There are plenty of settings for video games to take place in. You can get transported to distant planets, fantastical realms, and plenty of places in between. For action games though, a common setting you'll see is that of war.
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While plenty of games look at war with a sense of action, comradery, and doing what's right; many others take a firm approach to it in showing you the horrors that war brings to the world. From the soldiers themselves, to people far away from the conflict, these games show just how grim war can be for those effected.
10 Hell Let Loose
There are plenty of World War 2 games on the market out there. Though, none of them are as grim as Hell Let Loose.
There's no campaign or main storyline, it's all large-scale squad-based combat, and it's brutal. People disappear in flashes of artillery, people scream from gunshot wounds, and often times death comes unexpectedly.
It's not a harsh critique, but there are moments when you'll set the controller down in awe at what you've just seen.
9 Spec Ops: The Line
A game that is well known for a mentally and emotionally strenuous storyline, Spec Ops: The Line is not a game for the faint of heart.
Mental health, trauma, and civilian casualties are all focuses in the plot that will leave you wondering who the good guys were. As the leader of a squad of special operatives, you hold the lives of your soldiers in your hands for better or worse.
The gunfights are the least of your troubles in this game you won't soon forget.
8 Squad
Modern types of warfare have become a more popular theme for military simulators as of late, and few show the grim reality of it quite like Squad.
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From ragdoll effects to explosions, to even how the audio systems interact; all of it has been fine-tuned to create an experience that's as close to realism as you can get. That means there are a lot of moments where you'll be shocked and confused about what's going on around you.
It's a game where the world around you can erupt with violence at any minute.
7 Ghost Of Tsushima
It may not be modern war, but Ghost Of Tsushima looks at war all the same. The life of Jin Sakai is forever changed when war comes to his country.
True, there are a lot of moments that focus on combat and becoming stronger in the field of battle. But there is a severe undertone in the story that looks at how Jin and the people around him's lives would have been different had war not struck.
You can see it around every part of the island and in the people who are struggling to survive there.
6 This War Of Mine
A game that takes place far away from the frontlines. This War Of Mine follows the lives of a handful of normal civilians and their troubles in a war-torn country.
You won't be worrying about load-outs or respawns, instead, you'll try your best to make sure your people have enough food, water, and sleep to stay alive. It is far from a shining view of war and shows just how far conflict reaches to the people who aren't even fighting in it.
You can't play this game without coming out changed and sad about the choices you had to make.
5 Brothers In Arm: Road To Hill 30
The Brothers In Arms games have been giving players incredible stories based on the Second World War for decades now.
Road To Hill 30 is one such game, and arguably the one that has the most grim visions of the world of war. It's an early version of modern squad-based games but one that is emotionally hard to swallow.
Each of your paratroopers has their own unique features and the worst part is their all based on real people from the 101st. This gets rough quickly as your commander's plans go astray.
4 Valiant Hearts
A game where the focus isn't actually on combat, Valiant Hearts looks at the lives of regular people who are forever changed by the effects of war.
There are hopeful themes in the game. The ones that stand out more though are the critiques on war. Friends are lost, nature is destroyed, and people are changed forever in this game about the First World War.
It may have a soft and cartoonish art style, but it's quite deceptive how many heartrending moments occur in this game.
3 Call Of Duty: World At War
It's surprising to see a Call Of Duty title on a list of games that look at the negative aspects of war, but World At War had a tone far removed from other games in the series.
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Loss of friends, plenty of horrible moments, and some heart-wrenching twists all appear from time to time in this game about World War 2. Moments where you feel pride in leading your fellow soldiers and moments where you feel horrible at seeing the atrocities in front of you are equally present in this game.
2 Battlefield 1
There aren't a lot of games about the First World War, but the ones that do exist are often dark and foreboding.
None capture that feeling quite as well as Battlefield 1. Most of the time it feels like a movie, but in ways that make you stare in awe about the horrible things that are happening to your characters and their friends.
The mud, the blood, and the carnage are all set up to show just how horrible the First World War was for anyone involved.
1 Fallout
War, war never changes. It's a catchy tagline, but the Fallout series surprisingly has a lot of critique about war.
You may not think it with all the wacky humor, but Fallout does quite a bit to point out the atrocities of nuclear war especially. Nowhere is safe, there are monsters and baddies everywhere, and the world itself wants to kill you and everyone around you.
It wouldn't be a fun life to live. It's a more sarcastic approach, but one that has players taking a step back from time to time to really think about it.
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