10 Terrifying Video Game Enemies That Gave You Nightmares

10. The Alien - Alien: Isolation

Everybody knows the Alien: its titular franchise has been part of modern pop culture since the first film was released in 1979. The often referenced, occasionally parodied and sometimes cosplayed Xenomorph is as familiar a creature as anything modern cinema has managed to produce, which is especially an impressive feat given that you only see the whole creature for a few seconds in the original film (obviously the sequels showed more of it, but that's besides the point). Given the Alien's iconic nature, it's a crime that it's taken until 2014 for a game to be made which actually does the creature any justice. Creative Assembly's Alien: Isolation is the first Alien game to actually treat him as a threat, rather than cannon fodder for a group of Colonial Marines (the less said about that game, the better). In A:I you are permanently stalked by the creature throughout the remains of the Sevastopol space station, he hunts you like he hunted the crew of the Nostromo, hiding in vents, listening for any noise you make and killing you on sight. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1O_XrE0WOw What makes him particularly terrifying in this game is that he is smart. There are very few scripted events for the Alien, instead he appears in an area and searches for you. One wrong sound results in instant death and usually a long slog back from the last checkpoint. What's more nerve wracking, however, is the sound of him right above you, moving around in the vents, followed by a thud, a hiss and the familiar sound of a seven foot tall Alien bearing down on your location faster than you can run. Do yourself a favour, if you want to sleep, don't play with headphones on...