Top 10 Video Games That Forced You To Do TRAUMATIZING Things

“Spec Ops: The Line” (2012) While the gameplay was second-rate, 2K’s “Spec Ops: The Line” contained a wonderful - and, yes, horrifying - story. The game is largely inspired by “Heart of Darkness,” with Martin Walker forced to find a rogue military officer named, you guessed it, Konrad. But Konrad isn’t real. He’s a hallucination that was created in the aftermath of a tragic event. Walker and his team deploy white phosphorus to defeat Konrad’s squad, unaware that the squad was sheltering innocent citizens. They realize their mistake after walking through the nightmarish aftermath. The visuals are incredibly haunting, and many players had trouble continuing with the game after being forced to perform such a vile action.

“Saw” (2009) This video game is based on the popular movie franchise of the same name. And while you don’t play as Jigsaw, you are forced to participate in his depraved acts. Players control Detective Tapp from the first movie, who has been placed inside an abandoned mental institution. Along the way, he is forced to save people from various Jigsaw traps, and they are every bit as grotesque as the ones found in the movies. The game received an enormous amount of criticism, as people took issue with having to maim and disfigure characters in order to save them. Watching these traps in action is gross enough - being forced to participate in them is so much worse.

“The Walking Dead” (2012) This classic game contains a slew of difficult decisions that the player is forced to make, and therein lies most of the drama. But if we have to pick one, we’ll go with the climactic choice involving Lee. Lee is bitten by a zombie and eventually grows too weak to continue. Players are then given the choice to have Clementine shoot Lee or leave him to die. Both are equally terrible outcomes, and making the choice is nearly impossible. Now, players have the choice to not make the choice. But Clementine will either abandon or kill Lee anyway, so not choosing does absolutely nothing. Either way, players are forced to watch a devastating outcome, and the waterworks start flowing.

“The Punisher” (2005) When it comes to antiheroes, no one beats The Punisher. He’s not even really a superhero - just a seriously ticked off tough guy with military grade hardware. Players are put into his shoes in this eponymous video game from 2005. Various “hot spots” are littered throughout the levels in which The Punisher can violently interrogate individuals. Doing this is necessary for certain pieces of important information. And even more, players then have the option of executing these people after said information has been given. The ESRB was set to give the game an AO rating based on the extreme violence, which pressured the publisher into censoring the interrogation sequences.

“Grand Theft Auto V” (2013) The GTA series is no stranger to controversy. The fifth main entry contains a mission called By the Book, which sees Trevor tormenting a man named Ferdinand Kerimov for information. The mission was widely condemned by journalists and critics, who found the use of forced abuse to be in bad taste. As Trevor, the player is required to inflict enormous amounts of pain on Mr. K, like pulling out his teeth with pliers, shocking him with a car battery, and even waterboarding him. Mr. K’s heart stops if enough pain is inflicted, forcing Trevor to inject him with a shot of adrenaline. Mistreating a man to death was too much for many players, and it continued the series’ tradition of sparking outraged headlines.

“Manhunt” (2003) & “Manhunt 2” (2007) Rockstar Games knows how to push buttons, and that is best exemplified in their “Manhunt” series. The entire point of the games is to execute people in brutal manners. Players are given the option as to the “level” of their execution - by holding down the button, the killings get increasingly more gruesome. The more gruesome the killing, the higher the reward. But even the tamest kills are still disturbing, and they often prove very difficult to watch. It was all too much for the ESRB, who slapped “Manhunt 2” with the rare AO rating. This forced Rockstar to censor the game, but it still drew extensive controversy for its level of sadistic violence.

#4: Killing Andrew Ryan

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“BioShock” (2007) Much has been written about this game’s themes, including concepts of player agency. The famous twist reveals that Jack has been under mind control throughout the entire game, being forced to do what Atlas tells him. This concept extends to the player, as they are also forced to do what Atlas, and therefore the game itself, tells them. And this includes battering Andrew Ryan to death with a golf club. Ryan serves as the primary antagonist throughout the game, but this shocking sequence turns his death into a moment of tragedy and contemplation. Neither Jack nor the player are free to save Ryan. It’s a wonderful insight into free will and predetermined gameplay mechanics, and yes, it is absolutely brutal having to watch Ryan go out like that.

“The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt” (2015) While a masterpiece of fantasy and open world gaming, “The Witcher 3” goes to some extremely dark places. Cerys an Craite kidnaps a baby named Aki - the son of Jarl Udalryk. She then gives the baby to Geralt and tells him to throw it in an oven. Geralt then has the choice of obeying Cerys or returning the baby to Udalryk. If the player wishes to trust Cerys, they are forced to do what she commands. The act is greatly upsetting, and it’s arguably one of the most disturbing things ever seen in a video game. But the Witcher was right to trust Cerys. It was all a ruse to save Udalryk from a possession, and the baby is unharmed.

#2: Killing the Doctor & Dooming Humanity

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“The Last of Us” (2013) This masterpiece from Naughty Dog asks one major thing from the player - to kill an innocent person in cold blood and then doom humanity to extinction. A zombie-like infection has ravaged the world, and the Fireflies believe that Ellie’s brain holds a potential cure. They are willing to sacrifice Ellie to save the world, but Joel is not. Having grown personally attached to Ellie, Joel barges into the operating room, kills the surgeon, and steals her back. He gets another daughter, but humanity loses its last chance at survival. It’s an ending that throws Joel’s character into question and raises many moral uncertainties. And the player is forced to do it all.

“South Park: The Stick of Truth” (2014) This franchise from Trey Parker and Matt Stone has always been provocative, no matter the medium. Television, film, gaming - it doesn’t matter. “The Stick of Truth” contains a very controversial mission called Unplanned Parenthood, which requires the player to perform various quote-unquote abortions. True to the “South Park” brand, this is all done in a very comedic manner, and no actual procedure is performed. In fact, both are done on male characters dressed as females. Regardless, the abortion gameplay was censored in many European and Asian countries, replaced with a satiric placeholder explaining the sequence in graphic detail.