10 JRPGs Where You’re Actually the Villain

There's no denying JRPGs are famous for having some of gaming's most iconic villains. So much so, that sometimes we wish we got to play as our very own villain primed to submit the world to our cruel rule while terrorizing a poor group of naive heroes. Is it edgy? Most definitely, but to be cringe is to be free.

Thankfully, there are a select few JRPGs that have recognized this burning desire and have given us the freedom to indulge in our most villainous fantasies. Whether it's backstabbing your friends at the last moment to become a disgraceful tyrant, indulging in a pact with a demon and eventually overtaking it in power, or simply just being kind of a jerk, there's a healthy variety of games out there.

So, without further ado, let's take a look at 10 JRPGs that let you play as the villain, and in some cases, become the final boss.

10 Live A Live

Play Out the Villain's Origin Story

Live A Live is a series of seven vignettes that let you play as a variety of characters across different historical eras. All of these have some distinct gameplay and narrative twists, but the one we'll be focusing on here is Oersted from the King of Demons chapter.

You start the chapter with Oersted already highly revered as a noble hero, planning to marry Princess Alethea and slay the Lord of Dark. However, due to the (frankly absurd) evil plot of the local villain Streibough, your dearly beloved is tricked into thinking that you abandoned her and are a murderous being, which leads to Alethea's death.

Struck by grief and his obsession with the Lingering Evil, Oersted becomes corrupted, transforming him into Odio, the Demon King, who is the overarching villain throughout the entire game. This all goes on to explain why every villain throughout the game has a similar-sounding name, and are just downright unredeemable, villainous beings.

9 Tactics Ogre: Reborn

You Either Die a Hero Or Live Long Enough To Become a Villain

Tactics Ogre is set during a civil war that started after the previous king died without an heir. You play as Denam Pavel, a rebel who works with the local resistance to stave off any occupying force that threatens their lives. These decisions start out seemingly moral at first, although over time, you'll end up discovering some of them make you indistinguishable from the game's villains.

Throughout the game, you'll be shown the very real human cost the war is having on the innocents of the land. Even if you win a grueling battle, it's likely others will get caught in the crossfire. But if you want less ambiguity and want a straight-up villainous playthrough, you can lock yourself into the Law Route, which will see you committing war crimes in the name of slandering your enemies and ending up as a morally grey villain.

8 Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest

Unintentionally a Monster (Even If You Feel Bad About It)

Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest has some of the series' best combat scenarios, iterating on the complexity of the previous games that came before it. One thing it didn't nail, though, is its story, which somewhat frames its hero as a problematic colonizer.

In this game, you play as Corrin, a child who was taken from her original kingdom and raised in another. This becomes an issue as these two kingdoms come into conflict, pitting Corrin's allegiances to one another. This also means that Corrin ends up becoming a war-conquering aggressor, posing an interesting moral dilemma for players.

Unfortunately, the game doesn't really commit to this theme and instead has Corrin maintain the facade of a good-natured soldier, even though the reality is far darker than it lets on. The devs also ensure that the game's villain is so cartoonishly evil, while Corrin and the remaining family are bastions of moral good, making their heinous actions stand out. Sure, this doesn't make Corrin the "final villain" of the game, but it's become an inside joke among fans that she is definitely villainous, despite her later regret over her actions.

7 Soul Nomad & The World Eaters

Let The Devil Out

Soul Nomad is a game where, depending on your playstyle, you can opt in for a villainous run. You play as Revya, an unfortunate host to the demon Gig, who had been sealed away for trying to destroy the world. As you play the game, Gig will consistently tempt you to tap into his incredible power, which opens you up to being possessed by him.

You can actually take this to the next step by locking yourself into the game's "Demon Path", where you end up devouring Gig, becoming "The Devourlord" and committing to conquering the world and inflicting awful atrocities onto the world. If you're feeling up for a truly sadistic playthrough in a JRPG, this will most likely scratch that edgy power fantasy.

6 Disgaea: Hour of Darkness

An Endearing Demon (But A Demon Nonetheless)

The Disgaea series is no stranger to having you play as demons, and it's the game's first entry that really hammers home your characters' devilish nature. You play as Laharl, a narcissistic, self-absorbed demon who simply wants to murder all invaders trying to usurp his kingdom and re-establish his ring of terror over the Netherworld.

Of course, the game leans more toward comedy and sets Laharl on the path of a protagonist, with all that sappy self-growth and learning about powerful things like "friendship" and "compassion." Still, to the wider world of the game, you're a significant existential threat seeking to impose a downright evil regime on those not your pals. But hey, better the devil you know, right?

5 Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne

Kill a God Or Betray Your Friends & Pledge Yourself To Them?

The Shin Megami Tensei franchise letting players have a twisted ending is a series staple at this point, but none come as villainous as the series third entry, 'Nocturne'.

In this ending, you ally yourself with Lucifer, who, wouldn't you know it, wants to destroy God's world and create a new one ruled by demons. To be fair, God's world isn't exactly sunshine and rainbows either, but in Lucifer's ending, you'll become his very own demon associate and help him to destroy the world. There are also nearly no upsides to this world. All of humanity ends up being enslaved by demons, and there's almost no real justification for doing so outside the love of being evil.

Your companions will also get a decent amount of time to express their disappointment in you. So, if dooming humanity to complete annihilation, hopefully seeing your old pals resent you is enough to deter you from ever picking this route ever again.

4 Chrono Cross

Spend a Day In Your Enemy's Shoes

Chrono Cross is the ideal JRPG for anyone who loves parts of games where the villain joins your party, finally getting to use the same spells they have access to. Thanks to body-swapping shenanigans after a certain point in the game, you’ll end up in the body of Lynx, the villain of the game.

Interestingly, this isn’t a single isolated incident in the game, and you’ll spend a chunk of its mid-game as the tragic cat man. For some, you can easily end up spending more time as Lynx than the actual protagonist, Serge, depending on your playthrough.

This sequence builds into the game’s “Bad Ending”, where you can beat the final boss without using the Chrono Cross key item.

While you don’t end up technically being the villain of the game, you can spend a large chunk of it seeing the world through his eyes and facing similar scrutiny aimed at him. It makes for a fairly introspective section and extends a fair amount of sympathy towards Lynx.

3 Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince

Understanding a Tragic Villain's Backstory

Some JRPGs let you play as the villain for a brief moment, but Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince takes it to the next level by dedicating an entire spin-off title to devious villain Psaro from Dragon Quest IV.

Taking place in an almost "what if" depiction of his backstory, you'll see Psaro's backstory before he dedicates himself to destroying all of humanity. Naturally, we learn that Psaro was cursed by his own father, the monster king Radolfo, never to be able to hurt another monster, spurring Psaro's pivot into monster taming. If you can't beat them, catch them like Pokémon and have them commit patricide on your behalf.

The game does deviate from Dragon Quest IV's main canon a bit into the game, but there's enough crossover fans of the original can still gleam enough context about Psaro's actions.

2 Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

Maybe Not a Villain, But Still a Jerk

Before Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 would let us choose whether to stay inside a fantasy world and waste away, or leave and kill all who inhabit it, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance would explore a similar decision in its very own game.

The game would go on to follow four children: Marche, an introverted kid who's moved to a new town following his parents' divorce, Doned, his sick younger brother, and their two friends, Mewt and Ritz. After discovering a strange book in a store, the four children are taken to the world of Ivalice, although Marche is the only one to realize that none of this is real.

His friends end up having fairly stellar lives, which makes Marche's decision to rip them from this world to a reality where they are scorned, sick, and traumatized fairly dark. Of course, leaving would destroy the fantasy world, meaning Marche simply cannot peace out and let them be. Which means, in some ways, Marche can be considered the villain, going around to effectively destroy the world regardless of everyone else that is inhabiting it.

1 Tales of Berseria

Too Edgy For This World

Tales of Berseria plays with the game's morality by placing you in the role of Velvet Crowe, a vengeance-driven demon-like being known as a Therion. These kinds of demons are able to consume monsters to absorb their souls, which rightly terrifies the wider world, who brand you as a villain.

For the first half of the game, you'll own that role entirely, pursuing your revenge against Artorius, a seemingly noble and ideal hero who betrayed you and killed your brother. Over the course of the game, Velvet will eventually evolve into more of an anti-hero, although her demonic nature and burning passion for revenge drive her for the remainder of the game.

To put it another way, you're like Shadow the Hedgehog, except you trade chaos emeralds and machine guns for foot blades and mystic artes. Not a bad trade deal if you ask me.