Given how interactive video games are, they’re just so good at captivating right from the start. They also have a strange way of messing with our emotions. They pull us in with flashy graphics or fun adventures, but sometimes they also greet us with a gut punch.
A brutal opening can make you sit there in silence or discomfort, asking yourself if you really want to keep going. The best gaming openings are not just shocking for the sake of shock; they also set the tone for something worthwhile, giving you a good taste of what you can expect from the rest of the game.
When you look back at the most iconic openings in video game history, a few popular names always come up, understandably so. These openings made the game’s stories stick with us long after we got done playing them. So here’s a look at 11 of the most brutal video game openings of all time.
11. Disco Elysium
Most games usually kill your character only after repeated mistakes, like not healing in time. Disco Elysium, though, can kill you off before you’ve even really started the game. Depending on your choices in those first moments, like failing to grab your tie from the ceiling fan, can give you a heart attack, and you can literally die in the opening sequence. The screen fades, and you have to restart from scratch.
It’s brutal in a weird, almost comical way, perfectly fitting in with the existential tone of the game. Life here is fragile, and choices matter, even silly ones, and failure is always lurking around the corner. Especially since there are a few more moments in the game where you can die or lead to a game-over when picking the wrong dialogue or making the wrong choices.
10. Mass Effect 2
Killing the protagonist of the first game, Commander Shepard, in the first 30 minutes of Mass Effect 2 is the kind of gutsy move very few studios would dare to try, but BioWare was on another level at that time. The first game was a massive hit at this point, and Shepard had already become a somewhat iconic character.
So, choosing to show that the second game’s main villains, The Collectors, actually succeeded in killing and defeating him right at the start, made it clear that the game wouldn’t hold back when it came to storytelling. Sure, Shepard gets revived soon after, but he would still be dead if it weren’t for Cerberus. This opening showed right away that this sequel was bigger, darker, and willing to go places the first game didn’t.
9. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
The start of the first Modern Warfare game wastes no time showing how brutal its story is willing to get. You play as the president of a Middle Eastern country who has just been overthrown in a violent coup. As you’re dragged through the streets, beaten and powerless, you’re forced to see the chaos all around you. Civilians screaming, soldiers with guns everywhere, it does a great job of setting its gritty tone.
Then comes the shocker—you’re executed. You see all of this from the president’s first-person POV, not in a cutscene, and not as part of some background lore. The opening basically shows that this campaign isn’t gonna be your usual war campaign. It’s messy, and you’re going to feel the weight of it. That single execution scene is one of the boldest ways a Call of Duty game has ever started.
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8. SOMA
SOMA doesn’t go for an in-your-face death scene or a particular brutal moment in the opening, but that almost makes it worse. Instead, it builds dread exponentially. You play as Simon, a guy just going for a brain scan, and suddenly you wake up in a facility that feels alien and broken. The machines around you twitch like living things, and you start realizing something is horribly off.
It’s not gory, but focuses more on existential brutality. The opening smothers you with the feeling that nothing makes sense, that maybe you’re not even human anymore. It’s scary because it feels quiet and inevitable, like a bad dream that doesn’t end. That creeping dread sets the tone for the rest of the game. That’s what makes the opening so chilling, since it really crawls under your skin.
7. Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain
The hospital escape at the start of The Phantom Pain is one of the most unnerving openings in the entire franchise. You wake up barely able to move, half-dead, as chaos erupts around you. Soldiers are slaughtering patients in cold blood, fire and explosions all through the building, and you’re crawling on the ground just trying to survive.
It’s not just brutal in visuals, but also in how helpless it makes you feel. You’re used to being Big Boss, a legendary soldier, in the previous games like Ground Zeroes and Peace Walker. Here, you’re a broken and weak body dragging itself through blood-soaked hallways while masked enemies and supernatural threats destroy everything. It’s very surreal and disturbing.
6. Wolfenstein: The New Order
Right from the start, The New Order feels like you’re in the middle of an unstoppable (and unwinnable) war. You’re thrown into combat with your team, storming a Nazi fortress, and it’s as intense as a war scenario in a game gets. But the most brutal part comes later, when you’re forced to make a choice between saving one of your teammates. The other one is brutally killed by the game’s main villain.
That decision splits the game into two timelines, but in the moment, it’s devastating, since you’re not just watching someone die, but you’re also choosing who dies. It’s a cruel way to begin, but it immediately tells players what the rest of the game can feel like, and what the stakes are.
5. Dead Space
The Dead Space opening is relatively short but still horrifying. You’re just arriving at the Ishimura, ready for what looks like a standard repair mission, but in a few minutes, everything goes to hell. Necromorphs ambush your team, one of your crewmates is ripped apart, the other two are scrambling to survive, and so are you.
That moment where you watch your teammate die brutally, and you’re powerless to stop it, sets the tone instantly. The game isn’t going to give you time to breathe. It’s dark and claustrophobic, and you’re never safe, even with your suit of armor. The fear never lets up after that.
4. Dragon Age: Origins
BioWare doesn’t hold back here either. Depending on which of the six origin stories you pick in this fantasy RPG, you might start the game watching your entire family get slaughtered. The Human Noble origin doesn’t waste any time tearing your world apart. Your parents are murdered, your home is destroyed, and you’re forced to flee as everything burns behind you.
Brutal as it might be, it’s also one of the most fitting origins in the game, perfectly lining up with what you do for the rest of the game. The loss defines who you are, and why the Blight feels personal. By making players experience such loss right at the start, the game creates a bond between you and your Warden that feels real and compelling, a bit more so than the other origins in the game.
3. Shadow of Mordor
Few games go as far as Shadow of Mordor does in its opening. Within minutes, the protagonist Talion loses everything. His wife and son are murdered by Orcs, and they also take his life soon after. This slaughter feels cruel and senseless, and the worst part is that you’re powerless to stop it. Although Talion doesn’t quite die yet and is revived and merged with the wraith of the Elf, Celebrimbor.
The opening sets up the entire story of vengeance and survival that defines the game very well. You’re not just fighting orcs because the game says so; you’re fighting them because they killed your family and even your humanity.
2. The Last of Us
The prologue of The Last of Us is emotional and unforgettable for many reasons. You only spend about half an hour with Sarah, but in that time, she feels real. The game does a great job of making her and Joel’s bond feel real, like with the scenes of her joking with Joel, falling asleep on the couch, and being just a normal kid. Then, in the chaos of the outbreak, she’s shot by a soldier and dies in Joel’s arms.
It’s one of the most shocking and emotional openings ever, especially since the game immediately fast forwards to 20 years later. Players weren’t expecting it, and that’s why it hit so hard. Since the game made you care about Sarah so fast, you feel the same loss that Joel does.
1. The Last of Us Part II
Naturally, The Last of Us Part II is the only game that can top the opening of the first game, with something that is drastically more brutal. The opening two to three hours of the game slowly build tension, letting you step into Joel and Ellie’s new life and become familiar with Jackson before ripping it all away.
His death is long, drawn-out, and horrifyingly real. You’re forced to watch as a character you previously spent an entire game with is beaten to death in a non-cinematic way.
It’s cruel, but it also leads to some powerful storytelling. Just like the first one, by having the players endure such a brutal loss, the game sets up the emotional drive for everything Ellie does next. That’s why the rest of the game feels as harrowing and depressing as it does. This is easily the most brutal opening in a video game yet.