Summary
It’s routine to playa game with a herowho goes out of their way to selflessly save the world. In the past, it was rare for games to have a hero with deep, almost unforgivable flaws in certain contexts. Nowadays, the antihero has become commonplace in video games.
An antihero is a protagonist in a story that lacks the usual heroic attributes. Many video games have taken this turn, but it’s hard to get players to fall in love with a bad guy. Luckily, there are quite a few examples of excellent antiheroes throughout gaming history, the best of which can be found below.
Updated May 18, 2025, by Andy Chapman: Video games have become one of the largest forms of entertainment in the world. With big new titles released monthly, games now depict a varied and diverse group of people. However, throughout gaming history, the antihero has always been a favorite among gamers. Antiheroes push against the grain, never conforming to what is expected. Some of the most memorable characters in gaming blur the line between good and bad, being ruthless to their enemies while saving the innocent. This article has been updated with additional entries to give a wider view of the many antiheroes throughout video game history.
One of the most recent examples of an anti-hero story isCarrion. Dubbed a “reverse horror game,” players are a tentacle monster known asCarriontrying to escape a lab it’s been trapped in. Scientists had the creature locked away after they found it as dormant biomass and it killed a few colleagues upon waking up.
Along the way, Carrion willmurder plenty of scientistsand soldiers to escape its prison. On one hand, it is a hideous death monster. On the other hand, it’s hard to hate the creature for wanting to get out and be free from experiments.
TheKane & Lynchseries was often panned for its bad controls, but the stories of these two former death row inmates are too insane to not try. In the first game,Adam ‘Kane’ MarcusandJames Seth Lynchare on their way to death row when they are both kidnapped by a gang called the 7.
Kane’s wife and daughter had been taken hostage after he allegedly stole money from this gang and they need him to get the money back to them. The story gets even wilder, and the game itself is filled with third-person shooting action.
Nintendo has a long list of famous heroes, but even its villains are beloved. Antagonists like Bowser and King Dedede have had their moments to shine as antiheroes, but no antihero from Nintendo has multiple game series likeWario.
The star of bothWariolandandWarioWare, Wario’s goofy nature and overall gluttony have won the hearts of fans. His games are fun as well, withWariolandbeing a unique take on 2D platforming andWarioWarefilled to the brim with microgames. Both showcase Wario’s desire for power and money but in a hilarious way.
If there is one franchise that embraces the antihero, it’sGrand Theft Auto. Some of them are genuinely likable, but then there’sTrevor, the cannibal psychopath fromGrand Theft Auto 5. Some of the things that Trevor says are oftenhilarious and insane, but some of the acts of violence are hard to swallow.
Still, it’s fun playing as someone who has no self-control. There are even side missions inGrand Theft Auto 5where Trevor is just mindlessly killing people out of pure rage. He does fight back against the corrupt government and police as well, so it’s okay to take a ride on the wild side with Trevor.
The best video game antiheroes can sometimes be the ones whom players can take full control of, including how their personality takes shape throughout the game. This is what it’s like playing asHarrier Du BoisinDisco Elysium.
Du Bois wakes up with amnesia, not realizing the tirade he went on after he arrived at the scene of a death he is investigating. Players must get to the bottom of the investigation while also dealing with the various thoughts in Harrier’s head. Like atabletop RPG,Disco Elysiumrequires players to roll dice in-game for some choices to come to fruition.
TheHitmanseries is one of the more surreal video games to play, thanks to players taking on the role ofAgent 47. His name refers to the fact he is the 47th clone from the DNA of five different men. This DNA was combined to create a human that would become the perfect assassin.
Agent 47 is the most successful of the clones and now follows orders to kill whoever his handlers want dead. TheHitmangames themselves are a lot of fun, using Agent 47’s stealth ability to dissect a situation and execute the perfect hit job. It’s ruthless, but it’s afascinating and clever concept.
Sonic has had a handful of villainous characters to deal with over the years, but none are as cool asShadow the Hedgehog. Shadow was created in a lab and unleashed on the world to help Dr. Eggman with his plans inSonic Adventure 2. However, over the years, Shadow has become an ally of Sonic despite their inherent differences.
Shadow can be a huge help in Sonic’s attempt to save the world despite his edgy attitude and lack of morals. There are multipleSonic The Hedgehogtitles in which Shadow is playable, but he was also the star of his own darker game calledShadow The Hedgehog.
He’s not the warmest of characters, but it’s hard to not likeDantefrom theDevil May Cryseries. A demon-hunting vigilante, Dante’s purpose in life is to seek revenge for his mother’s death byhacking and slashingsupernatural beings that stand in his way.
In theDevil May Cryseries, he has superhuman powers he inherited from his father which have given him super strength and agility, to name a few. He also uses a plethora of weapons, making him a perfect character to play to unload any built-up anger.
Very few characters have gone through such a drastic transformation asConker The Squirreldid. Once a playable character inDiddy Kong Racing, Conker went on to star in a handful of his own games. However, his antihero turn truly came with the release ofConker’s Bad Fur Day.
The game starts out with an older Conker getting so drunk that he ends up getting lost, only to stumble into a kingdom where a series of events unfold that he’s forced to tackle head-on. This is all while he continues to act like a complete buffoon, making him one of the strangest, yet one of the best antiheroes in video games.
Very rarely do we see a character transition into an antihero, butMax Paynefits that bill. In the very firstMax Paynegame, players see a happy man who works for the NYPD as a detective who loves to socialize with people.
That changes after his family is murdered. He turns into an introvert and begins to hate life and the people around him. He turns this hatred into vengeance by becoming a vigilante. The best part of playingMax Payneis hearing his cynical, morbid thoughts while he interacts with the world.
