Most video games feature hostiles who must be dispatched lethally. However, it's hardly sporting to allow players to just kill everyone. Certain genres like RPGs necessitate the presence of friendly Non-Playable-Characters. These characters can give players the tasks required to progress through the main story. These NPCs are often impervious to damage and can't be killed.
However, some players prefer games that allow them to indulge their darkest fantasies. Thankfully, some video game titles give gamers the option to kill whoever they like. They let players kill anybody else in the game - even characters who would normally be allies or essential to the plot.
Updated on January 7th by Isaac Williams: Some games don't try and curtail the player's violence. They give players the option to kill everybody and trust their own judgment to keep them in check. This list has been updated with even more games where the player can kill anybody - or even everybody.
15 Dead Rising
Release Date: August 8, 2006
Capcom's Dead Rising stood out from most of its genre. It took a much more comedic spin on the zombie apocalypse than other dark and gritty video games like Resident Evil. Dead Rising juxtaposed the undead horde in lively and colorful locations like a shopping mall in the first game and a casino in the second.
Players who managed to get through the main campaign in one piece were rewarded with the Sandbox Mode. This allowed them to do whatever they wanted and stay alive for as long as they could. It also turned previously friendly NPCs into hostile enemies. In Sandbox Mode, the player could kill anybody they liked.
14 Until Dawn
Release Date: 25 August, 2015
Until Dawn was likened to a playable slasher movie. Players could take control of eight characters trying to survive the night against supernatural threats. They could make the right choices and avert the usual pitfalls of slasher protagonists. Alternatively, they could lean into the tropes and let the cast die.
Until Dawn lets players decide the fate of every character. Some are easy to kill, and others are immortal until certain points in the game. Nonetheless, by the final scene, players can make sure that nobody makes it through the night. Even the game's friendly wolf can die if the player makes the wrong choice.
13 Ultima VII: The Black Gate
Release Date: April 16, 1992
The Ultima franchise had a particularly dark recurring element. The Armageddon spell was a dark incantation that does exactly what it says it does. When a player cast Armageddon, it killed everyone in the world. Every enemy, plot-important character, and NPC fell dead.
Ultima VII: The Black Gate continued this tradition. When read, it wiped the world clean of life except for the player character and Lord British. British, the in-game avatar of creator Richard Garriott, was meant to be invulnerable. However, Ultima VII included a weapon that could kill him. A player could cast Armageddon to kill everyone else, and then finish the job by hand.
12 Carmageddon
Release Date: June 30, 1997
When Carmageddon was released in 1997, it was known as "the racing game for the chemically imbalanced." Players competed against other AI-controlled racing vehicles that were outfitted with weaponry. They could win the various races by coming in first across the finish line, like most typical racing games.
However, Carmageddon also allowed players to eke out a victory by destroying the other racers on the track. A point system was also introduced for hitting pedestrians. Players could win the race if they managed to hit every available pedestrian. Carmageddon's unique charm came from the fact that players could simply kill everyone instead of racing.
11 Friday The 13th: The Game
Release Date: May 26, 2017
Friday The 13th: The Game was every bit as gory as the films it adapted. It was an asymmetric multiplayer game. Most players controlled camp counselors, but one player stepped into the shoes of Jason Vorhees. Counselors had to escape or kill Jason, both of which required specific actions.
Jason's goals were much simpler. The player controlling him simply had to kill every counselor in their path. Friday the 13th: The Game was rare because it didn't just allow one player to kill everyone else. It required it as part of the gameplay loop. It was replete with bloody and vicious ways for Jason to kill every other character.
10 Hitman
Release Date: November 19, 2000
The Hitman titles gave players a huge area populated with civilians, guards, and a single target. It also gave players almost complete freedom on how to proceed with the mission and make their escape. Going in stealthily and surgically was an option. So was opening fire with an entire armory and butchering everyone.
Hitman heavily encouraged players to stay their hands and spare civilians. Points were even deducted from the results screen if there were innocent casualties. However, Agent 47 had absolute freedom in the game itself. Players could entirely depopulate levels if they were willing to put in the time.
9 The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
Release Date: May 1, 2002
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind was different from later titles. Most games in The Elder Scrolls series had specific NPCs who were immortal. Morrowind, however, allowed players to kill anyone they encountered. However, this came with consequences. Certain characters were required for players to progress in the game's main story.
Once players snuffed them out, they were presented with a message that read, "the thread of prophecy is severed." They were told to either reload the game or continue in a file that could never be completed. Nonetheless, a player who really wanted could kill literally every single person in Morrowind.
8 Twisted Metal
Release Date: November 5, 1995
Twisted Metal was a vehicular combat franchise where players take on the role of several warped contestants with their own flashy mode of transportation. Each character was armed with machine guns and a special attack, while heavier artillery co be found on battle-torn streets.
Matches ended when only one driver was left alive in the arena. Players were not just limited to enemy combatants. Pedestrians, referees, and even mimes were fair game for vehicular mayhem. Anybody existing near a battle in Twisted Mayhem was canon fodder for the drivers.
7 Grand Theft Auto
Release Date: November 28, 1997
The original Grand Theft Auto was a 2D hit that launched a hugely successful franchise from Rockstar Games. GTA V is the most recent entry in the series, which is also one of the best received by fans. Players have the freedom to roam around the open world while playing as three different characters.
GTA V featured an incredible storyline. Several of its missions continued in GTA Online. However, it also provided an endless number of opportunities for mayhem. Players could equip themselves with a well-stocked arsenal and take to the streets to kill civilians. Players could never depopulate the map, but nobody was actually off-limits as a target.
6 Dark Souls
Release Date: September 22, 2011
Dark Souls featured enemies who respawned. It was never possible to actually kill every single entity alive in Lordran. However, the same can't be said of the game's NPCs. In Dark Souls, the world was littered with non-hostile NPCs. These acted as traders and allies. Many of them had storylines the player could explore.
Alternatively, the player could just scythe them down. There were negative consequences for killing NPCs and many could put up a fight. However, the player was fully capable of killing them. A determined enough Dark Souls gamer could rid Lordran of any friendly faces and make it even more desolate.
5 God Of War III
Release Date: March 16, 2010
God of War III was even more violent than the games that came before. Kratos continued his war on Olympus, now alongside the ancient Titans. In previous games, Kratos decides were more restrained. He could be reasoned with and worked alongside. Not so in God of War III, at the peak of his rampage.
Kratos didn't just stop at the deities who actively threatened him. He went as far as to kill the Olympians who made a snide remark, mildly inconvenienced him, or even had the gall to offer him some assistance. By unleashing the horrors of Pandora's Box, Kratos likely succeeded in killing everybody in Greece.
4 Undertale
Release Date: September 15, 2015
Undertale was billed as "the friendly RPG where nobody has to die." It gave players a choice between besting their enemies lethally or conversing with them to appeal to their better nature. These decisions had major ramifications on the game's story and the player's experience.
Players were encouraged to find puzzle-like methods to spare every monster. However, they could just cleave through enemies. Undertale let players kill everybody they came across. In addition, there was a specific route through the game purely for players who went out of their way to kill every monster in the Underground.
3 Saints Row
Release Date: August 29, 2006
The first few Saints Row games from Volition could be easily compared to Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto franchise. However, the series really embraced its more intense and sometimes ridiculous gameplay to distance Saints Row from the competition. The last few Saints Row entries dived into science fiction with an alien invasion and incredible superpowers that upped the carnage.
Players could take out NPCs and civilians in the populated open world while they went to war with other gang members, alien invaders, and superpowered foes. Saints Row 4 even removed any lingering moral questions about committing mass murder by revealing that every human in the game was simply a simulation of an in-game virtual world, making the reckless killing easier.
2 Fallout 2
Release Date: October 29, 1998
Fallout 2 was the pinnacle of freedom in the franchise. Other Fallout games are more restricted in what the player can do. However, the second game has much fewer limits. One particular way the game expresses this freedom is through how much murder the player can commit.
Almost every other Fallout game has essential, immortal characters. Absolutely nobody in Fallout 2 is immortal. It goes even further than Fallout: New Vegas in one notable regard. Even Fallout 2's children can be killed. In almost every other game, children aren't viable as targets for real-world moral reasons.
1 Mortal Kombat
Release Date: October 8, 1992
Mortal Kombat found a very simple way to stand out from other fighting games. It ramped the violence and gore up to extreme levels. The game was far more bloody than its contemporaries. In particular, it was infamous for its "fatalities." These were cutscenes players triggered on a killing blow. They showed particularly vicious ways to dispose of the opposition.
They featured scenes like digitized actors tearing the hearts and spinal cords from their opponents. The game was so bloody that it sparked the creation of the ESRB system. No enemy in the game was immune to this fate. Players could brutally kill any fighter they went up against.