Revenge in video games is a dish that is almost always served cold. Given the focus on action gameplay in the bulk of these titles, it's easy to see why developers don't need to pull any punches when it comes to vengeance.

This is why some acts of revenge in the best video games around can be particularly brutal. Even if these acts happen off-screen, the description of these acts is enough to send chills down a person's spine.

Thane is one of the best party members in Mass Effect 2, sporting a surprisingly gentle personality for a man who was an assassin. However, it's not until Shepard engages him in conversation that they discover how vicious he can be.

After the assassination of a batarian leader leads to his wife being killed in retaliation, Thane wasted no time in hunting down her killers. He was brutal and chased these people down to the ends of the earth before killing them in cold blood.

Hotline Miami is one of the most brutal games players can get their hands on, featuring tough gameplay and surprisingly gory deaths despite its pixel art style. The protagonist, Jacket, is sent on numerous bloody missions and eventually finds a girl with whom he forms an emotional bond.

However, his lifestyle catches up to him, and she's killed by Richter, one of the assassins sent to take him out. Jacket will hunt him down and beat him to a pulp, with players having the choice to strangle and end his life for his transgressions in a brutal death scene, although a bit of its impact is lost since it's non-canonical as per the events of Hotline Miami 2.

The Braithwaite family makes for one of the most memorable groups in Red Dead Redemption 2, who perform the cardinal sin of kidnapping Marston's child. In retaliation, Dutch's gang storms the manor and sets it ablaze, killing almost every member of the family standing in their way.

After losing her sons, the mother of the family informs them that Jack is in Saint Denis. In her grief, she runs back into the burning manor and immolates herself, cementing a brutal yet cinematic act of revenge that showed how Dutch and his gang were not to be messed with.

The Doom Slayer is one of the most iconic video game characters of all time, and there's a reason why the demons fear him so much in the 2016 reboot. For their transgressions against humanity, the Doom Slayer had already gone on a rage-fuelled tirade and torn apart everything in sight.

The demons had found a way to contain him, only for this vengeful soul to free himself from the shackles of the underworld once again to go on a rampage. His thirst for violence remains, and he scared every demon in his path as he tore apart the monsters who stood in his way.

Shadow of Mordor features a brutal introduction to the game's setting, with Talion and his family being killed for standing against the Dark Lord. However, he was revived by the wraith Celebrimbor and embarked on an elaborate quest for revenge.

He acquired the ability to make orcs submit to his will and used it to form an army that would stand against Sauron and his goons. It was a long-winded and effective revenge plot full of brutal executions, forced submissions, and other such harrowing moments that the orcs suffered at Talion's hands.

Mortal Kombat 9 features a dramatic retelling of the original trilogy's story, with Kung Lao and Liu Kang challenging Shao Kahn to a duel. Despite his victories, Kung Lao is dishonorably murdered by Shao Kahn in a horrifying execution.

This causes no end of anguish for Liu Kang, who decides to take revenge for his friend in one of the toughest battles in the game. After conquering Shao Kahn, he avenged his friend by literally punching a hole through the Kahn and ending his life for good... or so they thought.

Not many deaths elicited such a strong emotional response as the one Joel faced at Abby's hands. After finding the man who killed her father, she shot his leg to incapacitate him and beat him to a pulp.

Ellie was too late and didn't reach in time, being held down as Abby landed the final blow on a man she considered to be a father figure to her. To this day, it's one of the most brutal video game deaths, and people can understand why fans believed that Joel deserved better.

From the moment Ares tricked Kratos into killing his family in a fit of rage, he didn't stop his murderous rampage until the god of war was dead at his hands. However, Kratos was unlucky and got tricked by his father, Zeus, who wanted to prevent a prophecy from coming to pass where he would've died at the hands of his son.

This sparked another quest for revenge, with Kratos taking the help of the Titans, who also betrayed him after using the god of war for their needs. His list expanded, and Kratos eventually killed almost every god in sight to get his revenge on the people who wronged him in the most brutal manner possible.