While video games have become increasingly larger and more complex as development technologies grow at exponentially faster rates – and diversified through modern experimentation in less traditional narratives and mechanics – many still maintain certain key features. In particular, the implementation of bosses to block and challenge players’ progress. To supplement my previous article detailing the 10 best final boss battles from classic games, let’s look at some exceptional final bosses appearing in more recent titles.

10. Liquid Ocelot (MGS4: Guns of the Patriots, 2008)

The final confrontation between Solid Snake (now-rapidly aging and nearing death due to a genetic “failsafe” programmed into his DNA) and Liquid Ocelot (the supposed union of Revolver Ocelot’s body and Liquid Snake’s consciousness) effectively serves as both a series climax and “best of” medley referencing previous fights between these larger-than-life characters. However, as the fight progresses through the different “eras” of prior MGS titles, both men – tired, old, and buckling under years and years of struggle – wearily push themselves towards one last, decisive moment.

9. Uroboros Wesker (Resident Evil 5, 2009)

Having seemingly died at the end of both versions of Resident Evil, only to reappear alive – but no longer fully human – in Code -Veronica-, Albert Wesker took center stage as the de facto series antagonist onward (albeit, indirectly from the shadows) for about nine years. However, come the climax of RE5, where Wesker’s ultimate plan to infect the entire world with his “Uroboros Virus” (to cull humanity of its “weakened” population) is thwarted, the formerly “hands-off” villain integrates himself with the contagion to mutate further and finally take direct action.

8. Jubileus the Creator (Bayonetta, 2009)

Out of the countless final bosses I’ve experienced over my lifetime playing video games, Jubileus the Creator might be one of the most completely over-the-top, jaw-droppingly insane spectacles of excess and tongue-in-cheek playfulness that I’ve ever seen. The battle with Jubileus – which is a long, challenging, and increasingly crazy marathon of multiple phases and gimmicks – can’t be properly described in brief summary: once again, I say that you really just have to see it for yourself.

7. Clayface (Batman: Arkham City, 2011)

Included here mostly for being objectively odd and unexpected at the time (and because I admit to being a fan of the various iterations of the character from the overarching Batman meta-franchise), Clayface’s selection as the final boss of Arkham City undoubtedly turned many heads. Utilizing the identity of the Basil Karlo version of Clayface (but given the powers and physicality of the Matt Hagen version), this “surprise cameo” provides a memorable, thrilling climax to City’s darker story.

6. Zanza the Divine (Xenoblade Chronicles, 2012)

Originally released in 2010 for the Japanese market and later given an expanded “definitive edition” version in 2020, the final boss of Xenoblade Chronicles is Zanza the Divine: a completely petty, cruel, and spiteful god-like being who’s callously planning to “clean the slate” of creation. The tough, multipart battle – which takes place in a strange, kaleidoscopic realm known as “Sentient Genesis” – definitely carries the spectacle and weight a veritable “battle against the almighty” should have.

5. Master of the Valley (The Last Guardian, 2016)

This one’s cheating a bit since the so-called “Master of the Valley” faced at the end of The Last Guardian is really more of a “final environmental puzzle” than a final boss – however, it’s ostensible and (in the shared world of the “Team Ico” trilogy) jarringly technological appearance raises many fascinating questions currently left unanswered. The Master is suggested to be a sort of primitive computer acting as the “brain” of a tower-like facility visited as a primary location in TLG and is seemingly powered by/infused with the teal-colored “magic” seen in Ico and Shadow of the Colossus.

4. Dark Beast Ganon (TLoZ: Breath of the Wild, 2017)

Even though I admittedly prefer Calamity Ganon (the final boss’s weirdly biomechanical and spider-like previous form), Dark Beast Ganon is still a wonderfully imposing and titanically-scaled behemoth that truly hammers in the menace of its destructive, world-ending power. Appearing as a mountain-sized, appropriately boar-shaped creature made entirely of a dark, fiery substance, this utterly mindless and wrathful version of Ganon lives up to its title of “Hatred and Malice Incarnate.”

3. Elden Beast (Elden Ring, 2022)

In a video game that’s notorious for having a wide array of imposing (and diabolically difficult) enemies, mini-bosses, and bosses to contend with, Elden Ring‘s final boss doesn’t disappoint in spectacle or challenge: in fact, it’s a sight of eldritch beauty. Simply known as the “Elden Beast,” the seemingly divine/celestial being is a living, enshrouded constellation resembling a large dragon that inhabits a vast, golden-hued dimension appearing to exist as a nexus between countless worlds – even its combat theme (the second half of the track “The Final Battle”) is hauntingly serene.

2. Elder Naytiba (Stellar Blade, 2024)

In many ways comparable to the majestic and awe-inspiring Elden Beast from Elden Ring, the similarly themed (and titled) Elder Naytiba is a genuinely stunning being with a notably seraphic design and presentation – as above, even its arena and combat theme is exceedingly beautiful and appropriately ethereal. However, whether or not players will actually do battle with this entity depends on a key late-game choice that is given: each choice determining what/who the final boss is while also significantly impacting how the story ultimately concludes.

1. Great Sage’s Broken Shell (Black Myth: Wukong, 2024)

Without delving into major plot details, the final battle of last year’s surprise hit Black Myth: Wukong – presented as a hypothetical continuation of the story and characters of Journey to the West – pits players against an entity called the Great Sage’s Broken Shell. Initially seeming like yet another difficult but relatively straightforward boss battle in the first two phases, the last two phases escalate into a dizzyingly intense “mirror match” of sorts that will push players’ skills to their limits.