Top 20 Most Brutal Video Game Deaths

“Heavy Rain” (2010) As a game that heavily features quick time events, it’s no surprise that it’s packed full of deaths. But the one that stood out to us the most is Norman Jayden’s encounter with Jackson Neville AKA Mad Jack. When the junkyard owner doesn’t take too kindly to being investigated, Jayden finds himself trapped in a car on its way to the crusher. If you fail this particular QTE Jayden will meet his demise while still inside the car. We’re not sure how he’s still able to scream after being crushed though!

#19: Leon S. Kennedy

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“Resident Evil 4” (2005) It can’t be easy being Leon S. Kennedy, what with having to constantly face off against hordes of zombies or in this case just plain crazy people. While on a mission to rescue the President’s daughter, he comes across a remote village filled with folks who revere the cult responsible for the kidnapping. Unfortunately they don’t take kindly to outsiders, and turns out one of them has a chainsaw. Should Leon allow him to get too close, he ends up getting an instant game over.

“BioShock Infinite” (2013) Turns out there’s trouble in paradise in the floating city of Columbia. Bound together by zealotry, violence and prejudice, Booker Dewitt doesn’t exactly get a warm welcome. When given the option to toss a baseball at an interracial couple, Booker outright refuses and turns on the announcer, only to find himself grabbed by the authorities, where he’s recognised as the False Shepherd. Booker’s way out of this jam is a rather…messy one. After distracting one of the guards, he gets his hands on a Sky-Hook…after slamming the officer’s face into it.

“Gears of War 2” (2008) The Carmine Family probably has some of the worst luck in the entire franchise. In the first installment, Anthony Carmine was sniped down by a Locust, while his younger brother Benjamin suffers what can be considered a far worse fate when he’s swallowed by a Riftworm. Despite Marcus Fenix and company’s efforts to save him, they find his body half devoured by the acidic and creepy as hell Nemacyst. Of course he doesn’t die immediately, with just enough breath in him to give Marcus a letter to hand to his last surviving brother Clayton. R.I.P Ben, you didn’t deserve to go out like that.

“Dead Rising” (2006) Nothing like a zombie apocalypse to bring out the worst in humanity. As Frank West cuts his way through a mall filled to the brim with the undead, he also finds himself encountering a whole plethora of psychopaths who have used the apocalypse to let loose their inner sadist. One such man is Adam; taking your childhood fear of clowns and making it a million times worse by adding two chainsaws to the mix. After defeating him, Adam decides to end his own life…by falling on his own weapons which start to cut him to pieces, all the while laughing like a maniac.

#15: Lara Croft

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“Tomb Raider” (2013) In this reimagining of Lara Croft’s origins, her exploits take on a much grittier turn as she has to survive the elements, push past a whole heap of pain and fight against an endless swarm of psychotic nomads armed to the teeth. If players aren’t quick enough on the draw they’ll soon find themselves watching Lara suffer some very unpleasant deaths. Out of all of them, the one that gets our skin crawling the most is when she’s sent tumbling down a river, and should she not swerve out of the way, ends up getting a spike through her.

“Until Dawn” (2015) In all honesty any one of Until Dawn’s death sequences could make this list, as their homage to camp, classic horror has provided some real winners that range from hilarious to excessively gory. In the end we had to go with one of Emily’s more vicious ends during her escape attempt from the Wendigo. She gets put through the ringer while attempting to flee from the monster on a conveyor belt, which turns out to hold a rock crusher at the end of it. Should players fail the following quick-time event she ends up falling in and turned into mincemeat.

#13: Everything

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“Doom” (2016) Now here’s a death we can get behind, well to be specific a whole bunch of deaths through the medium of a much-beloved weapon. In this latest reboot of the classic FPS, players not only get to pummel in the heads of demons with their badass new suit as well shoot them into bloody chunks, but also get to rip them apart with a chainsaw. After being recovered from inside a corpse, the Doom Guy has the option to let er’ rip and carve up any enemy he comes across with this beautifully barbaric tool of death.

“God Of War III” (2010) Kratos is an artist when it comes to killing off gods, and just about anything else in-between him and his goal, though he saves the best deaths for those that lie at the peak of Mount Olympus. One such death is that of Hermes, the God of Messengers. After taunting Kratos endlessly about his quest for vengeance, the Ghost of Sparta gets his own back by cutting Hermes’ legs off in order to take his winged boots for himself. It’s not quick either, since Kratos makes him crawl away before slicing off the other, leading his body to disintegrate into a swarm of flies. Should have kept your mouth shut there Hermes.

“Dead Space 2” (2011) Isaac Clarke has seen some horrific sights during his time as an engineer, and experienced some of the goriest deaths in all of video games, but the blood-soaked crown belongs to this infamous moment from the series’ second installment. In a bid to remove the Marker’s presence from his mind, Isaac has to crawl into a claustrophobic machine where a needle slowly descends towards his eyeball. Should the player make one wrong move, the needle as well as the rest of the automaton comes crashing down.

“Silent Hill: Homecoming” (2008) Leave it to Pyramid Head to suddenly make things very unpleasant. In the midst of apologizing to his son Alex, family patriarch Adam Shepherd has little time to speak his peace before his body is gruesomely bisected by the fearsome Pyramid Head. While we don't see the act in progress, the look on Alex's face says it all.

“The Last of Us” (2013) We sense that this might be overkill. Then again, the situation didn't exactly call for a light touch. Ellie, a teenage survivor, had just spent several minutes dodging and fighting off manic survivor David – before he pins her down. In a desperate bid, Ellie manages to reach a nearby machete and take a swipe at her aggressor, giving her the brief moment to take the upper hand. And take it she does…

“Max Payne 3” (2012) Many things can be said about Marcelo Branco, but “deserving of brutal death” isn't one of them. Yet that's how the scene is set when our hero Max Payne tries to save Marcelo – the Cracha Preto military faction's leader Milo Rego has the young mister Branco stuck in stack of tires, which he sets on fire…It's a senseless moment of violence, though it provides Max with an excuse to exact equally brutal vengeance against Marcelo's killer.

“Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3” (2011) A fitting end for such a tyrannical character. In the final mission of “Modern Warfare 3”, former soldiers Captain Price and Yuri conduct a raid on Makarov's hideout in Dubai. Unfortunately for Yuri, Makarov is prepared, executing him in front of Price. Price does not take this well; compelled by rage, he beats Makarov into submission before tying a noose around his neck and smashing a window out from under them. The Two men plummet, one man lives to fight another day. Harsh as this may seem, it pales in comparison to the immense human suffering Makarov has caused.

#6: Dee

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“The Walking Dead: 400 Days” (2013) She wasn’t exactly the nicest lady, but Dee probably didn't deserve this. One of the stories in “400 Days” focuses on Bonnie, a recovering addict traveling with married couple Leland and Dee. When Bonnie is separated from the two during a daring escape, she flees into a corn field and prepares to fight her pursuers, with a rebar as her weapon. Sadly, Bonnie misjudged her target – and it’s Dee that ends up taking a blow. Her slow and painful passing, complete with harsh final words for Bonnie, makes it all the more brutal.

“F.E.A.R. Extraction Point” (2006) Douglas Holiday, leader of a Delta Force unit working with the First Encounter Assault Recon team, probably wasn't expecting to get harassed by ghost. And yet, that’s exactly what happens, as Holiday is surrounded quickly by demon-like entities and thrown about like a ragdoll. What's unsettling is how calm he is throughout the extended sequence, even as his limbs are twisted and his body is dragged around. Although we're morbidly impressed by the explosive conclusion, it's still a terrible way to go.

#4: Andrew Ryan

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“BioShock” (2007) Would you kindly end the brutality? You, as the voiceless hero Jack, are sent to deal with Andrew Ryan, the co-founder of the underwater city of Rapture. However, Ryan is one step ahead of you – delivering not only a speech, but also one of the best twists in videogame history. What results is a case of swift yet harsh violence, as Jack beats Ryan to death with his own golf club. There's no way to stop it, no manner of controlling Jack's actions in this scene, leaving us as witnesses to the end of an age.

#3: Joel

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“The Last of Us Part II” (2020) Speaking of golf clubs, nothing caused as much outrage within the gaming community as the death of fan favorite Joel Miller. Following his questionable acts at the end of the first game, Joel finds himself captured by Abby, the daughter of one of the Fireflies that he had murdered. She proceeds to exact her revenge on him with her friends, before finishing him off with a golf club. What makes this one worse is that Ellie is forced to witness all of this first hand.

“Mortal Kombat X” (2015) In a game that gives you intimate control over the brutal violence you enact upon your enemies, it makes sense that any death that you DON’T control would be especially over the top. At this point in the single player campaign, Mileena is captured by Kotal Khan. Being Emperor of the outworld means you have to make some tough choices, so Khan orders his second in command D'Vorah to execute Mileena with what can only be described as the ultimate kiss of death. Fun fact: that's not acid eroding Mileena's face – it's actually hundreds of tiny flesh-eating insects.

“God of War III” (2010) When Kratos gets angry, it’s easy to lose your head. Sorry we just had to do it. As we saw in a previous entry, Kratos has been unflinchingly brutal in his massacre of the entire Greek pantheon. Now setting his sights on the sun god, Kratos takes the time to beat Helios into submission – and then proceeds to slowly and painfully tear his head off. It's neither quick nor pretty, as we witness every bit of flesh and muscle slowly tear free under Kratos' meaty hands.