20 Best Video Game Opening Levels Of The Last 10 Years

11. Meeting The Bakers - Resident Evil VII

Resident Evil 7 is a masterful execution of pure horror. The slow exploration through the woods, knowing you're searching for your wife, then happening upon the genuinely disgusting mansion out in the middle of nowhere - only to discover a tape of those that came before.

Brilliantly, you get to play the role of the cameraman, exploring the area you've just came through, but knowing - thanks to the grainy filter and obviousness of a film crew wandering such a dilapidated location - that something is going to go sideways. Of course it then does, but back in the present, you're reunited with your beloved, only to see her chainsaw your hand off in one cerebrally affecting scene.

All of this happens within the first 15 minutes, and it's afterwards that you wake from a daze, only to find yourself strapped to a chair, having 'dinner' with the Baker family themselves. It's a supreme mix of pacing, Capcom expertly pumping the gas to wrench you to the edge of your seat at just the right moment.