10 Devastating Video Game Deaths That Came Out Of Nowhere

Red Dead Redemption 2 is the Game of Thrones of video games.

Red Dead Redemption 2
Rockstar

Considering it's a medium pretty much built on the art of murder, it's kind of surprising how few effective deaths there are in video game stories.

Sure there are still memorable ones - enough to do plenty of lists on them in the past - but considering how much death is dealt out in the average release, only a small percentage of them leave much of an impression on the player.

After wasting so many nameless bad guys, it makes sense for fans to get a little numbed to virtual death, but one easy way to grab their attention is to whack a main character completely out the blue, with little warning and even less fanfare afterwards.

Sure, occasionally this is done purely for shock factor, but there's no denying that a swift drive-by of a death works wonders in slapping the player in the face and making them pay attention. Hell, Game of Thrones pretty much made its living off this brand of brutality.

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Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.