As any heavy metal fan knows, video games and heavy metal music just go hand-in-hand naturally. Whether you’re surviving zombie hordes in Left 4 Dead, or fragging other players in Call of Duty, games are made so much better with some heavy metal music behind them.

Some game developers are highly aware of this, so in this article we're going to  look at some cool video games where heavy metal music plays a significant role, either in aesthetic design or the game soundtrack. \m/!

Brütal Legend

Perhaps the most obvious title for inclusion on this list, Brütal Legend features over 100 licensed metal songs in its soundtrack, from popular bands such as Children of Bodom, Dark Tranquility, In Flames, Dethklok, Rob Zombie, Megadeth, and dozens of others. It also features cameos from the likes of Ozzy Osbourne, Rob Halford, Lemmy Kilmister, and more.

Aside from the totally brutal soundtrack, the gameplay is a metal-inspired take on the action / RTS genre. Your character wields a mighty battle axe, which is literally a Gibson Flying V guitar, and can cast magical spells by playing sick guitar riffs.

Of all the “metal inspired” video games out there, Brütal Legend dials it to 11, to such a comedic effect it also becomes a metal parody, like Spinal Tap, or the Dethklok cartoon.

Killing Floor

Killing Floor is a co-op shooter that has you and teammates fighting against waves of undead-type creatures, until a final boss battle, all set to some brutal pumping metal music. It’s a fantastically gory game, with a wide variety of weapons available to absolutely massacre the oncoming zombie hordes.

Another cool feature is the “Zed Time”, which is basically slomo / bullet time, but only triggers after difficult kills are made, such as several consecutive headshots in a row. There’s a great variety of enemy types, from bloated zombies that explode bile everywhere if shot in the stomach, to witch-like creatures that can turn invisible and sneak up behind your team.

Overall, Killing Floor and it’s sequel, Killing Floor 2, are an absolute blast to play, made all the better by the heavy metal soundtracks blasting through your speakers.

Motörhead Slot

This one is for the slot gamers out there, and who better to grace a metal-inspired slot-machine than Motörhead. “Ace of Spades” is a metal song full of metaphors about gambling, and Lemmy himself admitted to being a fan of the “one-arm bandits” (a term for the oldschool slot machine with the pull-down levers).

As a 5-reel, 76-line slot game, Motörhead Slot has a bunch of gameplay surprises like free spins, Wild substitutions, Mystery Reels, and - perhaps most importantly - a killer Motörhead soundtrack. Slot fans be sure to check out Motorhead Slot, or other awesome slot games, at the online casino Casumo.

Rocksmith

You thought we’d include titles like Guitar Hero or Rock Band on this list? No way. Plastic guitars aren’t “metal”, even if they released a Guitar Hero: Metallica edition. Rocksmith takes the gameplay concept of Guitar Hero / Rock Band, but allows you to use a real guitar. Like a real metalhead.

The awesome thing about Rocksmith is that you’re actually learning how to play guitar (or learning how to play new songs, if you already know how to play guitar), and there's literally a massive list of downloadable content. Seriously, there’s like 66 pages of downloadable songs for Rocksmith, from a huge range of genres (including metal, of course).

So if you think getting a perfect score on “Through the Fire and Flames” in Guitar Hero is somehow awe-inspiring, with its cute little 5-button plastic guitar, I’ll point you to this video of two adorable little Japanese girls playing “Raining Blood” by Slayer in Rocksmith, with real instruments that probably weigh more than them.

Splatterhouse

Splatterhouse is a modern remake of the classic 1988 arcade game of the same name. And holy crap, is it gory. There is a veritable laundry list of melee weapons to vicious beat enemies to death with, including severed arms (yours or theirs. Seriously). Yes, if one of your arms gets chopped off, you can literally pick it up and start clubbing enemies to death with it. I am not making this up.

Aside from the over-the-top violence (what else would you expect from a game titled Splatterhouse?), the soundtrack is definitely metal AF. Featuring bands like Goatwhore, The Haunted, Five Finger Death Punch, Lamb of God, Mastodon, and more. It’s a brutal soundtrack for a frankly brutal game.