In most games,and especially shooters, grenades have a pretty simple purpose and function. With explosive force and shrapnel, they deny an area to enemy combatants and eliminate any who don’t clear out. In other words, ball go boom,run or die.
However, through the years, video games have had to innovate on the concept, really explore the possibilities of throwable explosives. As a result, they’ve ended up in some weird places. Whether they’re a new spin on delivering kabooms, deliver strange payloads, or only nominally inspired by the concept, these are the strangest grenades in video games.
8Plasma Grenade - Halo Series
The Original Sticky
Because of the modern ubiquity of sticky grenades, we take for granted just how weird (and game-changing) plasma grenades are. These are known by the UNSC as the Type-1 Antipersonnel Grenade. It’s a fitting moniker since when it sticks to someone, it’s the most anti-that-particular-personnel a grenade can get, guaranteeing an insta-kill in a white-blue blast of superheated plasma.
The grenade sticks to its victims by heating up and partially melting whatever it impacts, and through some unknown mechanism, it knows to only stick to units and vehicles and never walls or floors. As impressive as a sticky kill is, this style runs counter to how grenades are normally used, being thrown at the enemy and then taking cover. It even has a smaller kill and damage radius than the far less technical than its UNSC counterpart, the M9 Frag Grenade.
7Boogie Bomb - Fortnite
Dance Til You Get Dropped
Fortnite isn’t exactly a mil-sim, so of course it doesn’t take itself too seriously. From exaggerated rounded designs for their firearms to the ad hoc building construction and the occasionally ridiculous weapons, it’s clear that the game is closer to Looney Tunes with guns than it is to ARMA 2.
That being said, the Boogie Bomb takes the cake when it comes to strange offensive throwables. Looking like a cross between an American Mk 2 Grenade and a disco ball of yore, any combatants caught in this thing’s blast radius are forced to bust it down Fortnite style for about ten seconds or until damaged. This often left the victims easy pickings for a well-placed headshot.
6Bolo Grenade - Gears Of War Series
Death Delivered Near Or Far
Gears of War takes place in a heightened reality of high-tech grunge, where the guns have shiny blue LEDs side-by-side with an actual frickin’ chainsaw. In comparison, the Bolo Grenade almost seems normal. After all, it fits all the qualifications for a normal grenade. You throw it, and it explodes, ideally with enemies in its blast, but at least it drives them out of cover.
However, how it actually functions is pretty strange. It’s got a handle, which isn’t inherently strange if you consider old-school stick grenades, but the handle also conceals a chain. This chain is used for precision long range placement, where you swing the ordinance like an Olympic hammer throw before letting it fly.
This explosive also functions like a medieval morning star, so you can pin it to enemies with a melee strike, which also primes the detonator. After a short delay, there’s instant death via proximity to high speed shrapnel.
5SCP-2176 (The Ghostlight) - SCP: Secret Laboratory
Lights Out
The Ghostlight functions as a utility tool rather than a death-dealing onein SCP: Secret Lab. When thrown, this lightbulb shatters and toggles everything electric in a room.
Lights turn on or off, and doors open or shut and lock. If the lights go out and doors lock, they stay that way for 13 seconds, which, given some of the anomalies in Site 02, can be a death sentence or a life-saver. It also briefly stuns SCP-079, which operates through the onsite cameras.
Stranger yet is how 2176 works. It’s basically a normal filament light bulb, except instead of tungsten, the electric current runs through ghosts. That’s right, the actual spirits of the dead power this thing. In fact, the Ghostlight is just meant to be a decades-lasting light bulb. The anomalous effects (and derived utility) are an unintended side-effect.
Plague Vector
Left 4 Dead veterans know how terrible it is to be covered in Boomer Bile. Your screen goes green, blinding you, and then suddenly you’re being swarmed by common infected. The Bile Bomb in L4D2 allowed you to give enemies a taste of their own medicine.
Less an explosive and more a weaponized jar of vomit, throwing this drives nearby common infected into a frenzy and causes them to swarm around where it’s thrown for 20 seconds, ignoring Survivors. The best way to use this is tothrow it at Special Infectedsince not only does it take some heat off of you, but it also distracts and damages the badder Infected as the fodder lays into them.
3Ghast Call - Borderlands 3
Weaponized Hauntings
The Borderlands series is no stranger to strange weapons. After all, the weirdness only starts with firing exotic substances for elemental effects and self-detonating instead of reloading. Similarly, the grenades can get pretty weird with it.
At the pinnacle of them is the Ghast Call, which delivers a payload of ghosts. Unlike the Ghostlight, it’s absolutely going to do some damage. Hitting enemies with this spawns a corrosive skull that explodes into even more corrosive skulls, which then hunt down your foes. Most armaments in Borderlands come with some sci-fi word salad to justify their fantastic effects, but the Ghast Call is just…ghosts.
2Biotic Lift Grenade - Mass Effect 3
Send ‘Em Flying
The Biotic Lift Grenade basically works as ashortcut for Biotics, basically infusing a device with Biotic energy to mimic powers like Singularity and Slam. While it’s a hammer to most purpose-built powers’ scalpel, it’s undeniably effective since instead of putting a power on cooldown, it just uses a grenade.
Theoretically, the Biotic Lift Grenade is an evolution of the role of grenades in warfare. While it isn’t an instant kill, it deals damage over time, and more importantly, it removes enemies from cover. However, instead of compelling them to move, it just lifts unshielded enemies into the air, turning a firefight into a turkey shoot in short order.
At higher levels, it slams lifted enemies into the ground for extra damage, and likely scrambling for cover if they’re still alive.
1Mythal’s Favor - Dragon Age 2
Life To The Living
When you think of grenades, even the exotic ones, you think of a device you throw for offensive effect. This is what makes Mythal’s Favor so strange. Instead of a weapon of death, it’s a tool of life.
When thrown, Mythal’s Favor shatters, reviving any of your fallen party members. They come back with most of their health as well as their mana or stamina. It’s not a perfect revival since nearly dying takes its toll, in this case manifesting as Injuries, small but permanent (until treated) debuffs that can stack.
Like the Plasma Grenade, healing grenades are a little more common these days, but Mythal’s Favor is likely the earliest example of one.
