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Dying is never fun in a horror game or any game for that matter. We went through a bunch of classic titles and more modern ones to find the absolute worst ways to die from gore-riddled finishers to anxiety-inducing ends. No matter what, these ten entries have stuck in our brains and will remain so until we ourselves experience Game Over.
10 Resident Evil VII: Mia
We could honestly fill an entire list with just Resident Evil-based deaths alone. Resident Evil 7, in particular, has some of the most gruesome since it can be fully played in VR, making every encounter that much more visceral. There are two big ones that come to mind.
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One, during the birthday tape scene when we have to watch ourselves be set on fire. The screams through laughter which last almost a minute are torturous. Yet, we found the first encounter with Mia more terrifying. Getting a gut full of chainsaw as she was right up in our face was truly nightmarish.
9 The Evil Within: Laura
Let’s continue with the female-named deaths for the creepy spider boss that is Laura in The Evil Within. This creature is kind of cheap in that if it catches the player, they will immediately die. That is frustrating enough, but the way in which she continually bashes Sebastian against the ground like she is trying to get candy out of piñata is like adding insult to injury. The game lingers on it for far too long before everything reloads. Let’s just say it was very satisfying when the time came to burn her to a crisp.
8 P.T.: Lisa
Moving on with the female horrors, we have Lisa from the P.T. demo. We wanted to include Silent Hill on this list in some capacity and this seemed like the most fitting idea. The first time players are treated to her ghostly figure roaming the halls of this Groundhog’s Day scenario was literally scream-inducing. The way she lurks in the darkness before getting right up on the screen was enough to make even the toughest of gamers cry out for their mommies.
7 Dead Space 2: The Eye
Okay, that was a fun trilogy of femme fatale, but let’s move onto something else now. At the beginning of Dead Space 2 we find our hero, Isaac Clark, in a mental facility being interviewed about the original game’s incident. This leads him into an eye examination that is all controlled by the player. If the needle isn’t inserted correctly, well, one can imagine how the rest plays out. It is on this list for a reason after all.
6 Tomb Raider (2013): Spiked
This 2013 reboot of the franchise is the best Tomb Raider of all time. As good as it is, Crystal Dynamics seemingly had in it for Lara. That is to say, they loved their death animations. The most gruesome kills come in the form of spike traps. Throughout the course of the adventure Lara can be found sliding down mine shafts or tumbling down waterfalls with similarly placed spikes, or bramble bushes all ending the same way: with Lara’s head being stricken. What makes this worse is seeing her struggle for a few seconds to get the branch off.
5 Alien: Isolation: The Alien
Alien: Isolation is almost a perfect game based on the franchise. It captures the look and tone of the films, but we would argue it perhaps captures them too much. That is to say, the Alien stalker is too good at its job. It sneaks up on players to jab its tail into Amanda’s stomach from behind and proceeds to then slowly creep its hand over her face before screaming with the camera cutting to black. In some ways, it is deeply upsetting, and in other ways, we also appreciate the attention to detail even if makes for a frustrating experience.
4 Metal Gear Solid 4: The Microwave
Toward the end of Metal Gear Solid 4, Solid Snake has to crawl his way through a literal hallway of microwaves. This means that every time he crawls forward a little bit more health radiates away along with his skin and clothing. If the player fails to get to the end on time Snake will die, but it isn’t gruesome. It is a horrifying thing to experience though, being cooked alive and all. Thankfully this is only on PS3 because modern graphics would have looked more horrifying.
3 Bloodborne: Lesser Amygdalae
Bloodborne is full of nightmarish creatures that will haunt us into eternity. There aren’t that many grizzly ways to die though, except our pick. The Lesser Amygdalae are the giant Cthulhu looking creatures that cling to certain parts of the castle.
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Players can only see them if their Insight is high enough. If players get too close the beasts will grab them, ending in an intense death through presumably digestion, or being popped. Imagine the horrors of being killed without knowing what happened. That is the hardest way to go.
2 Mortal Kombat XL: Johnny Cage
It would be silly to not include a Mortal Kombat on this list, right? So we went with the most recent entry and decided to land on Johnny Cage’s Fatality. His first uppercut breaks his opponent’s jaw, hanging it off by a thread. A director then calls cut, he tries it again, only to fail a second time. When the scene plays out again he uppercuts his hand into his opponent’s brain, getting it stuck inside only to get grossed out and fling it at the camera. It is grotesque and insulting to the corpse.
1 Sonic the Hedgehog: Drowning
Yes, really. We needed to include Sonic here. While drowning in any of the retro or modern Sonic games isn’t exactly a lot of gore, it is without a doubt nerve-wracking. Hearing that music slowly increase in intensity as we try to get air is just the worst. Way to traumatize our fragile minds growing up Sega.
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