6 Most Compelling Villains in Open-World RPGs

Open-world titles have become an incredibly popular genre within the last decade or so, bleeding out from their own niche of titles to find variations across all other gaming worlds. Gritty tactical shooters, epic fantasy titles, survival horror, and even racing games have all found themselves with an open-world counterpart. Regardless of what kind of setting an open-world title would fit into, the narrative is an essential component of what makes many of these games tick.

And what good is a story without a villain? In some games, players can take it upon themselves to be the villain, but in most, players will find themselves clashing against a powerful, villainous antagonist in the story. These open-world RPGs have some incredibly compelling villains in store for the player to try and defeat.

7 Dung Eater – Elden Ring

Evil To His Core And Proud Of It

There are many characters in Elden Ring who could hold the title of the most evil villain in the series. Is Marika evil? Is the Greater Will evil? What about those people who want to set existence on fire, that sounds evil. But all these characters have some kind of justification for their acts, and in the obfuscated storytelling style of Elden Ring, it’s hard to call them compelling unless players have pieced together the 27 items that mention them and chronicle their stories, before deciding for themselves if the character in question is truly evil.

The Loathsome Dung Eater, however, holds none of these caveats. He appears directly before the player, tells them exactly how profane his actions are to both the living and the dead, and wishes for nothing more than the world to experience a level of suffering so intense it changes the paradigm for what is the default state of existence. Dung Eater is a refreshingly and unapologetically evil character – not even his name exempts him from his crimes.

6 Kellogg – Fallout 4

The First Antagonist Players Meet… Besides The Bombs, Maybe

The Fallout series has had some of the most iconic villains in gaming history, each showcasing how the nuclear apocalypse has shaped and warped humanity through centuries of desperation and madness.

Kellogg is not the central antagonist of Fallout 4, but he is a core, driving factor for much of the story, setting the tone for the intrigue and mystery in Fallout 4‘s opening chapters. An apathetic mercenary with a surprising amount of depth that is inextricably tied to the protagonist as their first foil.

5 Gaunter O’Dimm – Witcher 3

A Fan Favorite Maker Of Pacts And Cursed Deals

The Man of Glass is one of the most well-loved villains across all of the Witcher titles – first appearing as a cunning trickster with a penchant for deals, but very quickly revealing himself to be something far more sinister.

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Gaunter’s ability to shape reality, uphold cursed Faustian Pacts, and even pause time at will make him a strong force to be reckoned with, but what makes him so compelling is his deceptively easygoing charm and absolutely stunning voice acting behind him.

4 Dutch Van Der Lin – Red Dead Redemption 2

An Opportunist, Idealist, And Hypocrite

Dutch Van Der Lin has one of the most interesting dynamics with Arthur out of the entire Van Der Lin Gang. He took Arthur under his wing and raised him, but as the Pinkertons continue to hound his gang, Dutch grows increasingly paranoid of all his comrades.

Like a lot of characters that enjoy waxing hypothetical about philosophy while also being kind of terrible (there are a few on this list!), Dutch is functionally a hypocrite. He condemns civilization in favor of the open wilds and individualism his gang enjoys, but his literacy, intellect, and even the well-tailored clothes he wears all come from this society he claims to hate so much.

3 Saburo Arasaka – Cyberpunk 2077

A Man So Powerful He Wants To Conquer Death

Night City has produced some truly evil people within its glossy world. There’s a case to be made that Night City itself is Cyberpunk‘s most compelling villain, but the apathy and entropy of the average citizen – the City’s indifference, rather than its malice – is what gives rise to so many of the genuinely evil people that V comes across.

Saburo is a compelling villain, but is he evil? That depends on V’s perspective, more than anything else, but Saburo’s all-consuming desire to master death, and live forever, is a driving force of the many, many obstacles that occur in the story. Saburo, having reached a level of wealth and power so great it eclipses any other person on earth, puts all his resources towards a singular, terrifying piece of tech that could rewrite how humanity works.

2 Dagoth Ur – Morrowind

A Scorned And Sympathetic God

Systems

Released

May 1, 2002

Developer(s)

Bethesda Game Studios

Candidly speaking, the Tribunal is a bigger villain than Dagoth Ur in Morrowind. Okay, yes, Dagoth Ur released a magical disease that turns people into encephalid zombies, and his cult is functionally a group of disgruntled fascists, but the Tribunal are three vain, traitorous false gods – and they are what catalyze Dagoth Ur as a potent and compelling force of villainy.

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Even towards the late game, Dagoth takes an interesting place in the story by seeing the protagonist as a friend rather than a foe – he knows the Nerevarine in any form, and it’s simply his madness after years within Red Mountain that has turned him into such an overwhelming antagonist towards Tamriel.

1 Caesar – Fallout New Vegas

Deranged And Charismatic – The Ultimate Tyrant

The major factions in Fallout: New Vegas each hold a different future in store for the iconic city and its surrounds. But throughout those magical early hours of the game, the greatest boogeyman of the Wasteland is Caesar’s Legion – a brutal and masochistic wave of thugs and slavers, led by the mysterious, enigmatic, and powerful Caesar.

What makes New Vegas such a wild ride is that, when players finally meet Caesar, he is the ultimate depiction of any demagogue who’s relied on charisma and influence to win over a nation. He really is just some guy, in a chair. Like all tyrants before him, his power comes from a place of myth and poorly grasped philosophy, but he remains a singularly unique and compelling villain within Fallout‘s rich tapestry of antagonists.

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