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The 10 Most Iconic Opening Cutscenes In Video Games, Ranked – CBR – Comic Book Resources


First impressions are often the most important ones. This is equally true of people and of entertainment. Just as the first five pages of a book must capture a reader’s attention and the first few minutes of a movie must convince a viewer to continue, so must the beginning of a video game hook the player into the journey they’re about to begin.



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As video games have skyrocketed in popularity over the past several decades, they’ve become pieces of media as beloved as famous films and TV episodes. Setting up intrigue and establishing the game’s core premise from the start, some video games’ cinematic opening cutscenes quickly became iconic.

10 Skyrim’s Opening Became A Meme

While the jury’s still out on whether The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim‘s introductory cutscene is actually good or not, there’s no denying that it’s become famous. The opening line of “Hey, you, you’re finally awake” haunts gamers to such a degree that fans have turned it into a meme in order to share their experience.

Almost anyone who interacts with gaming communities has seen some version of this Skyrim meme. The game welcomes players into a highly customizable, open world full of choices by placing them in a cart for several minutes, leaving the player unable to do anything but listen to others’ conversations.

9 Red Dead Redemption Smoothly Set The Stage

When players first boot up Red Dead Redemption, the opening cinematic tells them everything they need to know before giving even one gameplay instruction. The cutscene plainly lays out the setting, time period, conflicts, and core themes without clunky exposition or narration.

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Interestingly, the protagonist, John Marston, says nothing during the entire scene. Instead, he listens to his fellow passengers on the train. By the time the player takes control, they know exactly what kind of existential threats they’ll face and what dangers await in the wilderness.

It’s not uncommon for video game protagonists to die, whether by the player’s hand or by the writer’s. However, Mass Effect 2 takes a different approach, revealing Shepard’s death to players before they have a chance to intervene.

This sequence tells fans of Mass Effecthow the stakes have risen without relying on wordy descriptions or comparisons. Making gamers watch their own protagonist, who they created in the prior game, suffer in the unending vacuum of space perfectly explains exactly how dire the situation has become.

7 Half-Life Introduced An Entire World

Half-Lifes opening scene may not be the most action-packed cutscene in the world, but it’s memorable for that exact reason. Before Gordon Freeman’s infamous experiment thrusts the world into utter chaos, players become acquainted with that world in the most mundane way possible.

It’s just another day at Black Mesa, and everyone, including the audience, trudges through the standard routine of their morning commute. Half-Life perfectly sets up a sense of dread concerning the calamity that’s sure to follow. With each passing second, players know the peace Gordon feels on the train won’t last.

6 Fallout 4 Maintained The Series’ Reputation With New Methods

Fans of the Fallout series know each game’s iconic opening line: “War. War never changes.” Fallout has established a reputation for delivering consistent quality in each of the games’ intro cinematics.

Among them, Fallout 4 stands out for its use of new techniques and for being the second game in the series to employ a different narrator. Fallout 4‘s became the franchise first game to incorporate live-action footage into its opening cutscene, aptly revealing how the world reached the post-apocalyptic state players find it in.

Among iconic introductory scenes, no gamer can ignore the impact made by the original Metal Gear Solid. From the moment Solid Snake breaches a nuclear base full of highly armed enemies, players find themselves hooked.

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Not only did Metal Gear Solid popularize and reinvent the stealth genre, but it also set the standard for opening cutscenes and what they could accomplish. This scene expertly explained the protagonist’s objective and the stakes via audio from a mission briefing, setting the mood for the game.

4 Uncharted 2 Jumps Straight Into The Action

It’s hard for players to forget an opening cinematic like the one from Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. Within seconds, fans discover series protagonist Nathan Drake is extremely injured and in a dire situation, on a train dangling from the edge of a snowy cliff.

Not only is the player unable to rectify the situation before Nate begins to fall, they don’t even know how he got there in the first place. By the time the chapter title fades in and the player has control, they must climb up the crashed train car to get Nate out and find out what started the whole mess.

3 Final Fantasy VII’s Opening Was Like Nothing Ever Seen Before

When Final Fantasy VII first premiered in 1997, 3D graphics technology was barely beginning to hit its first strides. Despite those limitations, Square Enix made an opening cutscene that rocked the gaming world to its core.

Final Fantasy VII introduced players to an entire city in a matter of minutes while the epic score surged in the background, making the cinematic genuinely feel like the start of an unforgettable adventure. Final Fantasy VII was also among the first video games to have cinematics smoothly transition and into gameplay, a revolutionary concept at the time.


2 Kingdom Hearts II Provided A Beautiful Reintroduction

Being the first main game after a long string of spin-off titles, Kingdom Hearts II had its work cut out for it. Needing to reintroduce players to the world, its opening cutscene achieved that goal and became a piece of art in its own right.

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Scored by Utada Hikaru’s iconic song “Sanctuary,” the cinematic at the start of Kingdom Hearts II beautifully laid out the story so far, where each character stood, and their objectives. In a series known for its stunning introductory cutscenes, Kingdom Hearts II surpassed the standard by miles.


1 The Last Of Us Broke Gamers’ Hearts

The opening cutscene for a game about surviving in the zombie apocalypse would never be a happy one. However, what gamers saw at the beginning of The Last Of Us proved far more heartbreaking than they could have ever imagined.

Players got to spend just enough time with Joel and his family to feel connected with them, only to watch Joel suffer the loss of his daughter as chaos overtook the world. Not only would this tragedy become the driving force behind Joel’s actions, but it would fuel the players’ as well.

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