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Faux Affably Evil / Video Games

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Faux Affably Evil in Video Games.

  • Advance Wars: Days of Ruin:
    • Waylon manages to avoid this despite the whole 'climbing his way to luxury on the back of everyone else' deal. Nothing says this trope like saying the army opposing him is "up in my business", while leaving his injured wingmen behind to keep from slowing him down in the same scene. (Luckily, the heroes took them in.)
    • "Admiral" Grayfield rolls in this trope like a pig in mud, owing to his psychotic ambition, Big Bad Wannabe status, and his obsession with appearing to be a polite, respectable leader. To nobody's surprise, "Captain" Waylon ends up as his dragon.
  • Alpha Protocol has Konstantin Brayko, a brutal Russian mob boss who is a rather sadistic and brutal individual, but ends up more entertaining than disgusting due to a strange obsession with the 80s and just how plain loopy he is.
  • Baron Alexander from Amnesia: The Dark Descent is the portrait of courtesy when he hires Wilhelm to kidnap random people, all of whom Alexander tortures to death. He maintains his friendly veneer right until the moment hemurders Wilhelm, mutilates his corpse, then brings him back to life as a mindless drone. Arguably, subverted in Alexander's relationship with Daniel, whom he appears to genuinely care for. He still betrays him, though.
  • The titular Amanda the Adventurer presents herself as a chipper little girl, when she's really an Eldritch Abomination with little to no regard for her "friend" Wooly's well-being, often treating him dismissively or outright bullying him. It's also all but stated that she was responsible for Wooly "tripping" and hurting his knee in the accident-episode and would later perform a "surgery" as an excuse to kill him to prevent him from exposing her. Amanda also doesn’t take kindly to the player repeatedly trying to go off script; during the first rendition of the injuries tape, if the player repeatedly gives the wrong answer for who can help them, this exchange happens:
    Amanda: (after standing perfectly still for several seconds) “WHY ARE YOU EVEN HERE?!”
    • Made more the case in the new demo, when Wooly finds the courage to openly defy her and warns you to destroy the tapes, Amanda gets downright furious, briefly sporting one hell of a Nightmare Face before brutally killing him.
  • ANNO: Mutationem: C seemingly acts a collectively composed man. As he discusses the extent of his Evil Plan to his subordinates and casually dismisses his co-workers protest, they immediately call out on how insane he actually is. Overtime, the mask starts to crack apart as he realizes that his scheme is on the verge of being thwarted and forsakes his original plan to launching an assault against The Consortium to prevent anyone else from getting in his way.
  • Baldi's Basics in Education and Learning: Baldi at first seems like a friendly Cool Teacher, but as soon as you get a problem wrong, he turns into a psychopath.
  • Baldur's Gate III has the chosen one of the god of tyranny, Bane, Lord Enver Gortash. On the surface, he seems like a genuinely pleasant and upfront man even after you know about what he's done, and gives the Player Character a genuine We Can Rule Together offer. He's even more affable to the Dark Urge, given the history between the two of them. However, his affability as he commits numerous atrocities in pursuit of power only serves to highlight his monstrous nature. For instance, he greets his Arch-Enemy Karlach as if she's an old colleague and seems taken aback when she lashes out at him for ruining her life, as if he can't comprehend why she would take it so personally.
  • Bendy and the Ink Machine gives us Joey Drew. As Henry's "best pal," he wrote him a letter to invite him back to their old studio. He also recorded inspirational speeches about the power of dreams. But in one audio recording in Chapter 4, Joey drops his light-hearted act halfway through such a speech because he didn't realize that the tape recorder was still on. He reveals himself to be a Jerkass who doesn't even believe in the dreams he uses to inspire others, and he's simply exploiting his employees.
  • BlazBlue:
  • Borderlands:
    • Handsome Jack in Borderlands 2, best shown in some points in the Southern Shelf. If you're doing the main quest, he banters with the player in a way that's not entirely friendly but seems more jokey than anything else (for example, he tells you that he was thinking of naming his diamond horse "Piss-for-Brains" in your honor). If you're doing a sidequest to collect some audio recordings of him, however, he puts on a seemingly apologetic pose when Helena Pierce tells him the cause of her scarring, then casually guns her down and laughs about the noise her head made when he shot her in the face.
    • Tyreen Calypso from Borderlands 3 acts like a goofy Youtube celebrity, but she's a ruthless killer on a quest for godhood.
  • Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow has Graham Jones. He seems to be a polite character inside the titular castle, visiting as a missionary from a church. However, his niceness turns out to be a ruse. His true motives are revealed when Soma reaches the Clock Tower, where he grows more aware of Soma and his allies. Namely, he thinks he's Dracula reincarnated and is desperate to claim his power.
  • In Chicken Feet, Eric never lets up from his sweet and kindly voice, even after it's revealed that he's really a sociopath who has no issues with ordering you killed or experimenting on and mutating a work colleague.
  • Crescent Prism: Even after he's exposed as a megalomaniacal conqueror, Count Chroma acts like a polite, yet condescending gentleman while in his normal state. In his red state, he goes mad with power and drops all pleasantries in favor of being a loud, Ax-Crazy lunatic.
  • Monaca Towa from Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls at first glance seems to be a nice and cheerful girl in a wheelchair, but is really a manipulative psychopath who deliberately triggers the other Warriors' past traumas and plays mind games with people while maintaining a cutesy façade. It helps that she's the protégé of series antagonist Junko Enoshima, who also falls into this herself and has similar dealings with her own followers.
  • Tyrone King, evil game show host and The Heavy of Dead Rising 2. When everything is going right for him, T.K. displays an affable (if condescending) demeanor towards Chuck, even calling him "Chucky". When the chips are down, however, he drops the act and makes it clear that he's willing to put Chuck's loved ones in danger just to get back at him. Which he does in Overtime Mode.
  • Danik from Dead Space 3 is a departure from the usual crazy, screaming psychopaths or undead alien horrors that are the usual enemies. He's still ruthless and remorseless, but he's soft-spoken and almost hilariously polite even in the worst of situations. For example, take his line after Isaac escapes from yet another attempt by Danik to have him killed: "Isaac? Is that you? You are unbelievably hard to kill. Are you aware of that?"
  • Deltarune: Unlike his son Lancer and wife Queen, King likes to feign charisma and sympathy just to have his enemies let their guards down as shown in the page image.
  • Donkey Kong: King K. Rool, unlike Bowser, only uses his charisma as a facade. He's in fact a Bad Boss who, despite his charisma, is a cruel and brutish villain with few redeeming qualities.
  • Dragon Ball Fighter Z: Evil 21 loves to play at being nice and say lovingly sweet things to the other characters. However, this is solely because she's thinking of how tasty they'll be when she finally gets to eat them.
  • Demigra, the Big Bad of Dragon Ball Xenoverse, acts polite towards the heroes, but it's clear that he means none of it. When things start going south for him, he drops the act completely and shows himself to be a rage-fueled monster.
  • Dragon Quest:
    • Dragon Quest: Every time the Dracolord is initially confronted, he'll regard his challenger with a respectful tone and an altogether welcoming attitude, giving credit for all they've accomplished to reach him, and inevitably making them an offer. Of course, the offer is just a means to try and get his foe's guard down, as he will swiftly dispatch them the moment they expose themselves as any kind of vulnerable.
    • Dragon Quest XI: Mordegon speaks in a professional manner, but he's the biggest threat to Erdrea and an overall sadistic guy.
  • Dyztopia: Post-Human RPG:
    • President Zazz speaks formally to Akira at first and thanks them for delivering Virgo and Pisces to Zetacorp, but when they discuss Akira's plans to retire from being a hunter, he makes it clear that he sees everyone around him as tools and that he wants to milk Akira's abilities for all they're worth, whether they like it or not. He at least has the decency to pay for their next party as a reward for finding a Zodiac Stone, but this is a carrot-and-stick deal to keep them loyal, and he actually plans on having them killed. Later, he discusses this trope by complaining about how cumbersome it is to maintain appearances in front of the public when he really holds them all in contempt.
    • Akari is the well-mannered and composed aide to President Zazz, but her demeanor is revealed to be a Mask of Sanity. When Zazz orders her to kill Detritus, she does so with a Slasher Smile on her face and it's revealed she's just as bloodthirsty as the president. The mask repeatedly slips over the course of the story and she eventually reveals that she wants to create a world of suffering, all while singing happy birthday to herself.
    • Played with when it comes to Clyde, who seems like yet another friendly Hunter to Akira, but Genesis warns Akira that he has a sinister side, which is proven true when he murders a bouncer in cold blood while continuing to make thinly veiled threats against Rosie in the most polite way possible. He takes sadistic pleasure in hurting people with his esper powers and playing mind games with them. However, he later reveals that he has to brainwash himself into acting presentable to others, and he's just an openly rude Jerkass in his default state of mind.
    • Sho is a smooth-talking and bombastic entertainer with a morbid sense of humor, but is also very greedy for ratings and is willing to side with Zeta for the sake of his show biz career. When he traps Akira in a hunting game, he maintains his cheerful persona while relishing in Akira's impending doom.
    • Prime Minister Morgalia acts like a worried mother who wants to reconcile with her daughter Chase, but in reality, she still has the same abusive mindset that caused Chase to run away in the first place and she cares more about controlling Chase than actually repairing their relationship. When Chase rejoins the party, Morgalia speaks to the party with Sugary Malice while making it clear that she's going to have Clyde brainwash Chase and that she's going to blow up the Vulcanite mines to frame Akira's resistance movement.
    • In the February 2024 update, the party can meet a robot, Detritus Seven, who acts polite to his younger brother Eleven, but likes to remind the latter that the former is Zazz's favorite. He's also surprisingly accommodating with helping the party, since he assumes they're just obedient miners. Once he reconnects to Zazz's network and learns the truth that the party is rebelling against his father, he drops all pleasantries and tries to kill them. He also declares his intent to kill Twelve for little to no reason at all, despite how she's still on the same side as him, making it clear that he holds all his siblings in contempt. After the battle, the party learns that he committed numerous war crimes and atrocities in Vulcanite with sadistic glee, showing that his earlier behavior was merely a Mask of Sanity.
  • The Elder Scrolls series:
    • This is a trait of Molag Bal, the Daedric Prince of Domination and Corruption, and quite possibly the closest thing to a true God of Evil in the ES universe. Molag Bal can actually act pleasant and polite, but he is not nice. At all. One of his favorite things is to corrupt a good and noble mortal, then seeing them snap, fall, or break. His methods include Cold-Blooded Torture, Manipulation, and even outright Mind Rape. He especially loves it when mortals do this to each other. One of Molag Bal's most infamous acts (and that is really saying something) was to perpetrate the first rape, turning the innocent woman into the first vampire, who proceeded to rape and kill the nomads who cared for her and bringing undeath into Mundus (the mortal plane).
    • The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim also has Harkon, who initially presents as relatively polite when the Dragonborn escorts to him his missing daughter, Serana. He not only largely presents himself as polite (if intimidating), he offers them a chance to be a very powerful vampire within his clan, and even lets them walk away alive if they refuse. That said, it's all a smokescreen; he needs Serana to use her blood (and the Elder Scroll she carries) for a prophesy, which was the only reason he was grateful enough for the previously mentioned courtesies, and has plans that will destroy the world.
  • Elohim Eternal: The Babel Code: The real villains of the game, the Kosmokraters, act calm and polite to the party when they meet in the ending. They maintain this demeanor even as they threaten to blow up all of Idin with infernos while making it clear that they see Idinites as slaves and Cainites as sport.
  • Eternal Twilight: Azael and the Blood Council members' lines are filled with sarcastic wit and false compliments, all meant to mock their enemies and remind the party that they're very useful pawns. At the same time, they like to rub in the party's past traumas regarding the empire's atrocities, knowing full well that they of the Blood Council are indirectly responsible for these events.
  • Reaver in Fable III is perhaps the best example for video games. As his voice actor stated in the third video diary:
    "Reaver is not as much immoral as amoral; he has no morality whatsoever — he doesn't even have a concept of morality."
  • Fallout 3:
    • Mr. Burke acts polite even as he tries to convince the Lone Wanderer to blow up Megaton.
    • Colin Moriarty is a better example, acting like he is your friend while charging an unfair amount of caps when you ask for information on your dad.
      Lucas Simms: Just be careful. Moriarty is NOT your friend, no matter what he may say, so don't fall for his lies. And for god's sake, don't trust the man.
  • In Fallout: New Vegas, Caesar is the emperor of a horde of bloodthirsty, slaving misogynists modeled only very loosely after the Roman Empire of old. At first, he seems a lot more civil than his Legion. He portrays himself as Necessarily Evil, discusses his political philosophy comfortably and at length with references to Hegel and Roman history, and never says a misogynistic word to a female Courier despite the beliefs he has instilled in his Legion. Until, that is, the player dares to defy him and discovers the Hair-Trigger Temper and callous sadism beneath the charming mask.
  • Far Cry
    • Far Cry 3:
    • Far Cry 4:
      • Paul De Pleur is by far the most sadistic character in the game, but has the demeanor of a busy-body dad, only letting his sanity slip when he's unable to answer his daughter's phone call. Pleur's sole position in Min's administration is to torture people and chop them up afterward.
      • Pagan Min, on the other hand, is almost like a second lap of Troy Baker's turn as the Joker, right down to the flamboyant suit and Laughing Mad radio calls. He is ridiculously casual and polite to his subjects and enemies, only to spout his anger off in furious yet hilarious rants or bursts of extreme violence, depending on his mood. When a human rights organization criticized his rule, he invited the lead doctor and her family over, then kidnapped her family and forced her to run his blood sport arena as a twisted joke. He also had her family killed and has her in his control on the fake promise that one day she'll get them back. His manner when dealing with the main protagonist is noticeably familial, no matter how violent the subject of the conversation may be. In fact, the only person he isn't faking his affability to is literally the one person who can stop him. And you discover only at the very end that it was very much intentional.
    • Far Cry 5
      • Joseph Seed acts like a kind and empathetic preacher, but he has no qualms about killing or brainwashing anyone who opposes his church. His siblings are the same. Joseph becomes more genuinely affable in New Dawn, 17 years later, by which point he's had a Heel Realization, making him less "Evil" and more just "Creepy".
      • Mickey and Lou from New Dawn may seem friendly and reasonable, but it's obvious that they're cold-hearted killers. When they have Rush's group cornered early in the game, Mickey politely offers Rush a chance to join them. When Rush refuses, she calmy orders their deaths.
      • Joseph's bastard son Ethan has traits of this too. He behaves like a friendly, charismatic village leader, and he's not as foul-mouthed as the twins, but within a few seconds of meeting the Captain, he's going on an explosive, Vaas-y rant about how his father should have named him heir to the kingdom of New Eden instead of entrusting it to whoever found Joseph's book.
    • Far Cry Primal: Batari the Sun Daughter is a charismatic, sultry High Priestess who tries to seduce Takkar with a We Can Rule Together offer when they first meet, but beneath that shell, she's a vain, brutal, xenophobic tyrant who only cares about keeping the Izila on top of the other tribes, and herself on top of the Izila. She was even willing to burn her own son alive for rebelling against her.
  • Final Fantasy has several examples:
    • Final Fantasy VI has Kefka. He's a laughing, joking Monster Clown most of the time... at least until he decides to become a stone cold psychopath.
    • Final Fantasy VII:
      • Professor Hojo is a Mad Scientist who turns out to be ultimately responsible for most of the bad things that happen in the story, including involvement in Sephiroth's Start of Darkness, Cloud's Fake Memories, Aeris' abduction, the Clones' creation, and Sephiroth's summoning of Meteor (not to mention some boss battles and glossed-over physical and sexual abuse of Red XIII). But the whole time, his basic personality is comparatively normal by the standards of VII characters, if rude. He gets lots of witty lines, and is quite friendly (and popular?) when you meet him in Costa Del Sol, which just enhances the creepiness of the stuff he does.
      • Sephiroth is well-spoken and charming, but beneath the facade lies a self-centered schemer who is willing to manipulate, lie, and commit murder in pursuit of his goals.
    • Final Fantasy IX has Kuja. As poetic, sophisticated, and well-groomed as he seems to be, it is just an act to prove to himself and others that he's superior to normal people. In reality, he's cruel, selfish, and cunning, and starts to show his true colours in Disc 3 when things don't go just as he wanted.
    • Final Fantasy X's Seymour Guado invites the heroes to his mansion, lays out food for them before seeing them, proposes to the heroine, and acts generally mild-mannered and soft-spoken. But when the heroes prove to be detrimental to his plan to kill everyone in the world, he holds no qualms about unleashing the terrors of hell against them. Even when preparing to engage your party members, he manages to sound affable:
      "Ah, of course. 'Protect the summoner even at the cost of one's life.' The Code of the Guardian. How admirable. Well, if you're offering your lives, I will have to take them."
    • Final Fantasy XV has Ardyn Izunia, a grandiloquent, bohemian Chancellor who manages to be an Obviously Evil Card-Carrying Villain and nothing but friendly. He tries to justify his most villainous actions as him trying to kick the plot to get it moving according to what already was preordained to happen, and whether he has any agency or is simply a pinball of fate is debatable. His murders are near-exclusively of people who would have died soon anyway due to their own actions. His casual villainy seems to take a form closer to convoluted magic pranks, and seems to be an attempt to annoy Noct rather than inconvenience him. He spends the rest of the time making genuinely funny jokes, rescuing the heroes repeatedly, and at one point escorting them to their destination with bodyguards. Episode Prompto takes it into even a Trickster Mentor territory, implying that his reason for splitting the group up was in part to engineer a personal growth experience for Prompto. All of this, though, beguiles what an utter psychopath Ardyn is and the sheer petty lengths he'll go to so he can succeed.
  • Five Nights at Freddy's:
    • The killer, William Afton, manages to be this without even speaking. Wherever he goes, he wears a smile, and death usually follows. A great example would be in the Foxy mini-game in the second game. When Foxy comes out of Pirate Cove, he sees the killer smiling at him. The killer makes no attempt to harm Foxy, he just keeps smiling at him. When Foxy goes to see the children, he finds that the killer slaughtered them all. Five Nights At Freddys VR Help Wanted illustrates that he retains this sort of behavior as a Virtual Ghost, as he has a habit of standing in the lobby simply waving as he materializes and comes closer to getting what he wants. One ending has him dance around the game's lobby after he stuffs you in a Freddy Fazbear suit. Another ending has him peer inside a metal door's hatch, then shushing you, with the implication that he's not entirely sealed and you're at his mercy.
    • William's copycat killer, Vanny, isn't much better. She speaks to Gregory, a young boy, with a soft, gentle tone, even when she's trying to hunt him down. She also has a habit of skipping and dancing throughout the Pizzaplex while in full costume. Upon finding Gregory inside the Lost and Found, she takes a moment to wave through the window before entering.
  • Lord Brevon from Freedom Planet acts polite towards the heroes in a passive-aggressive, snarky way, but it's obvious that said politeness is simply his way of screwing with people and beneath the act lies a cruel, hateful sociopath.
  • Get in the Car, Loser!:
    • Gaius sounds more philosophical and polite than the average Machine Devil Cultist and expresses false reluctance over fighting Valentin, but he's just as bigoted and cruel as his allies.
    • Jonivanjo the Machine Devil doesn't bother putting up a front in the main timeline, but in the alternate timeline where he possesses Jo's body, he occasionally talks in a friendly manner towards Emily and Alt!Sam in order to guilt trip them and convince them to give up on saving the world.
  • God of War Ragnarök: Odin tries to play himself up as a reasonable authority figure when he first enters Kratos' home, but since everything that happened between the previous game and then can be traced back to him, not to mention how he treats Baldur's death like a tool breaking rather than his own son dying and doesn't even value Magni or Modi's deaths, there's heavy emphasis on "tries".
  • Grand Theft Auto
    • Donald Love from Grand Theft Auto III acts polite and refined, but he's an incredibly corrupt businessman who will gladly commit all sorts of crimes to extend his corporate empire. If that wasn't enough, he's also a cannibal and it's implied that he engages in necrophilia.
    • Ricardo Diaz from Grand Theft Auto: Vice City treats Tommy like a friend, but he's very unstable and loses his temper at the drop of a hat. Same goes for Sonny Forelli, who acts jovial towards Tommy, but drops the act and curses him out whenever he's displeased.
      • Jerry Martinez from Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories is initially friendly to Victor, but he gladly sells Victor out once the latter is no longer useful to him. There's also Armando Mendez, who acts like a gentleman, but will gleefully kill at the drop of a hat.
    • Frank Tenpenny from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas always takes on a friendly tone when interacting with CJ even as he's denigrating the latter and boasting about how much better he is. Ditto for Big Smoke, who appears to be friendly with a good sense of humor, until it is revealed that he is a self-centered, greedy, arrogant, treacherous, ambitious, delusional, and dangerous hypocrite who only joined the Grove Street Families so he could gain the wealth, fame, and power to keep his drug empire alive and running with help from the Ballas and Vagos.
    • Dmitri Rascalov from Grand Theft Auto IV initially comes across as polite and reasonable, especially compared to his Ax-Crazy boss Mikhail Faustin, but he quickly betrays Niko once the latter is no longer useful to him and periodically calls Niko afterward just to taunt him.
    • Devin Weston from Grand Theft Auto V acts jovial when getting the protagonists to do his dirty work, but he's a smug, self-righteous prick who thinks that his money and connections make him invincible. His partner in crime Steve Haines also acts nice when dealing with the protagonists, but he has no problem with ordering innocent people tortured or killed and he loses his cool whenever his ego is bruised.
  • Domino Hurley from Grim Fandango is charismatic and wants to take Manny under his wing so he can groom him for success. He also uses slave labor (and child labor) in his business and is in on Hector LeMans' conspiracy to steal tickets from good souls.
  • The Big Bad of Impossible Mission, Dr. Elvin Atombender, tries his hand at this trope at the very beginning of the game:
    "Another visitor. Stay awhile. Stay FOREVER!"
  • Kid Icarus: Uprising's Hades loves making jokes and almost always has a smile on his face, to the point he becomes Laughably Evil. However, it takes all of half a chapter from his introduction for him to reveal his cruel, calculating nature in that he happily instigates a massive war amongst humanity for a fake wish-granting artifact for his own amusement. The later chapters have him belting out some pretty below-the-belt jabs at Pit for releasing the Chaos Kin on the world and delighting at the possibility that Pit will have to kill the possessed Palutena. The end-game finally shows that he started or contributed to all the conflicts in the game specifically so he could harvest the souls of the dead humans to both create more monsters and eat for enjoyment and reveals that under that joking demeanor is a being who delights in suffering and despises the thought of anyone defying him.
  • Kingdom Hearts: Master Xehanort and most of his incarnations are polite and eloquent, especially when they explain their evil plans. Despite that, they're all sociopaths who don't care how many worlds they have to ruin to gain the power and knowledge of Kingdom Hearts.
  • Kirby:
    • Marx from Kirby Super Star. He starts out as one of the cheery denizens of Dream Land who is concerned about the sun and moon fighting, and sends Kirby on his mission to gather all the star power in the planets surrounding Popstar to summon Galactic Nova. This is until Kirby summons Nova, at which Marx promptly kicks Kirby away to die in the depths of space, steals his wish, and reveals himself to be the reason why the sun and moon are fighting. Then, when he returns in Kirby Star Allies as a Dream Friend, his pause description outside of Guest Star states that his sudden Heel–Face Turn to be "unbelievable", and states that he won't cause any more trouble as long as he's well-fed, assuming that was why he tricked the sun and moon into fighting. The Japanese, Chinese, and Korean versions, however, get straight to the point that Marx is only siding with Kirby because he fears the actions of the Jambastion cult might endanger his own safety and the planet he wishes to rule, so he pulls an Enemy Mine to stop them, thereby confirming that Marx still isn't a good guy.
    • Kirby: Triple Deluxe has Queen Sectonia. While she clearly gives off an aura of grace and beauty, she's a sociopathic monarch who does nothing but treats her subordinates like shit when they tick her off, and doesn't mind about her kingdom one bit even if it means having to choking the life out its people to rule all of Popstar.
    • Kirby: Planet Robobot with President Haltmann is quite similar to Sectonia. While he's cordial and polite when meeting Kirby, he flips out and all grace goes right out the window once he gets his butt kicked. A similar thing can be said for his daughter Susie. Originally Affably Evil in her debut game, her Guest Star description in the Japanese, Chinese, and Korean versions of Star Allies suggest that she's putting on a friendly mask on her intent to mechanize more planets by saying that she'll spread smiles with science, and exterminate any savage that stands in her way.
    • Hyness in Kirby Star Allies doesn't even try to hide this. He first speaks in a slow, stilted manner, but it's fairly obvious from how he violently swatted away a weakened Zan Partizanne that he is an outright psycho who uses his generals like literal weapons. And that's even before you remove his mask.
  • HK-47 of Knights of the Old Republic is inordinately popular not simply because he is a ruthless assassin droid well versed in the art of death, but because of how much pleasure he receives from the task.
    "Statement: HK-47 is ready to serve, Master. Who would you like me to kill?"
  • In L.A. Noire, detective Roy Earle's smile never quite reaches his eyes; it's part of the thin veneer of friendliness that covers a hateful, corrupt person underneath.
  • David from The Last of Us, a personable, soft-spoken man who leads a gang of cannibals and and attempts to rape Ellie at the end of his boss battle.
  • The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky has Georg Weissmann, who poses as a harmless archaeologist at first. After his identity is revealed, he continues to give off the impression of a soft-spoken scholar, but he's a sadistic and arrogant Knight Templar underneath the façade, who only sees people as pawns to torment and brainwash.
  • Several The Legend of Zelda villains fit the bill:
  • Lie of Caelum: Kenzo is capable of sounding polite and refined, but he's really a smug Jerkass who is obsessed with upstaging Kyou and Miyu through any means necessary. His Establishing Character Moment is to apologize to Kyou and Miyu for stealing their kill, only to trap Miyu and threaten to kidnap her and to sexually assault her. According to his character profile on the game's website:
    A smooth-talker with the appearance of a charming gentleman, yet arrogant and dishonest.
  • King Boo in Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon talks to Luigi like he's having a friendly chat. He does this while explaining his plans to conquer the Mario world and has already proven to be perfectly willing to put the entire universe at risk if it means getting revenge.
  • The Illusive Man in Mass Effect is incredibly polite, classy, and cultured. Even when he gets pissed, he barely raises his voice at all. He does this just to make it very difficult for someone to tell whether he's lying or not. He drifts very clearly into this trope in the tie-in novels; while preparing a treacherous subordinate for a Fate Worse than Death, he speaks in a regretful tone about how there is nothing personal in this, how much he enjoyed working with him, and how sorry he is that he must make this necessary sacrifice. What separates him from true Affably Evil in this exchange is that it is personal (he was furious when the man betrayed Cerberus), he deliberately puts the man through more pain than is strictly necessary for the experiment, and he acknowledges to himself later on in the book that he had allowed his desire to see the hideous retribution in person cloud his judgement.
  • Master Detective Archives: Rain Code: Many of the antagonists possess a superficial charm while they commit rephrehensible acts.
    • Zilch Alexander first appears well-meaning to the protagonist when first meeting them, but in reality, Zilch is the first culprit, and only serves as a hitman for the Peacekeepers' agenda of executing any Master Detectives entering Kanai Ward. And that's before the main story even begins.
    • Peacekeeper director Yomi Hellsmile always speaks politely, likely as a way to charm his victims, but has no restraints on his actions and is willfully manipulative of everyone around him. He'll cross any line just to get what he wants.
    • Vice director Martina speaks in the same tone that Yomi does, and even uses her feminine charm to add to this deception. She's more reasonable than Yomi, but she's as willing to cross the same lines he does. At least, before her Heel–Face Turn.
    • Guillaume Hall adopts a cute highschool girl persona every time she speaks, but she is a maniacal Sadist who abuses her authority as a member of the Peacekeepers to severe degrees.
    • Amaterasu Corporation head researcher Dr. Huesca speaks with a polite tone to the Master Detectives. In reality, he's hiding his relationship with the aforementioned Yomi Hellsmile, and is willing to commit reprehensible things of his own, albeit most of it was by accident.
  • Skull Face from Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes is one of the most polite and well-spoken villains in the series. He is also quite possibly the most horrific, having done such things as having Paz tortured and gang-raped while forcing Chico to watch him do it, and then forced Chico to rape Paz himself.
  • Vice President Richard Hawk of Metal Wolf Chaos presents himself as a patriotic and charismatic politician in his televised propaganda. When faced with the hero, President Michael Wilson, he tends to be civil, snarky, and humorous while having a condescending tone. However, underneath all that charm and humor is a tyrant motivated by spite, jealousy, and ambition, to the point of trying to destroy the United States, along with the entire Earth, when Michael takes the country back from him.
    Richard: Chasing 15 million feet after me! Now that's love! Well, I love you too, Michael! I love you so much, I can't stand it. So much, I want to kill you!
  • Mr. TomatoS: Mr. Tomatos seems like a harmless guy at first glance, but if you anger him ten times, feed him enough food with his anger below 10, or just disregard his order to stay out of the game, he will end you.
  • Surprisingly, there's only one truly good example from the No More Heroes series. Destroyman adores causing pain and killing people, with a nasty Evil Laugh when he succeeds and a lot of Evil Gloating. Amazingly, he is really good at selling himself as a normal mailman. When he came back in the second game, however, one half of him was like his past self but more convincing...while the other half was Ax-Crazy, obviously angry but also really loving doing what he did.
  • Okage: Shadow King has Evil King Stanley Hihat Trinidad the XIV, a Living Shadow that spends most of the game attached to Ari. Despite being a Harmless Villain (most of the time), making it no secret that he intends to take over the world, he provides a majority of the hilarious dialogue found in the story. Mostly found in his interactions with fellow party member, the Hero Rosalyn.
  • Yōko from Onmyōji (2016) seems nice and polite enough to the heroes at first (hell, he even refers to himself as shōsei, a very humble and formal first-person pronoun) only to be later revealed as the one repeatedly abducting young yōkai girls.
    Yōko: [to Koi-no-sei, a cute mermaid he's holding captive] It's come down to this and you still don't understand? Well, I'll have you know: you have been tricked.
  • Outlast:
  • In Overwatch, Sombra plays the part of the Playful Hacker on the surface, but is actually a ruthless cracker who has no qualms working with the likes of Talon, threatening children, blackmailing people, or even just doing her best to infuriate everyone, even the ostensible allies she regards as mere pawns to manipulate.
  • Nyrissa of Pathfinder: Kingmaker is a master manipulator, and thus plays this trope to its hilt. Depending on what she needs, or what she wants a person to think, her persona tends to veer wildly: everything from Damsel in Distress, to The High Queen, to The Heart. In reality she's The Chessmaster who could not care less about her pawns and loves to invoke You Have Outlived Your Usefulness.
  • Persona:
    • Persona 2: Tatsuzou Sudou from Eternal Punishment can be quite polite when the situation calls for it and even shows some genuine respect towards the heroes in regards to their sense of purpose. This kindness however only runs skin deep and underneath it he is but a callous man, perfectly willing to back-stab his own followers or even doom the world just to advance his goals.
    • Persona 3: Shuji Ikutsuki. He seems kind, he makes silly puns, he always answers your questions and generally aids in the mission to bring down the twelve Arcana Shadows. However, it turns out that he's just been using the protagonists to bring about The Fall, in addition to being fairly clearly insane. A cutscene in FES reveals that his jovial personality was indeed genuine, showing him making up puns in complete solitude where there would be no need to maintain a pretense but this is mean to enhance his creepiness and malevolence rather than lower it. Though his motives for bringing about the Fall seem more along the lines of Dark Messiah, rather than Omnicidal Maniac, that's simply because he wants to rule the world.
    • Adachi of Persona 4 is Ax-Crazy and committed the murders for the fun of it, mocked his victims while recounting his killings, and, when he reveals his true personality, is pretty funny.
    • Persona 5:
      • Black Mask, real name Goro Akechi, who acts perfectly polite and civil to the whole world even while he's blackmailing the heroes, murdering innocent people, causing innocent people to murder others, and scheming to backstab and ruin the other villains. He's even polite until the final confrontation with him, at which point he inflicts a magically-induced Villainous Breakdown on himself and starts trying to brutally murder the Phantom Thieves.
      • Persona 5 Royal demonstrates beyond doubt that Akechi's Affably Evil ways were a mask, as he becomes Reformed, but Not Tamed and drops the smiling mask entirely.
      • Also from the fifth game, there's Youji Isshiki, Futaba's abusive uncle. He initially seems polite and friendly, and seems to treat Sojiro like an old friend, but Sojiro isn't fooled, and warns you that Youji's polite behavior is just an act. It's revealed that Youji was highly abusive of Futaba when he took her in after her mother died, and forced Sojiro to give him Wakaba's inheritance in exchange for custody of Futaba. After Futaba uncovers Youji's debts in an attempt to discredit him, he tries to hit her in a fit of rage, and when the main character protects her, Youji threatens to frame him for assault.
  • Pilgrim (RPG Maker): Master Alice speaks and acts like a cute little girl, even when blatantly taunting her victims about the horrible fate she has in store for them.
  • Lovrina of Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness projects a cutesy Valley Girl demeanor that belies a calculating, sadistic mindset that takes pride in torturing Pokémon and inflicting them with The Corruption. Best seen in her opening battle animation, which begins with her giving a cute wave with a winning smile that quickly morphs into a full-blown Psychotic Smirk.
  • GLaDOS of Portal, who continues to sound sarcastic and cheerful even as she tries to murder Chell.
    GLaDOS: Burning people! He says what we're all thinking!
  • Psychonauts 2: The Lady Lucktopus is a personification of the gambling addiction that was accidentally implanted into Hollis Forsythe's mind by Raz. She acts charismatic and gives out plenty of encouraging words, but it's clear that she only cares about the thrill that gambling brings, and not about how successful Hollis is. In a very cheerful tone, she contemplates killing the interns that she trapped inside her cards.
  • Radiant Arc: Seperus puts on an air of politeness and flattery when he first speaks to the party by complimenting them for their strength, but also makes sure to rub in that he killed Linky's mother. After Kagan loses to the party for the final time, Seperus states that he'll save Kagan and seems to show sympathy towards his minion, but then devours Kagan in order to use the latter's energy to help revive Zardon.
  • Made quite clear with Chairman Drek's first scene in Ratchet & Clank (2002). He puts on a calm and polite tone when explaining his Planet Looters plan to the people of Novalis (including nonchalantly predicting the planet's offset mass will send it flying into its sun and cause an Earth-Shattering Kaboom), but after the cut...
    Drek: ...and if you don't like it, you can take your whiny, sniveling, snot-nosed populations, form a line behind me and kiss my-!...We're still on? Well, turn it off, you idiot!
  • Rave Heart:
    • Count Vorakia Estuuban acts like a sophisticated aristocrat and sometimes compliments the heroes for overcoming his conspiracy, but he's really an underhanded and ambitious schemer who wants to take over the galaxy of Xerxes.
    • Captain Sharky Horder, the leader of the Star Raiders, acts charming in order to woo Veronica, but he just comes off as a creep. When she keeps rejecting him, he has his minions cast a silencing hex on her and tries to force her to marry him.
  • Resident Evil 7: Biohazard: Lucas Baker projects an air of being a "good ol' boy" who wouldn't hurt anyone. However, it is an incredibly thin veneer, and anyone who spends more than thirty seconds around him realizes what's underneath: a complete and total psychopath who enjoys nothing more than subjecting people to slow, agonizing deaths, laughing the entire time. He broke free from Eveline's mind control years ago, but what he's willing to do out of his own free will is so in line with what she makes people do anyway that she never figured it out.
  • Father Donald Earl McArthur from Rides With Strangers is a Pedophile Priest who has killed, raped, and tortured many, and wants to purge the world of those he considers "heretics". He speaks to the young hitchhiker riding with him in a very polite manner, which only highlights his creepiness, all while planning to kill her if she says the wrong thing or nothing at all.
  • Rise of the Third Power: Emperor Dimitri Noraskov is a brutal dictator who is able to act noble and charismatic for the sake of publicity. He tries to act like a loving father to Gage and even offers to spare him if he recants his words of dissent, but this facade falls apart when Gage officially gains the approval of the sages to replace him. He compliments the party for holding out against his forces, but also insults them for their backgrounds and their countries' flawed politics.
  • RosenkreuzStilette: Iris Sepperin is very polite and sophisticated but she orchestrated the whole war and killed her own father and had Karl imprisoned for his attempt to kill her. Her fake friendly demeanor even allowed all of RKS to trust her without knowing she started the coup for kicks.
  • Charnel of Sacrifice, the amusingly bloodthirsty God of Death who also gets some great lines.
    Charnel: I am Charnel. God of Strife, God of Slaughter, God of DEATH! Where there is pain, I'm there. Where there is suffering, I flourish. Where there is joy...Yes, well, one could hardly have joy without another's suffering, no?
  • Saints Row:
    • In Saints Row 2, the Boss may seem reasonable and even jovial at times, but if you cross them, they will not hesitate to end you utterly, no matter what the cost and regardless of how many lives are lost in the process — especially if you harm one of their lieutenants. The third game tones it down and gives the Boss something of a moral compass, and the fourth game makes them outright heroic, if still rather full of themselves.
    • Zinyak from Saints Row IV acts polite and has a killer wit, but he's a brutal tyrant who's built his empire by conquest and slavery and he destroys Planet Earth to spite the Boss when the latter breaks out of his Lotus-Eater Machine.
  • Otani Yoshitsugu from Sengoku Basara, in the English dub (the Japanese version is Obviously Evil), is constantly affable and polite (provided you haven't pushed his Berserk Button) even as his overt misanthropy and ambitions to spread misery to every human on Earth makes it clear it's all just an act.
  • Seraphic Blue:
    • Ende's Establishing Character Moment is to greet Lake and claim they can be friends due to how both are full of bloodlust. When Lake refuses, Ende sics a powerful Gaia Cancer on him.
    • Justified in Er's case, since she's the evil Split Personality of Vene; thus, she knows the best way to sound appealing and friendly while tempting her other personality into giving up on world salvation.
  • At a fairly early juncture in Shin Megami Tensei I, you encounter Ambassador Thorman, who is deeply concerned about JSDF leader Gotou's attempts to use demons to prevent the Americans' peace efforts and wants your aid. He's actually the Norse god Thor himself, acting on orders from the most holy YHVH Himself, and intends to drop his Mighty Hammer (that is, several ICBMs) on Tokyo to annihilate everything in it, including the JSDF, the demons, innocent civilians, American troops, and the heroes. Yes, even if you decide to take his side.
  • Silent Hill:
    • Vincent from Silent Hill 3, who tends to flip-flop around in this area: yes, he's a jerk, subtly insults you, and is a member of The Order. But he also doesn't want to resurrect The Order's God, and sends you off on a quest to acquire an item to supposedly beat said God. Why does he help you? Because if God were to be resurrected, he wouldn't be able to make any more money.
    • Walter Sullivan from Silent Hill 4 is this full force, the first time you meet him he's simply a soft-spoken man who sits on a flight of stairs and talks to you, leaving behind an item afterwards for you to take. You then find out that he's the serial killer who had chained you inside your apartment after he tries to kill your neighbor. Also, the item he gives you is useless and possesses your inventory box should you put it in there.
  • Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time: Penelope Mouse, as part of her status as The Sociopath. Again, she's good enough to fool the player. Her stint throughout the games is posing as a caring love interest and Wrench Wench figure to nearly everyone she interacts with, but it's all a facade to gain a good reputation in the Cooper Gang and build a close relationship with Bentley. When in private or towards her targets, she shows herself as a smug, confident, and ambitious individual who rubs it behind Bentley's back.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog:
  • Spooky's Jump Scare Mansion: Spooky is a cute looking ghost who takes this trope to the extreme, speaking extremely politely to the protagonist and cheerfully inviting them into her mansion. She comes off as very friendly and endearing for a villain. At the same time, she's responsible for thousands of deaths due to her mansion and murdered Santa Claus, and has no remorse at all. As you progress through her mansion, she congratulates you, while continuing to grow annoyed at your success. In one ending, she congratulates you for making it through her mansion, cheerfully stating that you are now going to become one of her mansion's monsters (stating this in a tone like it's a reward the protagonist should be happy to receive), revealing that she lied about letting you go if you made it through.
  • StarCraft:
    • Kerrigan becomes like this in Brood War. No longer just a bloodthirsty zealous slave to the Overmind, she develops a prepossessing, well-mannered, and regal demeanor to her guests and allies (that is, before she betrays them and lets them be devoured by the Swarm). At least, until she's de-infested at the end of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty... and, thus far, even after her experience on Zerus, has not returned to her Queen Bitch of the Universe ways.
    • Mengsk is charismatic, friendly, cultured, and well-spoken, but he's an iron-fisted tyrant who won't hesitate to eliminate anyone who displeases him. It's what enables him to hold onto power until he gets completely obliterated by a vengeful Kerrigan.
  • In Star Wars: The Old Republic, most sith NPC's and many Imperial officials exhibit this trait. A few examples:
    • One of the first missions for the Sith Inquisitor has them join a sith lord in torturing an acolyte for information. The sith lord in question would seem like an amiable personality were it not for the fact that he's instructing you in torture.
    • Lord Drowl is very excited to try out a poison called quell.
    • Arguably Lord Zash in the Sith Inquisitor story, but she may be genuinely nice (in her own opinion, anyway), depending on how you see her personality. True, she will try to hijack your body to extend her own life but it could be that she really just doesn't see a reason for you to object and thinks she's doing a favor for you as well, since, after all, you get to host her.
  • In Super Mario RPG, when Mario and his entourage finally meet Smithy, he at first seems far more polite and civil than most villains in the game. This is a façade, however, as he quickly proves just as nasty as the rest of the Smithy Gang, and he has an uncontrollable temper as well.
  • About half the cast of Team Fortress 2 are either this or normal Affably Evil. The Scout is just an asshole, The Spy is coldly professional, and The Sniper and Engineer are nice people when not being paid to kill, but the rest would probably do this for free, whether it's because death is just a normal side-effect of their hobbies (Demoman, Medic), they're crazy (Pyro, Soldier), or they just plain like killing (Heavy, Scout).
  • In Tekken 2, Jun was considered pure, if maybe a grump. The first Tag game gave us Unknown and immediately the rumors began. The second Tag confirmed they are one and the same, with Divergent Character Evolution making Jun pretty grumpy and Unknown is much more, "Hello boys," in your face... it may be an act but she is at the very least murderous.
  • The Tiamat Sacrament: Ry'jin complements Az'uar for defeating Gyle and having strong dragon DNA, but he also plans on killing Az'uar and stealing his powers. As Faen, he acts fatherly towards Xandra and tries to encourage her and Az'uar to get along, but only so he can manipulate them.
  • Tomb Raider (2013): Mathias feigns politeness and reason in his meetings with Lara and Sam, even managing to earn Sam's trust by bandaging her injured foot. In reality, he was bordering on sociopathic by the time of his first journal entry, in which he documents how he routinely tortures other people who wash up on Yamatai until they agree to join the Solarii, and kills those who don't agree.
  • In Ultima VII, we have Batlin. A kindly sage and former druid, who is the head of the Fellowship and always working hard to help the people of Britannia. On the other hand, the Fellowship is a cult intended to subvert Britannia, spread distrust in the Virtues and Lord British, and pave the way for the Guardian to take everything over. In a hard-to-find dialogue (you have to cast the all-destroying Armageddon spell to get it) you find out that Batlin is driven by pure nihilism, having learned that (supposedly) nothing exists beyond death. (In the sequel, he is attempting to gain immortality for this reason.)
  • Even after the player finds out he's a sadistic Social Darwinist, Flowey from Undertale keeps up his friendly and cheerful demeanor.
  • Welcome to the Game II:
    • Lucas Kumiega says in one game over that he will pray for you. He turns out to be a Jerkass otherwise though. In another game over, when he finds you hiding, he calls you a fool before blowing your brains out, and if you leave your computer on when he enters your apartment to search for you, he will not only steal a lot of your money, but also erase all of your notes just to be an asshole.
    • Adam is perfectly polite to you when he kidnaps you at the end, despite being a murderous psychopath who has masterminded one of the most evil Deep Web organizations ever.
    • The Dollmaker is a borderline mood swinger who speaks very softly toward you while politely threatening to kill you if you don't help him kidnap women.
  • The Witch's House: The Black Cat Demon is very casual, laid-back, snarky, cordial, and Laughably Evil, often greeting others with a "Yo!". He's surprisingly goofy for a demon. He's also a sadistic Manipulative Bastard who only cares about himself, revels in the suffering of others, and eats the souls of children. Beneath his friendly demeanor, he's a pure evil monster.
  • The Crooked Man in The Wolf Among Us at first appears to be a genuinely nice person who was only trying to use his power and resources to care for the Fables that the apathetic government had left in the dust. However, once confronted with evidence from Nerissa saying that he personally ordered the executions of women who wished to escape owing debt to him, he physically attacks Wolf and attempts to throw the both of them down the Witching Well. He also has no qualms having an Ax-Crazy demon woman be his personal bodyguard. Also, his codex entry says that he murdered his family to save on living costs. That says a lot.
  • Professor Putricide from World of Warcraft is a funny, quirky old Mad Scientist who sewed his "children" together from a pile of corpses, and spends his time creating deadly plagues for the Scourge to use in their war against the living.
    Professor Putricide: Good news, everyone! The slime is flowing again!
  • Ayano "Yan-chan" Aishi, the Villain Protagonist of Yandere Simulator, is a full-blown sociopath and Emotionless Girl who taught herself to fake emotions and "normal" human behavior in order to fit in better. Depending on the player's choices, she can Pet the Dog plenty and establish herself as a popular, well-liked student, but the only thing she cares about is her beloved Senpai.
  • Ys:
    • Ys Origin and Ys II: Ancient Ys Vanished – The Final Chapter:
      • Dalles is a polite and refined sorcerer, often giving his enemies sarcastic compliments for overcoming his demonic minions. When tempting Hugo with the power of the Demonic Essence, he uses his silver tongue to trick Hugo into thinking that demonic power is no different from regular magic. Underneath all that is one of the most sadistic characters in the series, as shown when he kills or petrifies people, and then leaves a survivor behind so he can mock them for being too weak to stop him.
      • Similarly, his advisor, Zava, is capable of being civil with their enemies and even flirts with Hugo, though she also has a much shorter fuse, as shown by her venomous reaction when her enemies kills her summoned demons, insults her boss, or calls her old.
      • Cain Fact/Darm acts polite and subservient to the goddesses despite how he knows they know of his betrayal. After he impales Dalles, he gives the sorcerer False Reassurance that he'll be resurrected as a slave in the future. He only drops the false benevolence when speaking to his son, Toal, who he verbally abuses for turning his back on the family doctrine.
    • In the voiced versions of Ys: The Oath in Felghana, Count McGuire has a rather cheerful tone when ordering Chester to kick Adol into the Zone of Lava and when ordering his soldiers to arrest Father Pierre.

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