The Biggest Betrayals in Gaming

If there's one thing that makes a story much better and more enjoyable to follow, it's a good plot twist. And what could be a better plot twist than betrayal? Perhaps the death of an important ally? Perhaps the betrayal of an important companion followed by death? Perhaps your important ally is betraying and trying to kill you? Whatever it is, a good betrayal adds a different flavor to the plot.

Being deceived by an ally you already suspect will do something wrong is one thing. You keep an eye on the character. Never let your guard down around them, and when they reveal themselves as a 'rat', you just say, "I knew it". Now, when the betrayal comes from someone you‘d never expect, you feel the ground crumble beneath you and don't even know how to continue playing. Whether because you lost your best character, equipment, or were simply caught off guard in such a big way that you need time to recover.

Whatever the case, these ten moments of betrayal in games have left many marks on many players and are remembered to this day. Let's look at some of these great moments of betrayal, and if you have any questions, just leave a comment.

For those who haven't played Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening, meeting the apostate mage and Grey Warden Anders in Dragon Age 2 is a novelty, and his actions and personality are those we see on screen. But, if you knew him before, you knew him before he joined the spirit Justice, and you knew a mage who, despite being broken, tortured, and having lost great friends at the hands of the Templars, could still be called 'good'.

A good-humored young wizard who loves cats. Influenced by a spirit that was corrupted and getting corrupted himself by growing anger and remorse, he transformed the 'essence' of Justice into pure Vengeance. And this leads him to betray us. Not when he blows up the entire Kirkwall Chantry. Not when he tricks us into invading the Chantry under the guise of finding a friend to 'plant the bomb' that he’d detonate at the end of the adventure. He betrays us when he lets the pain consume him and does everything he does, changing the entire world afterward, as we see in Dragon Age Inquisition (and as we unfortunately don't see in Veilguard because practically nothing we did before has any influence).

The story of Double Dragon is about brothers Billy and Jimmy Lee who go to rescue Marian, the girlfriend, who was kidnapped at the beginning of the game. You and your brother go through various stages, defeat villains and henchmen of all kinds, use chains, boxes, batons and all sorts of bladed weapons to save the girl, reach the great villain Machine Gun Willy and defeat him. But who would’ve guessed that your greatest enemy would be your brother and a broken heart?

In two-player mode, after defeating Willy, Billy and Jimmy start fighting amongst themselves, and the winner gets Marian. Of course, this is just a way for the game to decide who would receive the damsel in distress's "Thank you" kiss at the end. But, narratively speaking, your brother, who fought alongside you to save your girlfriend, out of the blue, starts fighting you, and she goes and kisses him just because he defeated you—that's a tremendous betrayal. Over time, the story became that Marian was just a friend of the Lee brothers, but we'll never forget what really happened.

When you thought you'd escaped the sadistic tests of the GLaDOS AI in Portal 1 and woke up in a nice, cozy apartment, you felt a pang of relief and happiness, until someone knocked on the door—it was Wheatley talking to you about how it wasn't all over. On the contrary, things were about to get even worse. So, you and the spherical AI fight to escape the Aperture Science test complex after accidentally awakening GLaDOS once again.

Underestimated for his inferior abilities and cowardice, Wheatley is a small, talkative metal ball that offers hints and helps unlock doors. Despite this, together—you, Wheatley, and your Portal Gun—you manage to trap the sadistic AI inside a potato, and everything ends well, right? Wrong!

Wheatley is worse than GLaDOS: intoxicated by the power of being connected to the mainframe and furious at being treated like an idiot AI his whole life, he betrays you both, keeping Chell in the testing ground. Now, you and the potato GLaDOS will need to team up to survive an arrogant, insecure, and powerful AI.

An interesting thing about him is that an identical core makes a small appearance in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim under the name Space Core. You find it near Whiterun and, with the right ingredients, you can transform it into a helmet!

Today everyone knows that Albert Wesker, from Resident Evil, is a major villain and traitor to the S.T.A.R.S. team, but back in 1996, when the game was released, this was a big surprise. Captain Wesker seems like a good commander at first glance. Whether playing as Chris or Jill, you were happy to have him as the leader of Alpha Team to help you escape the ferocious dogs and zombies. Every time he appeared, it was a relief. "Hey, thanks for saving me here, boss!" That's what you thought.

But he only helps until he reveals that he's a double agent working for the evil Umbrella Corporation and that he lured you to the Spencer mansion to use you as a guinea pig. Over the years, he has become increasingly treacherous, having undergone various types of genetic alterations and gaining ever greater abilities to confront those who want to end Umbrella and its experiments. And you thought your boss was a nice guy.

Mercer Frey, the leader of the Thieves Guild in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, is a big… bandit. Everything that's going wrong in the guild—all the failed heists, all the problems—is solely his fault and the fault of his greed. Initially, he betrayed the goddess of thieves, Nocturnal, by stealing the Skeleton Key, a type of infinite lockpick that opens any lock, at any difficulty, without breaking.

He betrayed the guild by stealing all the treasure from the vault, doing something that seemed impossible to them: opening a lock that required two keys. Of course, with the goddess's own key, anything was possible. He also tried to steal the Eyes of the Falmer, two enormous jewels worth 2,500 gold coins each.

And, if all that wasn't enough, he even tried to kill you twice: once to frame his former companion in the group of thieves known as the Nightingales, Karliah, and the other by drowning you when he steals the Eyes of the Falmer. All the Fus Ro Dah he takes isn’t enough!

This is one of those betrayals you deserved and should’ve seen coming. In the case of Iron Bull in Dragon Age Inquisition, the betrayal is a consequence of his actions. During the game, the Inquisitor needs to gather allies to confront the evil that is the corrupted Magister, Corypheus, who’s threatening everyone by opening breaches between the real world and the Veil, the spirit world. And, at a certain point, the Qun—a kind of reclusive people with strict rules, of which Iron Bull is a part—will offer help.

But the price for this is protecting their gunpowder-laden ships, which are being attacked by the Venatori; to do this, you have to sacrifice the Bravos, Iron Bull's group of mercenaries and friends. If you choose to do this, they die, and Iron Bull becomes entirely loyal to Qun. If not, the ships are lost, he’s expelled from Qun and remains loyal to you and the Bravos.

In the Trespasser DLC, we face some Qun agents who are searching for the secrets of the Eluvian mirrors while hunting the elf Solas. And there you have it: if you made Iron Bull loyal to Qun, he’ll be loyal to Qun and attack you. And, as a strong character for you to use in your party, it's very likely that he has excellent equipment, right? If he betrays you, on top of everything else, you'll be left with one less character in your group.

There are clear signs of "betrayal" on Big Smoke's part in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, right after he unsuccessfully tries to pressure the gang into selling hard drugs. Rival gangs gained power and wealth afterward, but Sweet isn't interested in putting other members and the community at risk just to boost his reputation. Selling hard drugs is a line he doesn't want to cross.

But, of course, that didn't stop Big Smoke, as we later find out. Acting behind the gang's back and working in tandem with rivals to sell drugs, Big Smoke publicly acts as if he's actively trying to keep the streets clean and build a positive public image, all while being protected by the police.

When you find out, your final mission in this GTA is the protagonist CJ's confrontation with Big Smoke, who doesn't regret any of his actions and openly admits to betraying the gang to get rich. Even knowing everything he did and the evil he causes, it still hurts to see that CJ had to kill a long-time friend.

Throughout much of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, the Jedi Bastila Shan is one of your main allies. She fights alongside you and is one of the most important characters in the adventure thanks to her Battle Meditation ability, a Force power capable of influencing entire battles.

As the story progresses, she also becomes one of the protagonist's closest associates. She's annoying at first, criticizing everything you do because it's not the "right Jedi way", and can be a romantic option for a male character, becoming extremely important to you.

But everything changes when she sacrifices herself to allow the Ebon Hawk crew to escape during the events on the Leviathan ship. Captured by Darth Malak, Bastila is subjected to weeks of physical and psychological torture. Little by little, her pride, her anger, and her doubts are exploited by the Sith Lord until she finally succumbs to the Dark Side of the Force.

And the worst part is that she doesn't seem to be controlled. Bastila believes she has finally seen the truth and tries to convince you to abandon everything you fought for to rule the galaxy alongside her.

Depending on the player's choices, Bastila can be brought back to the Light Side or remain with the Sith until the end of the story. But regardless of the path chosen, the moment she emerges as Malak's apprentice remains one of the biggest shocks in Knights of the Old Republic.

A Way Out is a game about trust, designed to be played in pairs with a second player, either in local split-screen co-op or online. The game can even be played alone, but it literally loses half its charm. You and your partner are two prisoners planning a jailbreak to escape the police who are chasing you when you finally get out. The game requires coordination and cooperation to solve puzzles, while the trust between Vincent and Leo grows.

But, towards the end of the game, an unexpected plot twist occurs: Vincent reveals himself to be an undercover police officer posing as a criminal, who infiltrated the prison specifically to gain Leo's trust and dismantle a scheme by the game's true villain. The revelation is painful for Leo, who has learned to trust his cellmate. For us, the players, who’ve followed the two throughout the game, having to choose between killing one or the other is heartbreaking.

Micah Bell has always stood out as the most selfish, violent, and unpredictable member of the Van der Linde gang in Red Dead Redemption 2, but that doesn't make his betrayal any less impactful. Although almost all the gang members distrust him from the start, Dutch insists on trusting their opinions and keeps him close. Over time, we discover that the others' fears were correct: Micah collaborated with the Pinkerton Detective Agency and helped accelerate the gang's downfall from within.

Throughout the adventure, Micah prioritizes his own interests above any friendship or loyalty, manipulating Dutch and contributing to decisions that lead to the deaths of several group members. In the story's conclusion, he becomes Arthur Morgan's main enemy, abandoning any pretense of camaraderie.

Depending on the player's choices, Micah can simply let Arthur die or directly participate in his death. In the end, the man who was a walking warning sign from the beginning gets what he deserves years later, when John Marston finally settles the score with him.