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[BattleBeard]

 Personally, for me, it's about the helplessness of a situation. Maybe you'll see another warrior fall, or the enemy will talk you down in some odd Shakespearian speech. Either way, it makes me afraid to fight the enemy.

What about you?

[GhostBomb]

Hmmmmmm...

I'm trying to think of instances where I've thought, "wow, that guy looks hard to fight".  But I'm coming up blank.

I think it's because I've played too many videogames where really intimidating enemies turn out to be pushovers and enemies that are almost complete jokes in personality and appearance turn out to be insanely tough fighters.  When I see an enemy that's supposed to look intimidating, I usually think "meh".  Especially if it's a AAA game.

Though maybe that's not quite what you're talking about.

[Ashkin]

Try Castlevania? Plenty of huge, screen-filling bosses there. Super-intimidating. The environment could also help- strategic looking points could show that the fight could be long and complex.

[DustyDrake]

I've found Endermen from Minecraft to be pretty intimidating until I get the gear to deal with them.
I think size matters for intimidation. I mean cats attempt themselves up to make themselves look bigger if they're in a fight, and Perfect Chaos from Sonic is also pretty freaking scary at first because Sonic is so small and Chaos is just knocking down buildings like it's nothing.

[Miko Galvez]

Vile was intimidating because

-He was invulnerable and had this big ass armor
-You FELT helpless when fighting him because you GOT to fight him. It wasn't shown in cutscene that you can't beat him, you, as a player and character, literally CANNOT BEAT HIM.
-Later in the game, you battle him but it is shown that he has beaten your superior (Zero)
Holy shit even my buddy can't beat him? How the fuck am I supposed to do that now??

Oh yeah, and the look. Swagger all over the place.

[sodap]

First, you define what makes a normal enemy
Second, any enemy which deviates from that will be intimidating

[kinglake]

Two things for me...

The first is sheer size, i remember playing Lost Planet 2 and against every single boss you immediately felt helpless because they were just so big.

The second, i guess similar, is a smaller environment which i guess might be because it makes the enemy appear larger? But a small environment with little room to move can immediately make a fight feel futile. Think Gurdy (the pile of goop) from Binding Of Isaac, King Dodongo from OOT and Tyrant on Resident Evil 1.

[Claw]

Feeling out of your depth.

What's springing to my mind is Gohma in Zelda: OoT. You know shits gonna go down as the door seals behind you and you find yourself in a giant room, hearing the scuffles on the ceiling - look up of your own free will and see this giant monster staring at you. She drops down to face you, looking pretty pissed and screeching - all the while you realise you are trapped in the the very heart of this hostile hive.

The boss wasn't particularly difficult or anything, but it built it up beautifully, and that fight stands out in my mind as a moment where I thought "oh shit". Man I need to play that game again.

[Manuel Magalhães]

I just beated the second boss from Demon's Souls. It was really intimidating. First of all the guy was huge and it weared armor. Then if that wasn't enough he fires magic beams at you.


(boss starts at 3:34)

[Glyph]

I'd say foreshadowing makes an enemy pretty intimidating. I remember when I was younger and I played Paper Mario, I was scared out of my mind because they said this guy was invincible. I was completely freaking out during the entire chase scene. You could also foreshadow bosses via displays of their strength (shuts off the power, sinks your boat, generally ruins something which all goes to make it look that much more dangerous). Another way to be intimidating is to have an insta-kill attack or just have enemies that are much too difficult for the current area in the game that must be avoided (if it's an RPG). Also, look to other games for some good examples. The basilisks in Dark Souls were widely considered to be extremely dangerous even though they died in 1-2 hits. That's because they had an attack that was worse than death. Also, the Stargirls in Purple were so dangerous because you couldn't kill them unless you had one of the best weapons. And if you didn't kill them, they'd constantly teleport, often right next to you, while you're running through some kind of gauntlet. Think outside of the box for ways to surprise the player or keep them on edge, and you'll have people afraid of your enemies in no time.

[RyanHuggins]

Intimidation, in my opinion, spawns from size and number, as well as variation. When an enemy looks different than what you are used to AND is bigger, your natural reaction is to assume that it will be a more difficult, or at the very least different, enemy. This goes triple if the enemy is larger than you are.

[sodap]

I second the insta-kill attack part. The big fishes that eat you in the Mario Series are pretty intimidating and I actually miss many jumps that I'm used to make, just because that bastard is down there waiting for me.

Mario 3 had a lot of pretty intimidating enemies.

[clockwrk_routine]

In one of the Wizardry games for ps2, they would announce that Death had appeared in the room, and was chasing you, you never knew when he would just show up, or in what direction he was coming from, I think he was a near-instant kill.  Never been so intimidated before.

Also in Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter, there were several tall lanky but fast doll/cow hybrid zombie things, that were tough as nails.  What made several enemies in that game intimidating, was the fact that you had a lot to lose if you were trying to get a good Rank for another playthrough, which called for not permanently saving but using a standby save.

Resident Evil also had that in place - which I think BOF:DQ took from, where you wouldn't get the best rewards if you used your save ribbons.  And that scared the bejeezus out of me because again I had a lot to lose.

Realm of the Mad God, the gods area - again a lot to lose.

think there's a pattern.

[C.D Buckmaster]

One way is to make the enemy represent a large threat, such as a powerful attack, which although it might be easy to dodge, the consequences of not properly avoiding it makes the player act cautious.

Making them have high health also works into this, as it forces the player to direct attention to them early, due to the threat they pose if they should get close enough to attack.

[Miko Galvez]

Also, it should make you feel like you're out of your comfort zone. Forcing you to doing things you're not comfortable doing. Things like in Shadow of the Colossus where you are forced to go around things before actually climbing and stuff

[Muz]

The Moloch in ADOM. There's a point in the game, where you've got a ton of artifacts, can beat most of the 'heroic' enemies, defeat legendary creatures, kill dragons and liches, etc. You get a *THUMP, THUMP* warning when the Moloch is in the same level. He can see invisibility, see in the dark, typical defense mechanisms that the player has late game.

If you ignore the warnings (and why shouldn't you, you've been able to beat all other creatures in the game).. he's just really hard to hit and once he hits you once, you lose around 50 of your 200 hit points. He'll smash doors open easily, unlike other creatures.

There are altars in ADOM where you can sacrifice creatures to instakill almost all them (you can be instakilled by standing on an altar as well). The Moloch just smashes those open. The Moloch's level scales with your own. It doesn't even run after you, it just slowly walks in your direction.

If you somehow manage to kill one, there's still the Greater Moloch to worry about. And the extremely rare Emperor Moloch.


It does have its weaknesses though. The Liches in the game are way more powerful, but the Moloch wins a lot of points for intimidation.

[clockwrk_routine]

that brought up something.  when there's an enemy that's smart enough to open doors, that freaks me out, you should feel safe in another room, because there's a whole loading screen, so the room should only have loaded and the developers should be too lazy to design smart persistent enemies that's the thought, but there's this thing waiting outside the door you learn as they bang on it.  Oh he can open and now you are backed into a corner.  I panic and hyperventilate, being stuck in trapped in small spaces with something with murderous intent.  Ugh

Feeling like the only option is to run and get around the enemy, and being chased, freaks me out also, survival mode kicks in, and you look have to look for cover/higher ground.

being up close to them, as you sneak by.  during hide and seek I use to wet myself uncontrollably when my friend would be passing, and my friend's sister would comment on it and I would just say I was sweating but you can only use that excuse so many times you know, thats why you never play hide and seek with the same crowd twice - golden rule.

[JMStark]

I always thought that the build ups to both the fight with Magus and the fight with Lavos in Chrono Trigger were handled well in this way. Both are hyped up by the narrative, and both are visually presented in an intimidating fashion. Giving the players the opportunity to battle Lavos rather early in the game was a brilliant design decision. The player just isn't ready for that fight in the beginning, and it can be proven to them that they must become far more powerful to face the final boss.

Though, I can't really remember if Lavos was even that difficult. If I recall correctly though, Magus's battle did live up to the hype.

[Razz]

An intimidating enemy needs to make the player feel helpless. There's more too it, but I think this is the foundation of designing intimidating enemies.

Two examples off the top of my head (Both from Nintendo games ):

-Waterwraith from Pikmin 2. Not only can he 1 hit kill your Pikmin, but he is also invincible (Until you get to the final floor). This makes you feel helpless, because you have this big huge enemy that relentlessly pursues you, and you can't do anything about it. Waterwraith actually has a lot more going under the hood from a design perspective that I think is worth an in-depth analysis, but now is not the time. He's a fascinating enemy.
-Dead Hand from Ocarina of Time. The thing about this boss is that he's very easy once you battle him as Adult Link, but the first time you fight him the game pretty much forces you to trap yourself. This really hits home as far as I'm concerned, because the boss is already pretty intimidating looking as is. They didn't have to go the extra mile and do that, but they did. I think this exact design philosophy, creating an emotional response through raw design, is the hidden genius of Miyamoto ... but that's another discussion for another time.

So yeah, helplessness.

[Muz]

Seems to be more hype than hopelessness. Or the illusion that they're undefeatable. If a bunch of characters tell you that you can't beat him.. well, you won't listen to them anyway since they're all lazy buggers. But if the game reinforces that view in-game, you're more inclined to believe it.

Like I thought fighting The Master in Fallout 1 was more intimidating than fighting the final boss of Fallout 2. The Master was much weaker, but he's a legend. You've fought his underlings and they were tough. Fighting the mega-baddie had to be a lot worse.

That guy at the end of Fallout 2.. he was really hard to beat, but heck, he's so underhyped I can't even remember his name. He was just some super-soldier who stood in your way and his armor wasn't that cool either. Your critical hits barely scratched him and so was piling up all the firepower from your friends. By right, you should feel helpless. But he just appeared to be a lot of hitpoints.. a wall you could hack through given time.