10 Best Video Game Boss Battles Of The Decade

4. Poseidon (God Of War 3)

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Sony

The primary purpose of any good boss battle is to act as an exam testing the player on how well they've learned the tools and tricks given to them by the game, either by giving them an equally strong opponent, or by giving that opponent a strategy that can only be countered by applying those tricks and tools in a creative way.

And then there's Poseidon. Poseidon is NOT a test, he's the first lesson.

The fight against Poseidon is literally the first thing you're asked to do when you take control of Kratos in God Of War 3. First you take out his henchmen, then you inform him that your friend Gaia does not enjoy him putting his hands on her and that he should show her the proper respect by leaving...in the form of slicing his arms off and punching him into a mountain. And then you finish it all off with a good old fashioned quick time event shot from Poseidon's perspective. Culminating in the most brutal QTE in the series, where you use L3 and R3 to have Kratos jam his thumbs into Poseidon's eyes.

It's the most different boss battle on this entire list, because it doesn't ask what you've learned, it's the one teaching you.

Contributor
Contributor

John Tibbetts is a novelist in theory, a Whatculture contributor in practice, and a nerd all around who loves talking about movies, TV, anime, and video games more than he loves breathing. Which might be a problem in the long term, but eh, who can think that far ahead?