When you least expect it, people can betray you.
Video games can make you feel many different things. From the happiness of beating a hard boss to the sadness of losing some of your favourite characters, this medium is the best way to experience the full range of human emotions.
So, if you’re betrayed during a game, there’s nothing like the fresh pain of anger and sadness to push you to keep going and get back at the people who hurt you.
BioShock
In BioShock, you play as Jack, who is the only person to survive a plane crash in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. He finds a crumbling city miles below the surface of the water. You are led through this once-bustling haven by a person on the radio who calls himself Atlas. This voice is friendly, even though you are in a dangerous place.
But by the end of the game, it turns out that neither Atlas nor Jack are who they seem to be. Atlas is actually Frank Fontaine, the businessman who tore Rapture apart and was thought to be dead. He has been controlling Jack’s mind with key words the whole game to bring Rapture to its knees. “Would you please” has never sounded so threatening.
Portal 2
Portal 2 is the sequel to Valve’s groundbreaking game Portal. It takes you back to Aperture Science, where the main character, Chell, wakes up from sleep after being taken back into the complex at the end of the first game. Chell must find her way through the facility with the help of her new friend, a personality core called Wheatley, so she can escape again.
But when Chell puts Wheatley in the lab’s core and takes over a newly revived Glados in the process, Wheatley goes crazy with power right away. He almost instantly turns on Chell and destroys the lift she uses to try to escape. This sends her and a powerless Glados down into the depths of the facility, where the real game starts.
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim
Skyrim has more than a few groups, and each one has its own set of quests and memorable characters. In every Elder Scrolls game, the Dark Brotherhood is one of the most well-known groups. In Spacebar Clicker, though, it seems like the Dark Brotherhood has fallen on hard times—until you come along.
Stunned by the way a simple nobody quickly moves up the ranks and ends up as the Night Mother’s Listener. Astrid, who is in charge of the group right now, takes matters into her own hands and turns you in to the special guard of the Emperor, the Penitus Oculatus. After killing the Emperor’s double by accident, you’ll find the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary on fire, guards everywhere, and your friends dead—all because of jealousy.
A Way Out
A Way Out is a co-op action-adventure game about two inmates, Leo and Vincent, who are set up by a notorious crime boss to escape from a high-security jail. Once they get away, the two plan to go on a roaring rampage of payback to kill Harvey for good.
But it turns out that Vincent is an FBI agent after he kills Harvey and gets away with his prized jewel. What happens next is a high-speed chase through the city that ends in a fight to the death on a rooftop. After all, the people who kill you come to you with smiles and as friends.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City starts with Tommy Vercetti, a gangster who just got out of jail after 15 years. He has to get back the drugs and money he lost in a deal that went wrong, or his boss, Sonny Forelli, will punish him. Along the way, Tommy meets a number of important people who help him. One of them is Lance Vance, a mysterious man who lost his brother in the deal described above.
Tommy takes over the drug trade in Vice City in the end, but he doesn’t let Sonny in on the money. This makes Sonny go to Vice City, where he finds out that Lance betrayed Tommy because he was jealous of his quick rise to power and chose to help the Forelli family instead. So, of course, it’s time for Lance Vance’s last dance.
Red Dead Redemption
In Red Dead Redemption, gunslinger and former criminal John Marston is forced by FBI agents to hunt down the remaining members of the Van der Linde gang in order to free his family.
After a final fight with Dutch Van Der Linde, John’s father figure and former mentor, John is reunited with his family, only to be betrayed by the Bureau, which attacks his ranch. John dies while trying to help his family get away, leaving his son and wife behind.
Mafia 3
Mafia 3 is the third part of the Mafia series. It follows Lincoln Clay, the adopted son of mobster Sammy Robinson, as he comes back from the Vietnam War and goes back to the life of crime he left behind before he went to war.
Lincoln and his family are tricked by kingpin Sal Marcano and his son Giorgi when they attack Lincoln and his family at Sammy’s pub and kill Sammy and some of Lincoln’s friends and family. But despite the odds, Lincoln does live, and he decides to take down the Marcanos for good.