Feature: Top 9 Video Game Enemies That Make Water Terrifying

Man, screw everything about water.  The dark, murky depths of the open sea never cease to scare the piss out of me, even in the most cartoonish of kids games.  If I'm ever slapped into an "open water" situation in a game, my instincts are immediately thrown into overdrive.

When I see something like this, I picture about
500 different things waiting to kill me down below.

All of the games in this list have played a part in instigating this primal fear of mine.  What's worse, some of them are even responsible for perpetrating it...

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These damn claw monsters seek the player out the moment the character's toes touch the surface.  Their slow, deliberate creep as they move towards Rayman is enough to send shivers down anyone's spine, and it transmits a message that is well received by most players who witness it.

"You need to get the hell out of the water.  Right now."

Once this wordless warning is perceived, players often adopt a mentality that I like to call "Oh shit, oh shit!" mode.  During this brief moment of adrenaline, a player will often try to get out of the water as quickly as possible, most times failing to successfully do so out of panic.  This results in a cycle of repeated heart attacks as the character jumps in and out of the water while desperately grasping for a ledge to pull themselves out.  The level of anxiety that the player feels as time progresses is directly proportional to the number of times he or she says "shit" over the span of a few seconds. 

Needless to say, as the claw opens its clutches to snatch Rayman, the player's lips are already flapping like a playing card on a bicycle spoke.

On a completely unrelated note, this level is my personal Hell.

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I shouldn't even have to explain this one.  Just look at that thing!  It looks like the embodiment of every child's nightmare balled into one grotesque, horrifying creature.  Those blank looking eyes, its empty void of a mouth, those threatening razor teeth.  The dated graphics, for whatever reason, seem to make the beast seem all the more disturbing.  This thing looks like some kind of possessed, satanic sock puppet.

But it may not be all that bad, right?  As long as that venomous looking demonic penis replica stays tethered to the wall, all one has to do is stay clear of its reach, right?  Yeah, Nintendo had that same idea.  So they decided to have a little "fun" by traumatizing some children.

Graphics in those days were too primitive
to depict the voiding of bowels.

In order to get a specific Star in Mario 64, the player had to release one of the most terrifying looking enemies in recent memory.  Then, Mario just had to swim up and nab the star before the beastie came back.  Naturally, this entire process was full of anxiety and wet pants.

Dick move, Nintendo.

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In fairness, when you're playing a Resident Evil game (or any horror game, for that matter), you know that shit's gonna hit the fan the moment you set foot into corridors filled with waist-high water.  Despite this, the Sea Creepers are a terrifying enemy that always seems to flank the player at the worst possible times.

Like any traumatizing water monster, the worst part about the Sea Creeper is not knowing where it is at all times.  The moment Jill dips her toes into the murkiness below, intense music starts to play, and the unnatural growl of these monstrosities can be heard echoing down the halls.

If the player happens to be low on ammo during these moments (which is likely), the only option available is to make a break for it down the corridor and not look back.  Players eventually go into "oh shit" mode at this time, but what makes it worse is that it's practically impossible to tell just how close the creature is getting as it pursues the player from behind.  

You know that feeling you sometimes get when you turn off the lights in the basement, and then a burst of adrenaline propels you up the stairs as quickly as possible?  Yeah, that's what it feels like during moments like these.  Except in this case, something is actually chasing you.  And you don't know where it is.

That is, unless the Sea Creeper isn't actually behind Jill, in which case it's very easy to tell when she's about to be screwed.

"Thankfully, this water is deep enough to hide
the fact that I just pissed myself."

Sure, the player can take these guys out with one well-placed shotgun shell to the face, but it's the surprise of their appearances that never ceases to make a person feel uneasy in a desperate situation.

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Right, so another horror game.  Naturally something scary is in the water right?  Is it some kind of hideous beast ready to grab the defenseless character and drag her into the depths below?  Or maybe it's a swarm of piranhas preparing to tear her to shreds if she ever dares to break the surface tension?

Nope, it's just a dead chick.  Floating in the water.  Being dead.

If the player becomes curious enough to locate the source of the soft moans and whimpers in the distant waters, he or she is greeted by a disturbing encounter.  The Drowned Woman will pull all sorts of nasty tricks.  Floating around the player as if still suspend in water is creepy enough, but when she starts to dive below the bridge and pull at the character's ankles in a surprise attack, the player immediately wishes they were somewhere else. 

Find me a sane man who wouldn't freak out
if he saw something like this.

What makes this fight worse is the fact that it's entirely optional.  The player can make Mio go on her merry way as she crosses the bridge, blatantly ignoring the wheezes and cries for help.  It's only when the player gets a bit too nosy that the game decides to deliver a well-executed slap to the face.

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Quick, what's the one thing you never want to see when you're swimming around in water?  After you discount eels, crabs, jellyfish, and old men in Speedos, sharks are probably at the top of the list.  In a cheery, whimsical adventure like Kingdom Hearts, the shark in Atlantica fits in about as well as a grown man dressed up as Jason Voorhees at a children's Halloween party.

After the player's first encounter with this beast, the bastard gets the pleasure of appearing whenever it's the most inconvenient.  This results in numerous unwanted encounters with one of the most feared creatures in the sea.  And more often then not, they'll happen from behind.  After bricks are shat, a long and tedious battle begins.

A magical fantasy Disney cross over filled with
wonder and joy.  Now with 20% more death and terror!

This thing is almost never detected before it launches its first attack.  It comes with no warning, and hardly a sound at all.  Presumably, the folks over at SquareSoft wanted to traumatize as many children as possible.  I'll be damned if I said they didn't succeed.

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The reason this monster so terrifying can be traced back to the player's first encounter with it.

The player gets a harvesting quest, and needs to gather 10 monster guts from a race of docile sea dwelling creatures.  No big deal, really.  The monsters are total pushovers, and hardly raise a finger at you slaughtering the rest of their family.  Then, out of nowhere, some huge-ass monstrosity decides to show up and teach the player a lesson about how weak and helpless he or she really is.

Commence shifting into "oh shit" mode.

But the quest isn't done when this happens.  The player still needs those monster guts.  So for now, fleeing to a different location seems like the best plan.  However, as the player desperately searches for more guts, he or she is constantly aware that there is a giant swimming in the same waters, and it enjoys the sight of dead things.

When Lagiacrus spots the measly hunter, the game makes sure to let the player know that now would be a good time to be somewhere else.  The soundtrack shifts from natural ambiance to a full-throttle orchestral blast.  Couple this with an ominous roar, and the player will know that death is close at hand.  That alone is enough to get the heart racing.  Suddenly the quest becomes a lot more trouble than it's worth.

But dammit!  That merchant needs his monster guts, and by golly you're gonna get them for him! 

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A level like this proves the fact that water doesn't even need an enemy lurking in it to be scary.  It can terrify the piss out of someone all on its own.  As the player attempts to outrun a raising flood, he or she slowly begins to shift into "oh shit" mode as things start to get dire.

There's no tricks.  No shortcuts.  No curve balls of any kind.  Just a slowly advancing wall of death chasing the player all the way up to the finish line.  In video games, there's nothing like a good chase scene to get the blood pumping.  Because of this, being "chased" by water can be an incredibly terrifying experience.

Fear Factor: Roughly 3.7 "shits" said per second.

On top of all of that, this sequence in Ratchet and Clank is freakin' hard.  An inexperienced gamer will likely fail, even after after multiple attempts of outrunning the water.  However, no matter how many times the sequence is repeated, the slowly oncoming threat of death never ceases to be menacing. 

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Similar to Ratchet and Clank, the scariest enemy is Sonic 2 isn't what's in the water.  It's the water itself.  However, what sets Sonic 2 apart from every other rising water sequence in existence is one, blood-freezing tune that notifies the player that the little blue hedgehog is about to kick the bucket.

Once the player hears these notes, everything immediately switches into "oh shit" mode, and it only escalates from there.  There is no progression or middle ground.  When the countdown starts, the player begins to have a panic attack as Sonic desperately tries to reach the surface for air.

If you listen to the song again, it sounds almost exactly like what the player is saying during these moments...

"Oh shit...Oh shit...Oh shit...Oh shit... 
Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit!
Ohshit!Ohshit!Ohshit!Ohshit!"

Children everywhere have been traumatized by this music.  It's the kind of thing a people hear in their nightmares.  Once you hear it, it will never go away.  And the worst part is, nothing scary is even on the screen during these moments.  The only threatening things that can be perceived are an ominous purple liquid and a simple yet menacing jingle.  The human imagination takes care of the rest, and the player promptly has a heart attack as a result.

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If you've ever had any apprehensions about open water in your life, this terrifying bastard is sure to take your fears, rub them in your horrified, tear soaked face, then laugh as it proceeds to traumatize you for the rest of your life.

The Lurker Shark is by far the most terrifying water beast in all of existence, simply due to the fact that it can come out of nowhere and gulp down Jak in one startling bite.  When the player first encounters one of these baddies, it's quite unnerving.  First, an ominous grunt is heard, which is followed by a heartbeat.  This beat gets faster as the Shark slowly closes in on its prey (you).  The moment the player sees its shadow emerging from below, it's already too late.

Once the player is aware that such a monster resides in the depths of the water, each and every other miss-jump suddenly connotes dire consequences.  If the player happens to miss a platform and fall into the depths below, it quickly becomes a struggle to try and pull off the best impression of Jesus as possible, jumping in and out of the water in an almost pathetic attempt to walk across it and avoid almost certain death.

A normal person sees a nice looking landscape.
The player sees an island surrounded by death and nightmares.

Thankfully one of the characters is keen to give you advice to avoid the Lurker Sharks.  "They hate shallow water," she says.  Great, that's awesome.  But personally, I don't care if they have panic attacks and seize at the sight of colorful coral reefs.  I'm not setting foot in any water in this game!

To this day, the Lurker Shark continues to strike fear in players' hearts, making sure that no eyes are left dry, no pants unsoiled, and no bowels unvoided.  I salute your hard work, valiant Lurker Shark, you menacing, traumatizing bastard.  May you give children nightmares for years to come.