10 Iconic Video Game Heroes Nobody Admits Are Absolute Dicks

4. Sam Fisher - Splinter Cell

Splinter Cell 2015
Ubisoft

For a guy who's main skill is getting through military operations as quietly and as covertly as possible, Sam Fisher has amassed a rather impressive body count over the years. While he started out his career as a rather docile infiltrator, sneaking in and out of hostile territory causing as little collateral damage as possible, as the games have become more action-oriented, Sam has transformed into a Jason Bourne-style killing machine.

Not only that, but he's become a hero with a real aversion to authority - an odd character trait considering he sought out the life of being a government funded weapon. On more than one occasion, Sam has gone rogue, and while it's always been for the greater good, the amount of damage he's left in his wake probably rivals that of whichever villain he was trying to stop.

Plus he's not a hero who reacts well under pressure. When he's put in a position during the 2006 release of Double Agent where he's forced to either kill his boss and mentor in order to retain his cover as part of a deadly terrorist organisation, Sam happily sacrifices his ally in order to save face. He could have at least pretended he cared.

Contributor

Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.