Summary
Like many classic horror monsters, the overexposureof werewolves hasleft many numb to their fright factor, with some areas of the internet going so far as to look at the beasts with desire rather than fear.
Essentially being walking lumps of muscles with a wolf’s head, werewolves by design struggle to be anything other than simply physically imposing. There are a handful of game devs out there, however, who have managed to inject some terror back into the monsters, creating creature features that actually feel scary. Whether it be in their design or their behavior, the werewolves below earn their classic status.
Genre
Survival Horror
A product of hunting simsand gothic horror, Gua’sWitch Huntsees players hunting dark beasts of legend in the woods surrounding the 18th-century town of Bellville. Refusing to hold their hands, players are left on their own to figure out the behaviors and locations of monsters ranging from zombies to, of course, werewolves.
The Beast, one of the game’s earlier hunts, is a werewolf in everything but name, featuring the classic design horror fans have come to know and love. What makes the Beast scary is its hit-and-run tactics. While pursuing the monster, players will catch glimpses of it speeding through the grass before it leaps out of nowhere to attack them. Its unpredictability and the player’s inability to keep eyes on it make the Beast a walking - or bounding - jumpscare.
Jonny’s GamesFear the Moonrecontextualizes the werewolf by placing the monster ina survival horrorsetting. Assuming the role of Jane, players find themselves trapped in theWolfman’sterritory after their stereotypical horror camping trip goes wrong.
While navigating traditional survival horror mechanics like puzzles and scavenging for tools, the player will be pursued by the Wolfman - a towering rendition of the classic werewolf - through the forest and down dark corridors. The claustrophobic nature of the latter, like any horror game, is truly pulse-pounding as players are prevented from easy escape.
The Order 1886places players in an alternate version of London that is infested with werewolf-like monsters. Assuming the role of a member of the Knights of the Round Table, an organization tasked with protecting humanity from supernatural threats, players will come face to face with these Lycans numerous times.
Coming in two varieties: mindless, more traditional-looking soldiers and the smarter bipedal Eldars, it is the latter that stands out as the scariest. Though more humanoid in appearance than their lesser counterparts, Eldars' similarities to humans work only to make them seem more uncanny and disturbing.
Thewerewolvesin Kalisto’sclassic horror hackand slash game,Nightmare Creatures, look like demented versions of Wile E Coyote. Tall, lanky, white-eyed with a rib cage that is practically visible -Nightmare Creatureswas one of the first - if notthefirst - video games to make a werewolf’s design genuinely unsettling.
Though they’re a common enemy the player will have to beat multiple times, the impact of the werewolf’s emaciated design never really wears off throughout the game’s runtime.
A modern reincarnation ofNightmare Creatures, FromSoftware’s cult classicBloodborneplaces players in the Victorian city of Yharnam while it is infested with the beast plague - a disease turning its inhabitants into nightmarish monsters.
Naturally, with such a heavy gothic influence, players will come across numerous werewolf-like monsters called Scourge Beasts. Gangly-limbed and glowing-eyed interpretations of werewolves, these monsters, though common, are a consistently unsettling presence withinBloodborne. Players will also come across a number of similarly designed monsters in the form of the game’s bosses, including the likes of Vicar Amelia and the Blood Starved Beast.
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlinestransports players to a version of L.A. that is run by an underworld of monsters. Though the game is moreconcerned with vampires, as the title suggests, it does feature a number ofwerewolves.
On paper, the werewolves ofBloodlinesdon’t sound particularly scary, as, besides their massive size, they don’t deviate much from the classic werewolf formula. However, like other entries on this list, inBloodlines,it’s all about context and situation. When players come across a werewolf for the first time inGriffith Park,they’re met with a towering mass of muscle that they can’t even seem to scratch, leaving them with one option: run. No matter its design, a behemoth likeBloodlines’werewolf chasing the player is bound to be scary. Adding to the terror is that, in some instances, the werewolf is able to break through walls - a feature not really seen until that point in the game.
The Quarryleaves players guessing about what exactly is chasing them for some time. When the monsters are finally revealed, players couldn’t be blamed if they mixed them up with Supermassive’s other monstrous antagonists, the WendigosfromUntil Dawn.
Tall and mostly humanoid in appearance, bar their slightly wolfish appearance, werewolf definitely isn’t what comes to mind when first looking atTheQuarry’s monsters. The unique interpretation of the monster is a choice that left fans divided, with some appreciating its deviation from traditional designs and others thinking it was too unlike the source material. No matter one’s feelings about the design, the werewolves are still a frightening threat throughout the entirety of the game.
Resident Evil Village’s choice to pull from gothic horror andEuropean folklore ledto the creation of a number of modernized designs for classic monsters. Vampires, for example, ranged in the game from shambling husks to a full-blown kaiju. Among this roster, of course, are werewolves - orLycans- whose most common variations resemble jacked, bestial versions of zombies.
The Lycans alone were enough to shake upResident Evil’s typical canon fodder, but Capcom took it a step further with the inclusion of theVarcolac. Furry four-legged monsters with an elongated human jaw rather than a wolf’s head, these uncanny abominations are the stuff of nightmares. An evolution of the human-hybrid designs of werewolves that have become popularized in media, Varcolacs are perhaps the most unique werewolves players have seen so far.
