Action Games Where You’re the Anti-Hero

Action games often suffer from a dissonance between gameplay and story, as they usually portray you as the hero despite you dismembering all kinds of living beings.

However, some titles become aware of this reality, narratively explaining their reasons for doing so, not as justification, but as a way of embracing the anti-heroic nature.

This approach has resulted in some of the most exciting titles in video game history, as they demonstrate the inherent complexity of the good-versus-evil debate and make you reflect on violence in the interactive medium.

Therefore, if you're like me and enjoy characters and stories that encourage you to analyze things more than once, I recommend these ten action games where you're the anti-hero.

10 Prototype 2

The Lesser Evil

Both Prototype games, from one of the most visceral open-world franchises ever created, share a despicable protagonist, but at least James Heller from Prototype 2 is the lesser of two evils.

Compared to the maniac Alex Mercer has become, this former marine's work seems like out of the Red Cross, even though he repeats many of his predecessor's cynical and antisocial behaviors.

In the end, Heller is only seeking revenge for the death of his family, which is extremely common among anti-heroes, and to achieve it, he commits atrocities that would definitely make him the villain of any other title.

However, Prototype 2 isn't just any video game, and precisely for that reason, the actions of a protagonist with these characteristics can be seen as positive... under the right and specific lens.

9 Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2

A Lost Light

Following the first installment's events, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 presents us with the most malevolent version of the knight we all love and cherish: Gabriel Belmont.

I'd say anyone would turn to the dark side after the original game's circumstances, but the truth is that the man who used to be an agent of light is now Dracula, with all that entails.

Indeed, he's fighting for peace and the greater good, but lately he's been driven by a thirst for revenge and the desire to eradicate the only being in his mythology more evil than himself: Satan.

Given the context, having an anti-heroic figure is perfectly understandable, and Dracula in Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 fulfills said role flawlessly.

8 Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag

The Pirate Lifestyle Has No Compass

At a certain point, Assassin's Creed began to shift its morality more and more, first making us question our actions with Altaïr, Ezio, and Desmond, and then taking complete 180-degree turns with characters like Edward Kenway in Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag.

His becoming a de facto Assassin was more accidental than premeditated since, for much of the story, he's a pirate in every sense of the word, whose objectives are purely self-serving.

Certainly, as the story progresses, Kenway gradually aligns himself, both in deed and thought, with the Brotherhood's values, even while committing acts anyone in their right mind would consider immoral or ethically dubious.

His ego and ambition are the motivating forces behind most of his goals, and although Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag induces a personality change in him towards the end, his unholy capacity is undeniable for most of the time.

7 Thief: The Dark Project

Loot is the Religion

Looking at the kind of figures on this list, being a pure thief seems like the least bad option, though Garrett from Thief: The Dark Project is anything but a role model.

Although he usually avoids civilians and even casualties among his targets, his modus operandi is driven more by practicality than morality: he doesn't care about other people's lives, only about the loot and the means to carry out his thefts.

As with Edward Kenway, the development of his story (in this case, over several installments) softens him and even places him in situations where his actions are those of a savior, especially because he faces evils far greater than what he does.

A thief who steals from a thief is forgiven a thousand years, and a thief who stops the rise of a demon resulting from the activity of a satanic cult is forgiven even more, but Garrett is a Master Thief, which immediately makes him an antihero.

6 Max Payne

Revenge at All Costs

Revenge is a common theme among antiheroes, as it reminds us that the fundamental reason these protagonists do good is not just good itself, but personal quests for closure, as in the case of Max Payne.

Indeed, the unforgettable detective is part of law enforcement with the goal of limiting the influence of organized crime, drug trafficking, institutional corruption, and so on, which undoubtedly grants him the status of a hero.

However, what gives this noun its “anti” character is the means he employs and the motives that actually motivate him, which are, respectively, reckless, putting innocent lives at risk, and selfish, as they are driven by his personal vendetta.

Unlike many on this list, Max Payne does start from a theoretically positive background, since his work involves seeking justice, but his inner demons, such as guilt, alcoholism, and a thirst for violence, are too real to ignore.

Living for the Blood

I understand it can get tiresome to see all the well-known anti-heroes deeply motivated by revenge, but when you see stories like Raiden's in the lead-up to Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, it's really difficult to expect otherwise.

After years of being a weapon of war, used since childhood to commit unspeakable acts against humanity, Jack gradually begins to gain agency and independence as he reaches adulthood, though his bloodlust remains.

He's always seen on the side of the good guys, fighting hard to live by a set of principles, but his profession irrevocably leads him to murder and destruction, often in quite gruesome ways.

In the end, Raiden comes to terms with his seemingly violent nature, partly to recognize that it doesn't define his entire being, but that doesn't excuse the questionable way in which he ultimately reaches that conclusion.

4 The Last of Us

The Nature of Selfishness

Post-apocalyptic settings are among the most conducive to the emergence of antiheroes, as they are circumstances in which the social contract breaks down and the lines between good and evil begin to blur.

Joel from The Last of Us is an exceptional example of this, where it is not revenge but the selfish desire to recover what he has lost that boosts him to survive and protect Ellie, in whom he sees a hope and a reason to keep fighting.

Nevertheless, he not only becomes an indiscriminate killing machine, but the context also demands that he abandon any heroic notion to increase his chances of staying alive.

Throughout The Last of Us, we experience a series of events alongside Joel that force him to choose between being 'good' or continuing to breathe, and as he always chooses the latter, what he sacrifices is his humanity.

3 Red Dead Redemption

You Can't Escape the Past

As one of the most compelling protagonists in video game history, John Marston embodies the Wild West in its purest form in Red Dead Redemption.

Violence, revenge, the reign of anarchy, robbery, murder, being a questionable husband and father… He's the kind of despicable character anyone would hate in real life, but in video games, he takes on a whole new meaning.

In this case, because what we see in the game he stars in is his quest for redemption, trying to atone for all the harm he caused in his life as an outlaw to give his family what he never even attempted to do for so long.

That makes him a good man, though the past doesn't forget; sooner or later, it catches up with you, and John Marston is a man with so much debt that he could charm all the bankers in history combined.

While what he is can help to eradicate what he was, all we do while controlling him is killing and stealing, so neither mechanically nor narratively is there any salvation for this memorable cowboy.

2 Spec Ops: The Line

Bullets Without Targets

Although Spec Ops: The Line's mechanics are light years behind the memorability of its other elements, it's undeniably among the most revolutionary action games to ever grace the interactive industry.

Even considering its glaring shortcomings, this title was released in an era when all shooters glorified armed conflict, dealing with the concept of war from a critical perspective, questioning the morality of the actions we commit when we embody soldiers in foreign lands.

The white phosphorus scene has been etched into the minds of everyone who has played the game, as have the final scenes, which explain how Martin Walker is not a rescuer, but an empty shell that only fills itself through violence.

With his PTSD, arrogance, and blindness, the protagonist of this story blurs the line between antihero and villain so strongly that I practically hesitate to include him on this list, though Spec Ops: The Line is so incredible that it should be recommended whenever possible.

1 God of War

Unbridled Wrath for a Broken God

No other video game embraces the idea that being purely good is impossible as much as the first God of War, where those who manifest kindness end up in the worst imaginable ways.

However, many of these circumstances are at the hands of Kratos himself, whose burden of guilt for murdering his family is so great that he ends up becoming a being devoid of any purpose beyond destroying Ares, who granted him the power he demanded to continue committing crimes of war.

Everything Kratos does during his Greek period is extraordinarily vile and ruthless, with no consideration for anyone beyond his own desires and interests, only having a glimpse of humanity when he remembers he lost his daughter and wife because of his bloodthirsty nature.

Of course, Kratos's objectives coincide with the needs of the context, with increasingly unhinged gods preventing the rise of the human race, becoming the hero by coincidence, not by choice.

It will not be until many, many years later that Kratos finds relative peace, becoming a stoic being who actively deals with the ghosts of his past to prevent them from appearing again, but his run against Olympus… There's nothing more anti-heroic than that.