I am looking for games where you play the villain, this does not include games with morality systems, and I am mainly looking for story based games. Or my recent decimation of all muslims in Egypt with Venice would also be considered evil. Unless ofcourse you have a game inside these criteria which does Evil particularly well regardless. =)
Games you play the villain
- Thread starter Brodre
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Unfortunately, there are not a lot of games where you play as the villain. Are there games where your character does morally dubious things? Absolutely, but that usually means that your character is an anti-hero instead of a villain. I found the story of Watch Dogs to be far more enjoyable when I assumed that Aiden Pearce is a sociopathic bastard instead of a tragic hero, for instance.
Have you tried a Grand Theft Auto game? You play as criminals in pretty much all of them. The Overlord games let you play as an evil conqueror, but I have never played any of them, so I could not tell you if they are actually good.
Dungeon Keeper and its sequel might also be worthy of your consideration. You build a demonic dungeon of doom in those games that is going to be raided by AI-controlled "heroes", and you need to ensure that your dungeon crushes them instead.
Other than that... It is a bit of a stretch, but maybe Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor would also fit? Talion What's-his-face is by no means a cuddly goodie-two-shoes. You are basically playing as a terrorist in that game.
Have you tried a Grand Theft Auto game? You play as criminals in pretty much all of them. The Overlord games let you play as an evil conqueror, but I have never played any of them, so I could not tell you if they are actually good.
Dungeon Keeper and its sequel might also be worthy of your consideration. You build a demonic dungeon of doom in those games that is going to be raided by AI-controlled "heroes", and you need to ensure that your dungeon crushes them instead.
Other than that... It is a bit of a stretch, but maybe Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor would also fit? Talion What's-his-face is by no means a cuddly goodie-two-shoes. You are basically playing as a terrorist in that game.
Kinda a niche game, but Soul Nomad (PS2) had a mode where your character becomes the villain of the story. Its a tactical RPG like final fantasy tactics (made by the same people who make Disgaea) and once you beat the game "normally" (ie as a hero) you can start the story over.
When i say you play as a villian, this guy goes beyond mustache twirly evil. The premise of the story is that your character gets tricked into being possessed by the God of destruction by a sage who wants you to use those powers to defeat some of the minions that god left behind who threaten to destroy the world. On the first playthrough you do exactly that and save the world. On the second playthrough you can choose to be ticked off that you were tricked into this and basically start killing everyone. You begin a campaign of terror and genocide so bad that even the God of destruction is taken aback by how evil it is.
Suikoden 3 once you beat the game and unlock all of the characters, you can play the game through the eyes of the villain. It is very short, but it does flesh out his character a bit
I guess borderlands the presequel can fall under this category as well.
When i say you play as a villian, this guy goes beyond mustache twirly evil. The premise of the story is that your character gets tricked into being possessed by the God of destruction by a sage who wants you to use those powers to defeat some of the minions that god left behind who threaten to destroy the world. On the first playthrough you do exactly that and save the world. On the second playthrough you can choose to be ticked off that you were tricked into this and basically start killing everyone. You begin a campaign of terror and genocide so bad that even the God of destruction is taken aback by how evil it is.
Suikoden 3 once you beat the game and unlock all of the characters, you can play the game through the eyes of the villain. It is very short, but it does flesh out his character a bit
I guess borderlands the presequel can fall under this category as well.
@OhNoYouDidnt
That is also what I have found so far, that and Fallout games, though you are not necessarily a villain in those.
If anything else, it would actually be in the style of Watch_Dogs or Shadow of Mordor, destabilizing the established authority =)
Are there some good story based games where that is the focus? (no, not Just Cause)
@Ryotknife
That sounds interesting, I will have to look into it. =)
That is also what I have found so far, that and Fallout games, though you are not necessarily a villain in those.
If anything else, it would actually be in the style of Watch_Dogs or Shadow of Mordor, destabilizing the established authority =)
Are there some good story based games where that is the focus? (no, not Just Cause)
@Ryotknife
That sounds interesting, I will have to look into it. =)
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.
You can get it from GOG nowadays for $10. Highly recommended for any Star Wars and/or space combat game fan.
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I've always thought of Alex Mercer as the villain of Prototype (and then the devs went and made him the actual villain of Prototype 2).
You're not outright stated as being the villain of the game, and I think the game developers intended Alex Mercer to be seen as a dark and brooding anti-hero, but if you play the game long enough you start to realize that you're actually the villain and the cause of everything bad that happens in Manhattan.
You're not outright stated as being the villain of the game, and I think the game developers intended Alex Mercer to be seen as a dark and brooding anti-hero, but if you play the game long enough you start to realize that you're actually the villain and the cause of everything bad that happens in Manhattan.
God of War 3, where you pretty much work to destroy the entire pantheon of Greek Gods and consequently wreak havoc on the world for the sake of revenge.
Then, there's Dungeon Keeper 2, where you build a living space for evil minions and then send them to attack the forces of good.
Then, there's Dungeon Keeper 2, where you build a living space for evil minions and then send them to attack the forces of good.
"The US military does not condone the killing of unarmed combatants. But this isn't real, so why should you care?"psijac said:
Probably the most thought provoking loading screen tip I've ever seen.
TOPIC: Company of Heroes 2. Russians are bad, don'cha know.
Saints Row 2 is another good, albeit quite obvious example. Unlike in Saints Row: The Third and IV, pretty much nothing the Boss does can be justified and he terrorises the city even though he is given a fresh start (kind of) at the game's outset. And it is damn, damn awesome.
Brodre said:
Warframe (free to play on pc) might be a good suggestion because you play a mercenary scavenger without honour who slaughters literally thousands of mobs just to exploit their resources in order to build better gear to kill even more of them. It is completely pointless and very grindy but you are indeed the evil one.
In many, many Black Lilith VN games you're playing the bad guy - and they're pretty unapologetic about that. They're erotic VNs (for a niche market even inside Japan), so your evilness consists mostly of enslaving busty maidens, following by repeated rapes (in graphic details - those are visual novels after all) with a side dish of torture, murder and general abuse.
I don't think they're good games really, but I think that's about as evil as you can get from commercially available ones.
I don't think they're good games really, but I think that's about as evil as you can get from commercially available ones.
Destroy All Humans: you play as Cryptosporidium-137, a vicious alien soldier, come down to earth to extract brain-stems and subjugate all the filthy monkey scum that lives on Earth. It's a lot of fun running around playing with all the creative weapons like the anal probe that makes people run around clutching their butt until their head explodes or to fly around in your spaceship nuking city blocks. This is probably one of the purest examples of a villain protagonist as Crypto doesn't have a whole lot of redeeming hero qualities or motives. Sure he may be collecting brain-stems to reverse his race's genetic deformation, but that a small part of the story and Crypto is mostly there just to blow things up and make the filthy primitive human scum squirm.
Fable: The Lost Chapters: The best of the Fable series in my opinion. Does somewhat have a morality system, but it's still fun to run through a village slaughtering everyone until you've grown a massive set of horns and are surrounded by an evil mist.
My other picks of Saints Row 2 and Prototype have already been mentioned
Edit: you might also want to check the TV Tropes page for Villain Protagonist [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/VillainProtagonist] for a couple more that might not have been mentioned here.
Fable: The Lost Chapters: The best of the Fable series in my opinion. Does somewhat have a morality system, but it's still fun to run through a village slaughtering everyone until you've grown a massive set of horns and are surrounded by an evil mist.
My other picks of Saints Row 2 and Prototype have already been mentioned
Edit: you might also want to check the TV Tropes page for Villain Protagonist [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/VillainProtagonist] for a couple more that might not have been mentioned here.
overlord and overlord 2
a lesser known series but its a great one in my opinion its like pikmn in you command a swarm of critters to do stuff but in this the critters are goblin like minons
the whole thing has a classic western fantasy motfe and has a lot of tongue in cheek humor
I also find the mechanics better than pikmn in that you are not utterly defenseless on your own given you have a large customizale weapon and spells you can use in a pinch
and if you are still unsure overlord has a demo avalible though steam
a lesser known series but its a great one in my opinion its like pikmn in you command a swarm of critters to do stuff but in this the critters are goblin like minons
the whole thing has a classic western fantasy motfe and has a lot of tongue in cheek humor
I also find the mechanics better than pikmn in that you are not utterly defenseless on your own given you have a large customizale weapon and spells you can use in a pinch
and if you are still unsure overlord has a demo avalible though steam
In F.E.A.R. 3, you can play with a co-op partner who controls Paxton Fettel, a villain (and primary antagonist of F.E.A.R. 1). He can possess people and stuff. During the game, though, the protagonist's goal and Paxton's goal coincide, so you're not going around with entirely your own villainous agenda.
There's also...
There's also...
... Braid, in which you find out your character is not quite the goodie you assumed he was.
