These powerful gaming enemies have been engineered for destruction.
A wise man once said that evil creatures are never born, but created. No creature is born evil, it's something you have to work at. That said, that statement is based on the assumption of traditional biology.
When some knuckleheaded scientist gets the idea in his noggin to engineer a living weapon, things like reasoning and compassion tend to go out of the window in favor of a greater potential for killing stuff. These engineered monsters are almost always terrifyingly powerful, which is probably why most of them end up rebelling against their creators later down the line.
The original purpose of the t-Virus created by the Umbrella Corporation was to create powerful bio-organic weapons nicknamed "Tyrants." Fun fact, that's actually what the "t" in "t-Virus" stands for.
While technically not the first Tyrant model ever produced, the T-002 was as close to perfect as Umbrella got. It was a vicious and terrifying monster with a natural capacity for wanton violence. It's rather telling that it took a rocket launcher at point-blank range to kill the T-002, but that wasn't even the end of it. It was from the T-002's genes and blueprint that all future Tyrant models, including the infamous "Mr. X" and Nemesis, were cloned.
At some indeterminate point in time, the Red Ribbon scientist Dr. Gero began assembling a biomechanical Android in the image of a human woman, with more Red Ribbon researchers presumably adding to her after Gero's death.
Much like Cell, Android 21's biology contained cell samples from a variety of powerful combatants like Goku and Piccolo. However, they also incorporated cells from Majin Buu. This led to an incredibly strong combatant with a voracious appetite. However, since nearly every part of Buu's physiology is an organism in itself, 21's cells became self-aware and affected her mind while trying to feed themselves. The strain was so great, her psyche split into two personas.
After accidentally stumbling into a vat containing the Forced Evolutionary Virus, Dr. Richard Grey was mutated into a monstrosity known as the Master. In his manic and mutated state, the Master came to believe that the only way humanity could survive in the wasteland was through FEV mutation. Thus, he kidnapped humans and dipped them into modified FEV vats.
This gave rise to the Super Mutants, a race of humanoids with strong, sturdy muscular structures, a proclivity for violence, and most importantly, a natural resistance to radiation. Even after the Master's death, Super Mutants are one of the ruling factions of the wastelands, with their radiation resistance and warlike tenacity allowing them to thrive in the harsh wilderness.
The galactic predators known as the Metroids were originally bioengineered by the Chozo in order to serve as a not-so-natural predator to the dangerous X Parasites that lurked on SR-388. To ensure the X couldn't escape no matter what guise they assumed, the Metroids were given a ravenous hunger for just about all kinds of life.
It worked, nearly driving the X to extinction, but the Chozo didn't realize that once the X were gone, the Metroids would turn to all other living things to sate their hunger for life energy. It took a concentrated effort from the entire galaxy to either capture or kill every last Metroid there was, though this would prove difficult as more could be cloned from a few samples of their DNA.
Utilizing the data obtained from the prototype Redlight virus, Gentek synthesized the Blacklight virus, a highly-infectious viral agent that could swiftly spread, infect, and destroy a living populace in a matter of days.
The vast majority of infected subjects will either degrade into a pile of mush or mutate into violent monsters, though a rare few individuals can maintain their sense of self, utilizing their newly-awakened cells to transform their body in a variety of ways. This includes generating weapons like claws and blades, assimilating humans to take on their appearance, and more. Alex Mercer was one of the few people to have this compatibility, which is why Blacklight ultimately came to be known as the "Mercer virus."
In his life, Caleb Goldman was what one might charitably call a "well-intentioned extremist." He was firmly of the belief that humanity's existence endangered the natural life cycle of the Earth, and that a powerful monster needed to be created to cull and corral us.
Supposedly, his monster of choice was the Emperor, but this was a red herring; his true creation, and the culmination of the research he co-opted from Dr. Curien, was The World, a gargantuan insectoid creature with powerful cryokinetic abilities. The moment The World awakens, it makes it and Goldman's goals crystal clear: to rain icy death upon humanity.
As part of his plan to take over Rapture from within, Frank Fontaine commissioned Dr. Yi Suchong to create a clone using Andrew Ryan's DNA. This clone, Jack, was not only programmed to follow the exact commands of anyone who says the phrase "would you kindly," but he also had a natural affinity for ADAM and Plasmids.
Interestingly, Jack may appear to be an average human man at a glance, roughly around his mid-20s, but in actuality, he's only around half that, as the use of special Plasmids sped up his physical maturing. When he was first "born," Jack had the average muscular structure of a nineteen-year-old. While Jack ultimately redeems himself in the end (assuming nice choices on the player's part), it is a fact that was created with a nefarious purpose in mind.
During the events of the first System Shock, Shodan had been tinkering with a variety of bioengineering experiments in the groves of Citadel Station. One such grove, the Beta Grove, housed both mutated creatures and, more distressingly, samples of a mutagenic virus.
When the Hacker jettisoned Beta Grove from the station, it crashed on an alien world, where the virus and creatures evolved together to create a new species of telepathic parasites. When the samples were retrieved by the crew of the Von Braun, the virus spread to them, telepathically indoctrinating them into a hive mind. This is what gave rise to invasive species that would come to be known as The Many.
Having played a litany of video games since childhood, Daniel is an old school gaming fiend. He first got into the sphere in the age of the Nintendo 64, and has amassed a respectable personal library over the years, with his Steam library alone currently numbering over 600 games. Daniel enjoys researching his favorite games extensively, from their developmental histories to their narratives and characters. Recently, Daniel has been a regular game guide writer for Gamer Journalist, as writing gives him a chance to gab at length about his favorite topic.
