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

It goes without saying that villains have to do something to actually make them villainous, and across media this will typically be a show of force - a display of power excessive enough to ensure that the audience/players are fully onboard with them going down.

Given that video games are a more active art form, it's especially important that the player has no lingering doubts about how worthy of death the villain might be, and so it's incredibly common for game antagonists to do something totally unconscionable in order to draw clear battle lines.

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order made players hate primary villain Second Sister from the jump by having her brutally and pointlessly murder Cal's friend Prauf in the game's opening sequence. That's evil-with-a-capital-E right there.

In one of the audio tapes in Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes, we learn that Skull Face forced Chico to sexually assault Paz, and while she's ultimately revealed to be a tragic antagonist/protagonist - which we'll get to momentarily - The Last of Us Part II's Abby remorselessly murders Joel in one of the generation's most blood-boiling moments.

These moments can be upsetting and nauseating, and they're essentially an effortless way for developers to push your buttons and manipulate you, but when they work, they create soul-piercing, even controversial gaming moments you won't ever forget.