By Evan Regan
Large-scale battles are the kind of thing that every action-focused video game aspires to, but only some actually pull off. For one, game technology hasn't always been able to render battles on an epic scale, and only recently have developers even tried to capture battles on this scale in games that aren't entirely built around them.
Then there's the actual validity of the battle itself. After all, just because a big battle can be cool doesn't mean they fit in every game that wants one. That's what makes these epic battles so... well, epic. They're either narratively relevant or exceptionally massive, and they aren't just a big battle among other big battles. They have stakes, weight, and they stand out because of how big and epic they feel when compared to the rest of the games they're a part of. That's what makes them the greatest video game battles of all time.
Note
To be clear, these are the best battles in games that don't necessarily feature a lot of big battles. While there are plenty of epic confrontations in series like Dynasty Warriors, Total War, Mount & Blade, and Earth Defense Force, those games are also primarily made up of giant battles. For one, it would be nearly impossible to single out one battle from those series, and two, it wouldn't stand out as much because it happens in the context of lots of similar battles. As such, we're exclusively looking at battles that are standout moments in their games, and not just games that have big, epic battles.
Warning
Because many of these battles take place at the end of their respective games, there are Spoilers Ahead.
Chicago - Resistance 2
A Chimera Invasion In The Middle Of A City
Chapter 5 in Resistance 2 really drives home just how outmatched the army is against the Chimera. There are plenty of lopsided battles in this series, but this is the first time that Sgt. Nathan Hale and crew are thrown into the middle of a full-blown Chimeran invasion of a major city; in this case, Chicago.
In between weaving through the wreckage of trains, buildings, and bridges, or climbing over submerged cars in the flooded streets, you'll take part in multiple huge firefights, trying to battle under the pressure of an unending hail of enemy gunfire. Worse still, it all culminates with a battle against a Leviathan, a Chimera that is literally as tall as a building, and it requires that you blow up an actual building to take it down.
The Grand Cathedral - Serious Sam 2
Absolutely Endless
The Serious Sam games are all about fighting off waves of enemies, but the final level in Serious Sam 2 is a different beast altogether. The Grand Cathedral is located in the middle of a vast, open field, and unsurprisingly, you'll be taking on swaths of enemies within that field. Even once you make it to the Cathedral, you're really just in the middle of that field with a tiny piece of cover in each direction, while enemies swarm you from all sides.
Narratively speaking, it isn't particularly notable, but the reason this sequence gets a spot here is because of the sheer scale of the battle itself. On average, The Grand Cathedral takes about 80 minutes to complete. That's for a successful run: nearly an hour and a half of constant fighting. Even for the Serious Sam games, it's a battle on a scale that's virtually unheard of. Imagine dying 60 minutes in.
Minas Morgul - Middle-Earth: Shadow Of War
Dark Talion Is The Best Talion
As controversial as the ending of Middle-earth: Shadow of War is, it's hard to deny that the final battle is completely awesome. For narrative reasons, Talion has split from Celebrimbor and has instead become a Nazgul. Canon-wise, it causes a whole lot of issues and makes these games hard to parse with the rest of Tolkien's lore, but for the sake of an epic battle, it works wonders.
Talion's powers grow exponentially in this state. As he single-handedly retakes Minas Morgul from Sauron's forces, Talion can slay a squad of orcs, and with a word, revive all of them to fight on his side. It makes the whole battle pretty one-sided, but that doesn't mean that it's not a dream power fantasy to walk into a city occupied by orcs and conquer it in the span of about 15 minutes.
Battle For Kaer Morhen - The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Geralt And Ciri Take It To The Wild Hunt
The Wild Hunt's attack on Kaer Morhen in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is seemingly a lost cause, but that's what makes the fight so epic. Throughout the battle, you'll be swapping between Ciri and Geralt, each of whom is fighting off enemies on the walls, charging through a forest while dodging projectiles, and doing everything they can to beat back the attackers.
The whole fight ends in devastation, with Vesemir's death at the hands of Imlerith, but this defeat causes Ciri to go off like a nuke, unleashing the full scale of her powers and forcing the Wild Hunt into a retreat. The highs and lows of the Battle of Kaer Morhen are what make it so memorable, with wild swings in fortune that have the whole thing feeling like a cinematic spectacle.
Bloodbath Of B-R5RB - EVE Online
A Battle That Cost Over $300,000 In Real-World Money
We're including this battle here even though it's not technically a "narrative" battle because of the unfathomable cost that came with it. EVE Online is an MMO that features a player-driven economy. People have jobs, run businesses, and trade stocks, all of which hold real-world value, but it's all entirely contained within the game's sci-fi universe. That includes the many spaceships, which can cost upwards of $9,000 a pop for a higher-end craft.
The Bloodbath of B-R5RB started for a small, silly mistake: a space station run by a player-driven legion forgot to make a maintenance payment, which meant the entire B-R5RB system was suddenly up for grabs. Enemies of the aforementioned legion descended on the system, and a 20-hour battle kicked off involving over 2,500 players. In the end, the financial cost of this battle is estimated to have been over $300,000, which is about as high as real-world stakes can get for a video game fight.
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This article originally appeared on GameRant and is republished here with permission.
