The entertainment industry often demonize stepfathers. Many stories portray these boys as horrific perversions of parental figures. They bombard their stepchildren with all kinds of abuse, from physical to emotional to sexual. Just marrying into an established family apparently makes a man a maniacal tyrant.
In video games, stepdads provide useful enemies. Their family relationships can make them an intensely personal antagonist. At the same time, they are not blood related, which means that heroes can feel less guilty about overcoming them. The stereotype may be tired and transparent, but it has led to some really twisted figures in gaming history.
6/6 Zack’s Stepfather – Angels Of Death
Really disturbed people have often had a traumatic upbringing. This is evident both figuratively and literally in Isaac Foster. This serial killer has bandages all over his body: a constant reminder of a gruesome childhood.
Zack’s stepfather often burned him and his mother. This not only left him with the aforementioned wounds, but caused him to develop a crippling fear of fire. The devil then subjected his stepson to further abuse from a deranged orphanage. While this is nothing to sneeze at, Foster’s misfortunes all started with his stepfather. Of all his hardships, this one feels the most personally sadistic.
5/6 Jimmy’s Stepfather – Bully
In true Rockstar fashion, the people of Bully are caricatures and stereotypes that ridicule all walks of life in ridiculous ways. That description also applies to Jimmy’s stepfather. He only shows up in the beginning, but he makes players hate him in that short amount of time.
This man embodies the child-hating stepfather that the mother wants for herself. He drops Jimmy off at a boarding school notorious for delinquents before going on a one-year honeymoon. What’s more is that he verbally abuses the kid throughout the ride. Granted, Jimmy gives the best he can, but he’s a teenager. People expect people in that age group to be petty and disrespectful. The stepfather here is a grown man, but he’s just as childish.
4/6 Richard’s stepfather – the medium
It’s hard to be worse than the Nazis, but Richard’s stepfather gives it a shot The medium. During World War II, he and his family squat in their home and wait for the chaos to subside. Unfortunately, he uses this time to abuse both his wife and little Richard. In the first case, he adds rape to his offenses. As regrettable as that is, it is reinforced by the circumstances.
Richard and his mother are already living in fear and incarceration under the Nazi regime. A paternal figure who piles up his own kind of terror is just despicable, especially since his victims can’t escape. Given these factors, one can almost understand that Richard’s mother is calling the Gestapo, because it offers a way out of the circle of misery. However, her husband should never have put her in that position.
3/6 John – Lorelai
This man embodies the archetype of a sexually frustrated alcoholic. He routinely hunts both Lorelai and her mother. He even forbids them to lock the doors, meaning he can invade the heroine while she is bathing. As embarrassing as this behavior is, it continues when he derails.
John is capable of murder during his drunken tirades. He actually kills Lorelai multiple times during the game. At least she has the ability to fight back. The same cannot be said of his daughter, whom he also spits out. It takes a special depravity to destroy something as innocent as a baby.
2/6 Arvis – Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War
The insults of this Imperial adversary begin long before he meets his stepson Seliph. fire emblemArvis kills his sister’s husband before marrying that sister himself. Yes, it’s disgusting, but unfortunately incest has been common in royal families throughout history.
Also common was the mentality of the end justifying the means, which Arvis takes to the extreme. He repeatedly betrays his allies and sacrifices his subjects, all to supposedly achieve a peaceful world. Like most tyrants, he is so focused on the big picture that he loses the perspective of the people he is trying to help. Seliph is probably ashamed to be related to him on several levels.
1/6 Tanaka/Ssech King – Iwaihime
This eerie visual novel aspires to Alice in Wonderland more twisted than it already is. Minobe’s stepfather illustrates that philosophy with his actions. mr. Tanaka – also known as the “Ssech King” – drugs her and renders her unconscious. This frees him up to give her a caterpillar tattoo. Changing people’s bodies against their will is already a red flag, but the meaning behind it is more confused.
This particular tattoo initiates Minobe into the cult of the Ssech King. It’s his way of building a demented version of a family. He uses such family love to eliminate loneliness while rejecting any romantic love. That mindset takes helicopter parenting to a disturbing new level.
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