10 Video Game Fates Worse Than Death
9. Self-Aware Freaker (Days Gone)
Players who slogged through the entirety of Days Gone's unnecessarily long campaign were, at least, rewarded for their efforts with a pretty cool twist.
Throughout the game, protagonist Deacon works with a NERO scientist called O'Brian, a flaky yet kind survivor who constantly wears a thick body suit with an enormous protective headpiece. At first, it just seems like he's covering himself up to avoid being exposed to the Freaker virus, but the main reason for him hiding his face is the fact that he's already been infected.
This twist is revealed in a cutscene after the main plot has been wrapped up, and it makes you feel even more sorry for O'Brian than you already did.
Whenever you encounter him during the story, you get the sense that he's a bit of an outsider, a bit of a loner, not really accepted by the rest of his NERO colleagues. And now, the universe is just kicking him while he's down, infecting him with an incurable virus that's turned him into a Voldemort-looking monster, who's clearly in a lot of discomfort - and possibly even pain.
The worst thing about this is that, normally, the Freaker virus turns people into mindless wild creatures who have lost all sense of being. But O'Brian is still fully self-aware, meaning that he can physically feel what's happening to him. It's a permanent illness that he can't escape from.