The most compelling villains in Open-World RPGs

Key takeaways

• Story is crucial in open-world games across genres, and villains play a big part in that.
• Many games have compelling villains that players must eventually confront, but some games do them better than others.
• Characters such as Dung Eater, Gaunter O'Dimm and Caesar stand out for their evil but charismatic portrayals.

Open-world titles have become an incredibly popular genre over the past decade or so, bleeding out from their own niche of titles to find variations across all other game worlds. Cool tactical shooters, epic fantasy titles, survival horror, and even racing games have all gotten an open-world counterpart. Regardless of what kind of setting an open world title would fit into, story is a key component of what makes many of these games tick.

And what good is a story without a villain? In some games, players can take on the role of the villain, but in most, players will face off against a powerful, villainous antagonist in the story. These open world RPGs have some incredibly compelling villains in store for the player to try and defeat.

7 Dung Eater – Ring of Fire

Evil to the core and proud of it

There are many characters in Fire Ring who could hold the title of the most evil villain in the series. Is Marika evil? Is the greater will evil? What about the people who want to set life on fire, that sounds evil. But all of these characters have some sort of justification for their actions, and in the obfuscated narrative style Fire Ringit's hard to call them convincing unless players have pieced together the 27 items that mention them and chronicled their stories, before deciding for themselves whether the character in question is truly evil.

The Loathsome Dung Eater, however, has none of these caveats. He appears directly in front of the player, tells them exactly how profane his actions are to both the living and the dead, and wishes nothing but the world to experience a level of suffering so intense that it shifts the paradigm of what is the default state of existence. Dung Eater is a refreshingly and incurably evil character – even his name doesn't absolve him of his crimes.

6 Kellogg – Fallout 4

The first antagonist players meet… Except for the bombs, maybe

The Fall-out The series has featured some of the most iconic villains in gaming history, each showing how the nuclear apocalypse has shaped and warped humanity through centuries of desperation and madness.

Kellogg is not the central antagonist to Fallout 4but he is a core, driving factor for much of the story, setting the tone for the intrigue and mystery of Fallout 4s introductory chapter. An apathetic mercenary with surprising depth who is inextricably tied to the protagonist as their first foil.

5 Gaunter O'Dimm – The Witcher 3

A fan favorite maker of pacts and cursed deals

The Man of Glass is one of the most beloved villains in the entire world Witcher titles – first appeared as a wily trickster with a penchant for business, but very quickly revealed himself as something much more sinister.

Gaunter's ability to shape reality, enforce cursed Faustian pacts, and even pause time at will makes him a force to be reckoned with, but what makes him so compelling is his deceptively easy charm and absolutely fantastic voice acting behind him.

4 Dutch Van Der Lin – Red Dead Redemption 2

An opportunist, idealist and hypocrite

Dutch Van Der Lin has one of the most interesting dynamics with Arthur of the entire Van Der Lin Gang. He took Arthur under his wing and raised him, but as the Pinkertons continue to hunt his gang, Dutch becomes more paranoid of all his peers.

Like many characters who enjoy getting hypothetical about philosophy while also being pretty awful (there are a few on this list!), Dutch is functionally a hypocrite. He denounces civilization in favor of the open wilderness and individualism his gang enjoys, but his literacy, intellect, and even the well-tailored clothes he wears all come from this society he claims to hate so much.

3 Saburo Arasaka – Cyberpunk 2077

A man so powerful that he wants to conquer death

Night City has produced some truly evil people in its glossy world. There's a case to be made that Night City itself is Cyberpunks most compelling villain, but the apathy and entropy of the average citizen—the city's indifference rather than its malevolence—is what gives rise to so many of the genuinely evil people V encounters.

Saburo is a compelling villain, but is he evil? It depends on V's perspective, more than anything else, but Saburo's all-consuming desire to master death, and live forever, is a driving force behind the many, many obstacles that arise in the story. Saburo, having reached a level of wealth and power so great that it eclipses all other humans on Earth, pours all his resources into a unique, terrifying technology that could rewrite the way humanity works.

2 Dagoth Ur – Morrowind

A despised and likeable God

Frankly, the Tribunal is a bigger villain than Dagoth Ur i Morrowind. Okay, yes, Dagoth Ur released a magical disease that turns people into brain zombies, and his cult is functionally a group of disaffected fascists, but the Tribunal are three vain, treacherous false gods – and they're the ones who catalyze Dagoth Ur as a potent and villainous persuasive power.

Even towards the late game, Dagoth takes an interesting place in the story by seeing the main character as a friend rather than an enemy – he knows the Nerevarine in any form, and it is simply his madness after years within the Red Mountain that has turned him into one such. an overwhelming antagonist to Tamriel.

1 Caesar – Fallout New Vegas

Deranged And Charismatic – The Ultimate Tyrant

The major factions in Fallout: New Vegas each has a different future in store for the iconic city and its environs. But in the magical early hours of the game, the wasteland's biggest boogeyman is Caesar's Legion – a brutal and masochistic wave of thugs and slaves, led by the mysterious, enigmatic and powerful Caesar.

What does New Vegas Such a wild ride is that when players finally meet Caesar, he is the ultimate portrayal of any demagogue who has relied on charisma and influence to win over a nation. He's really just a guy, in a chair. Like all tyrants before him, his power comes from a place of myth and poorly understood philosophy, but he remains a singularly unique and compelling villain within Fall-outs rich tapestry of antagonists.