Are the enemies in those video games afraid of you?

A lot of games out there are oriented towards scaring you.

The enemies end up being terrifying,and sometimes it’s the other way around.

It’s Falcon and today on Gameranx,10 games where enemies are actually scared of you.

Starting off at number 10,it’s the Batman Arkham Asylum series.

Let’s get the most obvious one out of the way first.

Before the first Arkham came out,

Batman wasn’t really known
for stellar video games.

There were some decent ones

but nothing that felt like
you were actually Batman.

That’s what made Arkham
so damn impressive.

Rocksteady managed it
like their first attempt

and in a lot of ways, it
revolutionized both stealth games

and beat ’em ups.

Instead of being the
hunted, you were the hunter

and the enemies reacted accordingly.

As you took people out, the
thugs in any given stealth area

become increasingly
distressed and agitated.

They start splitting up into groups

and doing things by themselves.

(dramatic music)

– [Thug] What are you doing?

I need help!

– [Thug 2] Like hell!

You’re on your own!

– [Falcon] When they’re
actually freaked out,

they move around in unpredictable ways

and they shoot guns at shadows.

They are very clearly
reacting to something

that is terrifying to them.

Like it’s possible to get ’em so scared

that when they actually do spot you,

instead of shooting like usual,

they fall backwards and freak out,

giving you more than enough
time to finish them off.

Reactive AI like this is
still kind of a novel concept

so it’s just not something
you see at this level

with such artful execution even now,

and each game in the series
added a few new wrinkles

to that system that made it even better.

At number nine is Metro: Exodus.

It’s not quite as in-depth of a system

that we see in the Arkham games

but Metro: Exodus has it’s own AI system

where occasionally enemies will surrender

if you take out enough of their guys.

It’s not something that
happens every time or anything,

but it makes you feel
unstoppable when it does happen.

And to be clear, I’m not exactly sure

what triggers it either,
but once an enemy gives up,

they’re done for good.

You don’t have to shoot ’em
in the head or anything,

you just take what they got
and they will thank you for it.

Not literally but they’ll leave you alone.

In these kinds of games,
the most you usually get

is an enemy who’s faking a surrender

but here it’s genuine

and it adds a lot more
realism to the whole thing.

I mean if some guy came into my camp

and just slaughtered 12 of my buddies,

I’d be inclined to, you know, not die.

I would do what was possible

if there was something possible,

and if that’s giving up, that’s giving up.

I’d be inclined to give up.

At number eight is Prototype.

There’s plenty of games where they say

everyone’s scared of you
but in gameplay terms,

it doesn’t really mean much.

I’m talking about like
Metroid Prime or Doom Eternal

where the in-game logs are talking about

how much the enemy fears
you but for the most part,

they fight like they don’t.

They see you and they’re
like ah, I’m gonna kill ’em!

Now that’s basically true for this game,

for the most part at least,

there’s no real fear mechanic
at play in this game,

but even still, few games
manage to make you feel

as powerful and scary as this one.

There’s a few reasons for that.

For one thing, the streets are clogged

with these endlessly
panicking throngs of civilians

who are just terrified of you,

and the entire story
has the army, the army,

panicking about what
you’re going to do next.

And when you’re engaging enemies,

you’re bombarded with
this terrified chatter.

(helicopter running)

(smashing sounds)

– [Pilot] What the hell was that?

– [Falcon] It’s a game
where you’re basically

playing as The Thing but
instead of being trapped

on an isolated arctic research station,

you’re just in the middle of New York.

Maybe the most obvious demonstration

of just how scared the soldiers are of you

is the accuse ability where
you can target a soldier

and accuse them of being the monster.

It causes everyone nearby
to just immediately panic

and shoot the guy without even thinking.

That’s how scary you are.

Just the idea that someone
is actually you in disguise

is enough to get
everybody terrified enough

to just unload on them with
no recourse whatsoever.

It’s even kind of darkly hilarious

but it does a great job of showing

just how scary your character is in-world.

At number seven is the Halo series.

One of the best things about
the Halo games is the AI.

Every enemy type behaves differently

in response to changing situations
in their own unique way.

Elites will stand their
ground and face you head on.

Jackals tend to keep their distance.

Grunts will vary wildly
depending on the situation.

If a full squad of Covenant come at you,

it’s usually the grunts up front,

but once you take out an elite or two,

they suddenly get a lot less
brave and start panicking

and running around instead
of trying to fight you.

Sometimes they totally break
and try to suicide bomb you

with some energy grenades.

Usually an elite has to be almost dead

for them to go for the grenades,

but grunts are much quicker to give up

and throw their lives away.

It’s a great dynamic that was established

with Halo Combat Evolved
on the original Xbox

and while AI has become a lot smarter

and more reactive in a lot of ways,

the enemy makeup has
basically remained the same

all these years later.

It’s just a testament
to how well it all works

and how entertaining it’s
always been to run around

into a large ground of
Covenant, take out their boss,

and just watch the grunts shatter.

At number six is Middle
Earth: Shadow of War,

heavily inspired by the
Batman Arkham games.

In many ways, the Middle
Earth: Shadow of Blank games

actually expand on the fear
mechanics of the Arkham games

in some pretty interesting ways.

There’s a whole system of
scaring enemies in these games

and it ties into the whole nemesis system,

which is what these games are built on.

Each orc has specific abilities,
strengths, weaknesses,

and depending on how you
exploit those weaknesses,

it’s possible to scare the
living hell out of an orc captain

and just have him run for it.

It’s not just captains
either that get scared,

grunts can be pretty terrified as well.

There’s a special brutality move

that causes any nearby enemies
to just recoil in terror,

giving you the opportunity to attack

and just catching weaker
enemies by surprise

is enough to get ’em to run.

It’s possible to instill so
much fear into a captain,

they’ll just run at the sight of you.

All they have to do is see you

and they would just run for the hills.

That’s how scary you are to these guys.

You’re basically playing a
boogeyman in these games.

There’s so many different options

when it comes to scaring enemies.

At number five is Carrion.

Aside from sounding like a bag
you might bring on a plane,

this game is basically Metroid
crossed with Prototype,

but instead of fighting
monsters, you are the monster.

You’re basically just a
rolling lump of flesh, I guess?

Looking to absorb anything and
everything into your biomass

and it should come as no surprise

that the people in the
secret underground lab

that most of the game takes place in

are just a little scared of ya.

Whenever somebody spots
you, they scream in horror.

A lot of people simply run
away and don’t do anything

when you encounter them, and
the few that do stand up to you

often panic and try to get
away if you get close enough.

That doesn’t mean the game’s easy,

it doesn’t take a lot to kill you

with certain weapons like flame throwers,

but just because some of
your enemies are tougher,

doesn’t mean they’re
any less scared of you.

At number four is the Tomb Raider series,

the rebooted ones specifically.

They might at first seem like

they’re primarily about
torturing Lara Croft

in new and exciting ways and for some,

they probably do fulfill that primarily,

but after a certain point,

you go from the prey to the predator

and the enemies who, at
the start of the game,

didn’t seem all that scared of you,

are suddenly now just
panicking at the mere thought.

There’s a few key moments in the games

where this sort of thing goes down.

In the first game, when
you manage to blow up

the entire Scavenger base,
you get a grenade launcher

and just go to town, the whole
sequence is just pure chaos

and all of the enemies are just panicking

and everything’s just
exploding all around you.

Probably the most memorable
part of the third game,

Shadow of the Tomb Raider,
occurs near the end

where Lara just goes full
Rambo on the Trinity soldiers

that have been hunting you.

It’s like the scene from the
first game but way worse.

These guys do not stand
a chance against you.

It’s kind of hilarious how
much of a killing machine

you become at this point.

It’s almost weird they’re
even trying to stop you.

At number three is Mark of the Ninja,

a game that goes really deep

with it’s fear mechanics, actually.

It may be one of the most
elaborate ones yet too.

So much so that there’s
an entire gameplay style

dedicated to generating
fear in your enemies.

In this case, making enemies scared

is actually a huge gameplay benefit too.

When an enemy’s panicked,

they’re more likely to shoot each other.

They can get spooked,
they can fall off ledges,

and they don’t raise an
alarm, among other things,

so making the bad guys scared in this game

can create some amazing
unscripted moments of chaos

when enough of them are freaking out.

There are a few ways to scare enemies too.

The simplest is to hang their corpses

from posts Batman-style, but
you can also get some equipment

like darts that drug
them or outfits that have

unique fear effects connected to them.

Yeah, there’s a lot goin’ on in this game.

They took the fear mechanics
that were introduced in Batman

and just took ’em to the next level.

The fear powers can even be kinda tricky

to pull off at times, but
they’re so incredibly satisfying,

it’s really a good game.

At number two is Ghost of Tsushima.

Out of all the open world games out there,

Ghost of Tsushima is probably the most fun

to scare enemies in.

As your infamy on the island grows,

you gain new abilities
that have the potential

to scare your Mongol enemies
and cause them to run away.

The best out of all of these

has got to be the ghost stance however.

If you do manage to do enough damage

while avoiding taking a hit,
you’ll charge the ghost meter

and when it’s activated, you
become this unstoppable demon

that the enemy is terrified of, go figure,

and they freeze in terror,
they cower all over the place

when you just calmly walk up to them

and kill them with a brutal take down.

Enemies don’t get a lot
more scared than this.

It’s just incredibly
satisfying to pull off

and probably one of the best
depictions of fear in gaming

all truth told.

And finally at number one is The Darkness.

If you want to play some games
as an unstoppable monster,

it doesn’t get much better
than The Darkness games.

The level of destruction
and terror you can unleash

is almost unmatched, especially
in a first person view.

It’s just incredibly visceral,

and almost every encounter
you’re in devolves

into total chaos as
enemies go from organized

to panicked terror as you
effortlessly manage to shoot them,

slice them up, rip out of their hearts,

generally just do whatever you want.

The second game is more
over the top violent

but I think the first one’s better

about showing how terrified
the guys you fight are

both in the story and from
a gameplay perspective.

The final section of
the first Darkness game

is really perfect for showing

what a terrifying monster you’ve become

as you just effortlessly tear
through the final defenders.

It’s really cool and
it’s an underrated game

that does an excellent
job at showing how scary

a video game protagonist can actually be.

And that’s all for today,
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I’m Falcon, you can follow me
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