Summary
More often than not, games put the player in the shoes of the hero of the story. This is especially true for action RPGs, in which the player is usually given flashy powers and set against some stereotypical army of darkness. However, not all action RPGs are made the same, and some allow players to shape the story however they like.
There are manychoice-based games where your decisionsmatter; some of these are also action RPGs. In these games, the player can choose to be either a hero or a villain, and it can be a lot of fun playing as the bad guy for once. We’ve compiled a list of some of the best action RPGs with evil routes. To qualify, the games had to have fairly hefty RPG systems and action-oriented combat. We’ve lumped some series, like Mass Effect, together to avoid repetition as one entry.The games are ranked according to aggregate review scores and their reception upon release.
Vampyrmakes this list based more on the strength of its choice-based storytelling than the quality of its action combat. While the game’s combat and exploration weren’t necessarily bad, they also weren’t the stars of the show.
Instead,Vampyrwas all about making the player feel like a morally conflicted vampire. Everything aboutVampyr’sgameplay and systems was centered around that goal. For example, in most RPGs, players level up by gaining experience, but inVampyr, the best way to become powerful is by feeding on important NPCs. The player is encouraged to build up bonds with quest givers to build up the value of their blood before feeding on them. The more bloodthirsty the player is, the more powerful they become, but they doom London in the process. By the time the player has earned the most evil/worst ending inVampyr, Jonathan has become one ofthe scariest vampires in video games.
Much likeVampyr,Vampire: The Masquerade’schoices revolve around either embracing one’s vampiric nature or trying to retain some semblance of humanity.The more civilians the player fed on, the more evil powers like Dominate or Dementation they used, the lower their humanity became.
Alongside these gameplay-based decisions, the player was also encouraged to make difficult story-related decisions. Making calls like joining the evil Sabbat or supporting the villainous Prince LaCroix certainly counts as going down the evil route. On the other hand, a “good” playthrough saw the player adhering to the Masquerade and choosing to protect humans rather than using them as cattle. It’s decisions like these that makeVampire: The Masqueradeone of the best games with a vampire protagonist.
The Outer Worldsmight be an FPS, but when it comes to storytelling, it’s an old-school Obsidian RPG full of moral choices. In fact, it’s hard to think of another action RPG with quite so many choices to make. Whereas a “good” playthrough is all about taking on the Galaxy’s most evil corporations, an evil playthrough sees the player becoming the ultimate corporate shill in one ofthe best evil endings in RPGs.
Besides siding with The Board, the player can be almost comically evil. Most NPCs can be freely murdered at any time, and, in an evil playthrough, the player can happily kill those who trust them for personal gain. Who cares about the rest of the galaxy when you’re able to live as a wealthy Byzantium elite?
As a classic Bioware series, theDragon Agegames give the player countless opportunities to be either good or evil. While the games occasionally try to make major decisions appear morally gray, decisions like handing Isabella over to the Qunari or giving Fenris over to his master, Danarius, are clearly evil.While the games may have started out as slightly less action-oriented, later entries have thoroughly embraced action RPG combat.
The coolest part of making decisions inDragon Ageis that the big ones roll over to later games. By consistently making these evil choices, players can create a version of the Dragon Age world where their protagonist leaves a trail of betrayal, destruction, and moral compromise across Thedas. This doesn’t just meanthe Dragon Age games are immensely replayable, it makes them some of the best action RPGs for evil playthroughs.
TheFableseries looked dead for a while, but 2025 is set to be a good year for fans of the series. It might be true that some entries in the franchise were better than others, but few other action RPGs encourage player choice to the extent that the Fable games did. Players can shape their character’s path by performing “evil” deeds like theft and murder and by making evil choices during quests. They were even judged over their choice of food, like chowing down on crunchy chicks over tofu.
One of the best parts was how these kinds of decisions impacted the player’s character physically. Taking an evil path would lead to the player growing horns, becoming paler, and getting glowing red eyes. NPCs also reacted to the player’s decisions, with shopkeepers shunning evil players from their stores and villagers simply refusing to converse. It’ll be interesting to see what an evil route looks like in the new Fable when it releases; choice-based games have come a long way since 2010.
The Witcherseries has always been a little more subtle when it comes to making moral decisions. Its world is morally gray, and Geralt likes to paint himself as an impartial bystander rather than a hero. This being said, there are plenty of decisions inThe Witcher 3that can easily be characterized as evil. For example, betraying Roche to Djikstra, killing Keira, and manipulating the Red Baron into hanging himself are all pretty evil.
In the games' massive overarching story, the consequences of these kinds of decisions can range from small to massive, but they do tend to snowball. Making selfish or “evil” decisions tends to undermine Geralt’s relationship with Ciri. Making a series of bad decisions leads to her death in the game’s finale. Outside of Ciri, being a not-very-nice guy can come with other unexpected repercussions for Geralt (cheating on Yennefer and Triss is a bad idea). This all being said, one of the best things aboutThe Witchergames is their morally ambiguous nature. It’s not always clear which choices are good or evil, and sometimes the games are as likely to reward the player for making an evil choice as it is to punish them for trying to do the right thing.
TheFalloutgames started out as turn-based RPGs, but ever sinceFallout 3,the franchise has featured FPS combat and increasingly action-oriented gameplay. The series has never shed its decision-based RPG roots, however, and all the modern games offer the player plenty of chances to be evil. BothFallout 3andNew Vegashave karma systems that keep a tally of the player’s actions and reward them with certain perks and NPC interactions depending on how they play.
Which game has the most evil route is up for debate.Fallout 4is arguably the most morally gray and its endings/ decisions are largely a matter of perspective.Fallout 3, on the other hand, lets the player be an absolute menace. They could side with the fascist Enclave, blow up Megaton for caps (or simply the giggles), and deprive the Capital Wasteland of clean drinking water. Meanwhile, inFallout: New Vegasplayers can make evil decisions like joining the Casear’s slave-owning regime (and even enslaving their own companions) or wiping out other factions to make themselves the Mojave’s dictator.Fallout 4might not havethe franchise’s best story,but even it lets them track down and murder their own son.
One of the most famous aspects of theMass Effectseries is easily its Paragon vs. Renegade system. Playing as a Paragon typically meant making morally “good” decisions and treating others with respect. Conversely, being a rude jerk and making more brutal decisions earned Renegade points. Being either Renegade or Paragon unlocked different skills, changed Sheperd’s appearance inMass Effect 2,and came with massive story ramifications.
Technically, Sheperd is never really “evil” since even in Renegade playthroughs, the player is still trying to save the universe. Still, being a Renegade often feels evil, seeing as the player could do things like doom an entire species to extinction and get the crew of their ship killed.Sadly, the series dropped the ball withMass Effect 3’sending, which boiled all these moral decisions down to a simple, underwhelming choice.
In true Bethesda fashion,Skyrimempowers the player to be pretty evil. While the main quest doesn’t necessarily have an “evil route”, plenty of side quests do. Most famously, the Dark Brotherhood quest line sees the player become a ruthless assassin who works for the Night Mother.
Likewise, the Dawnguard DLC made players choose between becoming a blood-thirsty vampire or a vampire hunter, with the former feeling pretty evil. Other quests have the player making demonic pacts with Daedra and even sacrificing loyal companions. Much like withFallout, the player is also free to just be a massive jerk and can murder non-vital NPCs at will, betray friends and generally be a pain in the butt.
When it comes toopen-world games that embrace freedom,Elden Ringis hard to beat. Its status as one of the best action RPGs ever made is also beyond doubt at this point. What fewer people talk about, however, is how downright evilElden Ringlets the player be. Like theDark Soulsgames that came before it,Elden Ringhas plenty of endings to unlock, with some of them being pretty evil.
Take, for example, the Loathsome Dung Eater quest line, which is just as evil as it sounds.That one ends with the world being taken over by an evil curse. Similarly, the Lord of the Frenzied Flame ending sees the player betraying Melina and burning the entire world to a crisp. Outside the endings,Elden Ringhas plenty of other evil opportunities. The player can be a murder hobo who travels the world killing friendly NPCs, and several quests give the player the opportunity to betray friends, sometimes for no personal gain. The worlds in FromSoftware’s games are always bleak, but the developer always makes sure the player can make them even darker.
