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Early on, there's no better way to motivate a player than to establish a strong sense of rivalry between the protagonist and the main antagonist of a game.
Storytelling in video games has come a long way since its inception. Gone are the days of stories in video games that were only there to facilitate gameplay. Most modern single-player titles are built with a complex and gripping narrative in mind, and the gameplay is molded to complement the said narrative.
Games like The Witcher 3, Red Dead Redemption 2, God of War (2018), The Last of Us, etc. are shining examples of games that masterfully deliver a stellar story without compromising the gameplay and interactivity. Developers employ a bunch of different storytelling devices to make their games stand out amongst the crowd.
While most games tend to reveal the main antagonist of the game towards the end of the story, some games let players battle them from the very start. Although these early battles always end in favor of the antagonist, it makes for a great motivating factor for both the protagonist as well as the players.
Here are five such games where players get to face the main antagonist at the start of the game.
Note: This article is subjective and reflects the author's opinions.
Five games where players come face-to-face with the main antagonist at the start of the game
1) Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
FromSoftware, best known for their Dark Souls series and recently released Elden Ring, have a penchant for putting players against unbeatable odds right at the beginning of their games, be it Asylum Demon in the original Dark Souls or Grafted Scion in Elden Ring.
These bosses are not particularly difficult, but with starter character stats, limited healing items, and severely underpowered weapons, they usually pose quite a challenge for players.
With their 2019 Game of the Year winner Sekiro, FromSoftware tried something new. Instead of pitting the players against any standard boss in the game, players are made to fight Genichiro, the main antagonist of the game (yes, Isshin the Sword Saint is the main antagonist, but players will always need to fight Genichiro first when attempting the final battle against Isshin) at the very start of the game.
Sekiro is a game about learning and mastering the skillful art of sword combat. Every single strike of the blade has to be precise and calculated. Unlike 'Souls' games, Sekiro relies heavily on aggressive combat and parries or deflections to counter enemy attacks.
It is very unlikely for a player to know all this at the start, and thus, the battle against the literal final boss at the very beginning only ends in defeat for the protagonist, Wolf.
Players can return to this battle in new game+ and can even manage to defeat Genichiro, but the game is scripted to have players lose in a cutscene with Wolf losing his arm, which is later replaced by the Shinobi Prosthetic.
2) Devil May Cry 5
Devil May Cry 5 is undoubtedly one of the best action games out there, with a robust combat system that embodies the core identity of the series while introducing a few unique ideas of its own.
The stories of Devil May Cry games have never been the highlight of the series, but the characters and their over-the-top personalities definitely are.
Devil May Cry 5 starts with players taking control of returning protagonist Nero (from Devil May Cry 4) as he makes his way to Urizen, who took his demonic arm. Urizen is also the main antagonist of the game, which he demonstrates by bombarding Nero with several powerful attacks that end up easily overpowering and defeating him.
Devil May Cry games have always featured some truly difficult encounters at the start of every game, but Devil May Cry 5 without a shadow of a doubt features the toughest early game encounter in the series, with the main antagonist himself.
3) Ninja Gaiden
Team Ninja's Ninja Gaiden series is notorious for featuring some of the most intense and difficult combat encounters in gaming. The bosses in the Ninja Gaiden series are relentless and require precise timing, a lot of patience, and perseverance on the player's end in order to achieve victory.
Nowhere is it more apparent than at the first level of the original Ninja Gaiden, which sees series protagonist Ryu Hayabusa fight his way through the Shadow Clan fortress to meet his uncle Murai, who apparently happens to be the main antagonist of the game.
The two, upon meeting, immediately square off against one another as a form of ritualistic greeting between the warriors. Although it's the first major boss battle, which is technically a tutorial to get players in tune with the combat intricacies of the game, it doesn't make it any easier.
Murai being revealed as the main antagonist of the game is one of the greatest twists in the Ninja Gaiden series, one that many players still remember despite the game being almost two decades old at this point.
4) Prototype 2
Developer Radical Entertainment's Prototype games are known for their edgy protagonists with superhuman abilities that allow them to shapeshift and create weapons of mass destruction out of their arms, all by virtue of them being infected by a virus that has turned the majority of the population into zombies.
Prototype games offer players an open-world sandbox in which they are free to cause mayhem of biblical proportions, destroying armored vehicles, slaughtering countless NPCs, and even consuming them to extract their memories.
Prototype 2 sees players take on the role of James Heller, a former military veteran who gets infected by the virus but instead of turning into a zombie, becomes empowered, akin to the original game's protagonist, Alex Mercer, who is apparently the main antagonist in the sequel.
At the start of the game, Heller comes face-to-face against Mercer as he tries to attack the bio-terrorist armed with nothing but a knife. Suffice to say, Mercer easily overpowers Heller and infects him with the Mercer virus, giving him superhuman abilities.
At the end of the game, when both the superhuman forces clash once again, Heller finally manages to defeat the main antagonist of the game by chopping off his weaponized arms and then consuming him.
5) God of War (2018)
The new God of War is a storytelling masterpiece narrating the story of Kratos and his son, Atreus, as they embark on a journey through the Norse lands to spread the ashes of Faye (Kratos' wife and mother of Atreus) from the highest peak of all realms.
God of War not only excels in its story but also features robust combat mechanics, which makes the moment-to-moment gameplay really enthralling.
Much like the previous God of War titles, this soft reboot of the series also sees Kratos go up against some of the most iconic gods of Norse mythology, with each boss battling against these very gods being a total spectacle.
At the start of the game, Kratos is visited by Balder, the main antagonist of the game, who then ends up fighting with the Ghost of Sparta, and after a long battle between the two gods, Kratos snaps Balder's neck, seemingly killing him. But given Balder's invincibility, he comes back a number of times throughout the story.
The first battle between Kratos and Balder sets the precedence for the rest of the boss battles in the game and gives players a taste of the brutal and engaging combat of God of War.
