Bit of an explanation as to what prompted me to make this post: I recently played through Sniper Ghost Warrior: Contracts 1 and 2 and I just felt off. I've slaughtered hundreds of innocents for my amusement in games like Fallout and TES, I play through No Russian with a grin, but for some reason, I refrain from killing bad guys in SGW? The first one has you hunt down Russian oligarchs and war criminals, while the second one is about Middle Eastern terrorists and this is the game where I feel bad about killing? There's just something about the soldiers talking about their daily problems like making no money, uncomfortable boots and sweating too much, or showing eachother pictures of their dogs, not to mention the absolute horror when you've got a knife against their throat or when they find a body. I hope this isn't weird, but I've never experienced remorse for killing a video game enemy, and I've played a lot of different games. I'd like to hear about your experiences, and which games do a good job humanising common enemies, the concept intrigues me.
Non lethal is honestly way worse in some cases, like you lobotomize a genius in the second game and knock out and give a woman to her stalker in the first. The implications of the latter were problematic so they had to retcon the woman into overpowering her stalker and living off his wealth.
Or for the grunts non lethal takedowns are some Batman level shit, where you slam people’s heads into concrete or choke them until they pass out. I guess they are still technically alive though.