10 Video Games That Wanted You To Delete Them
3. Spec Ops: The Line
In Spec Ops: The Line, Walker and his team must infiltrate the sand-swept streets of dilapidated Dubai on a reconnaissance mission: confirm there are survivors and radio for extraction. Walker, however, takes it upon himself to end the tyrannical rule of a seemingly rogue US Army Division, led by the eccentric Konrad.
Paying close attention to the beginning of the story, Walker and his team actually complete their objective a few minutes in, yet push ahead to try and save US Army soldiers. As Walker and his team meddle in the city's conflicts, more and more atrocities are caused by their actions as Walker gets closer and closer to Konrad's base. It comes to a point where even the game's hints begin challenging the player's actions:
The United States Army does not condone the killing of unarmed combatants. But this isn't real, so why should you care?
Walter Williams, the lead writer of the game, says there is one unofficial ending to the game, one where you stop all the bloodshed: put down the controller and walk away.
Of course, some gamers aren't sold on the whole "don't play the game" spiel. Spec Ops sometimes gives you no choice, like in the infamous white phosphorous scene, which leads to one of the most gruesome and questionable actions Walker commits.
Yet we could have stopped at any moment before that. In the end, we and Walker overstepped the line.