Summary
Scary enemies in games can be rare due to the kind of effect they need to have on the player. Certain enemies can be scary from an aesthetic standpoint, whether they are hideously gruesome or appear in a jump scare, but other enemies can be petrifying due to their persistence and insurmountability. Of course,horror gamesare commonly the home for scary enemies as a byproduct of them purposefully trying to terrify players, though scary enemies and the horror genre are not mutually exclusive.
It can be argued that Nemesis isn’t necessarily scary even if he relentlessly pursues players in theResident Evil 3remake, for example, while Psycho-Mantis’ ability to trick players in a fourth-wall break might be considered highly alarming. Likewise,the PS1Spider-Man’s Monster-Ockis uniquely anxiety-inducing when fleeing from him in a game that isn’t otherwise scary. However, the enemy that might take the cake as gaming’s scariest in recent years is perhapsMetroid Dread’s EMMI.
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Metroid Dread’s EMMI (Extraplanetary Multiform Mobile Identifier) are special and maybe even underappreciated for how much of an impact they had.Metroid Dreaddrew the franchise back toa 2DMetroidapproachwith incredible animations and nostalgic abilities, but its defining element was certainly each EMMI enemy that needed to be circumvented and fled before it could be defeated.
Indeed, whileMetroid Dreadisn’t itself a horror game, it certainly earns theDreadtitle with how paralyzingly daunting it can be entering into an EMMI zone. Players attempt to evade detection, making the traversal of these areas perilous and nerve-wracking while walking on eggshells, and what’s scarier is the sense of urgency that is given when Samus is grabbed and two chances arise to melee counter its instant-kill spike.
Then, players must find the courage to stand down a long corridor from an approaching EMMI to aim down sights and fire upon it with the Omega Stream until it is vulnerable to a devastating Omega Blaster shot. Therefore, EMMI enemies’ terror is multilayered and concludes in their gratifying defeat. To be fair,Metroid Dreaddidn’t have a lot weighing on it in terms of actually needing to deliver on frights. Legitimately dedicated horror games, on the other hand, are obligated to deliver on enemies that fulfill that genre’s premise.
It could be far more difficult to maintain consistently scary enemies in a longstanding franchise, for instance, than in a game that isn’t meant to be scary besides one unique element. The former was the case withResident Evil 7and its infamously poor enemy variety, but its charismatic and memorable bosses more than made up for the Molded enemies’ monotony. Rather,Doom Eternalmay be lumped into the latter category for its Marauder enemies, who instill a dreadful panic whenever they appear in combat encounters thereafter.
Doomhas macabre imagery and is undoubtedly gory, but it’s hardly scary unless players fear Hell or demons—even if they are ironically role-playing as an individual the demons should fear. Having a pursuer enemy that instills its own means of panic was surely an acquired taste fortheMetroidfranchise, though it’ll be interesting to see if Nintendo decides to perpetuate it with even more stress-ridden encounters and enemies in the future.
Metroid Dreadis available now on Nintendo Switch.
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