Sometimes being the good guy is a little boring, especially when it comes to a medium that lets you live out an escapist fantasy like video games. In recent years, developers have embraced that mindset, diversifying their protagonists to be more morally grey, with some games even putting you in the shoes of the bad guys instead of heroes.
To celebrate that different perspective, we’ve compiled a list of ten games that where you play as the bad guy.
And even though it doesn’t really matter to a rule breaker like you, we did want to warn you that the following article contains spoilers for the some of the games involved, including how they end. Skip over sections that you don’t want to be spoiled on.
Vito Scaletta – Mafia 2
No one that goes into the criminal underworld can be classified as a good guy, no matter how charming they may be with the ladies. Even by Mafia standards, though, Mafia 2 protagonist Vito Scaletta is not only a bad guy but a lousy friend.
Throughout the game, Vito Scaletta and Joe Barbaro work together, carrying out hits and doing jobs for the Mafia to rise through the ranks. The two are thick as thieves throughout the entirety of Mafia II, or so we thought.
At the end of the game, players fight alongside Joe to try and survive the mess they find themselves in. It is soon revealed that Carlo attempted to have Joe kill Vito, offering him the position of caporegime if he went through with it.
Joe refuses, and the two barely survive the ensuing firefight, with just about everyone now wanting to kill them as a result of it. When Vito is given an out, he takes it, dooming his friend in the process.
The game ends with Joe being driven away to an unknown – likely grim – fate. That means that right after your best friend chooses friendship over business, you do the exact opposite.
