Games you play the villain

[The Madman]

Surprised it's only been mentioned once: God of War

Kratos is the baddie. Sure some of the Greek Gods can be twisted jerks, but Kratos quite literally brings about the apocalypse and doesn't even care. At one point he uses a random fleeing woman as a gruesome doorstop, another time he kills an idealistic and helpful hero out of pure greed. Throughout the series he violently murders anyone and anything that stands in his way, regardless of their reasons for being there. The man is completely reprehensible, and by the end of God of War 3 he's far more of a monster than anything he fought getting there.

 

[sXeth]

Well there's Destiny. You play a soldier in an army of zombies that run around massacring three other races who don't seem to be doing anything other then scavenging resources, on the say so of a creepy guy in a mask who supposedly talks for a dead god-thing.

(Even in the lore cards, the Cabal aren't attacking earth in any way, they're trying to rebuild and contact their main fleet for rescue when you come stomping through on your mission, and are actively fighting the apparent big bad race)



Black Flag comes to mind. Edward Kenway is basically a selfish bastard ruthlessly attacking ships and so on for personal gain for most or all of the game. He only barely aligns with the good guys at the final parts, and even then his loyalty is more to friends than any real cause.

 

[CaitSeith]

You could try Legacy of Kain saga. It's basically playing as a vampire searching for revenge (and it has a descent story and mythos).

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

Spoiler

Debatable, either he performs a mercy kill with a rusty knife or he lets more men get lost in the desert and gets the partial blame for giving them bad intel and the cycle of misery continues. He wanted the "save everyone" hero role, instead he got the "put the dying to rest" hero role.

Re Spec Ops The Line:

Spoiler

Walker ends the game out of his mind, and having ruined everything he's been a part of. The world pays for his delusions.

But, whilst I certainly believe he ends the game as the opposite of a good guy, and a fairly disgusting human being - the V word could be semantics, and arguably too simplistic for how the game presents the story - I'll concede the game's still quite interpretive. Did Dubai break Walker? Or was Dubai the catalyst for his underling delusions and manias? Given the critical thrust of the game - against pop-violence across our culture - I'd say the latter. I've seen all the other endings, but can only ever see one logical conclusion for my Walker; a bullet to the head and an end, and maybe the only redemption he'll ever have (i.e. not existing anymore - the world's a better place without egocentric wannabe-hero Walker's).

 

[Valkrex]

I had a quick scan to see if it's been mentioned, so apologies for the repeat if it has, but...

I'd say Spec Ops The Line - in its deconstruction of the idea of assumed heroic moral certitude - achieves this. It's tricky to talk about without spoiling anything, but Walker is certainly not a good guy by the end.

This. Spec Ops: The Line, while not the best game by any stretch, was easily one of the most gripping and compelling games I have ever played with one of the best character arcs I have ever seen in any medium to date. It is really hard to talk about without spoiling things, so I would just say give it a try if you can. It is a short game so I would say pick it up on sale on steam (PC port is pretty well done) or rent a console copy if you can.

I got it on sale, but then bought it full price once I'd played through because I felt the developers earned it and I had the extra cash.

 

[CharrHearted]

Look like someone hasn't put it in yet... Mhmhmhm... MUAHAHAHAHAH! -cough- You wish to be the villain you say? A pure, evil, life consuming tyranical murderous entity? KAGEROS DECEPTION AWAITS YOU! What's better than just being a villain? Being a villain while murdering your foes in the most over the top, lengthy, brutal and hilarious ways possible!

You play as the devils daughter, Laegrinna, your job as the devils own spawn is to consume the bodies of your opponents using your traps! Collecting holy verses from incredibly powerful warriors and good people so that you may ressurect the devil himself and kill everyone! Oh and the people you kill can be generally good people? Oh what's that, mr knight? You were about to go home to visit your wife who was having a baby after this mission? GUESS THE CHILDS GOING TO BE FATHERLESS NOW! INTO AN IRON MAIDEN YOU GO!


Have fun!

 

[Jiggle Counter]

I am looking for games where you play the villain, this does not include games with morality systems

First thing that comes to mind is GoldenEye: Rogue Agent.

Quoted from Wiki - "The player takes the role of an ex-MI6 agent, who is recruited by Auric Goldfinger (a member of a powerful unnamed criminal organisation based on Ian Fleming's SPECTRE) to assassinate his rival Dr. No"

There's also Minecraft.

 

[aozgolo]

The Deception series. Some of these games your character has legit motivations for brutally killing people with traps, others however you're just plain ol' evil

Oh my, and how could I have forgotten Shadow of the Colossus? That's a more blatant and affecting example than most any of the games I listed in my previous post, to the point that I'm surprised to find that no one else thought to mention it in the interim.

This is really left somewhat vague, only Wander's motivations in this game are ever known, the Priest and Dormin aren't defined in their morality except that they are on opposing sides of it.

 

[esserin]

Awesome suggestions, though I'm not sure watch_dogs or god of war 3 count since the writers seem to think that you're actually the good guy in the story.

My suggestion isn't actually out yet but I've been keeping my eye on it and it seems like it'll be pretty cool. It's called "That which sleeps" and you're basically playing an awakening god of evil that is trying to keep the world divided to stop them from uniting against you.

 

[Ronald Nand]

How about Kane and Lynch, I haven't played those games but people say the protagonists in that game are really morally reprehensible and evil.

The GTA series comes to mind too, the protagonists are pretty evil in all the games, with the exception of 4 and SA. Any crime game should do the trick really, Saints Row 2, Mafia etc.

 

[Zipzip the Penguin]

Tie Fighter does a superb job portraying the Galactic Empire in a sympathetic light. From the player's perspective, your actions are to preserve order and stability in the galaxy from terrorists, criminals and traitors. As Obi-Wan once said, it all depends on one's point of view.

You can get it from GOG nowadays for $10. Highly recommended for any Star Wars and/or space combat game fan.

Wow, didn't expect someone to bring that up. Been sitting in my room on a set of floppy discs for years now. Guess I'm off to GoG.

 

[happyninja42]

You could try Legacy of Kain saga. It's basically playing as a vampire searching for revenge (and it has a descent story and mythos).

Yeah I was going to list that one too just now. Totally forgot about it. My favorite was Soul Reaver though, just so much fun. And it's really hard to make me enjoy playing a vampire, as I personally hate them with a passion. But Soul Reaver did it well. Possibly because I see Razael as a wraith, and not a vampire anymore, so it's different.

Oh! Payday 2, duh, can't believe I forgot that. You play a gang of criminals, who rob and kill from the normal people to be rich. Sometimes doing jobs to rig elections to put corrupt politicians in power, sometimes breaking people out of jail, sometimes just robbing a bank because fuck you, I want your money.

 

[EmperorZinyak]

F.E.A.R 3 lets you play as Paxton Fettel, the main antagonist of the first game, and his brother Pointman who is more or less a complete psychopath by this point in the storyline. If you're playing as Paxton, you get to feel especially evil as you shoot psychic blasts at enemies, possess them, and tear them apart from the inside out while Paxton laughs and makes sinister comments the whole time. Your ultimate goal is sort of neutral, but the ending is dark and gruesome if you're playing as Paxton. It's so disturbing that I almost felt sick after beating the game, but in a good way, since you're playing as a villain after all...

 

[Redryhno]

I Am Bread sorta has you as the villain.

Spoiler

I mean, you are directly contributing to a guy's mental deterioration because you keep ending up as toast on his plate

 

[Zen Bard]

Two games that come to my mind:

The Darkness where you play as a demon possessed Mafia hit man out for revenge. You have a sort of code of honor. But pretty much anything goes.

Vampire:The Masquerade - Bloodlines where you can play a member of any one of six Vampire clans. So, there's the inherently villainous nature of being a vampire and doing vampirey things. There's also a good degree of flexibility so you can join factions and then screw them over.

 

[PinkiePyro]

I Am Bread sorta has you as the villain.

Spoiler

I mean, you are directly contributing to a guy's mental deterioration because you keep ending up as toast on his plate

is that game any good sounds intresting

 

[Redryhno]

I Am Bread sorta has you as the villain.

Spoiler

I mean, you are directly contributing to a guy's mental deterioration because you keep ending up as toast on his plate

is that game any good sounds intresting

If you enjoyed Surgeon Simulator and managed to keep your temper and sanity, you'll like this one too.

 

[AetherWolf]

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance I mean, uhh, whoops, I probably shouldn't open that can of worms...

Now, some of these cases can argued, but games where you play as a villain are sparse enough as it is, so you might as well take what you can get.

- Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Never played it but from what I hear it's one of the best Star Wars games out there in terms of story. The rest of it is kind of... a mixed bag. But the story is there.
- Watch_Dogs. Again, haven't played it, probably never will, but from all the videos I've seen Aiden doesn't seem heroic at all.
- Prototype. Think Infamous, but without the karma meter and the game going along with the assumption that you'll just act evil and dickish the whole time anyway.
- MadWorld. But more in the sense that Jack is just really, really apathetic about the situation he's in.
- God of War series. No explanation needed, you probably know enough about what kind of a character Kratos is already from all his cameos across various media.

 

[DementedSheep]

Overlord 1 and 2, although you can play a overlord who...isn't all that evil in 1, Dungeon Keeper and GTA.

In God of War, Chronicles or Riddick and The Darkness you're not playing as THE villain but you are one. I think the later GOW's basically do make him the big bad but I've not played the others. DCUO you can play a villain and join Joker, Circe or Lex Luther though you can't join Brainiac. It was fun turning people into demons in the time I played the game before it got boring. You get to kick the shit out of Nightwing which is always nice.