What do you look for in a Villain game?

General
34

I’ll keep this simple. Actual villainy and an ending that doesn’t force me to work together with the heroes to fight off some bigger threat. Excuse me, but I am the biggest threat in this story, not some recently awakened ancient evil, not some kind of evil entity that comes from outer space, and definitely not something which comes from another dimension, no, it’s me. Is it too much to ask to make us the final boss? Must you make me work together with the heroes?

Now, for details.

I want to have ties with my minions (or comrades if we’re the one working for the overlords), I don’t want them ignored in favor of giving more screen time for the heroes and me, no, I want to build close ties with them so that when the time comes for me to sacrifice them or when they eventually defect to the heroes side, the emotional impact would be that much greater.

I don’t want a redemption arc, take backs are for loser. But I do want a detailed start of darkness, preferably one that span years or decades, not just some ‘here’s a very traumatic event for your MC, bam, they are now dead set on becoming a villain for *insert whatever reason here*’.
No, I want it to be a constant suffering or humiliation, not just a single horrific event. Because if all it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy, chances are all it takes is one good day to snap them out of it.
I want them to become progressively embittered by it. I want to see their optimism and ability to trust to slowly leave them. I want to see them moving from cursing their luck to cursing their life, then cursing their existence to finally cursing the world.
I want to see the embers of anger, hate and sadness inside their heart slowly turns into a burning inferno. I want to see their despair, their desperate attempt to hold on to the vestiges of their positivity, their trust, kindness, happiness, restrain as it leaves them each day, to see them utterly broken and feebly clutching onto whatever positive point they have left, and to see the moment when they finally snap as all that left is malice.

Now, for an even more *gruesome* details

I want to see the world slowly falls into chaos, as panic and hysteria washes over the land.

I want to see that moment where we finally crossed the moral event horizon, and is now irredeemably evil. To see the heroes look upon us with horror and fear etched onto their faces. To see their despair as their attempt ultimately amounts to nothing.

I want to torment the heroes both physically and mentally. To hear their scream of pain as I do whatever I pleases with them, to hear them begging for me to stop with tears streaming down their face. To hear their anguished wail as they see their loved ones is broken and ‘corrupted’. And to laugh with mad glee at their despair.

I want to hold their loved ones hostage and use them to force the heroes to do my bidding, and kill them when the heroes are preoccupied with the task. To smile in sadistic pleasure as I respond to their “But you promised!” with a simple “I lied.”.

I want to see all my machinations and plans comes together beautifully, and let out a contented sigh as I know that the heroes are practically powerless to stop it.

I want to frame the heroes as the bad guys and gain myself public adoration. To see the common folks throw trash at the heroes. To see the common folks worshipping me and look upon me with hope and trust in their eyes. To be heralded as a hero by the public while they condemn the heroes as the villain, delicious irony.

I want to pull a Griffith.

Finally, for the simple details (it's oxymoronic, I know)

I want to have one of the heroes as an RO, yes, it’s counterintuitive to my previous points, but such is the duality of the nature of man.

I want awesome character design.

I want to create powerful weapon.

I want to wield dark magics, preferably forbidden ones.

I want to take a vacation every now and then.

I want to build doomsday devices, plural, just because I can.

I want to create monsters that defies reality and logic.

I want to have a child and make them my apprentice.

2 Likes
35

And as the heroes lined up to face Cthulhu they made the mistake of leaving me at their back. After they were dead I dismissed my pet Cthulhu.

3 Likes
36

You’re making my favorite action series heroes sound bad. Making them out to be villains.

37

Care to give an example so I better understand your point?

38

Khun or “blue turtle” (not actually a turtle. Rak just calls everyone ___ turtle.) is a cold calculating ruthless piece of work from Tower of God but he remains friends with the hero team and is 1 of 2 of the biggest members. Even one of the 3 founding members actually.

39

Well, I don’t know him, but is he really a hero or a protagonist (not necessarily the main one but in the sense that the point is of view is influenced by his or other protagonists wills and motives)?
Because they are different. There may very well be villains protagonists (Dexter, Walter White, Light Yagami…) And hero antagonists.
Obs: Probably most of my examples can be seen as antiheros but I still see them as villains, they seem like antiheros because we see from their perspective thus justifying most of their mistakes.

Edit: typos.

40

The tower didn’t even have any heroes until he met 25th Bam (sweet naïve overpowered Bam) and Rak. Well there’s a rebellion but every one of THEM is a jerk.

Doesn’t help that the tower is like a life and death multiplayer game.

Yes he is a protagonist.

41

Sure it stands to reason that you would get to chose what type of villain you want to play; and i think variety is a top tier priority in this, so if you want to play an anti-hero, a murdering psycho, assassin with a code, etc. you can finally do it! (since not many games allow you to play as the bad guy)

What i personally like in a good villain, is his/her true evilness, that is to say how BAD they really are, in their nature. I think i got sick of the “modern” type of villains who all got their own reasons and justifications for their actions, or simply they’re convinced they’re doing the good thing. But no, the kind of villain i’m talking about is someone who could be seen as a saint if only they started pretending to be good, cause they know perfectly well, even better than most heroes themselves, what will do good, and what will do bad, and they always pick what will do bad, and excel at it.

42

Dousing yourself in gasoline and lighting it will do bad, eati g a sandwich will do good… Well I’m the do bad expert!

1 Like
43

lol well, in that case a true villain will postpone burning themselves to death, cause that would “do good” for many potential victims out there! xD this lets me think of “Crossed”, a very gruesome comic about some type of virus or something that turned people into maniacs, anyway their “leaders” would always be smarter than normal, and unlike them would also have an instinct of self-preservation, so that they’ll be able to infect even more humans and enjoy killing. (the others “stupid” ones would often kill themselves just for fun)

44

Getting to pick the kind of villain you are - a criminal in for the dough like Captain Cold, a would be world ruler like Doctor Doom, or an insane aimless psychopath like Carnage. Villains in comics are immensely diverse and games involving them should reflect that.

1 Like
45

Is Captain Cold in it for the dough? The incarnations I’ve seen he’s in it for the challenge.

46

Well with Cold it’s the fact in the comics (haven’t seen the Flash show yet so I can’t speak for him) he and the Rogues traditionally have pretty big rules about how they operate, including most importantly that they don’t kill people… or I think at the very least innocent people.

47

Captain Cold on the Flash is the best Reason for watching it. He goes from villain to antihero to hero. And he’s deliciously hammy ( though being the guy from prison break along sone might say he’s just delicious and his prison break partner being his heatwave partner)

48

Yeah, getting through the entire Arrowverse at some point is on my to do list, it isn’t exactly getting any smaller… :hushed: Right now I’m busy enough catching up with the Netflix Marvel shows and Legion.

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49

Six seasons of arrow , three seasons of Supergirl, three seasons of flash, two seasons of legends of tomorrow on Netflix You can do it!

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50

Yes, I would…

…if I didn’t live in the UK where Amazon Prime and Sky snapped the rights up first and helpfully separated it all between them for moe money. :unamused:

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51

I like a villain who makes me question the reasoning of the"good" side, one who points out the flaws of the good guys and their hypocrisy, one who’s arguments and cause makes more sense than those of the heroes.
That’s why I liked most of the traitor primarchs in the Horus heresy series, some of them actually had compelling reasons to turn on the imperium

2 Likes
52

To be able to be a “good” villain like the whole steal from the rich and give to the poor. Also being able to do what you think a villain would do like rob, kill, blow stuff up because you feel like it you know the classic villains that did what they wanted when they wanted. Hope this helps

53

This post was extremely villainous in itself and I really like that also If playing as a villian I want options I want to be able to redeem myself or go past the point of no return. Shakespearean Jullians like those in Macbeth or Hamlet are awesome.