Villain With Good Publicity / Video Games

• Baldur's Gate II:
  • The corrupt Harper Galvarey, who is seen as a veritable saint by his Harper kin, despite being an Obviously Evil Smug Snake.
  • More generally, the Shadow Thieves play with this trope as well. Seemingly aware that a good-aligned party would only be working with them very reluctantly, they mostly downplay their more evil acts if the player opts to side with them against Bodhi, and only deploy the party on missions where their criminal acts are on the benign side.
• Baldur's Gate III has Lord Enver Gortash, Barbarian Hero Karlach's Arch-Enemy who pulls a Tyrant Takes the Helm on the titular city through Engineered Heroics and is head of the Big Bad Triumvirate. He acts as a Dark Messiah, transforming the city into a Police State in the name of security and turns the most popular newspaper into a Propaganda Machine extolling his virtues. Most of the citizenry believe his lies, and the few that don't end up in cells or worse.
• The Big Bad of Baten Kaitos, Emperor Geldoblame, is this in his capital city but is loathed everywhere else. A better example is Lady Melodia, one of the world's most beloved nobles... who puppeteered the hated Geldoblame into doing the grunt work.
  • Baelheit, leader of Machina Vanguard and one of two candidates for Emperor, and Big Bad of Baten Kaitos Origins. Wants to turn everyone into machines. His opponent Verus counts too when he's revealed to be manipulating Baelheit.
• While it really doesn't play a major aspect of the story, in Bayonetta it's strongly implied that Heaven is worshiped by humanity as a Fluffy Cloud Heaven because the angels (who are actually more like Eldritch Abominations) tricked the humans after wiping out the Umbra Witches, who knew the world existed as a balance and not that Light Is Good and Dark Is Evil.
• BioShock Infinite: Zachary Hale Comstock is seen as the Hero of Wounded Knee. See a description of that "battle" for why that term is not appropriate. Hell, the dude has even fashioned a religion based on his version of American Values and is often referred to as "The Prophet" in Columbia.
• In BlazBlue, the Ax-Crazy Jin Kisaragi is seen as a hero for ending the Ikaruga civil war. Downplayed in that he's not really "evil" so much as "a massive Jerkass" (and he gets Character Development that turns him into a Jerk with a Heart of Gold) and he was intentionally propped up as this by the true Big Bad to further his own plans.
• Handsome Jack, the Big Bad of Borderlands 2 is this; off of Pandora, he is seen as an incredibly noble, heroic figure who is bringing law and order to the ravaged Death World of Pandora. The reality is that he's a violent, murderous psychotic who is committing all manner of atrocities, including human testing of experimental mutagens. In-Universe, he was initially seen as a heroic figure when he first arrived on Pandora as well, but his subsequent actions made his nature quite clear to the people of Pandora.
• Bug Fables: Downplayed with Mothiva. She's a beloved celebrity who secretly has no problems beating up Team Snakemouth in attempt to steal their fame, and is never exposed of this beyond losing some fans in the Termite Kingdom. She is still a genuine Explorer and is begrudgingly willing to work with Team Snakemouth when the chips are really down.
• General Shepherd in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. He deliberately instigates a US-Russian war because he thinks America's become weak and pathetic, and he wants to make it a military power again. Even after Soap and Price successfully kill him, the public still thinks Shepherd is a war hero, and they are international terrorists.
• Celestial Hearts: Since the Gravehart family built the prosperous Hart City, the citizens believe them to be benevolent aristocrats. Unfortunately, the Graveharts are actually kidnapping people to drain their energy.
• The Crey Corporation in City of Heroes is meant to be this, but there is a jarring stretch of Willing Suspension of Disbelief in the process. There are a TON of missions involving Crey conspiracies, several stories that show deep levels of corruption within the company, and hundreds of Crey operatives (wearing outfits with the distinctive Crey logo, even) in several very public areas that take potshots at every last hero to pass by while often strongarming civilians. One randomly generated mission even has them attacking a bank to get "frozen assets". One would think that with a rap sheet like this, Crey would have been destroyed with utter impunity as priority number one, but they're still mentioned as having products in nearly every home and a respectable face. It's practically a whole organization Clark Kenting it up.
  • That's mainly an attempt to have the plot advance as you level up. High-level arcs involve Crey as nothing but the rogue remnants of their security forces after their Corrupt Corporate Executive faced trial for about a million charges.
  • Also from City of Heroes, Westin Phipps. To the general public, he is an unsung hero standing up for the weak and downtrodden against the threat of Arachnos. In truth, he is in the employment of said villainous organization, charged with finding whatever gives the people hope and driving it into the ground.
• Kane, resident Magnificent Bastard of Command & Conquer, attained much of his power in the First Tiberium War through clever manipulation of the media against the Global Defense Initiative, painting them as the very same violent, bloodthirsty murderers his own Brotherhood of Nod usually turned out to be. He continues his fine tradition in the Third Tiberium War, with the Brotherhood playing the only stabilizing influence in Earth's Yellow Zones, feeding and protecting the population of the economically ruined and poor regions of the world, all the better to stoke the fires of their hatred for the perceived oppressors of GDI... In the fourth game, he's actually working with the GDI to combat the tiberium threat.
• Bob Page in Deus Ex is considered by the general populace as a benevolent philanthropist. The game's opening cutscene reveals him to be otherwise, controlling the population while operating behind an Ancient Conspiracy.
• Dragon Age:
  • Loghain from Dragon Age: Origins. One of the many problems the Warden faces during the game is trying to prove that the war hero who fought for Ferelden's freedom during the Orlesian occupation, is the same man that callously left King Cailan to die during the Battle of Ostagar and pinned the blame on the Grey Wardens.
    • Loghain is actually an interesting example. Everyone acknowledges his heroic past, but the only parts of the country that actually support him are Gwaren (which is his fief), Amaranthine, belonging to his Psycho Supporter Rendon Howe, and Denerim, where his government is based. Highever is pissed at him for supporting a Howe coup against the ruling Cousland family, Redcliffe is led by the slain king's uncle, and most of the Bannorn hates his guts. It's actually rather easy to oust him, because his actions have pretty much eroded all of the nobility's good will by the time you're strong enough to challenge him, and only one nobleman supports him without question (because he's afraid Loghain will pillage his lands in retaliation).
  • In Dragon Age II, a Mage Hawke is seen as this from the warped perspective of Knight-Commander Meredith, being a troublesome Apostate who's allowed to roam free, sowing anarchy and chaos in their wake, because the people of Kirkwall see Hawke as their Champion. In a similar vein, Meredith regards a Non-Mage Hawke as a troublemaker who openly consorts with apostates and is plotting to subvert her authority. Of course, this is because Meredith sees herself as the hero of the story. She's not.
• The Order of Zugzwang, the main villains of Dragon Quest V, use propaganda and servants to give the rest of the world the impression that they're a benevolent religious order that seeks to protect the world, when they actually seek to bring their ruler into the world so he can rule. By the third generation, they have human followers from around the world, and it's hard to go anywhere without hearing something about them.
• Dyztopia: Post-Human RPG:
  • Subverted with Prime Minister Morgalia and Sho Sharker. The former won all her elections due to her connections with Zeta, but always lost the popular vote because most voters oppose her pro-occupation stance. The latter has the biggest entertainment show, but his ratings and views are actually pumped up by bots rather than pumped up organically.
  • Downplayed with Zazz, since while he's able to paint Akira as a terrorist and pin the Vulcanite Mines bombing on them, he notes that a lot of the citizens still believe in Akira's cause while remaining suspicious of Zetacorp progaganda.
• The Elder Scrolls:
  • This is the case for the Daedric Prince Azura. Despite playing an active role in the events of Morrowind that would eventually lead to the destruction of the Dunmer homeland, the Dunmer religion still highly reveres Azura. In fact, the destruction of the Dunmer homeland has made Azura more revered in the Dunmeri religion and was what ultimately ended worship of the Tribunal, her most hated enemies.
  • Boethiah, the Daedric Prince of Plots whose sphere covers a litany of high crimes including murder, assassination, betrayal, and treason is near-universally considered one of the more outright malevolent Daedric Princes. However, similar to Azura, to the Dunmer, he is considered one of the "good" Daedra and the anticipation of Almalexia. Specifically, they see Boethiah as a brutal but positive force, driving them to be tougher and stronger, and to be guarded against treachery and betrayal. In effect, Boethiah's harsh trials and ruthless betrayals push the Dunmer to become greater than they think they are.
  • Mephala is a Daedric Prince whose sphere is "obscured to mortals", but who is associated with manipulation, lies, sex, and secrets. Like Azura and Boethiah, Mephala is considered one of the "good" Daedra to the Dunmer and the anticipation of Vivec. The Dunmer believe that Mephala taught them the skills they would need to evade their enemies or to kill them with secret murder. In their early days, as the Chimer, they were few in number and surrounded by enemies (primarily the Nords and Dwemer) on all sides. She is also credited with organizing the "clan" systems that would eventually become the Dunmeri Great Houses. She has yet to demonstrate any benevolence in-game as mortals would understand it — including her association with Vivec.
  • Meridia is a Daedric Prince whose sphere is obscured to mortals, but is associated with Life Energy, Light, and Beauty. She manages to be both this and a Hero with Bad Publicity. Amongst her faithful and many other groups, Meridia is considered one of the most "benevolent" Daedric Princes. She, in fact, doesn't like it when her actions are painted in anything but a positive light even at her most ruthless, petty, and vindictive.
• In Ensemble Stars!, this was Eichi's favored tactic, presenting himself as a kindly savior and hero of justice to maximize his unit's popularity while secretly undermining and sabotaging any competing units.
• In Escape from Monkey Island, Charles L. Charles (Big Bad Lechuck's alter ego) becomes one of these after winning the gubernatorial vote with his "Good Times, Free Grog" policy, which the local pirates cannot possibly resist.
• Due to Three Dog's news/radio show on Galaxy News Radio, the ghoul Roy Phillips is this in Fallout 3. Despite being a total bastard who is willing to murder an entire hotel full of people (who, all but one, were assholes) and will do if he's let in, along with not giving a shit about anyone that's not him, he still has Good Karma as he's a "poor victim" of cruel racists who won't let a ghoul live in their hotel according to Three Dog. Since he has Good karma, the game penalizes you if you kill him after he's let in, if you're not sneaking with a Stealth Boy on that is.
• Almost all games in the Final Fantasy series since VII use this as part of the main story:
  • In Final Fantasy VI, the Empire pretends to end the war to become this.
  • In Final Fantasy VII, we have Shinra, who actively hides its atrocities and provides the planet with much-needed electricity. (Plus, La Résistance has a tendency to induce civilian casualties in its activities.)
  • Edea in Final Fantasy VIII is welcomed with cheers when she gives her speech at Deling City. They seem to be even happier when she kills off corrupt President Deling.
  • The leaders of the Yevon clergy from Final Fantasy X, especially Omnicidal Maniac Seymour.
  • Cocoon of Final Fantasy XIII keeps the majority of its human citizens safe, so who cares if a few "undesirables" get exiled to Pulse?
  • The Empire of Niflheim seems to be one in Final Fantasy XV in that it's well supported by the people of the countries they conquered. From the look of things, they've managed to convince Prince Ravus that Insomnia is the one that killed the royalty of Tenebrae and managed to convince those under Lucis rule that they're there to liberate them and bring equality to the people.
  • In Final Fantasy Tactics, the true manipulators hide behind the shadows, using political and religious leaders as well as local legends to their advantage. Particularly, the Church of Glabados pushes both sides to start the War of the Lions, expecting them to destroy each other, so the Church could come in and save the populous, and gain true control of the country. The true hero gets written out of history as a heretic (though accounts of what really happened survives).
• Ashnard of Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance is fondly remembered by his peasants even though he killed a thousand of them in addition to every other royal and noble. The invaders are bad but they only rule because Ashnard gave it to them. He's also indirectly responsible for the food shortage but his goal was to destroy the world. The peasants don't know the truth but his concubine does and still remembers him fondly.
  • Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, where Zelgius/The Black Knight was viewed as an inspiring hero by Begnion and Daein, respectively, even while he secretly worked to put his master's plan to induce the apocalypse into effect.
  • Sephiran/Lehran, as his real persona was revered as a Saint and beloved Prime Minister of Begnion, and his real identity was all the more beloved as one of the heroes that had defeated the ancient Goddess of Chaos Yune (who herself is actually a Hero with Bad Publicity). His PR is so good that we don't realize there's something not quite right until well into the 2nd game. Or the end of the first game, depending on what tone you attribute to his last piece of dialogue.
  • The Goddess Ashera herself, reverently worshiped as a benevolent deity by all people on Tellius, proves to be quite willing to kill them all. Most of the villains of Radiant Dawn are an example of Light Is Not Good, which explains why so many are so respected.
• Grand Theft Auto 2: The Zaibatsu Corporation is a prominent and powerful crime syndicate with a private army of armed thugs and a fleet of Z-Types that patrol the streets in droves and partake in many criminal activities, including using a radio station at one point to broadcast a signal that puts people listening to it in a murderous frenzy. Despite this, they seem to only be known by the general public as an energy company that also sells (among other things) pharmaceuticals.
  "Oh, it looks so easy in the movies, but keeping it up can be a real problem!"
• Guild Wars:
  • In Prophecies, after the royal family of Kryta fled during the Charr invasion, it was the White Mantle who mustered an army to save the nation. They built a theocracy to replace the monarchy and were generally well-liked by the people. In reality, the "gods" of the Mantle were an ancient race of amoral archsorcerers manipulating the entire nation for their own benefit, with their human servants willingly sacrificing dozens of innocents.
  • Warmarshal Varesh of Nightfall is beloved by her people. Many of her soldiers fight based on retirement packages of rich farmland that will be claimed when they conquer their neighboring countries. None of them realize her end goal is to free an insane god who will either murder or convert them all into his slaves.
• Guild Wars 2 has Minister Caduceus the Wise, a member of the Krytan Ministry beloved by the common folk. This is a reputation he spent a great deal of effort building, supported by secret dealings with bandits and centaurs to make Queen Jenah look incompetent by comparison.
• Hi-Fi RUSH: Kale Vandelay, the CEO of Vandelay Technologies, is the game's main antagonist. Having turned his mother's beloved philanthropic robotics company into a sketchy for-profit corporation, he has a well-funded and effective Propaganda Machine that downplays her achievements while painting him as a brilliant leader and a true successor to her vision.
• Infamous 2: Bertrand is this for quite some time... until Cole and Kuo photograph him using his conduit powers and creating the swamp monsters that have been plaguing New Marais.
• League of Legends:
  • Veigar, the Tiny Master of Evil, is Parodied version of this — Veigar wants to be feared by all as the greatest evil overlord Runeterra has ever known, but he's so bad at being "evil" that he loops around to being a net benefit to the populous he intends to subjugate, namely by throwing destructive magic against actual local threats. The small-town yokels he claims lordship over end up liking him, but they play along with pretending to hate and fear him so that he continues what he's doing.
  • Renata Glasc, the Chem-Baroness, is an incredibly ruthless and predatory businesswoman making huge power plays within Zaun and Piltover, ranging from merely predatory to outright militaristic extents, but among the public, she's a darling of the chemtech industry and her name associated with quality. Part of this is maintained with carefully-chosen acts of charity, with her engaging in philanthropic acts like offering free medicine and providing helpful infrastructure in exchange for their undying servitude of anyone who uses them.
• From The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel is Gilliath Osborne, the Evil Chancellor of the empire of Erebonia and Big Bad of the games. This is due to being part of an Evil Versus Evil conflict against the country's nobility, who have a long history of classism and oppression. While Osborne's expansionist policies have created his fair share of enemies, said policies have also improved the living conditions for the country's commoners, which result in him looking better in comparison to most of the nobility. However, by the end of the series he winds up becoming a downplayed inversion- despite his legitimately good intentions and the fact that his actions ultimately benefitted Erebonia, saved it from Ishmelga, and done a lot to hamper the Ancient Conspiracy Ouroboros, thus saving untold numbers of lives, the atrocities he committed in the process combined with how few people know his true motives instead makes him go down in history as a power-hungry tyrant.
• The Legend of Zelda:
  • In The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Link gets framed for kidnapping Zelda despite the fact that it was really Agahnim who at first simply locks her in the castle's dungeon, but later banishes her to the Dark World. Agahnim also has fame for ridding Hyrule of drought and pestilence.
  • For the first half of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Ganondorf is one of the king's top aides and is well trusted by all but Zelda and Link, who know the evil man that Ganondorf is, but won't be taken seriously, part of the reason being that they're just kids and Zelda knows because of a dream. We all know how that turns out. Considering that Zelda's plan of action ends up giving Ganondorf the Triforce of Power, a holy relic that makes him effectively immortal and insanely powerful, the old Ganondorf is very, very preferable.
• Like a Dragon
  • In Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Ryo Aoki is the Governor of Tokyo and in-universe a very popular politician due to being a relative young face among the elder statesmen of Japan running on a campaign of cleaning up the streets (which in his case means getting rid of the undesirables of society to make way for his criminal allies). His lackey Ogasawara refers to this as "Front-facing power" while his secret connections to the criminal underworld is known as "back-facing power".
  • In Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Palekana is a religious organization that is well-liked in Honolulu for their outreach programs, including taking care of orphans and feeding the homeless. Their leader, the reclusive Bryce Fairchild, is regarded as something of a hometown hero for his kindness and generosity. Beneath the surface, however, Palekana is a cult that has its buried its roots in practically all levels of Hawaiian society, from the criminal organizations that otherwise only appear to be at odds with one another, to the highest seats in the state's government. This control is enforced with spies, all of whom were handpicked and indoctrinated by Bryce as children to instill such unwavering loyalty that nothing is off-limits if it's to protect him — not even suicide.
• Hiro Mikoshiba in Lost Judgment. He managed to get away with bullying Toshiro Ehara into committing suicide because of his reputation as a model student at Seiryo High School, and the school didn't want to risk its reputation by labeling their most promising student as a bully.
• In Lunar: The Silver Star, Ghaleon's Red Right Hand is obvious from the moment he is introduced, but it doesn't matter. He helped save the world once before and is counted among the world's leaders. By the time he reveals his true agenda, he has already turned the heroes into his patsies through their altruism several times over.
• Mass Effect:
  • Saren Arterius, at least briefly, under the cover of being a SPECTRE.
  • In the Lair of the Shadowbroker expansion, an option comes up to try and discredit the Blue Suns mercenaries. The results report failure due to the Blue Suns launching a killer counter-PR campaign.
  • Nassana Dantius. She's first met under the guise of being a friendly asari politician who wants Shepard to handle a brutal force of space pirates in order to bring justice to those who were wronged by them, but it turns out that this was because the space pirate leader is her sister, who could've caused her to lose her high position if this information was revealed to the public. In the second game, she's also revealed to be a Bad Boss to her own employees and doesn't blink twice when they get killed.
• In Master Detective Archives: Rain Code, Makoto Kagutsuchi, the CEO of Amaterasu Corporation, Number One's homunculus clone, and the true Big Bad, is so beloved by the general public of Kanai Ward that even after atoning for his crimes by telling the residents the truth of their true identities as homunculi and the countless crimes he committed for them, they opt for him to remain in his position as CEO even when he personally decides he should turn himself into the police.
• Mega Man:
  • Dr. Wily in Mega Man 9. Failed several times and people still believe he can change.
  • In Mega Man Star Force 3, Mr. King is a well-renowned philanthropist whose King Foundation funds all manner of public works such as orphanages to benefit children. He's also the leader of the criminal syndicate Dealer and uses said orphanages to create disposable Tykebombs.
  • Copy X of Mega Man Zero. Instituted policies of genocide towards the reploids of Neo Arcadia to try and ease the burden of an energy crisis and is dangerously delusional about his own self-righteousness, but the humans see him as a hero because his methods have ensured their comfort. After his (second) death in 3, some of the humans in 4 even go so far as to claim that "X" was the only Reploid who ever truly looked after humans, not even realizing that by his second revival in 3 he was fully willing to kill humans too.
  • Subverted with Dr. Weil of Mega Man Zero 3 and 4. He made a very intricate plan to make Zero and the Resistance look very bad, which, in turn, made him the hero. However, no sooner had this been established, did he turn on the people of Neo Arcadia, and they were able to finally see what sort of monster he really was.
  • Serpent and Master Albert from Mega Man ZX and Advent, respectively. Serpent passes himself off as the head of Slither Inc., a national hero for both providing energy across the country and using his private military to fight off Maverick attacks. Turns out he's actually behind those very same attacks in the first place, using death and destruction to kidnap people and sacrifice their souls to Model W. His true intentions don't become obvious to the public until he has his fleet of warships attack Innerpeace near the end of the game for one giant harvest, firebombing part of the city. Albert is a member of the Sage Trinity, the highest authority of the world government, and seemingly wants to help protect the world, except he's actually the man behind the creation of Model W, using his influence and connections to put his plan to become a god into motion and being the one who influenced Serpent in the first place.
• Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance: Senator Armstrong, to the extent that he's a 2020 presidential candidate. Of course, this is at least partially because he doesn't write his own speeches, by his own admission.
• Baron Widebeard from Nelly Cootalot manages to keep Saul Island and the Barony of Meeth under control, thanks to his major publicity stunts, enough entertainment and hospitality for a small island, and stealing gold from the Leprechauns and forcing the spoonbeaks into slavery.
• Vice-President Aslik from Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus tries to evoke this trope with his Mudokon "workers" but fails miserably.
  Aslik: Those stinkin' slaves— *notices camera is on* I mean, my fellow employees: Uncle Aslik's been taking good care of you, right? I love all of you like you was my own, right? BUT IF WE DON'T CATCH THIS ABE GUY, IT'S THE BREW VATS FOR ALL OF YOU!
• OMORI: Sweetheart is an arrogant duchess who locks people in her dungeon for petty reasons and is a general tyrant, but is nevertheless the biggest celebrity in Headspace, with starring roles in movies and TV shows, lots of merchandise, and legions of admirers. In due fairness, most of her fans are Sprout Moles, who are... not known for their impressive feats of intellect.
• Overlord:
  • Possibly your character, in the first game; as the game's base assumption is that your character is evil, rather than choosing between being good or evil, your moral choice is whether to be an Ax-Crazy maniac who slaughters all in your path...or a Villain With Good Publicity who uses the respect and gratitude of the people to further your own evil ends.
  • In Overlord: Dark Legend, the above Overlord's predecessor, Lord Gromgard, has amazing publicity. His incompetent relatives have driven the kingdom to ruin, and the people are just so glad to finally have someone who knows what they're doing and can finally restore prosperity that they treat the whole "evil overlord" thing as little more than an amusing quirk.
  • You can also be a Villain With Good Publicity in Overlord II, but this time, it comes by mind-controlling the populace into loving you, rather than genuinely earning their respect — you cruelly use them as tools, pawns, cannon fodder, and meat shields, but they have no choice but to be worshipful servants.
    • A better example is Emperor Solaris — while the Overlord's "good" or "lawful evil" option is brainwashing his subjects, most of them were unwilling serfs under the "Glorious Empire" before you conquer them instead, the rest are the spoiled elite nobles, that love their emperor, along with almost everyone that isn't a slave, or similarly oppressed. The Real kicker is that the Emperor rose to power on the back of anti-magic sentiment after a cataclysm and plague caused by magic, earning the love of many, and the eternal devotion of the upper class and nobles he uses to maintain his power. Beyond being the main but distant antagonist of the entire game, he also is secretly Flroian Greenheart a trusted follower of Queen Fay and seemingly the closest thing the story has to a real hero when he isn't being the comic relief. More than that it turns out he was the cause of the cataclysm and plague in the first place because he was an elf with no magic and sought out the Overlord's tower heart after the last one disappeared, accidentally causing it to go critical and explode like a nuclear reactor. He then used the crisis to gain political power and champion an anti-magic agenda while secretly gathering all the "purged" re-stolen, magic for himself with his end game being ascending to godhood, with his failed attempt creating the final boss of the game. This becomes obvious in the last levels when he outright exposes his citizens to magic via their "healing fountains" in order to turn them into hostile zombie-like things just to buy a bit more time against the Overlord.
• Persona:
  • Tatsuzou Sudou from Persona 2: Eternal Punishment is QUITE effective at hiding evidence of anything that might darken his good name, as evidenced by the hordes of Dirty Cops and The Triads and the Tongs he has on speed dial.
  • Most of the targets of Persona 5 are primarily people in power who use their status/influence to take advantage of others. This ranges from a teacher who's a former Olympic athlete who abuses his students to an esteemed artist who secretly plagiarizes his apprentices, all the way up to a well-connected politician with sights on becoming Prime Minister. The Mole, Goro Akechi, is this as well, being an extremely popular Kid Detective who's actually responsible for the very crimes he's lauded for solving.
    • Masayoshi Shido is this to an absolutely insane degree; almost no one other than the Phantom Thieves and their close associates ever express any negative opinion about him. It gets to the point where even after the Phantom Thieves call Shido out in public, and he himself confesses to his crimes that the Phantom Thieves accurately announced beforehand, after his heart is stolen, the public staunchly refuses to acknowledge that Shido is evil at all. It's only after the Phantom Thieves steal the general public's heart that they finally see Shido for the Corrupt Politician and power-hungry Jerkass he really is.
• Pizza Tycoon: The player can be one, if they hold a high reputation in both social and underworld standings. In fact, the game rewards the player for employing this trope, as public officials are more likely to do favors, and the underworld will be there to protect one from troubles.
• Pokémon:
  • Lady Venus, The Under's biggest celebrity, and Mayor Es Cade of Phenac City from Pokémon Colosseum. The former is a Cipher Admin, the latter is the Big Bad, the true boss of the Cipher crime syndicate.
  • Mr. Verich in Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness appears to be a kindly old rich guy who's loved in Gateon Part, but is actually Greevil, the worldwide boss of Cipher.
  • Dusknoir from Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers has elements of this at first. Everyone thinks he's a famous, knowledgable explorer, but he's actually Primal Dialga's servant who was sent back to the past to stop the player character and Grovyle from fixing the future.
  • Blake Hall from Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia is the president of Altru Inc., the largest corporation in Almia. He is highly popular among the citizens of Almia because he claims to have invented an efficient alternative to fossil fuels, but he drove his father from his own company because he didn't want to use the Dark Crystal, and his 'efficient energy source' involves using the Dark Crystal to make every Pokémon in the region his mindless slave.
  • Elite Four Malva in Pokémon X and Y was a famous reporter in addition to being one of the heads of the Pokémon League, and abused her position to act as The Quisling for the Apocalypse Cult Team Flare. Despite this she doesn't face any repercussions for supporting them and even continues to do so, expressing resentment towards the Player Character for stopping their Evil Plan (which was genocide).
  • The Teal Mask DLC from Pokémon Scarlet and Violet presents an especially sad example. Munkidori, Okidogi, and Fezendipity are viewed as the "Loyal Three" by Mossui Town, because they supposedly died trying to save the village from a vicious ogre. In reality, Ogerpon attacked them because they stole three masks from her and her master that were made by the only villager who didn't shun them upon their arrival.
• In Professor Layton and the Unwound Future, Prime Minister Bill Hawks is the victim of the evil deeds of evil scientists for the whole game, up until The Reveal, at which point it is shown that he is the unknown instigator of the whole plot due to his greed and want for power. He ran a dangerous scientific experiment to please investors, with fatal results; then swept the deaths under the rug and used the money he received to fund a political campaign. Both major antagonists want revenge for the loved ones they lost in the incident. He is the only unrepentant character in the original trilogy, and perhaps in the whole series, and yet he has never been shown paying the consequences.
• Ratchet & Clank:
  • Chairman Drek from Ratchet & Clank is this, as well as a Corrupt Corporate Executive, to the extent that he tears up and destroys entire planets and no one but a simple mechanic and a robot even thinks about trying to stop him. He's also the man who gives good PR to the otherwise useless superhero Captain Qwark. Qwark then does a Face–Heel Turn through the course of the game and, in the second game, tries to manufacture heroic publicity for himself by causing the Protopet disaster. The third game is then spent with much time under his command, believing he's going to turn on you before he fakes a Heroic Sacrifice, only to finally do some actual heroics at the end.
  • Ratchet: Deadlocked gives us an interesting subversion in Ace Hardlight, the champion of the DreadZone deathmatches. The Big Bad Gleeman Vox is a media mogul who is trying to promote Ace as The Ace (Wink wink) everyone should adore and therefore buy merchandise of, but apparently no one really wants any. Vox complains at the beginning of the game that he can't even give Ace products away.
• Resident Evil:
  • Umbrella had good publicity until it was involved in Raccoon's destruction. Not only does the US government tear up all contracts with the company, their public stocks take a nosedive. In the movies, rather than the U.S. government nuking Raccoon City, it was Umbrella itself who did so, and they got off completely scot-free while making the survivors Heroes With Bad Publicity. By the time the public realizes any of the truth, the Zombie Apocalypse has begun, and they're still the only major human authority left.
  • Resident Evil 6 has this with Derek C. Simmons, the National Security Advisor who is also the head of a secret cabal known only as "the Family," who have had a hand in forming the modern world since at least the Colonial era. As the National Security Advisor, he was considered above suspicion of causing the Tall Oaks incident. It helped that he had set Helena up to take the fall prior to the outbreak and controlled all of the evidence implicating him... though he didn't count on the real Ada leaving Leon and Helena evidence that proves his guilt after his demise.
  • Resident Evil: Revelations 2 has this example with Alex Wesker, the last of the Project Wesker test subjects. Before the events of the game, Wesker is on a small island, where she brings jobs and a better standard of living to the poor inhabitants. They celebrate her as a godsend. But it's all a cover for the horrible human experiments that she does on the people behind the scenes. The people mostly had no idea until it was too late. Many documents found throughout the game highlight this point, repeatedly.
• In Robopon, Miss Amron, the Legend6 and a TV idol, uses TV to hypnotize her viewers into loving her. When the broadcast ceases, however, she becomes unpopular.
• In Saints Row 2, despite all the atrocities the Boss commits, random people on the street will occasionally stop to cheer them on, especially for killing the various lieutenants of the other gangs. In Saints Row: The Third, the Third Street Saints operate a massive media empire that has since made the members celebrities in the eyes of Stillwater. This includes taking the time to give autographs in the middle of a bank robbery to having cops you're in the middle of fighting ask you to autograph your weapons before putting them down. By the fourth game, The Boss has even become President of the United States. Of course, this doesn't mean that the Boss is a good president; they had a 20% approval rating, but it dropped to zero the next day.
  • The Ultor Corporation in the second game could also be seen as an example. On the surface, they're a respectable megacorporation, having (among other things) renovated the once-bad part of town that gives the series its name into an ultra-modern district, to the city's approval. Dig a little deeper, however, and they turn out to be just as corrupt and immoral as the gangs. In addition to working with the Brotherhood and Ronin, when the gang violence escalates they plan on encouraging the carnage so they can buy the bad parts of town, renovate it and sell it for large profit, and Chairman/CEO Dane Vogel knowingly sends the board of directors to their deaths at the hands of the protagonist after they turn on him.
  • Killbane in the third game also qualifies. He's a famous millionaire professional wrestler who secretly leads a massive criminal organization, and uses his public image to slander the Saints and frame them for his crimes.
• Tony Montana in Scarface: The World Is Yours, despite his drug-dealing, becomes respected enough that he can talk citizens into surrendering their cars and cool off "heat" from gangs and the police with a snappy one-liner.
• Played with in the case of the Orochi Group in The Secret World. Outside the eponymous Secret World, the Group is considered a perfectly respectable corporate entity, providing its employees with generous salaries and benefits, hosting award ceremonies, donating billions to charities, and sponsoring youth programs worldwide; its daughter corporations share in this respect, and are known for producing genuinely beneficial products such as revolutionary drugs and vaccines, life-saving prosthetic organs, alternate energy sources, agricultural methods that increase crop yield a thousandfold, and vat-grown foods that eliminate the need for slaughtered animals. Any criticism heard about the group is largely the province of conspiracy theorists and crackpots — in part because Group subsidiary QBL Media keeps the information carefully hidden. However, inside the Secret World, Orochi is looked upon with a great deal of suspicion by the societies, many of whom take a dim view of the group's attempts to harness magical power — and with very good reason.
• In Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, Cyrille La Paradox is described by Carmelita as this. He's believed by the world to be an esteemed art dealer who turned his life around after a prison sentence. He's actually using time travel to alter history to retroactively establish his industries as an N.G.O. Superpower.
• Bruno Dondurma in Solatorobo: Red the Hunter is the leader of the Kurvaz military group, and managed to keep his position by blackmailing and threatening others into doing business with him rather than display any actual skill in combat. He also knows how to work around the confines of the law while maintaining a relatively clean public image, granting him immunity on both fronts. Even after his death and the much more benevolent Opéra takes over as the Kurvaz leader, some soldiers still hold him to high regard, completely ignoring how he almost caused The End of the World as We Know It through his own power-hungry ambitions.
• StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty has Emperor Arcturus Mengsk. By the game's start, he's got most of the Dominion eating out of his hand, even though he was willing to let the Zerg eat everyone alive just a few years ago just to get into power. Then, Media Blitz happens, and his approval rating plummets to 14% at the highest.
• Star Wars: The Old Republic:
  • The Light Side path for Sith characters often invoke this as the image the Empire should be trying to cultivate, having the secondary effect of making the Republic appear worse in comparison. Likewise, Light Sided options often use Pragmatic Villainy and Benevolent Alien Invasion tactics to bring planets (mostly) peacefully under Imperial control.
  • This trope applies to Republic characters if they are from the dark side path. They commit cruel acts to win, but at the end of the day, they are still recognized as heroes who helped make the Republic a better place.
  • In the Knights of the Fallen Empire expansion, Emperor Valkorion of the Eternal Empire is definitely one of these. The Zakuul citizens have higher living standards than most Republic core worlds, to say nothing of the Sith Empire with its lousy infrastructure. And Valkorion, as far as any Zakuul citizen could tell, was the very model of a benevolent despot guided by The Force. Unfortunately for the rest of the galaxy, the Eternal Empire's prosperity and stability was only maintained because Valkorion was also Darth Vitiate, the Sith Empire's ruler, and was using the Sith Empire's constant warfare to gain greater power from all the deaths, draining entire planets to stay alive, and embezzling the spoils of war to fund Zakuul's coffers. The player's two Zakuul companions (Senya and Koth) find it a little hard to believe their cherished ruler was really such a monster.
• Super Robot Wars X: The Keepers of Order are respected all across Al-Warth for the peace and security they help bring, since their dark side is wholly internal, and it's not until late in the game that they start taking actions that go against the reputation they've built for themselves. Their publicity's so good that the protagonist sometimes pretends to still be with the organization when the Keepers aren't around to challenge the assertion.
• The Big Bad of Tales of the Abyss starts off as one of these, to the point that when his sister (who overheard him talking about his plans with a subordinate) fails her attempt to kill him, she refuses to explain exactly why she was trying, apparently (and somewhat justifiably) believing that if she just came out and accused him of trying to destroy the world, she'd get laughed off and he'd get away with it.
• In the scenario of Tekken 6, former Tragic Hero Jin becomes corrupted, takes over the Mishima Zaibatsu, and uses it for various atrocities. The people turned to the G Corporation, led by his father Kazuya, one of the series' villains (and ex-hero), as the savior of the world from the Zaibatsu, and Kazuya happily uses it to his advantage to try to get rid of Jin. Never mind that Kazuya is also evil and has done lots of atrocities with the Zaibatsu starting with the second game of series. Before the series started, Kazuya's father Heihachi was known to run the Zaibatsu as this, as well. His villainy was originally smaller scale and mostly defined by his actions towards Kazuya.
• The Warcraft series has a few like this. Queen Azshara of the night elves was responsible for the first demon invasion in The War of the Ancients, but her people loved her so much that until the very end they all believed that she was only a victim of her Decadent Court. Archbishop Benedictus is the secret leader of the Old Gods worshipping Twilight's Hammer cult and tries to stop the players from saving the world at the end of World of Warcraft Cataclysm, but nobody believes the players who slew him. Finally, Kargath Bladefist is one of the most revered orcs of the Horde, with many locations named after him. When players have to kill him, the players are told to remember the hero he was in the past and not what he became because of demon corruption. Except he never was a hero; as revealed in Rise of the Horde, he was a member of the Shadow Council who sold his people to the demons for personal power. A rare case where nobody, not even most players discovered his true nature. ^note Though the real world reason for this is a Continuity Snarl. In the original lore of Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal Kargath was stranded on Azeroth with Grom by Ner'zhul with the Warcraft III manual implying he joined the modern Horde. All the lore about Kargath being evil to begin with came quite a while after World of Warcraft had already been following older lore in which he either joined the modern Horde or was a Fallen Hero.
• Watch_Dogs:
  • There is an Internet media company called Blume. They are responsible for the ctOS technology that is supposed to keep the whole city of Chicago wired, making communication easy for the citizens. However, you find out that Blume is monitoring everyone unknowingly, and is using some of the information as blackmail against others and to secretly impose a Police State on the citizens of Chicago, as well as perform assassinations against anyone they can't control. After the events of the game, Blume is able to maintain their good publicity status by covering up their actions, which is reported during the ending credits. And after the credits, a Blume commercial is shown, promoting version 2.0 that expands their operations beyond the city of Chicago and is now nationwide.
  • Lucky Quinn holds charity events alongside Chicago's mayor under public eye, but is actually a murderer and a mob boss.
• The characters of Xenosaga don't actually know Wilhelm is the Big Bad until quite late in the third episode. Even to the player, his nature is ambiguous.
• Yandere Simulator
  • The bullies are popular, pretty social butterflies that most students think highly of, with only victims of theirs such as the Delinquents aware of their true nature as Alpha Bitch bullies. However, Word of God says the good publicity won't last: by the time the two oldest graduate, students will start cottoning on to their true nature, and by the time the youngest reaches her senior year, she will be the outcast she once bullied since everyone knows what she's really like by then.
  • It's quite possible for Ayano to become this herself, if she increases her reputation enough and hides her tracks well, many can regard her as a wonderful person and not realize that under that is a murderous Yandere willing to do anything to get her Senpai.
  • This is in the blood. Ayano's mother Ryoba convinced an entire nation she was innocent of killing a fellow student and simultaneously turned the Journalist into a Hero with Bad Publicity for trying to expose her.

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