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.
Little Sisters in BioShock
I can’t bring myself to kill them, never. So I just watched all the endings for 1 and 2 on YouTube when I finished them.
Also Bioshock, killing Andrew Ryan. Yeah he was a dick, but oof. That big reveal still hits hard.
You are a monster. I could never kill any of them. They were to adorable.
Plus the method is just very gruesome, ripping slugs out of their uterus with your bare hands. Nasty.
I did hard mode on BioShock 2 this year and to make things easier I had to go for the evil ending. Felt bad about it, like Thanos “I’m sorry little one.”
I’d also add killing the big daddies and watching the little sisters cry makes you feel bad too.