The world of Science Fiction is full of cosmic wonder and the exploration of life and planets. It's also a world full of terrifying horrors. Whether it's traveling the vast expanse of space, or facing frightening enemies from other worlds, Science Fiction finds a way to drag you into a realm of fear and suspense.

Most games in Science Fiction aren't necessarily horror games by design. They're mostly action games that let you have a chance against your foe. Despite that, many of these games have moments of tension and fear that can shift the game's tone and encourage caution against the dangers you face.

10 𝓰The Resonance Cascade

The Multi-Dimensional Disaster In Half-Life

Half-Life introduces you to the day-to-day life of Dr. Gordon Freeman in the𝐆 Black Mesa Research Facility; for the first thirty or so minutes, you navigate through the simple procedures, interacting with your science team. Get familiar enough with the world-building around you just in time for things to go horribly wrong, and you'll end up in a nightmare scenario fighting for your life as the facility devolves into complete carnage.

An experiment with the mysterious green crystal results in a dimensional tear between our world and dimension Xen, and the facility is overrun with monstrous creatures from parasitic He⛄adcrabs to massive, clawed tentacles. The Research Facility becomes a bloodbath as you struggle to survive against the new monstrous invaders and witness the horrific deaths of your colleagues.

9 Attack Of Th🐲e Geth

The Grim Introduction Of The Machine Menace In Mass Effect

The story of Mass Effect began when Sheppard and his crew of the Normandy traveled to Eden Prime where a bizarre incident occurred after the discovery of Prothean technology. As you investigate the aftermath of this nightmarish attack, you come across dangerous robotic beings known as the G🐲eth, in the p🐈rocess of impaling captive humans on large metallic spikes.

As you face off these emotionless machines, it's revealed that the impaled bodies of their victims were being transformed by machinery and cyborg parts. Soon the corpses of the innocent people of Eden Prime became Husks, the Geth's mindless tools in their violent attack on the peaceful colony; this harrowing attack kickstarts the plot of Mass Effect as the conflict against the Geth leads to the looming threat of the mysterious Reapers.

8 Encounters 🦄With SA-X ಞ

Evading Samus's Doppelganger Nemesis In Metroid Fusion

Metroid Fusion introduces the X Parasites, cell-like alien monsters that infest their hosts and mimic them with monstrous properties; when Samus became infected by the X Parasites, she was given a special injection of Metroid DNA to survive. However, before she could recover, the X Parasite had absorbed the powers of her suit fragments, so one of Samus's most powerful and feared enemies was born.

Your first few encounters with the SA-X are the most tense moments in Metroid Fusion; heavy footsteps followed by the strong, droning effect of the soundtrack🌄 maintain the dread as you find yourself in the presence of a terrifying imitation of yourself. You can only hide and wait for them to leave or run as fast as you, or else suffer a barra𝓰ge of freeze beams and missiles, and every upgrade you find to your arsenal will help tip the balance piece by piece.

7 Welcome To Rapture 💃

A Gruesome First Impression Of The Sunken City In Bioshock

In the opening scenes of Bioshock, awe and wonder fills you along with the off-putting speech of Andrew Ryan, proclaiming man's right to the fruits of his labor. As you're introduced to the vast reaches of the undersea city of Rapture, you are suddenly an unsuspected witness to a grim🔯, frightening sight.

You witness the madness of Rapture when a Spider Splicer, a human transformed by the mutagenic properties of ADAM, brutally slaughters a normal human as you enter the city of Rapture. After the brutal murder, the Spider Splicer then attacks the Bathysphere, and you're trapped as you helplessly wait for the onslaught to end; after that, the Splicer disappears, leaving you in a dark, empty room, so good luck building the nerve to get out and explore the ruined city.

6 Hell Breaks Loose 🐎

The Demonic Possession Attacks In Doom 3

Compared to other installments of the Doom franchise, Doom 3 was much more horror-centric and not as action-fueled; the model of the game seems to be survival horror, with a lot of dark hallways and hidden monsters waiting to strike you from the darkness. You may have the tools to blast them to kingdom come, but that sometimes doesn't spare you from the occasional jump scare.

Probably the most impactful moment is in the hour or so of Doom 3, with the pacing being similar to Half-Life where you explore the Labs before an experiment goes horribly wrong. Soon flaming demons erupted from a torn portal and the many soldiers and scientists you've become possessed by the demons to attack you as other monstrous beasts started appearing around Mars, bringing devastation across the research labs.

5 Fle✃eing The Necromorphs

Escaping A Horrifying Necromorph Outbreak In Dead Space 2

In Dead Space 2, Isaac wakes up and is freed during a Necromorph outbreak, with his helper literally transform🌞ing in his face. St🍬ill having his arms bound and with no weapon, your only option is to run for your life as Necromorphs appear left and right, lashing out and killing anyone in their wake.

Even after you escape the initial attack and free your hands, it will still be a while before you obtain the plasma cutter, limiting your combat options. Necromorphs will still attack you despite this, forcing you to🅰 run away, try your luck with melee attacks, or get creative with launching items with kinesis.

4 ಌ The Eye Of The Beast

Finding Flashes Of Terror In Iron Lung

In a galaxy where thousওands of planets vanish with𓂃 little explanation, leaving behind moons that harbor mysterious blood-red oceans, you are a convict sent into a rudimentary submarine called the Iron Lung to investigate one of these blood oceans. Your only view of the dark depths is through a camera in which you take images of specific areas.

What's truly terrifying about this is that you are practically navigating blind. Only the camera gives you any semblance of where you are. Ambient noises surround you, the bones of odd creatures litter the sea floor, and this short journey of claustrophobia and thalassophobia culminates in your final photo, the eye of a giant beast that has been swimming with you the entire time.

3 🤡 The Flood Emerges 🐻

The Eerie Lead Up To The Flood In Halo: Combat Evolved

In Halo: Combat Evolved, you spend a decent chunk of the game beating back the Covenant forces; however, once you reach Halo's Cartographer, Cortana informs Master Chief that the Covenant found something terrible and sends the Chief out to Captain Keyes's latest location in a mysterious "weapons cache" he uncovered. What the Spartans found instead changes the face of the war forever and alters the tone of Combat Evolved entirely.

The introduction of the Flood was a beautiful combination of suspense, dread, and a nightmarish payoff; for the first half of the 343 Guilty Spark chapter, you will find fleeing grunts and jackals, abandoned defenses, s♉hadows in the distance of the swamp, and the ravaged corpses of d🦋ead elites. As you enter the mysterious facility, you see broken containment vases, trails of alien blood, a sole marine survivor scared beyond reason, and finally, a cutscene that shows off the most dangerous entity in the galaxy, before you start fighting t🀅hem, then the rest of the chapter has you try to escape them.

2 Escaping The E.M.M.I ꦆ

The Intense Encounters With These In Metroid Dread

In Samus's return in Metroid Dread, she faces off against the X Parasite once more, but a new threat presents itself, one that makes the SA-X mimics seem like child's play. E.M.M.Is are introduced as pursuit enemies that can track Samus down throughout the area, and they are durable and extremely dangerous, so it takes very spe💜cial powerups to be obtained for 𒊎you to defeat them.

The E.M.M.I robots are uncanny in their movements and ruthlessly efficient in navigating corridors, ceilings, and even the tightest caverns that only Samus's morph ball and go through. They can detect Samus through sight and sound and will seek out the source in an almost alien-like effectiveness that'll set you in a panic long before they even pursue you.

1 Discovering The Alien Ne♏st

Enter The Dreadful Nest In Alien: Isolation

Xenomorphs are terrifying by default, but as long as you're a marine with a Pulse Rifle or a Smartgun, that fear is mitigated by the power to protect yourself. This, of course, is why Alien Isolation is the scariest game based in the Alien franchise; you have no ꧃weapons that could kill it and your best chance to survive this hyper-intelligent monster is to hide, use distraction items, or sc♑are it temporarily with a flamethrower.

For most of the campaign, you're dealing with one Xenomorph, which is manageable once you're situated with strategies and ways to avoid it. It isn't until much later that you'll find yourself in the most terrifying place you could be, in a Xenomorph hive full of eggs that will hatch into Face Huggers, and even your motion tracker can't help you track alien movement; even worse, it's possible to be stalked by more than one xenomorph, raising the tension and scares.