Vampires have been appearing in popular media for over 200 years, with the first bloodsucking fiend taking center stage in John Polidori’s 1819 “The Vampyre”. Since then, the supernatural beings with the need to feed have become a staple addition to any good gothic horror. That is, despite recent iterations causing them to appear more like a sparkly heart-throb than monstrous cannibalistic terror.
With games such as Skyrim and The Sims allowing you to transform your characters into vampires and even woohoo in a coffin, it may appear to some that the blood-sucker’s frightening edge has been lost for good. But don’t be fooled.
With popular series like Resident Evil and The Witcher aiming to bring back the fear for these bloodthirsty beasts, vampires seem well on their way to making a comeback as some of the scariest foes to be faced in modern gaming. As these 10 show:
10 Old School Runescape: Verzik Vitur
In the popular MMORPG Runescape there are many fearsome bosses to test your mettle against, but few are as difficult or fearsome as the head of the Theatre of Blood herself; Verzik Vitur.
Verzik was modeled after Ursula, the sea witch from The Little Mermaid…But more bloodthirsty. Her powers include devastating lightning spells, blood bombs, and the summoning of Nylocas spiders. In her final form, she even becomes an eight-eyed Nylocas hybrid capable of trapping players in webs and attacking the whole room simultaneously with deadly accuracy. Unless you’ve got a few brave friends, I’d avoid this one at all costs.
9 InFamous: Festival Of Blood: Bloody Mary
In Infamous: Festival Of Blood we play the morally ambiguous Cole in an alternate story where after being attacked by vampires he is forced to give blood to the corpse of Bloody Mary, a vampiress who then turns the unsuspecting Cole into a blood-sucker himself.
Bloody Mary was turned by fellow vampire Marco, beginning a relationship with him before his untimely death at the hands of Father Ignatius. She then went on a bloodthirsty spree across Europe killing to gain strength and turn new followers, all before her untimely demise. But now? Newly resurrected by you? Well, let’s just say she’s not going to go down easy the second time.
8 Nosferatu: The Wrath Of Malachi: Foul Beast Vampire
Nosferatu: The Wrath of Malachi is a survival horror that throws no punches. As you play the late party guest that finds their family locked inside the terrifying castle Malachi at the mercy of the Count.
The castle is full of supernatural horrors, but few compare to the terrifying creature lurking at the bottom of the hole in the West Wing. The Foul Beast Vampire appears as a cannibalistic, stitched-together abomination confined to the small pit you drop down into, with little room to avoid its dirty fingernailed swipes and attempts to consume you.
7 Castlevania Symphony Of The Night: Dracula
A game easily ahead of its own time, Castlevania Symphony Of The Night is arguably the best in the franchise. Helped by its incredible gameplay, stunning 2D visuals, and a vampiric story that’s even seen it turned into an award-winning Netflix series.
Its final battle either saw Richter or Alucard, Dracula’s own son, square up against his resurrected father as he turned into the franchises’ most terrifying abomination to date. In this second form, Dracula is depicted as a blue-horned demon capable of shooting fireballs, stomping you to death, and generally just pummelling you into the ground.
6 Darkwatch: Curse Of The West: Lazarus Malkoth
Darkwatch has an interesting history as a unique gothic-inspired, haunted-western where vampiric vampire-hunter Jericho of the Darkwatch battles with his own morality to survive his blood-lust.
Jericho journeys to find the Darkwatchs’ greatest enemy and the vampire that turned him, Lazarus Malkoth–A Roman from 66AD possessed by a demon who went on to become a vampiric monster and leader of the undead army. Lazarus is no sparkly Edward Cullen though, appearing as a winged monstrosity with toothed wings and a skull-laden get-up. Yikes.
5 Nosferatu: The Wrath Of Malachi: Lord Malachi
Where Lazarus Malkoth appears frightening and grotesque, there’s something about the main antagonist Lord Malachi from Nosferatu that is instead wholly unsettling.
When encountering the Lord at the end of the game he appears as a cloaked, long-fingered humanoid not too dissimilar to Orlok from the original 1922 vampiric film of the same name. Malachi teleports and slashes at you with his dagger-like digits until you can catch him in a beam of sunlight, revealing to you his true form as a nightmarish, skeletoid beast.
4 Vampyr: The Red Queen
Easily seen as one of the best Vampire games of all time, Vampyr had you step into the shoes of the bloodsuckers themselves as Jonathan Reid; a Vampyric doctor who looks to find a cure for the city’s flu-ravaged citizens while sating his own appetite for their blood.
You soon realize the cause of the flu striking down London is The Red Queen; An ancient Vampyr that slumbers underneath London waking every few centuries to reign down plagues and calamities. Not only is her blood-licked ancient form unnerving, but players’ fear for her comes from just how hard she is to take down, as she scales her difficulty to your level.
3 The Witcher 3: Alp
There are plenty of powerful creatures within The Witcher trilogy, with one of the creepiest and deadliest being the Alp; A nightmarish member of the vampiric race that usually takes the form of a beautiful red-haired woman.
Alps mainly hunt men, luring the unsuspecting with their charms and beauty and waiting for the opportune moment to noiselessly strike. Once they have a victim, they then feed by using their somniferous saliva to induce sleep and nightmares, sucking prey dry of blood when they are at their most frightened. Shudder.
2 The Witcher 3: Blood And Wine: Dettlaff Van Der Eretein
Blood And Wine is the second and final expansion for The Witcher 3, giving players a new area to explore in the autonomous duchy of Toussaint. While here Geralt stumbles upon Dettlaff Van Der Eretein, a higher-vampire straight from legend and affectionately known as “The Beast of Beauclaire”.
Dettlaff is a fearsome foe; possessing supernatural speed and strength and having the ability to transform himself into a cloud of mist to envelop enemies. However, you later learn Dettlaff has a far more powerful, monstrous form. With it, he grows claws capable of slicing through human bone, alongside bat-like features and appendages that allow him to summon hordes of blood-thirsty bats to his cause. That, and he also just looks damn terrifying.
1 Resident Evil Village: Lady Alcina Dimitrescu
Who hasn’t heard of the infamous Lady Dimitrescu; The extra-tall Resident Evil Village vampiress that’s taken the internet by storm.
When investigating the Lady’s incredible spooky Castle Dimitrescu as protagonist Ethan Winters you constantly find yourself having to evade the imposing Alcina and her three daughters. Lady Dimitrescu spends the game chasing you around the castle slashing you with her claws, at one point even drinking your apparently “stale” blood as her daughters make plans to “feast on your man-flesh”. Lovely.
At the end of the game, you have a final fight against her true ‘monstrous form’ after stabbing her with a poison dagger; all before the Cadou Parasite’s regenerative capabilities, at last, cause her to calcify and die. You still want her to stand on you?
NEXT: Resident Evil: Largest Monsters In The Franchise
