Top 30 Most Disturbing Game Over Screens

#30: “Shadow of the Colossus” (2005)

“Shadow of the Colossus” is a dreary game. And nowhere is that better exemplified than its Game Over screens. Each time Wander loses to a Colossus, the player is greeted by the startling, black and white image of their face, close up, staring as if to look directly into your soul. Creepy, to say the least. In particular, the screen featuring Dirge, the tenth Colossus, became famous among players. The creepy music and its wide-eyed glare, as Wander lays lifelessly on the ground…it’s definitely one of the more unsettling images from the game.

#29: “The Punisher” (1993)

A lot of old arcade beat ‘em ups featured disturbing scenes alongside countdowns to goad you into putting in more quarters. Released by Capcom, “The Punisher” follows the titular anti-hero and Nick Fury as they set out to bring an end to the Kingpin. Naturally, the crime lord has a lot of resources, and you’ll probably end up running out of health more than a few times. Once you do, your character collapses to the ground, and one of their allies begins CPR in an attempt to save their life. When time runs out, your ally gives an expression of despair, and the flatline that signals your death rings out. Well, that just makes us feel bad.

#28: “Castlevania: Symphony of the Night” (1997)

A classic in every sense of the word, “Castlevania: Symphony of the Night” is a genre-defining entry into the PlayStation’s library. As you might expect from a gothic-inspired action-platformer, there are many macabre elements in its enemies, art style, and yes, even its Game Over screen. Should Alucard fall victim to the many traps and foes of Dracula’s castle, you’ll be greeted with a pile of monster bones and a crucifix half-buried in the sand. The creepiest part is the deep, chilling voice reading out ‘Game Over’ before laughing evilly at your misfortune.

#27: “Yoshi’s Story” (1998)

Just like every other Yoshi game, “Yoshi’s Story” is pretty bright and cheerful…until you see its Game Over screen. Instead of health, you have a Smile Meter, which represents Yoshi's happiness. Each time you’re hit, you lose petals and the face gets sadder. Should you lose all of your petals, Yoshi is carried away by the Toadies to Baby Bowser’s castle. It’s a dark sight in such a happy game, and you can actually see Yoshi crying. This becomes even sadder in how it affects your game. You have multiple colored Yoshis to play as, but this one will remain locked away unless you use a White Shy Guy to rescue them.

#26: “Blue’s Journey” (1990)

In this oft-forgotten platformer, you play as a hero trying to save the planet Raguy, which has been invaded by an evil empire. And if you fail to stop them, the game makes you feel really guilty about it. Blue is on his heroic journey at the request of a beautiful princess. Should the player reach the Game Over screen, they’ll see a countdown as Blue is carried away by enemies, crying, and the tearful princess asking for help. When the clock gets low, her expression switches to anger, and she’ll call you a ‘Bad Guy.’ The final image is of a derelict landscape, letting you know that the planet has been ruined by pollution.

#25: “Robocop 2” (NES) (1990)

As you might expect, Robocop has a lot of bad guys to go up against in his video games, even more than in his movies. More than likely, one of them will get the drop on him, and you’ll get a Game Over screen. Without a doubt, the most unsettling one can be found in the NES version. Robocop is taken away for calibration so that he can be better. But it’s accompanied by an image of the hero, disassembled and hooked up to a monitor. We know the recalibration is so that he’s able to get back to fighting crime. But something about him being taken apart like that, with worry and sadness on his face, just gets under our skin.

#24: “Bayonetta” (2009)

In “Bayonetta,” enemy forces will appear in large numbers to try to overwhelm you. One thing that doesn’t help is that, when your health reaches low levels, shadowy hands will begin clawing towards Bayonetta from the sides of the screen. These represent Inferno, essentially this game’s Hell. No matter what foe you fall to, it’s obvious you don’t want these hands getting ahold of you. If you don’t heal soon, and Bayonetta dies, you get the option to continue. Click ‘No,’ and those hands will reach out from below and pull Bayonetta down to the Underworld while she screams. Who knows what horrible fate awaits her down there, but it can’t be anything good.

#23: “Donkey Kong Country” Trilogy (1994-96)

The “Donkey Kong Country” games are bonafide classics that just so happened to scar any gamer that reached their Game Over screens. Each one tries to fill you with grim sorrow and sympathy for the Kongs so that you never run out of lives again. The first game features DK and Diddy, bruised and bandaged from taking too many beatings. The second puts Diddy and Dixie inside a cell, with a barred window teasing freedom. The third features Dixie and Kiddy placed in a crib, with the most pitiful looks on their faces, as if to accuse you of not being able to handle things, like a baby.

#22: “Alan Wake 2” (2023)

“Alan Wake 2” is great at messing with our heads, and the Game Over screen is no exception. Although you play as two characters, what happens when you die as the titular novelist is what really unnerved us, and what made us never want to die again. When Wake goes down, you’re confronted by convulsing images of the actor who played him in live-action segments with his face bloody and eyes staring blankly. Although black and white, him being live-action, and the pictures shuddering and twisting, make this really unsettling. There are a lot of elements in the game designed to freak you out, and this is a prime example.

#21: “Haunting Ground” (2005)

A cult classic survival horror game from Capcom, “Haunting Ground” follows a woman who awakes in a strange castle and must escape without being caught by the vicious people who live there. And there’s more than one reason to want to avoid dying by their hands. If you’re caught, and your pursuer kills you, you don’t see what they do to Fiona’s body…but you definitely hear it. As if the squelching sounds of flesh weren’t bad enough, you also get moans, hysterical laughter, and *shudder* slurps, depending on the character. Sometimes, you don’t have to see it in order to be disturbed.

#20: “Metal Gear Solid” Series (1998-2015)

It's a game over tune that's recognizable to just about every gamer out there, so much so that we'd probably put it in a Top 10 Iconic Game Over Tunes. Buuuuut, that's not what we're here for. What earns the "Metal Gear Solid" series a spot on our list is the haunting call we hear after said tune. While it has been memed to heck by the internet, the sound of characters crying out for Snake -only to get no response- is anxiety-inducing, and that’s before hearing the gunshot! If only we could tell them what befell their best agent.

#19: “Plants vs. Zombies” (2009)

Have you ever gone back to a classic game only to find something morbid that you completely forgot about? Well, that's pretty much "Plants vs. Zombies" in a nutshell. You're so mesmerized by the charming visuals and adorable plants that you willfully neglect the terrifying moment when a zombie steps into your house. As if it wasn't already terrible enough hearing our character scream, developer PopCap had to add in crunching sounds to really hammer home the implied brain-munching part. Gross and disturbing! Only way it could have been improved was a geyser of blood and maybe a severed limb, but the simplicity works well...too well.

#18: “Star Fox 2” (2017)

As morbid as it may sound, some of the coolest game overs are the ones that force the player to see the aftermath of their failures in a more cinematic light. Plenty of games have taken this approach (as we'll see later on), but "Star Fox 2" is one that really stands out. Not only is it super depressing to watch, but it's also haunting to see General Pepper panic while Corneria gets blown to pieces. All you're left with is a creepy image of a grinning Andross. No worries, Nintendo - we didn't feel like sleeping tonight anyways.

#17: “Dead Space” (2008)

“Dead Space” is a gory and gruesome experience from start to finish. So, it’s only appropriate that a game centered around dismemberment include brutal deaths for its protagonist, Isaac Clarke. Players will most likely witness Isaac be torn apart, impaled, decapitated, and eaten alive during their playthrough. However, what brings the whole thing home is how the screen turns a vicious blood red. Some deaths will even have a flatline sound -as if we couldn’t tell Isaac was already dead. If you have a fear of being eaten or brutally severed, then “Dead Space” likely made your skin crawl or made you want to hide under your bed.

#16: “Cadillacs and Dinosaurs” (1993)

At the time of its release, "Cadillacs and Dinosaurs" was one of the oddest beat 'em ups you could find in an arcade. In addition to it's bizarre premise of dinosaurs being hunted in the future, the game really seared itself into the collective mind of ‘90s gamers with its overtly hostile game over screen. Should the player lose all their lives, they'll be taken to a game over screen where the game's villain, Fessenden, points a gun at them. It was almost as if the game was threatening us to fork over more of our quarters! And you know what? It worked.

#15: “Galaxian 3: Project Dragoon” (1990)

An often overlooked entry in Namco’s longrunning “Galaga/Galaxian” series, “Galaxian 3” was the first time the series tried implementing a new format, attempting to go for more of a 3D on-rails shooter a la “Star Fox”. So, what about its game over screen? Well, if you and your team fail the mission, you’ll have to sit and watch the Earth get destroyed. Enjoy the morbidly beautiful visuals and depressing music as you step outside of the booth. At least the game doesn’t laugh in your face; it actually commends you for your efforts. But ultimately, all this really does is make you feel worse for having let humanity down.

#14: “System Shock” (1994)

Sometimes, you don’t need a ludicrous amount of gore to terrify your players. “System Shock”, which is known for its eerie environments and horrifying story, strikes a balance of disturbing and haunting for its game over screen. Upon death, your character’s carcass is taken and put into a Cortex Reaver. As if the message “you will serve SHODAN well” wasn’t bad enough, the now dated animation style makes this game over screen even more frightening than it was back then. Then, of course, there’s the thought of your dead body serving as a mindless killing machine… That might make your stomach churn a bit.

#13: “Banjo-Kazooie” (1998)

The “Banjo-Kazooie” games, though generally family-friendly, weren’t afraid to go dark. If Clanker’s appearance didn’t traumatize you as a kid, the game over screen certainly left you a tad unsettled. Should you lose all of your lives (or even quit the game), you’ll be given a cutscene where Gruntilda succeeds with her plan. Klungo activates the machine as Tooty cries for help. Grunty steps out as a beautiful woman while Tooty comes out grossly mutated - and not unlike Klungo. If that didn’t make you feel guilty enough, there’s a miserable banjo tune to reinforce that shame!

#12: “Five Nights at Freddy’s” Series (2014-)

The "Five Nights at Freddy's" series has traumatized fans, casual players, and prank victims alike for years with its decrepit environments, uncanny animatronics, and of course, the jumpscares. What really gets us, however, are the game over screens, which typically insinuate that the player has been violently stuffed into an animatronic suit. The first game showed a pair of eyeballs whereas the second showed Freddy staring back at the player from outside of the head. They've only gotten more gut-wrenching as the series has progressed, and honestly, we wouldn't want it any other way.

#11: “SpongeBob SquarePants: Super Sponge” (2001)

They say "silence is golden", but in the case of "Super Sponge", it's enough to make a kid quit a game and have a mental breakdown. Should SpongeBob perish while trying to find a birthday present for Patrick, players are given a screen showing the pink starfish all by his lonesome. He'll start questioning if everyone just forgot his birthday and if anyone even loves him. The absence of music is very unnerving, but it's the fact that the animation feels disconnected from what Patrick is saying that makes it downright disturbing. If you came across this game over screen as a kid, you probably didn't touch "Super Sponge" again for a long, LONG time!

#10: “Conker’s Bad Fur Day” (2001)

Conker may have an adorable appearance, but anyone who has experienced this “Bad Fur Day” knows that looks can be deceiving. Should Conker break off his last piece of chocolate, one of three game-over screens will be shown. One shows his picture on the side of Panther King’s milk carton and another shows Conker, bound and gagged, serving as a table leg for the rest of his life. The most shocking one, however, is when the weasels report back to the Panther King with a bag of Conker’s bloody bits. Between the silence and our state of shock, this particular screen stands out, as it shows just how vicious the Panther King can be.

#9: “Mortal Kombat 4” (1997)

Don’t get us wrong, “Mortal Kombat” has some of the coolest fatalities in gaming, and each new entry shows there’s more than a thousand ways to die. “Mortal Kombat 4” seems to believe in overkill. After suffering defeat, your fighter will be shown failing down a seemingly never-ending pit of darkness. When the countdown reaches zero, the camera will shift, and your fighter gets impaled on a bed of spikes. Ooh! That’s brutal! You can hear the bones breaking on that one!

#8: “Final Fight” (1989)

Okay, we’ll admit this one is little cartoony in presentation, but what makes it disturbing lies in the character animation. Just look at them! They all seem legitimately terrified for their life! It almost makes you feel horrible and want to keep playing the ga—WAIT A MINUTE!! We see what’s going on here! Look, guys, we’d love to press continue and save you from the Looney Tunes-looking dynamite, but we’re all out of quarters. At least none of you guys are drowning or getting crushed by a bed of spikes because that’s a worse way to die—and they did that in the sequels. Dammit, now we feel extra guilty…

#7: “The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask” (2000)

There’s a lot of nightmare fuel going on in this game, from Skull Kid’s creepy laughter to the unsettling dialogue like “You’ve met with a terrible fate, haven’t you?” For those of us who feared the stressful time limit, the game over cutscene is the most terrifying. First off, you have the malicious-looking moon crashing into the Earth. This isn’t just the end of Termina; it’s the end of the entire planet! After a massive wave of fire kills Link, the last thing we see is Majora’s Mask fading into the flames. Lovely.

#6: “Batman: Arkham” Series (2009-15)

The “Batman: Arkham” games have some of the coolest game over screens in gaming. Having the villain tease and taunt you makes for a memorable game over screen. As neat as it is, there is something rather sinister about them, especially when you die by the hands of Scarecrow and Killer Croc. The environment is shrouded in darkness and aside from the villain talking, there’s nothing but silence. On top of that, the camera angle insinuates that we’re seeing them from Batman’s unconscious body, which is disturbing to even imagine.

#5: “Metroid Prime” Trilogy (2002-07)

As we’ve seen with “Majora’s Mask”, Nintendo is not afraid to put in some disturbing images and sounds in their otherwise “kid-friendly” games. The “Metroid Prime” trilogy is a whole different ball park. The action is always tense, the boss battles certainly make us feel like we’re in life or death situations…and the death feels all too real. Before we’re asked if we’d like to continue, we hear a painful scream from Samus…then we see that life support systems are offline and the systems power down, leaving us in total darkness. That’s just in the first two games. “Corruption” gives some subtlety to the gore, which somehow makes it all the scarier.

#4: “Resident Evil 2” (1998)

There are more ways to die “Resident Evil 2” outside of being eaten alive by zombies, with each death being more brutal than the last. Where should we even begin? You can have your throat torn out by rabid dogs, impaled by a mutant creature, beaten to death with a pipe, even being swallowed by a giant alligator in the sewers! What makes these deaths more frightening is that the only noise you hear are the screams and the gushing of blood. Yes, game, we can see we died. Thanks for the nightmares…

#3: “Silent Hill 3” (2003)

Sometimes, you don’t need graphic details and violence to scare a gamer. While “Silent Hill 3” has its fair share of savage deaths, from getting hit by a speeding train to falling into a dark abyss, the most terrifying game over screen involves the Attendant of God, Valtiel. Once you are slain by the other creatures, Valtiel will be seen dragging your body, ready to hang you with the nurses. Of course, we can’t forget the tantalizingly slow death of staying in the bloody mirror room. Agh, I’m getting chills just from thinking about these…

#2: “Ninja Gaiden (Arcade)” (1988)

Oh, “Ninja Gaiden”, you kicked our ass just as much as you did in the console versions. While it’s the oldest game on the list, it doesn’t mean it didn’t scare the ever-living crap out of us. Upon losing your last life, you’re taken to a screen where you see Ryu Hayabusa strapped down with a screeching buzzsaw slowly descending, ready to tear into his torso. Once the countdown reaches zero, you hear Ryu die and a cheesy tune only the ‘80s can provide.

#1: “X-COM: UFO Defense” (1994)

The “XCOM” series has been known for demanding a high level of strategy from players. While most games would simply say “Game Over” or show a gruesome cutscene (like the other entries on this list), “XCOM: UFO Defense” says, “Nope! You’re going to sit there and we’re going to make you feel your failure!” First, you’re told how the government has fallen apart and nations will have to deal with the invasion all on their own. Then, with eerie music in the background, you read that humans are being eradicated, with the final sentence reading, “You have failed to save the Earth.” Geez, talk about adding insult to injury…

Do you know of any other disturbing Game Over screens? Head to the comments and let us know!