10 More Games Where the Villain May Have a Point

Illusive Man – Mass Effect 2

Between pushing for the rise of humanity, committing acts of terrorism, holding questionable experiments in the name of biotic advancement, and being responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths in Mass Effect 3, it’s hard to sympathize with the Illusive Man’s methods. Even in the third game, his plan of controlling the Reapers’ technology and use it for humanity’s benefit seems asinine. The views of Cerberus, despite being in favor of humanity, were viewed as extremist by many.

And yet, the Illusive Man saw the threat that the Collectors and Reapers posed to the galaxy in Mass Effect 2, bringing Commander Shepard back from the dead in order to oppose them. Even though it was done to eventually further his own interests, the Illusive Man and Cerberus acted when the Council wouldn’t, intervening when colonies of humans were being kidnapped by the Collectors. By the end of the trilogy, he was pretty much under the Reapers’ thrall of indoctrination, but for a time, no matter how brief, he wanted the best for humanity.