Guillermo del Toro Shares His Top Game Picks, Highlighting a “Masterpiece”

Three-time Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro has shared some of his all-time favorite video games, which include titles like BioShock, Death Stranding, Red Dead Redemption, and God of War. During an appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, he praised Sony’s God of War series for delivering some of the “best cinematic experiences” he’s encountered. He described a scene where Kratos battles Odin in God of War Ragnarok, noting how Odin resembles a brawler from Peaky Blinders and delivers a brutal fight. “What a great video game. The way they utilize the console’s data budget to create atmospheric effects and lighting is cinematic,” he remarked.

Del Toro also highlighted BioShock as the “most immersive” game he’s experienced and mentioned Death Stranding, in which he makes an appearance, as another favorite. He called Metal Gear Solid the game with the best universe and expressed his love for Left 4 Dead and expansive sandbox games like Red Dead Redemption. He referred to Shadow of the Colossus as a “masterpiece” that is both “poetic and tragic.”

At one point, del Toro was developing a game called Insane with the studio Volition, known for Saints Row, but the project was ultimately canceled by THQ. He envisioned it as a trilogy and expressed his determination to find another way to bring it to life, though that never materialized. At The Game Awards in 2021, he hinted at a potential Silent Hill project but later clarified that he was merely trying to provoke Konami after they shut down his Silent Hills project, also known as P.T.

Following the cancellations of both Insane and Silent Hills, del Toro decided to step back from video game development. “I have proven to be the albatross of video games,” he stated. “To avoid ruining anyone else’s life, I will never again get involved in video games. Otherwise, I might join someone and their house will explode, or something,” he explained. Known for his eerie and unsettling films like Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy, and Nightmare Alley, del Toro has won two Oscars for The Shape of Water and one for Pinocchio. His latest film, Frankenstein: The Anatomy Lesson, features Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, and Mia Goth, and is currently streaming on Netflix and showing in select theaters.