9 Times Video Games Tricked You Into Becoming The Villain

Players having any control in a video game is entirely an illusion. Even in the most open-ended titles that proclaim to champion 'player choice' or RPGs where decisions influence the outcome of the narrative, it's the developers who ultimately control everything

It makes for a strange, unspoken relationship between the people who authored the content and those who are engaging with it, which can be directly manipulated in the name of gut-punch plot twists.

The illusion that the player is in control is maintained in open-world games or understood to be limited in a linear, story-driven experiences like Uncharted, but sometimes developers get creative with this dynamic and use it to pull the wool over our eyes in the name of the narrative.

Iconic games like Bioshock tricked players into thinking heroes were villains and villains were heroes, but there are plenty of examples where releases tricked the you into becoming the bad guy. Insert Billie Eilish joke here.