8 Shocking Video Game Moments When You Realised You Were The Bad Guy

You monster... how could you?!

Spec ops the line
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It's difficult for a video game developer to keep secrets about their protagonist from players. Because they're usually in control of them for the entire runtime (as well as sometimes being capable of tailoring their actions to their own choosing), gaming heroes are more often than not open books.

That only makes it even more satisfying when devs manage to trick players into believing they're playing as the good guy - the righteous hero of the story - only to reveal later that they've been a right evil bastard.

Gamers don't usually question what they're told; if it's been stated that the hundreds of goons they're killing are villains, it's more than enough justification to murder them as brutally as possible for the next ten hours.

Taking that trust and smashing it into a million pieces, thanks to some cheeky narrative tricks that convey the unreliable perspective of these main characters, there's nothing quite like realising the hero you've been playing as has been the big bad the whole time.

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Contributor

Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.