10 Video Game Fates Worse Than Death
2. Turned Into A Headcrab Zombie (Half-Life)
Small, swift and slimy creatures that attach themselves to the heads of their victims have been haunting our dreams ever since Facehuggers were created, and the Half-Life series' iconic Headcrabs continued to prove how frightening that concept was.
Headcrabs are similar to Facehuggers in that they enjoy jumping onto the faces of humanoids, but while the latter monster impregnates its target with an alien egg, the former has a completely different - and much more ghastly - modus operandi.
Headcrabs start by affixing themselves to the heads of a suitable host, at which point, they break into the person's skull and take over their motor functions. The host body then essentially rots, losing a lot of skin and muscle tissue, while having the organs inside the chest cavity exposed. Sounds absolutely awful, right?
Well, it gets worse. At least Facehuggers have the common decency to put their victims to sleep, but Headcrabs, on the other hand, offer no such privilege. The host retains some level of consciousness even after the Headcrab has taken control, meaning that they can feel everything that's happening to them. Those sounds that Headcrab Zombies make? Those are cries for help.
Headcrabs are even coming to Death Stranding soon, so another video game franchises will soon be infected with their nightmarishness.