"it's like seeing someone on twitter using your face as their profile picture" is such an underrated line it's something I just like, y'know accepted and ignored the first time I watched this video and I'm only just realising just how many polygon fans i've seen with pat gill profile pics
Not knowing anything about the resident evil games before 4 I was fairly certain Mr. X was going to turn out to be a misunderstood gentle giant at some point, but it never happened
"Hearing the sound of your footsteps, but you're not the one making them" is perhaps the best description I've read on why SA-X is so terrifying to me.
Didn't even mention the Worst inevitable monster in gaming. The Abominable Snow Monster from Ski Free. Fear: 5. He was scary the first time you saw him. You dread him forever after. Also, you were 8 and everything was scary. Danger. 5. He eats you and you lose. Persistence. 5. He comes. He always comes.
I managed to glitch past him TWICE in a row by hitting a jump just as he was about to get me and my friend and I were in the middle of screaming victory when he just showed right up again and got me XD
The best thing about Mr. X is that he gets very slightly faster and more aggressive if you shoot off his fedora. He likes that hat. The second best thing is the "X gonna give it to you" meme.
The guards in Oblivion. When they "stop, you violated the law" my blood freezes. And they always find you. And they shout at me when I steal stuff and I don't like it
"imagine a wasp doing that thing wasps do, where they fly directly at your face, but it's screaming a full-grown human man scream" i've never been more grateful for my aphantasia.
sad to see my best friend pyramid head lampooned so. i hear your reasons and you're not wrong, but it's still sad to see my Very Cool Pal Pyramid Head read for the lukewarm antagonist he is
The Xenomorph not getting a 5 in fear is a miscarriage of justice. It’s physically excruciatingly hard for me not to look away from the screen when it appears.
I think that part of it might be that from an outside perspective, the Xenomorph is actually somewhat aesthetically pleasing (symmetrical! nice and shiny! big head!), whereas melted Michael Chiklis is possibly one of the worst things I've seen in my life. Though I can imagine if you've played the game, the Xenomorph is much more terrifying.
I want you to know that as soon as you started talking about Alien, my cat, Ripley, turned to look directly at me, especially creepy by the appearance of your cat at the exact same time.
How in the heck does Nemesis outrank the Alien? The Alien is a one-shot kill, can't be affected by most weapons, the weapons that do affect it have barely any impact (it's not going to de-aggro you and barely gives you any time to breathe), and those weapons have really scarce ammo. Literally your best weapon against the Alien is to just pray there's some human NPCs nearby for the Alien to distract itself with so you can complete menial task #47C.
@@359339 It abruptly comes out of vents above, beside, and beneath you, and sometimes pulls you into them to do awful things to your body, so, it's got the same element covered.
Not to mention the fact that the weapons that temporarily remove the Alien out of the equation (temporary as in an unknowable number of seconds) only make it more aggressive in its pursuit once it reemerges, so even the choice to forcefully ward it off is something you need to take into consideration.
Patrick Gill is the most everyday blessing you can hope to receive. When Unravled comes out it's a sparkly theater of laughs and tears. When Patrick makes a video, it's a morning coffee perfeclty brewed while listenting to that only professor you really like. An everyday joy
The Danglerfish from _Kirby's Epic Yarn_ ---------------------------------------------------------------- *Danger (5):* If you get hit, you lose some of your collected beads! I don't know what happens when you lose ALL of them, but I get nightmares just thinking about it... *Fear(5):* Many youtubers agree that the level "Deep Dive Deep is a very dark and mysterious level." The psychological horror of the abyss is punctuated by a gut-wrenching chase segment, where Kirby is pursued by a Lovecraftian toothy fish (quite possibly a metaphor for Kirby's gluttony) that takes up 1/4th of the whole screen! *Persistence(5):* Just when you think the Danglerfish is defeated, he appears once more in the same level! Swimming almost 5% faster! Once the level is complete, the remainder of _Kirby's Epic Yarn_ takes on a whole new level of psychological torment, knowing that the Danglerfish could reappear at any given moment.
"Beware I live!" Brought out something primal in me. I remember the first time i heard it and 6 year old me ran straight to my mother who must've been extremely confused and concerned.
Ah, Polygon. Providing me with entertainment in such hard times, reminding me of my deepest, darkest nightmares and my irrational fear of eyes on hands.
2:39 When I was like, 5 years old, I got one of those bootleg discs that came with a bunch of weird games and Sinistar was a part of it. When I heard that voice I sprinted to my parents' bedroom and started crying... I'm impressed I still remember that day
Nemesis isn't really that bad unless you always waste your ammo. He's easy to beat, and he barely shows up compared to Mr. X. I'd say the best one on the list is the Alien.
@@muddy3074 Yeah he only follows you in the first hour or so, then he is mostly just a boss fight character. Mr.X felt more of presence compared to Nemesis and Jack but I do agree, Mr.X was pretty easy to avoid since he just saunters over to you
1. The “green demon” from Mario 64(when you open a box for a 1 up and try to collect all the red coins before it catches you) Max danger: as soon as it touches you, you lose the challenge and have to restart the level Low fear: looks pretty friendly actually Max persistence: will literally never stop chasing you with relentless speed
Yes I just commented a similar thing about the shadow Mario from Super Mario 3D Land! Not physically that scary if you were just looking at it, but max danger and persistence, which more than made up for it's fairly tame appearance. Plus there would always be the little intro of it running towards you before the level started, would really freak me out
Really? No one's gonna talk about the Creulla's henchmen from 102 Dalmatians on ps1??? Six year old me got so scared when they chased me I would shut the game off and make my brother deal with them when he got home from school. Truly, they are horror icons.
There's actually one place where Pyramid Head isn't a scripted event: in a labyrinth near it's "lair" where you can get it's weapon. It's still slow as hell, but treated like a normal, unkillable enemy.
I remember hearing from a different video about how these types of things are scary because they instinctively remind us of how our ancient ancestors would hunt. Literally walking prey to death because we had such crazy endurance compared to them.
Reaper Leviatan from Subnautica Fear: 4 - not very scary looking but the jumpscares are way too scary Danger: 5 - you're basically dead Persistance: 4 - If you don't know his territory you'll be scared every time you hear something
Persistence is a tricky one for the Reaper Leviathan. They don't actually chase you very far, BUT they're massive and very fast and control huge territories. Definitely 5/5 on Danger and Fear, though. Fun fact: if you can hear their roaring, that means they've found you.
The headless statues from A Hat In Time. Are they constant? No, they only activate when you're near them. But are they chasing and unstoppable!? Yes! And they're faster than you! And they just start out looking like normal statues! They're terrifying, I had no idea what it was the first time I activated it and it scared me senseless!
@@8Kazuja8 If they were a reference to the doctor who ones they would only move when you look away, but they move constantly and activate if you are in a certain viscinity for too long. When I first activated one it was not within my view, it ran into vision and killed me in moments. I think it fits the spirit of the list because it is an invincible enemy that chases you like most on this list.
I have always hated the feeling of being chased, and as a kid was the worst at video games because they hit that spot in my brain. So, of course, did the game of tag and people who jump out at you in haunted houses. I feel oddly vindicated by this video, though, hearing someone else discuss the fear of being chased in a gentle, lilting voice.
Love the video essay spoof at 5:00 . So many of them have that exact inflection and that exact type of first-draft level writing. I'm convinced they make some of these gamer essay channels in a factory
12:30 "its the feeling that one unavoidable setback could suddenly make your life much much harder" ahhh, exactly like the American healthcare system. Now i understand this fear perfectly
my ranking: Fear - 4-5 The whole chapter with Jeff was (for me at least) intensely stressful. Jeff himself is decently imposing, as a larger, smellier, and faster headcrab zombie. He can't see and is very predictable, so if he hung around for any longer than he did, the fear would probably start to wear off. But the main fear factor of Jeff comes from the environment. There are glass bottles everywhere which are really helpful, but also can shatter, attracting Jeff to your position. Also the encounters with Jeff are mostly in very close quarters, needing you to sneak past him mere feet apart. (I never got killed by Jeff but If I did, I think I would fear him less) Edit: also the whole thing is in VR so that amplifies the fear a bunch Danger - 2-3 You don't loose that much progress when killed by him, and he is super easy to control; even when he is running right at you, you aren't necessarily going to die as you can just throw a bottle behind him and he'll turn the other way, however the game does force you to get very close to him at times, and the has several glass bottle booby traps set up in lockers and such which can be pretty dangerous. Persistence - 4 Jeff is only in one chapter of the game, so that definitely strikes him down a bit, but throughout that chapter, he is omnipresent and usually an imminent threat. Even (and especially) when you can't see or hear him, he feels like a threat to your life. There is almost no point in the whole chapter where you feel safe from him, and no points where you feel safe while not being able to see him.
I liked the use of Bold Action as a tension building accompaniment to some of the action on screen, but it really only served as a personal reminder that I haven't seen a Jon Bois video in a while. Good content regardless, Pat
HELL YEAH SA-X ! when I saw the title of this video it was the first thing I thought of. I didn't actually think it would be on the list though! My first ever experice with a persistence character
I feel like the Xenomorph isn't scary to me anymore when watching videos because I LOVE its design to bits, but actually _playing_ the game makes it THE MOST TERRIFYING THING I'VE SEEN.
Daniel Hergert it’s also super satisfying when you realize the purple Pikmin are it’s weakness and now it’s running from you. I love that role reversal it’s so satisfying.
me: :(
polygon: may i offer you a pat gill in this trying time?
me: :)
I read this at first as 'a pat pill'.
Polygon, please, I need my medication
@@fetterkeks2796 a pat pill perhaps?
"it's like seeing someone on twitter using your face as their profile picture" is such an underrated line it's something I just like, y'know accepted and ignored the first time I watched this video and I'm only just realising just how many polygon fans i've seen with pat gill profile pics
The best thing about Mr. X and Nemesis is that they're wearing clothes sized for them. It was someone's job at Umbrella to tailor their suits.
That also means that they were born with these clothes or had to wear it. So we can imagine Mr. X putting correctly his fedora on his head.
more like XXXL trash bag for Nemesis
Not knowing anything about the resident evil games before 4 I was fairly certain Mr. X was going to turn out to be a misunderstood gentle giant at some point, but it never happened
@@arthurdavaze1575 that mental image is incomplete if he doesn't tip it
@@juanjuri6127 He only tips when he tries to approach Claire. With a grunt that looks like a "m'lady".
Pat's casual "hey charles" to his producer is cleansing. Give Charles a raise and by raise I mean treat.
Pat nonchalantly addressing his cat Charles the same way I'd talk to my roommate Charles is everything
"Hearing the sound of your footsteps, but you're not the one making them" is perhaps the best description I've read on why SA-X is so terrifying to me.
Didn't even mention the Worst inevitable monster in gaming. The Abominable Snow Monster from Ski Free.
Fear: 5. He was scary the first time you saw him. You dread him forever after. Also, you were 8 and everything was scary.
Danger. 5. He eats you and you lose.
Persistence. 5. He comes. He always comes.
Thanks for letting me know. I stopped watching.
he is BURNED INTO MY BRAIN and i have not played ski free since i was 6 years old using win98
Thomas Williams | It is the inevitability of death personified.
xkcd.com/667/
Relevant XKCD
I managed to glitch past him TWICE in a row by hitting a jump just as he was about to get me and my friend and I were in the middle of screaming victory when he just showed right up again and got me XD
The best thing about Mr. X is that he gets very slightly faster and more aggressive if you shoot off his fedora.
He likes that hat.
The second best thing is the "X gonna give it to you" meme.
The real unstoppable monster was the friends we made along the way
underrated comment 2020
I'm going to defeat you with the power of friendship and this unstoppable monster I found.
Anyone else really feel it when Pattick said, "I'm tired."
I was really hoping he’d be rating them based on form, funk, and fance
no, you're thinking about brian
@@kalibalsaeid9137 BDG has that sort of clout but if you ever watched Gill and Gilbert you'd get to see Pat exuding the same energy at the same level
@@coquina8819 Pat does a lot of writing for Unravelled! They're a ridiculous team
@@stephlrideout I didn't know, that's cool! honestly they're fantastic together :^)
@@coquina8819 yeah! There's one Unravelled where you can hear Pat say "that's a horrible line and I'm sorry for writing it" lol
The guards in Oblivion. When they "stop, you violated the law" my blood freezes. And they always find you. And they shout at me when I steal stuff and I don't like it
"nasty lunch meat man wrapped in trash bags" is a sentence i never want to hear again
Sounds like a RL boss I had at somewhere I used to work.
unless its from griffin mcelroy's mouth
@@Ren-zi5zl but not with his voice
Tbh that's just what I call my cat when he commits his Cat Crimes ™️
Every once in a while i think of Pat saying "Remember wasps?" or "rip to a short king" and i have to come back to this video
new theory: everyone at polygon except simone can play banjo
She's a beast on the jug though
Where did this come from? Did I warp timeline? Did I shatter the sub-partial neogranular-continuum?
Banjo's side B wrecks my shit
owning a banjo is not the same as knowing how to play it.
I know all too well.
donov25 i trust in pat
"imagine a wasp doing that thing wasps do, where they fly directly at your face, but it's screaming a full-grown human man scream"
i've never been more grateful for my aphantasia.
2:07 "remember wasps?" tbh I've been inside in quarantine for so long that Actually, I'm Not Sure I Do
It's for the best, really.
I saw one in my front yard today and it was a surreal experience
I've played enough animal crossing to completely rekindle my fear of wasps
"Wasps are dipshits." -- Pat Gill, We Fought A Zoo episode 6
For a moment I thought he meant W.A.S.Ps
8:22 is this Charles’s Polygon debut? Love that old man 💖
haha I know he's been in Please Retweet at least which goes back a ways
ps im still scared of you, to all the monsters who chased me before
I believe it's "all the monsters whomst've chased me"
I don't remember that Fall Out Boy song
don’t forget the upcoming sequel, “always and forever, mr. x”
I love that when Pat describes muscles too enthusiastically, he unconsciously dips into a Vince McMahon impression
the way pat said "living rent-free in your head" with unbreakable calm is my villain origin story
4:03 “the bits where he chases you are too dry” *immediately shows clip of wet hallway*
This has all been an extended metaphor about the crushing anxiety that comes with a for-profit healthcare system.
Comrade Pat
The REAL non-ceasing underlying threat is capitalism
Yeah, hard agree
@@LoL12kricki Capitalism only works when we do, and right now there's over six million comrades sitting at home
Or capitalism generally
"Because a lot of times the things that scare us, aren't the things that can hurt us."
- Pat just casually dishing out a universal truth.
sad to see my best friend pyramid head lampooned so. i hear your reasons and you're not wrong, but it's still sad to see my Very Cool Pal Pyramid Head read for the lukewarm antagonist he is
It's only because he's the zaddy of baddies, we all know what list he *really* tops
@@carniceiraa y'all need to stop.
"You know you're safe until you hear Godsmack playing again" ain't that the truth
"This is a game where you can rewind time so its pretty low stakes.Then again you do face a larger than average chance of hearing godsmack." I'm dead.
"Crank that shit up, baby."
The Xenomorph not getting a 5 in fear is a miscarriage of justice. It’s physically excruciatingly hard for me not to look away from the screen when it appears.
I think that part of it might be that from an outside perspective, the Xenomorph is actually somewhat aesthetically pleasing (symmetrical! nice and shiny! big head!), whereas melted Michael Chiklis is possibly one of the worst things I've seen in my life. Though I can imagine if you've played the game, the Xenomorph is much more terrifying.
what if pat was evil and ran torwards you at very high speeds
don't
*shivers*
I would turn around & outstretch my arms to him
I could see him Naruto running down a hallway menacingly
pov: you are sonic the hedgehog from the hit motion picture sonic the hedgehog (2020)
before I clicked on this I literally said "I really hope this is pat gill"
thank you :)
Same :D
Omg me too
I’m kinda loving the style of:
Polygon People Talk to you From Home
I know it sounds weird, but I enjoy the homier feeling.
Is that just me?
I read homier as hornier and while I'm disappointed at my childish brain, I cannot say that either interpretation is wrong
@@rogue-taxidermy_griffin Polygon at this point is just built on the horny tears of bisexuals
Yeah, I kinda dig it too. It's does give me a feeling of "we're all in this together"
Slimy Boi Enigma Like the video Brian did of Octopath Travelers
His cat even guested too
no i feel that,,, it makes me feel kind of seen? like yeah these guys are at home too. pat's got his cat and a banjo. it's gonna be fine.
I want you to know that as soon as you started talking about Alien, my cat, Ripley, turned to look directly at me, especially creepy by the appearance of your cat at the exact same time.
10:37 "Jack Baker is just dadbod mr. X" finally, the good good hot takes I come to these videos for
I loved the +.5 for imagined racism because it's not wrong
How in the heck does Nemesis outrank the Alien? The Alien is a one-shot kill, can't be affected by most weapons, the weapons that do affect it have barely any impact (it's not going to de-aggro you and barely gives you any time to breathe), and those weapons have really scarce ammo.
Literally your best weapon against the Alien is to just pray there's some human NPCs nearby for the Alien to distract itself with so you can complete menial task #47C.
Does the Alien bust through walls?
@@359339 I mean, it will rip open the locker door you were hiding in because it heard you breathing
But does alien have Godsmack?
@@359339 It abruptly comes out of vents above, beside, and beneath you, and sometimes pulls you into them to do awful things to your body, so, it's got the same element covered.
Not to mention the fact that the weapons that temporarily remove the Alien out of the equation (temporary as in an unknowable number of seconds) only make it more aggressive in its pursuit once it reemerges, so even the choice to forcefully ward it off is something you need to take into consideration.
8:25 I got jump scared when Charles The Cat shows up.
*Final Scores*
*Fear- 5*
*Danger- 4*
*Persistence- 5*
He's pretty dang scary.
SAME
Scrolled to this comment because I knew someone else had to have seen it
"And I start looking around my apartment for things to sell" made me tear up, Pat. Too real!
I love the unbreakable millennial energy of Polygon content
Patrick Gill is the most everyday blessing you can hope to receive.
When Unravled comes out it's a sparkly theater of laughs and tears.
When Patrick makes a video, it's a morning coffee perfeclty brewed while listenting to that only professor you really like. An everyday joy
"How do you feel when you look at the monster? "
Mr. X:
Me: Arousal
On the one hand, quarantine is clearly hitting you hard.
On the other hand, X gonna give it to you.
xenomorph
@@TheGrinningViking good one lol
@@mozarteanchaos The Xenomorph is scary and sexy for many deeply related reasons.
It's the fedora isnt it?
this video has charles and PISS! it is basically a pizza suplex twitch stream and we love it for that
Charles just showed up to raise my serotonin levels to the max and then immediately left
"the scariest thing is scarcity"
*looks at my toilet paper*
The Danglerfish from _Kirby's Epic Yarn_
----------------------------------------------------------------
*Danger (5):* If you get hit, you lose some of your collected beads! I don't know what happens when you lose ALL of them, but I get nightmares just thinking about it...
*Fear(5):* Many youtubers agree that the level "Deep Dive Deep is a very dark and mysterious level." The psychological horror of the abyss is punctuated by a gut-wrenching chase segment, where Kirby is pursued by a Lovecraftian toothy fish (quite possibly a metaphor for Kirby's gluttony) that takes up 1/4th of the whole screen!
*Persistence(5):* Just when you think the Danglerfish is defeated, he appears once more in the same level! Swimming almost 5% faster! Once the level is complete, the remainder of _Kirby's Epic Yarn_ takes on a whole new level of psychological torment, knowing that the Danglerfish could reappear at any given moment.
I remember that he’s terrifying
Eh
The yeti from that old skiing game is still living rent-free inside my head
Ski Free!
"Beware I live!" Brought out something primal in me. I remember the first time i heard it and 6 year old me ran straight to my mother who must've been extremely confused and concerned.
There are an unnerving number of people scarred by Sinistar in the comments
"Nemesis is like Mr. X if he didn't set properly before baking."
Oh, Pat. Please marry me Pat.
Ah, Polygon. Providing me with entertainment in such hard times, reminding me of my deepest, darkest nightmares and my irrational fear of eyes on hands.
LSD Dream Emulator's Gray Man is inarguably the most terrifying occurrence of this trope, he turns a weird game into a constantly tense one.
2:39 When I was like, 5 years old, I got one of those bootleg discs that came with a bunch of weird games and Sinistar was a part of it. When I heard that voice I sprinted to my parents' bedroom and started crying... I'm impressed I still remember that day
the amount of joy given to me by pat when he says words is quite substantial
I can't believe Charles didn't get a credit for his... cameow
I'll show myself out.
You'll show yourself out, then back in, and then back out...
Nemesis isn't really that bad unless you always waste your ammo. He's easy to beat, and he barely shows up compared to Mr. X.
I'd say the best one on the list is the Alien.
Aeiou Mnjwpykt yeah I enjoyed the remake but nemesis himself was a let down he’s way better in the original
Also I could’ve sworn Jack Baker barley follows you in re7
@@muddy3074 Yeah he only follows you in the first hour or so, then he is mostly just a boss fight character. Mr.X felt more of presence compared to Nemesis and Jack but I do agree, Mr.X was pretty easy to avoid since he just saunters over to you
Plus Nemesis gives you a party favor when you knock him down, so very sweet of him
Can't believe Pat didn't give *the* example of similar characters: Dennis the Hitman from The Spongebob SquarePants Movie.
TRUE
Also as a more genuine missed example, the shadow Mario in super Mario 3D land, that dude freaked me out
Im gonna be real, when I saw Mr. X i immediately thought of Snapcube and that "Where'd she Go?" Bit
"Almost cracking up because you are talking about Godsmack" is the single most universal emotion out there.
Getting pretty complacent about lobster threat now that you're out of Maine, eh Pat?
Nothing will stop Mr X from asking for your overdue library books
Mr. X has the energy of your dad stomping down the hallway towards your room when you know exactly what you've done wrong.
1. The “green demon” from Mario 64(when you open a box for a 1 up and try to collect all the red coins before it catches you)
Max danger: as soon as it touches you, you lose the challenge and have to restart the level
Low fear: looks pretty friendly actually
Max persistence: will literally never stop chasing you with relentless speed
I immediately thought of this when I started this video lol
I've literally never heard of this and now desperately want to find an N64 to do it.
4.5 persistence; it sometimes gets stuck on a wall
Yes I just commented a similar thing about the shadow Mario from Super Mario 3D Land! Not physically that scary if you were just looking at it, but max danger and persistence, which more than made up for it's fairly tame appearance. Plus there would always be the little intro of it running towards you before the level started, would really freak me out
This series is so good! It’s got just as good writing as unraveled but more chill and less spreadsheets
Pfft, I get chased by monsters all the time, I just call them responsibilities.
You’re not wrong...
Fear: 5
Danger: depends
Persistence: ∞
Really? No one's gonna talk about the Creulla's henchmen from 102 Dalmatians on ps1??? Six year old me got so scared when they chased me I would shut the game off and make my brother deal with them when he got home from school. Truly, they are horror icons.
shout out to SA-X, the scariest thing on this whole list
For real. Those chases were pure, sphincter-clenching adrenaline.
There's actually one place where Pyramid Head isn't a scripted event: in a labyrinth near it's "lair" where you can get it's weapon. It's still slow as hell, but treated like a normal, unkillable enemy.
pat looks so cozy! i love it!
I wish this was titled “To all the monsters who’ve chased me before”
Thanks Pat! I love the take on scarcity. I'm only a brave hero in Dark Souls when I have no souls to lose.
Pretty neat that Pat plays banjo! Always fun to see another banjo player around, even more so when it's an objectively cool dude we all love very much
imagine walking down the street normally and you start hearing Godsmack playing directly in your head from nowhere :(
No God, please no.
I remember hearing from a different video about how these types of things are scary because they instinctively remind us of how our ancient ancestors would hunt. Literally walking prey to death because we had such crazy endurance compared to them.
Mm interesting, its scary bc it is somewhat relatable and realistic
But what about the yeti from SkiFree
Press F when facing it.
I'M NOT KIDDING. Pressing "F" makes you go faster in the game, I swear by my life!
Woah it’s smokemon man
Reaper Leviatan from Subnautica
Fear: 4 - not very scary looking but the jumpscares are way too scary
Danger: 5 - you're basically dead
Persistance: 4 - If you don't know his territory you'll be scared every time you hear something
Persistence is a tricky one for the Reaper Leviathan. They don't actually chase you very far, BUT they're massive and very fast and control huge territories.
Definitely 5/5 on Danger and Fear, though. Fun fact: if you can hear their roaring, that means they've found you.
I legit quit subnautica and never intend to play it again because of that thing
The headless statues from A Hat In Time.
Are they constant? No, they only activate when you're near them.
But are they chasing and unstoppable!? Yes! And they're faster than you! And they just start out looking like normal statues! They're terrifying, I had no idea what it was the first time I activated it and it scared me senseless!
@@8Kazuja8 If they were a reference to the doctor who ones they would only move when you look away, but they move constantly and activate if you are in a certain viscinity for too long. When I first activated one it was not within my view, it ran into vision and killed me in moments. I think it fits the spirit of the list because it is an invincible enemy that chases you like most on this list.
Queen Vanessa would be a good fit for the list if she wasn't a one level wonder.
the inclusion of the “PISS!!!” clip in this video nearly took me out
I have always hated the feeling of being chased, and as a kid was the worst at video games because they hit that spot in my brain. So, of course, did the game of tag and people who jump out at you in haunted houses.
I feel oddly vindicated by this video, though, hearing someone else discuss the fear of being chased in a gentle, lilting voice.
Love the video essay spoof at 5:00 . So many of them have that exact inflection and that exact type of first-draft level writing. I'm convinced they make some of these gamer essay channels in a factory
12:30 "its the feeling that one unavoidable setback could suddenly make your life much much harder"
ahhh, exactly like the American healthcare system. Now i understand this fear perfectly
"Remember wasps?" They haunt my trees as I unknowingly shake how could I forget.
Jeff from Half-Life: Alyx is the newest edition to the terrifying unstoppable monster squad.
my ranking:
Fear - 4-5 The whole chapter with Jeff was (for me at least) intensely stressful. Jeff himself is decently imposing, as a larger, smellier, and faster headcrab zombie. He can't see and is very predictable, so if he hung around for any longer than he did, the fear would probably start to wear off. But the main fear factor of Jeff comes from the environment. There are glass bottles everywhere which are really helpful, but also can shatter, attracting Jeff to your position. Also the encounters with Jeff are mostly in very close quarters, needing you to sneak past him mere feet apart. (I never got killed by Jeff but If I did, I think I would fear him less)
Edit: also the whole thing is in VR so that amplifies the fear a bunch
Danger - 2-3 You don't loose that much progress when killed by him, and he is super easy to control; even when he is running right at you, you aren't necessarily going to die as you can just throw a bottle behind him and he'll turn the other way, however the game does force you to get very close to him at times, and the has several glass bottle booby traps set up in lockers and such which can be pretty dangerous.
Persistence - 4 Jeff is only in one chapter of the game, so that definitely strikes him down a bit, but throughout that chapter, he is omnipresent and usually an imminent threat. Even (and especially) when you can't see or hear him, he feels like a threat to your life. There is almost no point in the whole chapter where you feel safe from him, and no points where you feel safe while not being able to see him.
I don't know anything about Half-Life: Alyx so I'm just gonna assume the Jeff in it is the same one from that well-known creepypasta.
Genuinely love cats with proper human names. YOU ROCK, CHARLES!
that ever happen to you.... Gamers?
I like to imagine Pat pausing in the middle of a bunch of different and awkward situations to say hi to Charles when he walks up.
I'm just gonna say it. The thing that chases you in Temple Run is by far the best
News are getting worse and worse, day after day. Watching this again to feel a little bit better. Pat Gill is too precious, thank you.
I stopped everything to watch this, I've missed Pat so much
"[Scissorman] got the same energy as that toddler with a knife"
Isn't both of them literally that?
Patrick i'm begging you, please PLEASE play that banjo in the back
I liked the use of Bold Action as a tension building accompaniment to some of the action on screen, but it really only served as a personal reminder that I haven't seen a Jon Bois video in a while. Good content regardless, Pat
HELL YEAH SA-X ! when I saw the title of this video it was the first thing I thought of. I didn't actually think it would be on the list though! My first ever experice with a persistence character
8:17 The cat appearing into frame as you discussed Alien legitimately scared me.
1:15 Pat is about to wage his own personal war against the lobsters.
Thank god you mentioned Alien; I’d forgotten the absolute horror of “sitting in place until threat leaves” the game.
Pat! Bring back gill and gilbert! :DDDD
AGREED
I SECOND THIS
Hands down best Polygon video because it contains Charlie
The Sun from Mario 3, full marks across the board
you have no idea how happy i got once i saw pat's cat walk into the camera view
I feel like the Xenomorph isn't scary to me anymore when watching videos because I LOVE its design to bits, but actually _playing_ the game makes it THE MOST TERRIFYING THING I'VE SEEN.
Thank you for making that final section evergreen. You went high, and I felt that. ❤
my addition to this list would be the waterwraith from pikmin 2. he's only in one dungeon but he was too much for me as a kid.
also, since you have to watch him MURDER YOUR PIKMIN it adss to the "what you have to lose" scare factor.
Daniel Hergert it’s also super satisfying when you realize the purple Pikmin are it’s weakness and now it’s running from you. I love that role reversal it’s so satisfying.
The true gift of this video is the knowledge that Pat has a cat named Charles.