How much Gore should be in a video game?

[sefus]

In my opinion, it's a bit satisfying and cathartic to have Solider of fortune tier gore within games, especially with annoying enemies. 

[Mexicola9302]

Gore and dismemberment is fine, as long as it's still realistic, and there are no extra limbs, heads or totally exaggerated amounts of blood etc. i wish GTA V/Online would have gore and dismemberment, but only if it makes sense, like shooting off heads with a shotgun, or horrible car crashes and limbs flying around if there are explosions, but not if you just shoot an pedestrian with a small caliber pistol in the head. It must be realistic and not totally exaggerated then it's fine IMO.

 

If i want much gore i just play some zombie game or Fallout, they always have gore.

 

I remember the uncut version of GTA III and Vice City had much gore and dismemberment in it, even on playstation 2, i want that back. All i had to do back then, was to set the language of the PS2 to english, if i remember it correctly, or i didn't have to do that, i can't remember it's such a long time ago. And it wasn't totally exaggerated in these 2 games, it was okay.

 

I would love to have Katana and Chainsaw in GTA V.  

Edited September 18, 2021 by Mexicola9302

[Badman_]

Maybe this is a little too much:

 

 

[DexMacLeod]

It's never really been that important to me, personally, but I guess it depends on the game. I know RDR2 is more gory than GTA V but I don't even really notice the difference. There's usually so many enemies at once that I just don't spend a lot of time watching people die, I'm always moving on to the next one. Plus they tend to be too far away to get a good look anyway.

 

Something like Assassin's Creed, however, where you're constantly killing enemies very close up with bladed weapons, should probably be much gorier than it is. It can pull me out of the game some times when I've hacked away on a guy with a sword and there's just some blood spatter but no real wound.

 

Still, I think the "satisfaction" comes more from the animation than the actual gore. The way a body goes limp and crumples to the ground after a clean headshot is more satisfying to me than being able to see a hole in the person's head.

[Jason]

It really really depends on the game and the experience and atmosphere the developers are going for.

 

Zombie games for example benefit from it massively, being able to blow limbs/heads off, turn hordes into a mist of blood etc. It's a bit dated now in parts, but L4D is a great example of what I'm talking about.

 

For something like GTA I don't think gore really adds all that much in 2021 with the realistic graphics. I wouldn't be bothered if GTA VI featured greater gore than V, but yea I don't think it adds anything to the experience or atmosphere there. On the other hand it works well in RDR2 with it's grittier more ruthless survive or die style atmosphere, but it's not too over the top that it's silly.

 

As Dex mentioned though, gore isn't just about blowing heads or limbs off, the death animations are important too. Vice City has gore but it's a bit rubbish (even back in the day) due to the canned death animations, meanwhile RDR2 or L4D with ragdoll death animations are much more satisfying.

[Mister Pink]

I'm a fan of gore in games. I think RDR2 is one of the best games for it in terms of it being kind of realistic. I like being able to mutilate a body after killing them. It sounds sadistic and perhaps it is, but for me that's the fun - it's a videogame. Just like how running pedestrians over, shooting guns and crashing cars is fun. All horrible things if in the real world but in a videogame it's fun for me.

 

I'd like to see it more in GTA. I was always disappointed it was never as good as RDR. There's something satisfying when a limb gets blown off unexpectedly. It wouldn't be as fun if it happened every time. But every now and then it's good. I would love if you could blow a leg off an enemy. They survive but are relatively incapacitated. They can still shoot you and crawl about but the movement is limited. To me that just adds realism and emphasises the importance of being accurate with headshots.

 

I think gore is a part of the thrill of cinema and video games. Entertainment deaths (Hollywood and videogames) are always quick and easy is humans are actually more resilient and deaths are usually much slower. Real gore is horrible and disgusting but I enjoy it games so much. I don't think a game could ever desensitise me to real gore. It's just too bad. But I love the shock value of it in games. 

 

I remember how shocking it was in Kane & Lynch 2 after they were tortured. It suited the grimy, realistic approach to the game. 

 

 

 

[Bigglo145]

I remember playing soldier of fortune, that was the first game i noticed gore in. I remember a glitch where i shot every body part off but the body would still shoot lol. 
Red Dead 2 is good with the gore. Anything more than that is excessive. Like someone said in one of the replied above, i would prefer better death rag doll animations than gore. Like in mafia 3, people are usually on the floor groaning before they die

[Mister Pink]

My first experience of gore was playing Moral Kombat on the Mega Drive/Genesis. You had to put in a cheat to unlock the gore/blood. It was great. 

 

I don't think a game needs gore to succeed. GTA's level is passable but any less that that I would say it's bad. Good ragdoll physics can almost be as good as gore for me. When you shoot an enemy a the top of a stair well or at the edge of a building roof top and they tumble down with good ragdoll physics, it's fun. 

 

But how much does a game need? I would say like other's said, it depends of the game and/or as much as the devs want and can get away with. For me, if it's a game designed for mature players, I want them to push the boundaries. The nonplayable or NPC and environmental gore in games can be quite powerful. In Ghost Recon: Wildlands there were times when you might see  some Sicarios or local people hanged from a bridge or at the side of the road. That's a reality for people in some countries. I don't think it's gratuitous but shows the harsh realities of narco gangs and the drug trade. In Wildlands, there was also El Posolero (the Stew maker) that was dissolving 100's of bodies in acid in barrels in a warehouse which was quite grim. Again, it's non-playable violence but it's depicted in the game quite graphically. There is a story about a real Poselero in Tijuana that El Poselero is presumably based on. He dissolved 100's of bodies in acid. 
 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

Imagine, the real Pozolero was arrested after Ghost Recon: Wildlands was made. So they basically based their game's character on the real guy but he wasn't even caught for his crimes yet. 

 

I think the distinction can be made for passive, non-playable gore (gore you see in the environment) and then gore you can inflict and that occurs from your actions. If the censors don't want to promote gamers doing the latter, the former can be at least educational, historic or just representative of the realities of life. 

 

 

Edited September 20, 2021 by Mister Pink

[trip]

Depends on the game.

I love the exaggerate death and gore animations in Fallout 4 when I blow someone's head off while in VATS, but when I play Family Fued I prefer less blood and carnage.

[Moewe]

I like it when it has a realistic setting that it should look real, not over the top but also not like gtao at the moment. It should show that killing someone/thing (ppl,zombies monsters, etc) is a brutal thing and not like: i hit him with my axe so we will animate a red line and three blood drops. But i also like the bit over the top not realistic in game like doom or mortal combat.

But im not saying that gore is needed for a fight to feel intense. An example is sea of thieves. It has a comic style graphic, but still the pvp and pve fights are intense even without any blood. And its just bc the overall atmosphere is great and gore would be a bit off in a game like that.

So my conclusion: Just like everyone said it depends on the game. 

Edited September 20, 2021 by Moewe755

[Daz]

Imo it makes sh*t seem very unrealistic and unsatisfying and quite childish in a way. I would much rather have hilarious ragdoll than anything else.

[LL Cool L]

hope there is a lot in the new Woleverine game....loved using the extra gore cheat on Vice City and generally like gore in adult action content, there is a place for it

 

hardly see 18 rated games and movies anymore...

 

 

[Ondr4H]

Im kinda ok with hollywood style gore in city sandbox games.

[The N. Bellic Man]

On 9/20/2021 at 1:02 PM, Mister Pink said:

In Wildlands, there was also El Posolero (the Stew maker) that was dissolving 100's of bodies in acid in barrels in a warehouse which was quite grim. Again, it's non-playable violence but it's depicted in the game quite graphically. There is a story about a real Poselero in Tijuana that El Poselero is presumably based on. He dissolved 100's of bodies in acid.

I wouldn't wanna be a killjoy, but if I remember correctly El Pozolero was kind of slow. He had a mind of a 5 year old or something like that. It was implied that he didn't quite understand what he was doing. So, it kind of ruins the image that we had in our minds like "wow, that dude is a badass/sick". Typical Ubisoft. I guess that the point is to make it seem like it's less harmful/intimidating. Or make a statement like "not all stewmakers are bad".

 

Though that real life guy looks actually like he enjoyed what he was doing. A guy like that would have been more menacing.

 

Anyway, gore all the way when it's realistic. And sometimes even if it's not. But gore just for the sake of gore is pretty pointless.

 

[Mister Pink]

10 hours ago, The N. Bellic Man said:

I wouldn't wanna be a killjoy, but if I remember correctly El Pozolero was kind of slow. He had a mind of a 5 year old or something like that. It was implied that he didn't quite understand what he was doing. So, it kind of ruins the image that we had in our minds like "wow, that dude is a badass/sick". Typical Ubisoft. I guess that the point is to make it seem like it's less harmful/intimidating. Or make a statement like "not all stewmakers are bad".

 

Though that real life guy looks actually like he enjoyed what he was doing. A guy like that would have been more menacing.

 

Anyway, gore all the way when it's realistic. And sometimes even if it's not. But gore just for the sake of gore is pretty pointless.

 

 

Haha, you could be right, maybe it's Ubisoft trying to soften the blow. However, I'm reminded of Leatherface in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. That family of Texan hicks seemed a bit slow and not the brightest but terrifyingly brutal and sadistic. Also, you can't help but think there's always some brains in the background manipulating the slow ones to do the dirty work -  a bit like "the cook" in Texas Chainsaw Massacre (guy in back-left of image below). He never got his hands dirty but loved the festivities of terrifying young vulnerable women. So you aren't being a killjoy at all  I can conjure up some backstory and related to other things to still give that nasty edge   Maybe El Pozelero had some sadistic and manipulative handler that pushed him to do those things. Might be even worse, maybe that was the case and El Pozelero was slow but felt emotion and sadness for those he disposed of and that he was in a living hell. Getting caught was liberating for him. 

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

[KiTTYReCkless]

I like realistic gore. Shotguns/ high powered rifles blowing faces off , but not completely taking their head off kinda gore. Sniper Elite and Max Payne 3 had the best imo. Red dead 2 is not bad either.  However games like Doom cross the line to where it's just mindless and over the top.

 

Getting surgical with a shotty is not realistic. Irl, you're not going to blow arms and legs offf. Hands, feet and good chunks of head, yes. Anyway I do love me some bloody bits, It's oddly satisfying

 

 

 

Edited October 6, 2021 by KiTTYReCkless

[shadyslady]

If it fits the setting, as much as possible 

[Darth Absentis]

I am still waiting for a generic feeling FPS like COD or CS, but with realistic damage to other players and NPC's.

 

There would be something really disturbing, yet kinda neat about shooting people with assault rifles and see limps flying or just enemies on the ground, slowly dying or still having the power to just crawl away to safety, just being scared.

 

Ideally though, i would love to see it in combination with NPC's using actual tactics and getting scared once you start killing to many of them. 

 

For an example, if you went and actually were the one using a mounted M2HB .50, that would end up so brutal, you not only would have NPC's being ripped into pieces, but also have them ducking for cover as soon you shoot even near them, along with you being the main target for them.

[-l-]

It depends on the game. 
Sometimes too much gore goes too far, out of place, and unnecessary.