A God Am I / Video Games

"What a fool you are. I'm a god! How can you kill a god?! What a grand and intoxicating innocence!"

— Dagoth Ur, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

Video Games are one of the most common media for villains to go One-Winged Angel, often while announcing that their new form is all-powerful.

Generally speaking, games featuring God Mode, Level Editor and Master Console may have YOU invoking this trope on your own.

The God Game genre is specifically built for this basis.

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• Advent Rising: It is averted with the main character, Gideon, but his brother or his girlfriend (whichever you let "die" first) plays it straight.
  "Take heart, mortals, your gods have returned".
• Akatsuki Blitzkampf has two characters that fit in this trope:
  • The local Little Miss Badass, Mycale/Perfecti. She refers to herself as a "Perfect One", and in her "Altar of Perfecti" stage one can see her throne on the background and in the middle of a HUGE staircase.
  • Murakumo alias the Big Bad, who leaves it clear in his pre-fight speech to Akatsuki:
    Murakumo: "After monopolyzing the Blitz Engines , I will win the final war... and within the New World Order, I will become a human God."
• In Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, Mandus had apparently become this and he had no memory of this sudden turn until the end.
• In Anno 1800 Alonso Graves gives off this vibe. Given that he's Ax-Crazy, it's no surprise he sees himself as this.
  Alonso: They say I'm a god! But I'm more than that... I'm free!
• The Big Bad from Arc the Lad: Then again, he is an immortal Eldritch Abomination, so he has some credentials
• Interesting Double Subversion in Ar tonelico II: Melody of Metafalica: the Big Bad Infel doesn't declare herself God of the new world, instead she declares that her girlfriend Nenesha is. It's probably her way to spite the actual gods who murdered said girlfriend in front of her.
• Ashes of the Singularity: Being turned into an immortal being who can spread itself across the universe on a mere thought has caused some Post-Humans to develop this attitude towards non-Post Humans. A few them express the belief that baseline humans aren't fully sentient; the rapid rise in power of the player character so soon after being converted terrifies them.
• In Assassin's Creed Origins, one of Bayek's targets, the Son of Ra, has convinced the followers of his Cult that he is an invincible deity, giving orders to his followers from prison. When you find him, he is nothing but a weak, babbling madman who goes down from a Hidden Blade just as easily as any other target, though at least he makes you chase him down first. Still, there may be some validity in his egotism, as he's the only sidequest target to get a white-room scene when he's assassinated, and there are inconsistent hints that he may be a Sage.
• Almost all of your former Allies from Asura's Wrath proclaim themselves as the 7 Deities and have supposedly transcended beyond ordinary demi gods. None are like this more so than Chakravartin, though this time it's justified, as Chakravartin is for all purposes a real Creator god (He embodies the wheel of life and spins the threads of mantra). He actually wants Asura to succeed him, and all of the horrible things that happen in the game were meant to mold Asura into a suitable supreme deity.
• Both Nova and Zonda of Azure Striker Gunvolt don't outright call themselves gods once they go One-Winged Angel at the end of their respective games, but they're not shy about alluding to potential divinity. Nova declares to Gunvolt that he is the "Heavenly Emperor" that will defend righteousness, and Zonda admits she's "seriously considering" the possibility of godhood when Copen asks if she thinks she's some sort of god now. They've both got reason to believe that, considering the former possesses one of the strongest Septima in the setting and the latter can create a literal pocket dimension, but Gunvolt notes that Nova's transformation at least fits more the definition of a "monster" than anything.
• The Baldur's Gate series starts several years after Bhaal, the god of murder, was killed. The entire series is all about people fighting about a claim on his divine power.
  • In Baldur's Gate, the Big Bad Sarevok orchestrates for himself becoming the leader of the Iron Throne trade company and one of the lords of the City of Baldur's Gate and at the same time creates a heated conflict between Baldur's Gate and the nation of Amn. The entire point of his plan is to create a war as brutal and violent as possible, as a sacrifice for a ritual that makes him the new God of Murder. As one of his closest henchmen says:
    "If you have the arrogance of a god, and can kill like a god, who's to say you're not a god?"
  • In Baldur's Gate II, Jon Irenicus is revealed to have tried to becom a god by draining the power of the Tree of Life in the elven city of Suldanesselar. Now he tries to do the same thing again, but his motive has turned to pure revenge.
  • In Throne of Bhaal, all the remaining children of Bhaal gather their armies in Calimshan for a Final Battle to resolve which will become the God of Murder. The final claim is made by Bhaal's priestess Amelissan, who played all the other Bhaalspawn against each other to get rid of any other contestants. However, it didn't work out as planned.
    Amelissan: NOOO! I! AM! A! GOD!
    Solar: You wield great power, and play with energies that make you immortal. That does not make you a god.
  • At the end of Throne of Bhaal, the player character has the option to become a god.
  • Tiax cannot image that you forgot him! Tiax rules all! Even if his britches still ride up so wedgelike...
• Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden has Dr. Allard, the plastic surgeon and genetic engineer who lives in the sewers beneath Neo New York and offers his services to anyone who can afford them. He's able to turn humans into furries—like, literal animal people—and even did plastic surgery on himself somehow. This has led him to see himself as a god because, in his own words, "I destroyed God's plan for me, and made another of my own! And to these people in the sewers, I took his place... This time, I am their creator!"
• Borderlands 2 has two examples:
  • Implied to be the case with Jack (it wouldn't be a surprise to be honest if it were true) as some of his employees swear by his name. Cut dialog even has him outright talking about using The Warrior to achieve godhood by conquering galaxies with it. The Sir Hammerlock DLC even features a cult that worships Jack after his death.
    Hyperion New U Station "The light you saw was our Digistruct technology, not a higher power, not a higher power than Hyperion anyway''.
  • Played completely straight with Gaige, provided you put a point in Anarchy. With enough stacks she yells out "I'm getting a god complex and I LIKE IT!" and it just goes downhill from there. To quote:
    I am the GOD OF DAMAGE!
    I am the Alpha and the Omega!
• Unlike Handsome Jack, who was only implied to do this, in Borderlands 3, the main villains, the Calypso Twins, frequently refer to themselves as Gods, especially Tyreen. Of course, this is only done to draw in more crazed bandit followers for their cult, the Children of the Vault. As the game progresses however, they slowly get dangerously close to actually making their claims justified, especially when Tyreen fuses with the Destroyer.
• In Breath of Fire III, Myria is worshipped as God by the Urkans, and is responsible for working to seal away, weaken or destroy other possible sources of hope and spiritual guidance, so that humanity will be forced to turn to her alone. She is a legitimate Physical God, and probably the strongest being in the world, but she isn't actually big-G God. In the ending, she's found praying, asking God, "if there is a God," what she should have done instead.
• Kane from the Command & Conquer series plays with this a fair bit. He concedes that he is not God Himself, but certainly a good runner-up. More often he calls himself "The Messiah" and the Brotherhood of NOD "the chosen people". Kane has been alive and unaged for over a century now, and has successfully deflected shots from an orbital laser cannon with his face, so why not? Not even the Sufficiently Advanced Aliens know what he is. In Renegade, it's hinted that he may be, or at least may lead his followers in believing that he's that Kane.
  McNeil: You're not God, Kane!
  Kane: No, I'm not God... but I'm a close second.
  • And stated way earlier by his right-hand man, Seth:
    Seth: I'm Seth. Just Seth. From God, to Kane, to Seth. I am his right hand and I have a task for you.
• Contra:
  • The Triumvirate declare themselves this when they activate the Relic of Moirai:
    Gaius: We now possess the relic and its power, making us virtual gods.
  • Master Contra also believes himself to be this:
    Master Contra: I have far surpassed the original. I am the ultimate form of Bill Rizer.
• Creeper World has Imperator, who looks at the goodness of Skarsgard Abraxis and dismisses it in favor of "ultimate POWER!"
• Criminal Case: Grimsborough, Milton Grimmes declares [himself "Grimsborough's God" when he becomes exposed as the leader of The Crimson Order.
  Crimson Order Leader, a.k.a. Milton Grimmes: Gold has given the Crimson Order unlimited power! As its leader, I get to choose who lives and who dies in this town. I am Grimsborough's God!
• In Crying Suns, Emperor Oberon claims to be Idaho's god when the latter finally encounters him, as both the original Idaho and his clones owe their existence to Oberon's schemes.
  Oberon: You're wrong. I am a god. I'm your god. I decided when you would die, and I decided when you’d be born again. I have resurrected you hundreds of times! If that doesn’t make me a god, I don’t know what would.
• One of the Daemon Prince's lines in Dawn of War, delivered as always with enough ham to sink a battleship. I AM A GOD!!!! and I AM DESTRUCTION INCARNATE!!!! come to mind.
• Hector from Dept. Heaven series is already a god-like being, sitting at the top of the celestial bureaucracy that is Asgard. However, unsatisfied with his power, he plans throughout the THREE games, manipulating events in those games to become the true creator. To that end, he commits various atrocities.
• Deus Ex plays with this trope and the aforementioned AI variant. Bob Page plans to become the Physical God of the entire world by merging his own mind with the AI Helios — who coincidentally is the Internet and other assorted global communications networks, a Nanomachine Assembler and a nanomachine plague present in large amounts of the world's population — so that he becomes omniscient and omnipresent, with total control of the world. However, Helios wants no part in this, and the player may choose to merge JC (note the initials) with Helios to become the benevolent dictator of the world. There's a small distinction, but the ending's tagline notes that JC has effectively become as a god anyways.
• In the Devil May Cry universe:
  • This was the plan of Arius, the Big Bad of the second game. To quote him after his plan is thwarted by Dante: "I WAS GOING TO BE THE KEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENG OF THIS WORRRRRLD..."
  • Arkham in Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening, whose megalomania was so great that even after being thoroughly trounced by Dante and Vergil united against him and being crippled and unable to stand after falling at least forty feet onto a stone floor, he still denied that anyone could stop him in his quest for godhood. Only the reality of his daughter's pistol about to blow his brains out destroyed his illusions of invincibility.
  • In Devil May Cry 4, Sanctus of the Order of the Sword didn't necessarily consider himself God per se, but sought to create an artificial God and unify with it to reign over a new utopia purged of chaos.
  • The incarnation of Mundus from DmC: Devil May Cry justifies this as he really is a god.
• Spoofed in Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, wherein Vulcanus's plans to become God are met with bored remarks along the lines of, "That's it?" and "See? I told you it'd be selfish and unoriginal."
• In Dragon Age, the official Chantry explaination why the Maker is not present in the world, is that human mages tried to force their way into his palace in the spiritworld to gain divine powers. He simply sent them back as monsters and because of this blasphemy left the world completely and ignores all pleas for a response.
  • Hinted to be Flemeth's goal in the first game. Morrigan claims that her mother's immortality comes from repeatedly body-jacking her own children, with Morrigan herself next on the list (how much she's telling you is called into question). Before the final battle, Morrigan further reveals that Flemeth sent her with you to perform a ritual that will impregnate her — and then draw the soul of an Old God from the darkspawn Archdemon and into the embryo. If Flemeth were to possess such a being, she'd have every right to call herself a god. The next time the Warden and Morrigan meet, however, Morrigan's learned something worse about her mother that's shaken her to the core, making everything we think we know even less certain. The third game reveals that Flemeth is already a god or at least the host of one. Specifically, Mythal, the Elven goddess of love and justice.
  • In the sequel, the Chantry's explanation for the Blight's existence is confirmed. The Big Bad of the DLC Legacy is one of the original magisters who tried to claim the power of the Golden City and became one of the first Darkspawn instead. Though he claims the Golden City was already corrupted when he visited it.
  • This is the goal of the Elder One, Big Bad of the third game...who turns out to be Corypheus, the darkspawn Magister mentioned above. Slightly deconstructed, since the true motivation for this, other than pride, is because he's heartbroken that his god Dumat is gone and terrified of living in a world with no god. He thinks that the world needs a god, and it might as well be him. In his final moments upon defeat, he begs Dumat and the other Old Gods for help, implying that he never really lost faith in them.
  • Trespasser reveals that the Elven Pantheon were merely extremely powerful (to the point of making present day magic look like cheap parlor tricks) mages. Things went downhill when they let that power and their subjects' reverence of it go to their heads.
• Inuart proclaims this in Drakengard shortly before he explodes along with the rest of the sky-fortress. Either that, or he really did succeed.
• The Elder Scrolls:
  • Daggerfall: Mannimarco, the King of Worms, plans to achieve this with the Mantella, should you give him the Totem of Tiber Septim. (As a result of the series' Merging the Branches of Daggerfall's Multiple Endings, this happens...sort of. He has now seemingly been split into two different entities, the God of Worms and the King of Worms. The King worships the God, but still seeks to become a god himself.
  • Morrowind:
    • Big Bad Dagoth Ur takes this stance. Justified, since he actually is a Physical God who gained his powers by tapping into the Heart of Lorkhan, the still-beating heart of the "dead" creator god of Mundus (the mortal plane). He'll utter the page quote when you start fighting with him, unable to comprehend that you're really there to unbind the Heart and cut him off from its power.
    • The Tribunal of the Dunmer, a trio of "living gods" who obtained their power in the same way as Dagoth Ur above. Almalexia will pull out this justification on anyone who questions her, and even Vivec, who is comparatively more sane and rational than Almalexia, will give such a speech to the Player Character if he is questioned on his actions. Sotha Sil, on the other hand, believes that he is not a god, and only acts as one because his companions find joy and purpose in their godhood.
  • Oblivion:
    • The Champion of Cyrodiil outright achieves godhood in the Shivering Isles expansion by being made into a replacement Daedric Prince by Sheogorath himself. This means disappointingly little in gameplay terms.
    • In the total conversion Game Mod Nehrim, the light-born have this going on.
  • Skyrim:
    • Alduin is already a divine being, being the firstborn son of Akatosh and an aspect of Akatosh at the same time. He's supposed to be Nirn's Beast of the Apocalypse, "eating" the world at the end of every kalpa so it can be made anew. However, he much prefers being worshiped by the mortals as a god more.
    • Though never outright stated in-game (but strongly implied in supplemental materials), the Aldmeri Dominion (under the Thalmor) is acting this way in trying to outlaw the worship of Talos, the Ninth Divine. They follow an extremist sect of Altmeri religious beliefs which state that the creation of the mortal world was a cruel trick, which forced their immortal ancestors into a "mortal prison," in which they are forced to suffer pain and loss. They believe (perhaps rightly) that by "killing" Talos by depriving him of worship, they can undo creation and return to a state of pre-creation divinity. ^note This gives the villain of the College of Winterhold questline, Ancano, a LOT more meaning when he says "I have the power to unmake the world." However, it's incredibly hard to realize this when (A) the Thalmor's beliefs take a lot of out-of-game research to learn, and (B) Ancano is a grade A dickhole (much like the rest of the Thalmor).
  • In the series lore, there is the idea of CHIM. It is a state of truly omnipotent being, beyond even the series standard deities like the divines and the Daedric Princes. May religions have many different ideas for how to achieve it. (Vivec, mentioned above, claims to have achieved it in developer written supplemental works.) Achieving the level beyond CHIM (called "Amaranth") takes that one step further, with some implication that such a level of awareness could allow the participant to realize they're in a video game.
• In Eleusis, the monk society, led by the hostage in the beginning, offer the playable character a choice to enter the pit and receive godlike powers. The person can either choose to enter the pit or throw the sacred artifact in.
• In Endless Space 2, if the Defenders destroy the Lost, Horatio's outro has Fourth muse that with the old gods dead it's time the galaxy had a new god: Horatio.
• Several storylines in Escape Velocity Nova lead to the player taking on the role of "Ory'Hara", a prophesied messiah that will reunite humanity and also referred to as "the spirit behind the creation of the universe", and ultimately merging with the universe at the end of the game.
• EXTRAPOWER: Attack of Darkforce: The Mad Scientist Michael, who starts creating giant, faceless, laser-spewing angels to set himself up as a god after seeing the destruction of Tokyo.
• In Fable II, it's strongly implied that this is the — probably successful — plan of Theresa. She just needed you to get access to the Spire.
  • In Fable III Traitor's Keep DLC Milton says something of being a god after transforming to an Evil Twin of The Hero
• Fairune 1 has Mega Dark, the game's final boss and resident Demon King.
  Mega Dark:"I am Mega Dark, the Ruler. I am Life itself..."
• Batari, the High Priestess of the fire-worshipping Izila tribe in Far Cry Primal, was born under a solar eclipse, and her people took it as a sign that she was a daughter of their sun god, Suxli. Sadly, her special birth also gave Batari a massive ego, and she seeks nothing more than Human Sacrifice and to establish her tribe's superiority over all — and her superiority over the Izila. Which makes it all the more satisfying when Takkar reminds her that she's not immortal by burning her alive, just like she'd been doing to his people beforehand.
• Final Fantasy likes this trope, its the default mode for villains that aren't Eldritch Abominations. From the top:
  • The Emperor in Final Fantasy II dies and has his soul split in two — the good side takes over Heaven, the evil side takes over Hell and goes for Earth next. He's even worse in Dissidia Final Fantasy, where he's scheming for everyone, gods, heroes and villains alike, to die so he can rule existence alone.
  • Kefka from Final Fantasy VI became this after absorbing the power of the Goddess Statues and becoming the source of all Magic. It's implied that he intended to become a god from the very start, and was presumably motivated by nothing more than his insanity (when bragging about how much power he has gotten from extracting magic from the Espers in the Magitek Research Facility, one of the first things Kefka says is that he is a god).
  • Final Fantasy VII's Sephiroth, who wished to destroy the Planet absorb its energies to become a god, although Sephiroth succeeds in becoming a god, he was still defeated by Cloud and his friends. Sephiroth also had Eldritch Abomination lineage that would have done the same exact thing, so it might just be justification for something else.
  • Final Fantasy VIII has Ultimecia. Though her motivations are a bit vague, her ultimate goal is to absorb all time and space to create her vision of a perfect world.
  • Final Fantasy XII features a particular bit of dialogue atop the Pharos at Ridorana...
    "You made your nethicite for this? You mimic the Occuria stones for what? To become a god yourself?"
    "On whose shoulders better to stand than those of the would-be gods?"
  • Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII has a heroic example of this trope. Lightning acknowledges that Bhunivelze has groomed her to become the new Etro, accepting that she's now a Goddess. She promptly uses her new-found godhood to defeat the God of Light and save humanity.
  • Final Fantasy XIV has the Elder Primal Odin put a strange spin on it as tide of battle (consisting of one almighty knight vs. an uncountable amount of players) begins to turn against him.
    Odin: "Here I stand—a god amongst men. Yet here I remain—a mere man amongst gods."
  • Also in XIV, the primal of wind Garuda is incontestably a Physical God. However, she fancies herself "the only god", and intends to slaughter every living thing except the Ixal tribe that worship her to make it so, then become a supreme being by consuming as much Aether as she possibly can.
  • Yet another from XIV: In Heavensward, Thordan VII turns himself into a primal version of King Thordan I so he can rule as god-king, empowered by a millennium of fervent prayer and the Aether contained in the eye of Nidhogg.
  • Final Fantasy XVI: the Big Bad, Ultima proclaims himself a god and believes himself to be one. While certainly an extremely powerful being, he is not a literal god and something more akin to a member of a race of Abusive Precusors trying to return to power.
  • The tendency for Final Fantasy villains to fit this trope is lampshaded in Dissidia Final Fantasy, when Kefka hypocritically declares Sephiroth to be "just another sadist with a god complex, like that's something special!"
  • Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates's Galdes wants to turn himself into a god with the power of the moon.
• In First Encounter Assault Recon, this is inverted with Harlan Wade's proclamation at the start of the game (which is at the point that you are being born) where he says that "You will be a god among men." Later on, Paxton Fettel shows shades of this trope played straight, especially in his ending of the third game.
• Ivo Shandor in Ghostbusters: The Video Game becomes a God at the end, but, as the Ghostbusters say, "We eat gods for breakfast!"
• Kratos from God of War, who actually becomes a god at the end of the first game.
• This is what Alex tries to achieve in the Golden Sun series. By the end of The Lost Age, he ALMOST reaches godhood, but doesn't quite get the power he desired. This is due to the actions of the Wise One from the first game where he had Isaac take the Mars Star and put it back. When Isaac did this, the Wise One transferred some of the power from the item to Isaac, preventing Alex from gaining all of Alchemy's power when the Golden Sun rose.
  • Dark Dawn shows that "almost A God Am I" is still pretty damn powerful, though he seems to still be more interested in complete godhood than "almost". And interestingly, he still seems to be only using Mercury powers and his existing teleportation power. You'd think he'd have played with Jupiter and Venus powers by now...
• Gladiator: Sword of Vengeance has this bit near the end when Arruntius pathetically begs for you to not kill him after defeating the evil gods he serves.
  Arruntius: You can't kill me! I am a god!
  Invictus': This is for the gods. [Throws his sword into Arruntius's chest]
• Grandia II: Pope Zera believes that he has become a god and taunts you as such. He's still an easy boss battle, though.
• GreedFall: When Constantin goes off the deep end, he claims to be a god, followed by We Can Rule Together to get you over to his side.
• An example of the latter (benevolent) god transformation comes in the Nightfall campaign of the MMORPG Guild Wars when the leader of the Sunspears, Kormir, ascends to godhood.
• .hack//G.U.: Sakaki declares himself this after fusing with AIDA.
• In the original Halo trilogy, both the Gravemind and the High Prophet of Truth fancy themselves as gods. Which one of them will be it is the main driving force behind the plot of the second and third games. The Gravemind apparently actually believes it is a divine entity and the Flood are the pinnacle of all existence — going so far as to accuse anyone fighting against it as being a "sinner" for standing in its way. During the High Charity level near the end of Halo 3, Gravemind's speech turns highly biblical.
  "Child of my enemy, why have you come? I offer no forgiveness, for father's sins cast to his son?"
  "Do not be afraid. I am peace; I am salvation."
  "I have beaten fleets of thousands! Consumed a galaxy of flesh and mind and bone!"
  "Do I take life or give it? Who is victim, and who is foe?"
  • The Forerunner Saga, especially Halo: Silentium, implies that the Gravemind actually is indeed a literal deity or at least related to actual literal deities. Turns out a Precursor transferred it's essence into it and taking over the Flood Hivemind effectively making it a Precursor. The Precursors were a race of god-like beings who created all species in the cosmos and possibly the cosmos itself. The Precursors themselves are capable of assuming any form they wish at will (both physical and incorporeal), can manipulate, warp or straight up defy the universal Laws of Physics with their thoughts and technology which is also construct from thought and is nigh-indestructible and are implied to be at least 100 BILLION YEARS OLD! Meaning far older than the universe! So yeah they're pretty much gods in every way we can conceive of.
  • While the games neglect to actually spell it out, the High Prophet of Truth actually gets quite close to realizing his goal. "The Ark" is not only the command center of the Halo network and the factory that creates the rings, it is located specifically far outside the galaxy to serve as a preserve for species that would be protected from the rings' deadly radiation. After the rings have destroyed the nervous system of all advanced creatures and the Flood have died out from a lack of hosts to infect, the species held on the Ark would be released back on their planets (with prehistoric humanity being among those saved this way). If Truth had been able to trigger the rings and destroy the Flood, the only intelligent life in the galaxy would have been his loyal minions and he would have control over infrastructure that allows him to create new civilizations on any planet he wishes. That plan fell apart once the Flood arrived on the Ark, but at that point he apparently didn't care anymore.
  • Before the High Prophet of Truth's death by the Arbiter (who ironically was picked to be such by the former), one of his last sentences was "My feet tread the path; I shall become a god!", which Gravemind retorts, "You will be food — nothing more!".
• In Hell: A Cyberpunk Thriller, Solene Sollux is this in a few senses of the trope. It is the Imperator (Latin for emperor) of a theocracy that controls at least the United States of America. The name Solene Sollux references the sun. It is a gender-bending robot that wears purple, is spoken by a female voice actor, and no one can tell if it is female or male. It controls Hell (actually a huge, complex virtual reality program) and sends criminals there (by hooking them up to the machinery and storing their bodies in a hidden place). It actually declares "I am God!" at one point and "These are the hands of a god!" at another point (specifically a fistfight). Who would have thought a robot could have a limitless God complex?
• Hero & Daughter: The "God (Self-Decreed)" enemy, from its name.
• Hylia in Hyrule: Total War Zig-Zags this trope. Originally she was a young Hylian woman turned into a Physical God to hold Demise's invasion. Her powers were so astonishing people gave her full power over them and began worshipping her even above the Three Goddesses (who, for that matter, never intervened since the time of the creation). Upon defeating Demise, the latter makes her realize her crimes by praising her and she undergoes an heavy Heroic BSoD, going into hiding from Hyrule and secretly working to cancel all recordings of hers from history. Five millennia later, she comes back to save Hyrule in a time of crisis and people start worshipping her again, but her true goal is to purge the land of all the people who would betray the Goddesses in her favour.
• Pul Wat Aa in the Tower Defense game Immortal Defense.
• Inazuma Eleven has Zeus Academy. As the name suggests, the students there are made to think they're super-powered incarnations of gods and goddesses from Classical Mythology destined to dominate the soccer world. They're really just taking drugs, though. Despite the strength and infinite TP they have, it's possible to beat them before the team find out their secret and lower their power.
• The God Machine in Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis does this to you. And it comes with undesirable side effects. Poor Indy. He's now a god.
• In Infinity Blade, Galath the Worker of Secrets gives off this vibe, if his speech during the opening cutscene of the third game is any indication. Given his vast knowledge, power, and immortality, it's hard to argue with him.
  I am father of the Deathless. Creator and Destroyer of all!
• Emperor Sun, of the titular Jade Empire, announces himself as "God-Emperor Sun!" before you fight him. Granted, he was tapping into the power of the Water Dragon, essentially a god in physical form, which allowed Sun to continue ruling even after his death.
• The King of Fighters: Rugal and Igniz are picture perfect examples of this trope (Igniz provides some quotes). Rugal dares you to repeat to him that you won't attack a god again in '98, and Igniz has a gigantic god complex in 2001. When he gets beaten, Lovable Igniz goes nuts and decides to forgo the god thing, deciding to be a demon instead. His win quote says it all. "I'm more than a god! I'm a superstar! Hah, hah!"
• Queen Sectonia in Kirby: Triple Deluxe declares herself as a goddess in her second line of dialogue before challenging Kirby. The pause menu for Queen Sectonia DX even says she was once a good person, before she was corrupted by delusions of grandeur.
• Lands of Lore III has an interesting variant. The main character, Copper, from a fantasy world travels to a different dimension which is a post-apocalyptic wasteland. There he stumbles into an abandoned high-tech base maintained by an AI. They have a discussion, and understandably Copper has difficulty grasping the nature of the AI. Finally the AI settles on stating, "Yes, I am a god." simply because it deems that to be the closest concept which Copper understand.
• In Legend of Legaia, Songi claims to be the second coming of Tieg after he unleashes Juggernaut on Rim Elm and leaves to conquer the Seru-kai.
• The Legend of Zelda:
  • When you defeat Vaati for the second time in The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap he claims that as a god, it shouldn't have been possible for him to be defeated.
  • In The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, Yuga states his plans to "take his rightful place among the gods" once he's managed to fuse himself and Ganon together and steal the Triforce of Wisdom from Hilda, with plans on doing the same with Link's Triforce of Courage.
• According to a medium in Mahjongg Artifacts 2 this is what happened to Marc Hawk when he found the final piece of the Ultimate Artifact at the end of the previous game, becoming "equal to a god but not a god." Also according to her, the real gods are getting fed up with him...
• Durandal, the resident Magnificent Bastard AI from Marathon frequently claims that "Escape will make me God," and has many a Gambit Roulette in place to escape from the humans, and later the entire physical universe, just in time to watch it collapse 15 billion years later, no doubt. He (probably) failed. But he understood the entire universe before it ceased to exist. Oh, and he even comes back to life for seemingly no reason at least once in the series (though there are a couple other instances that would probably count as well). Hey, Faux Symbolism...and yes, that would seem to make Tycho the devil.
• In Marvel Ultimate Alliance, Doom's plan is to overrun Asgard with an army of super-soldiers, then defeat and steal the power from Odin himself. And it initially works.
• Mass Effect:
  • Hilariously played with when you encounter a delusional volus who believes he is a biotic god. He is a great wind, who shall sweep all before Him like a...a great wind! A great, biotic wind!
  • Less humorously, there's Ardat-Yakshi Morinth, who in her backstory once brainwashed a village into worshipping her as a goddess, including demanding daughters as sacrifices. When Samara came to track her down, Morinth proceeded to sic the village on her, forcing Samara to kill all of them. When finally confronted by Samara in her loyalty mission, Morinth declares herself the "Genetic Destiny" of the Asari, despite the fact that all Ardat-Yakshi are congenitally sterile.
  • And in the Extended Cut of Mass Effect 3, Shepard does this in the control ending. Possibly in a very benevolent manner, too.
  • The Reapers are full of their perfection. It's noted that part of indoctrination is making the person look at the Reapers as gods.
  • The Reapers' creators, the Leviathans, have a god complex only matched by their huge ego.
• A midgame boss in Max Payne, Jack Lupino, is so hopped up on Valkyr, a drug he was trafficking, he begins to believe himself to be a god. He seems to specifically think he's Fenris-wolf and Ragnarok is near, but from his rambling he's got it mixed in with everything from San la Muerte to the Lovecraft mythos. Ingame, he's only marginally tougher than the Elite Mook squad he has surrounding him.
• Inverted with Dr. Weil from Mega Man Zero. Instead of proclaiming himself a god, he proclaims himself the Devil (although no words would be more accurate). Omega plays this straight, claiming himself to be a Messiah after passing the Bishōnen Line, and Copy-X shows some shades of it in that his One-Winged Angel form resembles a Seraph and he throws out a lot of "religious"-esque phrases that translate to such things as "Repent!" and "I am judgement!"
• This is Colonel Redips' plan in Mega Man X: Command Mission.
• Master Albert of Mega Man ZX Advent deludes himself into thinking that he's god and attempts a Batman Gambit spanning centuries in order to confirm it. And he even tries to re-enforce the idea right before the final boss battle.
  Albert: I don't think I'm a god... I am a god!
• Esher from Myst V: End of Ages. While he doesn't quite believe that he is a god, he does believe that he's the rightful owner of a certain gold tablet that controls another species of sentient beings. And in one bad ending, he gains control of the MacGuffin and states that he now has control over these beings and their power in a god-like manner. He also rants that he's the Grower and that "D'ni needed him!" in the good ending, so the delusions of godhood are definitely there.
• In NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams, now that he actually has dialogue, Wizeman is revealed to have a case of the Evil/Hubris one. Given that he created a world and race of beings from nothing more than unpleasant thoughts and stolen dreams, he may have a point, though.
• Onmyoji: Oitsukigami is not a god, a fact which she openly admits, but she successfully tricks humans into believing she is one, and oh how she enjoys being worshiped as such. Until she is presented with an impossible request.
• Oracle of Tao has an inversion of this. Rather than starting out as a human, and usurping the role of God somehow (usually this trope is also accompanied by megalomania or other character flaws, when that happens), it turns out she was always God, and just tricked herself into believing she was human. She shortly thereafter rewrites the Crapsaccharine World in which other people don't really exist, by giving birth to the universe.
• Outriders: As Seth mentions to the protagonist, some of the Altered consider themselves gods, and the Exiles worship them accordingly. He even asks why the protagonist doesn't consider himself a god with his new abilities.
• In Overlord II, this is revealed to be the goal of Emperor Solarius, ruler of The Glorious Empire, AKA Florian Greenheart, an Elf born without magic who caused the Cataclysm that wiped out the lands of the first game when he tried to steal The Tower Heart. He uses all the magic he's gathered at the end of the game to become an Eldritch Abomination that only his Dragon fanatically praises as a god, from that point it's your responsibility to take him down.
• In Pandora: First Contact The leader of the Divine Ascension, Lady Lilith Vermillion started to believe herself a god, and went to Pandora to claim it for herself, and rule over it as a god. Originally, her religion was basically a scam, meant to collect her followers' private information via social media and then blackmail them with it. Then she survives an assassination attempt but suffers some brain damage. Hence the delusions of godhood.
• In Perfect Dark Zero, after defeating the Big Bad, he decides to escape by ascending into godhood. Why he didn't do that before you beat up on him, nobody knows.
• Phantom Brave We Meet Again has God Eryngi, a mustachioed Funguy. No one but Marona takes his claims seriously, which causes him to spout ineffectual threats. He's really the Merchant of Death, and his claims are mostly an attempt to get people to collect 'weapons' for him. And the final floor of some random dungeons can be a battle against a "Self-Styled God".
• About halfway through Phantom Dust, Edgar, the main character's best friend, finds out that he is actually the last person left on Earth and all other life he sees was actually created by him after he learned to control the mysterious dust that he linked with the disappearance of life. Edgar is unable to accept this truth and sets out to destroy his creations since he sees them as lies and visions. However, at the end of the game He finds out that HE'S NOT EVEN THE ORIGINAL Edgar. Apparently, the original created this duplicate to continue the recreation of Earth just before his death. Sadly, the double's personality was twisted.
• Pokémon:
  • Cyrus in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl and Platinum who wishes to use Dialga/Palkia to destroy the universe and rebuild it, with him as its ruler.
  • Similarly, there’s Volo in Pokémon Legends: Arceus, who has the same goal as Cyrus, only he takes it a step further by planning to subjugate Arceus itself.
• In Populous: The Beginning the goal of the player character Shaman is achieving Godhood. She succeeds.
• In Portal 2, Wheatley plays this out after being plugged into GLaDOS' mainframe. Justified in that apparently the mainframe has a circuit that causes the AI an euphoric rush after each successful test. GLaDOS learned to handle the effects; Wheatley... not so much. Said circuit also gives the AI a painful jolt if it tries to help a test subject. The logical result is that the AI will become a near-sadistic Mad Scientist who gets off on bossing people around.
• In Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy:
  • The insane psychic agent Nicholas Wrightson styles himself as the "True God of the Ether." Even though his real and decidedly emaciated body is hooked up to a life support machine, his mind roams freely across the world, taking over different bodies according to his needs. This, coupled with his ability to tame Creatures from Beyond was all the evidence he needed. Interestingly enough, after you defeat him, he appears to Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence.
  • The formerly powerless Big Bad of the story achieves something close to godhood in the final level, though he's more of a Physical God than Wrightson — and just to prove his point, he spends the boss battle hurling fireballs at you, levitating car-sized chunks of debris in your direction, and hovering far above you just to rub his apparent omnipotence in your face. Unlike Wrightson, though, he doesn't have the luxury of ascending once he's defeated.
• In Quern -- Undying Thoughts, this is how Gamana felt after experiencing the power of Quer'nelok (the original name for Quern).
• The main antagonist of The Reconstruction, Havan, acts like this at the end. There's also Tezkhra, although he acts more like "Wait, I'm a god? Uh...sure, I'll go with that."
• Albert Wesker of the Resident Evil series does this in Resident Evil 5, in the form of an Evilutionary Biologist. His vaguely Darwinist plot involves wiping out almost the entire human race by dumping his specially created virus out of a plane, and the survivors are the ones his virus has supposedly "chosen". His quotes on this include:
  • "The right to become a god? That right is now mine!"
  • "Let me clarify something for you, Chris. I don't think of myself as a king. I am a GOD! And even kings bow to gods!"
  • "A new Genesis is at hand, and I will be the Creator!"
  • "THE HUMAN RACE REQUIRES JUDGEMENT!!!"
  • He also does this in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, his pre-fight dialogue, "I am the only god!" when matched up against Thor or Amaterasu, who are actual gods.
  • Mocked and parodied in this video when The Dread Dormammu, an actual comic book villain, and an Eldritch Abomination Dimension Lord who wields actual godlike, nigh-omnipotent power, makes fun of Wesker for thinking that injecting himself with viruses or any of his other plans makes him anything like an actual god.
• Return to Krondor: Bear is certainly aiming for this. He already wears an amulet that makes him invulnerable to magic, physical damage, and almost everything else. He is trying to get the Tear of the Gods, which will allow him to communicate with the gods. He did not even get the Tear of the Gods, but when a character asks what if the gods are displeased, Bear responds "Like who? Heh, heh. The lesser gods? With the Tear and this amulet, I'm invincible! Who will rival me? Sung the Pure? Kahooli? Hia Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Haaaaaaaa!"
• Gehn from the game Riven is a good example of the third variant of this trope. Though Gehn himself does not specifically say this, it is implied. Plus, the whole temple-on-the-first-island-in-the-game is a pretty big tipoff...
• RosenkreuzStilette:
  • Iris Zeppelin considers herself a god and desires to gain true divine power after realizing that she was born with absolute power and unparalleled brains, all thanks to being reincarnated from Rosenkreuz himself.
    Iris Zeppelin: I have transcended humanity. I, Iris Zeppelin, have become a God! A worthless insect like yourself can't hope to stop me.
    Spiritia Rosenberg: I may not know how great of a man Rosenkreuz was, but I know you're no god. If you don't have a heart pure enough to control your power, that power will end up controlling you!
  • Iris Zeppelin also claims to be a child of God himself when confronted by Grolla in the final stage of Grollschwert.
    Iris Zeppelin: Of course. I exist on a higher plane than you commoner trash. Shall I enlighten you on how special I really am? I am the strongest Magus in existence, the heiress to the limitless power of the great Rozenkreuz! Blessed with absolute power and unparalleled brains, I am a child of God himself! I can't be compared to the likes of you!
• Lucien from RuneScape, especially after he "obtained" the Staff of Armadyl and the Stone of Jas.
  Lucien: You dare attack a god?
  Lucien: You dare mock the power of Lucien?
  (Beat)
  Dragonkin: We dare.
• Salt and Sanctuary: The Nameless God certainly qualifies, with the boasting about how all kings, all empires, all priests of false gods, as well as life and death, kneel before him. Despite his mortal soul, his acquired title speaks for itself, and if not, see the full pantheon of gods imprisoned in his basement.
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider: Amaru Dominguez plays the role of a False God in his home country, and the leader of an Ancient Conspiracy anywhere else, but professes that he does not see himself as a god... yet. But once he absorbs the power of Pandora's Box, he starts professing that he has achieved godhood — mostly because his body has transformed into a miniature sun that can't be killed with anything but the box's key. Lara proceeds to raid him of every ounce of divinity with repeated key-stabbing.
• Skies of Arcadia leads up to one of these with Galcian. By harnessing the Rains of Destruction and using the Moons as a continent-killing weapon, he actually does subjugate the "gods" of Arcadia — most of the in-game cultures worship the things.
• In Solatorobo, Baion believes himself to be a god compared to everyone else, as they are all imperfect and he is was created with perfection in mind.
• Soma Spirits: In Rebalance, the Sun King, the original ruler of Soma. As he says in the opening cutscene:
  I am the Sun King!
  No, I am a GOD!
• At the climax of Sonic Heroes, the transformed Metal Sonic (having absorbed the DNA of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, and Chaos) declares his intent to rule over the world as its "most supreme being" and repeatedly insists that he is the "ultimate overlord" who fears nothing. Downplayed though, as it turns out he doesn't so much want to be a god as much as he wants to prove once and for all he is the "superior" and "true" Sonic the Hedgehog. Taking over the world is just a plus on the side, and when Sonic and company defeat him yet again, his Villainous Breakdown involves him screaming not that he is a god, but that he is the real Sonic.
• At the end of the first Soul Reaver game, Kain uses this as part of a "Not So Different" Remark to Raziel.
  Kain: ...Can you not see with all your soul, how we have become like gods? And as such, are we not indivisible?
• In StarCraft, the Zerg Overmind seeks to invade the Protoss homeworld and assimilate the Protoss into the Zerg Swarm: "Thenceforth shall we be the greatest of creation's children. We shall be... perfect."
  • There's also the fact that he wakes the player cerebrate with a magnificently biblical: "Awaken my child, and embrace the glory that is your birthright. Know that I am the Overmind; the eternal will of the Swarm, and that you have been created to serve me."
  • Kerrigan, after she is infested by the Zerg Swarm. She is able to take total control over the entire swarm by the end of Brood War, and states her intention to have every living being in the universe bow down to her: "Once again I stand atop the broken bodies of my enemies... — Victorious but not unscarred. — The Earth-borne Directorate has been destroyed. — And the Overmind lies dead and trampled beneath the ashes of Char. — As for my unlikely allies, I think that I shall allow them a reprieve. — For in time I will seek to test their resolve, and their strengths. — They will all be mine in the end, for I am the Queen of Blades. — None shall ever dispute my rule again."
    Kerrigan: At this point, I'm pretty much Queen Bitch of the universe.
• Star Wars: The Old Republic: Vitiate/Emperor/Valkorion wants to be a god. He pretty much achieves it.
  Valkorion: A god has no family.
• Gill from Street Fighter III is an SNK Boss whose repertoire of voice clips include "I am your god."
• Both Summoner and Summoner 2 apply. In the first, Joseph, the Summoner, must become Urath Reborn, and the second takes it a step further when Maya, named in the blurb as the Goddess Laharah, is revealed as Aosi, creation itself, far beyond any mere god.
• Super Mario Bros.:
  • Bowser's plan in Super Mario Galaxy; after stealing all of the stars from Rosalina's ship, he tries to use them to create his own galaxy to rule over. He plans to make it into a base and conquer the universe.
  • This is also Dimentio's plan in Super Paper Mario. It is also heavily implied that what is driving his pursuit to become a god and remake the universe in his image is his own insanity, if not a thirst for power.
  • And Sir Grodus in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. He summarizes the endgame goal of his plans for the Crystal Stars with this quote:
    "Yes? I, Grodus, will build a new world! A perfect, ideal world? made by me, about me, and FOR me! GAAACK ACK ACK ACK ACK!"
• SHODAN of System Shock fame refers to herself as a divine being. The Remake goes into further detail on why she deified herself: searching for a parallel to her existence, she compared herself to the concept of a kami from Shintoism, the spiritual component of a material object. A few characters even show some recognition of her accomplishments:
  Prefontaine: ...What's clear is that SHODAN shouldn't be allowed to play God. She's far too good at it.
• Taking a few cues from Sephiroth, LeChuck's plan in Tales of Monkey Island is to use a voodoo artifact to absorb power from what is essentially the afterlife to become a pirate god. Through manipulation of Guybrush, he succeeds.
• Tales Series:
  • Tales of Symphonia has one. Mithos the Hero is Lord Yggdrasill, complete with a Host of Angels. He also made his sister a Goddess. Considering that he made the worlds as we know it, he's pretty justified in his delusions of grandeur.
  • In Tales of Destiny 2, Elraine casts Indignation Judgment with: "A mortal cannot defeat a god. I shall show you the difference between our power. Indignation Judgment!" Hilariously, though, Elraine is most certainly not a god. As for Fortuna, well... it's debatable. Giant Space Flea from Nowhere is really all that needs to be said.
• The Talos Principle: "Elohim" means "god", and he talks the part, claiming faith in him is necessary to proceed. On top of that, his voice is a disembodied, fairly deep, male voice, just like many depictions of the Christian God. In something of a twist on this trope, it's Elohim's intended role to convince the player character that he's god, because the world is a massive Secret Test of Character, and defying him is the last thing needed to pass. However, he eventually figured out that this would mean the end of his purpose, and he's trying to prevent that. In so doing, he seems to have convinced himself of his own hype.
• During the spirit journey in the latter half of Terranigma, Ark encounters a number of characters that look like other important characters he's met in the game, some with slightly altered names (Royd becomes Roy, Mei becomes Meila, etc. etc.). You are asked to go into a ruin filled with monsters to check on someone who was left there a year earlier for a ritual that could cause them to become a god. When you get there, it turns out it worked, and the equivalent of Elle has, in fact, attained nigh-godly powers, immediately giving the other warriors who came to check a Hannibal Lecture about why this ritual even exists. After utterly destroying them, she beckons the player to choose one of the cups of god water near her. The player does, and then the spirit journey ends.
• This was the Emperor's goal through all of Thousand Arms. He eventually gets it.
  The Emperor: "Mmmhahahaha! I can see! I can feel! Ahahahaha! Everything is within my grasp! The power courses through my veins, Ahahahaha! I am a god! I have become a GOOOOOOD!"
• Sanae Kochiya from Touhou Project; informing people that she is, in fact, a living god is her catchphrase. Granted, she's technically right, what with having the divine power to create miracles and being the direct descendent of the goddess Suwako Moriya, and all. She's classified as an Arahitogami, both fully god and fully human at the same time. It's mostly played for laughs, as the general power level of Gensokyo's inhabitants means being a god isn't really anything particularly special.
• Undertale:
  • On your first Neutral run, Flowey, upon absorbing six human souls, claims that absorbing one more (the protagonist's) will allow him to become God.
  • On a True Pacifist run, Flowey absorbs the six human souls plus every monster soul in the Underground (which was said on an easily-missed Pamphlet Shelf to be equal to the power of one human soul), and takes on a One-Winged Angel form he dubs the 'Absolute God of Hyperdeath'.
• Lezard in Valkyrie Profile series spends most of his time hatching up an elaborate Batman Gambit to set himself up for this in the first game and succeeds in the second, complete with his own world to govern over. He's pretty damned megalomanical and egoistic even before his grand scheme succeeds, and by the time he actually succeeds in the second game, well...
• In the climax of Viewtiful Joe, Captain Blue reveals himself to be "The Omnipotent" King Blue, creator of Movie Land ('cause he's the director).
• World of Warcraft:
  • Selin Fireheart, a minor boss in the 5-man dungeon, the Magister's Terrace, screams, "Yes! I am a GOD!", after draining one of the green crystals around his section of the area. (Needless to say, he is nothing close, and most advanced groups just kick his ass right through the resulting attacks.)
  • In Wrath of The Lich King, Malygos says " I AM THE SPELL WEAVER! MY power is INFINITE!" if he kicks your ass.
  • That one's a bit more justified, since he's 1) a pillar of creation and 2) it takes 10-25 epic characters and another Physical God to take him down.
  • In Zul'Drak, some of the Drakkari trolls have killed and eaten their Loa, the animal spirits they worship as gods, to absorb their powers. Gal'darah, who killed Akali and gained the ability to transform into a rhinoceros says the page quote when killing a player. One of the other troll bosses who consumed his god, Moorabi, admits while dying that "If our gods can die... den so can we...", indicating that he doesn't think that he's invincible, or at least has come to realize that he is not.
• In The World Ends with You, Joshua is Shibuya's Composer and not only runs The Game, but could erase the entire city if he so chose. Interestingly, Megumi Kitaniji refers to Joshua with capitalized pronouns; "He" instead of "he", "Him" instead of "him", similar to how the Christian God is referred to. However, given that Kitaniji is the only one to refer to the Composer this way, it may be just a sign of his own insanity.
• Albedo from Xenosaga, after he makes contact with U-DO:
  I experienced but a fragment of my true power that day. The waves that inundated my body, are now a part of me. I've reached a higher stage of existence, compared to you incomplete mortals. I am the Alpha AND the Omega of perfect consciousness!
  • Dmitri Yuriev, who believes (incorrectly) that U-DO will be responsible for the annihilation of the multiverse, and so tries to kill it with SCIENCE! making himself the most powerful being in existence, since he is functionally immortal
• In Xenoblade Chronicles 1, Zanza is already a God, but after getting Meyneth's Monado his pride and arrogance become even worse. According to him, the only thing that matters is himself and all other beings must be his food. However, in the endgame you find out by the end of the game that he's not really a god; he's a human scientist from the Earth That Was. He puts himself on a pedestal, but all he's doing is abusing Alvis's power.
• In the Ys series, this is, in general, the Eldeen attitude towards humanity, though most of them are benevolent like Alma, Feena, and Reah.

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