Have you ever felt stuck playing the hero in horror games? You might crave chaos and mayhem. You want to step into the shoes of a bad guy. You dream of stalking survivors in Dead by Daylight, or tipping Gotham into chaos as the Joker.
You might want to lead Caesar’s Legion in Fallout 3, or wreck a city in GTA V. Many gamers hit this wall.
Here is a fact. Villain roles spark more creativity in gaming. This list shows ten titles and how you can play as a villain. It points out key powers, paths, and moral twists. We cover open world crime sims, action adventures like Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic, and dark thrillers such as Spec Ops The Line.
Evil awaits.
Key Takeaways
- Carrion (Phobia Game Studio, 2020) makes you a living weapon that crushes doors and eats scientists to unlock new mutations. Dead by Daylight (Behaviour Interactive, 2016) casts you as one of 35 killers hunting four survivors and earning bloodpoints for perk upgrades.
- Grand Theft Auto V (Rockstar North, 2013) lets you play Michael, Franklin, or Trevor to pull off heists and spark chaos in a RAGE-powered open world. Fallout 3 (Bethesda Game Studios, 2008) and Assassin’s Creed Rogue (Ubisoft, 2014) let you bomb towns, poison water, or betray allies for personal gain.
- Tyranny (Obsidian Entertainment, 2016) makes you Overlord Kyros’ Fatebinder who enforces cruel edicts and shifts NPC loyalties through dynamic dialogue. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (BioWare, 2003) tracks every evil act on an alignment meter that fuels Sith powers and corruption.
- Batman: Arkham Knight (Rocksteady, 2015) adds a Joker mode with Fear Toxin gadgets, Smilex grenades, and goon-filled challenge maps. LEGO DC Super-Villains (2018) lets you build and suit up Harley Quinn, Joker, and friends for co-op pranks, bright cutscenes, and family-friendly chaos.
- Destroy All Humans! (Pandemic Studios, 2005; Black Forest Games remaster, 2020) arms Crypto with mind control, telekinesis, laser cannons, and nuclear strikes to raze small-town America in a 1950s-style alien rampage.
How do you play as a monstrous entity in Carrion?
Carrion hit PC in 2020 from Phobia Game Studio. It ranked among top horror video games. You take control of a living weapon trapped in a research facility. The monster breaks through sealed doors, squeezes vents, and devours researchers.
This game flips heroes into prey.
Every consumed scientist fuels an evolution system that unlocks new mutations. The user interface tracks health, strength, and tendril powers as you grow. You stalk guards with writhing limbs, then rip them apart in brutal bursts.
No moral choices exist, only survival and domination in sterile corridors.
What makes Grand Theft Auto V an open-world crime game?
Grand Theft Auto V hit shelves in September 2013. Rockstar North built a vast digital sandbox. The sprawling map mirrors Southern California’s sun, hills, and beaches. San Andreas feels alive at dawn, dusk, and midnight.
RAGE engine powers every city block with morning traffic, NPC chatter, and neon lights. You hear sirens pulse in the distance as you cruise down Vinewood Boulevard.
Three leads drive the crime saga. Michael plots high-stakes bank heists from his luxury mansion. Franklin stakes out street deals in Los Santos neighborhoods. Trevor ignites chaos in desert hideouts and dusty airstrips.
Missions span robbery, assassination, theft, and violence. Players trade stocks to flip cash fast. The narrative twists through moral grey zones and biting satire of American life, pop culture, and politics.
Freeform exploration lets you spark havoc or slip past cops, fueling endless criminal activities.
How does Tyranny explore ruling with moral ambiguity?
Obsidian Entertainment released Tyranny in 2016, an RPG set in Terratus under Overlord Kyros. You step in as a Fatebinder, enforcing cruel decrees and doling out punishments. The game uses a dialogue interface and a dynamic world to highlight the banality of evil.
Every choice shifts loyalties and shapes the map. You feel pulled toward the dark side at every turn.
Rich narratives unfold as you command legions and crush uprisings. No path feels purely heroic or villainous in this video games title. The responsive interface alters NPC moods and city states on the fly.
Developers at Obsidian weave deep storylines that twist under your orders. Each decision cements your role among bad guys.
How can you hunt as iconic killers in Dead by Daylight?
Dead by Daylight launched in 2016 from Behaviour Interactive. It tops horror games lists in the video games world. Players step into the killer’s shoes in a first-person view. Thirty-five killers lurk, based on horror icons.
Hunters trail four survivors across horror-themed maps.
Silent footsteps echo across foggy arenas. Asymmetrical multiplayer pits one hunter against four survivors. You snag survivors and send them to sacrificial hooks. Bloodpoints fuel your loadout and perk system upgrades.
Behaviour Interactive rolls out updates with new maps and killers.
What choices lead to destruction in Fallout 3?
Fallout 3, or fo3, hit shelves in 2008 from Bethesda Game Studios. This video game uses open world design and branching questlines. You roam the Capital Wasteland, meet folks, and join factions.
Dark choices appear at every turn.
You can rig the bomb under Megaton to blow the town. Travelers face capture and enslavement in ruined vaults. You might lace the water supply with poison. Each act sinks the wasteland deeper into chaos and tests any lingering morals.
How do you play as the Joker in Batman: Arkham Knight?
Batman: Arkham Knight packs a Knightfall Pack that unlocks Joker content. Pre-order bonus awards the Clown Prince of Crime skin for the Batmobile. Then open the Challenge Maps menu.
Pick the Carnival map. Toggle to Joker legend. Corridors fill with goons. Learn his tricks. Earn medals.
Fear toxins warp the plot. You switch perspective during Scarecrow showdown. The Caped Crusader hallucinates Joker voice. You wield Joker’s joy buzzer and Smilex grenades. You taunt with mad quips.
Gotham City trembles under your grin.
How do you betray the Brotherhood in Assassin’s Creed Rogue?
Rogue drops you into Shay Patrick Cormac’s shoes. Assassin’s Creed Rogue lets you hunt the Brotherhood. Stolen archives reach London by his hand. This move drives the Templar agenda forward.
Hidden blade and flintlock pistol join his arsenal. Eagle vision reveals enemy safe houses along the rivers. The Morrigan sails through ice to deliver surprise strikes.
What havoc can you wreak as an alien in Destroy All Humans!?
Crypto lands his ship on 1950s American soil and wreaks havoc in small towns. Pandemic Studios first launched Destroy All Humans! in 2005, and Black Forest Games remastered it in 2020.
Players wield mind control to turn troopers against their platoon. They use telekinesis to fling cars at jeeps. They spray lasers from an energy cannon or rip rooftops off barns with a subatomic disrupter.
Collecting DNA from citizens and soldiers boosts each power. Every earned strand fuels sharper blasts and wider gravity fields.
Fans roam open worlds, mowing down soldiers, cowboys, and civilians alike. They call in nuclear strikes from a flying saucer, then vanish in a neon haze. Hilarity erupts as diners and drive ins burn under radiant beams.
Enhanced visuals highlight every crater and flicker. The remaster upgrades textures and sound for modern consoles, but keeps the game’s wicked wit. Villain fans in video games will feast here on pure, cosmic chaos.
How does LEGO DC Super-Villains offer a lighthearted villain experience?
Lego DC Super-Villains lets players grab roles of Harley Quinn, Joker, and other foes. The game mixes humor and action in a family-friendly setting. It uses a customization system so you can tweak masks, capes, and gadgets.
Lego building gives a playful spin to each mission. Heroes like Batman show up, only to get pranked in bright cutscenes. Co-op mode lets friends join as Two-Face or Poison Ivy for extra laughs.
This title adds comedic banter between villains and caped crusaders. Dark tropes flip in silly ways, like a breakdancing Brainiac. Comic timing in dialogue keeps the pace brisk. Kids and teens laugh at quirky quips.
Adults catch clever nods to Batman: the Animated Series and Infamous 2. No mature drama overshadows absurd puzzles and brain teasers.
What is the dark journey of ambition in Shadow the Hedgehog?
A lab held Shadow the Hedgehog in stasis for 50 years. He hunts seven Chaos Emeralds to spark his past. He learns that Black Doom seeded his creation. His thirst for power twists his mission.
He uses gunfire and Chaos Control to track the truth.
Gamers steer his choices toward heroism or hatred. Each run tests his loyalty and sense of self. Players see how ambition can blacken an edge. Sonic Adventure 2 teased his rage but here you own his darkness.
How do you fall to the Dark Side in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic?
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic tracks every evil deed on your alignment meter. Your Jedi avatar spares or kills NPCs, hoards credits or gives them away, shields allies or snuffs them out.
These moral choices fill your Dark Side points. The game hits you with scenes of power, corruption, raw ambition. You sense the Sith Empire breathing down your neck, the emperor’s shadow in every whisper.
Dark Side powers jump off the screen, lightning crackles from your fingertips. You feel strength that echoes in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, in the Ultimate Sith Edition. A jolting thrill hits as you taste cruel abilities.
Similar titles like Overlord and Bioshock Infinite let you embrace villainy, feed your inner tyrant. These morally questionable choices spice up every mission, they lift the story into darker waters.
How do you use terrifying powers for revenge in The Darkness?
Jackie Estacado becomes a mob hitman. This horror video game gives him dark, supernatural powers. He blends gunshots with crimson tentacles to shred foes alive. He summons tiny demons that drain life fast.
Players on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox feel every gruesome blow.
You gain new powers by feeding the Darkness. Dark vision lets you spot victims through walls. Upgrades spawn shadow hounds that chase and tear targets. Choke rivals with a thought.
Tear bones with a flick. This game mixes horror games with mafia noir. The Darkness gives brutal revenge fun.
What is the psychological descent into villainy in Spec Ops: The Line?
Yager Development released Spec Ops: The Line in 2012. It sets action in a shattered Dubai. Captain Martin Walker leads a Delta squad into a sandstorm of chaos. The game feels more like a horror game, it uses terror to flip your view of video games.
A tight narrative design drives each painful choice.
Walker starts with honor and duty. He orders white phosphorus strikes, then faces the scorch of civilian loss. Guilt scrambles his thoughts, he hallucinates his own men as monsters.
Hero and villain blur in each scene. Single-player shines with this moral fall, while multiplayer can’t match its depth.
What are the consequences of actions in Undertale?
Actions in Undertale shape the whole tale. Players pick mercy or slaughter in each fight. A “save file” tool lets you rewind to tweak your path. NPCs live or die based on your moves.
The game shows darker themes and moral ambiguity, more like a horror games twist than a straight RPG. Choices alter the soundtrack, dialogue, and final encounter. Even credits change if you drop to a Genocide run.
Video games rarely tie every moment so tight to character moods and world shifts.
Characters react to your path in real time. Toriel may welcome you if you spare monsters. Flowey mocks you if you kill them. Sans hunts you in the end if you choose genocide. Decisions impact relationships and the game world itself.
Players see a moral framework that flips hero stories on their head. Undertale mirrors trends in nuanced storytelling and complex character dynamics. Fans compare its twists to Fallout: New Vegas’ hidden factions or Assassin’s Creed Rogue’s betrayals.
It makes you question good and evil in every scene.
How do you survive at any cost in Fear and Hunger 2: Termina?
Fear and Hunger 2: Termina drops you in a grim zone. Moral ambiguity warps each decision. Corpse-filled crypts and trap doors lie ahead. Dogged trading of flesh seals ethically questionable pacts.
Video games rarely force such brutal tests; even Dead by Daylight feels tame.
A lonely torch casts dancing shadows. Danger icons sprout across your map. Ragged cloth binds wounds at a crafting bench. Fiendish traps spring from your inventory list. Horror games meet ruthless player agency in this title.
What sinister twist unfolds in the story of Braid?
A hit among video game fans, Braid hides a bitter truth. Many video games use twists, but this one goes extra dark. Each world bends time in a new way. You chase a princess across floating platforms and puzzles, like a cat after a laser pointer.
Grabbing rewind orbs gives more control. Glass windows show cryptic text. A dark secret lurks inside.
Then it pulls the rug out from under you. The princess is no victim. You act as a kidnapper from a far kingdom. Other texts hint at burning cities. You used time loops to hide your crimes.
That last frame casts you as the true baddie.
How do you become the ultimate assassin in Hitman 3?
Agent 47 in Hitman 3 masters disguise and reconnaissance to nail each mission. He stakes out venues and taps security chatter with Intuition Vision. He swaps outfits, blends into crowds, and triggers hidden pathways.
He aims for Silent Assassin ranks by killing targets cleanly, no alarms allowed. He fine-tunes gear choices in the Agency Contract Editor, then tracks Limited-Time Contracts under the radar.
Each map hides new gear and secret paths to explore. You blend every disguise, from chef to guard. Quick saves let you rewind if a plan falters. You scout roof vents, drain pipes, and catwalks to catch targets off guard.
This stealth play lifts you above ordinary video games. Master every move, and chase that perfect silent run.
Takeaways
Players slip into wicked roles. You may command a hungry creature, or run a crime saga. Some stories let you rally an iron legion or join a masked menace. Each game flexes gameplay mechanics, tests moral fences, pushes fun buttons.
Fans will smile at chaos, then think about choices.
FAQs on Games That Let You Play as the Villain
1. What video games let me play as the villain?
You can lead Caesar’s Legion in FONV, be a sith lord who duels Obi-Wan and rises as Lord Starkiller in Darth Vader’s Secret Apprentice, break the law in Grand Theft Auto 5, or even brawl in Streets of Rage.
2. Can I scare survivors in Dead by Daylight?
Yes, Dead by Daylight lets you hunt survivors in a dark arena. You set traps, stalk them, and strike fear into their hearts.
3. What open world titles let me break the law?
Grand Theft Auto 5 lets you steal cars, pull heists, and roam free. FONV can let you join Caesar’s Legion and rule the Mojave your way. Both give you total control, and plenty of chaos.
4. What city or street games let me play rogue roles?
Streets of Rage drops you into a gritty fight. Spider-Man: Web of Shadows flips you to the dark side. You can roam Streets of Gotham as Catwoman. The Batman game even lets you choose a darker path.
5. Are there story or RPG games that let me pick dark paths?
Assassin’s Creed Rogue lets you hunt old allies. Baldur’s Gate 3 offers sinister pacts. The Last of Us shows you the world through enemy eyes. Sonic Adventure 2 even lets you zip around as Shadow, a speed-minded villain.
