10 Most Terrifying Video Game Zombies

In The Last of Us we see the “Infected” progress through an increasingly gross life cycle as the parasitic Cordyceps fungus takes control and spreads, mushrooming out of the victims’ faces to create an alternate nightmare version of Goombas.

In The Last of Us Part II, greater use was made of the Stalker - an enemy that was used so infrequently in the first game that you’d be forgiven for thinking they were a new addition for the sequel.

The Stalker is the mid-stage between a Runner and a Clicker and relies on stealth and guile to hunt its victims. These zombies are jump-scare specialists, hunkering behind cover or even embedding themselves in the walls before they leap out and scare you half to death.

Stalkers aren’t tough to take down on their own, but they complicate encounters when they appear alongside other Infected; just when you think you’ve snuck your way past a horde of Infected and are about to exit to safety one of these Stalkers will get the drop on you, whooping and hollering loud enough to bring every Clicker in the vicinity down on your position.