Continuing our article:
5. Lazarevic – Uncharted 2
Nathan Drake’s adventure through mountainous caves, high Nepalese ceilings, and tropical forests in Borneo is considered one of the best solo experiences in the world of video games. However, this exceptional title is often criticized for the weak villain it contains.
Lazarevic always sticks to his simple and dull motivation. As a warlord from Eastern Europe with a heavy accent and a broad neck, Lazarevic follows in the footsteps of many villains who preceded him.
Lazarevic and his soldiers are always on Nate’s trail, not giving him time to rest. However, his reckless behavior is driven by finding the Tree of Life in the legendary city of Shambhala and drinking its sap, giving him unmatched superhuman strength and vitality.
While the great story of Uncharted is incomplete without a villain chasing Nate, Lazarevic succeeds in doing so. However, when the duo finally meets at the roots of the legendary tree, Lazarevic’s motivation for being there spoils the final confrontation.
Many guards who fell victim to the effects of the sap quickly succumbed to his control, so why is Lazarevic in such a hurry to use it?
4. Mathias – Tomb Raider (2013)
You may be forgiven for not remembering Mathias and his appearance in the 2013 reboot of Tomb Raider, as his character was one of the few flaws in a fantastic experience.
As the leader of the Solarii Brotherhood, Mathias got stuck on the island of Yamatai 30 years before the events of the game. After failed attempts to leave the island, Mathias became a fanatical follower of Queen Himiko, the Sun Queen and the last ruler of Yamatai.
His belief in reviving Himiko was what drove the villainous Mathias to transfer the spirit of Queen Himiko into the body of Sam, Lara’s friend, as Sam descended from the people of Yamatai. His intentions align with a man stuck on an enemy island for a long time, where all logical thinking seems to have faded away completely.
The promise of getting off the island was enough to make Mathias blindly believe in such strange stories, as his susceptibility developed over three decades of isolation.
But that doesn’t erase the fact that luring a woman in her twenties to her death in hopes of reviving an ancient Sun Queen is somewhat strange.
3. Bowser – Super Mario Odyssey
Bowing to Bowser’s almost annual kidnapping of Princess Peach may be the most overused cliché in video games. And while Super Mario Odyssey is an excellent game by all standards, Mario’s mission to rescue the princess this time seems more absurd as a result.
Peach has always been the ultimate prize that Bowser seeks, but rarely is a clear reason presented to players explaining why Bowser continues his continuous attempts to kidnap the princess.
This was something we didn’t really need to know, but after Super Mario Odyssey introduced Bowser in an elegant wedding outfit intending to force Peach to marry him, his motives no longer ranked on players’ future interests list.
Rescuing the princess is an overly repeated element in storytelling, and the game clearly disregarded the appeals to make Mario’s journey a consequence of a different catastrophe during the first appearance of Mario in 3D on the Nintendo Switch. It’s unfortunate that this happened, especially since Mario is the first icon, not only for Nintendo but perhaps for the gaming world as a whole.
While logic and rationality are not expected in Super Mario games, the villain’s motives this time were definitely a step in the wrong direction.