10 Video Games Where You Were The Bad Guy All Along
You thought you were the hero… You were so very wrong.
From video games’ inception, the rules were pretty straightforward - you’re the good guy. From a faceless shooter blasting alien spaceships to Jumpman rescuing a cocktail bar singer from an angry ape, armed with no better motivation than “you’re destined to win the day”.
But as the medium evolved, developers grew more ambitious and players craved bigger surprises, there have been a handful of times where that default format was flipped completely on its head. And not in the “hey, you’re playing as a giant killer shark” kind of fantasy, where the whole point is relishing chaos as the bad guy.
No, the rarest and most devastating moments came in the form of a last-act twist - the video game equivalent of finding out Kevin Spacey was Keyser Söze the whole time. Only here, you the player have your own personal rug pulled out from under you, forced to rethink the entire motivation of the character you’ve been controlling all along.
So, be aware of MAJOR SPOILERS ahead for the listed games, and here are 10 such times that had us grabbing our controllers in shock, realising… we were the big bad villain of the piece all along.
10. Shadow of the Colossus
An iconic title that pretty much influenced every single indie game ever made, not to mention the classic output of From Software, and many more. From its haunting environments, minimal (yet devastating) storytelling, and challenging boss battles, the game is a stone-cold classic of its generation, and an incredible swan song for the PS2 console.
That said, things start out almost standard, as the mute protagonist, Wander, attempts to save a comatose beauty by laying her at the feet of an ancient temple. He’s then challenged to navigate across an eerie, yet beautiful, realm and slaughter the Colossi, epic titan-like creatures that will make you wet your pants, but whose deaths bring a tinge of melancholy and sadness. Regardless of how vicious they fight back, most gamers will question whether they are really doing the right thing by murdering these creatures.
Plot twist: no, they're not doing the right thing at all.
It's revealed that Wander actually made a deal with a dark entity to kill these creatures that are, in fact, keeping it at bay - all in the name of reviving his nameless love. The third act is an absolute heart-wrencher as your main character is possessed by the evil forces and then banished to their dark dimension alongside them.
The nameless beauty lives, but at such a heavy cost.