Since its first game was released in 2007, the Metal Gear Solid. This is reflected most prominently in the uncompromising depictions of its characters, several of which have become icons of the gaming industry like Link, Kratos, or Lara Croft.
In this classic series, there's no shortage of horrific deeds among enemies and allies alike, and the game's tone often leans into the horror genre when it probes the franchise's more murderous themes. The series' scariest cast are all killers, but each possesses uniquely frightful features that far exceed those of other in-game antagonists.
Rodrigo Borgia
While not as physically intimidating as some of the other names on this list, this Grandmaster of the Templars is a frighteningly powerful enemy. At the height of his influence, Rodrigo Borgia controlled not only an army of Templars across continental Europe, but he also controlled nearly all of Christendom as Pope Alexander VI. Players are introduced to this monster as the man who ordered the execution of Ezio's family and insisted on being present for the moment of their death.
Across Assassin's Creed 2, Borgia is depicted as a fanatic cardinal who believes himself to be a prophet, and his nuanced arc in the game's sequel is part of what ranks it as featuring franchise. Ultimately murdered by his son, Rodrigo Borgia's legacy is one of grave abuses of power, hypocrisy, and indiscriminate murder. Even among the nefarious Templar Order, he was viewed as an irrational and monstrous tyrant responsible for a "Dark Age" within their organization.
Cesare Borgia
The second most powerful man in Italy during the Renaissance, Cesare Borgia is ed as one of the most nefarious of the Templar Order in history. He is one of few Templars in the game's canon who gives little to no fealty to the ancient order and its philosophical ideals, intent solely on increasing his pleasure and influence.
Ruthless and awash in resources, Cesare's ambition only grows with Rodrigo's fall from power, eventually leading him to murder his father. His cunning is unmatched, even tricking a rogue member of the assassins into training his top agents to gain an edge on the Brotherhood. Dropped by Ezio from a castle wall, Cesare is also one of few Assassin's Creed enemies who does not die by an assassin's hidden blade.
Jack The Ripper (Assassin's Creed: Syndicate)
Even before his appearance in Assassin's Creed: Syndicate, Jack the Ripper was a worldwide horror phenomenon -- a grisly tale of Victorian true-crime that has spawned musicals, movies, and television shows alike. The 2015 DLC named for this frightening figure goes beyond the standard scares and gore audiences might expect of such a character and places players in control of this renowned figure.
Jack demonstrates the chilling results of a trained assassin who succumbs to his demons, brutally slaughtering enemies and innocents on his quest for vengeance against Jacob Fyre. He also bears the unique distinction among playable Assassin's Creed characters of being able to kill civilians without causing a checkpoint-resetting desynchronization.
Haytham Kenway (Assassin's Creed 3)
Cold, distant, and with parkour skills to spare, Haytham's ruthless leadership nearly wiped out the entirety of the Brotherhood of Assassins in the colonial United States. Indeed, by the time he was done with the colonies, only Achilles was left alive -- wounded, and only able to tell the tale of the brotherhood's defeat.
His prowess in combat aside, what makes Haytham so scary is his utter disregard for human life and the crystal clarity with which he believes the Templars' twisted code. Indeed, his final words are an expression of regret that he did not murder his son earlier -- a horrifying end to one of the franchise's most frightening antagonists.
Aya of Siwa/Amunet (Assassin's Creed: Origins)
A scholar from the Library of Alexandria, Aya is arguably Assassin's Creed: Origins even has her responsible for Cleopatra's death, making Aya of Siwa -- or Amunet, as she came to call herself -- the only assassin in the series to kill two rulers of historical stature.
She is so skilled in the deadly arts that she helped found the Hidden Ones -- the organization that would become the Brotherhood of Assassins -- and single-handedly ran its Roman headquarters.
George Washington (Assassin's Creed 3)
In a bold narrative direction for the franchise, the three-part DLC for Assassin's Creed 3, The Tyranny of King Washington, explores an alternate history of the United States. In this version of events, the first President becomes seduced by the power of the Apple of Eden and establishes himself as a ruthless despot who rules over the Colonies with godlike power granted to him by a world-shaping Isu artifact.
Though the DLC emphasizes that it occupies a separate timeline, there are eerily authentic overtones of runaway imperialism that the figure of George Washington embodies frighteningly well. In this way, the game masterfully employs the darker side of satire to spin an unnerving cautionary tale against American exceptionalism that's scarier than any campfire story.
Maxwell Roth (Assassin's Creed: Syndicate)
A former circus hand and theater actor, Lee excels in acrobatics and sleight-of-hand, giving him a swift and cunning edge to which few Assassin's Creed antagonists can compare. Even more chilling is Roth's motivation for his brutal crime spree: simply to cause chaos.
For this, he is often compared to Heath Ledger's Joker in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, and this is well-earned. Roth is as menacing as he is unpredictable, carelessly killing any who oppose him -- and some who don't, just because he can. H
Charles Lee
Crass and greasy, Charles Lee succeeds Haytham as the Grand Master of the Colonial Rite of Templars near the conclusion of Assassin's Creed 3. Prior to that, he's depicted as a violently impulsive former soldier who displays extreme brutality particularly toward those weaker than himself. His meteoric rise to power only gives him more outlets through which to vent his untamable rage, turning him into a monstrous man of influence whom even the Templars can barely control.
He eventually gives in to his overwhelmingly violent impulses, committing some of the coldest murders in Assassin's Creed 3. He even goes so far as to threaten genocide against the Kanien'kehá:ka people, and his death at the conclusion of the game's campaign represents one of Connor's most impactful achievements.
Writhing Dead
Assassin's Creed: Odyssey allowed the franchise to explore the mythological roots of its story elliptically referenced across its preceding games. In this, the series could offer players challenges against non-human antagonists who lived at the fringes of history and folklore.
The Writhing Dead -- classically known as Medusa -- is one such enemy, featuring a bone-chilling design with viper fangs protruding from her lips, an ancient headdress of undead serpents, and glowing yellow eyes that ooze a black liquid. The fight with her is easily the most challenging optional battle in the game and reflective of the dynamic open world that makes Assassin's Creed: Odyssey one of the best games in the franchise.
Ezio (Assassin's Creed 2)
Despite being a fan-favorite protagonist of numerous Assassin's Creed titles, Ezio Auditore da Firenze is objectively one of the scariest characters in the franchise. As cunning as he is skillful, the Italian master assassin leaves a long trail of bodies in his wake wherever he goes. Though he is honor-bound to the eponymous assassin's creed and usually finds himself on a palatable side of players' moral com, he is one of history's coldest killers.
He's also frighteningly verbose, with a long list of remarkable quotes filled with wit and philosophical insight that he whispers into his enemies' ears as he leads them into the afterlife.