10 Video Game Deaths That Should've Hit HARD (But Didn't)
These deaths didn't have quite the desired impact.
Death is of course a part of most video games, and while we might rip through thousands of anonymous goons over the course of a single game, those big character deaths are obviously meant to land with a certain impact.
An epic, emotional, or just downright awesome death scene can seriously elevate a game and be something players won't ever forget, but it's also much easier said than done.
And unfortunately, sometimes a character's death is clearly supposed to hit us hard, but for one of many reasons, it just doesn't land with the intended resonance.
That's absolutely true of these 10 video game deaths, each of which left fans underwhelmed, pissed off, and otherwise baffled by what they saw.
These deaths all had the potential to be seriously iconic and unforgettable moments, but it just didn't pan out - perhaps the character development was lacking, the gameplay undermined the emotion, or the character was simply killed off in a horribly cheap way.
Whatever happened, these deaths all fell short of the mark, and have remained controversial, polarising moments in the fandom ever since...
10. Lunafreya Nox Fleuret - Final Fantasy XV
The death of Lunafreya Nox Fleuret in Final Fantasy XV is supposed to be one of the game's grand emotional high-points - after being gravely wounded by Ardyn, she survives just long enough to help Noctis defeat Leviathan.
Yet even though Lunafreya is one of the game's central characters and her death occurs during a gorgeous FMV sequence, it falls oddly flat because we've had so few direct interactions with her prior to this.
Lunafreya's screen time is strangely limited leading up to her death, ensuring that if Square Enix was trying to deliver another Aerith-tier moment here, they resolutely failed because players simply didn't have that firmly established bond with her.
She felt more like a plot device than a flesh-and-blood character, honestly.
It doesn't help that Lunafreya's death itself happens strangely abruptly and little time is afforded for both Noctis and players to mourn her, at which point one might ask themselves - if the game doesn't care, why should I?