A lot of gamers are fascinated by mythology. Mythology offers a mixture of history, fantasy, and culture all in one. Video games, along with a lot of other media, have recognized mythology as a great base for storytelling and interesting characters. So do not be surprised if you have to defeat five different versions of Hades in five different games. It is common.
Here are ten video game with monsters that are inspired by all kinds of mythology.
10 Almost Every Monster In The God of War Series
Going into this list, you had to expect God of War to make an appearance. Of all games based on mythology, this series is the most famous. It explored a ton of Greek mythology and its most recent game has taken a dive into the Norse pantheon.
You fight Greek titans like Cronos and Gaia, gods like Hades and Zeus, and lesser mythological creatures like centaurs, trolls, and hydras. If you do not mind a lot of action and violence and love mythology, this series is fantastic. Seeing Kratos take down these larger than life beings never gets old.
9 Almost Every Monster In Okami
The three mythologies that are most explored in video games, anime, and other media are Greek, Norse, and Japanese. Okami is all Japanese Shinto mythology. You play as Amaterasu, the sun goddess, and you fight through tons of mythological beings out of Shinto such as tengu, kitsune, ubume, and wanyūdō.
It is definitely one of the best games out there in terms of style, story, and characters. The game is also originally Japanese, so they know what they are talking about in terms of the mythology they use.
8 Wendigo From Until Dawn
Wendigo are from Native American Algonquian tribe mythology. They are man-eating spirits, and humans can turn into them if they become too greedy or partake in a major taboo such as cannibalism.
Until Dawn is a horror game where wendigo are the main villains. If you go into the game blindly, then you do not really find out that they monsters are wendigo until near the end. The more you collect in the game, the more you can learn about the mountains' history with wendigo.
7 Various Monsters From Kid Icarus
Kid Icarus deals a lot with Greek mythology. The main antagonist is Medusa herself. Monsters from mythology you fight include Twinbellows, who was obviously based on Cerberus, Pandora, Hades, and Medusa.
Obviously, Icarus himself is inspired by the mythological Greek story of Icarus and his son who flew too close to the sun.
6 Certain Personas in the Persona Franchise
The Persona series does not deal with one mythology in particular, but has a little of everything. In the most recent game, there is Ann's Persona, Hecate, which is the Greek Goddess of witchcraft. Shiva, Apsaras, and Lakshimi also appear in most of the games, and they come from Hindu mythology.
Personas also include Thor, Lamia, and Cerberus from Greek myth, Norn and Surt from Norse mythology, and Obariyon from Japanese mythology.
5 A Lot Of Final Fantasy Monsters
Like the Persona series, Final Fantasy takes mythology from all over the world and put them into their games. In fact, while all the games are different, mythological characters are often recurring. For example, Odin from Norse mythology is in nearly every single game. There is also Gilgamesh from Sumerian mythology.
The sword Tidus wields in the tenth game is called Caladbolg, which is actually a sword from Irish myth. Bahamut is also based on Arabic myth, and in the myth, it is more of a giant fish than a dragon.
4 The Jötunn From Jotun
This game is not as well known as the others on this list, so we are happy to give it some attention. The game focuses on a female viking, Thora, who had an inglorious death so she cannot go to Valhalla. In order to regain her honor and go to Valhalla, she travels around killing Jötunn. Jötunn are from Norse mythology and they are are often referred to as trolls by some but their various forms are pretty ambiguous. Their designs in the game are pretty cool.
The game is unique as it is hand-drawn and frame-by-fame. It feels like you are in a storybook.
3 Various Monsters From Too Human
Too Human was a game with an exciting idea with a not so exciting result. However, it is on this list because Greek myth is at the center of the game. You play as Baldur and, as usual, Loki is the main villain. What is cool about the game is that it combines science fiction and Greek mythology.
Monsters you fight from Norse mythology include trolls, dark elves, Hel, Garm, and Grendel (a.k.a GRNDL-1 in the game since its a robot, which is pretty creative).
2 A lot Of Skyrim's Monsters
All of Skyrim is inspired by Norse culture, myth, and history. Obviously, you fight monsters of myth as well. This includes giants, dragons, trolls, and draugr. Giants, dragons, and trolls have become fantasy staples though, so lets talk about draugr more.
Like in the game, the Norse myth of draugr are undead. It was believed they possessed superhuman strength, looked ugly, and smelled worse. Other beliefs included that animals near where draugr are buried can go mad, that dragur know magic, and that they can kill people with just a curse of bad luck.
1 Various Monsters From Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
Released in 2017, this game combines Celtic culture and Norse mythology. You play a woman who is trying to save her lovers soul from the Norse goddess, Hela.
You fight a lot of Norse monsters. There is a boss fight with Garmr, who is Hela's hound from myth. You also fight Surtr, who is a Jötunn. Then, of course, there is also Hela herself and Fenrir. From Danish folklore, you also fight Valravn. The designs of the bosses are gorgeous, especially Garmr.