[Spoiler Alerts!]

Real Talk By: EC

As a human being who lives on earth in this day and age, I have developed a long list of issues, stemming from life experiences and events in my life that leave small cuts or scars on my emotional soul, I’m not throwing a pity party for myself, I’m saying everyone has these issues, and probably the most common issue among us all is Trust. Everyone has been wronged in one way or another, but we have special people in our lives that we trust because they’ve been with us through all the good and bad, so it just stings that much more when they turn around and decide to practice their back stabbing technique of Stab-twist-pull repeat, on us. As children, we give out our trust like free cardboard boxes at grocery stores. So as a child when there appears to be a player 2 in your video game, even though you’re playing alone, you automatically trust them because they are helping you win. That was your first mistake! Having said that, here is my Top 5 Betrayals in Gaming.

5. Zeke Jedediah Dunbar- inFamous

When someone is regarded as your best friend, there is an unspoken bond between the two that seemingly can’t be broken. However such bonds can be tested for their strength. Cole MacGrath and Zeke Dunbar are established as the best of friends in inFamous. Zeke helps Cole understand the powers that Fate has casted on him, and helps him develop them as well. No matter what Cole does with his powers, whether it’s saving a train full of civilians or using thunder punch on a homeless guy’s face, Zeke is always by your side and supports your decisions, no matter how questionable they are. When nearing the climax of the story, there are some words had between the pals. Zeke feels useless in the crisis that is taking over the city and he tries to help by going on missions alone, but ends up putting himself and other civilians in danger, up until Cole zaps away the bad guys with explosive chaos or skilled charges (depending on your moral decisions in the game). After the rescue, Cole scolds Zeke for his risky and foolish behavior, this only fuels Zeke’s feeling of uselessness, and pushes him to do the unthinkable…Skip ahead to the second Ray Sphere located atop the tower where Cole faces off against the Transients, while Zeke struggles to remove the Ray Sphere from its confines, once the battle ends, Kessler appears and Zeke removes finally removes the Ray sphere and realizes that he can gain the same powers as Cole if he activates it. Taking a moment to think of his decision Kessler goads him into activating it and gaining ultimate power, while Cole argues to destroy it. Zeke attempts to activate it knowing full well that it would kill everyone in that area and cause another ground zero similar to that in the beginning of the game…Luckily the Ray Sphere fails to activate and the still power-hungry Zeke goes with Kessler who promises he can grant him his wish. The betrayed Cole grows infuriated with his “best friend” and advises Zeke to stay away from him, or things will get ugly. Zeke feels remorse, and the ending events of the game help Cole eventually forgive him.

4. Al Mualim – Assassin’s Creed

The Brotherhood of Assassins was created to right the wrongs of the corrupt Templars, who aim to take over the world by working behind the scenes and pulling the strings behind powerful political figures, to eventually achieve mind control through nefarious means, thinking that mind control will save humanity from itself. The Mentor of this brotherhood in 1191 A.D was Al Mualim, he instructed to his students about the corrupt world and gave them assignments to carry out as train Assassins. Everyone grew to love and respect their mentor, and knew that everyone that they were sent after to kill was for the good of the world. So it became a shock when Altair, the most skilled and beloved student of Al Mualim, had learned that the Mentor had actually been a Templar the entire time, manipulating Altair into getting him the Apple of Eden and killing those in the way. The betrayal of Altair’s mentor left him no other choice than to kill him, for he was mad with the power from the Apple of Eden and had to be stopped.

3. Ares – God of War

Kratos was the leader of a Spartan army up until his near defeat at the hands of the barbarian king. As the mighty Spartan was about to meet his death, he prayed to the God of War to grant him the power to take victory of his enemies. Ares heard the prayers and granted the warrior the Blades of Chaos, which he used to kill all his enemies. He was later instructed by Ares, to attack a village and wipe out all the villagers, but unbeknownst to Kratos, the manipulative God had placed the wife and child of Kratos in the village in hopes that if Kratos kills them, he will become the perfect warrior without distractions and work for Ares. Kratos did just that, except after murdering his family, he swore revenge on the God instead of continuing his loyalty to him.

2. Atlas/Frank Fontaine – Bioshock

Jack is a seemingly average guy on a plane over the ocean-going somewhere that seems important. Suddenly the plane crashes and all the passengers die except Jack. He finds himself in an underwater utopia infested with beings that posses unnatural abilities. Jack finds solace in his unusual situation when he is contacted by a man named Atlas, who claims he wants to help Jack so he can help save Atlas’ family and himself get out of the hell they have found themselves in. Atlas informs Jack of the evil Andrew Ryan, who is responsible for the existence of the underwater world and its crazed inhabitants. Atlas seems to be a genuinely helpful and nice guy, up until he tells you to kill a little girl and harvest her ADAM to become more powerful…Jack can choose to harvest the ADAM killing the girl, or Purifying her body of the sea slugs that give her that creepy pale dead look, thus saving her. Due to Ryan’s interfering, Atlas eventually tells Jack to attack him head on, and it is at the confrontation of Andrew Ryan, that you learn that Atlas is actually Frank Fontaine, known as a former gangster and businessman who sought to overthrow Andrew’s underwater empire, and take it as his own. Jack also learns that he is Andrew Ryan’s illegitimate son, who had been kidnapped at birth by Fontaine and engineered to be a sleeper agent to be sent to the surface out of Ryan’s reach, only to come back in a year after rapid Aging, to kill Andrew himself, and all of his actions were triggered by the phrase “Would you kindly” which is shown to be the phrase constantly used by the man known as Atlas throughout the game.

1. Big Smoke – Grand Theft Auto San Andreas

Carl Johnson is one of the many members of the Grove Street gang. Returning to his life in the gang after being away for a few years, he comes home to learn that his mother had been killed in a gang shoot out. His fellow gang members welcome him back and vow to help him get revenge as they all try to build a name for themselves while fighting off the other gangs in the area and dealing with the local police. CJ helps the gang build their reputation by helping out his two closest friends Big Smoke, Ryder, and CJ’s brother Sweet. As the Game progresses, CJ finds out that Big Smoke and Ryder had betrayed the Grove Street Family, You find out that Big Smoke had brought up the idea of selling hard drugs to Sweet, but was denied, because Sweet didn’t want the community or the members to suffer the consequences of those drugs. Shortly after that Big Smoke shared his idea with Ryder who jumped aboard the idea and they both began working for The Ballas, who were the enemy gang to the Grove Street Family. CJ witnesses a meeting between the Ballas, Big Smoke and Ryder, along with a car known as the Green Saber, which was seen fleeing the area where CJ’s mother was killed prior to his return. CJ eventually confronts both traitors individually and kills them both.

Have you ever felt the cruel sting of betrayal? Feel free to tell us about your deep knife wounds.

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