Looking for games where you play as a not so good guy

Hi,

I just stumbled upon Lucius, and I am just having a blast, are there other games similar to it? I am really enjoying the music, atmosphere, and the setting.

Would you include games where you are given the option to -choose- to play as a "bad guy" or do you just want games where you are a scripted anti-hero or villain?

-Byshop

Scripted anti-hero or villain.

Evil Genius

@eltiti55555:

This is a good one. Sort of an Austin Powers/James Bond cold war era cartoonish supervillain managing their lair and defending it from "good" secret agents while you send your minions on global capers.

War for the Overworld is another good one. You play an evil dungeon master hoarding treasure and trying to build the best dungeon to attract the strongest monsters. It started as a Kickstarter and was designed as a spiritual successor to the Dungeon Keeper series by Bullfrog. There is also a similar series called "Dungeons" that is not nearly as good.

The Overlord series is a similar idea, except as a third person hack'n'slash game where you are followed by a group of minions that can do your bidding to fight, solve puzzles or carry large loot.

Spec Ops: The Line. Basically an "Apocalypse Now" type squad based TPS taking place in Dubai after it has been demolished by massive sandstorms where you are after a rogue insane Colonel Kurtz-type leader. Without spoiling the story, as you progress through the game it becomes readily apparent that your main character has some serious moral ambiguity issues that would probably make this game right up your alley. Professionally voice acted and very well done, even if it's not the best shooter out there. Really worth playing for the story. This is one of those games that leaves you haunted.

The Grand Theft Auto series. You play a professional criminal in every game in the series. GTA5 even takes that a step further in letting you plan your own Reservoir Dogs-style heists. None of the characters in GTA5 are "good" people at all (Franklin is a gang banger, Michael is a retired professional criminal who comes out of retirement, Lester is a psychopath). Throughout the entire series you play as criminals, although they still (mostly) follow some sense of a moral code that makes them not completely unrelatable.

The Saints Row series. I recommend starting with SR2 and up because SR1 was a bit of a GTA clone. Really, really fun GTA-style games but with crazy, over the top side activities that you have to do to earn "reputation" which allows you to progress through the story missions. You create a character who is the boss of a gang in each game and the storylines get progressively more and more insane as the series progresses. One of my favorite series for SR2 and SR4. If you like this sort of game I highly recommend them.

Also worth mentioning, but I do not "recommend" them are the Postal series and Hatred. Basically these games are straight up murder simulators. That's not exaggeration or hyperbole. Literally the entire point of these games is you murder mostly innocent people along with the occasional law enforcement officer trying to stop you. Not a lot of redeeming value to these games, frankly. Personally I find them pretty distasteful, and that's coming from someone who has no problem going on a destruction spree in open world games like Saints Row and GTA.

-Byshop

That's not quite right what I am looking for. I am looking for something along the lines of doing crazy shit (with powers perhaps) and getting away with it. On the flip side, what's a good mysterious and atmospheric game in which you play the role of some sort of detective, similar to Alan Wake or the like? Full 3D if possible, no point and click to move, and not too scary or with many cheap jump scares like Outlast for Ex.

In response to your second ask, the Condemned series is a combination of both scary with investigation elements mixed in. The first game was a 360 launch title but the second game was on PS3 and 360.

There's an entire Sherlock Holmes series of games that are very good, although they have a very strong emphasis on the investigation and solving the mystery over any sort of action. They are full 3D, though.

A lot of "detective" type games lean towards adventure and point and click-style games though.

I'll let you know if I think of any more.

-Byshop

I haven't played Lucius, but I think the Hitman series might be very similar (in the sense that you're murdering people and then hiding in plain sight)

I highly recommend Hitman Blood Money, if you're interested in playing them

Played spec ops the line, GTA and Saint Row, and they are not quite what I am looking for tho. The other 2 games don't really interest me.

I have Condemned on steam, and although I haven't played it, it reminds me of DOOM 3 for some reason. Sherlock Holmes games do look interesting, but I am gonna wait on a deal (80% or less) first.

Played them all, and loved every single one of them.

@eltiti55555: If you could specify types of games you prefer (strategy, FPS, TPS, turn based, etc) it would make it easier to offer suggestions.

-Byshop

Alright.

So at first I said that I wanted something along the lines of Lucius, in which you play a demonic child that follows direct orders from the devil and kills people, while no one is able to find that it was you who did it, since you have powers to do crazy shit normal people can't do. On the flip side, I am also interested on games that are similar to Alan Wake, in which you are trying to solve a mystery, and you have mysterious forces getting in your way.

Types of games I don't like : Slice of life (high school life), truck simulators or the like, very puzzle heavy games with no action, most sports games, most pixel art games, managing games, games that rely heavily on crafting, and point and click games. There might be some others, but that's it from the top of my head.

No, I mean to the examples of what fundamental game type you are looking for versus what kind of content you'd like to see in those games. For example, you mentioned that you're not interested in point and click games. It also sounds like based on what you've described that real time and turn based strategy games are probably out. You seem to like TPS or FPS games over other categories, based on the games you said you liked so I'm going with that.

The Infamous series is also pretty fun. They are a "moral choice" type game but no matter which path you choose your character is an outlaw in Infamous 1 and 2, although they are thrust into the role of an illegal vigilante by the circumstance of their powers. In Second Son and the corresponding add-on DLC campaign, your characters are both lawbreakers -before- they get their powers. Morality is pretty debatable in these games because the overbearing government organization hunting you is arguably a morally bankrupt dictatorship so you are still in some ways "the hero".

As for the detective games side, LA Noire is an obvious choice being the most high profile game of this type to have come out in a while. Strong emphasis on finding clues and interrogating prisoners as well as coming up with the right responses to get the desired answers using facial movements and prior knowledge as a guide.

Murdered: Soul Suspect is a game in which you are investigating your own murder as a ghost. Very heavy emphasis on the investigation side and finding clues.

-Byshop

Oh, i see. Actually, I love RTS, RTT, and turn based games. I am a big fan of AOE, the total war series, and heroes of might and magic/kings bounty (and everything that's similar to those games). I didn't mention those games as I don't think they mix up well (from what I have seen) with a game like Lucius or Alan Wake, which is why I have discarded overlord( I own all the ones on steam). I do own a PS3, but I don't have it with me atm, so I am strictly PC right now. Murdered Souls Suspect had horrible reviews didn't it?

On a completely different note, do you know of any games similar to Kingdom of Amalur reckoning? I loved that game, and I don't think it is recognized as much as it should.

True crime streets of new york sounds interesting, too bad it is not on steam. The rest I am familiar with, and I am not quite interested in them.

Cool beans. Just to be clear, though, Overlord isn't strategy so much as hack and slash. War for the Overworld (similar title) is the RTS dungeon management game.

As for Murdered, it got 6s and 7s mostly with a few reviewers going higher or lower. Gamespot gave it a 6, but Tom McShae reviewed it and he had a bit of a reputation for judging games somewhat harshly (he gave Bioshock Infinite a 4/10). I'd say the game is a decent 7. It doesn't innovate in the category of narrative driven games but there's a decent story and playing as a ghost who can read thoughts, walk through walls, eavesdrop on conversations and possess some people is pretty cool. I wasn't blown away by anything this game had to offer, but I enjoyed my time with it and it's dripping with tons of lore and great atmosphere, which it sounds like might be up your alley. Also, while it's normal price these days is $30, you can get it through the Steam Lunar Sale for $7.50 until the 12th.

As far as KoA, which aspect of that game are you looking for. There are a ton of open world open ended RPGs out there but different games will have different things in common with KoA.

-Byshop

Jaws or Overlord 1&2. Cabella's hunting you play a bad guy depending on how much of an animal lover you are or not. lol

Get Bowser's Inside Story, you get to go around bullying and destroying everything.

Outlast doesn't have cheap jumpscares...

Destroy all humans - you play an alien who wants to...well...destroy all humans

Infamous second son - I know it's not scripted villainy, but if you choose to go the bad karma route, the story and NPCs change accordingly, so you could say it's kinda scripted. Your powers also change.

Overlord - you play an evil demon overlord who wants to rule the world so you have to kill humans and destroy villages and stuff

Might be a little too obvious, but Lucius 2 was good as well.

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames. You're not really good or bad, per se, but you can kill anyone you like(as long as you don't need them at the moment) and you can decimate entire city blocks with massive air strikes.

If you've got a PS2/Xbox, there's The Punisher. Along side Spider-Man 2, it was one of the best comic book games of all time.

Maybe you played a different Outlast than I did, because I remember that game as being like 99% jump scares.

-Byshop

@Byshop: More like 20-40%, it was mostly built on ambiance and adrenaline. Even so, none of the jumpscares were "cheap".

@employee427: The game was too jump-scare heavy for my taste. I prefer the psychological dread of a Silent Hill to the "amusement park haunted house" feel of Outlast.

-Byshop

@Byshop:...The game never was heavy on jumpscares, they were far and in between, it WAS psychological dread... I think you seriously need to play it again, because it doesn't even sound like you're talking about Outlast.

Maybe GTA or Watch Dogs (you can kind of be either in these games).

The old Legacy of Kain games (The ones where you can play as Kain) were fun because you pretty much doomed the world and you get to be this BA vampire.

Spec Ops the line

Good suggestion. I totally forgot about those but they are great examples of "bad guy protagonist" games.

-Byshop

Saints Row 3 and 4

also god of war, but the series is pretty much trash because of quicktime events.

It's a very simple action game, but Prototype might fit the bill. Alex Mercer is basically a straight up supervillain with some of the shit that he does.

I guess in many games you can kill, betray, steal, hit etc. your allies as well as your foes. But in some games you can decide to go mean or be a good guy. Like Mass Effect series where you could be either paragon or renegade or in Kotor where you could choose to be either Light Side or Dark Side.

Byshop gave good tips. Yeah in GTA you are a criminal per se so it speaks for itself.

• Mafia
• Hitman
• The Witcher
• Max Payne
• Thief (not 2014, original trilogy. Get Gold Edition for the first game)
• Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne

Many good suggestions having been given to you like Spec Ops : The line, So I might aswell toss in some curveballs for you to consider ( both oldies and newer games) where the protaganist/s is far from being a good guy.

Manhunt ( both games)

Postal

Hatred

Hotline Miami ( both games)

The Darkness 2

Blood ( both games)

Party Hard