Most Memorable Monologues In Video Games

Key Takeaways

• Iconic video game monologues have a lasting impact on players, sparking discourse and emotional responses.
• Powerful speeches like G-Man’s in Half-Life 2 and Shodan’s in System Shock 2 resonate due to unique characterizations.
• Monologues in games like Max Payne 2 and Silent Hill 2 delve deep into character motivations and emotional themes.

From theatre, to film, and finally video games, the monologue has always been utterly captivating. It allows us to see inside the characters: their hidden depths, their conflicts and where their convictions lie. A good monologue can make a hero legendary, a villain sympathetic, and an ending poignant. As video games evolved to be more cinematic and story-heavy, the big speech grew bigger in importance.

The impact of these speeches shows not just in how they affected the game, but the people who played it. You can see it in online discourse: people quote these speeches, make meme templates out of them, or bring them up while reflecting on the game. Here are some of the hardest-hitting ones.

8 “The Right Man In The Wrong Place Can Make All The Difference In The World. So Wake Up, Mr. Freeman. Wake Up And Smell The Ashes.”

Half-Life 2

There’s a lot that makes G-Man’s introductory speech great. For one thing, it’s a harsh welcome back to the world of Half-Life. For another, it almost defies belief how good the graphics and facial animations are for a 2004 game.

But what really sells this monologue is G-Man’s weird cadence. One of Half-Life’s most cryptic characters, he talks in a way that’s just not right. G-Man needs Gordon Freeman to pick up his crowbar once more, but with Half-Life 3’s launch still remaining a holy grail to this day, you’ll just have to speculate on his motives.

7 “My Whims Will Become Lightning Bolts That Devastate The Mounds Of Humanity… I Am Drunk With This Vision. God: The Title Suits Me Well.”

System Shock 2

When most villains claim to be God, they’re doing it in spite of themselves, looking to a vision they haven’t yet achieved; Shodan is different. Amid the hisses and distortions of circuitry, Shodan waxes poetic about how she can create whatever she pleases and do whatever she wants. From her perspective, humans are little more than insects, running for cover and begging for mercy. She is, in essence, a true god.

This game kickstarted NightDive Studios’ career in video game preservation: the team really wanted to unleash this cognitohazard on us. With artificial intelligence no longer being relegated to science fiction and becoming a real human concern, Shodan’s monologue in System Shock 2 is all the more haunting.

6 “There Are No Choices. Nothing But A Straight Line. The Illusion Comes Afterwards, When You Ask ‘Why Me?’ And ‘What If?'”

Max Payne 2: The Fall Of Max Payne

For a man whose life has been filled with pain, it’s easy to see why Max ruminates on choices this way. Sam Lake’s shootdodging hero goes metaphysical with one of many great monologues: there are no choices. It’s only in hindsight that you can wonder about doing things differently. But if that happened, you wouldn’t be the same person.

Set in the penultimate chapter of the game, it’s easy to see why Max has to tell himself this. With his family gone, his vengeance incomplete and dozens of dead bodies behind him, this tortured protagonist is past the point of no return. One might argue that having been a different version of himself might not have been so bad, but for Max, chalking it all up to fate is the only way he can keep going.

5 “In My Restless Dreams, I See That Town… James, You Made Me Happy.”

Silent Hill 2

Video game voice acting often suffered from subpar performances in the late ’90s and early 2000s. Monica Taylor Horgan’s narration of Mary’s letter in Silent Hill 2, however, is spectacular and heartbreaking. When it’s read in bits and pieces throughout the game, it takes on an accusatory tone: James never takes Mary to revisit Silent Hill, where they spent their honeymoon. All she can do is lie in her sickbed, feeling ugly and unwanted.

When it’s read fully, though, it turns out not to be a resentful letter: it was a goodbye, and a thank-you. Despite the difficulties during her illness, Mary wouldn’t trade her few years of happiness with James for anything. The letter is meant to be delivered only after her death. One of its most moving and profound sentences is, “I can’t tell you to remember me, but I can’t bear for you to forget me.”

4 “Life Isn’t Just About Passing On Your Genes. We Can Leave Behind Much More Than Just DNA. Through Speech, Music, Literature And Movies… What We’ve Seen, Heard, Felt… These Are The Things I Will Pass On.”

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty

If not for this speech, Metal Gear Solid 2 would have ended on a very dour note. Raiden kills Solidus, but only because he’s forced to by the Patriots. Essentially, the bad guys win: Solidus is the antagonist, but he’s not the villain. The Patriots are, and Raiden was forced to be their pawn.

But this monologue converts it into a more hopeful ending, one where Raiden internalizes Snake’s message. Through art, literature and emotions, Snake hopes that we can let our children see our history and avoid repeating it. Snake himself expresses an understanding of the Boss’ will, far better than what his rival Big Boss did: to let the world be.

3 “This Is What You Chose. To Live In Fear… As A Tiny Nation Stripped Of The Fangs To Defend Herself. Try To Defend This Country, My Home, With Just Those Frail Arms.”

Valkyria Chronicles 2

Military game narratives often suffer from depicting a black-and-white morality; Valkyria Chronicles 2 does not. The story divides a lot of fans, but it’s arguably better than the first game. For all the atrocities he committed, Baldren Gassenarl’s final speech shows he was as sincere in his motives as Squad G were in theirs. Unlike his father, who was willing to let Gallia be annexed by the Federation for political power, Baldren truly believed.

Defeated and humbled, Baldren spews contempt for his enemies one last time. They would see Gallia struggle as a tiny nation caught between giants, lacking Valkyrian power for self-defense. The epilogue of the first game shows that Gallia thrived after the events of VC2, so the country Baldren loved so much turned out just fine.

2 “Forgetting Pain Is Convenient. Remembering It, Agonizing. But Recovering The Truth Is Worth The Suffering. And Our Wonderland, Though Damaged, Is Safe In Memory… For Now.”

Alice: Madness Returns

A sequel to one of the best horror-fantasy titles ever, Alice: Madness Returns ends on a profound note. After a lifetime of abuse and pain wrought at the hands of her supposed therapist, Alice finally gets her revenge. There is no fanfare, no deus ex machina. Alice settles things in a grimy subway without a single person to bear witness. The Cheshire Cat’s final speech expresses sympathy for her plight.

As Alice emerges into the street, she finds that Wonderland and London have merged into one entity. The Cheshire Cat’s voice comes as a reassuring farewell. No one will know how much Alice suffered except her, and no one will likely believe her. But to keep her mind – her Wonderland – intact, it was worth recovering the truth.

1 “The Innocent! The Innocent, Mandus! Trod And Bled And Gassed And Starved And Beaten And Murdered And Enslaved. This Is Your Coming Century!”

Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs

A Machine For Pigs is often seen as a lesser sequel to Amnesia: The Dark Descent; indeed, it wasn’t even developed by Frictional Games. The game leans heavily on pig metaphors throughout its runtime, and has simplified gameplay compared to its predecessor. Yet in none of the Frictional-led Amnesia games has there been a passage as chilling, beautiful and moving as the Machine’s final speech in this one.

The Machine has seen all the horrors of the 20th century: wars, genocides, assassinations and atrocities. On New Year’s Eve, 1899, it begs Mandus to let it stop all these events from taking place: to let it end humanity before death becomes industrialized. Sadly, every single one of the Machine’s fears came to pass.