by her given tribe. During her trial to gain status with the tribe, a group of cultists catch her by surprise and nearly slash her throat. Aloy is then rolled off the edge of the nearby cliff to spare herself a fiery end and falls somewhere far below, all the while exposed to freezing temperatures. To say that she should be very dead even with the timely intervention of her tribe is an understatement.

#4: Squall’s Impalement

“Final Fantasy VIII” (1999)

Heights, what heights? Under orders to confront and assassinate the increasingly hostile sorceress Edea, Squall and his team infiltrate a parade and proceed to confront her. The fighting seems to be going their way… and then Edea hits Squall in the shoulder with a magic ice javelin. We then get to watch as Squall collapses into the dark void below, seemingly sealing his fate. A short time later, though, it’s made clear that Squall was just knocked out by the fall and has no lasting damage from the ice. It raises so many questions about how magic – and gravity – work in that universe.

#3: X-Ray Moves

“Mortal Kombat” (2011) & “Mortal Kombat X” (2015)

Though never addressed in-universe, these excessively brutal special moves were introduced with the ninth “Mortal Kombat” game released in 2011 and have since become a staple of the series. The X-Ray Moves, when activated, depict in great detail the various Kombatants smashing, crushing and otherwise grievously harming their opponents. Given that we see the character’s bones and limbs crippled beyond repair, it’s a bit jarring to then see them get back up and keep fighting as though they’re completely healthy. From our perspective, this is a break in consistency between narrative and gameplay that could so easily be explained and simply isn’t.

#2: Train Wrecked

“Uncharted 2: Among Thieves” (2009)

Nathan Drake certainly got himself into all sorts of near-death experiences during “Uncharted 2”, from falling from a broken zipline to successfully running across a collapsing bridge. But the greatest suspension of disbelief on Drake’s adventure is tied to a sequence in which he jumps onto and crosses along the length of a moving train. Drake unexpectedly gets shot by his former ally Flynn, using what seems to be his final breath to shoot an explosive barrel and catch Flynn’s mercenary associates off-guard. In spite of bleeding heavily and likely suffering many injuries from explosion and crash, Drake actually manages to pull himself from the wreckage, shoot his way through the surviving mercenaries, and is quickly found by a local villager and brought to safety. Lucky doesn’t even begin to describe it.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are some honorable mentions:

Portal on the Moon
“Portal 2” (2011)

CJ’s Chopper Goes Down
“Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas” (2004)

#1: Public Beheading

“Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus” (2017)



The reboot Wolfenstein series is filled with moments that seem completely impossible to survive, in the first game the hero BJ got stabbed, lost consciousness, woke up inside a furnace, yet was able to come out of that ordeal alive, sure that may seem … very slightly plausible. But you want to know what isn’t plausible; getting revived after having your freaking head lopped off! I mean; there’s brushing off flesh wounds, and then there’s resorting to Futurama levels of ridiculousness by keeping BJ’s head in a jar. Oh and the icing on the cake, the resistance JUST so happens to have an artificial headless body lying around for you. You know ... just in case.