A key part of almost any video game is dispatching enemies. However, as the hours of shooting, stealth-ing, and platforming go by, sometimes the traditional means begin to feel somewhat trite. Yes, we could shotgun the nine millionth nameless soldier, choke out yet another guard, or jump on the head of another defenseless animal, but what if there was a more elaborate way to say goodbye to the baddies?
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Thankfully, developers have realized that there are few things more satisfying than finding a way to turn your surrounding into a weapon. Environmental weapons and hazards pose a great opportunity for refreshingly inventive kills, but often they can also get you killed. These are the best environmental hazards that video games love to let us cause havoc with!
16Impractical Sawblades
We don’t know a lot about logging and sawmills, but we are pretty certain that saws coming out of the floor with no barriers or warnings wouldn’t be up to code. We’re looking at youTeam Fortress 2- there is no way ctf_sawmill is OSHA approved.
What’s worse is the countless-abandoned factories and generic industrial areas that leave sawblades out for anyone to hurt themselves on. We know that there is an alien invasion going on inHalf-Life, but someone should have brought all of Ravenholm’s sawblades to a dump or something.
15Crushers/Grinders
Speaking of things that aren’t up to code: what factory, prison, space station, or anywhere else thought it would be safe to have large, floor-to-ceiling moving walls, or worse - unguarded grinders?
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We know the prison inThe Callisto Protocolisn’t totally on the up-and-up, but who installed vertical meat grinders here? While these are definitely going to get an architect fired, the good news is they’re very helpful for dealing with mutant monsters.
14A Fridge
More games should let you throw fridges at people.CyberpunkandPreyboth allow you to upgrade yourself to be strong enough to throw objects that weigh several tonnes at the enemies. However, only theDeus Exseries is brave enough to let us throw a fridge full of milk at random civilians.
13Boulders
Boulders can be a doubled-edged-sword for video game characters… or double-edged-rock, come to think of it. Most of the time, characters likeLara CroftandCrash Bandicootwill have to make likeIndiana Jonesand run towards the camera as they are cashed down by a rolling stone.
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However, sometimes, in wonderful rare instances, Link will arrive at the top of a hill to see a bunch of boulders at the top inBreath of the Wild. And if he peers down to the base of the hill, he’ll see a camp of Bokoblins having lunch. And if everything works out just right, you’ll finally get to use a boulder for good!
12A Big Old Ledge
Sometimes you don’t need to overcomplicate things. All you need is a bad guy to be standing too close to the edge of a cliff, and be willing to offer them a little helping hand.
Extra point if the game is anything like Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, and it allows that helping hand to come in the form of a boot at the end of a mighty kick.
11A Room Full Of Gas
Video game enemies have clearly never seen any of the PSAs on TV. If you smell gas, report it, and whatever you do, don’t light an open flame! We’ll give the AI some benefit of the doubt on this one since computers can’t actually smell, but all these guards in theseHitmanlevels would vastly improve their rate of survival if they started to respect this silent but deadly force of nature.
10Oil On The Floor
Okay, there is no excuse for this one. If you are an evil henchman guarding an evil base, and you see the distinct colorful liquid on the floor,mop it up!
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The protagonist will always be more than happy to light the oil on fire while you’re standing in it. Besides, if you are running a sinister military operation leaving oil on the floor is just asking for trouble.
9Water On The Floor
It’s much easier to forgive the bad guys for not being careful of this - we see puddles of water everywhere and most people would pay no heed. Most people, except for video game characters.
The perfect place to send an electrical current is into puddles - unassuming but deadly to anyone standing in it.
8Lava/Molten Metal
This one is just a classic, and for good reason too. Almost no living thing can survive an encounter with lava or molten metal.
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So whether it’s filling the ground level ofBrowser’s latest castle, being poured precariously into molds in industrial facilities, or the literal fires of hell, we all know what will happen if you force an enemy into an encounter with somethingthathot.
7Dangling Chandelier
If there is a chandelier in a game, you can bet your bottom dollar we are going to try to make it fall. Agent 47 seems to bean especially big fan of this form of environmental murder, but that may just be because of the super-rich social circles he hunts in. Who knows though, maybe he is just a huge fan of the Phantom of the Opera.
Whatever the case may be, there are few things as satisfying as the crash of expensive glass on top of goons or assassination targets.
