Horror games are known for their jump scares, their creatures, and their setting. While those things are important, it’s those regular enemies that make things scarier. In reality, they can often be taken down pretty easily, but it’s their presence that feels horrifying and that induces fear in players.
The common enemies play a big role in the experience because they keep the player anxious between stages. Many horror games have common enemies that outshine the big bad ones, and other games do the opposite. This list ranks the best and has some games in which common enemies are scarier than those special ones.
10 The Variants – Outlast
These are inmates in the asylum where the game is set in. What makes them so terrifying is their unsual, sporadic behavior. One minute they’re calm, and the next they’re chasing the player down a hallway, and it’s stuff like this which makes the first Outlast game so memorable.
Adding to the element of fear is that the main character has no way to fight back and only has a camera on him. So, mixing all these things together, the variants will surely make the player’s heart pump faster. Outlast, in general, is one of the scariest games to play, but the experience is made all the more frightening thanks to these enemies.
9 The Taken – Alan Wake
Being alone in the woods at night is a nightmare scenario that many want to avoid. However, Remedy’s cult classic Alan Wake plays out those fears well. The setting, story, and mechanics are pretty underrated, causing fans to want a reboot or a sequel.
The majority of the game takes place in the woods where players encounter people that have been taken over. The taken are pretty scary because they swarm the player. So, the only way of killing them would by pointing the flashlight at them. They’re relatively easy to kill, but it’s their speed that will get the player.
8 Crawlers – Dead Space 2
These exploding babies are pure nightmare fuel. Much like the other enemies on the list, they’re easy to kill, but they often show up in overwhelming numbers. Players first see them about three-quarters of the way through, and they start to overwhelm the players. This alone causes the player to get anxious, as they are so many of them, and ammo is relatively limited depending on difficulty.
7 Working Joe – Alien Isolation
Obviously, a game set in the Alien universe is bound to feature the franchise’s titular creature, but what the game doesn’t tell the player is that there are other enemies lurking on the ship. Though they may not be quite as outwardly menacing, the uncanny-valley glare of the Working Joes can be quite unnerving.
The half-human-half-robot hybrid is threatening on its own. The emotionless stare, the monotone voice, and the eerie white eyes give him this ominous feel. He may look helpful, but he’s the complete opposite and will go after players. He’s also quite strong and his calming voice somehow adds to the suspense.
6 The Molded – Resident Evil
Being one the scariest games to come out of the previous decade, it’s no wonder why the seventh game is so popular. The series-first use of the first-person perspective made the horror seem all the more personal, and seeing the Baker family for the first time in this perspective is scary. But, it’s the molded who are arguably more intimidating.
The molded are the people that the family kidnapped and have been turning them into this creature for a few years. They walk slowly but are so damage-resistant that taking them on isn’t always the best course of action. Resident Evil 7 was, and still is a perfect horror game because it makes the player feel more human and more vulnerable than in other games.
5 Necromorphs – Dead Space 3
The necromorphs are the Dead Space staple enemy in the series. They use their blade-like limbs to attack an enemy. They’re pretty easy to kill, though it does take a bit of precise aiming. They are pretty fast and agile and will pounce on players in a matter of seconds.
What makes them a nightmare to face is that they attack in numbers and will come out of vents, the floor, or anywhere else. While they come in different forms, the main one is more human and is the most terrifying.
4 Volatile – Dying Light
Dying Light has a pretty interesting game mechanic that uses the day and night cycle to change how the game feels. During the day time, the zombie-infested city is a pretty straight forward; just avoid the hordes and try to survive. However, at night it’s a different world entirely.
Players will experience stronger zombies called The Volatile. Unlike regular zombies, The Volatile is able to mimic the player’s parkour abilities, making them far more difficult to escape. They fit well in Dying Light‘s vertical environments, and they add an extra layer of fear to in-game exploration.
3 Mimics – Prey
These bodysnatcher type creatures are already frightening just from the sound of them. Unlike other enemies on this list, these guys are something different. Players can kill them, but what makes them really scary is that they can infect someone and control them.
Weaker mimics can only consume things or people, but it’s the stronger ones who can infect machinery to really do some damage and make things harder for the player. When not busy infecting people, they look like these squeamish black blobs that warp into different shapes and sizes.
2 The Haunted – The Evil Within
The possessed farmers are quite scary on their own. They may shamble around slowly, but they’re a pain to stealth past and can be quite intimidating in groups. Plus, while the player is looking for resources, they sometimes forget that there are farmers coming with pitchforks.
They even take a substantial amount of damage, so they can eat up the players’ ammo reserve pretty quickly. Sure, they can be escaped without a head-on confrontation, but sneaking around them is arguably scarier and less satisfying.
1 Clickers – The Last Of Us
In The Last of Us, the infection has a few stages, and Clickers represented humans who’ve been infected for a while, though they haven’t transformed into bloaters yet. They’re completely blind and rely on earing to attack its victim, so, when encountering a clicker, players must walk slowly and plan their routes carefully.
The reason why they’re so hard to kill is that they’re in a kind of organic fungus armor, so the best way of killing them would be using a shotgun, Molotov cocktail, or any other device that does a large amount of damage. A common strategy is to throw a brick past them, and then sneak up for a backstab once they’ve turned around to investigate the noise.
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