The stress we felt from these moments in games is not something we'll forget anytime soon. For this list, we’re taking a look at various, panic-inducing moments in video games that made our hearts skip a beat.
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00:00 [Train sounds]
00:03 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the Top 20 Most Stressful Moments in Video Games.
00:10 [Beeping]
00:12 [Gunshots]
00:14 For this list, we're taking a look at various panic-inducing moments in video games that made our hearts skip a beat.
00:20 What video game moment stressed you the most? Let us know in the comments below.
00:26 Hey, Mojoholics, for a chance to win cash prizes, play our live daily trivia challenges every day at 3pm and 8pm Eastern, only at watchmojo.com/play.
00:37 Number 20, The Journey to the Wind Temple, The Legend of Zelda, Tears of the Kingdom.
00:44 [Wind sounds]
00:50 While the Wind Temple itself was pretty standard fare, the journey to get there was one of the most daunting tasks Link has ever taken.
00:57 In order to get to the temple, you must keep climbing in the sky between floating islands, turning the game into more of a platformer than an action-adventure.
01:05 This stressful section goes on and on for a very long time, and any minor mistake in going between islands or getting knocked off by an enemy will lead to a lot of time lost and having to start all over again.
01:17 Just hope you don't fall too far down.
01:20 [Wind sounds]
01:28 Number 19, Eye Surgery, Dead Space 2.
01:32 [Dead Space 2 audio]
01:35 The Dead Space franchise is no stranger to stressful moments, what with the never-ending necromorph enemies that frequently attack you.
01:42 But this moment stands above all else, and it's not quite what you'd expect.
01:46 After being led to a machine by a hallucination of Nicole Brennan, Isaac must undergo surgery by inserting a needle into his eye.
01:53 Making this moment even more stressful than it sounds is that Isaac's eye constantly moves as you're slowly putting it in.
01:59 If you fail the moment, it's game over, as our protagonist will find himself impaled by the machine.
02:05 [Wind sounds]
02:10 Number 18, The Flower, Drakengard 3.
02:14 [Drakengard 3 audio]
02:22 Yokotaru is known for his quirky antics in his amazing video games, but what he did with Drakengard 3 takes the cake.
02:29 The majority of the game is a hack and slash action RPG with dragon aerial combat here and there.
02:34 But for the final boss, all of this was thrown out the window.
02:38 Instead, players must battle their way through an eight-minute-long rhythm game where if you miss a single note, it's instant death.
02:45 What makes this worse is that apart from the rings approaching you, there aren't really any prompts when exactly to hit the note.
02:51 And the game's camera will do its absolute best to put you at an angle where you can't see it coming.
02:56 The worst part of all of it is at the end, when the screen fades to black and the characters start talking, but the rhythm game still continues.
03:04 At least the music was amazing.
03:06 [Megaman 2 audio]
03:14 Number 17, Boo-Beam Trap, Mega Man 2
03:18 [Mega Man 2 audio]
03:22 The original Mega Man games can be very intimidating to modern gamers, but for those who picked them up back in the NES days, they had to face some crazy challenges.
03:31 One such challenge could be the Wily Castle Stage 4 boss in Mega Man 2.
03:35 We say "boss," but this is more like a puzzle.
03:38 Players had to navigate the room and take out each of the wall-mounted devices.
03:42 Sounds simple enough, right? No.
03:44 These will fire at you at specific intervals, and the only way you can destroy them or the walls blocking them is with the Crash Bomber special weapon,
03:52 which already has an extremely limited amount of shots.
03:55 So if you mess up even once, you're done for.
03:58 [Crash Bomber special weapon]
04:03 Number 16, Protecting Natalia, GoldenEye 007
04:07 [GoldenEye 007 audio]
04:12 Escort missions are the bane of gamers' existence, but few are quite as frustrating as the ones featuring Natalia.
04:18 While Bunker 2 can easily be worked around by leaving Natalia in her cell until the last minute, Control proves a much more stressful task.
04:26 Here, there's a segment where Natalia must reprogram the GoldenEye satellite in the main computer room.
04:31 That's when the enemy waves start to pop up.
04:34 Trying to work around the dated aiming controls whilst trying to defend her often leads to Natalia, be it from the enemy AI or even a misfire of your own.
04:42 And they just keep coming.
04:44 You'll breathe a sigh of relief once she's done, presuming you get that far.
04:48 [Natalia's death]
04:52 Number 15, Climbing the Pillars, God of War
04:56 [God of War audio]
05:01 The first God of War stands out amongst others in the series for its challenging difficulty and downright infuriating moments.
05:08 The most stressful part, however, is found right towards the end of the game, as Kratos battles his way through the path of Hades.
05:14 In order to progress, Kratos must climb up a rotating pillar, all while avoiding its sharp blades.
05:20 What makes this incredibly stressful is that the climb is ridiculously long, and if Kratos gets hit once by these hard-to-dodge blades, he'll fall all the way down to the bottom.
05:29 Just imagine making it almost to the top of the thing, only to waste all your progress in an instant, as well as whatever limited health you have left.
05:37 [Kratos' death]
05:42 Number 14, Blue Shells, Mario Kart series
05:46 We've all experienced this.
05:48 You finally manage to reach first place in a race in Mario Kart, and it's all taken away from you when another player launches a blue shell at you,
05:55 immediately stopping you and allowing everyone else to race right past you.
05:59 [Blue Shells' death]
06:04 What makes the blue shell item so frustrating is its pinpoint accuracy, which is completely unavoidable if you don't have a certain item to counter it.
06:12 The most stressful time to be on the receiving end of one of these is right at the end of the race, when you're so close to the finish line.
06:19 [Blue Shells' death]
06:24 Number 13, Mr. X, Resident Evil 2
06:28 [Mr. X's death]
06:34 As if having to deal with hordes of zombies and other special-type enemies wasn't stressful enough with your limited health supply,
06:40 Capcom decided to up the ante when the T.O.O. Tyrant entered the fray.
06:44 After the first encounter, the unkillable Mr. X will relentlessly pursue you throughout the police station,
06:49 getting in the way of any puzzles or zombie encounters you might have.
06:53 Even when you find yourself in a safe area, your stress levels won't lower, as you'll be able to hear his footsteps just outside.
07:00 [Mr. X's death]
07:10 Number 12, Torture Scene, Metal Gear Solid
07:13 [Metal Gear Solid's death]
07:23 After being ambushed and captured by Sniper Wolf, Solid Snake finds himself locked into a torture machine by Revolver Ocelot.
07:30 For this sequence, the player must button mash the circle button to recover health through multiple rounds of torture.
07:35 What makes this incredibly stressful is that the speed of button mashing you have to do is absolutely insane.
07:41 A lot of players had to resort to using a turbo controller, or the good old-fashioned spoon method.
07:46 The cherry on top of this extremely stressful moment is that if you fail it, you'll end up getting the bad ending.
07:52 [Mr. X's death]
07:55 Number 11, The Suicide Mission, Mass Effect 2
07:59 [Mass Effect 2's death]
08:07 Considering the entire game has pretty much built up towards this mission, it's no surprise that it's the most stressful in the franchise.
08:14 Anyone can die in this mission, including Shepard themselves, if the rest of the crew has perished.
08:19 The lives of your squad are all dependent on the choices you make throughout the game, including which tasks to bestow upon them during this mission.
08:26 As you make your way through this dramatic finale, you'll be stressed out wondering if you've made the right decisions or not.
08:32 [Mass Effect 2's death]
08:36 Number 10, Keeping Sonic From Drowning, Sonic The Hedgehog Series
08:40 [Sonic the Hedgehog's death]
08:45 In a game where you play as a cartoon hedgehog saving cartoon animals in a cartoon land, you would think any kind of terror would be absent.
08:52 Au contraire! Anyone who has played a Sonic game knows that Sonic can't swim.
08:57 However, some of us had to learn the hard way. Hang around the underwater for too long, and that infamous, terrifying music starts playing.
09:05 Of course, the first time this happened, we were unaware.
09:08 [Sonic the Hedgehog's death]
09:13 We can guarantee that the abrupt change from catchy chiptunes to a suspenseful crescendo puts us in immediate panic mode.
09:20 [Sonic the Hedgehog's death]
09:25 Number 9, Startling the Witch, Left 4 Dead Series
09:29 [Left 4 Dead's death]
09:37 Amidst the grunts of zombies and belches of boomers, only one sound terrifies us more than any other enemy in Left 4 Dead 2.
09:44 The second you and your friends hear crying, you know the witch is nearby.
09:48 Even with the best set of gaming headphones, it can be difficult to pinpoint her location, as her wails echo throughout the area.
09:54 Your only defense is to turn off your flashlight and proceed with extreme caution.
09:59 Getting careless will cause her to attack, which can instantly incapacitate or kill any teammate.
10:04 Needless to say, the witch is a force to be reckoned with.
10:07 [The witch's death]
10:11 Number 8, Perfect Runs, Guitar Hero Series
10:14 [Guitar Hero's death]
10:19 If you and your friends played a lot of Guitar Hero, we have a feeling there was a ton of smack talk going around.
10:24 Then, someone makes the bold claim that they could make a perfect run on a particular song.
10:29 We know, because we've been there, too.
10:31 When you're going for a perfect run on your own, it's frustrating.
10:34 When you're doing it in front of friends, it's easy to get stage fright.
10:38 One tiny mistake could ruin that perfect score.
10:41 It makes the songs feel like they're five times longer than they really are.
10:44 Seriously, who in the hell could play "Devil Went Down to Georgia" or "Through the Fire and the Flames" flawlessly?
10:49 [Devil Went Down to Georgia]
10:56 Number 7, Defusing a Bomb, Counter-Strike Series
11:00 [Counter-Strike]
11:06 Counter-Strike is already a stressful game on its own.
11:08 You never know when you're going to turn a corner and run straight into the enemy.
11:12 However, we sure as hell wouldn't want to be the player that has to defuse the bomb.
11:16 When the defusing process begins, you have no way of defending yourself unless you stop the process.
11:21 You become such an easy target that you're praying to God you don't hear anyone heading your way.
11:25 Hopefully, you're not the last one alive on your team.
11:28 Otherwise, good luck, bud. You're going to need it.
11:32 Number 6, The Golden Strawberries, Celeste
11:36 [Celeste]
11:42 Celeste is one of the best platformers ever.
11:45 But it can also be one of the most frustrating thanks to its trial-and-error-based precise platforming.
11:49 As if the standard game and B-side stages weren't already difficult enough, wait until you unlock the Golden Strawberries.
11:56 With these things, you have to carry each of them through an entire stage without dying once.
12:01 The levels are really long, too, so your nerves can easily get the better of you when you're getting towards the closing moments
12:07 knowing that one small slip means a full restart.
12:10 And don't even get us started on the B-side and C-side levels.
12:14 Number 5, Anything Past the First Few Days, Papers, Please
12:23 [Papers, Please]
12:31 Ah, bureaucracy.
12:33 What with the unnecessarily specific details, strict procedures, and detaining anyone who looks remotely suspicious.
12:40 Welcome to your life in Papers, Please, where you must review passport after passport to protect the great country of Arstotzka.
12:47 You might not have much trouble spotting discrepancies at first, but the details start piling on.
12:52 Eventually, you'll have a hard time keeping track of every little thing.
12:55 You'll start taking more time to double-check everything, which means less pay and greater difficulty in taking care of your family.
13:02 We already have this stress in our daily lives. We could do without it leaking into our video games.
13:07 Number 4, Hiding from the Xenomorph, Alien Isolation
13:20 [Alien Isolation]
13:31 Once you've played this fantastic horror game, you'll know what it's like to be in an alien movie, and one of the good ones, too.
13:37 As much as we love the xenomorphs as a character, we would never step foot in the same room with one.
13:42 And yet, that's just what alien isolation forces you to do.
13:46 Just like in the movies, there's practically nothing you can do to kill it, and if you wind up in the clutches of the xenomorph, you're done for.
13:53 So, when you start seeing a blip on your radar, you better find a good place to hide and hold your breath.
13:59 Number 3, Dropping Your Souls in a Hard Spot, Soul Series
14:14 I've been there before. Any Souls fan knows exactly what we're talking about.
14:19 You've explored too far, you've amassed a huge amount of souls or blood echoes, but, uh, can't find the next bonfire.
14:26 In fact, you can't even remember how you got here, and suddenly, oops, you died.
14:31 So your souls have fallen in a hard to reach or impossible to reach spot, and you have no idea how to get back there.
14:40 So not only is this frustrating, but the stress has only just begun.
14:44 Now you gotta find your way back and be extra careful, because you have a lot to lose now.
14:49 Number 2, Being in the Top 10, Battle Royale Games
15:05 We've all been there at one point or another. No matter which game you prefer, we go through the same cycle of feelings.
15:11 When a match starts, you're determined that you're going to win this match, or lose if you're pessimistic.
15:16 As the match progresses, you're constantly eyeballing the player count, your nerves tightening up as the number decreases.
15:22 Once you've noticed you're one of the last ten remaining players, or somewhere around that mark, tensions skyrocket.
15:28 Any move you make could be your last. You're under extreme pressure to think carefully and plan strategically.
15:34 Even if we lose, we're more than happy to do it all again. That's part of the thrill, right?
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15:57 Number 1, The Whole Game, Outlast
16:02 [Heavy breathing]
16:07 This game does not let you breathe. Outlast is a non-stop scarefest with terror lurking around every corner.
16:18 Armed with only a camcorder and no means to fight back, you're constantly peeking around corners, hiding in lockers and behind desks,
16:25 and playing as if your life was really in mortal danger.
16:28 If that wasn't bad enough, you can't see a thing without the night vision on your camera, and the search for batteries can get stressful at times.
16:35 There is no time to relax in Outlast, but honestly, we wouldn't want it any other way.
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16:56 [Outro Music]