Is this really the most terrifying video game enemy?

A lot has been theorized over what the scariest enemy in games might be. I have played many horror games, seen many mods, and cross-referencing intel from both has revealed that the scariest monster in all of them is apparently just regular spiders.Are spiders in games that scary? Some of the best artists and game designers in the world did their best to come up with the likes of Pyramid Head, Nemesis from Resident Evil 3, the Lickers from Resident Evil 2, and so many others, but we seemingly cannot handle any kind of spider in a game.https://www.reddit.com/r/GirlGamers/comments/14uaiir/spiders_in_so_many_video_games_without_any/ There are popular mods to remove Pyramid Head from Silent Hill 2, but those exist to replace him with something funny or sexier, not to make him disappear because he's too scary. Name a recent game featuring spiders, however, and it'll have one (or various) mods to remove the critters or replace with something more palatable.https://youtu.be/X3LzqOGHglo Worst of all is that we aren’t usually even looking at an exquisite spider, or an original monster with even more eyes, but rather a regular arachnid. Are you telling me that the T-Virus makes humans turn into flesh-eating zombies and can be used in a lab to create Lickers and Tyrants, but the only thing it does to spiders is make them bigger?I’m one of the select few who really love Resident Evil 3, but I was disappointed when I got to the clock tower, and instead of finding a cool new monster to deal with, I was just met by some huge spiders. Sure, the game introduces them in a pretty neat way, but it would’ve worked with any other (cooler) original monster as well. Even Bloodborne, a game full of either original enemies or cool takes on classic ones, has this one spider room for some reason. Interestingly, they’re stationary on top of the player’s head until we trigger their descent, leaving me wondering if these are some of the few enemies that announce their presence in this game because the developers want to amp up the creep factor, or because they want to warn players that there are spiders ahead in an attempt to prevent lawsuits from spider-induced heart attacks. Warning: the clip below features the scariest of game monsters.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcoh7hrvcKw On top of being unoriginal, spiders in games are only scary if you suffer from any degree of arachnophobia. I get being deathly afraid of a creature that a primordial part of your brain tells you is the devil, for some reason, but here, in real life, spiders kill an average of like seven people a year in the US. Cows? More than 22. Bees? Over 50. Mosquitoes? Over one million annually. A lot of horror games feature those, too, but I'm yet to see a swarm of mosquito-free mods for them. My conspiracy theory is that devs only put them in games because they know they’ll never fail to scare the hell out of a small but vocal part of the community, and the rest will likely be absolutely ok with exploding all sorts of creepy crawlies, so they likely won’t be complaining, either.Arachnophobia modes won't save you And if you do suffer from arachnophobia, the spider-free mods are likely doing you a disservice. Games are actually a pretty cool way of confronting your fears without ever being in danger—not that most spiders would actually put you in any kind of danger, ok? And don’t take my word for it: a one-time arachnophobic Destructoid editor whose name I won’t reveal to prevent them from getting mailed spiders and risk wasting years of progress agrees. Am I out of my depth, and should spiders keep on permeating all areas in horror games that need filling, or is it time to admit that they just aren’t that great of an enemy in video games? The post Is this really the most terrifying video game enemy? appeared first on Destructoid.

Mar 26, 2026 - 04:14

Is this really the most terrifying video game enemy?

A lot has been theorized over what the scariest enemy in games might be. I have played many horror games, seen many mods, and cross-referencing intel from both has revealed that the scariest monster in all of them is apparently just regular spiders.

Are spiders in games that scary?

Some of the best artists and game designers in the world did their best to come up with the likes of Pyramid Head, Nemesis from Resident Evil 3, the Lickers from Resident Evil 2, and so many others, but we seemingly cannot handle any kind of spider in a game.

https://www.reddit.com/r/GirlGamers/comments/14uaiir/spiders_in_so_many_video_games_without_any/ There are popular mods to remove Pyramid Head from Silent Hill 2, but those exist to replace him with something funny or sexier, not to make him disappear because he's too scary. Name a recent game featuring spiders, however, and it'll have one (or various) mods to remove the critters or replace with something more palatable.

https://youtu.be/X3LzqOGHglo Worst of all is that we aren’t usually even looking at an exquisite spider, or an original monster with even more eyes, but rather a regular arachnid. Are you telling me that the T-Virus makes humans turn into flesh-eating zombies and can be used in a lab to create Lickers and Tyrants, but the only thing it does to spiders is make them bigger?

I’m one of the select few who really love Resident Evil 3, but I was disappointed when I got to the clock tower, and instead of finding a cool new monster to deal with, I was just met by some huge spiders. Sure, the game introduces them in a pretty neat way, but it would’ve worked with any other (cooler) original monster as well.

Even Bloodborne, a game full of either original enemies or cool takes on classic ones, has this one spider room for some reason. Interestingly, they’re stationary on top of the player’s head until we trigger their descent, leaving me wondering if these are some of the few enemies that announce their presence in this game because the developers want to amp up the creep factor, or because they want to warn players that there are spiders ahead in an attempt to prevent lawsuits from spider-induced heart attacks.

Warning: the clip below features the scariest of game monsters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcoh7hrvcKw On top of being unoriginal, spiders in games are only scary if you suffer from any degree of arachnophobia. I get being deathly afraid of a creature that a primordial part of your brain tells you is the devil, for some reason, but here, in real life, spiders kill an average of like seven people a year in the US. Cows? More than 22. Bees? Over 50. Mosquitoes? Over one million annually. A lot of horror games feature those, too, but I'm yet to see a swarm of mosquito-free mods for them.

My conspiracy theory is that devs only put them in games because they know they’ll never fail to scare the hell out of a small but vocal part of the community, and the rest will likely be absolutely ok with exploding all sorts of creepy crawlies, so they likely won’t be complaining, either.

Arachnophobia modes won't save you

And if you do suffer from arachnophobia, the spider-free mods are likely doing you a disservice.

Games are actually a pretty cool way of confronting your fears without ever being in danger—not that most spiders would actually put you in any kind of danger, ok? And don’t take my word for it: a one-time arachnophobic Destructoid editor whose name I won’t reveal to prevent them from getting mailed spiders and risk wasting years of progress agrees.

Am I out of my depth, and should spiders keep on permeating all areas in horror games that need filling, or is it time to admit that they just aren’t that great of an enemy in video games?

The post Is this really the most terrifying video game enemy? appeared first on Destructoid.

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