10 Most Shocking Video Game Sidekick Betrayals

by Jess McDonell

1. Frank Fontaine - BioShock

Bioshock Fontaine
2K

Yeah, you know this one was coming. Even if you’ve heard this one a million times before it’s still an excellent story and a fantastically executed betrayal.

“Would you kindly” has become one of the most infamous phrases in gaming thanks to your sidekick Atlas AKA Andrew Ryan’s arch-nemesis, Frank Fontaine. The underwater epic adventure narrative comes to a head when you murder Ryan with a golf club and subsequently discover your friendly neighborhood guide Atlas is an infamous conman. Not only that, the entire personality of Atlas, his appearance, his family, and backstory was spun out of lies in order to have you do his bidding.

You discover that you’re Ryan’s son and you were kidnapped by Fontaine and conditioned to obey the trigger phrase “Would you kindly”, any request that begins with that phrase you’d feel compelled to complete. And it’s a video game so, you know, you did.

You felt betrayed by Atlas, and honestly betrayed by the whole damn game. There weren’t many who could truly say they saw that one coming.

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Jess has been a journalist and content creator in the games industry for over 15 years and has been WhatCulture's resident Australian import and sorry cop since 2020, upping the quotient of swearing and apologising in WhatCulture Gaming's annual blooper videos considerably. She previously worked at GameSpot for 10 years, most notably hosting GameSpot News in addition to E3 live shows, and PAX panels. She regularly livestreams a variety of games on her 'jessmcdonell' YouTube and Twitch channels and hosts the 'Do It On The Day' podcast. She has won awards for her news and feature work in gaming as well as an accolade for her comedic writing (likely an admin error). She can be found on X at @jessmcdonell and Instagram at @jessicamcdonell sharing her current videogame fixations, industry insights, and videos of her cat, Karma.