10 Video Games That Reward You For Killing NPCs

When being bad has its reward.

By Greg Hicks /

As video games go, it's normally up to the hero/heroes to be the benevolent force. Save the day, save the world, achieve adulation from the masses. Maybe even a monetary reward too.

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Yet sometimes... there's that angle or mission that compels us to take out an NPC (non-playable character).

Perhaps they have an item that will benefit the player, a certain object you wouldn't get through normal means. They won't give it up by asking, so what other choice is there? Or maybe there's an evil cult or two that demands it. The sort of club you don't want to let down, if you catch my drift.

It could even be for purely selfish reasons, like extracting life from an unsuspecting bystander to heal the anti-hero. There might be a particular residency that takes the eye, the only snag being that someone currently occupies it. Or a town needs blowing up.

And in that instance, polite negotiations just won't cut it.

There are occasions when it just pays to indulge in the polite act of NPC murder. Yes, there are some games with morality systems that will be affected, obviously. Yet sometimes, the benefit outweighs the implication, and you've just got to go for it.

So, with that in mind, here are ten examples of when killing NPC's has its own reward.

10. Vampyr - Part Of The Problem

It must be a moral quandary, being a vampire doctor. That is, a doctor who is also a vampire. Not a doctor to bloodsuckers, to clarify.

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Jonathan Reid, a doctor during the Spanish Flu-era of London, comes back from the Great War to find himself turned into a vampire. And kills his sister, the silly sod.

The long and short of being a vampire is that they need sustenance: of the iron-filled, claret-coloured kind. To wit, they need blood to function.

But Reid is a doctor, and amongst other treatments, he's meant to keep people's blood inside of them. It's a doozy of a quandary for a man with a Hippocratic Oath.

Of course, players can resist the urges and stay mostly human throughout the game. It nets some good morality points, but is certainly harder than giving in to temptation, and levelling up.

If you do give in, however, there are some pretty nifty rewards for being a child of the night. More aggressive combat skills, better life-draining options, the sweet fangs.

It may result in a bad ending or two, but it makes the game easier.

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