20 Best Boss Battles From Recent Video Games

3. Cogwork Dancers - Hollow Knight: Silksong

Mafia: The Old Country
Team Cherry

Hollow Knight: Silksong managed to deliver above and beyond unimaginable expectations, and though there's no real consensus on the game's best boss, let's make a case for the Cogwork Dancers.

For starters, together they're one of the most unique and challenging bosses in the entire game, because they're not actively trying to hurt you - they're just doing their perfectly choreographed dance which you happen to get in the way of.

And so, it falls to the player to dodge clear of their dance moves while landing attacks during brief windows of opportunity. 

The strangely hypnotic allure of the dance combined with the lovely music makes this a tough fight to forget, and it even becomes melancholic once one of the robotic bugs is defeated, leaving its sluggish partner behind to fend for itself.

This is a boss fight that manages to be mechanically clever, deeply difficult, and even unexpectedly affecting all at once - who'da thunk it?

 
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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.