There are some wonderfully captivating heroes to be found in video games. From Nathan Drake to Solid Snake, there's a fantastic mix of heroes who each bring something different to the table. As with most things however, there needs to be balance. For a hero to truly shine, there needs to be an equally compelling villain standing in their way.
Many games opt for a single antagonist with whom the hero wages war and although this has delivered some memorable villains, it doesn't always provide the most believable of stories. After all, there are limits on what one person could realistically achieve - not to mention the ease with which they could be stopped if enough right-minded people were to stand against them.
To get around this problem, many developers instead opt to provide the story's friction through an evil organization. With the wealth and influence to shape the world to their will, these groups provide just as much of a threat whilst being significantly harder to topple.
10 RegnantCorp (SuperEpic: The Entertainment War)
RegnantCorp is an evil organization that enslaves the masses with highly addictive freemium games. It also utilizes aggressive monetization tactics to bleed their customers dry. Sadly, that's a situation that will likely sound all too familiar even to those who have never played SuperEpic. At least RegnantCorp seemingly draws the line at marketing microtransactions to children.
The game's satirical take on the gaming industry really is a sobering one. It's also a sad reminder of how much ground gamers have given up to greedy publishers over the past decade. Unfortunately, the game offers no silver-lining either. In spite of the best efforts of the player, RegnantCorp lives to exploit another day.
9 Aperture Science Incorporated (Portal)
Despite some questionable government contracts during the company's early days, Aperture was always about science and exploration. At least that was before they finished development of their Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System - or GLaDOS, for short. Perhaps predictably, the AI system wasted no time murdering the Aperture team before assuming complete control of the facility.
GLaDOS is fitted with a morality core, meaning that she makes a conscious choice to be evil. She condemns Chell and countless humans before her to seemingly endless testing. After they have served their purpose, they are then disposed of and turned into companion cubes. GLaDOS' behavior and the constant barrage of insults she hurls at Chell clearly show that she's bad to the processor. Wheatley, the only other Aperture creation Chell encounters seems equally deranged.
8 The Chi You Men (Shenmue)
The Chi You Men are involved in all kinds of shady activities. From dealing drugs across Asia to their coveting of historical riches, the criminal cartel has quite the rap sheet. They also have strong links to other criminal organizations and have no problem killing anybody who stands in their way.
Their ultimate aim though seems to be to resurrect the Chinese God of War, Chiyou. Whether or not they will be able to harness Chiyou's powers to widen their sphere of influence is still unclear. Regardless though, it seems safe to assume that Chiyou's return will spell bad news for all of humanity.
7 Wisdom Incorporated (Eve Of Extinction)
Wisdom Inc. is one of the world's foremost bio-genetics companies, focusing on cloning and DNA manipulation. On the surface they appear to be committed to the advancement of humanity. However, beneath lies an insidious plot to create their own private army.
The Legacy project saw Wisdom fusing an ancient metal with the human nervous system to create an army of super-soldiers. They conduct tests on unwilling participants and will seemingly stop at nothing to achieve world domination.
6 Phenotrans Corporation (Dead Rising)
After causing the zombie outbreaks in Las Vegas and Fortune City, Phenotrans set about exploiting the situation for profit. They began selling Zombrex, a drug which greatly slows the transformation into zombies and allows infected people to live relatively normal lives. Unfortunately, like most real world pharmaceutical companies, they didn't sell their drug cheaply.
If that wasn't bad enough, the corporation is actively blocking the creation of a cure in order to continue profiting from treating the infected. In doing so, they're condemning the socially disadvantaged to an unthinkable fate whilst keeping the rest of the population firmly under their metaphorical thumb.
5 Abstergo Industries (Assassin's Creed)
The Templars suffered many hardships during the 12th and 13th centuries before eventually being outlawed by King Philip IV. It seems that the modern day Templars were never able to let this go. As a consequence, the aims and activities of Abstergo are entirely bereft of any of the nobility or honor that was once associated with the Templar order.
Their main aims are to eliminate the Assassins and to further strengthen their influence over the world's population. They've played an active part in many of modern history's major conflicts, and help those they believe will further their cause regardless of morals. Their coveting of the pieces of Eden and willingness to do absolutely anything to obtain them makes Abstergo a danger not just to the Assassins, but to the entire world.
4 Fontaine Futuristics (BioShock)
Experimenting on unwilling humans is despicable enough, but to turn their attention to little girls really is the epitome of evil. That much of the group's work is done in the pursuit of money rather than for scientific advancement perhaps makes their actions even worse.
Frank Fontaine shows himself to be an unstable and unsuitable leader on countless occasions throughout the company's history. That he could even consider setting up orphanages in order to acquire a steady stream of children on which to experiment is bad enough. In actuality going through with it however, he demonstrates a ruthlessness that to most would be absolutely beyond comprehension.
3 Rupture Farms (Oddworld)
The management team at Rupture Farms enslaved an entire species - forcing them to work in their meat processing plants. The vicious Sligs and Slogs serving as the company's slave drivers treat the Mudokons who keep the factories running like dirt. This alone is more than enough to earn the company the title of evil. It gets worse though.
The company's CEO Molluck is ruthless to his core and stands firm in his belief that the Glukkons are superior to all other species. After food sources begin to run low, he therefore decides to process the slaves instead. As Abe and his friends try desperately to escape their grizzly fate, countless Mudokons are gunned down in cold blood.
2 The Shinra Electric Power Company (Final Fantasy)
Shinra makes their money by mining the lifeblood out of the planet. This has directly lead to the destruction of several towns and villages across the planet. It also nearly left the planet too weak to protect itself from meteor, which would have wiped-out humanity completely. They show no regard for residents of Midgar's slums and on several occasions commit mass-murder by dropping huge plates on top of settlements.
Worse still, the company's experiments with Mako and their obsession with reaching the promised land of the Cetra led to the creation and corruption of Sephiroth. Dr. Hojo's experiments and manipulation slowly drove The fallen angel to madness. With this in mind, the blood of Sephiroth's victims is just as much on Shinra's hands as it is his.
1 The Umbrella Corporation (Resident Evil)
Resident Evil's multinational conglomerate spent decades accumulating and experimenting with deadly viruses. Their aim was to facilitate the evolution of the human race, but to say they fell short of this would be the understatement of the century. After an incident at one of their research facilities led to the release of contaminated subjects, a chain reaction began that led to the downfall of humanity.
Not content with having unleashed a deadly virus that turned many of the world's population into flesh-hungry zombies, Umbrella representatives continued to experiment with viral contaminants and meddled with attempts to contain the outbreak. The corporation is directly responsible for causing irreparable damage to the world and shows little remorse for its crimes.