Top 10 Video Game Heroes Who Went Bad

Top 10 Video Game Heroes Who Went Too Far

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Are we the baddies? Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’ll be counting down our picks for the Top 10 Video Game Heroes Who Went Too Far. For this list, we’ll be looking at the heroes or protagonists in video games who crossed the line into sketchy morals to accomplish their goals. While this list won’t cover obvious villains, it doesn’t exclude characters that eventually turn into villains or anti-heroes.

After waking up with superhuman abilities and the power to “consume” others, Alex Mercer sets out on a quest to discover the truth about the mysterious virus that gave him these powers, known as Blacklight. Along the way, he murders and consumes countless people in order to get more powerful. Eventually, he learns that he was, in fact, the one responsible for infecting himself with the virus, apparently in a rash decision to save himself and seek vengeance. While he does try to do good, Mercer’s morals seem a little skewed, as he has no problems killing and taking the bodies of countless people to achieve his goals.

This vampire hunter embarks on a quest to claim the Lords of Shadow’s power to overcome evil. However, in the process, he has to do some pretty dark things in order to slay evil, this includes accepting a deal to become a vampire by the end of the first game’s DLC. What’s worse, the name of the vampire he turns into? Dracula. In the second game, you continue to play as him, setting out on a dark quest to defeat your ultimate enemy: Satan. Gabriel compromises his morals in a big way to complete his mission, and it is often unclear if he will ultimately fall on the side of good or evil.

“Mass Effect” franchise (2007-)

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Commander Shepard is a character who can play very differently depending on your choices in dialogues and in critical moments throughout all three games in the trilogy; these choices broadly separate Shepard into either a Paragon or a Renegade. Paragon Shepard is more interested in uniting the galaxy through diplomacy and generosity, but Renegade Shepard has different ideas. Whether it’s kicking people out of windows, shooting hostages, or murdering your friends based on ethical disagreements, Renegade Shepard can do some pretty horrific things in their quest to keep the galaxy safe. However, the renegade Commander also has some pretty great one-liners, so we suppose it all balances out.

“Uncharted 4: A Thief's End” (2016)

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Nathan Drake, having finally settled down and retired from the dangerous treasure hunting business, is pulled back in by a story from his brother, Sam, who tells him that unless they find the famous Henry Avery’s treasure, he’ll be killed. It turns out this is a lie from Sam, who just needs Nate’s help and thus he pulls his dear brother into a whole lot of trouble against their old treasure hunting buddy, Rafe and the mercenary group Shoreline. While he’s not some mass-murderer, Sam completely betrays his brother, and that lie almost gets him killed.

“Shadow of the Colossus” (2005)

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The character you play in this game is desperately seeking a way to cure a girl, Mono, of a mysterious illness. He comes to a forbidden land, and speaks to a strange entity known as Dormin, who promises to help cure Mono if Wander kills sixteen huge colossi across the area. With each colossus you slay, however, you hear a depressing song and a strange, dark power overcomes you. It turns out you were killing innocent beings who existed to contain a portion of the evil Dormin’s power. Once all colossi are killed, Dormin is freed. Wander may have had good intentions but releasing a powerful evil on the world to save one person seems foolhardy.

Based on comics of the same name, these games explore the idea of what would happen if the all-powerful Superman decided to take over the world. Turns out, it’s pretty dark! After the Joker tricks Superman into killing his pregnant wife and destroying Metropolis, Superman murders the Joker, and over time gradually murders more and more villains, until finally he sets up the One Earth Regime, with him as its ruthless dictator, and Batman as the leader of a resistance. Throughout the game, Superman even starts to murder some heroes who disagree with his methods. We can understand Superman’s anger, and his realization that locking the Joker and other criminals away is pretty ineffective, but he takes it to a whole new level here.

“The Last of Us Part II” (2020)

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This game is controversial, and Ellie plays a big part in that. Joel murdered a hospital full of Fireflies and doctors in the last game, who were trying to find a cure for the terrible disease infecting the world, and this in and of itself is an action worthy of consideration to have him on this list. But after Joel is murdered by Abby, the daughter of one of his victims, Ellie sets out on a revenge quest against her and all her friends. Her motivation is understandable, but Ellie murders a number of people, including a pregnant woman, in brutal fashion, and her quest for revenge eventually drives her partner away. By the end Ellie finally realizes that she has gone too far.

Before he became the mighty Lich King, Arthas Menethil was the Crown Prince of Lordaeron, and a devout paladin. But fighting the undead Scourge forced him to start compromising his morals, which led him on the path to Frostmourne, and eventually becoming the Scourge’s champion. It’s a tragic fall from grace; Arthas seemed to be a genuinely nice and righteous person, but faced with impossible options, he slowly lost his moral compass. He kills the people of Stratholme, hunts down the evil Mal’Ganis to Northrend, burns the boats of his troops behind him to force them to stick with him, and takes up the cursed blade, Frostmourne. By the time he assassinates his father, there is no chance of redemption for him.

“God of War” franchise (2005-)

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The Ghost of Sparta has shed a lot of blood in his quest for revenge. Kratos never lacks for enemies; in the first game, he seeks vengeance on Ares for the deaths of his family members, and afterwards, he seeks to wreak havoc on Zeus and all the gods of Mount Olympus. While he may be justified in his anger, Kratos inflicts such pain and brutality on his enemies that it can sometimes be hard to sympathize with him. He kills Hera out of spite and anger, not because she is any threat, and her death causes all plant life on Olympus and Earth to wither and die. It’s no wonder that in the latest game he is an old man filled with regret for his actions.

“Spec Ops: The Line” (2012)

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You wanted to feel like something you’re not...a hero. And because of this, the protagonist, Walker, blunders his way into a warzone and makes it worse. The most heinous thing you do in the game is launch white phosphorus upon a large group of innocent civilians. But by the end, you realize that Walker didn’t have to do any of it. He wanted to feel like the hero, and so he disobeyed his orders and hallucinated a scenario where an old war buddy, Konrad, had taken over and was committing crimes upon the population. The reality is that Konrad died before Walker arrived, and by the end of the game you can choose to deny reality or accept responsibility for the crimes.