Mines are versatile locations in video games, utilized across platformers, science fiction titles, fantasy, and most commonly in horror. Even the underground mines in Minecraft manage to be spooky due to the eerie threats that dwell in them. While some games are only about mining, others use mines to make excellent and creative levels.
They take great lengths to ensure your visit is worthwhile, or maybe the opposite. Whether on another planet, in a different realm, in an alternate timeline, or in a separate part of the world, these video game mines present some of the best, most thrilling, at times purely petrifying, level designs you'll encounter.
10 The Chronicles Of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay
The character Richard B. Riddick was introduced in Pitch Black, and this game gives you the story before those events. It's a stealth game with a mix of first-person and third-person that's among the better movie tie-in games, with Vin Diesel returning to perform the voice. One of the areas you'll be returning to in this game is the mines of Butcher Bay.
The mines are filled with enemy guards and eventually Xeno creatures that infiltrate the prison. The environment layout of the mines offers a perfect playground for utilizing stealth through ledges, environmental objects, hangrails, and the dark. The mines also host Jagger Valance, voiced by iconic actor Ron Perlman from the Fallout games.
9 The Callisto Protocol
The Callisto Protocol takes you to another off-world prison, this one in our solar system called Black Iron Prison on Jupiter's moon Callisto. This prison complex was built on top of the former Arcas mining colony that harbors the origin of the Biophage infection. And this mine is crawling with one of the game's creepiest Biophage enemies: the Blind.
They blend with the organic material on walls and only attack based on noise, seemingly inspired by The Last of Us' Clickers. The mine section has tons of lore to be found and builds a suspenseful atmosphere that sees you silently navigate around them while making the best use of the environmental spike walls. It all culminates in getting on a platform ride where you survive hordes followed by the first Two-Head boss.
8 God Of War Ragnarok
God of War Ragnarok introduces many more characters in the Norse saga and takes you to plenty more realms you couldn't explore in the 2018 game. The second main quest in the game has Kratos and Atreus searching for Tyr, and they're bound for Svartalfheim to take a train ride into the mines.
There's an interactive struggle inside the train car and then a beheading of a troll, which leads you into the mines. And there you'll face various rooms of enemies native to the realm paired with some unique puzzles involving water mills. It all builds to the thrilling cinematic where you free Tyr and escape with him.
7 Wolfenstein: The Old Blood
The final moments of MachineGames' prequel to Wolfenstein: The New Order tackles the supernatural. A Nazi excavation site deep below the cemetery of Wulfburg causes an earthquake that transforms everyone into flame-engulfed zombies. It's a crypt-turned-archeological mine containing a network of tunnels leading to a giant monstrosity you ultimately confront.
The eighth and final chapter sees B.J. Blazkowicz eliminate waves of Nazi enemies around every corner in tight spaces using stealth and emergent gameplay to have zombified Nazis as a distraction tool against regular foes. There's also a sequence where you're trapped in a small room full of these Shamblers, ending with the final fight with the massive Flesh Golem set piece.
6 Resident Evil 5
The Resident Evil series tends to favor mines as a horror setting for its games. There were the mine sections from Revelations 2 and 2017's Biohazard, but the level design was indeed at its finest with Resident Evil 4 and 5. The fifth installment's second chapter has Chris and Sheva venturing into a Kijuju mine, and it proves quite an experience.
The first part of the level is very dark, with Sheva only holding a lantern to provide some light and Type 2 Plaga enemies constantly awaiting you. The middle evokes Resident Evil 4's valley section. You're in an open underground area with ladders and bridges and enemies running all around and from above. And when you make it out of the mine, you have another ambush and a giant bat to fend off.
5 The Legend Of Zelda: Skyward Sword
The dungeons in Zelda games are always exceptionally crafted, and the Lanayru Mining Facility from Skyward Sword is Link's desert mine destination. Here, you acquire the Gust Bellows tool, which unleashes gusts of wind needed for specific puzzles, uncovering items in the sand, and fighting enemies. The overall environment has a fluid aesthetic of traditional elements and ancient tech.
The puzzles involve pulling switches, accessing doors, and moving minecarts along the tracks. The unique enemy variety makes the wind gusts a fun weapon mechanic to use against them. And this dungeon ignores the usual sub-boss, leaving you only with the main scorpion boss Moldarach you'll need to fight.
4 Donkey Kong Country Returns
Donkey Kong Country is an infamous one when it comes to platformer mine levels. Diddy and Donkey Kong riding in a cart along tracks avoiding enemies while collecting bananas has been a component from the beginning, but 2010's Country Returns offers some gorgeous revamped and visually stunning minecart levels.
World 4 is the primary setting for all the minecart frenzy, ending with a fun whack-a-mole boss fight with rival carts, but there's also a great starter in the first world with a scenic ride beside a waterfall. Being launched from barrels along the way and landing the jumps between the gaps in the track are very satisfying moments.
3 Resident Evil 4 Remake
Resident Evil 4 will always take the crown for having the best mine level, particularly with the changes in the 2023 remake that amps up the challenge and fun. The original 2005 version remains iconic and classic. However, here you ride the minecart still partnered with Luis, and the Ganados engage you on separate carts from either side of the tracks rather than jumping from a platform.
It feels way more like a sequence out of Uncharted this time around and takes an opportunity to incorporate some Plaga excavation lore with the insect nest right after. But the other aspects leading to the minecart, like the double El Gigante and Ganado fights, are just as phenomenally designed. It's also a more seamless story set up to the Krauser introduction.
2 Outlast 2
The sequel to Outlast moves out of the Mount Massive Asylum hospital to a hostile village cult in Northern Arizona. You're also a new protagonist named Blake Langermann, who witnesses even more disturbing and gruesome nightmarish acts from the citizens of Temple Gate. And the mines provide some of the game's most intense unnerving situations.
Being stuck 800 feet below in the dark with only your camera and the horrid mud-covered Heretics, hearing all their screams and snarls chasing you around tight crevices, make the small cart puzzles the least of your worries. The horror elements in this section are astoundingly creepy, helped by the map layout and chilling sound design combined with the presence of Val chasing you directly behind.
1 Until Dawn
Unlike some of Supermassive's newer branching narrative horror endeavors that limit the story to one area, Until Dawn saw multiple with a lodge, an abandoned Sanatorium, and the root of all the terror — a mine. The snowy winter setting of Blackwood Mountain alone creates an excellent ambiance, but the twist tied to the mines harboring Wendigos tops it all.
The shots of Wendigos scurrying fast in the background along structures as you run and complete quick-time events are truly well-framed and elicit a horror film quality. Evading them and keeping your character safe against these ravenous cannibalistic leapers forms as much tension as the xenomorph chasing you in Alien: Isolation.