18 Horror Games Where You Play The Villain, Ranked

Not all games follow a hero. Sometimes you're playing as quite the opposite: a villain. You're bad; maybe you're a monster destroying everything or a person with evil ideas. Described as "reverse horror games," it definitely feels like a breath of fresh air in the genre, but the concept isn't totally unique.

14 Best Villains In Horror Games

These characters have earned the fear they instill in us.

Though it's rarely seen in gaming, a few titles have dared to put you in the shoes of an antagonist. From the murderous psychopaths seen in games like Hatred and Manhunt to the madness of shooters like The Darkness and The Last of Us, here are a few horror games in which you assume the role of the villain.

Updated on October 4, 2023, by Dennis Moiseyev: As much as horror games like to put you in the shoes of heroes or just innocent everyday people caught in intense horrifying situations, they also sometimes allow you to take control of the villains in the story. You most often see this in multiplayer games, but sometimes in single-player as well. Below are even more new games that offer this interesting alternative playstyle and perspective.

18 Deceit 2

The sequel to developer World Makers' social deduction multiplayer horror game Deceit puts two players back into the secret villainous roles of the Infected helping out the Game Master. As the name suggests, the rest of the group won't know who to trust and which of them is playing for the other side, but there will be opportunities like in Among Us to vote out the Infected.

The Infected are trying to sabotage your plans of escaping a Ritual being started to sacrifice everyone to the Game Master's associates. It's a darker psychological horror game with FPS mechanics and perfect to play with some friends, as there are up to nine players that can join in.

17 The Amnesia Series

While protagonists like Tasi in Rebirth and Henri Clément in The Bunker don't deserve the harrowing tribulations and torment from the Shadow, Otherworld, and the Orb, some of the other Amnesia protagonists really do. Protagonists like Daniel, Oswald Mandus, and Justine in Dark Descent's DLC are some of the most twisted and evil characters you can play in horror games.

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Although Amnesia: The Bunker may be the most different in the series, it has some similarities with other installments.

Without giving too much away, you'll find out more about the vile atrocities Daniel, Justine, and Oswald have committed the further you get into the narrative. In Justine and Oswald's case, the unbelievably mutilated and grotesque creatures trying to hurt them are of their own depraved doing. That should give you a sense of just how benevolent they are.

16 Resident Evil 4 Remake - Separate Ways DLC

While the main story of Resident Evil 4 has you play agent Leon S. Kennedy on the side of good as he carries out a rescue operation of the president's daughter Ashley from the clutches of Los Iluminados, the Separate Ways DLC puts you in the shoes of Ada Wong during the same events to gain her perspective.

Although not necessarily the true antagonist in the story compared to Salazar and Sadler, especially saving Leon on multiple occasions, she does work for Albert Wesker to help retrieve the sample of Plaga amber for nefarious purposes. The remade version of Separate Ways is a DLC that's every bit as compelling as the actual game, and you'll have even more fun with Ada's gameplay due to her new grapple gun mechanic with takedowns.

15 Carrion

We've seen thousands of pixel art indie platformers and puzzlers over the years, but while it may share a visual style with a litany of other games, Carrion feels utterly unique. You control some sort of amorphous, eldritch abomination and are tasked with causing as much havoc as possible. It's a simple premise, but it's undeniably effective.

Though ripping doors off their hinges and sending scientists flying can be fun, Carrion is best approached as a sort of fast-paced puzzle game. Similar to Mark of the Ninja, you will have to map out their routes ahead of time and make quick decisions.

14 The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

Not only can you be a villain in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, but it comes with the option of playing one of five different family members alongside two other players in a single match. There's, of course, Leatherface, The Cook, The Hitchhiker, and two new members Sissy and Johnny coming to help out the notorious Sawyer family with the terror, all with unique attributes.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre: Every Family Member, Ranked

Who's the strongest member of this cannibalistic family?

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is one of the most iconic slasher film franchises of all time, and it's now received the same asymmetrical multiplayer survival horror treatment by Gun Interactive as the studio's previous Friday the 13th game, except this time it's a 3v4 gameplay design. Like the movies, the ultimate goal is your victims don't make it out alive.

13 Manhunt

Often touted as one of the most grizzly video games of all time, Rockstar's Manhunt was so controversial when it originally debuted that it was banned in several countries. You assume the role of a death row inmate conscripted to take part in the filming of a snuff film at the behest of an unknown party referred to as "The Director."

Though he's not a villain in the strictest sense, Manhunt's player character is certainly no cherub. Known for executing innocents and opponents alike in an utterly brutal and downright sadistic fashion, Manhunt is about as warped as it gets.

12 Dead By Daylight

Initially released on PC in 2016, Dead By Daylight has since taken the multiplayer world by storm and been released on all major consoles, including the Nintendo Switch. An asymmetrical survival horror experience in which four survivors quest to complete a series of tasks and escape from a compound while pursued by one of a number of player-controlled slasher-film horrors, Dead By Daylight plays like the most nerve-wracking game of hide-and-seek imaginable.

Subsequent updates and DLC releases have introduced new and unique locations and monsters, some of the most notable being from established horror series like Silent Hill and Saw. It's only really a reverse horror game for one player. But for horror aficionados, it doesn’t get much better than this!

11 Prototype

Originally released in 2009 for the seventh generation of consoles, Prototype is a superhero story gone wrong. You take the role of Alex Mercer, the subject of some sort of experiment that granted him Venom-esque superpowers. Yet, rather than fight for peace and justice, Mercer razes his city to the ground in a quest to exact revenge against whoever inflicted him with these powers.

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A power fantasy in its purest form, you will have tons of fun terrorizing the city's inhabitants, battling military forces, and using a wide and varied array of abilities to destroy those who dare oppose them.

10 Evolve

One of the first games to be bogged down by what's now referred to as the 'live service' video game monetization model, 2K and Turtle Rock’s Evolve featured an excellent concept that was, unfortunately, doomed by some shoddy business decisions.

One of the first games to truly embrace asymmetrical multiplayer, teams of four were tasked with hunting down one of a number of player-controlled monsters that bore definite influence from Lovecraftian lore. Though the game’s early stages could be tedious, engagements were always frenetic and thrilling, and the game could have been revitalized had the publisher not chosen to pull the plug on it.

9 Hatred

Out of all of the reverse horror games out there, this one is probably the most controversial. In Hatred, you play an unnamed character as he goes on a "genocidal crusade" against mankind. From a top-down perspective, you travel across New York, killing innocent people and any police officers who arrive to stop you.

Released back in the 20-teens, Hatred was developed to be the opposite of what was "politically correct" in games at the time. So instead of a hero doing good things in a colorful, fun world, you play as a purely evil character, killing in a colorless, washed-out world. That said, the game received lackluster reviews from critics, often citing the repetitive or unengaging gameplay. Fun or not, there's no denying that you're playing a villain.