Honestly, if you don’t have a nemesis in your life, are you even living? Everyone needs people in their lives who bring them joy, but just as much, they also need that special person who creates a burning hatred within their hearts.
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PostsA nemesis can come in many forms, whether be a feud between good versus evil or morally grey versus morally grey. Regardless, the characters usually have hatred for one another, or at least at odds with each other most of the time
Updated September 7th, 2024 by Hilton Webster: While a good character and a strong motivation are enough sometimes, other times you just desperately need someone to give you that extra push, no matter how much you hate them. A nemesis sometimes isn't even a person, but something deeper. A gnawing feeling that eats into you no matter where you are. These are some of our favourites.
10 Wolfenstein Series- B.J. Blazkowicz and Nazis
CloseWolfenstein: The New Order
FPS Stealth Action Adventure Released May 20, 2014 Developer(s) MachineGames Platform(s) PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC Powered by Expand CollapseGames are, whether the words sink in or not, political. A piece of art cannot be made divorced from the people that created it, and Wolfenstein is a great example because it answers a very simple question - what if you could kill Nazis all over again?
For B.J. Blazkowicz, killing Nazis is part of a balanced life. They won the war? Not if he has anything to say about it. B.J. is the prime example that if there's a Nazi out there who claims they've won, it's your duty to make a point out of them. Punch Nazis, of course, but take the B.J. method and go that step further so they never crawl out of the woodwork again.
9 Alan Wake - Alan Wake And The Dark Place
CloseAlan Wake 2
Survival Horror Released October 27, 2023 Developer(s) Remedy Entertainment Platform(s) PC, PS5, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X Powered by Expand CollapseAlan Wake is a writer. He's writing a story that only he knows the end to, but somehow, it's true. All of it is happening right in front of his eyes, twisting the world into a dark vision of what it really is. Alan Wake is a writer, and he's the only one who can save humanity from The Dark Place.
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PostsAlan Wake might fashion himself as the greatest writer whose pen has graced the earth, but he's also trapped in a world of his own creation, beckoned forth from somewhere sinister - The Dark Place. It's a nemesis that's as much a physical presence as it is a metaphorical one. A monstrous reflection of Wake's own interior.
8 Mortal Kombat Series- Sub-Zero and Scorpion
CloseMortal Kombat 1
Fighting Released September 19, 2023 Developer(s) NetherRealm Studios Platform(s) PC, PS5, Switch, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S Powered by Expand CollapseFrom the earliest days of Mortal Kombat, Sub-Zero and Scorpion have been at each other's throats. There's the obvious opposition in their design from the fire and ice, though their bad blood runs even deeper. And it all started from a series of misdirections.
While Scorpion hunts down Sub-Zero to avenge the slaughter of his clan, much of the narrative he was fed was from Quan Chi to keep a wedge between the two clans and keep Scorpion as his own assassin. That hasn't stopped the opposing ninja from finding each other across the universe to continually reignite their eternal feud.
Mortal Kombat 1 does a rather dramatic inversion of this tale, making Sub-Zero and Scorpion brothers.
7 Kingdom Hearts - Kingdom Hearts And The Darkness
CloseKingdom Hearts
Action RPG Released September 17, 2002 Developer(s) Square Enix Platform(s) PS2 Powered by Expand CollapseKingdom Hearts is constantly spoken of in snickering tones, heralded as a prime example of a game that just doesn't know when to stop with the convolution in its storytelling. That may be true, yet such a keen part of Kingdom Hearts is giving into the absurdity and accepting that some of these ideas are, at their core, quite simple.
Kingdom Hearts is the story of the battle between light and dark, or more specifically between Kingdom Hearts and Darkness. While Sora and Xehanort end up being the faces of this struggle, the greater nemeses are those that don't even have a tangible form at all. Kingdom Hearts is light, after all.
6 Dragon Age - Humanity And The Darkspawn
CloseDragon Age
RPG Released November 3, 2009 Developer(s) BioWare Platform(s) Xbox 360, PS3, PC, macOS Powered by Expand CollapseWhat's a greater nemesis to humanity than the herald of its extermination? Dragon Age has many cultures, systems of belief, and borders battled over for menial things. Yet what no one can deny the existence of is the Darkspawn, blighted beings that wish to wipe out everything that lives.
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PostsWhat makes the Darkspawn so terrifying is that they don't have a personal conviction. They destroy because that is what they are. They are the personification of the end. And they are the only thing that can get humanity to unite to preserve their existence.
5 Soul Series - Soul Edge and Soul Calibur
CloseWhile they both appear to be inanimate swords, they are much more than that. Soul Edge was just an ordinary sword, but after being bathed in blood and hatred for numerous years, the sword became an evil entity known as Inferno. Anyone who wields Soul Edge becomes cursed and corrupted.
Soul Edge was eventually conquered by the strong will of King Algol, but when his son wielded the sword he succumbed to its power and died. As revenge, Algol created Soul Calibur to directly combat Soul Edge. The two swords have since been in endless combat with each other, and use different wielders throughout the games.
4 Resident Evil - Everyone And Umbrella
CloseResident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles
Shooter Released November 13, 2007 Developer(s) Capcom, Cavia Platform(s) PS3, Wii Powered by Expand CollapseIt might seem like an exaggeration to say Umbrella is the nemesis of everyone, but when the pharmaceutical company is making literal zombies and modified humans literally called 'Nemesis', it feels a tad more justified. Umbrella is what happens when profit matters more than ethics.
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Posts 1In typical Resident Evil fashion, the viruses Umbrella creates aren't a mistake, it's just a mistake that they escaped. These are weapons of war. Resident Evil has a bunch of different people take on these viruses, from specially-trained Chris Redfield to the rookie cop Leon Kennedy, but when Umbrella can literally nuke a town and get away with it, individuals aren't stopping this.
3 Middle-Earth: Shadow Of Mordor - Talion And The Nemesis System
CloseMiddle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
Action Adventure Released September 30, 2014 Developer(s) Monolith Platform(s) PS3, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Linux, macOS Powered by Expand CollapseThe Middle-Earth games suffer from a terribly unfortunate reality - they are mediocre games trapped within an incredible framework. And how could we write an article on the greatest nemeses in gaming without talking about Middle-Earth's very own nemesis system?
Literally every single Orc can become your own personal rival. It sounds like an exaggeration, but every action you take builds them up. They remember you, how you beat them, how they beat you, how you defeated them, if they ran away, everything. What's a greater nemesis than one you have a personal connection it?
2 Stranger Of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin - Jack And Chaos
CloseStranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin
Action RPG Released March 18, 2022 Developer(s) Team Ninja Platform(s) PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S Powered by Expand CollapseCan you hear it in his own words, in his beautiful cadence? 'Chaos!', he roars, a gruffness in his voice befitting only the one who knows Chaos is his sworn adversary. Jack doesn't fear Chaos. Oh no, Jack doesn't understand fear. Jack hates Chaos, and that's all that matters.
To appreciate Jack's bloodlust for Chaos is the recognise the legacy of Final Fantasy that led to this game's existence. Chaos has been in Final Fantasy from the very beginning, the original antagonist. And there's no one better to take down Chaos than a man as chaotic as Jack Garland.
1 The Legend Of Zelda - Link, Zelda and Ganon
CloseThe Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Action Adventure Released November 20, 2011 Developer(s) Nintendo Platform(s) Wii Powered by Expand CollapseThe Legend of Zelda is one of the oldest and longest-running series in gaming, and that length of existence has transformed the rivalry between Link, Zelda, and Ganon into something that transcends the games they come from. They are rivals for no singular reason, but because they have been so for so long. What existence would they have without each other?
While Skyward Sword ascribed an origin to our legendary trio, it was never necessary. They are the embodiments of Courage, Wisdom, and Power respectively, and that's enough. It's romantic in a sense. No matter what time they exist in, no matter the distance, this trio will find each other. Proof that nemeses don't always have to hate each other.
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