Rockstar Games is one of the most popular video game publishers of all time, boasting an impressive repertoire consisting of vaunted titles such as Grand Theft Auto 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2.
Many of the best Rockstar games also deal with mature themes and portray a range of characters of varying moralities. While many of the characters are morally gray or simply flawed, some Rockstar Games characters are downright dark with backstories and traits that make players uncomfortable and often scared.
7 Trevor Philips - Grand Theft Auto 5
While Grand Theft Auto 5 protagonist Trevor Philips does admittedly have a few redeeming factors, it is hard to overlook the abhorrent acts he commits. Early on in the game, Trevor murders a man in cold blood and in fear of retribution takes out the entirety of The Lost MC.
In conversations, Trevor also alludes to deeds from his early years such as killing animals and even strangling a clarinet player with their own clarinet. The amount of murders by Trevor Philips is unknown, but he can snap at any moment and seemingly places no value on human life.
6 Roy Earle - L.A. Noire
L.A. Noire is one of the best detective games of all time and features a fantastic cast of characters on both sides of the law. One character who at first appears to be on the right side of the law is Roy Earle, a chief detective who actually turns out to be one of Rockstar's darkest characters.
He is a highly corrupt detective and is willing to betray colleagues and supposed friends to maintain his corruption. On a personal level, Roy Earle is racist, and misogynistic, and has no problem with using violence even against women to deliver his message.
5 Vincente De Santa - Red Dead Redemption
There are plenty of evil characters in the Red Dead Redemption series and Captain of the Mexican Army Vincente de Santa is arguably the worst from the original game. Not only is he corrupt, but he commits many heinous acts and is complicit in even worse ones.
On many occasions, he slaughters civilians and burns down their houses while carrying off young women to satisfy the depravity of his commanding officer. De Santa also betrays the protagonist John Marston multiple times and even tried to get him killed.
4 Dimitri Rascalov - Grand Theft Auto 4
Grand Theft Auto 4 is widely considered to be one of Rockstar's best games and having a main antagonist as dark as Dimitri Rascalov certainly helps push the story forwards. Players are able to decide the fate of the Russian mobster at the end of the game, although either way what follows is one of the scariest moments in the entire GTA series.
Dimitri seemingly has no qualms with murder if it can further his own ambitions, and he is willing to betray anyone, no matter how close he seemingly was to them at one point.
3 Micah Bell - Red Dead Redemption 2
Micah Bell is introduced at the start of Red Dead Redemption 2 as an unpleasant and seemingly reluctant member of the Van der Linde gang. However, throughout the course of the game, players will discover that he is more than just a belly-aching miscreant.
The first time Micah shows his true evil and lack of morality is when Arthur rescues him from a cell in Strawberry, and instead of fleeing shoots many lawmen dead simply to retrieve his prized revolvers, also killing the man who had them, along with his wife. As time goes by and things head south for the Van der Linde gang, it quickly transpires that Micah is behind much of their misery, having betrayed his supposed friends time and time again.
2 Lionel Starkweather - Manhunt
Manhunt is arguably Rockstar Games' most controversial title ever released, and therefore it is no surprise that the game contains one of the publisher's darkest characters. Lionel Starkweather, the main antagonist of Manhunt, is a director of snuff films, and if filming murder is not abhorrent enough, he actually derives a perverse kind of pleasure from the experience.
He is the mastermind behind the entire premise of the story and indirectly is responsible for the brutal murders of countless individuals. His interests are extremely disturbing, and he seemingly has no sense of loyalty or remorse.
1 Nicole Horne - Max Payne
It is quite possible that Nicole Horne from the Max Payne series is Rockstar's darkest character of all time. In the first installment, she is one of the most powerful women in business and yet uses this power in awful ways. In fact, Nicole Horne and her company illegally produced the dangerous drugs that fuel the violence of the story and all the pain in the main character's life.
She is easily one of the most evil corporate villains in video games with no moral compass, but her actions and orders go beyond personal greed. There are many dark moments in Max Payne and many of them are caused by her and her sadistic nature.