10 Video Game Villains That Made The Biggest Impact In The Smallest Time

7. Saren - Mass Effect 1

Time On Screen: 31 minutes

You can argue this out down in the comments, but I'm gonna say Mass Effect enemies peaked with Saren.

The duplicitous betrayer and puppet of the Reapers all along, just how much of the "real" Saren is buried underneath his villainous persona is what makes him so riveting to watch.

Even from his opening scene where Commander Shepard is being sent to investigate a Prothean relic on Eden Prime, we as the audience get to see Saren betray his mentor and fellow Spectre officer, Nihlus, cowardly shooting him in the back and kicking off the events of the story.

From there, Saren is only on our screens for half an hour, culminating in a fantastically weighty final fight, where - as the Normandy defends the Citadel from the Reaper Sovereign's attacks - you can almost talk Saren out of giving himself completely over to the dark side.

Naturally this doesn't work and you're forced to put him out of his misery, but major props to voice actor Fred Tatasciore for a phenomenally layered, dominative and occasionally vulnerable performance.