Failures of Heroic Proportions
When it comes to making decisions that alter a character’s alignment, the blame normally lies with the player. After all, they’re ultimately the puppeteer that chooses whether their in-game avatar should be a paragon or a renegade. That being said, when a video game’s lead is turned towards the dark side, they sometimes go beyond what the player may have expected.
Regardless of if they were prompted or not, we’ll be looking at the heinous actions of individuals regarded as the hero in their respective games and judging just how far they fell from grace. When it comes dishing out despair and destruction, these three certainly tick all the boxes.
Fair warning, there are MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD
#3: Path of Chaos
“Catherine” (2011)
While we can sympathise with the fact that poor Vincent was targeted and nearly driven insane by a succubus, we can’t exactly say he made the smartest decisions in the heat of the moment. He didn’t exactly try to kick her out of his life when she made the moves on him, nor did he confide in his girlfriend Katherine that he was being plagued by a somewhat violent stalker. While that was every shade of stupid, should players encourage him to go down the chaotic route, Vincent will pursue Catherine relentlessly until he decides to throw away his humanity to be with her. From a moral standpoint, the shift from man to monster paints Vincent in a less than pleasant light.
#2: Blacklight Virus
“Prototype 2” (2012)
While he may have had no qualms about slicing apart military personal and devouring his fellow superhumans in order to gain new powers, at the end of the day Alex Mercer was still somewhat of a hero who sought to right the wrongs caused by Blackwatch. Then came the sequel, where he turned himself into patient zero and unleashed a brand new plague that consumed the entirety of New York City (again) as a stepping stone towards eradicating all conflict through mutation. As you can guess, all this resulted in was a much higher body count and the discrediting of one of gaming’s modern vigilantes.
#1: The Genocide Route
“Undertale” (2015)
Should the player’s curiosity take hold, then instead of a fantastical adventure featuring a delightful cast of monsters, they’ll get a bloody tale of insanity as the character of Frisk is replaced by the murderous entity known as Chara, who will then proceed to slaughter every creature in the underground. Every character we’ve grown to love? Reduced to ashes. Things only continue to spiral down until the players themselves become Chara’s final victim, tainting their save file in the process so there’s zero chance of them erasing their actions. Now that’s just pure evil.
Be sure to check out the video below to see our picks for the Top 10 Evil Endings In Video Games.Â