Games That Throw You Right Into The Action

Summary

Not every game begins with a calm prologue or a slow-burn introduction. Some throw you straight into the fire (sometimes quite literally), giving you no time to breathe or get comfortable - just pure, unfiltered action. This narrative style, known as ‘in medias res’, has been around since the days of the ancient Greek poet Homer.

Whether it’s a sudden battle, a chaotic escape, or a moment of confusion where you don’t even know who you are and where you are, these games get straight to the point. Here are some games that waste no time and throw you right into the heat of things.

The beginning of Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood can feel a bit disorienting, as you find yourself experiencing multiple events in rapid succession. First, there is a quick recap of the previous game (just a brief moment for context). Then you’re in the Animus, with Ezio battling Cesare Borgia. The scene shifts again, and you’re watching the siege of Monterreggioni from afar.

Before you can even process it, you’re suddenly talking with Minerva, inside a chamber from another dimension and time. It picks up right where Assassin’s Creed 2 left off, with Ezio having just battled Pope Rodrigo Borgia. What can we say? One chapter closes and another begins, straight to the point.

After a wild night of partying, Dante wakes up with a massive hangover, alerted by a mysterious woman, who warns him of imminent danger. Suddenly, a monstrous creature bursts from the waters, pulling him into the Limbo, and destroying his trailer.

But instead of panicking, Dante, naked and still with a hangover, takes his time to dress in slow motion inside the collapsing trailer. Once he’s fully clothed, he’s ready for the battle. Chaotic, over-the-top, and stylish in a way that only a Devil May Cry game can offer.

The 2013 reboot of Tomb Raider doesn’t give much time to settle in, and by that, it means for the entire game. After a shipwreck, Lara Croft finds herself stranded on a mysterious island, only to be captured and hung upside down in a cave filled with human remains. Not exactly the best vacation.

With no experience and no time to think, she has to escape before it’s too late. Let’s say that you’ll find there is never a moment to breathe with Lara Croft.

Baldur’s Gate 3 wastes no time pulling you into its chaotic world. You wake up aboarda Mindflayer’s ship, witnessing the horrific process of a humanoid octopus implanting a tadpole into your eye. Not exactly an ideal start. After this unpleasing moment, you get a brief break, surrounded by calm nature, as you can customize your character.

But as soon as that’s done, you’re back in chaos, watching the ship as it invades a town, destroying buildings and abducting inhabitants while dragon riders attempt to stop it. When you think it can’t get any more intense, the ship teleports to another location. And this all happens just in the intro cutscene.

Call of Duty: Black Ops starts with a bang, literally. You wake up tied to a chair in a room with hundreds of dozen TVs flickering. Why are you there? Where are you? These are the same questions running through Alex Mason’s mind.

There is no time to think before you’re bombarded with questions by mysterious interrogators, as the TVs begin flashing cryptic numbers. Confusion reigns, but soon enough, everything starts to make sense as you’re pulled into one ofthe best campaigns in Call of Duty history, providing just a taste of what’s to come.

Hideo Kojimaknows how to deliver a memorable opening, and he achieves this with Metal Gear Solid 5. You wake up in a hospital, playing as a disoriented Snake, heavily sedated. Before you can understand what’s happening, the hospital is under attack. A woman appears out of nowhere, killing the doctor, and points a gun at you. Just when it seems you’re about to meet your end, your bandaged buddy steps in, but it’s in vain.

The woman now starts to strangle you, rendering you unconscious. When you open your eyes, you see her burst into flames, thanks to a mysterious, fluctuating figure. Now, you and your bandaged ally must escape as the hospital collapses around you.

Ghost of Tsushima throws you directly into the Mongol invasion of Tsushima Island. As Jin Sakai, you and a small band of samurai are all that stands between the invaders and your homeland. There is no time for introductions or backstory, it’s time to fight back.

You’re immediately thrust into a brutal battle that ends quickly, and badly. But this opening is just the beginning and sets the stage for an epic journey of revenge and honor to become the legendary Ghost of Tsushima. And if that’s not cinematic enough for you, you can always switch to Kurosawa mode to feel like you’re in one of the legendary director’s films.

One of the most memorable openings in the Uncharted series is the cinematic sequence that sets the tone for Uncharted 2. It’s so iconic that it even made the cover of the game.

Nathan Drake wakes up with a bullet wound, hanging off a railed train on the edge of a cliff (just your average day with Nate). With no time to process what’s happening, you’re immediately scaling the wreckage, avoiding a certain death with every move. Just before the train falls, Nathan makes a big jump to save himself. Pure cinema. And this is just the start of many frenetic situations you’ll face throughout the game.