10 Video Game Enemies You Felt REALLY Bad For Killing

Perhaps above all else, video games are escapism - a portal into another world where you can explore stunning new worlds and maybe blow off some steam by committing digital mass-murder.

While the overwhelming majority of video games don't invite players to really feel anything for the NPCs and bosses they slaughter - beyond exhilaration, at least - every so often a game will dare to guilt you for your blood-letting.

These 10 games all instructed players to kill in order to progress - with only a few offering optional, non-lethal alternatives - only to turn around and emotionally lambaste them for doing what they were asked.

Whether it had to be done or not, these games all left players feeling like actual human garbage for committing murder with extreme prejudice, all in the quest to eventually reach that coveted end credits screen.

Was it worth it? Probably, but that doesn't mean your soul wasn't left aching at having to put down these enemies who, let's be honest, mostly didn't ask for it - let alone deserve it...

Shadow of the Colossus quests players with venturing across a mysterious land and vanquishing sixteen gigantic, powerful creatures in order to resurrect protagonist Wander's fallen love, Mono.

But for the most part the Colossi don't actually instigate the fights against the player, instead acting passive until you wander into their home and start causing trouble.

Throughout the game there's a haunting, mournful tenor to killing these gorgeous, untamed beasts, which is massively exacerbated at the end when you learn that you've actually been killing them to help release the shadowy entity Dormin from his captivity.

If you didn't feel bad for felling these creatures beforehand, you surely felt like murderous human garbage once the truth was revealed.

It's no less heart-rending on repeat playthroughs, for as sublimely beautiful as Shadow of the Colossus unmistakably is, progressing through it is intensely bittersweet.