10 of the most no-good, upsetting frogs in gaming—from Dark Souls nightmares to Larian's amphibious freaks

Games10 of the most no-good, upsetting frogs in gaming—from Dark Souls nightmares to Larian’s amphibious freaksWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

(Image credit: FromSoftware (Design Works Artbook))

An image of the Basilisk from Dark Souls� Design Works artbook.

Frogs (the animal) have become an indie darling in the past couple of years—as our former features producer Nat Clayton pointed out last year,people like ‘em. They’re round, they’re cute, they’re inFrog Detective, what’s not to like? A lot.

Secondly, a frog can be upsetting even if it’s not physically repulsive to look at, either through its game mechanics or the moral fibre of its being. Some tick all three boxes, others only tick one or two. All of them are terrible. With that aside: welcome to my psychic prison-zoo. It’s bad here.

The Basilisk (Dark Souls, Elden Ring)

(Image credit: FromSoftware / BonfireVN on YouTube.)

An image of the Basilisk from Dark Souls, a horrific, froglike creature with a set of bulbous fake eyes.

These guys are the first and most obvious choice when one asks themselves: ‘What video game frogs haunt my nightmares?’

Consider the basilisk. Upsetting, bulbous eyes that are a mere facade for the beady pin-pricks below them. A maw of razor-sharp teeth. In the place of a humble croak, the basilisk instead spews petrifying fog that will curse you dead. They represent both a physical and a psychic danger.

Part of it’s their typical introduction in Dark Souls—you’re trudging through a dark sewer, when you suddenly plunge through a hole in the ground. A trio of the buggers are upon you in moments: Completely alien, breathing mist with a cryptic status bar, swarming you in an enclosed space—immediately memorable, objectively awful.

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals

Oggdo Bogdo (Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Fallen Order)

(Image credit: Respawn Entertainment)

An image of Cal Kestis being attacked by Oggdo Boggdo, Star War’s worst frog.

Oggdo Bogdo is an accursed bastard that wields the soulslike genre’s most hated mechanic: the grapple. Shockingly fast for something that looks like it weighs 5 tons, Oggdo Bogdo’s first appearance in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is just a little too early for you to handle, but it’s not even the worst version of this hellbeast. No, that comes from the game’s sequel.

While its initial cameo is frustrating, it’s manageable—Cal’s a touch more mobile in Survivor, and he has a wider range of tools to deal with the cad. You get a poncho for your efforts and it’s a good time. Then you go back to town and there’s a force tear waiting for you. You enter it out of curiosity.

You find two of them.Two of them.

Yes, they still have the insta-kill grab attack. Yes, they’re just as aggressive. No, there’s basically no reason why you should fight them this early, but youcan.And you will, because you want to punish yourself.

I stuck around and bashed my head against the wall of the Oggdo Bogdo duo simply because it was there. I needed to prove that I could overcome this nightmare from the deep—and I did, though I’m certain part of my soul was devoured along the way.

The Addled Frog (Baldur’s Gate 3)

(Image credit: Larian Studios)

The Addled Frog from Baldur’s Gate 3, a creature who can completely decimate your party if unprepared, despite just looking like a normal frog.

This thing was so upsetting that Larian Studios commissioned awhole animation around its accursed existence. Physically, there’s nothing wrong with it—the studio just has a fascination with making random animals capable of extreme violence.

While you can talk to this creature after you’ve dealt with the local hag, doing so beforehand will likely cause you to come to blows with it. It has an attack called venomous discharge that deals a bunch of poison damage in an AoE, and it starts combat with Mirror Image. What’s more, it bounces the first ranged attack you make against it back at its assailant.

It’s not actuallythathard to kill, seeing as you can just fire AoE spells at it, but you’re unlikely to have many of those to-hand in the early game. What’s most upsetting about this creature is the innocent guise it inhabits—you go in expecting a pleasant little chat with a hoppy fella, then end up scrambling to chug healing potions while it punishes you for your hubris.

Frogger (Frogger: The Great Quest)

(Image credit: Konami / SnapCube on YouTube.)

An image of Frogger from Frogger: The Great Quest looking suspect, his eyes rolled into the back of his head, as if he were to speak tongues.

Now we’re cooking with (toxic, swamp) gas. Frogger is one of gaming’s simplest icons—he’s a little frog, he hops across the road, that’s it. But for some reason the eldritch minds at Papa Yeti Studio decided he needed an adventure-platformer reboot in 2001.

The problem is, Frogger acts with all the naive optimism of Spyro despite having the proportions of a small man, and he’s kind of a creep, too. Frogger’s entire quest is to, and I quote, “Find a Princess before [he] busts.” I’m not making that up, this is well-documented.

In fairness, this is because Frogger wants to become a Prince. Perhaps I’m being too harsh on him—maybe frogs are relegated to a lower social caste, and he simply wants to experience some upward mobility. Maybe he wants to abolish the monarchy once he’s there. None of that excuses the fairy frogmother that shows up immediately after his wish, though.

(Image credit: Konami)

An image of a terrible, no-good frog fairy from Frogger: The Great Quest with upsettingly human lips.

I don’t know if she has Frogger’s same moral corruption of the spirit, I just… I don’t like looking at her. It’s the lips, maybe? Moving on.

Crazy Frog (Crazy Frog Racer, Crazy Frog Racer 2)

(Image credit: Neko Entertainment)

An image of Crazy Frog used for Crazy Frog Racer on the PS2, his wide, open mouth drawn into an unsettling grimace.

I remember Crazy Frog (A.K.A The Annoying Thing). I remember how he lingered on early-to-mid 2000s flash websites like a plague. I remember how he haunted the radio, how his imprisoned babbling warbled from the Nokia phone. Did you know they made a racing game based around him? Did you know they madetwo of them?Here’s some 12-year old gameplay courtesy of YouTube channelGXZ95.

You could play as a host of characters from the CFEU (the Crazy Frog Extended Universe), such as The Annoying Thing, Flash, Drone, and The Annoying Thing but with a fishing hat this time. Bobo is there. He’s a ninja monkey with banana nunchucks. Who are any of these people?

The Gigantoad (Final Fantasy 14)

(Image credit: Square Enix)

The upsetting visage of a Gigantoad from Final Fantasy 14, a froglike creature with malice in its heart.

Buzz (Spyro 3, the original one)

(Image credit: Insomniac Games / Thegamerwalkthroughs on YouTube.)

An image of Buzz, a cursed frog rabbit creature, with his rows of sharp teeth on display.

I liked Toys for Bob’s character redesigns for theSpyro Reignited Trilogy. They’re cute, colourful, well-animated, and they made the adult dragons dilfs for some reason. But they massacred my boy Buzz—in that they made him visually appealing. Those of us who played the game on the PS1 remember his true form.

The result of arcane sorceries that turned an innocent rabbit into a monster, this unpleasant, crunchy nugget of a being’s idle animations made it look like he was undulating. He had a row of razor-sharp teeth that never shut, and he could survive dips in lava—which is around 700-1,000 degrees Celsius on average.

This means that Buzz could probably live on the surface of the planet Venus, which is about 465 degrees Celsius—and probably where this hell-sent spawn belongs. Shoot him into space.

The Toad Prince (The Witcher 3)

(Image credit: CD Projekt Red)

An image of the Toad “Prince” from The Witcher 3: Hearts of Stone, a hideous creature with a mouth that opens in three places.

This cur has all the hallmarks of an absolutely awful frog-like boss—annoying acid spit, frustratingly fast stomps that knock you back, an absurd amount of health—and he can attack you with his tongue.

It’s just occurred to me now that the frog/toad’s tongue gives game developers a licence to make a boss that’s slow, but attacks fast. For instance: imagine if you were fighting a golem in a game, but a little compartment in its chest opened and a guy with a whip started snapping at you. That’s how frogs in games work, and it’s always terrible.

The Demon of Song (Dark Souls 2)

(Image credit: FromSoftware (Dark Souls 2 Design Works art book))

An image of the Demon of Song from Dark Souls 2, as featured in the Dark Souls 2 Design Works art book.

Dark Souls 2 dared to ask: you know the frog Mario suit from Super Mario Bros. 3? What if it was like that, but utterly horrible. Also it has the voice of an angel.

Then you get there and it’s some big creep in a frog suit. It even cowers inside its stolen flesh as a living shield. Then it picks you up with its mouth and freakily long man-arms and slams you into the ground again, and again, and again, until the words ‘You Died’ are a relief.

Granted, I don’t remember the boss itself being much harder than the rest of the game’s rogues’ gallery, but there’s something sad about dealing with a bunch of mages, clawing your way towards a beautiful voice, then finding out it’s a failed singer-songwriter crammed into an amphibian like a skinsuit.

Amphibians (Divinity: Original Sin 2)

(Image credit: Larian Studios)

An amphibian from Divinity: Original Sin 2, a froglike creature lurking in the shadows of a cave.

Larian: We need to talk about your frogs, because this is twice you’ve made a terrifying early-game frog encounter in your game’s first Act.

The issue with these guys is less to do with their specific design and more to do with the way Divinity: Original Sin 2’s first act is structured. Iwent into that in some more detailrecently, but the short version is that Fort Joy has a bunch of deadly fights that are easy to stumble into when you’re under-levelled. This is one of them.

TOPICSFromSoftware

TOPICS

More about gamesElden Ring: Nightreign is getting a closed network test, and I’m totally not fuming because PC players aren’t invited to the party, or anythingHow to feed pegasus in Disney Dreamlight ValleyLatestThe best part of Marvel Rivals Season 1 is Mister Fantastic’s obnoxiously fun chest-bump attack and his ridiculously OP kitSee more latest►

More about games

Elden Ring: Nightreign is getting a closed network test, and I’m totally not fuming because PC players aren’t invited to the party, or anythingHow to feed pegasus in Disney Dreamlight Valley

Nightreign knight holds his fist in menacing fashion

Elden Ring: Nightreign is getting a closed network test, and I’m totally not fuming because PC players aren’t invited to the party, or anything

A players character and a winged horse in Mythopia in Disney Dreamlight Valley

How to feed pegasus in Disney Dreamlight Valley

LatestThe best part of Marvel Rivals Season 1 is Mister Fantastic’s obnoxiously fun chest-bump attack and his ridiculously OP kitSee more latest►

Latest

The best part of Marvel Rivals Season 1 is Mister Fantastic’s obnoxiously fun chest-bump attack and his ridiculously OP kit

Mister Fantastic mid ultimate

The best part of Marvel Rivals Season 1 is Mister Fantastic’s obnoxiously fun chest-bump attack and his ridiculously OP kit

See more latest►

Most Popular

‘It’s simply impossible to make a difficulty level that’s just right for all players’: How Final Fantasy 14’s lead battle designer has been playing a precarious balancing game for Dawntrail’s dungeons and raids

Please join me in getting super excited for all the cool looking survival games coming in 2025 (and beyond)

Competitive shooters are at a crucial crossroads in 2025: ‘sweaty’ teamplay vs. casual fun

Call of Duty’s $28 Squid Game skins are the perfect crossover for our capitalist dystopia, and Activision knows exactly what it’s doing

These are the 14 biggest upcoming RPGs of 2025—get ready for another amazing year for the genre

Five new Steam games you probably missed (January 6, 2025)

I’ve seen enough: No more forcing singleplayer studios to make mediocre live service games

6 games that could be bigger hits than you’re expecting in 2025

What are your 2025 gaming resolutions?

The FBI put a $5 million bounty on the ‘Cryptoqueen’ last year but still hasn’t found her, so take your pick: Russia, South Africa, or murdered on a yacht in 2018

HARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review: An anarchic treasure trove of jokes and skits2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review—like juggling chainsaws on horseback3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review4Ikea Utespelare desk review5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

HARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS

1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads

A bunch of the best Steam Deck accessories on a blue background.

1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads

Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads

2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop

Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop

3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most

Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most

4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands

Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands

5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested

Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested

1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review: An anarchic treasure trove of jokes and skits

Thank Goodness You’re Here review

1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review: An anarchic treasure trove of jokes and skits

Thank Goodness You’re Here! review: An anarchic treasure trove of jokes and skits

2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review—like juggling chainsaws on horseback

Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review—like juggling chainsaws on horseback

3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review

WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review

4Ikea Utespelare desk review

Ikea Utespelare desk review

5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

The Basilisk (Dark Souls, Elden Ring)#

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals#

Oggdo Bogdo (Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Fallen Order)#

The Addled Frog (Baldur’s Gate 3)#

Frogger (Frogger: The Great Quest)#

Crazy Frog (Crazy Frog Racer, Crazy Frog Racer 2)#

The Gigantoad (Final Fantasy 14)#

Buzz (Spyro 3, the original one)#

The Toad Prince (The Witcher 3)#

The Demon of Song (Dark Souls 2)#

Amphibians (Divinity: Original Sin 2)#