There is something about facing down a creature that’s double, triple, or even dozens of times the player’s size and not backing down but digging in one’s heels to stand tall that’s romantic and terrifying in equal measure.
Giant Creatures in games are not an anomaly, and there are tons of open-world titles that incorporate them in their game world, but the ones that manage to do them justice are rare. Still, thegaming landscape is vast, and there are great titles of every variety for those who are willing to look.
The very first game that pops into the head when talking about giant creatures is usually Bethesda’sThe Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim. As soon as players exit the character creation screen, they’re treated to the sight of Alduin, the Worldeater, crash-landing the execution and indirectly saving their life from the chopping block. Dragons are thebiggest creatures inSkyrim, but there are some other contenders as well.
Giants can be found in Giant Camps and serve as a nearly insurmountable wall in the early game, with their ability to send the player into the stratosphere with a single club smash. Mammoths that roam alongside them are also huge. In Dwemer dungeons, players will find large dwarven automatons like the Dwarven Centurion that stand heads taller than the player andcan easily pancake the Dragonbornat lower levels.
The creatures inWitcher 3might not be as large as some of the other games on this list, but there are some strong contenders. Starting from theGriffin that attacks Geralt and Vesemirduring the tutorial section, players are directly introduced to large monsters they’ll encounter throughout the journey.
Leshens and Fiends are perhaps the largest in terms of sheer size, but Golems and Elementals can give them a run for their money when it comes to sheer presence. Trolls are nearly always peaceful creatures, though they can turn hostile in certain situations. There are also Werewolves and Ice Giants, though their presence is limited to certain side quests. The DLCs introduce even more giant creatures like the Cyclops that appear during the starting section as Geralt is approaching Toussaint.
For fans ofDragon’s Dogma,Dragon’s Dogma 2is a faithful sequel that incorporates all the large monsters from the first game and adds more.Fighting giant creatures is very much the core part of theDD2experience, and there is a lot of thought put into how these encounters typically go. Unlike a lot of other games where players just stand near the monster’s feet and swing their sword or axe until it falls down,DD2lets players and pawns climb on the back of the behemoths to deal damage, incorporating a level of interactivity that’s rare to see.
The giant creatures inDragon’s Dogma 2include Ogres, Minotaurs, Cyclops, Griffins, Drakes, Chimeras, and, of course, Dragons. There are also unique enemy types, like the Medusa and the Sphinx, that fall into the large creature category.
Horizon: Zero Dawnwas already no slouch when it came to monster variety. Starting from smaller machines like Burrowers and taking it all the way to Thunderjaws, dinosaur-like gigantic machines.Horizon: Forbidden Westtakes all the machines from the first game andadds more variety to the pool, giving Aloy even more massive machines to take down.
Tiderippers live near the water and are the game’s version of the lochness monster, rising from the depths. Tremortusks are large behemoths of lumbering metal in the shape of elephants. And that’s just the start. There are Slaughterspines, Dreadwings, Slitherfangs, Rockbreakers, and more throughout the game world.
Elden Ringis filled with enemies, big and small, that are more than ready to put the Tarnished in the dirt, given half the opportunity. The very first ‘giant’ creature players will likely see in the game are the Trolls just before reaching Stormveil Castle. The Golem Warriors and Archers seem like a hundred-foot-tall statues that move.Wandering Mausoleumsmight not technically be targetable, but they are creatures that move in the over-world semi-autonomously and give the same larger-than-life feeling as the giants inShadow of the Colossus.
Additionally, nearly all bosses are on the large side and give players the feeling of facing down something much bigger than themselves. The biggest creature inElden Ringthat players can actually fight is the Fire Giant, whose feet are nearly as large as the Tarnished’s body. Even the final boss in the game, the Elden Beast, is a larger-than-life alien creature that overshadows the player as they approach him. In theShadow of the Erdtree, FromSoftware alsointroduced Furnace Golems, giant bucketmen on fire that roam the open world in the Shadow Realm.
No open-world game puts as much focus on giant creatures asShadow of the Colossus, and it stands apart from the rest of the titles on this list due to this singular focus. The gameplay experience entirely revolves aroundfinding and defeating gigantic titanshundreds of feet tall and bringing them down low. If there was ever a game that depicted David and Goliath, it’s this one. To drive the point even further home, the rest of the world is empty, hauntingly so, and the Colossi are the only enemies in the entire game.
Each encounter is a puzzle that needs to be solved that sees players climbing on these creatures' backs and taking them down by attacking their weak spots. All while keeping a death grip on the handholds as the Colossi tries to throw them off at every opportunity.Shadow of the Colossusremains the gold standard for giant creature battles, perfectly blending atmosphere, scale, and emotional weight in a way that few other games have matched.
