7 Most Evil Gods In Video Games, Ranked – GameRant

For ages past, humanity has looked to gods for guidance, strength, and enlightenment. However, there is also a dark side to faith, which tends to emerge as humans corrupt and reinterpret messages of love and tolerance to suit their sinful wants. There are also countless examples of evil deities, as well as evil followers.

In exchange for their faithful devotion, these gods spread punishing edicts, debilitating burdens, and blinding suffering to their followers (or even non-believers who get in their way). Having a bad guy like this at the tip-top of the holy hierarchy to punch can be great in video games, as their stories often serve as vehicles for a power fantasy, and knocking a god off their throne provides the ultimate power trip. The non-omniscient (or those who have not finished the following games) should beware of spoilers ahead.

7

The Elder God – The Legacy Of Kain: Soul Reaver

Spinning Souls And Elaborate Lies

Action-Adventure

Platformer

Fighting

Puzzle

Adventure

Released

August 16, 1999

ESRB

m

The unnamed Elder God at the bottom of the Lake of the Dead that resurrects Raziel in the opening hour of Soul Reaver and guides him on his quest of revenge ostensibly has a plan to save Nosgoth and untangle its ecology of souls. The Elder God claims that the cycle of death and rebirth has been stopped by Kain’s vampiric meddling.

Nosgoth is a land ruled by evil and gray morality, and perhaps for this reason, Raziel is unable to see the grotesque, tentacled mass for what it truly is: a parasite that devours souls, using strife and war as a means to feed itself. The Elder God is indeed powerful, but its need to embellish the facts of its power and significance in the cosmos is telling of its true character.

6

Kratos – God of War 3

Truly A Monster Of Monsters

Systems

Released

March 16, 2010

ESRB

M For Mature 17+ due to Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content

Gods have, since the very beginning of the God of War series, always been the real problem: From the Greek gods to the Norse pantheon, they are petty, vengeful, and unjust, no better than the mere mortals they claim supremacy over. Born one such mortal, Kratos ascended to godhood through sheer brutality, only to become worse than the deities he overthrew.

His reign as the God of War was one of mindless destruction, betrayal, and the slaughter of countless innocents. By God of War 3, Kratos had destroyed all of Greece, plunging it into ruin. As he entered his “Dad era,” he continued his battle with evil deities, but as bad as they get, Kratos never encounters a god with more blood on their hands.

5

Gwyn, Lord Of Cinder – Dark Souls

The Undying Avatar Of A Collapsing World Order

Released

September 22, 2011

ESRB

M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Violence

Having once led the charge for a better world and ruled over it as a mighty god of sunlight, the now-fallen Lord Gwyn refuses to yield his power. To prolong his Age of Fire, Gwyn opts to burn himself and all humanity for eternity. As a result, the world of Dark Souls has fallen into an eternal decline, and humans have become hollow, mindless creatures with selfish, short-term thinking, all warring among themselves.

Gwyn coerces humanity into prolonging the Age of Fire with the false promise of individual ascension, relentless propaganda exalting its elites, and the vilification of an alternative. Under Gwyn’s influence, the Chosen Undead is manipulated into propagating a horrific cycle that keeps everyone, including those that it ostensibly benefits, shackled to a dying world.

4

The Maker – Dragon Age: Origins

Creator Of All (Problems) And A True Deadbeat Deity

Released

November 3, 2009

ESRB

M for Mature: Blood, Intense Violence, Language, Partial Nudity, Sexual Content

Mono-mythical gods are usually portrayed as infallible. However, Dragon Age: Origins‘ creator god, known only as “The Maker” seems to have made plenty of mistakes in his time. From spawning and subsequently abandoning his first “failed” children in the Fade to blaming his second-borns for creating sin, The Maker comes across as more of a deadbeat dad than a divine deity.

The spirits and demons of the Fade began to influence the minds of the mortals in Thedas and beyond. When their dad wasn’t looking, The Maker’s first kids got their younger siblings to worship them, which angered The Maker, prompting him to take off once again. Human mages attempted to access his former home, the Golden City, and for doing so, the Maker tainted humanity with the Darkspawn curse.

3

Bhunivelze – Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy 13

A Tantuming Psychopath With Infinite Power

Released

November 21, 2013

ESRB

t

Across this series, there is no shortage of evil gods, both minor and major. After all, killing God is one of Final Fantasy‘s long-held traditions. Final Fantasy 6 has the mad evil god of magic, Kefka, Final Fantasy 4: The After Years presents an indifferent, narcist higher being, Final Fantasy 16 offers a parasitic god, and Final Fantasy 10 has Yu Yevon, the true scourge of Spira. However, the prize of most repugnant diety has to go to Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy 13‘s Bhunivelze.

This god resembles an omnipotent, mother-slaying psychopath more than a kind figure of nurturing and love to look up to. This supposedly all-seeing, all-powerful god is unable to understand the workings of a human heart. As well as murdering his mother (the true creator) to take her power, he is unable to tolerate the chaos that he himself spreads with his crime. Most damning of all, he is beaten by a single (albeit powerful) mortal, Lightning, in the final battle before the end of the universe.

2

YHVH – Shin Magami Tensei

The Tyranny Of Law And Petty Self-Importance

Released

October 12, 2004

ESRB

M For Mature 17+ due to Blood, Partial Nudity, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Violence

Mirroring gnostic themes in which the god that most mortals encounter is not the “true” highest being in the cosmos, YHVH in Shin Megami Tensei is not a benevolent creator but an authoritarian dictator who demands absolute obedience. A living embodiment of the lawful evil alignment, he enforces a rigid, oppressive order where free will is crushed under a divine mandate.

He frequently appears as a final boss, with multiple endings allowing them to either submit to his rule (resulting in a conforming and dead cosmos) or overthrow him in a battle against divine tyranny. It is implied that YHVH is merely a fragment of The Great Will, a being that (potentially) has his creation’s best interests at heart. Then again, he could also be responsible for their eternal cycles of suffering.

1

The High Wills – Blasphemous

The Holy Trinity Of Sacred Spite

Released

September 10, 2019

ESRB

M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood and Gore, Nudity, Violence

Through its art and theming, Blasphemous draws from Christianity’s most evil, masochistic moments, where tolerance is traded for hatred, forgiveness for war, and frugal dignity for grotesque wealth and power. Cvstodia is a land dripping in divinely-inspired body horror, courtesy of The High Wills and their Grievous Miracle, a perversion that warps all appeals for forgiveness, mercy, and holy redemption into nightmarish punishments.

Although it is implied that the trio, encountered at the end of the “Wounds of Eventide” expansion, were created from the prayers of the people of Cvstodia, they are entirely self-serving, self-important, and hypocritical. Their miracle propagates an endless circle of pain and petition, as the agony of their worshipers maintains their existence and power.