10 Video Games That Let You Be An Utter Scumbag

2. Grand Theft Auto V

It's fair to say that almost every single Rockstar game has cast the player in the role of a thoroughly detestable s***heel, but Grand Theft Auto V represents the absolute peak of that formula.

GTA V maximises the player's ability to unleash their inner a**hole through a number of ways.

If the freedom to relentlessly murder your way across a giant open-world isn't enough, you can now do it from a more intimate first-person perspective, take darkly comical selfies of the carnage for posterity, and even aggravate your fellow player in GTA Online.

But what really takes GTA V to the next level is the main story itself, which introduces players to the most morally bankrupt and despicable character in the series' history: Trevor Philips.

Unlike almost every other protagonist in the series, there's no disconnect between the character presented in the game's cut-scenes and the unrestrained lunatic we naturally assume during gameplay.

He is in many ways a distillation of the wish fulfilment everyone engages in while playing GTA, because he doesn't care about anyone but himself, and he actively relishes killing people.

This leads to one of the most controversial moments in video game history - GTA V's infamous "By the Book" mission, where Trevor tortures a man at the behest of the FIB in order to learn the location of an assassination target.

The mission certainly passes commentary on the ineffectiveness of torture to gain actionable intel, but the player is nevertheless forced to dismantle a human being in order to complete the mission.

It remains one of the most intimately grotesque actions a player has ever been able to commit in a video game, even if it's ultimately fairly low down on the list of Trevor's possible crimes throughout GTA V. At least the torture victim survives, right?