Bit of an explanation as to what prompted me to make this post: I recently played through Sniper Ghost Warrior: Contracts 1 and 2 and I just felt off. I’ve slaughtered hundreds of innocents for my amusement in games like Fallout and TES, I play through No Russian with a grin, but for some reason, I refrain from killing bad guys in SGW? The first one has you hunt down Russian oligarchs and war criminals, while the second one is about Middle Eastern terrorists and this is the game where I feel bad about killing? There’s just something about the soldiers talking about their daily problems like making no money, uncomfortable boots and sweating too much, or showing eachother pictures of their dogs, not to mention the absolute horror when you’ve got a knife against their throat or when they find a body. I hope this isn’t weird, but I’ve never experienced remorse for killing a video game enemy, and I’ve played a lot of different games. I’d like to hear about your experiences, and which games do a good job humanising common enemies, the concept intrigues me.
Maybe a warm take but the ending of Last of Us Part 1. I have never been more angry with the character I was playing. Joel ruined any chance at humanity’s cure for the most selfish reason ever. On top of that, he didn’t give Ellie an option, and just yoinked her and murdered what you assume are the last scientists capable of maybe finding a cure. I hated killing all those scientists more than I’ve hated any action in a video game.
I will add, though: I love the story for what it is and couldn’t see it happening any other way. Perfect storytelling and it’s not like it doesn’t make sense.
Eh, Fireflies would 100% weaponize it which would lead to even more deaths. The vaccine wouldn’t “save the humanity”. It doesn’t really justify going on a killing spree, but Fireflies were major assholes