scariest sea creatures in games

[Xan Krieger]

Because everything is better down where its wetter, until a giant sea monster eats you, your ship, and your hopes and dreams. On land, in the air, or in space it's generally easy to hear or see a giant creature coming. In the ocean where you can't see far things get a bit scarier.

Case in point, Subnautica. Of course a game set in a world that is 95% ocean would have a few nasty critters but one stands out. In the game your spaceship crashes and you start out in a lifepod. What's the natural thing to do as soon as you're able to get around? Go salvage the big ship. You will first do this largely unprepared for what's actually there. There's a species called reaper leviathans that spawn around the crashed ship and if you swam there you're going to be instakilled. If you used the small submarine called a seamoth you're going to be bashed around till it explodes then instakilled.

While you can eventually build things that can kill them the thing that makes them so scary is that you can encounter it early in the game. The seadragon leviathan lives in water so deep by the time you get down there you'll be ready for it. The reaper lives near the surface and thus will be encountered more often. The first time I saw one I actually quit the game out of fright.

So Escapists, what other scary sea dwelling critters have you found in your games? The oceans of the gaming universes need to be explored and we're sure to find just the worst things down there.

 

[Raddra]

I remember playing Ecco the Dolphin as a kid and the last level gave off a weird vibe. You enter 'The Machine' and its like some. weird alien base or something and these green creepy xenomorph-like things suddenly start twitching through the water at you.

 

[shrekfan246]

Ecco the Dolphin

Well, Ecco: The Tides of Time

Those games became nightmare-fuel very quickly.

 

[FalloutJack]

Ecco the Dolphin

Well, Ecco: The Tides of Time

Those games became nightmare-fuel very quickly.

Let's not forget the creators' Shmuck Bait where they left a password in the password screen that...turned out to go to the last level, so you hit it and suddenly find yourself- OH WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED?!

OT: Obviously Cthulhu, and naturally Godzilla counts. But apart from them...

Well, you're just sailing along, escorting some people along on a boat, when all of a sudden...


...a fin breaks the surface! What's that? That's just a small part of the beast and you wanna fight it?! You're gonna need a bigger boat!

Props for Sin, yo. He's a freakish monstrosity.

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

Blech. Always a dreaded foe in the games, particularly the giant one (about the size of the Millenium Falcon) in Shadows of the Empire. The Old Republic had an unnamed water tentacle monster too, but at least you didn't have to go underwater to kill it- you can just cut the tentacles.

 

[Xan Krieger]

Blech. Always a dreaded foe in the games, particularly the giant one (about the size of the Millenium Falcon) in Shadows of the Empire. The Old Republic had an unnamed water tentacle monster too, but at least you didn't have to go underwater to kill it- you can just cut the tentacles.

Just learned that's the creature in the trash compacter on the Death Star, I can't tell if it's more horrifying now than when I first saw it. On one hand you don't see much of it in the movie but the trash is so shallow I couldn't imagine anything big in there. Now that I see it though, they were in the trash with that?!

 

[Azure23]

Definitely any of the aquatic monsters in Ape Escape, well, with the exception of the jellyfish I guess. They weren't too threatening, but everything else was terrifying. There's a giant shocky catfish and giant piranha in the Amazon levels. Giant sharks, a few other ones too. Played the game when I was nine and there's one level that just starts you on a beach and there's three giant sharks patrolling the water right in front of you and you have to get through them to get to the rest of the level and for the first time the game doesn't give you a boat to safely navigate, you just gotta swim.

 

[Neverhoodian]

Spoiler

Blech. Always a dreaded foe in the games, particularly the giant one (about the size of the Millenium Falcon) in Shadows of the Empire. The Old Republic had an unnamed water tentacle monster too, but at least you didn't have to go underwater to kill it- you can just cut the tentacles.

KILL IT WITH FIRE!!!

​

I was terrified of the dianogas in Dark Forces as a kid. The way they burst out of the sewage right in front of you still unnerves me to this day.

Spoiler: NOPENOPENOPENOPE-

Just learned that's the creature in the trash compacter on the Death Star, I can't tell if it's more horrifying now than when I first saw it. On one hand you don't see much of it in the movie but the trash is so shallow I couldn't imagine anything big in there. Now that I see it though, they were in the trash with that?!

You think that's bad? According to Wookieepedia, they've been known to squeeze their way through household plumbing.

Suddenly I'm not too keen on living in the Star Wars universe anymore...

 

[FalloutJack]

I also liked the Dreamcast game, Defender of the Future.

Not sure why it was so hated. The series should have continued.

Now I have the urge to replay Defender. Hope it holds up.

No love for psychic, time-traveling dolphins, I guess. They probably didn't like Douglas Adams either.

 

[Xan Krieger]

My experience with Ecco was a game before it was even called Ecco
That octopus looking thing was the bane of my youth.

 

[stroopwafel]

Definitely the sharks in Farcry 3. There is this part where you have to swim to the boat not knowing when a shark might attack and I don't think I've ever felt more anxious in a videogame. Something about deep waters and not knowing what swims beneath you fills me with dread.

 

[MrCalavera_v1legacy]

Well, i can't remember any sea creatures atm, but of the aquatic ones, i always hated encountering this one:

Spoiler

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

Whatever the eye in Sunless Sea belongs to. That thing creeps me out every time I see it (which thankfully is very seldom).

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Definitely an Oxygen Meter at 02%

 

[pookie101]

the leviathans from mass effect 3. a species so ancient they are probably the initial species in the galaxy, they created the reapers, they view and use every other species as toys and if the reapers hadnt of turned on them then humanity would of been the next species dominated and used

plus they are butt ugly giant squid thingys

 

[Xan Krieger]

the leviathans from mass effect 3. a species so ancient they are probably the initial species in the galaxy, they created the reapers, they view and use every other species as toys and if the reapers hadnt of turned on them then humanity would of been the next species dominated and used

plus they are butt ugly giant squid thingys

I don't have the DLC that has those and since it's on Origin which I seldom use I have no idea when it's on sale if ever. I've seen the Mass Effect Wiki and those things are huuuge, I'd love to see them in game.

 

[Dalisclock]

Whatever the eye in Sunless Sea belongs to. That thing creeps me out every time I see it (which thankfully is very seldom).

That's pretty much what I was gonna say. My bets are on Cthulhu or the sunless sea varient thereof. I haven't played it since the zubmariner expansion launched so I only imagine it gets worse.

 

[SmallHatLogan]

Ecco the Dolphin

Well, Ecco: The Tides of Time

Those games became nightmare-fuel very quickly.

I'll jump on the Ecco train with this mother fucker. Scared the crap out of me when I was a kid. Technically it's a sky creature but this is a future where aquatic animals have evolved to the point where they can leave the ocean so I'm willing to count it.