Open-World Games With a More Interesting Villain Than Hero

Open world games are something of a challenge for narrative designers, because the player can feasibly do the story at any pace they like. That means any urgency or dread an antagonist might be trying to get across just won’t work. This challenge means that developers need to work harder, and sometimes, that means the villain becomes not only great, but far more interesting than the hero character.

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Whether it be Machiavellian masterminds operating events from the background or in-your-face charismatic dictators spouting pseudo-philosophy, there are plenty of great overshadowing villains to choose from in the world of open-world gaming.

8

Borderlands 2 – Handsome Jack

An Iconic Villain Of Considerable Depth

Released

September 18, 2012

ESRB

M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language, Sexual Themes, Use of Alcohol

The Borderlands franchise has a strange tendency to make the protagonist characters more interesting in the following games, rather than the game they first feature in. For example, Lilith is nothing in the original game, but she becomes incredibly important in the second. This vacuum for the hero means the franchise has increasingly leaned on outlandish and bravura villains, with none being as famous as Handsome Jack.

From the very beginning of Borderlands 2, the CEO of the Hyperion corporation makes himself known, and his presence looms large throughout the entire game, taunting the player constantly through brash humor and becoming the central way of personifying the unfeeling corporations. Yet, by the end of the game, Handsome Jack becomes a villain of considerable depth, and his enduring presence in the canon of the franchise’s villains speaks volumes about how beloved he is.

7

Skyrim – Alduin

The Anti-Dovahkiin

Released

November 11, 2011

ESRB

M for Mature: Use of Alcohol, Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes

Bethesda RPGs tend to have a pretty major problem with uninteresting protagonists. This is for good reason, though, because they’re meant to be blank spaces that the player can project themselves onto. However, this also means that other characters in the story need to pick up the slack, especially in Skyrim.

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Enter Alduin. Taking a leaf from the kinds of intellectual dragons found in the Forgotten Realms world, Alduin is not just a big scary dragon; he occupies a philosophical position about the nature of death in the world of Tamriel, and he single-handedly forces other characters, like the Greybeards, to become more interesting by proxy. Though he’s not in-game in-person very much, Alduin is a memorable foe who is far more interesting than the hero.

6

Elden Ring – Radagon

Put These Foolish Ambitions To Rest

Systems

Released

February 25, 2022

ESRB

M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence

It wouldn’t be a surprise if many gamers played through the entirety of Elden Ring without fully understanding what the story actually was about, and like Skyrim, the Tarnished is a complete uninteresting blank slate with little perspective of their own.

Luckily, FromSoftware makes some of the most depth-filled characters in modern RPGs if players are willing to do their homework, and no FromSoftware antagonist has reached the levels of complexity, mystery, and sheer intensity as Radagon, the counter-part to Marika in more ways than one. He’s a mystery that befuddles the lore community to this day, making him a fascinating counterpoint to the blank slate of the Tarnished as they journey to become Elden Lord.

5

The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom – Ganondorf

One Of The Franchise’s Best Incarnations Of The Tragically Evil Villain

Systems

Released

May 12, 2023

ESRB

Rated E for Everyone 10+ for Fantasy Violence and Mild Suggestive Themes

Though it can be painful to admit, one of the weakest parts of every The Legend of Zelda game is Link himself. Again, he’s something of an audience insert character, but it’s hard not to wonder whether he could be a more interesting character if any of his games chose to shine a spotlight on him with a bit more detail.

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This remains true in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, which actually features one of the best incarnations of the franchise’s perennial villain, Ganondorf, a tragically evil character who is willing to go to extreme lengths to disrupt the peace. He’s a compelling counterpoint to Link, and he is also the most memorable character of the game by far.

4

Cyberpunk 2077 – Johnny Silverhand

A Dystopia Of Moral Grays

Released

December 10, 2020

ESRB

M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, Use of Drugs and Alcohol

First thing’s first, Silverhand is a very complicated character. Anyone who has played Cyberpunk: 2077 knows that this ghost that haunts V’s mind is abrasive, rude, and often antagonistic. In many versions of V’s journey, he can be a friend, but in others, he is the exact force V is fighting against, literally and metaphorically.

Despite V being something of a fleshed-out character, they can’t hope to stand up to the brilliant writing of Silverhand, who is a flawed foil to V the entire way through the game, even through the side quests, constantly questioning, bargaining, hijacking, and being a general nuisance. Some may not even see him as a villain at all, but he’s certainly one of the most compelling antagonists to come out of video games.

3

Far Cry 5 – Joseph Seed

A Compelling And Incredibly Well-Written Villain

Released

March 27, 2018

ESRB

M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Use of Drugs and Alcohol

By the time Far Cry 5 rolled around, the Far Cry franchise had become well known for its focus not just on the villain but the villain’s entire family and philosophy, defining the marketing for each game and the themes therein.

In Far Cry 5, the well-armed player character faces off against Joseph Seed, the leader of a Christian fundamentalist cult who has apocalyptic plans for the world. Like other Far Cry villains, he is certifiably insane, but he is incredibly compelling, really well-written, and entirely overshadows the nothing character of the protagonist.

2

Fallout: New Vegas – Mr. House

The House Always Wins

Systems

Released

October 19, 2010

ESRB

M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Use of Drugs

Despite being a broadly silent character, Obsidian Entertainment’s brilliant writing actually makes the Courier perspective character of Fallout: New Vegas pretty interesting. That said, the Courier has to contend with some of the best-written villains in all gaming, which is a bit of an unfair comparison.

Of the many great choices that could have filled this spot from Fallout: New Vegas‘s diverse and interesting factions (Joshua Graham or Ulysses were strong alternates), none loom so large as Mr. House, the epitome of nihilistic corporate greed who manipulates the world into a libertarian dictator state. He’s complex, insane, and utterly compelling, making him not just the best villain in the game, but one of the best villains in gaming.

1

Far Cry 3

The Definition Of Insanity

Systems

Released

November 29, 2012

ESRB

M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, Use of Drugs

Expectations were generally low for Far Cry 3 when it was first announced. That all changed, however, when Ubisoft realized the pure gold they were sitting on with Michael Mando’s performance of Vaas, the psychopathic pirate captain who has taken over one of the main islands of the game, muses over the philosophy of insanity, and dominates the pantheon of Far Cry villains.

Vaas, as a character, entirely changed how villains were presented in video games. Instead of afterthoughts, they became central to how games were pitched, and Vaas himself would go down as one of gaming’s greatest baddies. While dude-bro Jason Brody as a hero is actually more interesting than he seems at first, he is nothing compared to Vaas, who has rightly become famous even outside of the video game world.

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