10 Video Game Reveals That Stopped You DEAD

6. Hollow Children - Binary Domain

Although it garnered mostly positive reviews, sci-fi third-person shooter Binary Domain sold poorly, so it’s among the most overlooked games of the seventh generation.

Featuring the sort of body horror that fans of the Tetsuo movies (as well as David Cronenberg’s filmography) should love, its tale of man fusing with machine in a post-apocalyptic Japan is a grotesquely dismaying yet relevant warning for modern times.

Speaking of horrifying moments, there’s a scene in which players see the full scope of what it’s like to learn that you’re a Hollow Child (an android who looks, thinks, and feels like a person).

After all, the man in question thought he was 100% human – why wouldn’t he? – so witnessing him discover his mutilated and semi-robotic face in the reflection of someone’s sunglasses is disturbing. From there, he endures abject terror, cruelty, and hopelessness until he fights back before taking his own life.

You can’t help but be frozen in place until it’s over.

Contributor
Contributor

Hey there! Outside of WhatCulture, I'm a former editor at PopMatters and a contributor to Kerrang!, Consequence, PROG, Metal Injection, Loudwire, and more. I've written books about Jethro Tull, Opeth, and Dream Theater and I run a creative arts journal called The Bookends Review. Oh, and I live in Philadelphia and teach academic/creative writing courses at a few colleges/universities.