Prepare to be amazed by these 10 video game levels inside creatures
What are the best video game levels that take place inside a creature? You might be surprised to learn just how many there are, with everything from gigantic monsters to cosmic gods housing tricky dungeons and epic boss fights.
Whether it’s a new location, a new enemy, or a new type of gameplay, each of these examples of gaming excellence offers something unique to the experience, and we’ve picked ten of the very best for your consideration. From the belly of Lord Jabu-Jabu to the chest cavity of Gaea, here are the top ten video game levels that take place inside a creature.
Inside Lord Jabu-Jabu’s belly in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Lord Jabu-Jabu is a giant. A really, really giant fish. When Link first meets him in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, the gigantic creature is just laying around doing… giant fish things. That all changes though, when Ganondorf tricks the king of the Zoras into attacking Lord Jabu-Jabu, leading him to swallow the young hero whole.
The third dungeon in the game sees Link having to navigate through the fleshy walls of Jabu-Jabu’s intestinal tract. In typical Zelda fashion though, it’s not quite as simple as walking from one end to the other. Various obstacles, such as hot steam vents, need to be navigated around, forcing the young hero to take alternative routes.
God of War II – Colossus of Rhodes
After a brief but heartfelt flashback to Kratos’s time as a Spartan warrior, God of War II kicks off with Kratos battling against the Colossus of Rhodes. It’s an epic boss fight in and of itself, but it’s not quite over yet. After being thrown off the titular Colossus, Kratos falls into the ocean, only to be swallowed whole by the beast’s insides.
Instead of killing him outright, the insides of the Colossus of Rhodes become a hub world, with Kratos venturing deeper and deeper into the creature’s innards. This leads to one of the most astounding battles in the God of War series, with Kratos battling against a foe that is many times his size. This culminates in a final clash against the Colossus’s beating heart.
Intestinal Fortitude (Gears of War 2)
The Gears of War games are renowned for their epic set-piece moments, and Gears of War 2’s ‘Intestinal Fortitude’ level is a particularly great example of this. As the name suggests, this level sees The Delta Team venturing through the insides of a mile-long riftworm.
The bulk of the level sees the Gears fighting their way through the worm’s mouth, which is filled with pulsating organs and teeth, as well as battling against a giant, cancerous cell. It all culminates in a final boss fight against the worm’s stomach, a pulsating organ that spits out explosive bile.
Monstro (Sora’s Story, Kingdom Hearts)
In the first Kingdom Hearts game, Sora and his friends accidentally find themselves fighting against Monstro, the whale from Pinocchio. Unlike the rest of the entries on this list, this is actually a fairly peaceful dungeon, with the only real threat being falling off the side of the creature.
Instead, the focus of this level is on its unique atmosphere and bright color palette, giving a more relaxed, fun, and kid-friendly take on the usual trappings of a RPG game. It’s a nice change of pace from the usual grimdark boss fights.
Jormungandr (God of War 2018)
In God of War (2018), Kratos and Atreus finally find the Witch of the Woods, who they hope will be able to teach the young Atreus the ways of the hunt. Their search takes them north to the snow-covered land of Midgard, where they discover that the world serpent Jormungandr has returned.
In typical God of War fashion, this means that Kratos and Atreus are forced to fight their way through the inside of the world serpent, culminating in a final battle against the giant Jormungandr’s heart.
The Nexus (Dead Space)
The Dead Space series is renowned for its claustrophobic, atmospheric horror, and that continues even into the more action-packed third game. After crash-landing on the infested planet Tau Volantis, Isaac Clarke heads to the city of Marker, where he hopes to find the Red Marker, the source of the Necromorph plague.
Instead, he ends up inside The Nexus, a variation of the Hive Mind, where he must shoot down cyst-like nests before he can escape. It’s a lengthy and intense level, which adds an extra layer of horror to an already terrifying game.
Sin (Final Fantasy X)
Final Fantasy X is no stranger to grandiose boss fights, but its final confrontation is certainly its most epic. Throughout the game, the party learns that Sin, a colossal beast that has terrorized the world for centuries, is actually a sentient weapon created by the summoner Yevon.
In the end, the party manages to get their hands on the final aeon, Shiva, and heads to the Sinspawn’s Lair, where they face off against recurring antagonist Seymour and ultimately, Tidus’s father. Yet that’s just the beginning. During the end credits sequence, the team take on the colossal Sin itself, a fight that takes place both on the beast’s back and inside its mouth.
Flying Whale (Devil May Cry 3)
The DLC Captain Scarlett and Her Pirate’s Booty for Borderlands 2 is filled with some truly bizarre enemies and bosses, but few can top the flying whale boss that Dante has to contend with. After fighting against a trio of pulsating organs, the player heads to the flying whale’s left lung, where they face off against the final boss of the DLC, Captain Scarlett’s pet, a giant, cancerous cell.
That’s not the end of the flying whale, though, as the boss fight continues inside the lung’s air ducts, with the party having to avoid falling off the inside of the titular booty.
Gaea (God of War III)
God of War III concludes with a final clash between Kratos and Zeus, the god he has spent the entire game fighting against. The final boss fight features a large, glowing heart as the backdrop for the climactic battle, with Kratos and Zeus clashing against each other in the heart of Gaea, the mother of all life.
Zeus eventually gets the upper hand, knocking Kratos off Gaea’s back, crashing down to the surface of the Earth, where the battle continues.
