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A sizable chunk of my formative years were spent watching late night Discovery Channel, so I think it makes sense that I used to be unreasonably terrified of being abducted by aliens. After all, growing up in the presence of (faked) alien autopsies and sensationalist coverage of the Betty and Barney Hill incident is bound to have a few long-term ramifications. However, this irrational fear of extraterrestrials also resulted in a paradoxical fascination with all things UFO-related – especially when it came to videogames.
If it featured a Grey Alien on the box-art, you better believe that I played it and later suffered the consequences (usually in the form of vivid nightmares). Of course, not all alien visits are created equal, and some of these video game moments were more terrifying (and unexpected) than others. And with the Greyhill Incident announcement trailer reminding gamers that they should look up to the skies in dread, we’ve decided to come up with a list celebrating six of the scariest alien encounters in video games.
While not all of these are horror titles, we guarantee that these specific moments of interstellar terror will creep out fellow astrophobics like myself. That being said, we’ll be excluding memorable encounters from games like Dead Space and The Callisto Protocol, as these titles feature human victims warped by extraterrestrial forces instead of actual alien beings.
With that out of the way, don’t forget to comment below with your own favorite (or most dreaded) alien encounters in the video games you’ve played.
Now, onto the list of the scariest alien video games out there…
6. Deus Ex (2000) – Ambushed by a “Gray” in Area 51
Taking place in a dystopic future where nearly every conspiracy theory is real, it’s only natural that Ion Storm’s cyberpunk opus Deus Ex would eventually have players confront the infamous Area 51 and its hostile “Grays.” While these ape-like creatures aren’t necessarily more dangerous than the game’s security robots and chupacabras, players are unlikely to forget the first time that they were ambushed by this bizarre enemy.
However, we’re placing this encounter in last place due to an easy-to-miss Easter Egg suggesting that these “aliens” are in fact genetically-engineered hybrids derived from a mix of bovine and primate DNA, with the creatures being meant to distract the public from the real conspiracies surrounding Dreamland – which kind of sounds like the real life Mirage Men conspiracy.
Of course, in a world inhabited by cyborgs and the literal illuminati, who’s to say that the Grays don’t share a bit of DNA with the interplanetary victims of the Roswell crash?
5. Ecco the Dolphin (1992): Facing the Vortex
You’d be forgiven for thinking that an adventure game called Ecco the Dolphin would be a happy-go-lucky adventure akin to a certain Pixar film, but leave it to the Hungarian developers at Novotrade International to turn what could have been a simple kid’s game into a mind-bending interactive experience that culminates in a surprising bit of cosmic terror.
If you’ve never played Ecco before, the game follows a lone dolphin as he embarks on a quest through time and space in an effort to recover his missing pod members, with our determined protagonist eventually encountering the ancient race of aliens that originally destroyed Atlantis. This absurd journey leads to a horrific climax as Ecco faces off against Giger-inspired extraterrestrials in a thrilling battle for underwater survival.
This sci-fi reveal may come out of left field, but there’s no denying that these porpoise-eating aliens traumatized at least a few unsuspecting 90s kids.
4. Fallout 3 (2008) – The Entirety of the Mothership Zeta DLC
The Fallout games have included close encounters with hostile extraterrestrials as tongue-in-cheek Easter Eggs as far back as 1997. However, it was only with the final DLC for Bethesda’s Fallout 3 that the series actually dove head-first into the terrors of being at the mercy of an advanced race of cruel beings.
Mothership Zeta may have maintained the series’ unique brand of post-apocalyptic humor, but this exaggerated take on alien abductions and human experimentation remains one of the franchise’s most memorable and harrowing experiences, allowing players to explore the titular mothership while being hunted by its Grey-like inhabitants.
It’s a decidedly eerie addition to an already-creepy title, but you’ve got to admit that using VATS to stealthily fire the disintegrator ray on unsuspecting aliens makes for one hell of a good time!
3. Prey (2017) – Jump-Scared by a First-Aid Kit
One of the seventh generation’s most underrated horror titles, Arkane Studios’ Prey features a riveting story boosted by a horrific alien outbreak. Sure, the Typhons don’t look like much in their natural amorphous form, but their preternatural ability to transform into inanimate objects makes them a force to be reckoned with – as well as a constant source of unnerving jump scares.
While these shapeshifting abilities mean that you spend the entire game in a constant state of paranoia, often wasting precious ammo on suspicious-looking chairs and boxes, you’ll never forget the first time you desperately reached for a first-aid kit only to be attacked by angry tentacles.
2. XCOM: Enemy Unknown (2008) – Becoming Part of the Chryssalid’s Life-Cycle
Die-hard genre fans might claim that Firaxis Games’ XCOM reboot isn’t a real horror game, but I’d argue that the title’s commitment to nail-biting tension as you command a squadron of vulnerable soldiers under the constant threat of extraterrestrial permadeath earns it a place among horror royalty.
If you need further proof, just look at the game’s Xenomorph-inspired Chryssalids: alien bio-weapons designed to impregnate fallen soldiers with zombifying embryos that eventually burst into new Chryssalids that repeat the cycle until your whole squad has been turned into hamburger meat.
If that’s not scary, I don’t know what is.
1. Area 51 (2005) – Walking In on a Vivisection
Starring The X-Files’ David Duchovny and diving into a smorgasbord of popular conspiracy theories as players explore underground labs and fight the literal illuminati, Midway’s Area 51 is one of the most underrated shooters of the 2000s. It’s also a legitimately scary game, constantly reminding players that they’re dealing with forces far beyond their comprehension.
A great example of this occurs towards the end of the game, when you stumble upon a group of Greys performing live surgery on a human test subject in a horrific inversion of the classic alien autopsy tape. The only thing you can do is watch in terror as these diminutive monsters rip apart yet another victim willingly donated by a secret organization in an effort to appease these superior beings.
Now that’s horrifying.
