10 Video Games That Gut Punch You In Act One
9. Sarah's Death - The Last Of Us
Zombie apocalypses were pretty well done by the time the first The Last Of Us came out, so it needed a good hook to make it feel fresh. And nothing says "the collapse of society and innocence", like playing as a little girl who is shot by a panicking soldier during a zombie apocalypse.
Starting off The Last Of Us from the POV of the young Sarah rather than her grizzled father was a stroke of genius to sell the true horror of a society falling apart all around you. This little detail just further sells the thick atmosphere of terror and dread, as everything Sarah has known her whole life falls at the seams in the span of an hour, before finally dying horrifically in the arms of her dad.
This is both a brutal punch to the gut for the player, who - let's face it - knew the kid was probably gonna die, but the death scene was still sold so well that knowing it was coming hardly mattered, as well as the perfect tone seller for the rest of the game. This is how The Last Of Us starts, the opening says, so imagine what's coming.