The scariest villains EVER

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13 terrifying bastards you'd never want on your trail

Dr. Salvador, hands-down, is the single most terrifying creature we've ever come across in a videogame. Shodan made us paranoid and Pyramid Head kept us glancing over our shoulders, hoping he wouldn't show up, but every time we heard the motor on Sal's chainsaw, we completely lost our shit. Sometimes almost literally.

If you've never played Resident Evil 4, you might wonder exactly what it is that makes Dr. Salvador so horrific. Except for the chainsaw and the bag on his head, he doesn't look so tough, right? But your tune is guaranteed to change when you see what he'll do to you if he gets too close. It's so ridiculously graphic, and so shocking if you're unprepared for it, that we guarantee you'll want to keep him away at all costs (you can see it for yourself in the video below). And that won't be easy, because the guy can soak up bullets like a sponge.

So while Pyramid Head, Shodan and all the others on this list inspired the "ohshitohshitgetawaygetaway" reactions that good horror baddies should, only Dr. Salvador kept us consistently terrified every time he showed up, from the game's beginning to its end. We weren't always afraid he was waiting in the wings watching us, but just hearing him was enough to make our pulses pound. And given how quickly most horror games wear out their scares, that's no small accomplishment.

Jun 13, 2008

Jun 13, 2008

Mikel Reparaz
Mikel Reparaz
After graduating from college in 2000 with a BA in journalism, I worked for five years as a copy editor, page designer and videogame-review columnist at a couple of mid-sized newspapers you've never heard of. My column eventually got me a freelancing gig with GMR magazine, which folded a few months later. I was hired on full-time by GamesRadar in late 2005, and have since been paid actual money to write silly articles about lovable blobs.