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.

  • Indymizzum@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    Last of us 2 tried really hard to make you feel bad about most of the people you kill. The way they cry out for their dead friends can be a little harrowing. What hit me the most was the dogs. Everyone says you can easily get through the game without killing them, but I wasn’t good enough at the game I guess. Giving them names and connections with the people from the enemy faction made it even more distressing.

    • spangrl_85@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      While I liked the game overall, I feel like they overdid it with having them call out when their friends died. It numbed me to it really fast because I was hell-bent on revenge 😂. And the dogs terrified me, so although I felt bad for killing them it was worse to be mauled by them. I tried to make it quick.

    • ohnoohnoohyeah@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      I really struggled with this game because of the cruelty of it. There were so many times when I didn’t want to kill a person and that was the only path forward to advance the plot. It felt like trauma porn and I did not at all care for that–especially during the early days of the pandemic.

    • Stanislas_Biliby@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      The way they beg for their life, the way the gore is so well done. And some characters you meet before or after you killed them in “flashback” makes it feel even more horrible. Hate is truly a horrifying thing.