Top 10 Most Traumatizing Video Game Scenes

Top 10 Most Traumatizing Video Game Scenes

Welcome to WatchMojo, and let’s take a look at the moments that we see in our mind’s eye seconds before falling asleep. These are the Top 10 Most Traumatizing Video Game Scenes. It’s hard to craft a moment that sticks with players long after the initial trauma, but these games did it. Let’s go!

#10: ‘Rescuing’ Jen

“Prey” (2017)

You’ll find a few moments on this list where the player loses a loved one, which is OBVIOUSLY the perfect scenario for traumatizing gamers. But if losing a loved one to a terrifying alien monster wasn’t horrific enough, Prey takes it a step further by fusing that loved one’s torso onto the creature. Yuck. Throughout the campaign, protagonist Tommy desperately searches for his missing girlfriend, and when he finally finds her, it’s in the worst possible way. Not only has she been grafted onto a grotesque alien abomination, but she’s still conscious—fully aware of her fate. Begging us to run, we watch our girlfriend’s final moments in pure fear. I just realised it’s gonna be really hard to make this list entertaining. I’m already depressed.

#9: Sarah’s Death

“The Last of Us” (2013)

From one loved one suffering to another... Yay. Even a decade after The Last of Us first released, its opening hour remains one of the most gut-wrenching sequences in gaming history. I remember finishing this back in 2013 and whispering out loud “what the f*ck?” The scene follows protagonist Joel as he desperately tries to get his ten-year-old daughter, Sarah, to safety amid the chaos of a sudden zombie virus outbreak. When they reach a military checkpoint, a soldier under strict orders fires on them. Joel survives. Sarah isn’t so lucky. Players have seen plenty of violence in games before, but this child’s death unfolds before the opening credits even roll, and it is beautifully performed, and deeply, deeply upsetting to watch.

#8: Finger Chop

“Heavy Rain” (2010)

Heavy Rain might be best known for its memes today, but beneath the jokes is an intense, emotional thriller about a father’s desperate fight to save his son... What was his son's name again? Our protagonist Ethan is forced to endure a series of brutal trials to prove how far he’s willing to go to save his son. One of the most harrowing is the third trial, The Lizard. The challenge? Ethan must cut off part of his own finger on camera to proceed. The player has to carry out this gruesome task through a tense series of quick-time events. While various tools can be used to lessen the pain, there’s no way to make it not horrifying. It’s pretty gorey, and it’s like an interactive Saw movie.

#7: The Reveal

“Spec Ops: The Line” (2012)

Spec Ops: The Line is one of the most unsettling games ever made, not because of gore or dying daughters, but because of the devastating ethical and emotional themes the game takes on. While many games use war as a backdrop for exciting gameplay, Spec Ops does the opposite, forcing players to confront the true psychological toll of combat. Do I need to even explain this moment? Surely nobody has forgotten the white phosphorus reveal. After using white phosphorus to clear a path through Dubai (which by the way is a brutal way to attack your opponent), protagonist Walker and his squadmates discover they haven’t just wiped out enemy forces, they’ve massacred 47 civilians. The image of a melted mother holding her child sticks in my mind to this day. I hate to diminish the atrocity, but it’s a pretty big oops.

#6: Benson

“L.A. Noire” (2011)

In L.A. Nore, while investigating Curtis Benson (the vice president of California Fire and Life and a key figure in L.A. Noire’s web of corruption), you break into his home expecting to uncover evidence of fraud and bribery. Instead, you find something far more disturbing, and trigger warning, it’s related to abuse of a child. Among Benson’s belongings isn’t just proof of his shady dealings, but a young girl. And while the game never explicitly states what’s happening, the implications are sickening. Kelso questions her and learns she’s only 12 years old. Even more unsettling, she defends Benson, saying he buys her nice things. You can’t do anything, you have to walk away, and you get a scarily accurate view at child abuse that stays with you till the end of the game and beyond.

#5: Lobotomy

“BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea” (2013)

This moment left us all BioShocked... Okay, we’re halfway so I tried a joke to lighten the mood, and it didn’t work. Let’s talk about lobotomies. In Episode Two, the ruthless Atlas uses this brutal procedure as a form of torture on Elizabeth, and players are forced to witness the entire thing from a first-person perspective, the worst perspective. Watching a metal spike being driven into your own skull is horrifying enough, but what makes this scene truly unbearable is the masterful combination of voice acting, sound design, and visuals, all working together to make the moment as visceral as possible. It’s a shame that a lot of players checked out before this DLC, but it’s also a blessing for them.

#4: Pharah Flashback

“Call of Duty: Modern Warfare” (2019)

Mission 9 of the Modern Warfare reboot is a relentless onslaught of trauma, made all the more disturbing by the fact that you experience it through the eyes of a child. Playing as a young Pharah during a flashback to the Russian invasion, you wake up in rubble, find your dead Mum, watch civilians get bombed, shot, and gassed, watch your brother get beaten and kidnapped, and watch your dad get killed. You enter a stealth section, and desperately kill your first man, shoot your first gun, and escape with your brother, almost. You get captured again. The hits DO. NOT. STOP. Even in a franchise known for shocking moments, this mission stands out. There’s something uniquely gut-wrenching about seeing war through a child’s eyes, and the game does not shy away from being accurate.

#3: Gregory Finch

“What Remains of Edith Finch” (2017)

If you’re unfamiliar with What Remains of Edith Finch, it’s an adventure game about exploring an old house and uncovering the tragic fates of its former residents. While the premise sounds macabre, the game’s humor keeps it from feeling overwhelmingly dark, until Gregory. Gregory was just a year old when he drowned in the bathtub, unnoticed by his mother, who was distracted by a phone call. What makes this moment particularly haunting is how the game presents it through the eyes of Greogry lost in his own imagination. For a moment that could have easily felt gratuitous or overly sentimental, it feels both beautiful and deeply disturbing. I know it sounds odd, but it just works.

#2: Arthur’s Death

“Red Dead Redemption II” (2018)

The death of Arthur Morgan is… I can’t even talk about it. Anyways, let’s talk about it. We’re focusing on the bad ending for Arthur, which is made even worse because it’s way too easy to make it happen. You don’t even have to be THAT bad. Arthur is in immense physical discomfort as the tuberculosis takes his body by storm, and when he is at his weakest, his comrades betray him, Micah beats him, and then shoots him in the face. He uses his last words on Dutch, who walks away, leaving him to die. It’s very traumatizing. It fits the topic perfectly.

#1: Joel’s Death

“The Last of Us Part II” (2020)

I know this scene has been discussed endlessly, but no other moment in gaming has ever made me feel physically sick. The Last of Us Part II is twenty-five relentless hours of brutal, emotionally crushing storytelling, but one of its most gut-wrenching moments happens in the first hour: Joel’s death. Half of the game follows Abby, the daughter of the surgeon Joel killed at the end of the first game. When she finally tracks him down, we are forced to watch helplessly as Abby mercilessly beats Joel to death with a golf club. Watching this beloved character face an unfiltered, raw and brutal death, without even a cool exciting line, is real, and really traumatizing.