Games Where You Realize Too Late That You Were The Villain

Games are such a wonderful medium, allowing you to see the perspectives of heroes, villains, and everything in between—all while having your hands on the steering wheel, guiding the action. There is no shortage of games that allow you to play as the villain from the outset, or games that allow players to make “evil” choices, but sometimes, you get a game that pulls a bit of a trick on its own players: the surprise hero-to-villain reveal.

In each of the following games, the character is presented as a force for good or an otherwise neutral party from the outset, only for the truth to come crashing down on players’ heads. Whether it was by choice or entirely unintentional, here are five games where it is revealed that you were the bad guy all along.

This article will contain major spoilers for: Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean, Heavy Rain, Mouthwashing, Shadow of the Colossus, and Nier Replicant.

Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean — Kalas

Revenge is a Powerful Motivator

This GameCube RPG, which also had a remaster shadowdropped on Steam, was developed by Monolith Soft, the team behind the Xenosaga and Xenoblade Chronicles series, and follows the protagonist Kalas as he travels the world seeking vengeance for the murder of his grandfather and little brother. While the perspective of Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean is through the eyes of Kalas’s Guardian Spirit (and all dialogue choices made by the player are from the spirit), the player fully controls the movements and actions of Kalas throughout the game.

After meeting a woman named Xelha, Kalas inadvertently unleashes an “End Magnus” that could be used to unseal the evil god Malpercio when combined with the other four End Magnus. The party travels the world to stop the release of these beings, but is rebuffed at every turn, making Malpercio’s revival more and more likely.

However, it wasn’t by chance that the enemies seemed to be one step ahead at every turn. It turns out that Kalas was working for them the entire time, assisting in locating and capturing each End Magnus along the way. Eventually, Kalas absorbs the power of the End Magnus and becomes possessed by Malpercio.

Thankfully, there’s a bit of a happy turn to this tale. Kalas comes to regret his betrayal and looks for a way to reseal Malpercio. The player, now in control of Xelha, eventually reunites with Kalas and frees him from his servitude to the evil god. After which, they work together to defeat Malpercio and restore the world.

Heavy Rain — Scott Shelby

Perpetuating the Cycle of Violence Won't Heal You

Throughout Heavy Rain, the player takes control of four different playable characters, all of whom appear to be searching for the Origami Killer, a serial killer who targets children during the rain. One of the four playable characters is a private investigator named Scott Shelby, who meets with the families of the previous victims and collects evidence from each that may lead to the Origami Killer’s whereabouts.

However, near the end of the game, it is revealed that Scott was not looking for the Origami Killer, but he was actually the killer. Changed by the experience of losing his brother to parental neglect, Scott kidnaps children to find a father willing to sacrifice themselves for their child. Scott Shelby’s actions throughout the game are then recontextualized, as he was not gathering the evidence for investigative purposes, but rather to dispose of it and ensure his escape.

The twist may feel a bit cheap to players, however, as Heavy Rain gives us the internal monologues of the playable cast throughout the game, and Shelby’s internal voice never mentions or alludes to his actual reason for gathering the evidence. The multiple endings, including whether Scott gets away with his crimes, are determined by player actions and which characters arrive to help Shaun escape.

Mouthwashing — Jimmy

Avoiding Accountability Till the End

Told through a non-linear, fractured timeline, the story of Mouthwashing follows five crewmembers: Jimmy, Captain Curly, Anya, Daisuke, and Swansea. The crew has been stranded after their captain deliberately crashed the ship they work on. Each little story vignette reveals more about the events leading up to the crash and the fallout that followed. Our protagonist, Jimmy, attempts to take on the role of captain, leading everyone toward survival.

However, the entire mess was Jimmy’s fault in the first place. Jimmy is not only the one who crashed the ship, but he also commits some other grave infractions throughout the game that cause the crew to lose their lives. As the game progresses, Jimmy spirals further and further into madness, trying to “correct” the mistakes he’s made, culminating in Jimmy literally cannibalizing Captain Curly before giving up and placing Curly into a cryo pod to keep him alive.

It’s a harrowing account of the lengths some people will go to avoid accountability, and one that is sure to stick with players who can make it the whole way through.

Shadow of the Colossus — Wander

The Path is Paved With Good Intentions

The story of Shadow of the Colossus follows a young man named Wander who endeavors to revive a young woman named Mono, entreating the entity Dormin to help bring her back. Dormin promises to revive Mono if Wander slays the 16 colossal beasts scattered across the realm.

When Wander tracks down and defeats each of the colossi, a burst of shadowy essence pierces his body, causing him to fall unconscious and wake up back at the temple. After each successful kill, Wander’s skin becomes paler, and his hair darkens. Each new colossus is accompanied by its own theme music, which starts heroic and exciting, but shifts to a more mournful tone when the colossi are finally struck down. Every fight ends with a tinge of sadness.

The journey itself is beautiful and haunting, in a way. These massive, majestic figures once littered the land, minding their own business, but now the Forbidden Lands lie empty. After defeating the final colossi, the truth is revealed: the colossi were actually fragments of Dormin’s soul. In destroying the guardians, Wander has unwittingly released the great evil of Dormin.

Though it is clear that something was amiss from the outset, the final transformation into Dormin’s vessel is a shocking one. The entire journey to save Mono has been a task devised by a great evil to set itself free. The effort feels like it was for naught, as Mono remains lifeless on the slab and Wander is sucked into a portal to be sealed away. However, in the game’s closing moments, Mono finally awakens, with an injured Agro returning, and Mono finds a small horned child in the pool where Wander was sealed away. Maybe there’s hope for Wander yet?

NieR Replicant — Nier

Safeguarding One Soul Dooms Countless Others

NieR Replicant starts as standard fantasy fare: a young man explores a post-apocalyptic world to find a cure for his sister’s terminal illness. Along the way, he slaughters hundreds of "Shades" (monstrous, shadowy creatures that seem to be nothing more than mindless fodder) at the behest of Devola and Popola. However, a horrible truth is revealed to us in the process: the shades were human.

As part of Project Gestalt, the souls of humanity were separated from their physical bodies. This was necessary because a disease threatened to end humanity’s existence. So it was devised that humans would separate their souls from mortal flesh and then place them into the manufactured bodies of Replicants. However, Replicants developed souls of their own, rejecting this merger and forcing humans to live without bodies.

If the wanton destruction of these human souls was not enough, it is also revealed that the Shadowlord is the only thing keeping the shades from becoming crazed, and is actually the Gestalt of the boy from the prologue, with our main character as the Replicant body meant to house him. By defeating the Shadowlord, Nier dooms all of humanity and, by extension, the Replicants.

The true tragedy of NieR Replicant is that there are no good answers or clean solutions, and everything about the game is just a little bit messy. If Nier had allowed the Shadowlord and the other Gestalts to inhabit the Replicant bodies, the Replicant souls that had developed would have been eliminated. And while stopping the antagonist allows Replicants to retain their free will, it amounts to genocide of all of humanity, and ultimately dooms the Replicants, as well.