Moments of violence in games that made you cringe

[bartholen_v1legacy]

What with violence in one form or another being pretty much the main sell of the biggest AAA titles today, let's take a moment to appreciate the ones that really made us feel it. The ones where you almost felt the pain yourself and made you wince in your seat.

This came to my mind after I witnessed that scene near the end of the second chapter in The Last of Us just yesterday. I'm not going to say what it is because if you've played the game you'll know what I'm talking about, and if you haven't, you need to see it for yourself. Let's just say it's a sudden moment of extremely graphic viscera in an already very violent game, followed by a rather lengthy sequence which only further reinforces the pain inflicted by said moment. I've now seen it three times, and it's still just as painful to watch. It shocked me more than any of the exceedingly graphic mutilations in God of War III or any other game I've seen.

Spoiler: In case you were wondering, ruinous spoiler

It's the bit where Joel falls off the walkway and gets impaled on the steel rod protruding from the crumbled concrete. Yeesh.

More moments that affected you like this that come to mind?

captcha: by and large. Yes, most definitely

 

[Tohuvabohu]

This came to my mind after I witnessed that scene near the end of the second chapter in The Last of Us just yesterday. I'm not going to say what it is because if you've played the game you'll know what I'm talking about

I can't remember what scene you're speaking of, it's been a little while since I played TLoU though.

OT: God of War 3 had some pretty intense violence that actually got me to cringe. Beating Hercules' face until it literally caves in was probably the worst. But, popping out Poseidon's eyeballs, ripping off Helios' head, and slowly sawing Hermes' legs off... Yeah, all pretty nasty cringe inducing stuff.

But I'd say more recently, are Mortal Kombat X's new fatalities. While most of them are quite gruesome and bloody, there's a few that are genuinely difficult to watch...

Ermac's 2nd fatality, for example:


Another gruesome one that churns my stomach. Takeda's fatality:


I can't wait for this game.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

I can't remember what scene you're speaking of, it's been a little while since I played TLoU though.

By chapter I refer to the seasons that keep changing, not the chapters in the game menu. The "Fall" chapter. It was actually a bit more tame than I remembered, but still quite wince-inducing.

 

[Groxnax]

One thing that made me cringe was The Walking Dead game episode 2 where you had to chop that poor guy's legs off.

Had to pause the game to get over that... and many other parts of the game.

 

[Casual Shinji]

This came to my mind after I witnessed that scene near the end of the second chapter in The Last of Us just yesterday. I'm not going to say what it is because if you've played the game you'll know what I'm talking about, and if you haven't, you need to see it for yourself. Let's just say it's a sudden moment of extremely graphic viscera in an already very violent game, followed by a rather lengthy sequence which only further reinforces the pain inflicted by said moment. I've now seen it three times, and it's still just as painful to watch. It shocked me more than any of the exceedingly graphic mutilations in God of War III or any other game I've seen.

To me it was the ripping sound when you get pulled back on your feet that really got me. Also, the sound of the knife during the torture scene. Sound more than anything makes me cringe the most in violent scenes.

God of War 3 had some pretty intense violence that actually got me to cringe. Beating Hercules' face until it literally caves in was probably the worst. But, popping out Poseidon's eyeballs, ripping off Helios' head, and slowly sawing Hermes' legs off... Yeah, all pretty nasty cringe inducing stuff.

Not Kronos' finger nail? I mean, beheadings and eye gouges are a dime a dozen. Finger nail rips though... >.<

 

[tippy2k2]

This came to my mind after I witnessed that scene near the end of the second chapter in The Last of Us just yesterday. I'm not going to say what it is because if you've played the game you'll know what I'm talking about, and if you haven't, you need to see it for yourself. Let's just say it's a sudden moment of extremely graphic viscera in an already very violent game, followed by a rather lengthy sequence which only further reinforces the pain inflicted by said moment. I've now seen it three times, and it's still just as painful to watch. It shocked me more than any of the exceedingly graphic mutilations in God of War III or any other game I've seen.

I don't suppose you could spoiler tag the moment because I'm drawing a blank here...

The only moments I can think of are not particularly violent...just really disturbing.

EDIT: OOOOoooooh.....never mind. I think I know what scene you're talking about now. Yeah, that was brutal as hell in what was a pretty brutal game.

OT: I suppose I'll get THE SCENE out of the way from Spec-Ops. You know what the scene is; don't play dumb with me!

Unlike so many people, I was absolutely blindsided by it. I'm a big fan of MMS-games like Call of Duty so when the game took the normal "I am the God of Death and you are all helpless to escape me"-scene, I went through it with gleeful fun as one normally would in Call of Duty. I don't think I've EVER felt that physically ill playing a video game but that game was set down for a few minutes as I tried to digest what I just did.

In second place would be Walking Dead Season 2 when Clementine has to administer first aid. Now it's not really "violent" in the sense that I'm hurting someone but holy hell did I wince and really really really really really REALLY didn't want to do it.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

To me it was the ripping sound when you get pulled back on your feet that really got me. Also, the sound of the knife during the torture scene. Sound more than anything makes me cringe the most in violent scenes.

One bit of information I found interesting that can be found on the voice actors/ director commentary is that initially Joel was supposed to be shown breaking Robert's arm in the beginning, but Naughty Dog felt that it was actually nastier when you just had a sound effect and an off-screen act. Fascinating what a difference a small choice like that can make.

One other moment that's also quite nasty is the little animation in the beginning of the Pittsburgh part where Joel smashes an enemy's head against a table. That animation can play out in any fistfight, but in that particular animation the table is littered with pieces of broken bricks, which is like having your head smashed against a jagged wall.

 

[Casual Shinji]

One bit of information I found interesting that can be found on the voice actors/ director commentary is that initially Joel was supposed to be shown breaking Robert's arm in the beginning, but Naughty Dog felt that it was actually nastier when you just had a sound effect and an off-screen act. Fascinating what a difference a small choice like that can make.

One other moment that's also quite nasty is the little animation in the beginning of the Pittsburgh part where Joel smashes an enemy's head against a table. That animation can play out in any fistfight, but in that particular animation the table is littered with pieces of broken bricks, which is like having your head smashed against a jagged wall.

The game certainly knows how to unleash these sudden, sharp little explosions of violence. Like the first time you see Joel crush a dude's larynx with his fist, or if you a shoot a guy a little too close with the shotgun while they have a weapon aimed at you, and their front arms get Alex Murphy'd off.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

I think the seen that got me the most also comes from The Last of Us, except it's later. When Joel captures those two bandit guys. The things he does, even though very tame compared to other stuff I've seen in games, is just...ugh. I think it's because it's not over-the-top, Gears of War or God of War style violence that it gets me so badly. Throw in the fact that the two guys were begging for mercy the whole time, and it just seals the deal.

To me it was the ripping sound when you get pulled back on your feet that really got me. Also, the sound of the knife during the torture scene. Sound more than anything makes me cringe the most in violent scenes.

Yeah, that scene. That's the one. Just...ew.

 

[Snydeclyde]

The torture mission in GTAV was by far the most cringeworthy thing for me, especially the pipewrench to the knees

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

There's a few kills in Hotline Miami that made me wince a little, which is a weird thing because the game's graphics are really primitive and stylized, and the game has a top down perspective so you wouldn't think it's very immersive.

I guess it just goes to show you how good the developers are at demonstrating the brutality of your actions, even using pixel art you can tell exactly what you're doing to every enemy and some of it is rather disturbing.

Great game, tons of fun.

 

[soren7550]

In games that I played? Dunno, since I haven't really played games that get very graphic/violent. The only thing that comes to mind at the moment is in Tales from the Borderlands: Atlas Mugged, when early on you have to

Spoiler

scoop a 'dead' guy's eyes out with a spork... and you mess it up the first go.

 

[L. Declis]

The part that most made me wince was the part in Heavy Rain

Spoiler

where you are forced to cut off a part of your finger using whatever is around in the room. A saw, or a knife, or whatever. You have to then force him to do it, and you watch him slowly get closer and... ugh!

 

[ObsidianJones_v1legacy]

Corpse Party.

All of the Corpse Party.

Haunted School. Kids no more than 16 get sucked into the pocket dimension of the school where ghosts do nothing but try to kill you

The worse part?

Spoiler

The pain you feel when you die never ends. If you're killed in Heavenly Host Elementary School, you will become a ghost and you will remain there, the pain you felt in death continuing on forever. It drives almost all that remain there homcidially insane, and with every new ghost, the dimension becomes more powerful.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Oddly enough, I only ever used the leg break maneuver in Sleeping Dogs (you basically hold someone still while kicking their knee sideways) while training when I first learned it, then swore it off completely. The move is supposed to have a secondary effect of looking so horrifically painful that nearby enemies all flinch in terror and nausea...unfortunately it works through the fourth wall, too.

Also, quite a few of the torture attacks in Bayonetta put me off.

I'm certain there's more, but if I've successfully repressed them, I feel no need to dig through my memory banks.

 

[Lil_Rimmy]

Honestly, Hotline Miami 2.

Basically, the whole game is crazy fast SUPER violent and crazy action that didn't weird me out in any way, but at several points throughout the game in cut scenes or other non-gameplay segments, bad things happen. The scenes that happen aren't usually any worse than what the normal game is, it's just the really calm way it happens in most of them, often to main characters and the irreversible nature of it.

I'm talking about:

Spoiler

The Detective shooting Tony, simply because of how sudden it is, especially right after all of the other fans are killed. The Son shooting Alex and Ash, mainly because of the suddenness of it and the lack of reaction. Yet, only minutes early I was slaughtering an entire floor of gangsters with a chainsaw and guns, and even tearing a still living enemies guts out with it while Ash shot everyone in the room.

It's just the kind of disconnect that happens between violence in the levels and violence to the characters outside of the levels, mainly because you know you can't just hit R and try again. It's much the same as in Jake's level where on the top floor getting hit once will knock you out and end the level as the Russians drag you off, yet on the floor below getting killed was just a case of pressing R and having at it again.

 

[DementedSheep]

Extreme gore/violence doesn't tend to bother me too much. Internal organ being ripped out via your mouth? not a problem. However eyes and finger/toes being damaged gets to me although the latter I'm getting use to.

Spoiler

The successful one actually bothered me more than the failure one. I'm weird like that I guess.

 

[Tsun Tzu]

Watching some of these... I can safely say that I am quite averse to body horror. Fantastic.


The 1:45 bit in particular...ugh.

Now I have MK fatalities too. Jesus. Some people there have genuine problems. ._.

 

[theSovietConnection]

Extreme gore/violence doesn't tend to bother me too much. Internal organ being ripped out via your mouth? not a problem. However eyes and finger/toes being damaged gets to me although the latter I'm getting use to.

Spoiler

The successful one actually bothered me more than the failure one. I'm weird like that I guess.

You took the one I was going to post, so I'll add a Heavy Rain one I think you'd agree with me on.

Spoiler: Heavy Rain

For those unwilling to watch a 6 minute scene, basically Ethan is forced to cut off his finger to save his child

 

[Sleepy Sol]

I hate to keep harping on Bloodborne, but the violence in it makes me cringe. In a good way. Like "Ooh, GODDAMN!"

Sneak attacks work different from the Souls games, in that you charge a strong attack sneaking up on an enemy. They get staggered, you walk up and press R1, and your characters bare hand just fucking smashes into the enemy's back through their spine and then you rapidly pull it back out, showering blood everywhere and extinguishing whatever semblance of life your enemy still showed.

Certain bosses can get stunned and the 'visceral attacks' (game's term for this stuff that's basically a critical hit) you can do on those bosses are just freaking brutal. Deliciously brutal.