Most Shocking Moments in Video Game History

Battlefield 1 - Prologue

Hard to say if this one makes the list in a few years, or if I’m just putting it in here because it’s fresh in my mind, but the Battlefield 1 prologue was one of the more shocking moments in gaming for me. It starts with a cinematic that shows frontline combat, and an on-screen message informs you that, “You are not expected to survive.”

I mean, I wasn’t worried. I play a lot of first-person shooter games, so I was confident that I’d survive and unlock an achievement for doing so. However, I did not survive, and the game made sure of it. Battlefield 1 was teaching me a lesson. This was not about skill and reflexes, it was about just how hopeless the situation was. How quickly and easily war could snatch the life out of you.

So, I died in the prologue, and the game showed the character’s name, date of birth, and date of death. Harvey Nottoway (1889 - 1918). Then, it spawned me back in as another character who seemed to be about 100 feet away from where Harvey fell. I died again. That was Dean Stevenson (1899 - 1918). This happened again and again.

By teaching me a lesson that I needed to learn, Battlefield 1 gave me one of the most shocking moments in my gaming history.

That’s it for this list, although I’m certain I’ve overlooked a dozen or more games that others would have put on their own. That’s the point, though. What shocks you might be different than what shocks me. It’s when we find games and moments that overlap that we can be sure that we have truly found one of gaming’s most shocking moments.

If you enjoyed this, you might also enjoy reading about our list of the best war movies ever made or, in the interest of chasing more shocking moments in gaming history, our most anticipated games of 2017.

Bill Lavoy

Editor-in-Chief