Omnicidal Neutral

"I'm headed for Purgatory when I die. Heaven won't take me, and Hell is afraid I'll take over."

- umper sticker

Video Games that have Multiple Endings sometimes make you pick a side. When they do, sometimes you can choose to fight against both (or all) sides, becoming Omnicidal Neutral.

In a world with Black and Gray Morality where the "good" side isn't much better than the "evil" side, this may be presented as the most idealistic path.

Can also result from an "Evil Path" that involves I Can Rule Alone. The militant form of Stupid Neutral. If the whole point is to simply Kill'Em All For the Evulz, you have Omnicidal Maniac.


 * The Witcher's neutral path winds up, for the most part, killing everyone.
 * In The Nameless Mod Trestkon can side with the Goat cult, the Llama cult, KO/avoid all cult members he fights, or take the suggestion of Phasmatis (who considers the cult wars a hazard to civilians and compares the two to warring gangs) and just get rid of both.
 * Shin Megami Tensei I and II play this straight, having to take out both the forces of heaven and hell to get the neutral ending. In 2 though no matter what you have to face YHWH, so while you do end up killing everyone for the neutral ending in that game, you have to take down YHWH even if you're on the law path.
 * Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne has several different neutral endings. In the first, if you fight against all three Reasons, but choose to help Yuko, you will ultimately restore the world to its pre-Conception state. In the second, if you if you fight against Yuko as well, or try to help more than one Reason, the power of Kagutsuchi is wasted by your lack of a vision and the Vortex World is doomed to remain as it is for one thousand years before fading entirely. If you complete the Labyrinth of Amala, then no matter what Reasons you were previously supporting, you officially oppose everyone now, and the game ends with you ending the cycle of creation and destruction forever and marching at the head of Lucifer's army to face YHVH.
 * In Devil Survivor you have the option of taking a neutral option by, but you'll have to do exactly the same things as in the other endings: As it turns out, . However, the ending is different;
 * Strange Journey's Neutral path requires you to It's less extreme than in earlier games, however;
 * The "Renegade" ending of Deus Ex Invisible War is essentially this: Kill all three faction leaders, which frees the world from all the Ancient Conspiracies that have manipulated mankind for centuries. Naturally, without the conspiracies manipulating everything from behind the scenes, mankind eradicates itself in all-out nuclear war.
 * Similarly, in Deus Ex Human Revolution the last of the four endings is a Well-Intentioned Extremist version of this: rather than
 * This tends to be Masamune's story path in the Samurai Warriors game - his modus operandi is to show up mid-battle, kick ass on both sides, and the declare himself the winner.
 * Similarly Lu Bu's musou mode in Dynasty Warriors 6, which basically consists of him showing up to famous battles in Chinese history and killing everybody. In the end Lu actually ends up unifying China,.
 * Certainly has nothing to do with Lu Bu's well-documented Chronic Backstabbing Disorder.
 * In Planescape: Torment, one subquest essentially runs like this... a neighborhood is caught in a war between two street-gangs: The 'evil' gang who take money wherever they can get it, and kill for kicks, and the 'good' gang of Robin Hood Wannabes who protect the locals and look out for one another. You can side with either, and push your Karma Meter appropriately... or you can have a chat with the True Neutral guy who's standing around in an abandoned building, who asks you to take out BOTH gangs, since 'both extremes are equally dangerous'. Taking his quest-line, you basically wipe out both gangs - at once, or one after the other.
 * After which he tries to kill you to obtain balance. If you tell him you can't die, he relents.
 * In Kingdom of Loathing, there's a quest in which you fight in a war between Hippies and Frat Boys. After you defeat one side, you'll be awarded one of fourteen medals, depending on which side won and how many sidequests you completed for the winning side. Every medal boosts your attributes (from +5 to +11) and enemy item drops (from +5% to +11%), but the two stats are inversely related, and the more sidequests you completed, the higher the attribute boost but the lower the item drop boost. However, with a lot of careful planning and time-consuming effort, it's possible to finish off both sides at once, resulting in a secret fifteenth medal that provides +11 to all attributes, +11% item drops, and +11% meat drops.
 * Also counts as Take a Third Option, as, in the war between the Hippies and the Frat Boys,
 * In the undersea area, you can do a quest to resolve a conflict between the Ice Skates and the Roller Skates, two gangs of fish who are obsessed with extreme sports. You can help one group or the other claim the area as their gang's territory... or help a third group, the Skate Board, drive both gangs out, leaving the area peaceful.
 * Both Knights of the Old Republic games present options like this, although in most cases both sides are "evil", for example, the conflict between Uthar and Yuthura in the first game or between the Exchange and Serroco in the second..
 * Well, not exactly. Taking Yuthura's side then pulling off a series of persuasive options yields a light side ending. But it's so much more fun to betray both of them then kill all the academy students for exp (which is not, mind you, a dark side action), which sort of makes you the epitome of an omnicidal neutral character, as you're not siding with the bad guys (killing all them) or good guys (kill someone who could be redeemed), you're just killing everything.
 * Double-crossing both and then mocking how their own ambition let you do so nets you quite a few light-side points.
 * The second game includes an example with Luxa and her boss. As both are fighting for control of The Exchange it is not darkside to kill them both.
 * The dark side ending of Jedi Academy means you must fight both the Jedi and the Disciples of Ragnos on the final mission, as opposed to fighting alongside the Jedi. This is also a case of I Can Rule Alone.
 * Most of The Force Unleashed's missions involve Starkiller cutting down everyone and everything he comes across, including Imperial Stormtroopers who are, at the moment, at least, on his side.
 * Remaining unaligned and killing everyone is one of the options in Geneforge 2. It might actually be one of the happiest endings if you don't trigger the sanity meter..
 * 4 has a possibly more idealistic version—you sabotage the rebel superweapon so it's powerful enough to keep the Shapers at bay, but can't defeat them permanently. Incidentally, this means you've both kept the rebellion alive and prevented the slaughter of thousands of civilians (though the attrition from the continuing war still makes this an unpopular ending.)
 * The 5th game lets more multiple endings in than either 3 or 4. There are two endings that are more less Omnicidal Neutral.
 * Specifically in the first game, Omnicidal neutral destruction gives you respect by your people. In the second game, doing it with minimal canister use is the only way to ever get on the council. The third game forbids it, the 4th game allows a third option but no actual omnicide, and the 5th game will kill you if you betray everyone to try it.
 * In Fallout 2 this is a possible option for New Reno, which has its own ending if you kill off all the families (the other towns have bad endings as well, but nothing that shows up only if you kill everyone).
 * Fallout 3 allows you to maintain a neutral karma level as opposed to being good or evil, and even has one perk that requires you to be neutral.
 * Just not very well
 * New Vegas lets you either work with the factions in the game achieve their various ends, or screw them all and take control of the city for yourself.
 * The Lonesome Road DLC has the Courier intercept an armed nuclear missile aimed at the NCR. He can leave it be, attempt to disarm it, reroute to Legion territory...or launch another one, so that the innocent civilians of the NCR and the Legion are purged with nuclear fire. Omnicidal Neutral, indeed.
 * In fact, Yes Man was created with this trope in mind so that an omnicidal player would still have a way to reach the endgame since Yes Man himself is an AI that will simply upload itself to another Securitron if killed.
 * At the end of Vampire Bloodlines, the player has to choose whether to side with LaCroix, Strauss, Nines, or Ming Xiao; which choices are available depends on their actions up to that point. They always have the option of siding with nobody and taking out both the Camarilla and Kuei-Jin.
 * Arguably, this is the only option that allows you any sort of freedom. The entire game has you basically playing puppet to everyone. Only at the end of the game, by deciding that they all need to die, can you finally give them the finger.
 * In Vampire? No way. You're always playing into someone's hand. In this case, you end up helping Nines, you just don't stick with him when it's over.
 * While the Anarchs DO end up better than the rest no matter what YOU do, you've mainly helped even before the game's over. Really, other than the Kuei-Jin ending (where you obviously don't destroy the Kuei-Jin), there isn't much difference power-wise no matter what you do.
 * In the first Neverwinter Nights game when you get to Luskan the city is torn between two people fighting for control of it, each of whom will pay you to kill the other. It's kind of fun to go between them multiple times telling each the other made a better offer, eventually killing one, getting paid for it, then breaking into their base and killing them too.
 * The game itself can encourage this behavior simply because of the limited amount of enemies in the game prevents Level Grinding. If you want to level up fast then you kill someone's enemies, then come right back and kill them for the experience too.
 * Luskan captains are murderers and rapists and the player has option to save their captives so good characters also have motivation to kill both.
 * The Grey Spy from Mad Magazine's Spy vs. Spy is a perfect combination of this and Femme Fatale: Word of God says she represents neutrality, and always kills both of the other spies. Of course, this got far too predictable, and thus she disappeared after a short while.
 * Far Cry 2 has you killing both the APR and UFLL forces, and destroying both the factions.
 * Mostly because
 * Mount & Blade has five factions. The player character can join any of them, champion an exiled contestant to any of the five thrones, or just take over the world himself.
 * Ultimately averted though when the manual specifically states that it's impossible to actually crown yourself king as none of the other factions will accept an outsider on the throne. You can still basically take over the world, though.
 * Now with the Warband expansion, they can recognize you as king. And you can either hire other lords, or just stay entirely neutral and make your companions your lords.
 * The Book of Swords trilogy by Michael Moorcock, telling the tale of Corum, the Prince in the Scarlet Robe. The books tell of Corum's war against the Lords of Chaos in favor of the Lords of Law, often invoking the Cosmic Balance. At the end of the last book, he manages to involve the God-Brothers Kwyll and Rhynn, who are not bound by Order, Chaos, or the Cosmic Balance. In gratitude for a favor done, they kill off the Chaos Lords. Then (just for the lulz) they go on to kill off the Law Lords as well, negating the Cosmic Balance by default, and leaving the mortals in control of their own destinies, with no interfering gods to muck things up. A happy ending.
 * Der Langrisser has the Independent path. In something of a subversion, it's probably the least evil of all the paths.
 * Gothic 3 allows you to end the conflict between good and evil by killing both the good king and the bad king, then using their MacGuffins to sever the link between the mortal plane and the realm of the gods.
 * The Green Anarchists' motto from the Russian Civil War: "Beat the Reds until they become white, beat the Whites until they become red".
 * Keith Laumer's Dinosaur Beach demonstrates an extreme, but ultimately heroic, version of this trope. The setting has been deeply screwed up by the invention of time travel, with each faction trying to prevent any time travel in its "future," but at the same time trying to prevent the prevention of time travel in its "past," since all of them are the futures of factions that were unable to prevent time travel, and none of them wish to be erased from the timestream. Meanwhile, each time trip is making the fabric of reality less and less stable.
 * The suggested but presumably not realised Ultimate Nihilist Ending for ADOM, which involves neither saving the world nor becoming the new sUpReMe ChAoS gOd, but rather destroying all existence. Of course, it might as well be seen as Stupid Evil or Chaotic Stupid. Or just, you know, incomprehensible.
 * Might and Magic VII featured a war between the elves and the humans over your territory, during which you could choose to side with neither and battle for your country's independence. This, of course, had no effect on your later option to choose between the path of good or evil.
 * Alpha Protocol allows you to customise your play style and personality to fit your mood. You can either befriend everyone, befriend some and use them against others, or just piss of everyone and mow through them like a buzzsaw - the latter earning itself the nickname "Dick Mike".
 * Possible Real Life example: Governor Nelson Rockefeller's reaction to the Attica prison riots.
 * This is what happens in the German RPG-Maker Game Vampires Dawn 2 in the Evil/Difficult ending: the hero willingly lets himself get possessed by an evil spirit sent by the Big Bad, then slaughters his two teammates (who he holds a grudge against for turning him into a vampire without his consent and who he normally couldn't kill because vampires can't kill their sires), then drives out that spirit by sheer will, takes on the Big Bad and his Dragon, then claims the Artifact of Doom and kills the last of the other three main characters when she attempts to stop him. Then he uses it to travel back in time and start a new life instead. It's generally considered one of the best endings in the game, in part due to being sort-of canon and also featuring The Reveal of Narrator All Along
 * Darksiders: In the war between Heaven and Hell, you officially serve a council that mediates the two but are really looking for who set you up and taking down anyone in your way, regardless of side.
 * The "Soldier's Peak" DLC for Dragon Age: Origins can end with you slaying the blood mage Avernus on behalf of a demon, slaying the demon on behalf of the blood mage, or killing them both. Which path you choose will, if you import your Origins game, have an impact on Dragon Age II.
 * In an example similar to the page quote, Russel Sharp of XSGCOM believes that his best chance of getting into heaven is if God doesn't want him on Satan's side. Another character agrees with him, saying that it would "require a rewrite of Revelations." In-series, he fights for Earth... and really, only Earth. He has shown that he doesn't really care about Earth's off-world allies, and considers all non-earth humans to be below him. At one point, he's tested to see if he was the one who ordered attacks on the Free Jaffa and Tok'Ra, and he's more annoyed by the idea that they thought he would leave survivors "like an amateur" than the idea that he was behind the attacks.
 * Armored Core 4 Answer has this as one of the endings. Instead of fighting for a cause, you can choose to side with Old King and just kill everyone who crosses your path. Turns out that the whole genocide thing doesn't really go over too well with... well, everyone. You're so despicable that the other factions pull an Enemy Mine to try and get rid of you. If you can pull it off, you end up as the last man standing, and go on to commit history's worst atrocities and kill hundreds of millions more than you already have.
 * To a lesser extent, several of the paths in Armored Core: Last Raven have this. The Zinaida Path in particular has the player spend the game hunting down the other Ravens rather than side with a specific corporation. It's definitely the hardest path, but it's generally beneficial overall. You still save the world and the corporation power struggle has been ended by the Pulverizers.
 * Armored Core 4 Answer has this as one of the endings. Instead of fighting for a cause, you can choose to side with Old King and just kill everyone who crosses your path. Turns out that the whole genocide thing doesn't really go over too well with... well, everyone. You're so despicable that the other factions pull an Enemy Mine to try and get rid of you. If you can pull it off, you end up as the last man standing, and go on to commit history's worst atrocities and kill hundreds of millions more than you already have.
 * To a lesser extent, several of the paths in Armored Core: Last Raven have this. The Zinaida Path in particular has the player spend the game hunting down the other Ravens rather than side with a specific corporation. It's definitely the hardest path, but it's generally beneficial overall. You still save the world and the corporation power struggle has been ended by the Pulverizers.