History StarfishAliens / VideoGames

* ''VideoGame/EliteDangerous'' has the Thargoids, a race of ammonia-based hyperspace-dwelling biomechanical hive-minded beings. It's unclear where the Thargoids themselves end and their flower-shaped ships begin. They have many different forms and constructs, including the aforemention giant flower-shaped ship-bodies, as well as a drones of various shapes and living hive-ships. Their life cycle involves seeding planets with "barnacle" growths and, recently, they have begun to establish 5-kilometer-tall "Spire" sites involving colossal organic towers and bramble-like undergrowth, patrolled by floating turtle-like wardens. It is still unknown what exactly a "Thargoid" even is and how all of the different forms and constructs relate to one another. They do not communicate directly with humans and it's unclear what their goals are or where exactly they come from.

** [[OlympusMons Eternatus]] from ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'' verges on EldritchAbomination territory. [[spoiler:It's a big (in fact, it's the biggest of all Pokémon so far) [[DraconicAbomination crystalline dragon]] that crashed into the Galar region 20000 years ago and is responsible for the [[MakeMyMonsterGrow Dynamax phenomenon]]. [[WellIntentionedExtremist Chairman Rose]] [[EvilIsNotAToy finds out the hard way that trying to use it to generate electricity is a bad idea]].]]

* ''VideoGame/EliteDangerous'' has the Thargoids, a race of ammonia-based hyperspace-dwelling biomechanical hive-minded beings. It's unclear where the Thargoids and and their flower-shaped ships begin. They have many different forms and constructs, including the aforemention giant flower-shaped ship-bodies, as well as a drones of various shapes and living hive-ships. They do not communicate directly with humans and it's unclear what their goals are or where exactly they come from.

* The Cocytans from the 1995 adventure game ''VideoGame/TheDig'', which look like the 9 feet offspring of a ''rooster'' and a ''llama''.

** Generation V brings us Kyurem, which has a legend centered around it that states that it fell from space in a meteorite some time in the distant past. According to the story, it [[NightmareFuel actively hunts humans on a regular basis, even snatching them from their own homes in the night]], which is ''not'' common behavior for a Pokémon.

** [[OlympusMons Eternatus]] from ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'' verges on EldritchAbomination territory. [[spoiler:It's a big (in fact, it's the biggest of all Pokémon so far) crystalline dragon that crashed into the Galar region 20000 years ago and is responsible for the [[MakeMyMonsterGrow Dynamax phenomenon]]. [[WellIntentionedExtremist Chairman Rose]] [[EvilIsNotAToy finds out the hard way that trying to use it to generate electricity is a bad idea]].]]

** The Combine Advisors, which look like giant brown-grey larvas the size of a van. The only exterior feature seems to be a small 'face' in the front that is nothing more than a mouth from which they can extend a long tentacle tongue, which they jam into the brains of captured humans, possibly to read their memories. Otherwise, they move and interact with their environment purely by telekinesis.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/5064485_orig.jpg]]

* After being only a background entity in the ''Franchise/{{Nasuverse}}'' since their introduction in ''Literature/AngelNotes'', ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'' finally gives us ORT, [[UltimateLifeForm the Ultimate One of the Oort Cloud]]. Encountered in the seventh of the titular locations of the game's second story arc, "Cosmos in the Lostbelt", ORT is possibly ''the'' most alien entity encountered in the game - it is a {{Kaiju}} with a crystalline body, its body plan matches no life form on Earth, and it apparently runs on nuclear fusion. The closest analogue anyone on Earth can compare it to is a GiantSpider in body shape, but even that turns out to a gross simplification because its "body" is just a mutable projection from its actual body, which is the "halo"/abdomen that in turn is actually closer to a sentient UFO. ORT is completely incapable of communicating with life on Earth, which contributes heavily to how alien it is - even other Ultimate Ones have found that HumanityIsInfectious, but ORT is unaffected because it can't comprehend human nature. [[spoiler:It took multiple outside influences before even a ''part'' of ORT gained humanity in the form of its own disembodied core/heart becoming a goddess through worship, and even she (Kukulkhan) has a very ''odd'' way of seeing the world.]]

* After being only a background entity in the ''Franchise/{{Nasuverse}}'' since their introduction in ''Literature/AngelNotes'', ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'' finally gives us ORT, [[UltimateLifeForm the Ultimate One of the Oort Cloud]]. Encounter in the seventh of the titular locations of the game's second story arc, "Cosmos in the Lostbelt", ORT is possibly ''the'' most alien entity encountered in the game - it is a {{Kaiju}} with a crystalline body, its body plan matches no life form on Earth, and it apparently runs on nuclear fusion. The closest analogue anyone on Earth can compare it to is a GiantSpider in body shape, but even that turns out to a gross simplification because its "body" is just a mutable projection from its actual body, which is the "halo"/abdomen that in turn is actually closer to a sentient UFO. ORT is completely incapable of communicating with life on Earth, which contributes heavily to how alien it is - even other Ultimate Ones have found that HumanityIsInfectious, but ORT is unaffected be cause it can't comprehend human nature. [[spoiler:It took multiple outside influences before even a ''part'' of ORT gained humanity in the form of its own disembodied core/heart becoming a goddess through worship, and even she (Kukulkhan) has a very ''odd'' way of seeing the world.]]

* After being only a background entity in the ''Franchise/{{Nasuverse}}'' since their introduction in ''Literature/AngelNotes'', ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'' finally gives us ORT, [[UltimateLifeForm the Ultimate One of the Oort Cloud]]. Encounter in the seventh of the titular locations of the game's second story arc, "Cosmos in the Lostbelt", ORT is possibly ''the'' most alien entity encountered in the game - it is a {{Kaiju}} with a crystalline body, its body plan matches no life form on Earth, and it apparently runs on nuclear fusion. ORT is completely incapable of communicating with life on Earth, which contributes heavily to how alien it is - even other Ultimate Ones have found that HumanktyIsInfectious, but ORT is unaffected be cause it can't comprehend human nature.

** Deoxys, who is not only explicitly stated to be an alien, but who lacks a mouth, nose, has tentacles, shapeshifts, and is shown in the movie it stars in to communicate via pulses of light from a crystal which acts as its brain.
*** Also, it's believed that it has evolved from a virus that [[{{Panspermia}} came to earth inside a meteor]].

** ''VideoGame/XCOM2'' piles on the crazy. While many of the returning aliens from previous games look more "human" thanks to LegoGenetics enhancements with human DNA, the new creatures range from the weird to the plain-[[NightmareFuel nightmarish]]. The Faceless Ones are {{Voluntary Shapeshifter}}s whose true forms resemble 12-foot-tall piles of semisolid clay and claws in a barely humanoid posture. The Codex is an evolution of the Outsiders from ''Enemy Unknown'', an EnergyBeing created out of ADVENT computer systems that can teleport and [[AsteroidsMonster duplicate itself]] whenever it's hit. Finally, the Gatekeeper, a successor to the Cyberdisc, is an unsettling, psionic mass of flesh and tentacles encased in a spherical shell, which has the capacity to revive enemy units en-masse.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'' has the Oocca, a bizarre race of beings with small chicken-like bodies, egg-shaped heads with UncannyValley-ish human faces, and chest feathers that look like {{Multiboobage}}. And the babies appear to be flying eggs with human faces. They're highly intelligent--they created the [[http://www.zeldawiki.org/City_in_the_Sky City in the Sky]], advanced technology like the [[http://www.zeldawiki.org/Sky_Cannon Sky Cannon]] and the [[http://www.zeldawiki.org/Dominion_Rod Dominion Rod]], their own StarfishLanguage, and apparently even the entire country of Hyrule. They're said to be closer to the gods than the Hylians themselves.

* Pretty much every creature in ''VideoGame/TheEternalCylinder'' counts. To give an example, the playable race, the Trebhum, are best described as [[{{Cephalothorax}} a trunked head on a pair of legs]], [[EvolutionPowerUp mutate into different forms with unique abilites]] [[PowerUpFood depending on what they eat]], [[NoBiologicalSex don't have a biological gender until they reach adulthood]], and possess a HiveMind that allows them to share experiences and survive beyond death. All that being said, though, the Trebhum still have a relatable psychology.

** The Engineers/Huragok, who resemble large pink tentacled slugs that float above the ground using two gas-bags. Their tentacles have the ability to split into millions of thread-like cilia, which they use to fix or build just about anything. The Engineer [[BizarreAlienReproduction equivalent of sex]] is a couple (sometimes even a trio) working together to ''actually build their child''. Their psychology is a little strange too. They don't seem to care if they're helping the humans or the Covenant, so long as they have something to fix. Indeed, they weren't even produced by natural selection, originating as basically [[OrganicTechnology biological robots]] built by the Forerunners.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'' has the Oocca, a bizarre race of beings with small chicken-like bodies, egg-shaped heads with UncannyValley-ish human faces, and chest feathers that look like {{Multiboobage}}. Not to mention the babies, which appear to be flying eggs with human faces. They're highly intelligent--they created the [[http://www.zeldawiki.org/City_in_the_Sky City in the Sky]], advanced technology like the [[http://www.zeldawiki.org/Sky_Cannon Sky Cannon]] and the [[http://www.zeldawiki.org/Dominion_Rod Dominion Rod]], their own StarfishLanguage, and apparently even the entire country of Hyrule. They're said to be closer to the gods than the Hylians themselves.

** The Ultra Beasts from ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'' are extra-dimensional creatures stranded in our world. Compared to the designs of most other Pokemon - most of whom are recognizably based off of Earth life in some capacity - they stand out as supremely alien. Many of them lack eyes, and some, like Celesteela, forego limbs all together in favour of alternate methods of locomotion. Special mention goes to Xurkitree, which resembles the bastard child of a neuron and a bundle of fiber-optic cable.

** While most of the aliens in ''VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog'' appear to be vertebrates, Doom's Eye is a floating purple starfish with one eye that [[BigBad Black Doom]] uses to communicate with Shadow. Basically. The Black Arms' spawn are also tiny slug babies, and Black Bull looks more like a one-eyed grub meets Clefairy from Pokemon. There are also massive hints that the aliens are [[spoiler:BeePeople with a HiveMind, especially when Black Doom tries and fails to control Shadow with his mind.]]

* The various aliens in ''Videogame/{{Destiny}}'' are differing degrees of strange and alien, but the [[MechanicalLifeform Vex]] are probably the strangest once you begin digging into them. Outwardly, they look like a species of advanced, time-traveling, networked humanoid machines. However, the core of the Vex is a white, milky fluid of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiolaria radiolaria]] cells stored in their torsos. This organic, liquid "mind-core" is the Vex's "brain" and stores all of the information relating to each Vex's purpose, and forms an integral part of the interface between the mechanical bodies and the time-and-space-spanning Vex network. Furthermore, direct exposure to the organic particles in the mind-cores can be dangerous, with the radiolarian cells infecting and transforming people who come into contact with it and turning parts of their bodies and minds into Vex constructs.

* ''VideoGame/PerfectDark'', opposite the benevolent Maians, aka TheGreys, has the evil Skedar, which are squid-like Starfish Aliens, although equipped with anthropomorphic PoweredArmor.