Anyone who isa fan of role-playing gameswill know that if you give gamers the opportunity to do something absolutely heinous and morally bankrupt, they will often grab it with both hands.
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This is because, in the world of gaming, the consequences of your actions are locked into the fictional world, meaning you can’t be held responsible for your mischief. But, that said, we always appreciate the choice of doing the inherently right or wrong thing.
After all, that’s the art of roleplaying, but some games strip you of this choice and force you to do something awful if you want to progress the story.
These range from tear-jerkers to just plain grotesque acts of violence. But no matter what, if you want to roll the credits, you’ll need to embrace your dark side.
We will only be including examples of games where you cannot avoid these actions. So, all evil acts that players need to actively seek out will not be included.
10Untitled Goose Game
Causing Constant Mischief
Untitled Goose Game
Let’s start with something light, because it all gets very dark real quick. Untitled Goose Game is far from a twisted game, but it is packed to the gills with scenarios that allow you to embrace your inner menace.
To progress this game in any capacity, you’ll need to wander around a little Shropshire village, causing chaos at every turn. You’ll break things, annoy people, scare little kids, and so much more.
There’s nothing overly sinister here, but if you ever considered a school bully to be evil, this maniacal goose has the same energy.
Sure, you could just stay in your pond and let the hours roll by. But we reckon you just might have a blast embracing the role of the silly goose.
Okay, savor this one because the rest of these entries aren’t quite as palatable.
9It Takes Two
The Elephant Scene
It Takes Two
In a bid to continue to ease you in, we are sticking with the kid-friendly and light-hearted thread, as It Takes Two is a fun time for all the family.
However, despite being a game that embraces that theme of childish fun and whimsy, there is one particular scene that forces you to perform one of the most upsetting and evil acts you may imagine.
In a bid to get the attention of your kid in your shrunken state, you have the bright idea to maim her favorite elephant teddy. Who is an absolute delight, by the way, which makes it all the more difficult to dismember them and toss them to their death.
Admittedly, aside from a torn ear, the little teddy should be okay when you beat the game and can return to normal size to stitch its ear back on. But, in the moment, it’s a very difficult scene to get through.
8Shadow of the Colossus
Killing The Colossi
Shadow of the Colossus (2018)
Video games are all about playing as your player character, getting out there into the big bad world, and doing what the game tells you in a bid to have as much fun as possible. However, we rarely stop to question why we are doing the things we do in games and whether we should.
A prime example is in Shadow of the Colossus, where the player will set off on their quest at the behest of Dormin to slay the Colossi to revive his lost love. But, as you take down each colossus, it will begin to take its toll.
You see, these giants are relatively gentle, and each unsolicited attack at your hands leads to a tragic death that is tough to endure. Yet, you need to be an active participant if you want to get the job done.
In the end, you meet a tragic fate of your own, and I suppose that’s all we deserved for taking down those beautiful behemoths.
Would You Kindly?
Speaking of actions in gaming that we do without asking why, Bioshock is perhaps the most famous example of a game that raises that difficult question and asks us to look introspectively.
Playing as Atlas’s plaything, we crash-land near Rapture, travel by Bathysphere down below, and then seek to find Andrew Ryan, the big bad ruler of this fallen utopia.
However, when we come face to face with him, we find out that we are a sleeper soldier controlled by Frank Fontaine, and upon the activation phrase ‘would you kindly,’ we will do anything the man says. Like, say, take a golf club and smash Ryan’s jaw.
Then comes the line ‘A man chooses, a slave obeys.’ You can potter around as long as you like and delay the inevitable, but in the end, you’ll need to take down Rapture’s creator and accept that you are a slave to the developer’s wishes. It’s poetry in motion,and few plot twists can match the impact of this one.
6Papers, Please
Gatekeeping Arstotzka
Papers, Please
Sometimes, being evil in a game comes down to human instinct. A story of survival, a case of ‘them or me’. That’s exactly what’s at play when you man the booth at the Arstotzka border patrol, as you’ll be forced to either do your job, or suffer the same fate as everyone else.
Provided you can make the right choices and diligently do your job, you’ll make enough cash to feed your family and keep them safe. But, in doing so, you’ll be forced to deny harmless, desperate people entry to the country and, by extension, doom them to near-certain death.
Sure, you can make the odd mistake here and there and let in the occasional person. But mistakes lead to more eyes on you and less cash at the end of the day.
In short, you may’t save everyone, and whether you pull the trigger or not, a lot of blood is on your hands.
5The Last of Us Part 1
Denying The World Of A Cure
The Last of Us
The Last of Us series really does have me spoiled for choice, as the two games are packed with morally bankrupt and reprehensible decisions.
However, of all the choices, it’s very hard to argue that Joel’s choice at the climax of the first game is anything other than self-serving and evil.
When faced with the choice of sacrificing Ellie to gain the cure to the cordyceps virus, Joel decides the needs of the one outweigh that of the many and proceeds to massacre the Fireflies and the surgeons to rescue Ellie.
In one way, it’s the antithesis of evil, as it’s love that makes him act to save her. But equally, you doom the world to a zombie-infested existence as a result. Plus, killing everyone in sight to make it happen is hardly the diplomatic approach.
4Grand Theft Auto V
Torturing Mr. K
Grand Theft Auto 5
While torture scenes are something that has featured across various gaming franchises, including as recentlyas in the super successful KCD2,none are quite as visceral and upsetting as the one featured in GTA V.
Controlling the unhinged force of nature that is Trevor Philips in the mission By The Book, you need to get info from an Azerbaijan national by any means nescessary, and roughing him up a little won’t cut it.
You’ll need to waterboard them, rip and tear at their skin with pliers, and you’ll even need to actively press the prompts as you rip a tooth from their mouth. It’s visceral, it’s unsettling, and it’s about as evil as it gets.
3The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
The Bloody Baron Questline
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
There are games that specialize in offering lose-lose scenarios where you effectively pick your poison. But I would argue that few do it better than CD Projekt Red in The Witcher 3. There is a bounty of quests to choose from here as an example, but in the end, I had to go with the Bloody Baron.
In this quest, no matter what you do, someone is going to suffer, and it’s going to be your fault. It’s a rather intricate quest, but to boil it down, your actions could lead to children being killed, the Baron’s wife being turned into a Water Hag, or both the Baron and his wife committing suicide.
I’ll grant you that no one technically dies by your hand. But equally, if you didn’t get involved at all, then no one would have died. Whether that’s a better outcome is another matter. In short, there’s no good ending, just tragic consequences and more reasons for the general public to hate Witchers.
2Spec Ops: The Line
The White Phosphorus
Spec Ops: The Line
Okay, we are done with the lighthearted stuff. Time to throw you in the deep end. Spec Ops: The Line, for the most part, sets its stall out as a typical modern shooter common in the 2000’s, offering a special ops mission in the Middle East, complete with tight gunplay and a wealth of gadgets only the finest military operatives have access to. But, unlike a lot of these games, this one aims to showcase the horrors of war.
Due to your PTSD and war-torn mind, you begin creating more and more divisive decisions, chasing the ghost of Konrad, a man long dead.
This all culminates in the White Phosphorus attack, which is supposed to be to neutralize a threat and take out enemies, but it’s revealed that this attack killed hundreds of innocent civilians, and you gave the order willingly. It’s a truly harrowing scene, and one that will stay with you long after the credits roll.
1Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2
No Russian
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009)
I mentioned some of these entries would be scenes of mindless brutality and violence, and there’s no scene more fitting of that label, and more controversial than No Russian.
The mission set in Moscow airport in Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 is one of the shortest missions in the entire series, but pound for pound; it leaves the biggest lasting impact.
Players will walk into the airport and will simply be told ‘Remember, No Russian’. Then, when stood before a bunch of innocent civilians, you and your squad will open fire on them, killing them in cold blood, and effectively making you complicit in an act of terrorism.
To be fair, you can skip this mission and still progress the game, and you also don’t need to fire a round. But you won’t know this the first time around, and even being in the room as part of the gang of goons is enough to earn this divisive mission a spot on this list.
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