Games where you can be the bad guy

[Late Bloomer]

Lol, no body would even know that game existed if it wasn't for game journos getting all butthurt over it. They gave it free advertisement.

Steam even pulled the game for a time

https://gamerant.com/hatred-steam-remove-valve/

Gabe was kind enough to put it back on of course

https://www.dailydot.com/parsec/hatred-game-back-on-steam/

 

[Papill0n]

Playing the bad guys in some fashion or other should be more common.

I modded my favorite game to that end.

My (recent) Jagged Alliance 2 Mods | rpgcodex > prepare for transition

 

[Storyfag]

Overlord obviously.

Meh, it got ruined by the fact your main enemy is actually worse. Same in Overlord 2.

 

[Sarathiour]

Overlord obviously.

Meh, it got ruined by the fact your main enemy is actually worse. Same in Overlord 2.

I'll guess we can argue about worse, but yeah, at the very least probably as bad as you.

You basically always get two option : neutral/mildly evil and cartoonish evil.

 

[madbringer]

Not sure if it was mentoned, but Mask of the Betrayer "evil" path is by far the most satisfying one.

 

[snoek]

Syndicate games
Police Quest: SWAT 2 has a terrorist campagin

 

[Reever]

Street Fighter

 

[Nano]

You can go full fascist in Suzerain. It's quite fun.

 

[Tweed]

Lands of Lore 2 lets you shift to an evil bent part way through the game and become a new dark god.

 

[Sarathiour]

You can go full fascist in Suzerain. It's quite fun.

The topic is about playing the bad guys, though.

 

[Sukhāvatī]

 

[ind33d]

Goldeneye

 

[KörangarTheMighty]

Goldeneye

Hang all Oddjob players.

 

[Kabas]

Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds features a couple of satisfying campaigns in which you play as the bad guys. Like the Trade Federation one or Empire.
The Empire one especially should be held as a golden standard for what an evil campaign should feel like. It involves a lot of rebel crushing and Darth Vader having zero tolerance for incompetence.

Any star wars game that let's you play as an Empire could be argued to fit the criteria.

 

[Zlaja]

RPG Codex

This one lets you choose between an unprecedented wide range of evil sub-classes like: dumbfuck, shitposter, village idiot, possibly retarded, repressed homosexual, zionist agent etc.

 

[Modron]

Those are all prestige classes.

 

[BLOBERT]

BRO MANY EARLY ULTIMA ESPECIALLY 5 ALSO QUESTRON

NO STORY EVIL PATH BUT YOU CAN MURDER ENTIRE TOWNS IF YOU WANT

PHANTASIE 3 YOU DECIDE AT THE END TO FIGHT GOOD GUY OR BAD GUY

BRAID SHOWS THAT YOU ARE REALLY AN ASSHOLE

BROS ALTHOUGH YOU ARE TECHNICALLY GOOD, IN HELHERRON YOUR MAIN JOB IS THE GENOCIDE THE LOCAL SPECIES CAUSING PROBLENS

 

[BLOBERT]

BROS LOLOLOL I FORGOT

GOAT SIMULSTOR
UNTITLED GOOSE GAME

YOUR WHOLE PURPOSE IS TO FUCK PEOPLE UP OR STEAL THERE SHIT

 

[Iucounu]

In Oblivion you can join the Dark Brotherhood a murderous band of assassins hired to do contract killings that are brought on by someone performing the Black Sacrement. They only way for someone to make the plea to the Night Mother is to perform the Black Sacrament. The invoker must create an effigy of the intended victim, assembled from actual body parts, including a heart, skull, bones, and flesh. They must then encircle that effigy with candles. The ritual itself must then commence. The invoker must proceed to stab the effigy repeatedly with a dagger rubbed with petals of a Nightshade plant while whispering this plea: "Sweet Mother, sweet Mother, send your child unto me, for the sins of the unworthy must be baptized in blood and fear." So when you accept a contract you are already dealing with a very grim situation. The murders usually involve some type of bonus for yourself if you perform some extra vile deed at request of the performer of the Black Sacrement.

In Skyrim you can also sleep in a coffin together with the Night Mother. Necrophilia soft porn?

You can also join a sect of cannibals in one sidequest; while a couple of other groom the player into making evil choices, by rewarding you with unique weapons for "betraying someone that trusts you" and similar.

 

[Lord of Riva]

Battle realms of course, it has a pretty cool "evil" campaign as the snake (EDIT: it's actually the serpent clan) clan.

 

[Groover]

There's something inherently retarded about playing an evil character, which is why an overwhelming majority of the playerbase avoids that path. Think about it, the only reason that it's even possible is because you're typically playing as a demigod of a character who has savestates at their beck and call, and games (increasingly so as the medium advances) have a really hard time saying 'no' to the player. It's like some petulant child's fantasy of power; there's something pathetic about it.

It'd be more interesting if the game put up more believable resistance to you, but then you'd get totally fucked in no time. Mass Effect, for all of that series' foibles, offered the most nuanced moral dichotomy system in the paragon/renegade branches. It's a shame that it's mostly dead in the water at this point, and you've got all of these autistic newage CRPG devs harkening back to the good vs. evil choices, as if that was ever remotely meaningful. A sign of the current crisis of faith, I suppose..

 

[Puukko]

RPG Codex

This one lets you choose between an unprecedented wide range of evil sub-classes like: dumbfuck, shitposter, village idiot, possibly retarded, repressed homosexual, zionist agent etc.

Don't forget the prestige classes, like undisputed queen of faggotry.

 

[BosanskiSeljak]

Mass Effect, for all of that series' foibles, offered the most nuanced moral dichotomy system in the paragon/renegade branches. It's a shame that it's mostly dead in the water at this point, and you've got all of these autistic newage CRPG devs harkening back to the good vs. evil choices, as if that was ever remotely meaningful. A sign of the current crisis of faith, I suppose..

Mass Effect did not do it well because it was extremely inconsistent. ME1 did it best in the trilogy but it still wasn't good.

It flip flops between being pragmatic to retarded evil all the time. Take, for example, some ME2 QTE's that take out an enemy before a fight (Omega) vs. shooting Samara and her daughter. Other times where it would make sense, like shooting Mordin, isn't set up properly. The actions themselves are pragmatic but the set up for why you're doing it fails to deliver. (i.e. instead of stopping genophage for exposed reasons, it's portrayed as stupid evil)

 

[Iucounu]

There's something inherently retarded about playing an evil character, which is why an overwhelming majority of the playerbase avoids that path.

That doesn't technically make sense, considering half the population by definition are below average retardation.

Think about it, the only reason that it's even possible is because you're typically playing as a demigod of a character who has savestates at their beck and call, and games (increasingly so as the medium advances) have a really hard time saying 'no' to the player.

But RPGs are both games and alternative lifestyle simulators, so being evil could be just another playing style.

It's like some petulant child's fantasy of power; there's something pathetic about it.

Psychologically speaking, narcissists and sociopaths are indeed immature and pathetic; but as such they might as well choose to play a hero character, which should fit their grandiose self-image. Maybe some sociopaths might choose evil to feel rebellious or stubborn though.

I could also imagine some people doing it to feel edgy (compare with satanist attributes in metal music). And completionist gamers, of course (those are the worst).

 

[Iucounu]

It flip flops between being pragmatic to retarded evil all the time.

True. Yet you must stick with one of their two designated moral paths no matter what, or you won't get enough moral skill points.

Take, for example, some ME2 QTE's that take out an enemy before a fight (Omega) vs. shooting Samara and her daughter.

Can you shoot Samara? I'd love to try that! I do recall you can shoot another of her daughters in ME3.

Below is clever writing from ME2. Note how the game nudges the player to make a Paragon (good) choice with both the music and at least one blue Paragon Interrupt prompt, even when you choose the Renegade (evil) dialog choice. Here ME2 is manipulating the player's compassion, but I think that's OK since a true Renegade (evil) person doesn't have any compassion that can be manipulated in the first place. So if you first choose the Renegade dialog but is then swayed to Paragon at the last minute you've lose ME2's manipulation trick.