Since the beginning of time, humans have told stories about good triumphing over evil. Video games have largely followed suit, and most titles ask the player to stop the villain, protect the land, and bring peace to those that mean well. As inspiring as those stories can be, sometimes it feels good to shed the weight of righteousness and embody the forces of evil.
Not every game lets players be the villain in the same way, though. Some add humorous twists to soften the blow of carrying out evil deeds, while others use the character's true nature as a narrative twist to shock and surprise.
Plague Inc.
Plague Inc. doesn't put players into the shoes of a singular villain, but it instead hands over complete control of an evolving illness. The game may hit a bit too close to home for some, but there's a significant amount of strategy that goes into choosing how to progress once the plague starts to take off.
Like many of the most deadly viruses seen on film, an illness in Plague Inc. will evolve and adapt its plan of attack to keep the dwindling human population on its toes.
Braid
Braid masquerades as a simple indie platformer about a man trying to save a princess from a monster. The game plays like a fairly standard platformer, albeit with some interesting time-manipulation mechanics. However, players discover that not all is as it appears the further they get through the game's gripping narrative.
It eventually becomes clear that Tim, the player character, is the very monster that the princess has been running from, and all of the obstacles he's had to overcome have been set in place in her attempt to keep him at bay.
Tyranny
Several video games feature iconic villains, but disappointingly few allow their henchmen to shine. Tyranny bucks this trend and lets players step into the shoes of one of the big bad's enforcers.
The powerful Kyros is a mysterious conqueror that leaves most of his bidding to be carried out by the Archons, and the Archons created Fatebinders to work below them. This level is where the player steps in, and it's up to them to decide how to enforce the will of Kyros and the Archons. While there's wiggle room regarding how evil to be, even the "nicest" choices are still close to lawful evil than actual good.
Saints Row
The Saints Row franchise started out as a grounded alternative to Grand Theft Auto, but each game has become more and more over-the-top. The Saints can now wield ridiculous weapons and utilize wild superpowers, but they're still the bad guys despite their charming demeanor and occasionally noble intentions.
Some of these "bad guy" elements were toned down in the most recent franchise entry, Saints Row IV, but the Saints members are still gang members at heart. Hints have indicated that the fifth entry in the franchise will be some type of reboot, but it's unlikely that the game will move away from a villain or anti-hero protagonist.
Transformers: War for Cybertron
Most Transformers media focuses on the titular robots' adventures after arriving on Earth, but War for Cybertron features many of the best transformers characters during the civil war between the Autobots and Decepticons on their home planet.
Not only does the game feature memorable environmental designs and a well-implemented transformation mechanic, but it also splits its narrative into separate Autobot and Decepticon campaigns. During the latter's missions, players follow the villainous Megatron as he attempts to secure Dark Energon and bring Cybertron back to its golden age. War for Cybertron is followed by two sequels that also let players control the villains.
Destroy All Humans
The Furons in Destroy All Humans! may be trying to stop the extinction of their species, but that doesn't mean that they aren't the bad guys. In the game, players control Cryptosporidium 137 (AKA Crypto) as he attempts to harvest human brain cells to recover the trace amounts of alien DNA embedded inside of the species during ancient times.
While on his mission, Crypto fights his way through everything from humble farmers to shadow organizations and major military powers. While it's fun to zap people with laser guns and attack cities from the safety of a flying saucer, there's no arguing that most of Crypto's victims are ordinary, innocent people.
Stubbs the Zombie
Several games make zombies scary antagonists, but Stubbs the Zombie puts a humorous spin on the walking dead. Stubbs' goals are relatively simple; as a zombie, he wants to eat human brains. Unfortunately for him, his zombified body cannot wield conventional weapons, so the player has to resort to rolling his head or using his detached limbs. Furthermore, Stubbs can turn humans into zombies to gain their aid in combat.
The game may not be very complicated, but there's a simple joy to be found in leading legions of the undead against their living enemies.
Spec Ops: The Line
Spec Ops: The Line took a lot of players by surprise because its campaign turned out to be significantly more serious than it seems to be. While they've somewhat fallen out of favor, modern military shooters were very in vogue earlier in the 21st century.
Spec Ops: The Line adopted many of the genre's cliches to form a serviceable, if not memorable, third-person shooter until the narrative twist reveals that the player character has lost his mental wherewithal. The player is forced to face the fact that they've been committing war crimes against the "good guys," and several of the previous missions are recontextualized.
Overlord
As its name implies, the Overlord games let players play as an evil ruler that leads swaths of minions to carry out his whims. Turning traditional fantasy tropes on their heads, the "bosses" in Overlord are, in fact, heroes that must be defeated before the player can fully conquer the land.
Despite not giving players the choice to be "good," Overlord does have a type of morality system based on how evil the player character is. Beyond its unique narrative framing, the game is also notable for successfully mixing third-person action elements and real-time strategy.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
The Star Wars film franchise owes no small part of its success to shocking plot twists, but it wasn't until 2003's Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic that the games presented an equally stunning narrative turn.
After a sprawling tale that introduced players to a new era in the Star Wars canon, the amnesiac player character finds out that they're actually a former Jedi that had turned to the dark side and attacked his former allies. At this point, however, the player can choose to continue their character's redemption or return them to the dark path that they had previously been traveling.