Third-person shooters often provide players with a sense of purpose and narrative that makes for compelling villains. After grabbing a gun, it’s time to wreak vengeance upon those who have wronged the player character, or taken someone that they love. Plenty of the best third-person shooter games have incredible and memorable villains that players often remember fondly for their challenging themes or just the fact that they really wanted to kill them.

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Great villains will often test the hero, alternatively, they could even make players rethink their actions, or make a compelling case for their existence and purpose. The best villains are not one-dimensional, and these third-person shooter foes are bound to be seen as the best of them for different reasons.

6 Micah Bell

Red Dead Redemption 2

Few villains in video games have been able to capture the entire community’s ire like Micah Bell. In Red Dead Redemption 2, Micah believes in winners and losers, with nothing in between. If it wasn’t obvious already, Micah doesn’t just want to be a winner, but he needs to be. His personality is entirely sadistic, selfish, and manipulative, and he’s the reason that the Van der Linde gang experienced its fall.

Micah Bell is a talented gunslinger, and his dual-wield revolvers and unwavering quest for crimes and money make him a threat to even those who would consider him a member of their gang. From Micah’s constant belittling and mocking of Arthur Morgan as “Black Lung”, to his selfishness to save only himself, Micah is truly a great villain for this Old West game.

5 Zoran Lazarevic

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

There have been many villains featured in the Uncharted games, but Zoran Lazerevic feels like the most classic with truly villainous goals. For Zoran, it’s not just about a golden idol, or a fortune to be obtained through artifacts, but the very quest for immortality, and he does not care who he has to hurt to get to that point. Zoran is unlike other Uncharted villains in his sadism and desire for mystic talents outside of loot.

One of the more unique actions of Zoran comes from his past as a Serbian intelligence officer, meaning he is more than capable in war. His ruthless nature will see him kill anyone who gets in his way, and the voice performance from Graham McTavish cements the brutality.

4 Martin Walker

Spec Ops: The Line

The protagonist of Spec Ops: The Line, Martin Walker is one of the most interesting characters in a third-person game for that very reason because it’s revealed later in his mission that he’s the true villain of the game. As a member of the United States Army’s Delta Force, Martin Walker was tasked with locating survivors in Dubai.

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The scoring heat and constant fighting make Walker’s grasp on reality slip, and his mental state deteriorates with every atrocity added to his belt. Martin Walker deserves his fate, but players can influence it with the four fates. Whether that’s with Walker’s death, exile, or surrender.

3 Revolver Ocelot

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

It’s hard to truly call Revolver Ocelot a villain, for his motives and methods are complex to understand, and under a loyalty to Big Boss. Revolver Ocelot features in practically every Metal Gear Solid game, and it’s always a pleasure to see this ocelot-loving moustache-wearing villain who loves the flair of a revolver, even if engravings will give him no tactical advantage whatsoever.

Ocelot is highly complex and often serves as a triple agent for the mutual interests of him and Big Boss alone. Ocelot is definitely one of the best Metal Gear Solid characters, not only for his heritage, or his ties to all Snakes, but for his unwavering dedication to his cause, even if that comes with villainous methods.

2 Abby Anderson

The Last of Us Part 2

It was always going to be a hard task to make Abby a likable character in The Last of Us Part 2, especially when she has been given the purpose to murder the beloved protagonist of the first game, Joel, with a golf club. Abby may have valid reasons for wanting revenge against Joel, but for Ellie, she had just murdered the man that she was trying to mend her broken relationship with, a father she could never have.

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Abby is tied to Ellie’s quest for revenge in The Last of Us Part 2, and whilst fans may understand her story, that doesn’t excuse the fact that they want her to pay for what she did, just like how she wanted Joel to pay for what he did by killing her father. Ellie and Abby are woven within an intricate story of revenge, and whilst Abby does not see herself as a villain, some fans can’t remove the label they have placed on her for her actions.

1 Albert Wesker

Resident Evil 5

Perfection is what Wesker strives for, and his multiple entries in the Resident Evil series cement him as the ultimate antagonist for the ultimate protagonists. Wesker has a completely warped sense of reality, and he believes that he is ensuring the safety of humanity with his actions and projects, not its destruction. Wesker is a brilliant virologist, but his work associated with bio-weapons and the Umbrella Corporation proves that his motives are corrupted into villainy.

Wesker not only tested on populations, but he would test a prototype virus which allowed him to harness supernatural powers to become a strong and almost invulnerable human. Wesker has featured in multiple Resident Evil games, and his brutal unwavering nature makes him a grand threat.

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