8 Terrifying Monsters Hiding In Open World Video Games

7. Planet-Sized Anglerfish - Outer Wilds

One of the best examples of what I was getting at in the intro, Outer Wilds plays an Elden Ring, Breath of the Wild-style hand of nudging you in a certain direction, and letting the joy of whatever you come across propel you the rest of the way.

Playing as the Hearthians - a wannabe spacefaring race who occasionally send willing members of their group across the stars - it's totally up to you where you head first. Pick one direction and you might find a teleporting black hole spitting you out somewhere completely different. Another and you'll find a pair of twin planets trading their surfaces' worth of sand, thanks to cyclical gravity spitting it back and forth.

Best/worst of all though - especially if you encounter it before comprehending what you're supposed to do, like I did - is a whole planet of giant Anglerfish. Supremely terrifying creatures on THIS Earth, never mind an alien version with another landmass inside its mouth, venturing inside the Dark Bramble planet has you greeted by a huge set of teeth biting out the darkness to consume you whole.