Edit: holy shit I turn my head around for one second and I got 40 replies? THANK YOU ALL :D <3

I just rewatched Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy and following Bane’s and Miranda’s story made me realize that I’m a bit saturated in regards to playing as the hero, the protagonist, the “good guy” in PC games. While I love saving the world as much as the next person, I’d love to play as some perhaps self-righteous villain, or antagonist, or simply somebody portrayed in a way that’s meant to make the player sympathize with questionable morality or, at the very least, be conflicted about why you suddenly find yourself rooting for them.

I’m mostly looking for story driven open world single player games, but any recommendations are welcome. :)

    • Midnight Wolf@lemmy.worldEnglish
      12·
      3 days ago

      Oh, Spec Ops was great. I totally thought it was going to be a COD-like game all pew pew go America let’s shoot up a burger king and teabag the enemy, but holy shit.

      It’s one of those things where I want to forget everything so I can experience it again.

      • SupraMario@lemmy.world
        5·
        3 days ago

        Same, I think that’s why it never was big, everyone just saw it as another 3rd person COD shooter. I played the game like 5 years after it was released and was totally blown away by the story. It’s mediocre gameplay but the story is so damn good.

    • rozodru@piefed.worldEnglish
      7·
      3 days ago

      oh Braid is so fucked up once you realize the story. At the end I was like “why the hell did I help this little prick?”

      • Skullgrid@lemmy.world
        1·
        3 days ago

        At the end I was like “why the hell did I help this little prick?”

        Am… I this little prick? oh fuck…

        • yermaw@sh.itjust.works
          7·
          3 days ago

          One of the books really stuck with me though.

          Our world, with its rules of causality, has trained us to be miserly with forgiveness. By forgiving too readily, we can be badly hurt. But if we’ve learned from a mistake and become better for it, shouldn’t we be rewarded for the learning, rather than punished for the mistake?

    • makeshiftreaper@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      3 days ago

      The first 2 you are absolutely unequivocally the bad guy, those were going to be my suggestions. I think the second 2 it’s a little spoilery to tell people you’re the bad guy

      • Fedegenerate@fedinsfw.appEnglish
        6·
        3 days ago

        I don’t think Spec ops is spoilers to reveal you’re a bad guy, not in 2026: you play the US, in the Gulf. You play the US doing US imperialism, it doesn’t hide that from you. It’s just later in the game it confronts you with what that really means.

        Braid absolutely, but it’s 17yo at this point, any reasonable spoiler policy* has worn off. Meets the criteria, gets you all empathetic for the little shit, Tim, then makes you question it all. I think a first play through is impactful even knowing he’s a villain… It’s not that he’s a villain that is cool, it’s how you find out he’s a villain.

        *Except for Outer Wilds the spoiler policy on that is eternal.

        • makeshiftreaper@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          3 days ago

          Eh, compare Spec Ops to its contemporaries and it’s definitely an outlier for treating you like a bad guy. Call of Duty, Battlefield, and Medal of Honor were definitely treating you like a hero. Still Spec Ops is much better than those games so if the discussion gets people to play it then I’m on board