General Shepherd’s betrayal was one of the most iconic scenes from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. His friend to villain arc in the game, which is currently being remastered, added interest to the story and surprised players. These friend to villain twists make games more emotional and can lead to iconic moments.
Fans tend to love these dynamics because it keeps them on their toes in deciding who they can trust. It also leads to more investment in the story and raises the stakes. These friend to villain characters do just that.
Micah Bell
Micah Bell was never a likable character in Red Dead Redemption and members of Dutch’s crew found him aggressive. Throughout the first part of the game, he helps the crew on their missions, serving as a hitman. However, finding out he was an informant for the Pinkertons revealed him as the villain.
Players have been vocal in their hatred of Micah and that is not a bad thing. To have a character that is universally hated not for bad writing but instead for their actions shows that players are invested in the story. This is something the writers of RDR are great at. By being an unlikable character when the twist happens, the response is even more emotional, making the players have the same feeling of betrayal that the characters do.
Liu Kang
Liu Kang is seen as a moral character in Mortal Kombat. However, he becomes the villain in Mortal Kombat: Deception. Though it is not entirely his fault, he is resurrected without his spirit and kills many innocent people. This changed how fans viewed him.
Much of this arc of Liu Kang’s story was due to the shifts in writing teams while the game was in development. He was always seen as a moral and true to his beliefs kind of character and deciding to take him down the route of becoming an undead murder machine upset many fans. Many saw this as poor writing and were upset that the studio decided to go that route.
Dr. Monty
Introduced in Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, Dr. Monty tells the characters that he’s on their side. He has been behind the scenes sending the characters power-ups and perks of Call of Duty Zombies. However, they soon realize that Dr. Monty planned to betray them and wipe them from existence.
Finding this out in the final map of Black Ops 3 certainly adds a twist. Players did not expect to find out he was the villain and this came as a surprise. The plot to zombies is very complicated but many see Dr. Monty as a well-written villain due to how he hid his true plans until the end.
9S
At the beginning of NieR: Automata, 9S is an optimistic android. He shows how much he cares by sacrificing his memory to save 2B. However, the loss of 2B starts him in a spiral into becoming an antagonist. This cumulates in a final battle in which players can choose to fight against him leading to his demise.
What makes 9S such a great twist villain is how players feel for him and get to watch as he goes from optimistic to dark. This makes the emotional impact of his destruction more intense. The writing of 9S is well done and many feel for the character, even as he slowly became an antagonist. Many consider 9S the best-written character of the NieR series.
Connor
Connor is an android from Cyberlife Industries in Detroit: Become Human. He serves alongside Detective Anderson and the two form a strong bond. However, player choices can lead to Connor’s betrayal. This can even cause an end to the peaceful android uprising. Some endings go as far as causing the deaths of other main characters.
This betrayal adds twists to the game and all the endings have a strong emotional impact. The way in which Connor starts out as a very one-dimensional character to ending with a wide variety of motives and understandings of the world is one of the reasons Detroit: Become Human is so loved by fans and why Connor is seen as such a good character.
Vincent Moretti
A Way Out, from the makers of It Takes Two, is an incredible game and Vincent’s ending makes an impact on the story. Leo and Vincent spend a lot of time getting to know each other and working their plan out. Things seem like they are looking up for the two when Leo discovers the truth that Vincent has been an undercover officer the entire time. This leads to a player choice that will decide who gets to live and sends the story out with an emotional impact.
A Way Out has many positive reviews thanks to its story. By waiting to the end to reveal the twist the impact of the revelation is only magnified. Then leaving the gut-wrenching decision of who lives to the player adds weight to the story. This makes for a very memorable game and is why A Way Out is so great.
Cortana
Cortana has been the AI companion to the Master Chief since the first Halo. As he was finishing the fight, she was there by his side. That is why her switch to villain statues caught fans off-guard. Due to rampancy, a condition affecting all AIs in which their systems begin to break down after 7 years, Cortana betrays John 117 and becomes a threat he must deal with.
The twist of Cortana becoming the villain has mixed reactions from fans of the game. Many find it hard to believe that an ally like Cortana would switch sides the way she did. Others blame it on the switch from Bungie to 343 developing the game. Others see the twist as a natural progression of the story and like how it has affected the way the characters interact within the main series.
General Shepherd
General Shepherd is considered an iconic character of Call of Duty. His tough demeanor makes him seem like an average Call of Duty military general at first. However, the twist to reveal he was plotting against Price the entire time makes the story of Modern Warfare 2 that much better. His execution of Ghost and Roach will always be a heart-wrenching scene for fans.
The betrayal of General Shepherd has been seen as one of the best written moments in Call of Duty Modern Warfare and made fans hate the character. The betrayal made players regret ever helping Shepherd and added to the overall story. It changed the formula of good versus bad, adding in gray areas. It also highlighted what makes soldiers good and showed that those who make the ultimate sacrifice will be remembered by history.
Wheatley
Wheatley has gone down in video game history as one of the most iconic characters of the Portal franchise. His clumsy personality made him a very likable companion. This is why when he turns on Chell it is a good twist. Watching him become an evil controller of Aperture Labs makes Portal 2 a great game as well as making players question who they can trust.
Fans of the Portal franchise love Wheatley and the way he became a villain in the story. It added to his character development and that of GLaDOS. Not only do players question Wheatley’s motives but also the motives of GLaDOS, making players feel bad for the AI. Knowing that protocols outside of her control make her act the way she does means that there may be redemption for the villain.
The Traveler
The Traveler has always been a mysterious being in the Destiny universe. It goes from system to system giving its Light to species then leaving them to fight the Darkness. However, humanity has seen it as a being of good. When it was discovered that The Traveler had given its Light to the Hive, the sworn enemy of humanity, the betrayal stung.
Many fans have enjoyed the newest DLC of Destiny because of this twist. It has added an element of morality to the story and makes the player’s connection to the Light more complex. By putting into question the motives of the supposed “good” side, it must be asked what the right path is. This adds depth to a story and makes the player think about the actions taken before and if they were the correct ones.
