Jan 9th, 2023, 07:04 PM
Death is often a punishment a player will experience in many video games, but that doesn't mean it can't be satisfying or entertaining to watch a scenario play out for your characters demise when done well. The same applies to killing swaths of enemies who are looking to do the same to you; for the dozens of enemy kills that offer little in the way of fanfare or spectacle, there's usually others that involve a special animation to give some player satisfaction beyond giving the local morgue a boon in business.
In no particular order, here are some of my favourite death or kill animations in video games:
The Hand of Midas - Tomb Raider (1996)
Unfortunately I can't find the interview, but apparently Core had someone on the development team whose sole job was to come up with the many ways Lara Croft could perish in the original Tomb Raider games. There are lots of different ways she can meet her end, but one of the most memorable for me is a secret death animation that can be triggered in Palace Midas. In this level, Lara has to turn lead bars into gold by placing them onto the fallen hand of a statue of King Midas, but what happens if the player decides to make Lara step on the hand? Obviously, she turns to gold, but the animation that plays out for this is probably one of the most intricate across all of Core's Tomb Raider games. As Lara's gradually turns to gold from the feet up, she panics as she becomes unable to remove herself from the hand and groans in agony as her arms and torso turn to gold, followed by her head. The scene ends with the golden statue of Lara falling over onto its side with a loud thud and the game waits for the player to reload their save.
Head Transplant - Dead Space
Of course any horror game is going to be filled with gruesome death animations, and the Dead Space series is filled with them. While the vast majority of them are really good, my favourite of them all has to be what happens if you allow the severed head of a Divider to kill Isaac just for how creepy it is compared to the brutal dismemberment that makes up most of the other deaths in the series. Having been separated from its body, this lonely noggin wants a new home, and does just that by ripping off Isaac's head and then inserting its tentacles into the remaining neck stump. After getting itself situated atop its new home, it takes control of Isaac's body and proceeds to walk away off screen for a test drive.
Kick the Baby - Dead Space
Generally the kills in Dead Space aren't overly interesting, since most of the time you'll kill enemies by severing their limbs. If any of them get close to you though, there's usually a QTE to get the enemy off of Isaac which if successful, has Isaac perform an animation dependent on what enemy it is that had a hold of him. I don't really remember any of those (nor really encountered them since letting a necromorph close enough to you to trigger a grapple QTE isn't a good thing), except for the one involving the Lurker. This enemy is basically formed from a human baby, and if the player is successful in the grapple QTE, Isaac will grab hold of the Lurker, slam it to the floor, and then immediately punt the little bastard across the room for an instant kill. Children and minors are rarely depicted in scenes of death in any medium, so seeing this for the first time in Dead Space was a very stand out moment for me.
Open Wide - God of War (2018)
I forgot this kill animation existed until I recently played through God of War Ragnarök, and I think it's by far the most brutal one. If an enemy is stunned at low health, Kratos can grapple it to deliver a special kill animation, and if that enemy happens to be a Wulver, Kratos will hold onto its head with one hand while using the other to get a good firm grip of its lower jaw. In a sight fitting of a dentistry horror movie where the patient won't open wide enough, Kratos proceeds to pull the Wulver's lower jaw downwards with brute force all the way down to the lower torso, practically tearing the flesh off the front of it.
Leon vs. Chainsaw - Resident Evil 4
If you've played RE4, you already know what this one is because this is probably the most iconic death scene in the whole game. It's very simple compared to any others I've listed; Leon's neck meets a chainsaw wielded by a Ganado. It's an iconic enough image that I think it's one of the only death scenes in the game (and maybe the entire franchise) that actually has key art for it: https://i.redd.it/ha5u8qyvom391.jpg
I have more, but I think these few will suffice for now. So what are your favourite death/kill animations in games?
In no particular order, here are some of my favourite death or kill animations in video games:
The Hand of Midas - Tomb Raider (1996)
Unfortunately I can't find the interview, but apparently Core had someone on the development team whose sole job was to come up with the many ways Lara Croft could perish in the original Tomb Raider games. There are lots of different ways she can meet her end, but one of the most memorable for me is a secret death animation that can be triggered in Palace Midas. In this level, Lara has to turn lead bars into gold by placing them onto the fallen hand of a statue of King Midas, but what happens if the player decides to make Lara step on the hand? Obviously, she turns to gold, but the animation that plays out for this is probably one of the most intricate across all of Core's Tomb Raider games. As Lara's gradually turns to gold from the feet up, she panics as she becomes unable to remove herself from the hand and groans in agony as her arms and torso turn to gold, followed by her head. The scene ends with the golden statue of Lara falling over onto its side with a loud thud and the game waits for the player to reload their save.
Head Transplant - Dead Space
Of course any horror game is going to be filled with gruesome death animations, and the Dead Space series is filled with them. While the vast majority of them are really good, my favourite of them all has to be what happens if you allow the severed head of a Divider to kill Isaac just for how creepy it is compared to the brutal dismemberment that makes up most of the other deaths in the series. Having been separated from its body, this lonely noggin wants a new home, and does just that by ripping off Isaac's head and then inserting its tentacles into the remaining neck stump. After getting itself situated atop its new home, it takes control of Isaac's body and proceeds to walk away off screen for a test drive.
Kick the Baby - Dead Space
Generally the kills in Dead Space aren't overly interesting, since most of the time you'll kill enemies by severing their limbs. If any of them get close to you though, there's usually a QTE to get the enemy off of Isaac which if successful, has Isaac perform an animation dependent on what enemy it is that had a hold of him. I don't really remember any of those (nor really encountered them since letting a necromorph close enough to you to trigger a grapple QTE isn't a good thing), except for the one involving the Lurker. This enemy is basically formed from a human baby, and if the player is successful in the grapple QTE, Isaac will grab hold of the Lurker, slam it to the floor, and then immediately punt the little bastard across the room for an instant kill. Children and minors are rarely depicted in scenes of death in any medium, so seeing this for the first time in Dead Space was a very stand out moment for me.
Open Wide - God of War (2018)
I forgot this kill animation existed until I recently played through God of War Ragnarök, and I think it's by far the most brutal one. If an enemy is stunned at low health, Kratos can grapple it to deliver a special kill animation, and if that enemy happens to be a Wulver, Kratos will hold onto its head with one hand while using the other to get a good firm grip of its lower jaw. In a sight fitting of a dentistry horror movie where the patient won't open wide enough, Kratos proceeds to pull the Wulver's lower jaw downwards with brute force all the way down to the lower torso, practically tearing the flesh off the front of it.
Leon vs. Chainsaw - Resident Evil 4
If you've played RE4, you already know what this one is because this is probably the most iconic death scene in the whole game. It's very simple compared to any others I've listed; Leon's neck meets a chainsaw wielded by a Ganado. It's an iconic enough image that I think it's one of the only death scenes in the game (and maybe the entire franchise) that actually has key art for it: https://i.redd.it/ha5u8qyvom391.jpg
I have more, but I think these few will suffice for now. So what are your favourite death/kill animations in games?