These are the 6 most badass quotes in video games

Dialog is a writer’s best friend when building a narrative, and some of the most badass quotes in video games still evoke many feelings even to non gaming people.

You see, it’s not a matter of “just putting these characters to talk to each other”: each line of dialog is carefully inserted in an overarching context that is tailored to draw a reaction from you—good or bad—and show you how much powerful a game can be in regards to telling a great story.

So join us as we show you our picks: half a dozen of the most badass quotes in video games. Beware of mild spoilers below.

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Mass Effect

• Context: This speech is delivered by Sovereign, a colossal, sentient starship that is actually an ancient alien intelligence known as a Reaper. The quote comes during a climactic battle where you’re trying to stop Sovereign from opening a portal for the rest of the Reaper fleet to invade the galaxy.
• Emotional Impact: The chills. The actual chills, man. This specific dialog is designed to instill dread and existential terror. It’s not a villain’s typical monologue about power, but a cold, clinical dismissal of all life: Sovereign explains that humanity and every other species are nothing but a “genetic mutation,” a fleeting accident in a cycle that the Reapers not only have perpetuated for millions of years, but are fully intent and capable of doing so for eons after our demise. It makes you feel utterly insignificant and powerless against a force that doesn’t even see you as an equal opponent—just a nuisance to be wiped out.

Half-Life 2

• Context: This is the opening monologue of the game, spoken directly to you, the player, as you see the protagonist, Gordon Freeman, awaken from a mysterious stasis. The G-Man, a mysterious and all-powerful entity, seems to be the one who put you there and is now putting you in a “wrong place” on purpose.
• Emotional Impact: If Sovereign went for a long form of terror content, Half-Life’s G-Man chose to stay true to form: pragmatic, yet enigmatic. This dialog, coming at you at the very beginning of the game, is a masterclass in mystery and unease, as it creates a profound sense of destiny and manipulation. By saying “the right man in the wrong place can make all the difference,” the G-Man immediately makes you feel like a pawn in a game you don’t understand, controlled by a higher power you can’t get rid of. This, coupled with the fact that we’ve still to see a proper conclusion (yes, Newell, this is yet another reminder for Half-Life 3), just adds up to a mystery that we might never see the solution of.

BioShock

• Context: As the philosophical core of Rapture, the underwater utopia where the game takes place, this particular line of dialog serves as the main drive of justification by the city’s founder, Andrew Ryan. The phrase is repeated often, but its true power comes from the iconic twist where you, the player, learn that the protagonist’s actions throughout the game have not been his own, but the result of a hypnotic suggestion brought about by a trigger phrase—”Would you kindly?”—which he has been obeying all along.
• Emotional Impact: Yes, we know: for someone who didn’t quite like BioShock, Rafael sure does bring it up a lot in several of his stories. But what can we say? This quote delivers a gut-punch of philosophical betrayal. As the realization that you’ve been a slave all along sets in, this often-repeated dialog transforms Ryan’s words into a chilling, ironic taunt that makes you question the nature of free will, not just in the game, but possibly in your own life.

Final Fantasy X

• Context: This speech is delivered right before the battle with Lady Yunalesca, a pivotal moment in the game. You see, the villain is the living embodiment of the cycle of sacrifice the protagonists are trying to break—a thousand-year-old tradition that has given the people of Spira false hope.
• Emotional Impact: When we say “badass”, few can top the example of Final Fantasy X‘s Auron, the gruff, tired and often resigned Guardian of  the summoner and co-protagonist Yuna. Little did we know, as Auron was slowly built up as a character, he wasn’t just a sad conformist who saw the ugliness of the world and became a cynic—turns out, he cares. A lot. And this moment is designed to this, through a feeling of inspiration and righteous rebellion. Auron’s words are a direct challenge to the player’s agency and a powerful act of defiance.Not only that but, given the context of the game, this is also a turning point for himself: a decade earlier, Auron faced the same situation and, unhappy with the end result, tried and failed to change the cycle, becoming an “undead” of sorts. Everything that comes after this fight is new to him as much as it is to you, giving the character a much needed sense of redemption and relieving him of a 10-year massive weight off his shoulders.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

• Context: Few games tend to set its own tone right at the beginning of a story. This opening from the one Metal Gear game who has been missing the most in this age of remasters and remakes is delivered by a much older, battle-weary, physically broken Solid Snake. He’s been sent on one last mission, knowing that his body is failing him due to accelerated aging. A hero who never asked for this position is seeing the world slowly move on, into a state where wars are no longer fought for clear ideals but by corporations. And as its precursor, Snake Eater, is on the verge of releasing its remake this month, this reenters the memory of the most badass quotes in video games rather bluntly.
• Emotional Impact: Yup, we can’t really think of any other character who instills a feeling of melancholy quite well as Solid Snake. The disillusioned soldier, thrown into one last, questionably-organized mission, sees his own war becoming a mix of necessity and personal vengeance, and as the opening line is finished, it perfectly sets the somber, tragic tone of the game. Snake’s voice is heavy with resignation as he acknowledges that the war he’s fought his entire life has become something unrecognizable, making him a tired hero who suddenly realizes that a lifetime of fighting has been nothing but futile, leaving him to question his own place in the world, as his accounts of the events make it all feel more personal and heartbreaking.

Assassin’s Creed: Revelations

• Context: This speech is delivered by an aged Ezio, who has returned to Constantinople to find answers about his order and his mentor Altaïr. It’s a moment of quiet reflection, where Ezio, now a master Assassin and a wise mentor, redefines the meaning of the Assassin’s Creed’s core tenets: “Nothing is true, everything is permitted.”
• Emotional Impact: “Nothing is true, everything is permitted” is probably one of the most remembered gaming quotes of all time. Few characters, however, managed to flesh out its true meaning as Ezio Auditore. Probably the most famous Mentor of the Assassin’s Brotherhood, the Italian death dealer provides intellectual satisfaction and a sense of profound reverence to what the battle of his brotherhood is all about. Ezio’s words transform the motto from a potentially nihilistic statement into a deep philosophical code of responsibility, giving the player a sense of closure and showing the character’s full maturity and his profound understanding of the moral weight of his actions, making you feel that his entire journey had a purpose beyond mere revenge.

Did We Miss Anything?

As gamers go, we’re pretty sure that you have your own set of badass quotes from video games. Why, some that aren’t even in this list, but still makes for great dialog included the ending banter between Lord Shimura and Jin Sakai, Cole MacGrath’s realization when he discovers who his rival, Kessler, really is… Examples of this are not lacking in any way.

So now we turn to you: which are the most badass quotes in video games in your gaming experience? Make sure to tell us in the comments!