10 Soulslikes Where You’re Actually the Villain

​Of all the genres in gaming, there isn’t one that stays as morally ambiguous as soulslikes. While the genre has grown to encompass a lot of different kinds of games, that question of morality remains the same.

Players are often a bit hesitant to become the villain of the story, but offering up that potential makes for a more difficult choice. Whether a player will embrace evil or remain on the path of good always makes for a good time.

This list consists of games that could be categorized as soulslike even if their main genre is a bit different. It does contain spoilers for certain endings, so you may want to read carefully to avoid anything you’d rather not know.

10 Hellpoint

The Prodigal Spawn

Hellpoint Action RPG Fighting Shooter Released July 30, 2020 ESRB t Engine Unity Genre(s)Action RPG, Fighting, Shooter Powered by ExpandCollapse

Hellpoint is an interesting soulslike game that sees players take on the role of a Spawn as they face off against all kinds of cosmic horrors. While trapped on a space station, players will make their way through boss encounters while making choices to determine their alignment.

You don’t have to play as the villain in Hellpoint, but you do have the option to align yourself with the Prodigal Spawn and perform a dark ritual. It is morally grey, but those choices do matter and can make players into the villain of their story.

9 Death's Gambit: Afterlife

Become Death’s Right Hand

Death's Gambit: Afterlife Action RPG Metroidvania Released September 30, 2021 ESRB T For Teen Due To Blood and Gore, Language, Use of Alcohol, Violence Developer(s) White Rabbit Publisher(s)Serenity Forge, Adult Swim GamesEngine GameMaker Genre(s)Action RPG, Metroidvania Powered by ExpandCollapse

In a genre that typically sticks to being morally grey, Death’s Gambit: Afterlife makes things a bit harder by making you an agent of death. In this Metroidvania soulslike, players will go up against immortals as they attempt to snuff out immortality altogether.

This one is tough because your motivations aren’t necessarily evil, but the results you achieve certainly make you a bit of a villain. By destroying immortality, you’ll be killing anything and everything connected to it, regardless of alignment.

8 Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon

A Mercenary's Dilemma

Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon Action Shooter Released August 25, 2023 ESRB t Developer(s)From SoftwarePublisher(s)Bandai Namco StudiosEngine Elden Ring engine Genre(s)Action, Shooter Powered by ExpandCollapse

You wouldn't typically imagine a game about giant robots digging so deep into the ambiguity of who a mercenary decides to fight for, but Armored Core VI does just that. The game is more of an action game than a soulslike, but with FromSoftware at the wheel, it still feels like one.

Playing as C4-621, you have a choice in who you help, and depending on your choice, a lot of things can happen. Despite the choice of endings, you do spend a lot of time fighting and killing the residents of Rubicon 3.

7 Dark Souls III

A True Lord of Cinder

Dark Souls 3 Action RPG 9/10Released March 24, 2016 ESRB M for Mature: Blood Violence Developer(s)From SoftwarePublisher(s)Bandai Namco Entertainment, From SoftwareEngine havok, proprietary engine Genre(s)Action RPG Powered by ExpandCollapse

FromSoftware really enjoys giving players a choice in how they affect the world as a whole, and most of the time it's not for the better. Playing as an Ashen One, players will have to face off against the mighty Lords of Cinder and decide the fate of the world.

There is still that freedom of choice, but players can choose to simply burn the world themselves. This certainly makes you a villain to some, but it is still a choice, so it’s up to players if they become a villain.

6 Bloodborne

A Great One Rises

Bloodborne Action RPG Soulslike9.5/10Released March 24, 2015 ESRB M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Violence Developer(s)From SoftwarePublisher(s) Sony Engine Havok Genre(s)Action, RPG, Soulslike Powered by ExpandCollapse

As a Hunter in Bloodborne, your only purpose is to kill the monsters that plague the world and use their power to make yourself stronger. You may not start very villainous, but in the end you may become the very thing you set out to destroy.

In one of the endings, players can turn into a Great One, an otherworldly eldritch being that doesn’t follow our sense of morality. It could be up for debate whether this makes players the true villain, but it does seem a bit villainous to leave behind your humanity.

5 Elden Ring

Lord of the Frenzied Flame

Elden Ring RPG Action 9/10Released February 25, 2022 ESRB M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence Developer(s)From SoftwarePublisher(s)Bandai Namco Entertainment, From SoftwareEngine Proprietary Genre(s)RPG, Action Powered by ExpandCollapse

Elden Ring was a sensational game that expanded the soulslike genre into the open-world genre and gave players more freedom than ever before. With that freedom came plenty of choice, and those choices could end in disaster.

By taking the Frenzied Flame, players will cause a chain reaction of events that ends the game with the world on fire. The world may be a bit problematic, but causing mass destruction and burning the world to a crisp seems very villainous.

4 Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Become a True Demon

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Action RPG 9/10Released March 22, 2019 ESRB M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Violence Developer(s)From SoftwarePublisher(s)ActivisionEngine Proprietary Engine Genre(s)Action RPG Powered by ExpandCollapse

While playing as the protagonist, Wolf, players are given choices, some of which have long-standing consequences. The game isn’t a traditional soulslike, but with the difficulty and mechanics behind the game, it certainly feels like one.

Wolf is given a choice towards the back half of the game where he can either follow Iron Code or save Kuro. Following the code results in Wolf fully becoming a demon and killing many of the people he knows and cares about.

3 Demon's Souls

A New Old One

Demon's Souls RPG Released November 12, 2020 ESRB M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Violence Developer(s)Bluepoint GamesPublisher(s) Sony Engine Proprietary Engine Genre(s)RPG Powered by ExpandCollapse

The premise of the game seems to frame your character as the hero, but in true FromSoftware fashion, you can become the villain. Featuring a morality tracker, the more you kill innocents and do vile deeds, the closer you become to being Pure Black.

At the end of the game, players can decide to simply betray their allies up to that point, killing them and thrusting the world into a new age of darkness. Whether you were the villain throughout the game or not, at the end there’s no debating it.

2 Vampyr

A True Vampire

Vampyr Action RPG Released June 5, 2018 ESRB M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Use of Drugs Developer(s)Dontnod EntertainmentPublisher(s)Focus Home InteractiveEngine Unreal Engine 4 Genre(s)Action RPG Powered by ExpandCollapse

Vampires are pretty much always the bad guys, although when it comes to Dr. Jonathan Reid, players can decide what happens. Whether he succumbs to the monster within or maintains some semblance of humanity is in the hands of players.

Whatever path the player takes determines what happens to London and its people. Leaning into the destructive nature of vampires leaves the city in complete collapse and causes the epidemic to continue unfettered.

1 Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin

Time Loop Shenanigans

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin Action RPG Released March 18, 2022 ESRB M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence Developer(s)Team NinjaPublisher(s) Square Enix Engine unreal engine 4 Genre(s)Action RPG Powered by ExpandCollapse

Final Fantasy games as a whole have always been a bit out there in terms of story, but unlike the other games on this list, you are literally the villain. Playing as Jack along with the other Strangers as you attempt to stop Chaos from destroying the world.

By the end of the story, there’s only one option for our heroes, and that’s for Jack to embrace the Chaos and become the villain of the story. This sends him back in time and sets him up as Garland, the villain of the first Final Fantasy game.

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