An intensive action or horror game isn't exactly doing its job if you're not white-knuckling your controller periodically throughout the experience. Most horror games understand how to raise the stakes. That is, forcing you into survival endurance mode by creating unbeatable characters who chase you.
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Let's face it, nothing sends a shiver down your spine like knowing that something is stalking you and waiting to lunge out of the darkness. As such, some of the best games (mostly horror) have employed the use of a terrifying enemy that keeps you anxiously on your toes.
8 Nemesis - Resident Evil 3: Nemesis
The titular character of the third Resident Evil entry is synonymous with the idea of stalker enemies. In fact, the bioweapon is programmed to locate and terminate all S.T.A.R.S. members, ensuring their silence in the outbreak disaster. And, unfortunately for the player-controlled Jill Valentine, she is on that registry.
In the original Resident Evil 3, Nemesis appears at random during certain points of the game as Jill walks through doors or passageways to other areas. The remake made these events a little more scripted but still gave fans the hair-raising horror of having a seemingly unbeatable monster hot on their heels. However, there are rewards should you attempt to be aggressive with him.
7 The Dahaka - Prince Of Persia: Warrior Within
Fans of the Prince of Persia from the PS2 and Xbox era remember well the dark turn that the series took in the second entry, Warrior Within. Not only did the game mark a shift from the Teen rating of its predecessor to a healthy Mature rating for blood and gore, but it also made use of dark themes — like the shadowy time guardian known as the Dahaka hunting the Prince to the ends of the Earth.
As punishment for manipulating the flow of time in the first entry, the Prince is to be forever hunted by the Dahaka until the beastly warrior murders him. Throughout the game, you'd know when the Dahaka is entering the scene in pursuit by the soundtrack of the song "I Stand Alone" from the rock band Godsmack picking up speed and hyping you up for the chase.
6 The Hunter - Dead Space
Whether you endured the original horror aboard the USG Ishimura in 2008, or were thrown into the meat grinder with the 2023 remake, fans of the game will undoubtedly remember the Hunter — the Necromorph that simply will not quit. Necromorphs were made to be surgically dismembered — that's the hook of Dead Space after all. But not this guy.
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The Hunter is the brainchild of a maniacal scientist wrapped up in the idea of human ascension through the mysterious Marker and the Necromorphs. However, unlike its siblings, the Hunter doesn't go down so easily. You can chop off its limbs all you want, but they'll regrow in seconds. The Hunter appears frequently throughout the game and all you can really do is slow it down while you escape.
5 Laura - The Evil Within
Sebastian Castellanos has his work cut out for him. Playing inside Ruvik's world is a real nightmare — literally. And Laura Victoriano is, perhaps, the worst of it. If you're fazed by Japanese-based horror like The Ring or The Grudge, just be aware that Laura adopts a similar creepy undead aesthetic with draping and ragged long black hair, pale skin, and piercing eyes.
What's creepier is that she morphs into a creature with four arms and sinister long claws. She can emerge from any dead body in this nightmarish world, making approaching one an unnerving affair. Throughout the majority of the game, she can't be killed and will continually pursue you until you can find relief through some form of escape.
4 Chris Walker - Outlast
You could probably assume that all hostile enemies in the world of Outlast will give chase should you alert them. After all, the game isn't about fighting and killing monsters. It's simply about surviving the violent patients at Mount Massive Asylum by running and hiding.
Chris Walker is easily the most terrifying character in the game. He is large in stature and has disfigured himself through self-mutilation. He's violent and persistent. You will have to find your way around this hulking terror many times as you trek through the asylum.
3 Xenomorph - Alien: Isolation
Sci-fi fans likely recall Ridley Scott's 1979 film Alien with fonstatic.aayyy.com/topic/dn/ess. It's a haunting yet visceral film that explores humankind's meddling in the unknown. Ultimately, a bloody massacre results, as an alien creature designated as the Xenomorph lurks around the ship, killing the crew one by one.
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Alien: Isolation recreates this tension and unease in the video game format. You must evade the keen senses of an unkillable creature aboard a space station. Its can be anywhere, and you'll often find yourself running for your life.
2 Mr. X - Resident Evil 2
Thanks to the Resident Evil 2 remake, Mr. X might actually surpass Nemesis in popularity within the Resident Evil series as the ultimate stalker enemy. Newcomers to the game will be horrified by this hulking humanoid with a pale face that ominously lumbers toward you with the intent to kill.
While hiding from the monstrous bioweapon in the R.P.D., you can hear his clunky footsteps as he walks on the floor above you or in the rooms adjacent to you. To accent the terror, he has an adrenaline-inducing soundtrack that amplifies the closer he is to your location.
1 Slenderman - Slender: The Arrival
The thin, pale, and faceless man known as Slenderman is scary simply because we still know very little about him from a lore perspective. As a character, he is intentionally positioned as a mysterious figure who stalks victims and simply causes them to vanish.
In Slender: The Arrival, you must traverse multiple locales seeking eight pages of ominous clues or completing objectives to proceed to the next area. As you make progress in each area, Slenderman's hauntings become more extreme. Looking directly at him for a second too long will result in a game over. The only saving grace is to turn tail and run each time you see him.
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