Blurred Lines

A cocky demon hunter with supernatural abilities, Dante finds employ as a mercenary, a private investigator, and a vigilante. He dedicates his life to exterminating supernatural foes, and he pursues the malevolent forces who killed his mother and corrupted his brother. His intentions are admirable, but Dante comes across as a nihilistic antihero due to his flippant personality. He arms himself with an arsenal of firearms and melee weapons, but he’s just as likely to attack his opponents with verbal jabs. Dante mouths off to even the most powerful of foes, and he frequently taunts his enemies. Confidence is an admirable trait, but Dante is so laid back that he almost seems disinterested at times. Although he maintains a strong sense of justice and shows discomfort with his own demonic ancestry, his dark side is always looming.

The first Red Dead Redemption focused on a reformed outlaw who had been given a second chance at life, but the sequel follows a hardened criminal who is still an active member of a gang. After he was orphaned at a young age, Arthur Morgan became a loyal member of the Van der Linde gang. As one of the group’s most dedicated enforcers, he engaged in everything from larceny to murder. He doesn’t really enjoy the criminal lifestyle, but he values his personal freedom and has a disdain for modern civilization. During the decline of the American frontier, Arthur’s way of life is threatened by government forces, rival gangs, and other adversaries. Most of his enemies are petty criminals who are way worse than he is, so his actions could be seen as heroic. At the end of the day, however, he’s still a self-loathing murderer.

Thief is exactly what it says on the tin. The aptly-titled game centers around a master thief named Garrett in a medieval steampunk metropolis. Garrett can engage in combat if the situation calls for it, but players are encouraged to think like an actual thief and use stealth, concealment, evasion, and misdirection tactics wherever possible. Garrett was trained by a secret society before he left to pursue a life of thievery, and this makes him a target for assassination. In time, he’s wrapped up in a conflict between the forces of order and chaos. He ultimately prevents a great power from unleashing chaos on the world, but he would have been perfectly content committing simple robberies. The people he steals from are often worse than he is, but he’s almost entirely motivated by profit and he stumbles into a heroic role out of pure happenstance.

The world of animation is filled with antiheroes. Felix the Cat, Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, Woody Woodpecker, and countless other classic cartoon characters are famed for their mischievous personalities. Although Conker could be likened to these characters in many regards, his antics are intended for mature audiences. His language is laced with profanity, he’s a blackout drunk, and he constantly makes inappropriate jokes. He might look like a adorable woodland creature, but he’s not so charming when he’s urinating on his enemies or vomiting on innocent bystanders. To his credit, Conker goes out of his way to save his girlfriend and legitimately tries to be a hero. Conker’s Bad Fur Day ends like it begins, however, and our favorite red squirrel once again stumbles out of a pub in a drunken stupor.

As with Thief and Grand Theft Auto, you can tell a lot about Hitman by its title alone. The game follows the exploits of a contract killer whose services are in high demand among the wealthy and elite. Agent 47 assassinates various targets around the globe, and he has a perfect record. This isn’t overly surprising, considering he was genetically-engineered using DNA from the world’s most dangerous criminals. Agent 47 was literally born to kill, and he does so without remorse. Most of his targets are high-profile criminals themselves, but this doesn’t make the morality of his profession any less ambiguous. Even if he’s contributing to the greater good, he’s just a glorified weapon for the controlling class. He acts like a consummate professional, but his very existence raises all kinds of questions about free will.

Mario’s perennial arch-rival was conceived as a fatter and more obnoxious version of everyone’s favorite plumber. Although Wario was a standard, run-of-the-mill villain during his debut appearance in Super Mario Land 2, he soon branched out and became the star of his own spinoff series. On the surface, his treasure-hunting escapades are not all that different than Mario’s adventures. Wario’s decisions are usually informed by greed and jealousy, however, and his morals are questionable at best. You have to give him credit for being ambitious, and he always sets lofty goals for himself. Still, his behavior is unbecoming of a hero. (You’d never see Mario farting on his enemies, for instance.) Wario is endlessly entertaining, and you genuinely want to root for the guy even though he only wants misery for everyone else.

Max Payne is a renegade DEA agent and former NYPD officer who’s trying to track down the people responsible for killing his wife and child. Since his partner had been framed and murdered, Max was forced to align with seedy characters from the underbelly of society – ranging from Russian gangsters to corrupt politicians. His revenge-fueled sentiments are certainly understandable, but Max slides into depression and devolves into an alcoholic, drug-addicted, cop-killing vigilante. He murders hundreds of henchmen during his crusade, and it’s fair to say that he goes off the deep end. Max wages his own personal war against anyone who stands in his way, but many of the demons he wrestles with are of his own creation. He’s eternally devastated by the loss of his loved ones, and he never manages to escape the anguish.

Any of the protagonists from the Grand Theft Auto series could have been mentioned on this list. The games focus on various individuals as they attempt to rise through the ranks of the criminal underworld, and their daily activities include everything from carjackings to bank heists. Tommy Vercetti from Vice City is being singled out because he was the first lead character in the series who had any real depth. His predecessor from Grand Theft Auto III was a silent protagonist who wasn’t even named, but Tommy was alive with color. He’s an intelligent, temperamental, and self-reliant individual who is prone to violence and bloodshed. These qualities allowed him to establish himself as the crime kingpin of Vice City, and they also created a template for all subsequent GTA protagonists to follow.

Travis Touchdown doesn’t have a lot of prospects. He lives alone in a dingy motel, he has no career aspirations, and he spends his days consuming anime, pro wrestling, and porn. After winning a beam katana in an Internet auction, he becomes a part-time assassin and begins climbing the ladder of success. Travis envisions himself as a total badass, but he’s forced to take menial jobs to pay for his lifestyle. He seems cool when he’s fighting giant robots or riding motorcycles into space, but he’s decidedly less interesting when he’s delivering pizzas. He doesn’t have a great track record with women either, and the only action he gets is from his half-sister and his twin brother’s widow. His high-octane battles sharply contrast the realities of his pathetic life, and this is why No More Heroes works as a deconstruction of the antihero concept.

Kratos is the poster child for antiheroes. The vicious Spartain warrior seems cool when he’s taking on hordes of adversaries, but he’s a sociopathic loser with few redeeming qualities. It seems heroic to avenge your family, and Kratos is literally willing to battle gods in order to achieve this goal. His actions become decidedly less honorable when you realize that he’s the one who killed his wife and child. Moreover, Kratos was responsible for turning the gods evil in the first place. Most of his choices are informed by his daddy issues, and he has the demeanor of an angsty teenager. (He even tries to kill himself at one point.) Ultimately, his achievements on the battlefield are overshadowed by his emo personality. Kratos is the kind of person who blames everyone else for his mistakes, but he’s no better than the villains he opposes.