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.
Occasionally in Cyberpunk 2077, you'll end up scooping up datashards from the gangoons you've just mowed down. Sometimes, this validates what you'd done, especially scavs and Maelstrom.
But sometimes you just get a bit of squabbling between a guy and his girl who is fussing at him for letting his friend drag him into trouble because she's worried he won't be around for their kid or a guy and his elderly grandfather who's had an accident and is pleading for his grandson to come home because he doesn't want anyone to see him like that.
And then you look down at the chunky meat salsa that the shotgun created and feel awful.
Me who never reads them: