Summary
- Evil corporations in video games are becoming darker and more unethical over time.
- Taking down these ruthless corporations is incredibly satisfying for gamers.
- From experiments on children to summoning demons, these corporations commit heinous acts for profit.
There are few things more ubiquitous in modern science fiction video games than evil corporations. From ruthless businessmen who do not care for their employees and will kill thousands of them to save only a few dollars, to collections of evil scientists turning their genius towards profit, the number of evil organizations who commit evil in the name of the bottom line has increased exponentially over the last few years.
Related22 Best RPGs Where You Can Be Evil
RPGs that truly offer you freedom of choice include an option to play as an evil character, and here are the best games that accomplish this.
PostsAs this number increases, their actions have become darker and more unethical to make themselves stand out from their competition. From strip-mining planets, to experimenting on children, to kidnapping people to steal their DNA, these corporations are ruthless in the pursuit of their goals and are often a law unto themselves. But there is a benefit to this unrelenting darkness and evil - it makes them a hell of a lot more satisfying to take down.
Updated September 16th, 2024 by Hilton Webster: Games are at times an escape from reality. We sink into these worlds to get away from the rigors of life. Yet with corporations pushing more monopolies and trying to be our friends, those evil corporations in games don't feel like a distant future anymore. If anything, you can read this updated article as the blueprint for such evil corporations jumping from video games to reality.
10 The Board - The Outer Worlds
The Outer Worlds
RPG 4.0/5 Released October 25, 2019 Developer(s) Obsidian Entertainment Platform(s) Switch, Xbox One, PS4, PC Powered by Expand CollapseDo you want to live among the stars and be at the forefront of human evolution? Of course you do! Well get in line, the ships to the Halcyon colony are boarding now! Doesn't that sound great? Don't forget to sign your life over to us. Yep, your signature on the dotted line right now.
Corporations in media are sometimes described as 'comically evil' to highlight how outlandish they are. The Board of The Outer Worlds, those that rule over the colony of Halcyon from Earth, are comically evil to highlight just how dangerous the idea of colonizing space is. Evil corporations already view people as numbers, what about when they're a whole star system away? The Board would like to thank you for your service, we'll send your next of kin the bill for your sudden dismissal.
9 The Wild Pines Group - Disco Elysium
Disco Elysium
RPG 4.5/5 Released October 15, 2019 Developer(s) ZA/UM Platform(s) PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Stadia Powered by Expand CollapseThere are many words that could be used to describe Disco Elysium, but none are better than those the game uses itself. Capitalism subsumes everything into capitalism, even its critics. Let the mask of humanity slip, and deviation becomes extinction. You do not live in the world of Disco Elysium, you survive a world owned by corporations.
RelatedGames To Play If You Liked Disco Elysium
Disco Elysium is a game that stands out on its own, but here are a few titles that feel just as memorable as this RPG wonder.
PostsReally, you could pick anyone outside of Revachol as an evil corporation. The Moralintern that defines the concept of 'Good', the military forces that reduced Revachol to rubble and countless more. Yet what stands out the most is the Wild Pines Group. A leftover of Revachol's monarchy, they are the biggest employer in the country, and hire deranged mercenaries who only know war to literally kill off the union leaders so they don't have to pay better wages. The banality of it is a little too close to reality.
8 Ryan Industries - Bioshock
BioShock
FPS 10.0/10 Released August 21, 2007 Developer(s) Irrational Games Platform(s) PC, PS3, Xbox 360 Powered by Expand CollapseWhat do you get when you take the beliefs of Atlas Shrugged and apply them to reality? You get Bioshock, and a city ironically named Rapture that buries itself beneath the ocean with no sense of community to save it. Money trumps all. Andrew Ryan founded this city for the wealthy, and by god if he's not going to stand by it.
Ryan Industries exists as the face of Rapture, the front for all of Ryan's business ventures. It is, in a sense, the heart of Rapture. From the rampant abuse, the segregation by wealth, assassination, human experimentation, all of it. Ryan Industries is Rapture, and it is a greedy, evil disaster.
In case the satirical influence of Ayn Rand in Bioshock was lost on you, Andrew Ryan was also born in the Russian Empire and anglicized his name to fit in better with American society.
7 The Umbrella Corporation - Resident Evil
Resident Evil 2
Horror Released January 25, 2019 Developer(s) Capcom Platform(s) PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S Powered by Expand CollapseArguably the trope codifier for evil corporations in video games, the Umbrella Corporation from Resident Evil is one of the most despicable entities on this list. Passing themselves off as a benevolent pharmaceutical company, with such charitable ventures as funding an orphanage, this PR-friendly image is actually a front for the corporation's real business: the creation of experimental, bespoke bio-weapons. If you want something dangerous and unethical, Umbrella is the go-to place.
Umbrella's crimes are numerous, from creating a weaponized zombie plague to experimentation on children. If that's not enough, Umbrella operates its own private military force, as well as cutting a deal with the mayor of Raccoon City to turn a blind eye to their shady dealings. Even after the company goes into decline after their destruction of Raccoon City, the aftershocks of their actions continued to ravage the world for many years.
6 Hyperion - Borderlands
Borderlands
Action RPG FPS Released October 20, 2009 Developer(s) Gearbox Software Platform(s) PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC Powered by Expand CollapseThe Borderlands series has no shortage of evil mega-corporations to choose from, but the one that takes the cake is Hyperion, the company run by Borderlands 2 antagonist Handsome Jack. Hyperion is shockingly, almost comically evil, taking over the planet of Pandora with the intention of killing all of its inhabitants and strip-mining it for resources. Hyperion leadership also attempted to access one of the planet's Vaults, something that could have had disastrous consequences, and even went so far as to commit a genocide and torture to pursue their goals.
RelatedBorderlands: Every Playable Character’s Age, Height, And Birthday
Borderlands has had many playable Vault Hunters over the games in its franchise. But does Brick tower over everyone including FL4K -- a literal robot?
PostsEven after Handsome Jack's death at the end of Borderlands 2, Hyperion continues to be a dangerously evil entity. Tales From The Borderlands shows that Hyperion employees are frequently "let go", by way of being thrown out of airlocks, while the upper management engages in often fatal fights to prove themselves as the true successors to Handsome Jack's legacy. They also greet each other by shooting people with finger guns. Urgh.
5 Abstergo Industries - Assassin's Creed
Assassin's Creed
Open-World Stealth Action Released November 14, 2007 Developer(s) Ubisoft Montreal Platform(s) PC, PS3, Xbox 360 Powered by Expand CollapseDespite the fact that the majority of any game in the Assassin's Creed series will take place in the distant past, the game's modern framing device does star its own evil megacorporation; Abstergo Industries. The company (which has many different branches, including Abstergo Entertainment) is actually a front for the Templars, a fascist order that dates back to before the crusades.
Abstergo's various crimes include kidnapping people to harvest their genetic memories, as was done with the initial series protagonist Desmond Miles, as well as operating several paramilitary strike teams, which are used to remove anyone who gets in the way of their goals, with the company controlling the world in secret for many years. Meanwhile, the video games created by Abstergo Entertainment are used as propaganda by the Templars to demonize their Assassin enemies.
4 Vault-Tec - Fallout
Fallout 4
RPG Action 9.3/10 Released November 10, 2015 Developer(s) Bethesda Platform(s) PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S Powered by Expand CollapseWhile the post-apocalyptic setting of Fallout does not contain any corporations by the time the games are set, Vault-tec, which created the vaults in which the majority of humanity survived the nuclear apocalypse, is a textbook example of a corporation profiting off of tragedy. While the Vault-Tec vaults were advertised as being self-sustaining protective shelters from nuclear fallout, in reality, many of them were designed as cruel social experiments.
RelatedFallout: What Is Vault-Tec?
The popular corporation in the Fallout universe has been explored in the games and other types of media. Where did it come from?
PostsOf the 300 or so vaults made by Vault-Tec, only 17 of them were "control" vaults, where the quality of life was how it was advertised; a shelter from the nuclear apocalypse. The rest were incredibly cruel experiments, from one vault allowing radiation to leak in, to another demanding one member of the population be killed every year. What makes all of these especially cruel is that the vaults were never designed to protect anyone, as the US government and Vault-Tec never believed that war would occur. If they had, well, maybe more could have survived.
3 Shinra - Final Fantasy 7
Final Fantasy 7 Remake
Fighting Action Adventure Released April 10, 2020 Developer(s) Square Enix Platform(s) PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4 Powered by Expand CollapseThe Shinra Power Company is one of the more horrifying examples of an evil corporation in video games, mostly because of how mundane their evil actions are. In a game that includes such outlandish elements as giant robots, party members including men with guns for hands and a dog-tiger thing, and swords the size of an average motorcycle, Shinra stands out for how much it seems like something pulled from the real world.
As an energy company, Shinra is responsible for the ruined state of Final Fantasy 7's world, with the company quite literally draining the life out of the planet to provide energy. Shinra also possesses a private army which they use to crush resistance to their plans and goes so far as to use alien DNA to create super soldiers, including the incredibly evil Sephiroth.
2 The UAC - Doom
DOOM Eternal
FPS Action 5.0/5 Released March 20, 2020 Developer(s) id Software Platform(s) Xbox One, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Nintendo Switch Powered by Expand CollapseAnother energy company, the UAC decided that the best way to provide limitless energy for the people of Earth was to go to Mars and build a portal to Hell, drawing energy from there. While the company's motivation for this is pretty good, and the UAC has been portrayed in a positive way in a lot of the Doom games, this portrayal was dropped in the 2016 reboot, where it turns out almost the entire upper management of the corporation has turned to demon worship.
RelatedEvery Doom Game In Chronological Order
Doom is one of the longest-running and most entertaining series in gaming. Here's a look at all the titles in chronological order.
PostsThe UAC's evil actions in this new timeline are wide-ranging and include both mundane and more mystical evils. Some employees are used as sacrifices to summon demons, whilst others are encouraged to sacrifice their souls or get branded with a pentagram to show their loyalty to their new demonic masters. But arguably the company's most evil act is to institute a seven-day workweek; even demon hosts should have the weekend off.
1 Aperture Science - Portal
Portal
Puzzle Released October 10, 2007 Developer(s) Valve Platform(s) PC, PS3, Switch, Xbox 360 Powered by Expand CollapseWhenever a company's founder is described as "eccentric," chances are the company will go down in flames, at least to some degree. Portal's Aperture Science is no exception. Founded by Cave Johnson, the company based most of its experiments on his often... unorthodox ideas. This ended up getting worse after Johnson contracted lead poisoning and grew more eccentric, and Aperture began to hemorrhage money as he indulged in his whims.
But as Aperture's money ran out, the company eventually turned to their own employees as test subjects. This all came to a head when the AI GLaDOS was created; she took control of the company's main research center and slaughtered everyone within, turning it into the world's deadliest escape room. Any remaining employees now had to appease her whims, with the company exchanging one evil boss for another.
RelatedStardew Valley: What Is Joja Corporation?
Joja Corporation has a presence in Stardew Valley that, at times, can threaten the peace. Here's everything you need to know about Joja Corp.
Posts
