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.
Came to say that. Even when I was armed I hated the idea of having to shoot anyone, especially if there was a risk they’d return fire.
The worst part was that I gradually grew desensitized to it.
First playthrough, sure, I was a super nice trio, never killed, never stole, tried to help. Then one of them couldn’t take it anymore, another got sick and everything crumbled.
Next few playthroughs, I was a bit sneakier, still no killing, but I stole here and there, just so that I could get that win.
When I won, I wanted to win with other characters too. But I can’t be assed to slog through all that work can I? Pretty soon I was shooting up the kid at the garage to steal meds from his elderly dad all for that Victory Royale.
War really does change people.
It’s a game that encapsulates the Picard quote
“It’s possible to make no mistakes and still lose. That is not failure. That is life.”
I tried so many times to play as morally good as I could, I’ve never completed a play through. Even when I did some really questionable shit I’ve ended up with my characters starving or freezing to death. It’s a very sobering game that I think everyone should play but I won’t be playing anymore if you know what I mean.
“You never win. You just do a little better each time”
“Not everything’s a lesson Ryan, sometimes you just fail”
My last playthrough Roman went on missions only to kill obviously dangerous or hostile people, like the sniper in the market area. Depending on how many “bandit” locations you roll, that can give you a lof of supplies.
Still though, how many of those people just assumed I was a bandit, because I showed up to loot a place they’d already claimed?
Except that dude who sexually assaults the woman in the grocery store. He gets a hatchet to the neck every single playthrough.
Kinda wish they got rid of that penalty for killing people since it’s pretty tricky to take on multiple armed guys. It’s a kick in the balls to pull that off in a game where resources are so scarce, with the characters that are “cold and ruthless” but then they die because they were too depressed from killing
Being armed is for defending against overnight raids.
I will admit to the occasional Roman military base massacre, though. (But as I recall, you just need a knife and places to hide to ambush from for that)