Question Of The Month Reader Responses: Issue #226

by Jeff Marchiafava on Jan 10, 2012 at 12:56 AM

A few months ago we asked readers what video game enemy scares them the most. The latest issue of Game Informer contains a few of the terrifying foes readers are afraid of, but there were plenty more picks lurking in the shadows.

Jeepers Creepers:

The creepers from Minecraft scare me the most. They’re just like bob-ombs, but with bob-ombs you only worry about them killing you. You worry about creepers killing your time. You can be building something and if they come near you and explode a lot of work and time goes down the drain. You always have to be alert for them because unlike most Minecraft enemies, creepers can survive in daylight. Even if they aren’t around they can strike fear into you with just the thought of them because anywhere and anytime they can find you.

Blake Morrison
Without a doubt, I fear the creeper from Minecraft more than anything from any game. The sheer surge of shock and adrenaline from hearing that telltale hissing...no other enemy has come so close to making me pee myself.

Matthew Barnett
This might sound stupid, but creepers from Minecraft scare the crap out of me. Whenever I'm in a cave I'm always looking behind me to make sure there aren't any of them following me.

Brendan Drinkwater
The creepers from Minecraft scare me to death! I'll just be minding my own business mining some diamond when BAM! I'm dead and there goes all my hard work!! Such a sad day...

Sarah Harlow
Creepers. They are silent, they come up behind you, and they don't care if they die as long as you do too.

Trysten Robertsen

Say No More:

The video game enemy that scares me most would be Pyramid Head from Silent Hill 2 and Homecoming. The reason why is he can only defeat himself. He also wields a giant blade that can kill you in one swing, and there are multiples of him. That's why Pyramid Head is the enemy that scares me the most.

Dave Shapirone
I say Pyramid Head from the Silent Hill series. He rapes and/or murders anything that moves. I freak out when I'm stuck in a room with him.

Steven Mora
First, there's Silent Hill 2, then there's Pyramid Head and mannequins...need I say more?

Raul De Anda
Pyramid Head. I mean, holy f***. Need I say more?

Matt Adams

Opening The Floodgates:

This might sound wimpy, but the flood from the Halo series scares me the most. It's not the flood itself, but the combo of eerie music and vast empty levels of nothingness.

Braden Arnold
The flood! I seen what those little boogers do. They get all up in your body and transmutate your butt. I don't want to be transmutated! When you've killed a room full of the little ones, more bust through the back door! You can't escape them!

Shaine Kruel
The flood from Halo has to be on of the scariest enemies in video games. I mean what can be scarier than having some little pod burrow its way into your chest cavity and take control of your body to make you attack your friends? And the kicker is that you are totally aware. They usually wouldn't be cool and sit out in the open. No, they like to jump out and make you flip over the back of the couch.

Jonathan Lawrence
The video game enemy that scares me the most? The flood from Halo 2, hands-down. A swarm of alien parasites that look like spiders on steroids -- and I hate spiders -- attacking you is bad enough; the reanimated corpse of an innocent human trying to kill you is vastly worse. The fact that you also usually have to fight them in low-light environments, which means that you never know where one of those disgusting freaks is gonna come from next, makes it even worse.

Matt Anderson

Necrophobia:

The enemy I'm scared of the most? I'm going to go with necromorphs from Dead Space. The atmosphere has a whole hell of a lot to do with it, but I literally jump when those things fly out of the vents at me.

Cameron Tolliver
The necromorphs from Dead Space, hands down. They come charging and jumping out of walls in front of me, and dropping out of vents behind me. Whatever they do, I end up screaming like a little girl.

Jake Rappaport
Hands down and with out a doubt, necromorphs! They are terrifying, gruesome, and unsettling. I feel the same amount of stress and drop just as many F-bombs at the screen during an encounter with your average necromorph as I do in most final boss battles! Every one of them represents a new way to be disemboweled, maimed, decapitated, or otherwise torn to bits. And they're always popping up when you least expect them (in addition to when you do expect them). And don't get me started on "the pack" or the exploding baby ones from Dead Space 2. Gives me chills!

Adam J. Bernstein

The Ultimate Nemesis:

Nemesis from Resident Evil 3 is by far the scariest enemy I have ever faced in a video game. I don't care how many times he burst through a wall or window, I jumped every single time. He is an abomination who the gamer must hate but pity at the same time. There is also a feeling of sheer panic put on the gamer because you are never really prepared to take him on, you just have to survive.

Ben Fulford
One of the scariest enemies I have ever seen in a video game is Nemesis from RE 3. You can't beat him the first playthrough without a lot of ammo and if he grabs you, it's practically game over. Not to mention that scary music when he is just outside the area!

Alfred Hograves
The video game character the scares me the most would have to be Nemesis from Resident Evil 3. I remember clearly playing that game for the first time and when I got to the gate of the Raccoon City police department, there is a cut scene and you have the option of fighting him or running. Of course I chose to fight him. It amazes me that he is a big creature that has a rocket launcher and wants to kill all the S.T.A.R.S. members. His occasional pop-ups in the game keep me on my feet and sometimes make me jump.

Sherrard Cade

Life's A Witch:

In my opinion, the scariest enemy is the witch from Left 4 Dead, mostly because of the suspense that surrounds it. When I hear the witch's wails and screams, I fear for my life. I get scared the most when I or someone on my team startles it. Then I run for my life!

Robert Curtis
The enemy that scares me the most are the witches from Left 4 Dead. I have never left an encounter with a witch with all of my teammates alive. The second the message "You've startled the witch" shows up, I feel my heart skip a beat. Pretty soon you're on the ground watching your teammates' health bars go down.

Talbot Bluechel

Going Beserk:

The scariest enemy is definitely the beserker from Gears of War. That thing doesn't care if you're a kid or an adult, male or female, human or locust. It will rip you apart. I first met it when I was eleven at midnight, and was scared to leave my living room.

Sebastian Estes
The video game enemy that scares me the most would have to be when my friend Trevor and I first encountered the beserker in Gears of War. When that humongous beast busted through the wall in the church it scared us to death, making us jump and say "what was that?!" Adding to it scaring us was when it ripped the one COG soldier to pieces. This was the most scared I have ever been because of a video game.

Joaquin Guadarrama

What A Croc:

I think Killer Croc from Arkham Asylum is the scariest villian, because he eats people. I would like to find someone who could say that Croc doesn't frighten them even a little bit.

Alex Lara
The scariest boss I have ever faced has to be Killer Croc from Arkham Asylum. Most bosses you try to get closer to, but Croc is the other way around. You spend the whole level avoiding this nine foot behemoth and then just stand there as he's charging toward you like a carnivorous freight train. I almost needed to change myself going up against him the first time...on easy! And the scariest part is that he was so fearsome and terrifying with a Teen rating. Just imagine the sheer terror this character could cause with an M rating...on second thought, maybe we shouldn't.

Royce Miller
The video game enemy that scares me the most has got to be Killer Croc from Batman: Arkham Asylum. I mean, walking across those floating boards in his lair gave me the creeps. The first time playing, not knowing when or where he was gonna pop up next...playing that level in the dark made it even more creepy.

Bobby Besel

Scared To Death(claw):

Deathclaws. I am a 20-year-old who doesn't even bat an eye at the most intense parts of Dead Space, yet I audibly yelp whenever I discover a deathclaw (you don't wanna know what happens when I stumble upon several). If they know you're there, you can't run from them. Even if you have (in New Vegas) ED-E and Boone to be your reliable meat shields, they don't last long enough for you to get sufficient distance to be hidden and fast travel. On top of that, deathclaws kill you in usually three or so hits and as we all know, armor means nothing to them. To put the frightening icing on the proverbial cake, they friggin' look like demons...bad ass killer demons. Seriously! Scariest enemy ever.

Micah Willard
It's gotta be the deathclaws in Fallout 3, but even moreso in Fallout: New Vegas, where they were nearly invincible even as babies. The reason they're so scary probably has something to do with the fact that they look like the devil.

A Real Brain Drain:

The scariest video game enemies to me are the Metroids from the Metroid series. This is because in the game you'll be calmly walking along and suddenly they pop out at you and you're like "Holy s***!" Then once they stick to you, you have about five seconds before these alien jellyfish things drain all traces of life from you. Some times they even have extra powers, like in Metroid Prime, there are some that are only weak to certain weapons, while in Metroid Prime 3, they shoot electricity at you.

Jonathon Roth

Toddler Babies FTW:

Parasite Eve 2 had toddler babies crawling around with their heads twisted backwards. At the beginning of the game it's either kill or be killed.

Javier Hernandez

Beware The Beaver:

Gnawty the Beaver from Donkey Kong Country! You're stuck in a small box and can only move left or right, and there's some giant blue thing lunging at you trying to kill you! Is he on speed or something?!

R. Brittany Wrinn

Snack Attack:

I have to nominate Snacker from Banjo and Kazooie. That cursed shark scared me and my brother so bad when we were kids. There was no way to save the blue Jinjo without paying your pound of flesh. He appeared like a phantom as soon as you hit the water in Treasure Trove Cove, and hunted you down with his own eerie piano score. Gives me the creeps just thinking about it.

Sam Blackwood

King Koopa:

The video game enemy that scares me the most is Bowser. I know that's wierd but seriously, I was six when I saw him and nearly wet my pants. I mean come on, a mix of a turtle, a dragon, and a pet poodle! How strange and freaky is that?!

Liam Marcy

It Will Make You Squ"eel":

Unagi from the Jolly Roger Bay level of Super Mario 64 freaked me out as a little kid. Not only did it have that potent combination of scariness and deadliness, you also had to purposefully goad it out of where it was hiding, and then chase its undulating whip of a tail for a star. Plenty of enemies in video games are frightening, but the two unagi levels forced me to confront my fears. Twelve years later, that eel still gives me nightmares.

Tod Confer