10 Video Game Villains You Can Secretly Side With (And IMMEDIATELY Regret)

Having the choice to join the bad guys is a sign of a good story-based video game. It shows that the developers are not afraid to let you play exactly the way you want, even if it means flipping their narrative on its head and turning your character into a member of their own gallery of villains.

However, just because you have the choice to be evil doesn't mean you should do it. Not because it's morally wrong, but simply because in some games somewhere down the line, following the villain's plan will inevitably backfire on you.

Yes, siding with the villain is always the best idea. There are a number of video games that will quickly punish you for them with a proper comeback. You won't realize this when you make the decision, but your alliance with the forces of evil can cost your character their life, an important item, or turn your playthrough into an unplayable nightmare.

Letting your darker side show can be fun, but you don't want to do this around the following villains: Their evil schemes are only good for getting you into regrettable trouble.

The Institute and its scientists serve as the primary antagonists of Fallout 4, being the mysterious boogeymen of the Commonwealth that kidnap the wasteland's residents to conduct dangerous experiments.

The game hypes up the Institute to be the ultimate evil, but once, spoiler alert, their leader turns out to be your lost son Shaun, you do get the option to join them.

From that point, you may try to see the Institute in a different light, as a potential solution for resolving the horrors of the post-apocalyptic world. The game even teases you with dialogue lines that suggest you could turn the Institute into a group that helps people instead of callously experimenting on them.

Unfortunately, when you finish the game on the Institute's side and become its new Director, it quickly becomes evident that your supposed position of power can't actually influence anything going on in the faction, and you're stuck ruling a populace that mistreats synths and kidnaps innocent people.

What's also worse is that in order to deal your remaining companions, you have to either kill or estrange them, leaving you with nothing but regret.