Gaming's Greatest Monsters

Do you remember the first time that a video game scared the crap out of you? Chances are, it was a wretched, bloodstained creature that struck fear into your heart, or perhaps an it was an expressionless young girl, which can be equally frightening under the right conditions.

Video games are the perfect canvas for inspiring terror. Once hi-def graphics and audio became the norm, it was all too easy to buy into the sights and sounds coming out of our TVs. The moans and screams of tortured creatures began to feel authentic, and monsters, man and creature alike, felt alive, even though they're nothing but pixels on a screen. If you need evidence that developers are getting better at creating scary games, take one look at P.T., or Outlast, which takes you on a tour through a demented psychiatric asylum filled with disturbed, malformed lunatics. Both games are terrifying, even for someone who's seen it all.

In honor of Halloween and gaming's achievements in the field of horror, we've compiled a list of our favorite monsters from the history of gaming. Some are old, some are new, but at one point or another, they've all left their mark on someone, and likely, inspired more than a few nightmares.