Worst Video Game Factions To Side With

Games with multiple endings are as old as the first edition of Dungeons & Dragons. Sometimes it’s as simple as players making a choice between characters or a secret ending based on how many collectibles a player has found. But for world-changing events, players will need to side with organized groups or serve powerful individuals.

In games with these choices, there are generally positives and negatives. Groups such as the NCR in Fallout: New Vegas are certainly not perfect, but they have upsides to go with the down. For most of these factions, however, the good in no way outweighs the bad.

10

The Stormcloaks

The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim

Released

October 28, 2016

Publisher(s)

Bethesda Softworks

OpenCritic Rating

Strong

Across The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim’s many versions, the Stormcloaks remain one of the worst factions to join, as one of two options in the game’s civil war subplot. While the Empire are not great themselves, suppressing the worship of Talos and trying to execute the player at the game’s start, they’re better than their Nordic counterparts.

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When first introduced, the Stormcloaks seem relatively noble. Their stated goals are to secede from the Empire, drive out the High Elf secret police known as the Thalmor, and restore the worship of Talos. But it’s made clear through notes and cutscenes that their movement has invited widespread racism against non-Nords, and is even secretly backed by the Thalmor to weaken the empire in preparation for a High Elf invasion.

9

Radovid and the Witch Hunters

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Released

May 19, 2015

OpenCritic Rating

Mighty

Put simply, Radovid is not a good king. Paranoid, prejudiced, and ruthless, Radovid is responsible for mass witch hunts, burning the supernaturally gifted and non-humans, and the annexation of Kaedwen. And that’s just what he’s gotten up to by the time players get the chance to intervene during The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

Players are offered the choice to side with various factions of conspirators during the latter half of the game. Should they refuse, instead choosing to leave Radovid in power, the mad king will not only continue his burnings and defeat the invading Nilfgaard, he will begin invading more of the north, including the isles of Skellige.

8

Rakyat

Far Cry 3

Released

November 29, 2012

The choice at the end of Far Cry 3 is pretty easy for most players. Jason Brody, the protagonist, is forced to decide to side with his friends or the Rakyat, a warrior tribe led by a potential love interest, Citra.

Should players side with the latter, the tribe will not only brutally murder all of the player’s friends for no reason, but Jason will be killed by Citra in the middle of an intimate scene, in an effort to create some prophesied warrior child. All in all, it is a pretty horrific and disturbing ending to a very wacky game.

7

Anyone

Far Cry 4

Released

November 18, 2014

OpenCritic Rating

Mighty

Far Cry 4 decided to one-up the series’ previous entries by making all endings terrible. While the game encourages players to side with the traditionalist or militarist sides of the Golden Path rebel group, both will end up forcing the country down an extremist path.

Amita, who leads the more militant faction, will force the country down a path of militancy, conscripting children at gunpoint and maintaining opium farms to ship drugs out of the country. Meanwhile, Sabat’s traditionalists will see the country become a brutal theocracy where non-believers are executed. The third option, the game’s antagonist Pagan Min, is arguably the best, although leaving him in charge likely means that all of his torture and murder will continue.

6

The Dung Eater

Elden Ring

Released

February 25, 2022

OpenCritic Rating

Mighty

It should go without saying that allying with a man going by the name “Dung Eater” isn’t a smart thing to do. That being said, Elden Ring is full of wacky characters, so the Dung Eater isn’t too out of place. Following a vision of an apocalyptic pox that he intends to visit upon the remaining population of the Lands Between, The Dung Eater will offer the player the chance to join him on his putrid quest.

Should the player do as the Dung Eater asks, then the Lands Between will somehow become an ever darker place to live. All that remain in the doomed realm are defiled by the Dung Eater’s pox.

5

The Institute

Fallout 4

Released

November 10, 2015

OpenCritic Rating

Mighty

Fallout 4 revolves around the player character’s search for their son after he’s kidnapped by the mysterious Institute. Venturing across the retro-futuristic apocalypse, they meet several factions, such as the Minutemen and Railroad, who are trying to fight back. Siding with one of the other factions eventually lets the player find a way into the Institute’s headquarters.

But things are not as they seem. The player’s son is now the leader of the Institute, ironically named Father, and he will allow the player to join them. The Institute is cold, emotionless, and brutal. They replace people with robotic imposters at will, and constantly try to destroy any semblance of civilization in the Commonwealth Wasteland. While fighting back against them has some personal ties, it is the only way to ensure the Commonwealth a better future.

4

Perseus

Call Of Duty: Black Ops – Cold War

Call of Duty: Black Ops – Cold War

Released

November 13, 2020

OpenCritic Rating

Strong

Beginning with a simple assassination mission, the waters are slowly muddied by the discovery of an American plan that saw nuclear weapons hidden in every major European city to deny them to the Soviets in the event of World War Three. Perseus is trying to put this plan into motion early.

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Players take the role of Bell, an apparently American soldier that knows several of the team tasked with stopping Perseus. However, Bell is revealed to have been one of Perseus’ subordinates, now brainwashed into fighting for NATO. Players will have the choice to betray their team or to fight Perseus. Should they choose the former, not only will all the iconic Black Ops team die, but Europe will burn in nuclear fire with America taking all the blame.

3

Chaos

Warhammer 40k: Dawn Of War 2: Chaos Rising

Real-Time Strategy

Tactical

Strategy

Systems

Released

February 19, 2009

Chaos is a pervasive force in Warhammer games, twisting all that it touches into some unknowable lovecraftian representation of one of its four major deities. In these RPGs, players can side with the ruinous powers to some extent.

In Dawn Of War 2: Chaos Rising, players can choose to make the game easier by killing fellow loyalist Blood Raven Space Marines, or make themselves more powerful by using Chaos corrupted artifacts. The amount they are corrupted changes the ending. While a little corruption can result in their exile, too much can result in their execution or rebirth and a Chaos lord.

2

The Legion

Fallout: New Vegas

Released

October 19, 2010

The Legion are among the most evil factions in the Fallout universe. It’s an impressive feat, considering they’re up against groups like the Enclave and The Master’s Army. A fascist horde following the hypocritical Caesar, the Legion threatens to overrun all civilization on the Western coast of America, sending the region into a new technological dark age.

It’s not just their authoritarian ideals and rejection of technology that make the Legion dangerous. They kill mutants without remorse, treat women as slaves or second-class citizens, and crucify anyone who stands against them. While someone playing an overtly evil character might want to try them out, it’s not recommended on a first playthrough.

1

Arasaka

Cyberpunk 2077

Released

December 10, 2020

OpenCritic Rating

Strong

Arasaka is one of the most evil factions in the beautifully dark world of Cyberpunk which is a feat unto itself. The corporation has started multiple world wars, known as the Corporate Wars, which have killed millions. They’re also partly to blame for inter-corporate sabotage of food farms that have killed untold numbers of people.

Siding with Hanako Arasaka at the climax of Cyberpunk 2077 sees the protagonist V get the worst possible ending, short of committing suicide. Arasaka fails to save V, forcing them to end up getting digitized like in all the other base game endings. They also indirectly resurrect Saburo Arasaka, the ruthless CEO, potentially sparking yet another corporate war, with nothing to show for it.

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