First-person shooters dominate gaming. There are plenty of high-profile releases in FPS franchises like last year's Call of Duty Vanguard. Some of 2022's most anticipated games like Starfield follow in the mold even if they aren't FPSs as the gameplay holds a lot of potential. These games aren't just good for quick running and gunning, though.
FPS games aren't just shooting galleries, they can also have complex narratives and due to the perspective, confronting a nasty villain can be really engaging. In the genre boss encounters tend to be more intimate and grounded, having similar tools to the player. These first person shooter villains have given gamers unforgettable experiences.
G-Man (Half-Life)
Half-Life is one of the first first-person shooters to really take advantage of narrative. It introduces heavy science fiction themes, however, most antagonists are unintelligible aliens with incomprehensible motives. This is true of the series' most mysterious entity, the G-Man.
Whether or not the G-Man is a villain is up for debate which is why he doesn't quite hang with the genre's vilest. He’s still certainly a manipulator, conscripting the protagonists in some kind of larger plan and his most recent appearance in Half-Life Alyx has him take a more sinister turn. While his motives remain unclear, fans hope they won’t have to wait long for more information.
Cyberdemon (DOOM)
DOOM as a franchise has pretty classic baddies. The game used the stock villain of the legions of hell. There are complex masterminds like Olivia Pierce, but boss fights are really where DOOM's villains stand out. Cyberdemon is the best in that regard, dominating the player's view.
Cyberdemon towers over the already massive Doomguy. He tracks the Doomguy with his rocket launcher and never ceases his approach. It’s a recurring boss but isn’t fought in every game, making its reappearance special. Doom Eternal features the Tyrants, which are an enemy reminiscent of the Cyberdemon but can't match his poise.
Handsome Jack (Borderlands 2)
Handsome Jack is the villain of Borderlands 2, although his influence is felt in every game. He’s the snarky CEO of the Hyperion Corporation, which supplies weapons to the main characters. Even before Jack is met he seems shady. His voice follows the player throughout the game and really builds up Jack as an antagonist with biting sarcasm.
Jack has a warped sense of morality that drives him to want to wipe out all perceived evil on Pandora. His backstory includes tragic elements like abuse and he does care for certain people. This does lead some fans to view him as the hero. At the end of the day though, it may just be due to the excellent cocky performance of Dameon Clarke.
Frau Engel (Wolfenstein)
Wolfenstein started out with some of the most obvious villains in the world; the Nazis. Most people ten years ago would respond to the question of “who’s the best villain in Wolfenstein'' with silence or maybe “Mecha-Hitler.” Wolfenstein: The New Order from 2014 would change all of that. It introduced one of the most vile video game characters with Frau Engel.
Irene Engel is a German military officer who the protagonist initially meets undercover. On this train ride players are introduced to Engel in a non-combat encounter which gives her spotlight. It is not long until her sexual aggression and apathy become apparent from her dialogue. After being scarred, she swears revenge and becomes the main antagonist of sequel The New Colossus.
Alma Wade (F.E.A.R.)
From one female villain to another, Alma could not be more different from Irene. Alma Wade was a test subject and victim of evil experiments. The Armachain Technology Corporation from F.E.A.R. would violate her from a young age. This was all in an effort to learn about and take her latent psychic powers.
Alma returns years later to get her revenge on the people who wronged her. As she is a psychic, the nature of her existence isn’t always clear and her appearance in the game's levels can be erratic and sudden. The mystery of who and what Alma is is one of F.E.A.R.’s biggest draws. She brings the game more into the survival horror genre of video games than most other FPS games.
Vaas Montenegro (Far Cry 3)
Far Cry is known for its villains. This wasn’t always the case though, as the series was a standard open world exploration shooter before 3. Then Vaas came onto the scene, kidnapping and torturing the protagonist and overall serving as a foil. Vaas was an unforgettable villain with an excellent performance by actor Michael Mando.
The character is a drug addled enforcer, acting as the evil preamble to a larger villain. As such, he doesn’t appear much but makes an impression with iconic monologues like “Do you know the definition of insanity?”. Vaas was popular enough that he ended up returning in Far Cry 6. The games were retooled to focus more heavily on the antagonists after Vaas’ stellar showing.
Dark Samus (Metroid Prime)
Dark Samus is not a clone of Metroid’s heroine Samus Aran, but rather the titular Metroid Prime. Metroids survive by stealing the life force of others, after all. Dark Samus mimics Samus’ form after it almost dies in the first game. It then spends the rest of the series silently following her.
Its boss fights show it's a remorseless hunter that comes at Samus mercilessly. At the same time, it watches and learns from the player. It’s a reactive monster that isn’t human, but feels intelligent. This makes it truly terrifying even before it enacts evil in the series’ third entry.
General Shepherd (Call of Duty)
Call of Duty has plenty of larger than life villains. Richtofen from Call of Duty Zombies is a tried and true boss supervillain, for example. General Shepherd is probably the most devilish when it comes to emotional impact. Debuting in Modern Warfare 2, he initially seems like a normal military commander before he kills the playable character with a memorable line about loose ends.
It’s a shocking moment where two of the best characters are abruptly killed. His name, Shepherd, builds the false notion that he is to be trusted. This betrayal is incredibly memorable for Call of Duty, which usually played such characters straight. Luckily, player character Soap does get justice on him in the end.
Andrew Ryan (Bioshock)
Some villains are allegorical, representing concepts, and Andrew Ryan from Bioshock is one such villain. He represents a political viewpoint centered on meritocracy to an extreme. He’s the self-aggrandizing founder of Rapture, singing its praises despite its obvious horror. Part of his appeal is his Disney-esque charisma whilst espousing a horrific worldview.
He’s the largest presence in the game right from the get go as large statues of him announce his utopia to the world. He also often speaks to the player to give quests which is accompanied by a lovely old-timey radio filter. Every time he croons “would you kindly” more cracks emerge in his facade. Armin Shimerman's performance really helped this character's worldview stick out.
The Gravemind / The Flood (Halo)
“I am a monument to all of your sins,” bellows The Gravemind. This massive gray monstrosity from the Halo series is the final form of the iconic enemy parasite called The Flood. Also known as Inferi Sententia, the organism is a fused intelligence of all the life The Flood has eaten over the years. As such, while the creature’s main goal is to eat and spread, it’s often much more diplomatic than any other Halo villain which gives it an odd charm.
Its introduction makes the Flood seem more powerful than any other parasite, as it demonstrates a philosophical fluency. The Gravemind itself only makes two short appearances in 2 and 3, but the capacity for that intelligence exists in every member of the Flood species which propels every encounter with them higher. The Flood is a parasitic and cancerous force that the Gravemind attempts to pretty up with words and thought. It's the surprising humanity at the heart of the cankerous Flood that makes the hive mind the best first person shooter villain.