7 video game enemies that gave me nightmares

Domagoj Belancic

5-9-2025

Translation: Megan Cornish

There’s no shortage of hideous monstrosities in games. These are the seven horror creatures that scared me the most.

Cronos: The New Dawn is more top-notch fodder for horror fans. I’ve thoroughly tested the game by Polish developer Bloober Team, and I’m thrilled. Among other things, because of the incredibly creepy enemies that give me nightmares. The hellish creatures are so good they motivated me to look back at my horror history.

Here are seven enemies from games that gave me the most heart palpitations. The rule for this list: only one monster per game series.

7th place: Deathclaw – «Fallout 3»

An enemy doesn’t have to be from a horror game to be truly terrifying, and the Deathclaw from Fallout 3 proves it. If you see one, you’d better run away as fast as you can – however well-equipped you are. The creatures are ultra-agile and can send you to the afterlife with just a few swipes of their oversized claws.

Aside from being considerably stronger and faster than most other enemies in Fallout 3, Deathclaws also look pretty flipping ugly. I mean, just look at this thing. It’s a demonic hellish creature with devil horns, giant teeth, absurdly long limbs and dead eyes. Kill it with fire, before it lays eggs!

I’m curiousto see how the monster will be portrayed in the upcoming second season of the Fallout TV series. The teaser trailer looks promising (a Deathclaw appears at 2:20).

6th place: Cynthia Weaver – Alan Wake 2

Let me start this entry with a clear statement: I hate Cynthia Weaver. With every fibre of my being. I hate her cheap jump scares and I hate her annoying boss fights. Cynthia should burn in hell. Forever.

So, after venting my frustration, I’ll explain to anyone who doesn’t know who Cynthia actually is. The demonic grandmother was one of the «good guys» in the first Alan Wake. This resident of Bright Falls village – affectionately known as the Lady of the Light – played a major role in the fight against a dark presence that threatened the town.

In Alan Wake 2, she’s fallen prey to it. I encounter her while searching a retirement home. My investigation’s repeatedly interrupted by jump scares with Cynthia screaming at me.

Anyone who isn’t terrified by scenes like these has nerves of steel – or is high:

The boss fight against Cynthia’s one of the trickier ones in Alan Wake 2. The undead nuisance repeatedly attacks me from the water in a sewer, resorting to cheap tricks again. I hope the Lady of the Light isn’t planning another comeback in the next Alan Wake.

5th place: Volatiles – Dying Light

Zombies in the Dying Light series are menacing, but they aren’t necessarily terrifying. It’s easy to run around many of them with parkour skills or decapitate them with homemade weapons.

The Volatiles, on the other hand, are much scarier. These zombies on steroids only appear at night. Compared to their undead counterparts, they’re considerably stronger and faster. If you encounter one during nighttime outings, you’re better off trying stealth rather than conflict.

If you get spotted by one, your only option is to run and seek the protection of a safe zone. Even though you can move across rooftops like a world champion, parkour skills are nothing compared to the raw power of a Volatile. The things leap from rooftop to rooftop with ease and catch up in no time. Annoyingly, they also mobilise their zombie pals, who then join the chase.

In the upcoming Dying Light: The Beast, encounters with Volatiles will likely be even worse than in the first two games. In the latest instalment, there are both densely populated zones as well as large expanses of nature where you can’t just climb onto rooftops and escape.

4th place: Rat King – The Last of Us Part II

Runner, Stalker, Clicker, Shambler, Bloater. There are plenty of infected mushroom zombies that terrify me in the dark world of The Last of Us, but all of them have one drawback: they appear very frequently in the game. As I play, I get used to the deformed creatures, and I get less and less scared.

However, one boss fight in The Last of Us Part 2 completely threw me. I’m exploring the basement of a hospital with Abby to find medicine. What Abby doesn’t know is that the hospital was ground zero for the Cordyceps outbreak in Seattle. So, some particularly nasty and disgusting creatures are waiting for her in the basement – first and foremost the Rat King.

The fight begins in an ambulance. Abby’s suddenly attacked by a horrific mutation made up of several infected people that have merged into one huge creature. Panic overcomes me. I’ve never seen anything like it. What on earth do I do? First: run. Get away as fast as possible.

The chase through the dark corridors of the hospital is nerve-wracking. And the inevitable confrontation with the monster’s even worse. With every weapon at my disposal, I desperately fire at the mass of infected creatures. Individual zombies break away and chase me. It’s an absolutely disgusting and absolutely brilliant boss fight.

Side note: the name Rat King comes from a phenomenon in the animal world, where dead rats have been found with their tails tied together. It’s not known whether this is a natural occurrence or whether Rat Kings were tied together by humans. This background knowledge makes the Rat King even more disturbing for me.

3rd place: Orphans – Cronos: The New Dawn

These are the enemies that inspired me to write this article. The disgusting Orphans immediately made it into my top three scariest monsters.

In the 1980s, a devastating pandemic raged in the world of Cronos. The disease causes humans to mutate into disgusting, slimy, tentacled monsters. Unlike their zombie-like counterparts from other games, these undead have a very specific instinct: to merge with other Orphans. The result is hideous creatures consisting of several humans. Orphans are essentially the Rat King from The Last of Us Part 2 on steroids.

This quirk affects the combat system in Cronos. Even killing an enemy doesn’t stop the danger. Living creatures can merge with already slain Orphans. This makes them bigger and stronger, and gains them more armour. Every vanquished monster is potential fodder for the next creature that attacks.

To eliminate the threat posed by killed enemies, I have to burn their corpses. The problem is that resources for fire grenades are extremely scarce. This makes exploring the post-apocalyptic world in Cronos: The New Dawn a nightmarish gauntlet of living and dead Orphans.

2nd place: Pyramid Head – Silent Hill 2

This strange character’s arguably one of the most iconic video game enemies of all time. He also shocked his way into my horror-loving heart with the excellent remake of Silent Hill 2.

The first encounter I had with Pyramid Head as James Sunderland is forever etched into my mind. I saw the pyramid man standing motionless and silent behind a gate at an apartment complex. His presence alone was enough to make my heart race.

As the game progresses, I get to know the muscular butcher a bit better. With each new encounter, I realise I’m no match for this colossus. Bullets bounce off him, he casually throws James through the air and he seems to enjoy torturing him.

Like all the other enemies in Silent Hill 2, Pyramid Head isn’t just terrifying because of his appearance and power. His origins are what make him truly creepy. The hellish creature is a constant manifestation of James’ crushing guilt. You know, because of what happened with his wife.

Silent Hill 2 is James’ journey into his personal hell of guilt and regret. Pyramid Head’s his guide through this torment. Well worth second place.

1st place: The Chainsaw Man – Resident Evil 4

Resident Evil immediately brought to mind the most enemies that deserved a place on this list. The game series has so many iconic monsters with nightmarish qualities. From classics like the OG zombies and undead dogs to newcomers including the Baker family (Resident Evil 7: Biohazard) and the deformed giant baby (Resident Evil Village). But only one enemy has traumatised me forever: the Chainsaw Man from Resident Evil 4.

Capcom dared to try something new with the fourth instalment in its horror series in 2004. Instead of classic horror with occasional jump scares, Resident Evil 4 focused on terror and panic. The more action-packed gameplay was mainly driven by the overwhelming number of infected villagers out to kill US agent Leon S. Kennedy on his rescue mission in Spain.

No other enemy personifies this feeling of panic quite like the Chainsaw Man. This psycho runs at me with a chainsaw and no mercy. He’s not just a slow zombie I can easily kill with a few headshots. He’s an unstoppable force of nature whose sole goal is to cut my head from my shoulders.

Resident Evil 4 and the Chainsaw Man traumatised me so much at the tender age of 14 that I stopped playing horror games for years. This achievement truly earns it first place.

What does your list look like? Which monstrous enemies almost made your heart stop?

Domagoj Belancic

Senior Editor

Domagoj.Belancic@digitecgalaxus.ch

My love of video games was unleashed at the tender age of five by the original Gameboy. Over the years, it's grown in leaps and bounds.

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