The Scariest Monsters in Video Games: Aliens, Creatures, and Creepers Oh My!

Monsters, aliens, creatures, mutants ... no save points. These are some of the most terrifying moments in video games, and if you've been playing Dead Space 2 lately, you know what I'm talking about. It might have been daylight when you started playing, but now it's dark and all the lights in your house are off. You need to get up to go the bathroom, but you're afraid a tentacle with silently slink out of the darkness and yank you into some sort of Cthulu-laden nightmare.

At least, that's the scenario that I imagine will happen. But scary things aren't just made up of recombinant viruses that reanimate dead flesh and turn corpses into people-killing machines. Yes, those Necromorphs are scary as hell, but there's a whole slew of different baddies that exist just to make you piss your pants, and here is a list of some of my favorites.


The Flood
Halo: Combat Evolved

First appearing in Halo: Combat Evolved, the Flood tended to haunt the nightmares of video gamers around the world afterwards. Many moments of pegging needles on the soundtrack and the incessant BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP warning that your shields have vanished combined to let you know that a heart attack was imminent. If the fact that they were creepy as hell wasn't enough, the fact that some of them could wield weapons was another kick in the nuts. Plus, the giant gasbags that exploded, unleashing dozens of miniflood? Annoying as hell.



Shivans
Descent: FreeSpace - The Great War

Much like the triple conflict in Starcraft with Protoss vs. Terrans vs. Zerg, FreeSpace feature Terrans and Vasudans teaming up to battle the threat of the Shivans, an insectoid race (with occasional tentacles) who seem hell-bent on killing off everyone they come across. No one seems to know where they come from, and since casual chats with them seem to end with your face being torn off, we may never know what they want. However, they seem to be able to build spaceships, which is fairly impressive for a race of bloodthisty octo-sects.

Pyramid Head
Silent Hill 2

Have you ever seen Pan's Labyrinth? You know the creature that has no eyes, and a nearly featureless head? Pyramid Head would eat that guy for breakfast. He literally has no face or voice, as everything is kept locked away under his pyramid helmet. The only sounds he utters are moans and grunts, but his creepy, inexorable stalking will drive you insane. He appears in the film adaptation as "Red Pyramid," and somehow he got shoehorned into the Nintendo DS title New International Track and Field. You'll always be scary to us, Pyramid Head. No matter what goofy games you get put into.


Bloodmounts
Gears of War 2

If Horde mode in Gears of War 2 isn't scary enough, when the Bloodmounts start coming, it's just about time to go get some fresh underwear. These creatures essentially run on their hands with their razor-sharp talons tucked up underneath, but they also have a rider on top who needs to be dealt with after you manage to take them down. There have been many circumstances which have left me as the only standing member of my Horde team, and the Bloodmounts always make my mouth turn instantly dry. If you're lucky enough to be able to see them at a distance, you'll be okay. But up close, these things are brutal and terrifying.



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