The 25 most insidious booby traps (and their victims' last moments)

6. Rolling boulders (Dark Souls)

ROLLLLLLING STAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAART! Indiana Jones just barely evaded his globe-shaped stone enemy, and he wasnt wearing incredibly heavy armor or scaling a flight of stairs placed by the architect from hell. Also, there seems to be an infinite supply of these colossal bowling balls.

5. Hells Foundry press (Mortal Kombat: Deception)

Is it HOT in here, or is it just us? Boy, this thing sure is imPRESSive! Hot tamale, were sweatin--[sound of silence as a massive metal press smashes our body into a slab of molten metal, killing us instantly and leaving nothing but charred ash where our burning body once was].

4. Remote mines (Goldeneye 007)

If you see your opponent reaching for their wristwatch, thumb and index finger in an eager, claw-like configuration, its already too late. You can either scan your surroundings, finding dozens of grey-and-red mines on the floor, walls, and ceiling. Or you can close your eyes and surrender yourself to the scalding heat of the blast that is about to burn your flesh clean off.

3. Thwomp (Super Mario)

Listen. That Thwomp has been there all his life. He has literally been waiting for this moment for his entire existence--the moment when he has crush you under his stony tonnage. You better believe hes been practicing his descent, constantly peering at his peripherals for any sign of Mario. You think Goombas walking into your ankles hurts? Wait until two tons of kinetic force come crashing down onto your skull--only then will you truly know pain. As you lay dying, crunched into a pasty mixture of rubble and intestines, you have but one solace: at least you didnt die to a Thwimp.

2. Spring Razor (Dishonored)

Heres a thought experiment for you. Imagine being whipped by barbed wire. Then imagine being cut into pieces by a cheese wire. Lastly, imagine the feeling of broken scalpels and shards of glass bursting from the ground towards your face. The Spring Razor is all three of these horrific mental images wrapped into one compact gadget! For an added bonus, you can use rats as the delivery method, because rats are icky.

1. Literally everything (Trapt)

Cmon. Trap is right there in the title (which itself has no relation to the alternative rock band of the same name); traps are the primary way of defending yourself in the entirety of the Deception/Kagero series. So what do we have on tap? Guillotines. Spiked death hammers. Giant buzz-saws. Bombs. Bear traps. Catapults. Hot oil. Alligator pits. Iron maidens. Banana peels. If you can place it in a floor or wall and watch it kill someone, chances are its in this game. Protagonist Queen Allura is like an even-more-murderous Macaulay Culkin. Her lair would make Admiral Ackbar have a heart attack before he could utter a single word. If she played Yu-Gi-Oh, shed only use trap cards. Yeah. You get the idea.

When the light is green, the trap is clean

By our estimation, those are the most vicious, inventive, and all-around deadly traps that gaming has to offer. Think we excluded some of your favorites, like the Dungeon Keeper lava pit you see above? Let us know in the comments which traps left a mark--and how, in graphic detail because we're weird like that, you died to it.

Lucas Sullivan

Lucas Sullivan is the former US Managing Editor of GamesRadar+. Lucas spent seven years working for GR, starting as an Associate Editor in 2012 before climbing the ranks. He left us in 2019 to pursue a career path on the other side of the fence, joining 2K Games as a Global Content Manager. Lucas doesn't get to write about games like Borderlands and Mafia anymore, but he does get to help make and market them.