Villains are created in video games to make it more adventurous and tasking; otherwise, players would not bother to play the game. And when players do not play, video game creators do not make sales, which defeats the whole purpose of creating video games.
Villains are usually made to look evil to motivate players to kill them quickly and feel no remorse for doing so. However, there are some villains who do not have this characteristic. These villains are either victims themselves or believe that they are trying to achieve a greater good. These ten villains are game characters that you will hate to kill.
Related: Top 10 Most Pernicious Movie Villains Of All Time
10 The Beauty and the Beast Unit–Metal Gear Solid IV: Guns of the Patriots
The fate of the Beauty and the Beast Unit is one that will make a lionhearted video game player weep. This unit consists of four female members who wear special suits to turn them into exceptional combatants. These four females are actually victims of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which was caused by the horrors of the war they witnessed.
This group was convinced to hunt down and kill Solid Snake in order to be relieved of their PTSD. When they get to meet Solid Snake and their special suits are destroyed, that is when we learn that behind their nano-powered armor is a humane and vulnerable body desperately seeking affection. After Solid Snake forces them to discard their outer suits, they proceed to tell the tale of their traumatic experiences. We feel very sorry for them.[1]
9 Asgore Dreemur–Undertale
Asgore is the ultimate villain in Undertale. Although he has an intimidating stature, with large curved horns and a beard, Asgore does not have wicked intentions like most video game villains. Asgore is a kind character that enjoys gardening. Unfortunately, Asgore does not have the option to avoid war in its entirety. He is the ruler of the underground whose sole aim is to break the barrier between the human race and the underground. In order to do this, Asgore needs the soul of humans to achieve his goal.
The ultimate aim of Asgore would naturally mean that human souls would be harvested. Still, Asgore isn’t out to kill for fun—the removal of the barrier would mean peace between humanity and the underground. As a video game pro player, Asgore is the last person you would love to kill.[2]
8 The Colossi–Shadow of the Colossus
The main goal of the protagonist in the game Shadow of the Colossus is to locate and kill all the sixteen Colossi in order to capture their magic sigils. The Colossi are gigantic creatures made of stone and dark fur. While some of them are not huge in size, some are very huge. The Colossi are ordinarily innocent creatures who will never be the first to attack. In fact, the game player’s character will usually be the first to attack.
The Colossi have black blood flowing through their veins, and this blood gushes out from their bodies like a black mist whenever the Colossi are injured. The Colossi get to bleed throughout the game when attacked by Wander, the protagonist. It makes us sad to see these harmless creatures suffer death just because the player’s character needs to exploit their magic sigils to bring back his dead girlfriend.[3]
7 King Logan–Fable III
King Logan is the main antagonist in the game Fable III–an unfortunate one. The game portrays him as the tyrannical ruler of the Kingdom of Albion, but in reality, King Logan is a nice king who is only interested in continuing the industrial revolution started by his father. He was a just and loved ruler in the early years until everything went wrong, and he had no option but to make difficult choices.
He traveled to the continent of Aurora and passed through Shadelight, where he had a terrible encounter with Crawler. Crawler was terrorizing Aurora and had already destroyed most of the civilization there. Crawler attacked King Logan and killed several of his men. In fact, King Logan narrowly escaped death due to the intervention of the new leader of Aurora.
On returning home, the blind seer Theresa appeared to King Logan and told him that Albion would soon witness the same fate as Aurora. This evil would befall the kingdom in five years. Considering that he had experienced the Darkness and the Crawler’s destruction of Aurora, King Logan decided to brace up to give the evildoers a fight when they came for the Kingdom of Albion. His determination to protect his city led him to take drastic and tyrannical steps that transformed him into an antagonist in the game.[4]
6 Grey Crow–Death’s Door
Grey Crow was, at one point, a partner to the protagonist in the game Death’s Door but transforms into an antagonist. The circumstances of the transformation will make you cry. Grey Crow started out working as a reaper in the Commission. He brought the souls assigned to him to the Soul Vault. In the game, if a reaper concludes its assignments and regains longevity, the assigned soul must not be lost. It must be reaped.
One day, Grey Crow was given an assignment that was impossible to accomplish. He was assigned to reap a soul that was already lost. At a point during his quest, Grey Crow teams up with the protagonist in order to find his assigned soul. Their journey takes them to Death’s Door. Grey Crow guides the protagonist to reap the three giant souls required to open Death’s Door, and when the door opens, they meet with none other than “Death” himself.
Death explained that it took Grey Crow too long to find his assigned soul and that he has lived past his “best before date” with nothing to tie him to mortality. This makes Grey Crow lose his mind instantly. Having run mad, Grey Crow attacks the protagonist, and Death vanishes into thin air, leaving the protagonist and Grey Crow to fight till one of them is dead. Grey Crow is a villain you would hate to kill; he attacked the protagonist because it was suffering from the “best before date” curse, which made him mad. [5]
5 Chaos Witch Quelaag–Dark Souls
Chaos Witch Quelaag is a very dangerous villain in the game Dark Souls. She is very tough to fight because of her flaming sword and lava-throwing capabilities. She can throw burning lava at the player’s character, making it practically impossible for the player to move around. Worse still, she is immune to her own lava, so she can easily throw lava around you, step on it, and box you into a corner.
As tough as she is, Chaos Witch Quelaag is a victim of circumstance and not the villain you would want to kill. She is the daughter of the witch of Izalith, and she was a victim of the chaotic flame which made her mutate to become a spider-like creature. Her younger sister also suffered from the chaotic flame and became blind. The Fair Lady could not relocate from Blighttown owing to her blindness, which is why Chaos Witch Quelaag stayed behind to protect her. The Chaos Witch does not wish to fight anyone, but the player character needs to come to her domain to pick a fight with her. When fighting Chaos Witch Quelaag, you need to have it at the back of your mind that she is just trying to protect her sister.[6]
4 Lady Arkham–Batman: The Telltale Series
Lady Arkham is an unlikely villain. She is the leader of the Children of Arkham and the main antagonist in the game. But she is not an antagonist you would love to fight. This is the story—Lady Arkham was born Victoria Arkham, and her family was in charge of running the Arkham Asylum. However, Thomas Wayne killed her parents in order to cover up his immoral use of the hospital. Without a father or mother, Vicki was adopted by John and Patricia Vale, who severely abused her.
She managed to survive the abuse but became a broken woman due to the trauma. She sought revenge for the killing of her parents and also all of Wayne’s victims. She was consumed by her anger which ultimately drove her past the point of ignominy and turned her into an antagonist.[7]
3 The Stranger–The Walking Dead
The Stranger is the main antagonist in the game The Walking Dead. The protagonists need to fight and kill The Stranger, but this is not a wicked antagonist at all. The Stranger’s story is simple. Early in the game, the protagonists raided The Stranger’s wagon and stole all his supplies. This made The Stranger’s family starve. The Stranger’s wife and daughter died shortly after.
This painful experience made The Stranger lose his humanity and seek out the protagonists for revenge. The Stranger’s plan was simple—kill Lee (one of the protagonists) and raise Lee’s daughter, Clementine, as his own. The Stranger’s plan did not work out, and Lee managed to kill him. The Stranger is one antagonist you will certainly feel sorry for.[8]
2 The Master–Fallout
The Master is an antagonist in the game Fallout, but he is not a bad person. He founded and led “The Unity,” a super mutant organization aimed at turning all of mankind into super mutants. Although The Master had a fiery approach to pursuing his goals, his overall mission was to create a new race that could survive the post-apocalyptic conditions of the world and also to achieve utmost peace and unity. Those who do not want to be mutated are allowed to live but must accept being sterilized. On the other hand, those that oppose his mission would be tagged as enemies of progress and be summarily executed.
In a real sense, The Master believes that he is working for the overall interest of humanity by turning all humans into one race of mutants, as this will eliminate the differences responsible for waging wars. Also, he believes that it is only when mankind becomes super mutants that they can survive in the post-apocalyptic conditions of the world. The Master will end up being killed by the player character, but there is no doubt he is a video game villain you will feel sorry for.[9]
1 Kessler–Infamous
Kessler is the main antagonist in the game Infamous. The story of Kessler is very weird. Kessler is the future version of the protagonist, whose name is Cole. Yet he is the main antagonist. One day, a powerful conduit known as the Beast emerged and started causing destruction on a global scale in an effort to awaken other conduits. Kessler could not do anything to stop the Beast until it destroyed most of the world, including Kessler’s wife and daughter.
Alone in the world and having nothing to live for, Kessler decided to go back in time to prepare his younger self to confront and defeat the Beast. Kessler returns to the future as Cole and is ready for the Beast. Surprisingly, in order to complete his task, Cole has to kill Kessler, his former self. Of all the villains on this list, Kessler is the villain that gets the most of our sympathy.[10]
