10 Video Games That Made You Face Your Own Worst Nightmares

The Last of Us: Part 2 is a game that has divided a fanbase like no other in recent memory. Some hail it as the pinnacle of the generation, whereas some think it is nothing more than a self-aggrandising, miserable slog that goes on way longer than it really should.

Where you fall in this great debate – that is still raging across the internet as we speak and will probably do so for years to come – is largely unimportant to the position it holds in this list. It’s not about whether you like it or hate it, but it is about the incident that set brother against sister and son against daughter in this PlayStation civil war.

Please be aware that spoilers for the game will follow.

I am, of course, talking about Joel dying. Beaten to death with a golf club, with barely a hint of an introduction, Joel’s death is brutal, quick, tragically unexpected, and absolutely unbefitting of a character whose return we’ve waited for eight actual human years.

But that’s why it works, and that’s why it’s scary. If Joel can die in such a way, in a world that is written and planned and, really, revolves around him, how can we expect to die? Joel’s death forces us to face our own mortality, and how quick, brutal, and undignified our ends might be.