A lot of video games play into a fantasy of being the hero, the savior, the one who brings balance to the world and beats up the baddies. However, there are also an increasing number of games that grant you the possibility to experience the complete opposite end of that, sometimes to a staggering degree. There's a reason why a lot of people struggle with completing a Baldur's Gate 3 full evil run, because developers have started adding some pretty dark options into games.
Still, one has to respect the games that offer this kind of freedom to choose, especially when those evil paths are well-developed, with real consequences and just as much depth as the good paths. If you're not afraid of unleashing the worst version of yourself, give these open-world games with plenty of room for evil deeds a try.
Watch Dogs 2
Hero Or Psychopath, You Choose
While Watch Dogs 2 can be completed with non-lethal combat all the way through, there's a whole other world out there for those who prefer to stray from the path of a hero and watch Marcus turn into a murder hobo on the loose, no matter how non-canonical that might seem.
As a hacker, the game has some pretty fun things you can pull off: hacking into people's accounts and stealing their money, taze or fatally shooting random civilians, starting fistfights, remotely blowing things like water pipes up, and so on. And don't worry, if you get caught, you can hack into the emergency call that NPCs make to interrupt them.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
Let Henry's Reputation Plummet
Somewhat similar to the systems seen in Infamous, Fallout: New Vegas, and Red Dead Redemption 2, Henry's actions and behavior are directly tied to his reputation in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. The more you commit crimes, kill innocents, and choose negative dialogue options, the lower your reputation will be. And the best thing is, these aren't just NPC-specific: people will talk about Henry's behavior, and word of his selfishness spreads.
The best ways to be an absolute menace in the game are to generally act selfishly, either by extorting NPCs for some extra pay for a job or by breaking the law. The latter has a few cool, different ways, with murder and thievery being the basic chaotic options. That said, you can also run bystanders over with your horse to piss them off or attack animals belonging to NPCs. There's some nice depth in there, ripe for evil medieval knight roleplaying.
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim
Assassin, Cannibal, And Nazeem's Worst Nightmare
Although Skyrim paints players as the heroic Dragonborn, there are plenty of opportunities to be the exact opposite of that. You can join the Dark Brotherhood and complete contracts, which sometimes have you kill innocent people who simply become the ire of another NPC. You can also join the cult of Namira in one of the Daedric quests, feasting on the bodies of the dead as a cannibal.
There are many other heinous choices throughout various quests, and then there's also the freedom of causing mayhem as you wish by simply slaying anyone who gets in your way. Tired of Nazeem flapping his mouth? An arrow to his knee is the solution, though be prepared to run away from the guards or pay a bounty if you're not the Thane wherever you commit your crimes.
Rimworld
No Need To Be A Benevolent God
RimWorld has a ton of freedom in how players want to proceed. The colony can be a peaceful, happy place that just defends itself, or you can opt for something completely heinous and cruel. Like in The Sims, you can watch your colonists slowly spiral into mental breaks by neglecting their needs and their moods.
It gets even worse: maybe you resort to cannibalism or organ harvesting through kidnapping, just to selfishly keep the best of the best alive? Or maybe it's time to make a few extra bucks and sell a few people off to slavery. Against brutal raids, players need to sometimes get cruel and creative.
Infamous 1 & 2
Accumulate Evil Karma
Both Infamous 1 and Infamous 2 have some solid options for unleashing your worst self, and the Karmic system shows that. The more horrible acts you perform in the game, the more you accumulate bad karma, which will directly influence Cole's behavior, but also the color of his lightning. NPCs will also react to Cole's presence; the more negative karma you have, so if the idea of being so hated that civilians toss stones at you sounds appealing, be sure to behave selfishly.
The number one way is to forget about minimizing civilian casualties when using your powers, stealing blast shards, and making sure all enemies are actually killed, instead of just incapacitating them. There are also a few specific moments in the games where Cole can be truly heinous, like disrupting innocent street performers just trying to do their thing.
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This article originally appeared on GameRant and is republished here with permission.
