Well-crafted characters come complete with a compelling backstory, strengths that shine through words and actions, as well as flaws that can hold back their ambitions and see them fail their goals. Flaws can take many faces, be it a penchant for larceny, single-mindedness, or deceptive natures.

White lies are something everybody is guilty of, as sometimes small lies can be a necessary part of a conversation. But, these game characters take it a step further, spinning bigger yarns with skill that can deceive even the sharpest of characters.

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7 M'aiq The Liar (The Elder Scrolls Franchise)

Nearly Everything She Says Is False

When one has the title of liar in their name like it is an achievement to be proud of, players will know not to take everything they say at face-value, but with the kind of lies M'aiq spouts, they would probably already be guessing the veracity of her words anyway.

She is not a brilliant liar because she can successfully pull the wool over the eyes of others, but more because her lies are outrageously funny. This makes people want to believe in her lies, even though they knew the dragons were dead and not just very quietly hiding like they were playing the world's longest game of hide and seek. As such, this does land M'aiq in the group of some of the best liars in games, as at least she is only doing it to be funnily deceptive like a neighborhood gossiper rather than a secret murderer or double agent.

6 Ada Wong (Resident Evil 2/4/6)

Uses Vagueness To Hide Her Secrets

Ever since her first appearance in the original Resident Evil 2, Ada Wong has maintained an air of mystery around herself. Despite genuinely caring for Leon, she prioritizes number one, and is always willing to cut a deal even with shady characters such as Wesker if it serves her.

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More so than telling tall tales to throw Leon off her scent, Ada is more about playing her cards close to her chest by lying through omission. She is careful never to reveal too much about herself or what she is currently up to. This no doubt paints her in a very suspicious light, but it does work in keeping her current mission under wraps.

5 Handsome Jack (Borderlands 2)

Believes His Own Lies

Handsome Jack has some qualities of a hero, conventional good looks, bravado, witty one-liners and followers willing to do his bidding. But, he also has very obvious villainous flaws, such as threatening the livelihoods of others, greed, vanity, and using others to his own benefit--even his own daughter.

As such, Handsome Jack is the obvious bad guy to the player in Borderlands 2, but this is something Jack very obviously doesn't agree with. He spends the duration of the game lying about who is in what role, painting himself as the hero, and the player character as the villain trying to foil his good deeds. He believes in his own lies vehemently, which is unique in the way that a lot of liars know they are lying.

4 The Illusive Man (Mass Effect 2/3)

Illusive In Name And Nature

Not much is known about The Illusive Man other than he is the head of the Cerberus organization, and has a vested interest in salvaging Reaper technology in order to study them. With someone as shady as the Illusive Man though, most players would be hesitant to fully trust him, but his charisma, intelligence, and influence do sometimes afford him the benefit of the doubt.

One of the Illusive Man's most egregious lie, however, was sending Shepard to a Collector ship with a fake distress signal, knowing all the while it was fake without giving prior warning to Shepard. Whether it was a ploy to try and kill Shepard or the explanation they gave was genuine is hard to tell, because lying seems to come as second nature to this man.

3 Volo (Baldur's Gate 3)

A Liar By Trade

All liars are deceptive for personal gain in some way, whether it is to trick another or throw them off the trail to the truth, and this is no more true than with Volo in Baldur's Gate 3. Volo is a bard who has quite a reputation around him, known for his tall tales of epic proportions

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Players can encounter him in the Druid Grove, where he will immediately interview the player eagerly. But as he narrates what he writes down, it becomes quite apparent he is taking very creative liberties with the information players provide him with, and has likely done this with all of his published work. This means that Volo makes his living through creatively lying by heavily embellishing the stories he tells, and passing them off as the truth.

Not only that, he claims to know how to remove the Illithid Parasite from the characters' brain, only for those foolish enough to believe them to know it was all lies, resulting in them losing an eye and remaining infected.

2 Tohru Adachi (Persona 4)

Hiding In Plain Sight

Hiding in plain sight is a tactic liars can use to ensure they stay off the suspect list, and Adachi does this masterfully. After a string of grizzly murders grip the small Japanese countryside village Inaba in a sense of paranoia and unease, who would suspect the timid and incompetent Adachi when there are so many other suspicious people that could be culprit?

This is how Adachi deflects any suspicion until the team of Persona users uncover his dirty secret, but until that happens, Adachi seemed like a harmless cop that is trying but failing to be of help to Dojima's investigation. His false incompetence is weaponized to make it seem like his clumsy and foolish nature is hampering the investigation rather than trying to ensure he doesn't get caught red-handed.

1 Glados (Portal)

The Cake Is A Lie

Glados was one of the most prominent characters not only in the Portal franchise but gaming as a whole. This AI robot is the main driving force in the game, constantly pestering that player while lying about almost everything. As she is quite a chatty character, this means that Glados lies quite a bit to the character, leaving the player questioning everything she tells them.

Her constant lying resulted in the very infamous quote 'the cake is a lie', which has gone on to be a huge meme among gamers, still being quoted up to this date. This makes Glados perhaps the biggest and most egregious liar of all time, yet players can't help but love her.

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