10 Best Video Games With An Unseen Enemy
True villains live in shadows and sequels.
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00:00 Now, while most video games amount to more than just their story or characters, there's
00:04 no denying that every game needs a compelling, memorable villain in order to achieve true
00:09 greatness.
00:10 But sometimes developers opt to play their cards rather close to their chest, choosing
00:13 not to reveal the true villain until late in the game, or perhaps even in the bloody
00:17 sequel, and feeding the player a second-tier antagonist in the interim.
00:22 Sometimes we might hear about these villains in an earlier game, or maybe their later reveal
00:25 slots neatly into the existing continuity, but either way, we now know that these antagonists
00:29 were doing their big bad guy thing all along.
00:32 So let's have a look at them as I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com, and these are the
00:35 10 Best Video Games With An Unseen Enemy.
00:38 10.
00:39 Resident Evil
00:40 The original Resident Evil's big twist is that fellow S.T.A.R.S.
00:43 team member Albert Wesker is a double agent working in league with the Umbrella Corporation,
00:48 helping them to test their various grotesque experiments out on his own teammates.
00:52 However, Umbrella itself remains a relatively shady outfit throughout the game and the next
00:57 few sequels, with the organisation's higher-ups kept firmly in the shadows.
01:01 The man at the top is Oswell E. Spencer, the co-founder of Umbrella who is briefly mentioned
01:06 in the original game's files, but who didn't make an appearance until well over a decade
01:10 later in Resident Evil The Umbrella Chronicles, and more significantly, Resident Evil 5.
01:15 Spencer is the megalomaniac ultimately responsible for the events that set the series in motion,
01:20 including even the creation of Wesker himself, and is eventually killed by Wesker in Resident
01:24 Evil 5. And yet, Oswell is a rarity in the franchise given that he never has any sort
01:29 of direct interaction with any of the heroes or playable characters, nor does he ever appear
01:33 as a boss.
01:34 Though the recent Resident Evil Village went on to reveal that Mother Miranda was the one
01:38 who taught Spencer about virology and inspired him to create Umbrella, Oswell is unique to
01:42 the series in being known about since the very beginning, but rarely seen in action.
01:47 9.
01:48 Crash Bandicoot
01:49 Though Dr. Neo Cortex is, of course, the main villain of the first two Crash Bandicoot games,
01:54 the sequel Crash Bandicoot Warped reveals that there has actually been a puppet master
01:57 pulling the strings behind him all along. Enter Uka Uka, a voodoo mask spirit and evil
02:03 twin brother of the benevolent witch doctor Aku Aku. Crash 3 sets Uka Uka free from his
02:08 underground prison, where he reveals that he's basically the Thanos-like big bad of
02:12 the entire series, and has effectively been using Cortex as a pawn to do his bidding.
02:17 While Uka Uka's insertion into the franchise is an undeniable retcon given the lack of
02:22 clues to his existence in either of the first two Crash games, he's certainly more imposing
02:26 and palpable a threat than the rather goofy Cortex, much as we love him.
02:31 8. Baldur's Gate
02:32 Though Baal is a name well-known by Baldur's Gate fans, the violent god is a quintessential
02:37 shadow villain who is responsible for setting the series' plot in motion, despite being
02:41 totally absent on account of being dead and all. The Baal Spawn saga, comprising the first
02:47 two games and their respective expansions, is concerned with Baal's mortal-like children,
02:52 aka the Baal Spawn, each of whom houses a fragment of his divine essence. His post-humours
02:58 plan for resurrection involves having each of the Spawn be killed, releasing their essence
03:02 back into the world and allowing him to be brought back to life through a ritual. Aside
03:06 from some very brief glimpses of him, he's been a quintessential unseen enemy throughout
03:10 the Baal Spawn saga, totally pivotal in the machinations of the story and yet nowhere
03:15 to be seen for pretty understandable reasons.
03:18 7. Doom
03:19 Though Olivia Pierce is the villain of the Doom 2016 reboot, and the Kahn-maker is the
03:24 primary antagonist of the sequel, Doom Eternal, ultimately both ended up making a pact with
03:29 the series' real big bad, who was only revealed in Eternal's two-part DLC campaign, The
03:34 Ancient Gods. There we finally meet the one behind everything, the Dark Lord himself,
03:39 aka Davoth, the supreme ruler of Hell who made a pact with Pierce to open portals to
03:44 Hell on Mars, and granted the Kahn-maker enormous power in exchange for more worlds to enslave.
03:50 Davoth eventually reveals that he created the multiverse and everything in it, including
03:54 Earth, Mars, Hell, and so on, and also bears a notable physical resemblance to the Doom
03:59 Slayer himself.
04:00 But the most curious thing about the Dark Lord reveal is that, considering Eternal confirms
04:04 that we're playing as the same Doom Slayer from the original games, that makes the Dark
04:08 Lord the overarching antagonist of not just this reboot franchise, but the entire series
04:13 dating back to its 1993 debut. With the Dark Lord killed at the end of The Ancient Gods,
04:18 it'll be interesting to see where things go from here.
04:21 6. Mortal Kombat
04:23 Keeping track of the Mortal Kombat franchise sure isn't easy, especially with the number
04:27 of unseen villains who have later been confirmed to have just been hanging around in the periphery.
04:32 In the series' earlier entries, though, it's fair to say that Shao Kahn was the pervading
04:36 big bad, yet the Emperor of Outworld didn't appear in the original 1992 game, with Shang
04:41 Tsung instead having served as the first Mortal Kombat villain, who if victorious in one more
04:46 Mortal Kombat tournament would be able to take control of Earthrealm. Mortal Kombat
04:50 2 introduces Shao Kahn as the true main villain, while basically demoting Shang Tsung to lackey
04:56 status, and ever since, Kahn has maintained a reputation as one of the fiercest recurring
05:00 bosses throughout the series.
05:02 Mortal Kombat has admittedly pulled this bait and switch a few times, what with the subsequent
05:06 introductions of the One Being, the all-powerful creator of the realms, and Kronika, the ancient
05:10 deity predating all others who control the universe's timeline. These villains were
05:15 all canonically around during the events of the original game, but in Kronika's case,
05:19 she didn't reveal herself until the most recent game in the series, Mortal Kombat 11.
05:23 5. Bully
05:25 Though the card-carrying antagonist of Rockstar's Bully is the sociopathic asshole Gary Smith,
05:30 there's a subtle but vital sentiment throughout the game that shifts the blame towards the
05:34 parents of Gary and other bullies like him. After all, bullies are more often than not
05:39 the product of a rough, potentially abusive upbringing, and according to nerd Donald Anderson,
05:44 Gary's dad was kicked out of Bullworth Academy himself and later went to prison. As such,
05:48 it's little surprise that Gary is such an unstable young man with crazed designs to
05:52 take over Bullworth.
05:54 This isn't the only example of unseen parents being held responsible for their kids' behaviour,
05:58 though. Derby Harrington, the obnoxious leader of the snobby Preppy's clique, is emboldened
06:02 to act out with impunity by his father's status, being both enormously wealthy and
06:07 a major Bullworth backer. We never see Gary or Derby's fathers, but it's clear that
06:11 in different ways they're systematically responsible for the anarchy at this school.
06:16 4. Dark Souls
06:17 Though there's some degree of debate over who the true overarching villain of the Souls
06:21 series is, there's a solid argument to be made that it's Manus, the father of the
06:25 Abyss, who makes an appearance in Dark Souls' Artorias of the Abyss DLC. Given the series'
06:31 generally vague approach to lore and worldbuilding, fans may not have expected to meet the party
06:35 responsible for creating the never-ending expanse of darkness known as the Abyss that
06:39 threatens to destroy the world throughout. But Artorias of the Abyss takes place 100
06:43 years in the past, where players face off against and defeat Manus. And so, even with
06:48 Manus being dead long before the mainline events of the Dark Souls games, the Abyss
06:52 he created continues to pervade, ensuring he had a potent, terrifying legacy far beyond
06:58 his demise.
06:59 3. Metal Gear Solid
07:01 Trying to make head or tail of the Metal Gear Solid franchise's twisty lore is admittedly
07:05 a surefire way to give yourself a massive cluster headache, but there are few shadow
07:10 organisations in gaming more iconic than the Patriots. The original Metal Gear Solid makes
07:15 no mention of the Patriots at all, which are then revealed in the second game to be a covert
07:19 organisation who secretly control the United States and have basically been behind every
07:23 major event in the series. The sequels and prequels only further expanded the Patriots'
07:28 influence, was formed way back in the 1970s in an attempt to influence world events for
07:33 the better. In-fighting led to Big Boss and Eva leaving, while Zero became the de facto
07:38 leader, and ultimately developed AI iterations of the Patriots to follow his command after
07:42 his death. Typically though, the AI versions deviated from his plans and had their own
07:47 designs on the future of humanity, including censoring digital information and manipulating
07:51 global warfare for their own gain. Ultimately, Solid Snake was able to bring the Patriots
07:55 down at the end of Metal Gear Solid 4, Guns of the Patriots, but to anyone playing the
07:59 original MGS back in 1998, you'd never have guessed what Hideo Kojima was cooking up in
08:04 the periphery.
08:05 2. Dead Space
08:07 The Dead Space games are of course best remembered for players battling the grotesque mutated
08:11 creatures known as the Necromorphs, humans which have been driven insane and transformed
08:16 by the mysterious extraterrestrial objects known as the Markers. It isn't until Dead
08:20 Space 3 that we learn the truth behind the creation of the Markers, and therefore the
08:24 Necromorphs, that they're part of a reproductive cycle of the Brethren Moons, gigantic, space-faring
08:29 creatures which represent the final stage in a Necromorph's evolution.
08:34 Long story short, the Brethren Moons will seed a suitable planet with Markers intended
08:38 to turn the local population into Necromorphs. When enough conversion has been achieved,
08:42 a convergence event will be triggered that amasses all of the Necromorphs in the area
08:46 to form a new Brethren Moon. The game's Awaken DLC ended with the Brethren Moons launching
08:51 a full-on attack on Earth, and fans have been left hanging ever since. Given that the next
08:55 game in the series is a remake of the original, though, there's no guarantee that this thread
08:59 will ever be picked up on again.
09:01 Now before I reveal our number one pick today, if you haven't played Horizon Forbidden
09:05 West yet, major spoilers will follow.
09:10 1. Horizon Zero Dawn
09:15 Horizon Zero Dawn is primarily concerned with protagonist Aloy discovering both her own
09:20 past and that of Earth as a whole. At game's end, we learn that an unknown force sent a
09:24 signal to activate Hades, a dormant AI subsystem intended to act as an extinction failsafe
09:30 in the event that the Earth-restoring Zero Dawn project was a failure. Though Hades is
09:34 in effect the main villain of the first game, it's clear that something else is out there
09:37 pulling the strings, the identity of which is finally revealed at the very end of the
09:41 recent sequel, Horizon Forbidden West.
09:44 Aloy eventually learns that the signal was sent by Nemesis, a shadowy evil AI that's
09:49 determined to kill the Far Zenith, and is additionally en route to destroy Earth. Forbidden
09:54 West leaves things up in the air for the inevitable threequel, which will presumably see Aloy
09:58 and company face off against Nemesis in an all-out battle for Earth. Nice.
10:04 And there we go, my friends, those were the 10 best video games with an unseen enemy.
10:07 I hope you enjoyed that, and please let me know what you thought about it down in the
10:10 comments section below. As always, I've been Jules, you can go follow me over on Twitter
10:13 @RetroJWithAZero, or you can swing by Liv and Letz Dice, where I do all of my streaming
10:18 outside of work, and it'd be great to see you over there. But before I go, I just want
10:21 to say one thing. Hope you treat yourself well with love and respect, my friend, because
10:24 you deserve all of the best things in life, and do not let anything or anyone else tell
10:28 you otherwise, alright? You're a massive ledge, and I can't wait to go out there and
10:31 smash it today. As always, I've been Jules, you have been awesome, never forget that,
10:35 and I'll speak to you soon. Bye.