Weird Video Game Heel Turns

Key Takeaways

• Protagonists can turn into villains for various reasons like betrayal, hidden intentions, or changed personalities.
• Not every heel turn is well-executed, with some falling short due to illogical motivations or rushed pacing.
• Gaming examples like Alex Mercer, Jason Todd, and Atreus showcase how heel turns can be surprising or questionable in impact.

A heel turn is a wrestling phrase used to describe the act of a good guy becoming a bad guy, transitioning from a ‘babyface’ to a ‘heel’. This can be done via sudden acts of betrayal, or with the reveal that the newly-minted heel has been working against the good guys for a while. Even just a simple change in personality can signify a heel turn, albeit a slow one.

Not every heel turn is executed effectively though, as sometimes the motivations don’t make sense, or the turn is rushed for some external reason, creating a weaker turn as a result. This can also happen in gaming too, as there have been many examples of heel turns in gaming that are just bizarre.

8 Alex Mercer – Prototype 2

“Welcome To The Top Of The Food Chain.”

The hoodie-wearing protagonist of the first Prototype game, Alex Mercer isn’t necessarily painted as a hero in the original game. He’s a morally grey, shapeshifting superhuman/goo-person who’s willing to do bad things to worse people. Oh, and he was also responsible for the outbreak that triggers the whole series. Not a great person already, then.

Jumping from the first game to the sequel though, Alex Mercer has now morphed into an ‘Evolved’ supremacist, cultivating an army of people with big tentacle powers to wage war on the rest of humanity. His hubris leads to his downfall though, as one of the people he intentionally infects, James Heller, is the one who takes him down. At least he put over younger talent on the way out.

7 Scott Shelby – Heavy Rain

“Shut Up! You Don’t Understand.”

What is there to say about the Scott Shelby heel turn in Heavy Rain that hasn’t been said already? One of the most baffling plot twists in gaming history, the climax of Quantic Dream’s Heavy Rain sees one of the four playable characters in the game, Scott Shelby, revealed to be the Origami Killer, rendering the entire time you played as the detective both false and pointless.

While you’re betrayed along with the characters in the game, the real bizarre part of this particular heel turn is Scott’s motivation. Having lost a child himself, he’s now become the Origami Killer to try to find a dad who actually loves their child enough to put themselves through hell to rescue them. Misery just loves company, apparently.

6 Jason Todd – Batman: Arkham Knight

“He Needs To Suffer. I Suffered, So He Will Too.”

Jason Todd having a heel turn isn’t bizarre in and of itself. The former Robin has been known more as the Red Hood for a long time now, thanks to a hefty dose of torture at the hands of the Joker. What’s bizarre about the Jason Todd involvement in Batman: Arkham Knight is how Rocksteady handled the twist reveal at all.

Pre-launch, Rocksteady swore up and down that the new villain created for the game, the titular Arkham Knight, wouldn’t be Jason Todd. That just wouldn’t be an original twist, but lo and behold, when the game finally did launch, the Knight gets unmasked, and it’s Jason Todd, who then becomes the Red Hood after his stint as the Arkham Knight. In theory, the twist is fine, but the insistence pre-launch that it wouldn’t be Jason Todd left a sour taste.

5 Atreus – God Of War

“Nobody Cared About Him Anyways. What’s The Difference?”

Growing up and approaching adolescence, you do things that you’d consider to be bizarre in hindsight. If the next God of War game features an adult Atreus, we’re fairly certain he’d consider his brief heel turn in the 2018 game to be a bit cringe. Sure, Atreus wasn’t raised by the most well-adjusted individual in gaming history, but for a good while there, it looked like Kratos was going to throw his kid off the mountain, Spartan style.

Atreus’ heel turn comes about when the son of Kratos learns of his godly lineage. Suddenly, the young lad begins to develop a ‘better than you’ personality, talking down to people, mouthing off and getting the father and son duo into more trouble than is actually required. Again, he’s only young, and most of us have acted out in some way on the road to becoming a teen, but for the player, Atreus’ brief fling with heelwork is a bit jarring.

4 Cortana – Halo 5: Guardians

“Your Created Have Come To Lead You Now.”

Cortana has always been the Master Chief’s trusty AI companion, until Halo 4 anyway, when the construct sacrificed herself to save the Chief’s life in a fight against the Didact. However, some fragments of Cortana remained, with Chief defying orders across Halo 5 to try and bring Cortana back. The good news? He succeeded. The bad news? She’s turned into a big meanie.

As an ageing AI, Cortana battled rampancy which fragmented her personality and deteriorated her function. After her sacrifice, some fragments survived and were compiled together in a Forerunner network known as The Domain. The domain gave Cortana galaxy spanning power, along with the ability to cure rampancy, leading to an AI insurrection by the end of Halo 5. It all sounds cool, but it was swiftly swept under the rug by the time Halo Infinite dropped, with evil Cortana expressing regret for making Chief a bit sad.

3 Lucy Stillman – Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood

“You Know Very Little. We Must Guide You.”

In a game like Assassin’s Creed, depicting a millennia-long war between the Assassins and the Templars, you’re bound to get a few heel turns and betrayals during the process. Lucy Stillman manages to have both a face and heel turn during her run in Assassin’s Creed though, starting out the series as an Abstergo agent before defecting and revealing she’s been an Assassin all along.

All seems like it’s going to be well with Desmond, Lucy and the gang until the end of Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood though, when Juno, one of the advanced beings from pre-humanity days, shows up, possesses Desmond and tells him that Lucy is still working for Abstergo. Long story short, Desmond stabs Lucy, passes out and the credits roll. Way to stop having to give Kirsten Bell a paycheck.

2 Rose – Pokemon Sword & Shield

“Must I Explain Myself?”

The villains and evil-doers in the Pokemon series tend to be, no pun intended, black and white in their motives and desires. The desire for power, wealth or world domination tend to be the common themes, but sometimes The Pokemon Company and Game Freak like to go in more interesting directions. President Rose from Pokemon Sword & Shield could have been that too, but his plans and execution leave a lot to be desired.

Initially presented as a jovial and well-meaning president of the Pokemon league, Rose’s true intentions are revealed when he intentionally causes a second Darkest Day by summoning Eternatus. For Rose, this is because he intended to harness Eternatus’ power to solve an energy crisis in Galar, which seems noble, but Rose rushes the project through despite the fact the crisis isn’t predicted to happen for about 1,000 years. The earliest bird misses the worm entirely.

1 Sindel – Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath

“I Married You For Your Strength And Power.”

While she might usually look evil, Sindel has traditionally been on the side of good, at least when she’s in charge of her own faculties anyway. In the original Mortal Kombat timeline, she had been brainwashed by Shao Kahn, but for the most part, Sindel is a good egg. The alternate timeline that started from Mortal Kombat (2011) timeline seemed to follow the same path, with a resurrected Sindel obeying Shao Kahn and murdering Earthrealm’s heroes.

After becoming a revenant and serving Quan Chi for 25 years, Sindel is restored during the events of MK 11’s DLC, Aftermath. Here, the heel turn is revealed: Sindel was never brainwashed, killing Kitana’s father and marrying Shao Kahn out of her own desires rather than because she was under duress. It’s a dramatic u-turn for Sindel’s character and personality, and one not everyone was on board with.