10 Biggest Video Game Villain Cliches (And Why We Love Them)

10. "It Was Me All Along!"

Is there any video game villain cliche more howlingly predictable than the primary antagonist turning out to be one of your own supposed pals?

Though it can certainly elicit a potent eye-roll in serious-minded games - you'd hate to see it in The Last of Us, for instance - it can nevertheless prove to be a ton of fun in games more keen to embrace their own sense of silliness.

Case in point, Resident Evil's reveal that badass S.T.A.R.S. captain Albert Wesker had been working with the Umbrella Corporation all along was a brilliantly shocking slice of kitsch ripped right out of a sci-fi horror B-movie.

In similarly ridiculous terms, Metal Gear Solid had villain Liquid Snake posing as Solid Snake's codec support character Master Miller for most of the game, and in perhaps its most ingenious instance, BioShock revealed that your ally Atlas was megalomaniacal baddie Frank Fontaine the whole time.

It's an undeniably played-out twist in 2020, yet when a game manages to pull it off with sufficient sneakiness or self-awareness, it can really help tie things together with a satisfying injection of WTF.