10 Terrifying Monsters From Non-Horror Video Games
4. The Barnacle - Half-Life Series
In the darkest depths of the Half-Life universe, there lurks a hideous monstrosity that anyone who's ever played Half-Life learns to fear.
The Barnacle. Inspired by real-world barnacles that love to cling to the underside of things, the ones in Half-Life are absolutely terrifying. Suspended above you from the ceiling, barnacles are essential a big mound of flesh with an open mouth that can chew up almost anything organic.
Barnacles are sly foes too - they dangle a long, sticky appendage from their mouths. If prey touches this, they start winching them upwards, directly towards their hideous maw. If you've ever been caught by a barnacle, you know exactly how it feels to look up and see that mouth pulling you closer as you frantically scrabble to shoot the thing and make it drop you.
People genuinely find Barnacles so disturbing, that there's a support group on Steam for Barnacle phobics. There are also mods which will wipe all of the Barnacles completely out of the game, so you can traverse in peace without the fear of being sucked up by one of these nightmares.