Video games are not just for kids and some of them are definitely not for kids, as made obvious by the R ESRB rating and warning that they come with. If you are an adult gamer who does not shy away from a brilliant game just because it is violent, then this is the list for you.

Doom and Doom Eternal by id Software

If you are a fan of the horror genre, then demonic violence on hapless human beings is a common theme for you. However, Doom and Doom Eternal turn the table on Demons, as you give the denizens of hell a taste of their medicine (and blood!). You Play as the Doom Guy, who is strong enough to crush lesser demon skulls into voluminous gore with his bare hands while mowing down the hordes of hell with his endless arsenal of guns!

The Doom series is not easy to complete on higher difficulty settings but both games represent fast-paced, first-person shooter/action fun at their very best. Be warned though, your PC will need decent graphics processing power to render all that glorious macabre into horrifying details. Fortunately, you don’t need a dedicated GPU, if your laptop has an Alder Lake or Tiger Lake APU powering it. You can read more here to know how powerful these Intel Arc Graphics chips can be for even gaming.

Mortal Kombat 11

No list of gory video games can be completed without a Mortal Kombat game and Mortal Kombat 11 is as gory as it gets. Be warned that some of the fatalities in this classic fighting game can be a bit too much for the weak-stomached. Watch a few YouTube videos before venturing into this brilliant and bloody fighting game’s evisceration territory.

Wulverblade by Fully Illustrated

Wulvers are Scottish werewolves, so, when you combine werewolves with blades, what else can you expect other than gratuitous amounts of violence? However, Wulverblade is a truly unique slasher/brawler game because there is more to it than meets the eye initially. Staying away from spoilers, let’s just say that your characters will not be fighting them, but there are werewolves in the game! The 2D brawler from 2017 follows the historical timeline of Old Briton and the Roman invasion of 120 AD with meticulous accuracy. Even some of the game’s chief characters were real legionaries from the Roman army.

Wulverblade is one of those rare video games that manages to get 2D gore just right. The onscreen violence is neither hyper-realistic nor has it been dumbed down for wholesome fun. Instead, the developers used a 2D art style that looks amazing and feels disturbingly satisfying. Some of the game’s visual effects, character designs, and background art are still the best we have ever seen in a 2D brawler/slasher. Wulverblade can be played with a friend, but single-player campaigns are no less enjoyable. The extremely underappreciated beat ‘em up/slash’ em up title is not just a gore fest, but it’s 2D eye candy with an ancient Scottish twist.

Note that the games here are also good and not gory and violent just for the sake of it. Nevertheless, older, classics that do deserve honorable mentions as well include The Punisher, Soldier of Fortune, and Miami Hotline.