8 of the Most Evil Villains in Video Games

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

I'll go with that. Kerrigan somehow, through psychic(meaning Magic) powers, super alien ancient tech, and Zerg...goo...made a clean, uninfested and pure copy of herself. That way the Queen can lead the Swarm and Kerrigan can be with the man she loved, both content the other is doing what they love.

Um, no, there's only one Kerrigan. Zagara's leading the Swarm right now. Exactly what happens to Kerrigan after she slays Amon is down to interpretation, but there's definately not two Kerrigans running around. It's explicit within StarCraft: Evolution that no-one knows what happened to Kerrigan and Raynor, and only a few know of Amon's final moments.

So wait, then how did she uninfest herself? I thought the tech used for that was a 1 time deal?

 

[Hawki]

So wait, then how did she uninfest herself? I thought the tech used for that was a 1 time deal?

...huh?

Okay, the Keystone un-infests her on Char, giving her her initial HotS appearance. She then enters a chrysalis on Zerus to become a primal zerg/terran hybrid (similar appearance, but not infested). She retains this look up to the point when Ouros confers his essence upon her in the Void, transforming her into an angel-like being. After that, it's down to speculation. So either:

a) Kerrigan returns to Raynor, retaining the abilities Ouros gives her, which must include shapeshifting

b) Kerrigan is fully human again, and how she appears in front of Raynor is how she literally appears

c) Raynor seeing Kerrigan is symbolic/thematic rather than literal, and she isn't there

d) Kerrigan isn't there, but Raynor is hallucinating due to grief or whatnot, and quite likely, is going down a down path

Or whatever other scenario you can think of.

Kerrigan being de-infested happened two games ago.

 

[The Enquirer]

the most evil would be the PC in every grand strategy and 4x game. you play a war mongering conqueror who slaughters sometimes upwards of billions

This brings back fond memories of Sins of a Solar Empire, sneaking back to my friend's capital planet, destroying it while draining it's resources and then literally stripping the entire planet of all resources, leaving a dead asteroid in it's place over the course of about 3-4 minutes.

OT: I'm surprised there was no mention of Vaas from Far Cry 3 in here. The story missions may have been the least entertaining part of that game, but god damn was he an effective villain. Shame he got wiped out halfway through.

 

[Imre Csete]

I love Kerghan from Arcanum, because he knows the afterlife is a pretty chill place, so he decided to share its bliss with all of you on a planetary level, whether you wanted it or not.

He's not a major presence in the game to be that memorable, but he gets bonus points for being actually right and for the option for you to join him.

 

[Mortuorum]

That picture for Harbinger is actually Sovereign from the first game.

And, IMO, Sovereign was a better villain. Sovereign had a Lovecraftian vibe - it came across as an immensely alien, completely unsympathetic, supremely powerful opponent. Harbinger's endless repetitive combat taunts in ME2 were ridiculous. I never took it seriously as an enemy the way I took Sovereign, Saren or even Benezia.

Same with the Illusive Man. He (and, ugh, Kai Leng) always came across as some writer's self-insertion power fantasy: "Look at this ultra-mega cool character I created. Look at his cool custom animations. Do not try to skip them. To prove how cool he is, I will make sure that you have no intelligent counterarguments to the batshit-insane dialog I wrote for him."

Glad to see Handsome Jack on the list, if only because I remember saying that he was one of the most annoying and evil villains I had fought in a while, and a few people kept insisting that he wasn't a villain. Sorry, but when you say you're going to kill an employee's entire family simply because he asked a question, you are a villain.

He and GladOS definitely belong on any list of great villains. I'm not sure who else I'd add to the list. Dagoth Ur, maybe? I found him to be a highly sympathetic opponent; he had been given a raw deal and his actions made sense in that context. Hmm... maybe Darth Malak (KOTOR)? Atlas (Bioshock)?

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Hey...After going through Mankind Divided recently, I think I just realised that the mysterious hologram conspirator pulling all the shots is none more than the Illusive man himself! No sequel needed, squeenix. I figured it all out and invented a probable ending!

Oh and #NotallGanondorfs

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

What's brilliant about Sephiroth and why he's just as much of a mascot of FFVII as Cloud is due to how he was introduced in the game. Instead of him being shown as the madman he became, you first see him when he was sane and then went through the entire Nibelheim incident in which he discovers his origins and then slaughters an entire town. I can't name another villain in a game where you see something like that. Most of the time with villains you see them after the fact where they're ruthless and cruel, and then the writers try to put in some bullshit sob story to make them "complex." It's interesting how a change of order can do so much to make a villain stand out.

Some others I'd put in:

King Valentine, Odin Sphere: The ruler of a great kingdom now reduced to a raving lunatic. The game also does a great job of using its multiple viewpoints to show different aspects of him.

Yuuki Terumi, Blazblue: Holy FUCK, this guy is a piece of shit. And I can't help but be entertained by him due to his endless trolling and scenery-swallowing delivery. Truly the King of Trolls

YHWH, Shin Megami Tensei: Probably the most brutal, evil, and petty depiction of the Almighty since Preacher. He's really a broken tyrant who craves worship and essentially throws tantrums when he can't get his way. Beating him in any of the titles is far too satisfying.

Albert Wesker, Resident Evil: Social Darwinist, treacherous, manipulative, and he wears sunglasses at night. Definitely a scumbag only out for himself who throws away those whose usefulness has run out.

Dracula, Castlevania: The King of the Night, the Sacred Ancestor, call him what you will, Dracula is one of the kings of being an evil overlord. His centuries-long battle with the Belmont Clan is one of gaming's classic rivalries.

 

[Hawki]

What's brilliant about Sephiroth and why he's just as much of a mascot of FFVII as Cloud is due to how he was introduced in the game. Instead of him being shown as the madman he became, you first see him when he was sane and then went through the entire Nibelheim incident in which he discovers his origins and then slaughters an entire town. I can't name another villain in a game where you see something like that.

Albert Wesker, perhaps?

Different scenario, but he does go off the deep end after Spencer spills the beans on his origins. Prior to that, he's a sociopathic SOB, but he's still a perfectly sane one.

To a lesser extent you could say that Liquid Snake from Metal Gear follows a similar arc, in that while he isn't insane, his plans for total anarchy do stem from him learning the truth about his origins as an 'inferior clone' from Big Boss.

 

[JCAll]

What's brilliant about Sephiroth and why he's just as much of a mascot of FFVII as Cloud is due to how he was introduced in the game. Instead of him being shown as the madman he became, you first see him when he was sane and then went through the entire Nibelheim incident in which he discovers his origins and then slaughters an entire town. I can't name another villain in a game where you see something like that. Most of the time with villains you see them after the fact where they're ruthless and cruel, and then the writers try to put in some bullshit sob story to make them "complex." It's interesting how a change of order can do so much to make a villain stand out.

Sephiroth's ultimate goal was also suitably horrible enough to get him on list like that. The only good part of Advent Children revealed that Sephiroth wanted to become a Calamity from the Sky like Jenova. He was going to mortally wound the planet, forcing it to gather all of it's magical and spiritual energy into one spot in an attempt to heal itself. Then Sephiroth would absorb that energy and use it to travel between worlds and do the same again and again to do his "Mother" proud. Sure, that's the ultimate expression of his mommy issues, but it worked for Norman Bates. Which isn't that bad a comparison since Jenova might actually have been in his head calling the shots.

Though thinking back, Hojo might actually be more evil that Sephiroth. He basically caused all these problems and made them worse every step of the way FOR SCIENCE! In one of the (bad) sequels he even tried pulling the same trick as Sephiroth, FOR SCIENCE!

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

Albert Wesker, perhaps?

Different scenario, but he does go off the deep end after Spencer spills the beans on his origins. Prior to that, he's a sociopathic SOB, but he's still a perfectly sane one.

To a lesser extent you could say that Liquid Snake from Metal Gear follows a similar arc, in that while he isn't insane, his plans for total anarchy do stem from him learning the truth about his origins as an 'inferior clone' from Big Boss.

You clearly misunderstood what I was getting at here. The focus wasn't on "seeing bad guy lose his mind." No, that's standard stuff. Villains losing their shit is nothing groundbreaking or unique. And they were still villains who were shown doing villainous things before that so the comparison is null.

This is why Sephiroth is unique. Before seeing Sephiroth in FFVII you get nothing but vague comments about him here and there. Cloud recalls something he once told Cloud, President Shinra mentions the man, but his presence isn't even felt until the team wakes up in Shinra Tower and finds that Sephiroth turned the place into a Paul Verhoeven movie (speaking of which, HOLY FUCKING SHIT FFVII WAS HARDCORE. Seriously, how did that game get a T rating even back in '97??????).

The VERY first time Sephiroth is ever seen in the game, the very first time his physical appearance and personality is shown is during the Nibelheim Incident flashback Cloud gives. Sephiroth's first screen time is not as the cackling, manipulative, megalomaniacal sociopath we face off against, but as a distant, if professional military man who inspired awe as he carves a damn dragon in two hits. From there we see his philosophical meditations and eventually his descent into madness wherein he becomes a villain.

Typically the "villain's backstory" stuff happens well after the villain has been on screen pulling off all sorts of atrocities or just hamming it up as villain's are want to do. Instead Square in reverse order and showed Sephiroth as a man before he was shown as a villain. It's really unique in the way they did it, solidifying his presence in the game and franchise. It's no wonder every FF villain since then has been a bust.

 

[Zydrate]

Found incorrect information;

Harbinger didn't "create" life in the galaxy. As per their AI-bound directive they allow one race to live and flourish while killing the rest of them to avoid complete organic extinction-by-AI. Some funky logic at play but that was part of the idea; They were designed by organics. Organics are flawed.

And why the fuck do people keep saying there was no cake in Portal? Did anyone actually beat it? It was right there.