Games designed with children as their primary audience tend to be calm and colourful, right? They want to inspire a sense of wonder and adventure, right?? The enemies would never be deliberately fear-inducing… right?!
Well, in certain games, the appearance – or even movements – of some enemies can directly contradict this idea. Quite severely, in fact.
The real terror from these enemies stems not just from their appearance – sudden, or otherwise – but because these games present certain expectations beforehand. Parents buy these types of games for children, because they are deemed fun and appropriate, and for the most part, that holds true.
What may start off as a fun-filled adventure can soon be filled with nightmare-inducing encounters, though. It can lead even the bravest gamer staring at the screen in sheer disbelief, or afterwards, playing a bright and cheerful platformer with a sense of dread.
Of course, fear is subjective, so whilst some may scoff dismissively at these enemies, others may have switched the game off, or even dropped their controller out of sheer fright.
That would be a miscalculation, because how will they escape these enemies now??
