You Were the Bad Guy
Most people are used to being the hero of the story when they play video games, but that isn’t always the case. In some stories, it’s later revealed that you were actually the villain the entire time. This shows us how every villain thinks of themselves as the hero of their own narrative. With that in mind, here are 20 video games where you were secretly the bad guy.
1. Factorio
Factorio is a video game in which you play as an evil industrial supervillain in secret. You construct and maintain enormous factories, automate assembly lines, and extract and refine resources while fighting off the planet's indigenous wildlife. The game is very satisfying to play due to the nature of optimizing large, complicated systems, which often harms the environment, causing you to feel like a sneaky, calculating bad guy.
2. Shadow of the Colossus
In Shadow of the Colossus, you are a protagonist who is initially a hero, but turns out to be the real villain of the story. Traveling across a huge, spooky land to conquer colossal beings, you find the colossi are living guardians, and every action you take to save the world you love actually has a toll. The gameplay is epic and gallant, but every action of conquest you feel pride in has a price that reveals the player's wickedness.
3. Braid
Braid is a puzzle-platformer game where the player controls a character named Tim, who seems to be on a quest to save a princess. As the narrative is slowly revealed, however, it becomes apparent that Tim's obsessive behavior is more sinister and his rescue attempts have unforeseen, negative ramifications.
4. Silent Hill 2
Silent Hill 2 is a psychological horror video game developed by Konami. In Silent Hill 2, the player takes the role of James Sunderland, a man who has traveled to Silent Hill after receiving a letter from his deceased wife. The game's narrative gradually uncovers his guilt and malevolent desires, painting James as the antagonist of his own story. Silent Hill 2's unsettling atmosphere and revelations make players question the moral implications of their actions and inner darkness.
5. Untitled Goose Game
Untitled Goose Game is a playful stealth game in which you play as a troublesome goose making mischief in a peaceful village. Sneaking around, stealing things, and pestering unsuspecting humans, you cause chaos while everyone else just sees harmless pranks. The game's fun comes from allowing the player to be a villain, turning simple mischief into a delightfully destructive experience.
6. Stellaris
In Stellaris, you are the ruler of an interstellar empire that makes ethically dubious decisions to gain power. You'll spend most of your time managing planets, harvesting resources, and dealing with other civilizations, often to their detriment or even destruction. You're supposed to be the leader of a flourishing civilization, but really you're the secret antagonist of the galaxy's narrative.
7. Furi
Furi is a frenetic action game in which the player progresses by fighting their way through endless waves of boss battles. The player is meant to believe that they are a prisoner fighting for freedom; however, in the end, they are revealed to be a weapon of mass destruction being kept in isolation to protect the Earth. The player's actions of winning and rampaging show them as the game's secret villain.
8. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War does this to great effect with its main character. You take on the role of Bell, a soldier fighting what he thinks is the right side. Towards the end of the campaign, you find out that Bell is actually brainwashed and has been working for the other side. It makes you go back and see how you were the villain the entire time without even realizing it.
9. Crackdown
Crackdown is an open-world action game where you play as a superpowered enforcer sent into a futuristic city to go after criminal enterprises. On the surface, this seems heroic, but the ridiculous amounts of power you have and the way you control the environment suggest something else. The game makes the player feel like a bully, controlling the city through raw force and terror, enforcing the feeling that you are a secret villain.
10. BioShock Infinite
BioShock Infinite is about Booker DeWitt, a character who is revealed to be more evil than he, or the player, suspects. By the end of the game, Booker's own sins are shown to be just as heinous as those of the antagonist, including complicity in historical genocide and selling his own daughter to pay a debt.
11. The Last of Us Part II
The Last of Us Part II puts you in the shoes of Ellie, who seeks revenge but becomes a hero or a villain. You go on a hunt for Abby, the person who took your friend, but the way you beat up enemies without feeling bad makes you question her morals. Halfway through the game, the story shows Abby’s side and makes it clear that Ellie is the real villain, leaving players unsure of who to root for.
12. Assassin's Creed Rogue
Assassin's Creed Rogue allows you to play as Shay, an Assassin who begins to lose faith in his order. After a mission gone wrong that results in a town being destroyed, he deserts the Assassins and joins the Templars, making him the "villain" to players of the previous two games. As the game continues, you even raid Assassin hideouts and battle your former friends, going all out as the “villain” of the series.
13. Heavy Rain
Heavy Rain is a survival thriller where the player's decisions affect the outcome of the narrative. However, the biggest twist is deceptively easy to miss: one of the playable protagonists, a potential savior, is in fact a major villain.
14. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
In Knights of the Old Republic, you play as a hero of the light, making heroic choices, but the story eventually reveals that your character has been secretly in thrall to the dark side. The game also has a twist showing that your character has been unknowingly shaping events as a Sith Lord throughout the game. At the ending, most of your "victories" and choices were actually for the villain's cause, knowingly or not.
15. Minecraft
In Minecraft, you start as a naïve adventurer. However, as you mine, build, and create ever more caverns and villages, you destroy the environment and slaughter any creature in your way, be it Endermen or villagers. As you realize your insatiable hunger for resources and control, you become the real monster of your world. Of course, this is only one perception and a fan theory at that.
16. Spec Ops: The Line
Spec Ops: The Line begins like a typical military shooter, but as you play, a disturbing moral ambiguity is slowly unveiled. Your actions as Captain Walker further enrage war-torn, sandstorm-blasted Dubai, resulting in severe civilian casualties. By the game's end, it is revealed that you were the villain, responsible for all the carnage.
17. Aragami
In Aragami (2016), the player is a spectral assassin who can conceal movements in shadow and ambush prey. The player assumes they are helping protect the innocent, but it is eventually revealed that their accomplice Yamiko is the antagonist and the clan the player has been hunting are the heroes. You realize you have been helping the villains the whole time.
18. Amnesia: Justine
In Amnesia: Justine (2010), the player explores a tense dungeon that seems part of an elaborate death trap set by a woman. You must pass several moral dilemmas that put the lives of innocents at stake while avoiding hideous monsters. The real twist is that you are Justine, who has set the entire trap to test her daughter's empathy.
Intricate Explorer on Unsplash
19. Undertale
In Undertale (2015), you find yourself in a fantastical underground society where your choices determine whether you play as a hero or villain. While the game permits mercy, if you choose violence, you eventually discover a darker truth: the monsters you have slain were mostly innocent. By the end, a violent playthrough reveals you as the true villain, with each encounter reflecting your choices.
20. Prototype
In Prototype (2009), the player character is Dr. Alex Mercer, a shapeshifting amnesiac, in a Manhattan consumed by a lethal viral outbreak. As you battle and assimilate infected residents, it becomes ambiguous how much of a hero or a monster you are, as every action is linked to a trail of carnage. The final twist reinforces the horrifying realization that the player has been playing the villain the whole time.
