Best Vampire Villains In Gaming

The villainous vampire is a character that has appeared in various forms across mythology, books, films, and games for hundreds of years now. Yet, it is still an archetype that is re-employed again and again, with ever-evolving attributions behind their villainy, and even their appearance, as the vampire mythos adapts and changes alongside cultural understanding of the creature.

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By  Melody MacReady

Vampires have come in many forms: selfish political manipulators, attractive and alluring deceivers, infection given form and will, or just representing the face of pure immovable evil that can never truly be annihilated. Of the many recurring monsters of video games, vampires have a particularly high ratio of recurrence. It is always particularly interesting when a monster is given a face and a voice — a fully-fledged character to help the player better understand the evil they are facing — making their machinations all the more abhorrent, appealing, or perhaps even sympathetic, despite the players' opposition to them.

8 Bloody Mary (Infamous 2 - Festival Of Blood)

Bloody Good Fun

The Festival of Blood DLC delivers a horror comic book reimagining of the world of Infamous 2 as one overrun by vampires. The central villain and queen vampire is none other than Bloody Mary herself.

She makes for a fun, stylish antagonist for Cole to face off against and a challenging final foe. Bloody Mary is a less serious “woe is me” type villain but nonetheless valuable for the more fun-focused Hammer films' style of vampiric goodness that she brings to gaming.

7 Annalise, Queen Of The Vilebloods (Bloodborne)

Last Of Her Kind

To give Annalise her due, she and her faction in Bloodborne are really no worse than every other faction in the city of Yharnam, as they all seem to be led by mad people with their own selfish intentions. On the other hand, she is merciless, bloodthirsty, and quite willing to sacrifice whatever needs to be sacrificed to achieve her goal.

The method by which the player arrives at Annalises' sanctum (or prison) sets her up as a highly dangerous and uncontrollable being, yet her quiet, authoritative demeanor creates a contrast that is quintessentially vampiric.

6 Prince LaCroix (Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines)

Politically Minded Puppetmaster

LaCroix will use the needs of the many as cover for doing reprehensible things for the benefit of the few — namely himself. A smooth-talking manipulator who sees others as means to an end, his motivations are perhaps best described in his own words: “It's not enough to attain power — one must also maintain power.”

While the player can’t do combat with the prince himself in Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, the duel with his silent underling, “The Sherif,” is an immensely satisfying final boss to demonstrate how far the player has grown in power. After which, should they wish, the player has the option to thoroughly humiliate the leader of the Venture with a most fitting demise.

5 Vampire Lord Harkon (The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim - Dawngaurd)

Too Scared To Die, Too Dangerous To Live

The Dawngaurd expansion provides one of Skyrim's best villainous characters and, through him, an interesting meditation on the lengths that someone who fears death will take to prevent their own end — particularly if given a semblance of the immortality and power they seek.

Lord Harkon, who initially becomes a vampire for fear of his own demise, eventually covets the fulfillment of a prophecy of eternal night so that his kind can rule. However, he also ignores many warnings that this prophecy will do vampire kind no favors. All in all, Dawnguard culminates in a final fight against something of a tragic and warped villain.

4 Lady Dimitrescu (Resident Evil Village)

Tall, Elegant And Deadly

The influence of Lady Dimitrescu and her covenant of underlings reached beyond the confines of the story they inhabited and held a firm grasp on the internet for months after their reveal in an early trailer for Resident Evil Village.

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By  C.M Edwards

Standing at over 9ft tall, Alcina Dimitrescu is an imposing threat who brings both classical elegance and sets the heart racing with fear as she stalks the halls of the castle, bowing to fit through doorways as she chases the player down. She also got hearts racing for other reasons, revealing to the world just how many people have a thing for big scary women.

3 Dettlaff (The Witcher 3 – Blood And Wine)

A Villain Of Great Depth

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

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RPG

Action

Adventure

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9 /10

Released

May 19, 2015

Developer(s)

CD Projekt Red

Publisher(s)

CD Projekt Red

Platform(s)

Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S

Genre(s)

RPG, Action, Adventure

OpenCritic Rating

Mighty

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Dettlaff is the brilliantly realized villain of the Blood and Wine expansion to The Witcher 3. At first, he is only teased in rumors as, “the Beast of Beauclair.” Another mysterious killer to be tracked and forced out from the shadows is nothing out of the ordinary for Geralt.

But, as the twists and turns of the story reveal themselves, the depth of characterization for this so-called monster place him as one of the pinnacles of great writing in The Witcher — which, for those who have played it, know that great writing is in no short order in this game.

2 Kain (Legacy Of Kain: Soul Reaver)

Good, Bad, And Everything Inbetween

Kain is a great character who changes between protagonist to villain to antihero. He could quite easily be viewed as any one of these, depending on the perspective — or a mixture of all three. While there are other vampiric villains in the series, it is Kain who is given the greatest depth and characterization.

Kain is full of brilliant lines — all voiced by the captivating Simon Templeman — that give insight into his worldview and why Kain is the way he is. Watching and partaking in his journey across the Legacy of Kain series makes for a highly memorable character arc, divulged to the player from different eras and perspectives.

1 Dracula (Castlevania series)

Lord Of The Night

The vampire that has truly achieved immortality through his many cultural incarnations, Dracula is a name that has appeared in every form of media and storytelling under the Sun. Or Moon. While he has appeared in many video games, the series that made him a gaming household name is definitely Castlevania.

Appearing in almost every installment of the series across its close to forty-year run, he has been a rival to gamers for a lifetime, cementing Dracula as not only an iconic villain in literature and cinema, but in the gaming world as well.

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