History ThatOneBoss / SurvivalHorror

* In ''Videogame/SilentHill2'', the part at the end of Brookhaven where you have to escape from Pyramid Head becomes this on hard mode. On other difficulties it's so easy that it barely qualifies as a boss, as you can just run to the elevator while he's busy beating up [[EscortMission Maria]]. But now, he kills her in just 3 hits and is way too fast for her to outrun. This forces you to use the extremely counterintuitive strategy of wedging yourself between him and Maria and damaging him enough that he briefly slows down. But if you get a bit too far away and he goes offscreen, he'll [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84XDBvrQCb4 accelerate to impossible speeds]], so you have to inch down the long hallway while repeating the wedging process every few steps - if only Maria was [[ArtificialStupidity clever enough]] to just run away on her own while you have him immobilized. What really rubs salt in the wound is [[spoiler:just how pointless it is, as she gets killed in the cutscene mere seconds later.]]
* ''Videogame/SilentHill3'''s final boss can be a cruel trap for players who were too liberal with their item usage, ''especially'' on hard - not only can the rest of the game be just easy enough to lull you into a false sense of security, but there's a chance that the final "dungeon" will have almost zero resources to pick up, simply because the [[DynamicDifficulty dynamic difficulty]] decides that it doesn't like you. As for the boss herself, she has titanic HP, and the window to melee attack her without losing 80% of your HP in return is extremely tight, resulting in the most painfully slow [[NoDamageRun perfect run]] imaginable. The fight is near impossible without a hefty amount of bullets or healing, save for a glitch that makes her attack harmless at a pixel-perfect spot near her shoulder. The last kicker is that the final bosses of the previous games have a mercy feature, where being out of ammo causes them to eventually die on their own if you survive for a few minutes... but no such kindness here.

* In ''Videogame/ResidentEvil4'', you will eventually come across a fight with two El Gigante enemies. It's possible to drop one into a pool of lava, but this is also a trap: As long as said Gigante is thrashing around in the lava, it will try to [[TakingYouWithMe grab Leon, killing him instantly]]. Unlike previous encounters, there is nothing in the arena to help the player, forcing you to do your best to avoid the monster's highly damaging attacks while slowly whittling away its health.

** ''VideoGame/{{Fatal Frame II|Crimson Butterfly}}'':

** ''VideoGame/{{Fatal Frame III|The Tormented}}'': [[FinalBoss Reika]]. Contrary to Kirie and the Kusabi from the first and second game, who had [[OneHitKill One-Hit Kills]] but were rather slow and had easy to read movements, Reika is the complete opposite. She likes to flit around the field and fly up into the air, which is already difficult to see on its own and good luck trying to avoid her dive-bombing onto you. Her own OneHitKill involves her appearing at some random location near you. And if you aren't looking clearly away from her at this point, she will laugh at your health bar depleting.
** ''VideoGame/{{Fatal Frame IV|Mask of the Lunar Eclipse}}'': The late battles against the Utsuwa (Vessel) and Kanades (Accompanists). The Utsuwa is on her own, but she likes to teleport frequently and attack randomly. So unless you get the Evade function down pat, she'll be hell to fight. The Kanades are worse, though. There are five of them and they team up well; four of them are likely to remain in your field of vision and distract you long enough, so the fifth one can easily attack you from below.

* ''VideoGame/TheEvilWithin'':
** Most of the bosses are this. While they are praised for their designs and implications to what they are, many players don't like them for being {{Damage Sponge}}s, having [[PuzzleBoss obscure weaknesses]], and having one-hit kill attacks that are hard to avoid.
** The [[HellHound Sentinel]] in particular can be counted as this. Although fought in a brightly lit and fairly open area, its speed and size make it nearly impossible to dodge its charge attacks. Unlike the previous battle with [[DualBoss Neun and Zehn]], resources to replenish your stocks are almost nonexistent, so if the player is low on health or ammunition, it can be next to impossible to defeat the boss (he is, thankfully, [[SkippableBoss skippable]]).

** The encounter with the Spotlight creature at the end of "The Assignment" Chapter 1. You need to stay out of its sight for a lengthy period of time while it aggressively stalks you throughout a relatively small chamber. Spotlight is a lot more perceptive compared to the Haunted you've been sneaking past up until now, able to detect you instantly if even the tiniest sliver of your form is caught in its beam, and it is both ''very fast'' and capable of slowing you down by shining its light on you. Death is all but guaranteed if Kidman is spotted here, and certain passageways fill with electrical arcs as the power comes back on, making it even harder to avoid getting eaten.

** [[spoiler: O'Neal]] as the first Harbinger you face is an incredibly difficult boss. Not only is he a BulletSponge that can take dozens of shots to the head even on a lower difficulty but he has a long reaching flamethrower that also results in the arena catching fire. You can use sprinklers to put out the flames but he is methodical in searching the small area you're trapped in. He also sports an incredibly potent melee attack if you get too close.

* In ''Videogame/SilentHill2'', the part at the end of Brookhaven where you have to escape from Pyramid Head becomes this on hard mode. On other difficulties it's so easy that it barely qualifies as a boss, as you can just run to the elevator while he's busy beating up [[EscortMission Maria]]. But now, he kills Maria in just 3 hits and is way too fast for her to outrun. This forces you to use the extremely counterintuitive strategy of wedging yourself between him and Maria and damaging him enough that he briefly slows down. But he'll instantly regain full speed if you get just a little too far away, so you have to inch down the long hallway while repeating the wedging process every few steps - if only Maria was [[ArtificialStupidity clever enough]] to just run away on her own while you have him immobilized. What really rubs salt in the wound is [[spoiler:just how pointless it is, as Maria gets killed in the cutscene mere seconds later.]]

* ''Videogame/SilentHill3'''s final boss can be a cruel trap for players who were too liberal with their item usage, ''especially'' on hard - not only can the rest of the game be just easy enough to lull you into a false sense of security, but there's a chance that the final "dungeon" will have almost zero resources to pick up, simply because the [[DynamicDifficulty dynamic difficulty]] decides that it doesn't like you. As for the boss herself, she has titanic HP, and the window to melee attack her without losing 80% of your HP in return is extremely tight, resulting in the most painfully slow [[NoDamageRun perfect run]] imaginable. The fight is near impossible without a hefty amount of bullets or healing, save for a glitch that makes her attack harmless at a pixel-perfect spot near her shoulder.