Evil in games is one of those delightful topics that doesn’t seem to be discussed quite nearly enough. This isn’t the evil that inhabits Shaylbridge Cradle in Thief or the evil that unleashed the forces of hell in Doom 3. The evil that is at the heart of this article is the evil in you the player. The evil that leads you to stealing candy from your very own baby in The Sims 3, the evil that sees you the Overlord send your minions to pillage a harmless human village, the kind of evil that saw Tom Francis plan to destroy whole solar systems in Galactic Civilisations 2.
Overlord should be the ultimate game of evil, you command your minions and wreak havoc in a variety of fairy tale lands. There is a problem, it is the problem that several times has made me pause and think “Surely I am more of a middle man and these halfling chaps are real evil ones…” It is the context of where your evil is emplaced that it is important, while there are opportunities aplenty in Overlord to satisfy your evil tendencies, say through stealing food from the peasants, the early sections of the game see you protecting the poxy humans from being attacked by some pint-sized Halflings, this isn’t evil. Overlord fails to fully embrace the idea of being evil in games.
Interestingly enough the sequel certainly does embrace evil much more, you are able to truly embrace your dark side. The ability to influence peasants to work for you or to kill them is a great step forward from the original game, the people you are fighting against make you feel more evil, less of guy stuck in the middle. Those cutesy Elvish folks are perfect in making think that you actually are evil. In the game that is…
In a game like The Sims 3 you can embrace the evil lifestyle much easier, there is an Evil trait you can chose for your characters which leads to a variety of wishes and actions available not available to others. They vary from a wish to steal candy from a baby, something you can do to your own child! You are able to troll on internet forums and even donate money to organisations helping to undermine charity. That is how you do evil in a game, how can any good moral person steal candy from their very own child, they couldn’t, only an evil being could.
It is in RPGs that you are often best able to embrace your evil side, they oft present you with a complete world to explore and taint with your wicked ways. Oblivion for instance allows you to do the most heinous of things, say stuff it to the main quest, and presumably let the world fall apart. You can get blood on your hands in many ways, if you see someone you want to be rid of then you are more than able to do so.
The Witcher presents a murkier world, there isn’t a clearly defined evil aspect to the game, and instead your decisions are all based in shades of grey. Your actions generally take quite a while to reveal their true nature, if you think you are making good choices you are likely to be making one which shows your leanings to the dark side.
And who can forget Evil Genius, perhaps the most evil game of all. This game is almost an Austin Powers spoof, you become a Dr. Evil figure building a base where you come up with dastardly plots for world domination. This is perhaps your best chance to truly become an evil figure in games.
It is a good thing to embrace your evil side in games and for games to allow you to do so, so many games focus on being good and honourable that it is enjoyable to have a change. If you have never explored your evil side in games then what are you waiting for? Evil is the new cool.
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You should play inFamous on the PS3. The premise of the game is based on good or evil choices, a bit like Knights of the Old Republic, where choosing evil solutions to missions alters your characters weaponary and more strikingly your appearance. Infact, this is very much like Fable, which was very much like….Overlord.
You win. Its too hot for my brain today.
I just got back into my Fable II good playthrough but after that I’m totally going to be bad and evil. I love how everything you do is talked about in that world. haha, the game’s sucked me back in it seems.
I always tend to play as the callous assassin. I’m in it for the money and the loot, everything else can go to hell. Also, is killing NPCs because ‘they looked at me funny’ evil…because I tend to do that?
What about the evils of Friendly Fire when it is enabled? Those moments where you team up together with a pal, only for them at an innapropiate time decide it would be more gleeful for them to shoot you unexpectedly.
Personally I like it when a game allows me to be chaotic good – a time where I don’t have to wring a puppies neck but I can still tell people that annoy me to sod off. Last game that allowed me to do so that I remember was Knights of the Old Republic II, which presented some funny options to treat what was happening around you with a weary sarcasm. I dislike so many good/evil games that make good the humourless choice.
you expect the big ugly monsters to be evil in games the most its far more evil when somthing disguises itself as innocent and then becomes an axe wielding serial killer. thats why most games just rnt scary too many monsters with big teeth and big muscles
I wouldn’t say that killing NPCs because they gave you a funny look is evil Craig, I’d just say that you were letting out your agression :p
@Discostoo don’t have a PS3 so I can’t say I know what inFamous is like :(
Ah I knew there was something I forgot to mention, Drakensang! Though that does give me some ideas for a future column…if anyone saw the Drakensang stuff on The Reticule then you may have an idea of what I will be writing :p