First impressions are everything and that’s especially true for video games. The first 30 minutes or so of a video game are make or break. If you don’t create an engaging story, introduce players to mechanics in a compelling way, and the characters suck, then people are going to bow out of your game pretty quickly. It’s pretty easy to lose people in the first hour of a game, because there are so many other great things to play that you really have to earn people’s time. Even a great game like Red Dead Redemption 2 has a divisive intro because it’s pretty sluggish and some people never made it past it.
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We’ve ranked some of the best video game openings out there. These are games that hook you immediately with a great story, action, and perfectly set the stage for what’s to come.
10) Indigo Prophecy/Fahrenheit
You may not be familiar with Indigo Prophecy (also known as Fahrenheit), because it came out 20 years ago and wasn’t some smash hit. It’s a game from Quantic Dream, the studio responsible for Heavy Rain and Detroit: Become Human, so players get to dictate how the story unfolds based on their choices. The game opens with protagonist Lucas Kane stabbing a man to death in the bathroom of a diner on a snowy night. Lucas was possessed when he committed the murder, but snapped out of it after the deed was done.
As the player, you’re forced to clean up your own crime and get the hell out of there before anyone finds the body or evidence. It’s an incredible way to hook the player and immediately get them invested, but also quickly shows how everything has a cause and effect in the game as you work to hide evidence and save face.
9) Mass Effect 2
Mass Effect 2 opens with a big, explosive intro where the Normandy is attacked and destroyed. Commander Shepherd is blasted out into space, where he dies of asphyxiation. However, his body is recovered by Cerberus, and they work to more or less resurrect him. Two years later, he awakens to yet another attack, and the world as he knows it has totally changed. It’s a radical return to BioWare’s sci-fi universe and one that immediately subverts any expectations you may have for what’s to come.
8) Dead Space 2
Dead Space 2 picks up a few years after the previous game, and Isaac Clarke is now in a mental hospital. He’s haunted by the events of the past game, particularly the death of his girlfriend, but his torment is far from over. The station his hospital is located on is now home to a new Marker, meaning evil has once again been unleashed on anyone in its proximity.
In the opening minutes of the game, Isaac is forced to rush through the space station in a straitjacket, unable to defend himself or fight back. He witnesses all kinds of horrific acts and is put in grave danger, but is eventually freed by a man who commits suicide right in front of him. It was a pretty traumatic way to set the tone for Dead Space 2, but it’s an opening that remains unforgettable.
7) Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 had to clear a high bar set by the openings of the prior games. The first game has an epic battle with Kingpin, and Miles Morales kicks off with both Spider-Men chasing Rhino through New York City. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 ups the ante with a huge fight against Sandman. The adrenaline is pumping from the second the player takes control, as Peter and Miles swing together through the city before eventually encountering a kaiju-sized Sandman.
The two are thrown through buildings, across the city, and are forced to juggle saving civilians while using their intellect to stop Flint Marko. You also get to see how Peter and Miles benefit from being partners and are introduced to new mechanics, such as the web wings. It’s an epic set piece worthy of a blockbuster Spider-Man film, but made better by being fully interactive.
6) Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain opens following the events of Ground Zeroes, a prologue to the final mainline Metal Gear Solid game. Big Boss’ helicopter was blown up, and now, he awakens from a coma nine years later. However, he doesn’t have the luxury of physical therapy or anything to get his body working properly, as his hospital is attacked by a shadowy group trying to assassinate him.
Led by a mysterious bandaged man named Ishmael, Big Boss lugs his limp body through the hospital, avoiding a massacre and supernatural forces like Psycho Mantis. It’s probably one of the scariest, most tense moments in the franchise, as you have absolutely no power or strength. Your survival is largely luck-based and determined by Ishmael (whose true identity won’t be discussed in this article).
A condensed version of this intro also served as the game’s first-ever trailer, when it was simply known as The Phantom Pain and Kojima wasn’t revealing it as a Metal Gear Solid game just yet. It was pretty impactful and raised a lot of questions about the game prior to its release.
5) Resident Evil 4
Resident Evil 4 has one of the most memorable openings to a game of all-time because, like Dead Space 2, it is horrifying. Leon Kennedy is sent to Spain to rescue the daughter of the President of the United States from a malicious cult, and unfortunately for him, they’re pretty sick and twisted. Upon arriving, he finds infected villagers burning outsiders and is forced into a situation where he must violently fend them off.
It’s one of the most tense openings to a game ever, especially because the game throws a chainsaw-wielding psychopath at you within the first 10 – 15 minutes. It’s one of the most hellish openings to a game ever, but also acclimates the player to the Resident Evil experience pretty perfectly.
4) Fallout 4
Fallout 4 is the first Fallout game to have any content before the bombs actually drop, not counting Tranquility Lane in Fallout 3, as that’s a simulation. The game opens with you customizing your character in the bathroom mirror while a newscast talks about the tense state of the world. You’re introduced to your spouse, child, and even a robot who tends to things around the house.
A Vault-Tec salesman eventually knocks at the door and insists you buy a space in the local vault, as the impending doomsday is inevitable. Everything about this encounter seems to suggest he’s aware the nuclear bombs are about to fall, but he never outright says it. Once you sign the paperwork, it’s not long before the news anchor on TV begins to report nuclear bombs being detonated across the country. You scramble to the nearby vault with your family, and as you’re being lowered in, you can see a mushroom cloud taking over the sky before the shockwave blasts right over you.
It’s a haunting start, but one that allows you to get a brief slice of pre-apocalypse life. Fallout 4‘s intro is etched into my brain to this day and there are only a handful of other games that have quite the same impact with their openings.
3) BioShock
BioShock throws you right into the thick of it by having your plane crash straight into the ocean. As the sole survivor, you look around for any kind of safety, only to see a lighthouse… sitting all alone out in the middle of the sea. Once you enter, you’re greeted by a striking statue holding a banner that reads “NO GODS OR KINGS. ONLY MAN.” As you explore the lighthouse, you find a pod that takes you into the depths of an ocean while a recording from a man named Andrew Ryan tells you about a city that is free from government regulation and oversight. People can flourish and make their own mark.
It’s not long before you see the towering underwater city of Rapture, glowing with neon lights and a promise of utopia. However, once you actually get into the city… you realize it has basically been torn about by its own people, and now you’re stuck in this watery hell. That first glimpse of Rapture, Andrew Ryan’s speech, and the swelling music will always ensure BioShock has one of the most enrapturing openings to any game ever.
2) Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves has a thrilling cold open where Nathan Drake is found in immediate peril. He sits in a derailed train car, dangling off the side of a frozen mountain, and has a near-fatal stab wound. Despite the pain, he must climb up the train as it slowly topples over the side of the cliff. Star Wars: The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams reportedly told actor Nolan North that Uncharted 2 had the best opening of any game, movie, or TV show that he’d ever seen and he’s not wrong for feeling that way.
It’s a riveting way to kick off a game and one that remains extremely effective to this day. Uncharted 3 and 4 don’t even hold a candle to this opening… however, one other Naughty Dog game did manage to raise the bar.
1) The Last of Us
The Last of Us has one of the most gripping opening 20 minutes of any game out there. You’re introduced to Joel and his daughter, Sarah, on a relatively uneventful night. However, Sarah eventually wakes up to a phone call from her uncle, Tommy, who asks her to get Joel. The phone line goes dead mid-call, and she can see and hear explosions in the distance as she walks through her darkened house. Police cars race through the neighborhood, sirens blaring, and a dog barking outside is abruptly silenced. Joel rushes into the house from the backyard, covered in blood. He loads a revolver while telling his daughter to stand back before a crazed man breaks through their sliding door, forcing Joel to shoot him dead.
A traumatized and confused Sarah is loaded into the back of Tommy’s car and the family escapes, trying to figure out the best way to get out of town and to safety. There are rumblings of people being sick and turning crazy, something that quickly becomes apparent as they see people being pulled out of their cars and bitten. They race through the chaos of the city, trying to find any kind of escape, but get hit by another vehicle. Joel carries Sarah as hordes of people panic, buildings are on fire, and they keep finding themselves in more and more danger.
Eventually, a pack of infected begin chasing them and Joel must run without looking back. They’re thankfully saved at the last second by a soldier, who shoots the infected. However, he receives a chilling order and raises his gun at Joel and Sarah before opening fire on them. Joel is wounded and about to be finished off, but Tommy is able to kill the soldier in time. However, Sarah tragically succumbs to her wounds as Joel begs for her to stay with him.
It’s a hair-raising intro that shatters your heart into a million pieces, somehow managing to make people cry within minutes of starting the game. Thanks to incredible performances from the likes of Troy Baker, sharp and subtle writing that tells you a lot about these characters without doing too much, and fantastic pacing that ratchets up the tension, The Last of Us has easily the best video game opening of all-time.
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A Nintendo Entertainment System over a collage of the system's game's screenshots.
