More often than not, open-world games allow players to live the life of their dreams, all the while offering them total freedom. Some games let you be a superhero who can accomplish incredible deeds, while others whisk you away to a peaceful land where you can farm, build, and mingle at your leisure. Then, a select few games are all about obtaining ultimate power and abusing the heck out of it.
We aren’t talking about physically OP characters here, but rather politicians or political agents who use intimidation or information to get what they want. Surprisingly, or maybe not, very few open-world games cast players in roles with political power. You are far more likely to be the rebel than the king, with the latter generally left for strategy games like Crusader Kings 3 and Tropico. Still, a couple of exceptions exist.
Fable 3 Lets You Become An Evil King
State Tyranny
For its first half, Fable 3 presents you as the noble leader of a revolution, with your goal being to take down your tyrannical older brother. As you cannot do this alone, you spend your “campaign trail” making all sorts of promises to different political factions, and these declarations are binding. You agree to prioritize the kingdom’s prosperity and the people’s happiness if you gain the throne.
In a genuinely cool twist that most games wouldn’t try, Fable 3 crowns you as the new monarch around halfway through the story, and you get to rule Albion for the rest of the playthrough. As the king, you need 6.5 million gold coins to save the citizens from extinction; however, that target grows by about 2 million if you decide to be a good and honorable ruler. While morally sound decisions drain the treasury, corrupt choices fill it, giving you a clear financial incentive to break your promises.
Do you want to be the beloved ruler of a bankrupt kingdom? Or the hated dictator of a stable, rich kingdom? Maybe you can have your cake and eat it too, but it isn’t easy.
The Outer Worlds Lets You Become The Board’s Weapon
Corporate Tyranny
The Outer Worlds exists in a universe of extreme deregulation, where people merely exist as assets of corporations. Although not the one in power, the protagonist starts as a cog in the machine since they literally pass a test to become colonists; however, after their journey to Halcyon doesn’t go to plan, they wake up with a new outlook and the option to decide their fate. Now, you decide what type of “hero” you want to be, so you can very much be the freedom fighter that breaks down The Board’s control over Halcyon. Conversely, you can help ensure that the corporation remains in power.
Cyberpunk 2077 deserves an honorable mention here, as you can also act as a corporate puppet.
Most people will probably side with Phineas against The Board, just because that is clearly the most “canon” direction to take. There’s also more content if you go down the good route. However, it is way more fun to be a grotesquely evil corporate soldier who participates in the starvation and systemic cleansing of Halycon’s citizens. The Outer Worlds presents The Board as complete and utter idiots who are comically corrupt, and you can be their stooge.
Fallout 4 Lets You Feed The Troops
Military Tyranny
This one is a bit complicated.
Fallout 4 doesn’t present any of its factions/routes as the obvious best solution for both the protagonist and the Commonwealth. Due to its history, reputation, power, and resources, the Brotherhood of Steel arguably seems the most likely to bring a sense of order and safety to the wasteland. However, the faction follows the “might is right” and “for the greater good” mantras, achieving its goal through authoritarian control and widespread sacrifice. The Brotherhood seeks to save humanity from the Institute, an act that requires handing over control to them.
A few quests have you essentially acting as a warlord for the Brotherhood, but “Feeding the Troops” grants you the opportunity to abuse your authority in an extremely vile way. Basically, you need to get crops from farmers, which can be accomplished in a few ways (depending on your build and skills). Besides just buying the crops, you can also threaten, persuade, or kill the farmers, and the latter three are certainly the most cost-effective ways to approach the situation. Even though you need to pay a lot of caps to go down the good route, the fact that it is an option means you have to actively decide to be corrupt.
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