A Faustian Pact - games where you can make a deal with demons

[Mark Richard]

I'm interested in games where I can bargain with demonic forces. It's for... research.

The only rules are it has to be a deliberate choice made by the player, and the game must continue on afterwards. Signing on with Satan at the end of the game isn't very satisfying if you as a player aren't around to enjoy the perks.

Sometimes these pacts come in the form of a no strings attached joyride (Dark Messiah: Might & Magic), but any demonic pact worth its sulphur has a price.

In The Witcher 3's

Spoiler

expansion Hearts of Stone, the character Gaunter O'Dimm offers a single wish to Geralt. This is immediately after witnessing O'Dimm suck the soul out of another wishee, so Geralt would be absolutely insane to take this. As far as I know there are no consequences, just the implication that many years down the line Geralt may get the pitchfork treatment.

In Dragon Commander

Spoiler

you're able to make deals with the demon Corvus for a tangible gameplay advantage. Sacrificing your wife or letting him feed on citizens nets powerful cards, but also damages your economy and popularity with other races. The bargains are designed to keep you in a long-term cycle of dependence like a deal with a credit card company, helping just enough to keep from drowning while simultaneously making it harder to get out of the water. Corvus turns out to be the final enemy later on in the game, and his power level is augmented by how much you've previously drawn on his power.

In my opinion this is the purest form of the demonic pact because the full consequences aren't immediately apparent and it never turns out well.

 

[Old One]

I'm interested in games where I can bargain with demonic forces.

Arcanum has a background you can select at chargen called Sold Your Soul or somesuch. You get a big magick bonus but your alignment is permanently evil.

I think Bloodlines has some sort of demonic pact background for one of the playable clans as well, Tremere probably.

Temple of Elemental Evil might also have some demonic alliances for evil characters. I don't remember for sure. It is a Troika game, so it would fit the pattern.

 

[Nekot-The-Brave]

In Divinity: Original Sin, you can make several deals with devils.

 

[spectre]

Grimoire of Pestilential Thought from Torment springs into mind.

 

[Nerevar]

NWN2 OC has some demon you can make deals with.

 

[HoboForEternity]

Like all shin megami tensei games? Butvit has no consequences as they are just glorified pokemons

 

[Somberlain]

There is this RPG called Codex which takes place in a disturbing Innsmouth-esque village where most inhabitants have sold their soul to the demon lord Bethesdaimon but they keep up a facade.

 

[Freddie]

I'm not sure if this rally classify but in Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell. You make a deals with various factions led by demons, vampires, etc. Can't say much more without spoiling the game. It's also a bad game IMO.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Mask of the Betrayer is like "Deal with the Devil: The Game" if you wish to treat it as such. Would also mention AoD.

 

[ShadowSpectre]

In the Dishonored series you make a deal with "The Outsider" which is sort of like a chaotic neutral demi-god. During the second game, you can opt to not receive the mark (which if you have played through the first game, may seem like a wise or not wise choice).

As for Bloodlines having a background with a demonic pact, the entire Tremere clan are not actually vampires and the founders have some sort of satanic deal that made them all "vampires" in the first place. You can chose to be clan Tremere, but you are a human turned vampire regardless in the game (late generation). There are however certain characters that are metaphorical and/or actual devils/demons you can make decisions and deals with depending upon choices/clans/playstyle alignment that aren't necessarily tied to any clan. Playing as a Malkavian you can identify the true nature of most beings, but I wouldn't recommend that on the first run.

 

[Old One]

Would also mention AoD.

I wouldn't have considered that demonic, but your interpretation is valid and there certainly are pacts involved. You don't really get to enjoy them as a player, though.

On the other hand, maybe you're talking about Miltiades.

 

[Endemic]

King of Dragon Pass sorta counts, if you consider sacrificing to Malia (either to cause or cure a plague):

Doing so will also upset all of the other clans in Dragon Pass, since sacrificing to a Chaos god is pretty much blasphemy for Orlanthi. You can also propitiate Daga during a drought, which brings similar consequences.

 

[deuxhero]

Apparently one of the 3d Castlevanias uses a demon as the merchant (an actual merchant, paid with money in exchange for goods) and if you buy too much it's revealed at end-game there was clause that sells your soul if you over that much and the demon becomes an extra boss. Never played any of the 3D games and given how they all apparently suck, I'm not in a rush to.

 

[bataille]

Ted's scenario in I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream has more than one.

 

[sser]

Battle Brothers,

Spoiler

You can make deals with the devil on a couple of occasions. They're some of the more grisly 'events' in the game.

Spoiler

You can end up wearing one of your mercenary's for armor.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Would also mention AoD.

I wouldn't have considered that demonic, but your interpretation is valid and there certainly are pacts involved. You don't really get to enjoy them as a player, though.

What about that one where you nuke Maadoran, though?

More like an accident at werk than a pact tho, I suppose.


Anyway, more on topic: Legends of Eisenwald has a possible extended pact with evil stretching through nearly the entire game.

 

[Fedora Master]

Stellaris of all games lets you strike a deal with some extra-dimensional beings that gives you a huge boost to all production for a certain time and afterwards the galaxy gets invaded by these beings because of you.

 

[Silva]

Dark Souls allows you to join Darkstalker Kaate and do horrible things to fellow characters (steal their humanity, the most precious thing in the game). By the pov of the gods and their followers Kaate you could very well be a demon.

 

[Old One]

More like an accident at werk than a pact tho, I suppose.

I think it counts as a pact or an agreement, but the question is whether or not you get any tangible benefit out of it. In a demonic pact you're supposed to get some material gain like great wealth.

 

[MRY]

Fallen London has a great arc that leads to your selling your soul to a devil. The genius of it is that over its many stages, there are continual Persuasion/Wits/Intelligence checks to outmaneuver the devil, and by God, I kept winning them one after another! As well as I should, given how I had distributed my stats. Then you reach the final, hardest check, and wow, you pass that one too... And then the devil takes your soul because it was just pretending to let you win and had in fact outwitted you at every stage, and if you went back and reviewed the actual outcome of the encounters (rather than the "SUCCESS!" or characterizations ("The devil grudgingly gives way and agrees to add the term")), you realize that it was obvious you were being played the whole time.

Of course once I lost my soul I kind of lost interest in the game since I had used my limited turns for weeks to reach that end, and was annoyed and certainly not willing to pay money for more turns, but it was a neat moment.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Ogre Battle: MotBQ lets you employ demons and undead in your army, which tends to impact your overall reputation and alignment unless you use them very carefully and avoid letting civillians see them. It also has some great options that have more severe impacts, like forgiving a witch so she can join your party (huge rep penalty) and most blatant of all, you can give the holy sword to an ancient demon named Galf to have him join your army. This results in a 'bad' ending but is actually rather difficult to achieve, because getting the sword in the first place requires some very high alignment and reputation along with finding a bunch of hidden things in the various battle maps. Galf himself isn't really overpowered, but having him with you nets you a lot of free consumable items that upgrade your mage type units to more powerful versions (including Liches) which are basically the most powerful units in the game.

 

[oscar]

Age of Fear 2's demon campaign is about a pious chivalrous knight type slowly being corrupted and dominated by a succubus he rescues.

 

[Dr Skeleton]

In Eador Genesis there's a random event where you can get a giant pile of gold and gems (or maybe an artifact?) from a devil appearing at your castle. I don't remember what the drawback is (aside from a huge karma hit), it's probably some disaster hitting one of your provinces or part of the population dying.

 

[Shaewaroz]

In BG2 you sort of can make deal with the devil if you accept the Slayer curse. Also in the final stage you are forced to choose whether to kill of one of your companions or yourself - if you choose to kill off your companion, your alignment will change to chaotic (if I remember correctly). If you choose to kill yourself, you lose 1 constitution. You can also make deals with evil dragons and demons on several occasions.

 

[Mark Richard]

Fallen London has a great arc that leads to your selling your soul to a devil. The genius of it is that over its many stages, there are continual Persuasion/Wits/Intelligence checks to outmaneuver the devil, and by God, I kept winning them one after another! As well as I should, given how I had distributed my stats. Then you reach the final, hardest check, and wow, you pass that one too... And then the devil takes your soul because it was just pretending to let you win and had in fact outwitted you at every stage, and if you went back and reviewed the actual outcome of the encounters (rather than the "SUCCESS!" or characterizations ("The devil grudgingly gives way and agrees to add the term")), you realize that it was obvious you were being played the whole time.

That's truly diabolical.

Ogre Battle: MotBQ lets you employ demons and undead in your army, which tends to impact your overall reputation and alignment unless you use them very carefully and avoid letting civillians see them. It also has some great options that have more severe impacts, like forgiving a witch so she can join your party (huge rep penalty) and most blatant of all, you can give the holy sword to an ancient demon named Galf to have him join your army. This results in a 'bad' ending but is actually rather difficult to achieve, because getting the sword in the first place requires some very high alignment and reputation along with finding a bunch of hidden things in the various battle maps. Galf himself isn't really overpowered, but having him with you nets you a lot of free consumable items that upgrade your mage type units to more powerful versions (including Liches) which are basically the most powerful units in the game.

Since we're opening up the floor to console games, I'll mention Dragon Force. A short time into the campaign of emperor Golddark, a splinter faction of his generals call upon dark powers and offer their services, giving access to the two most powerful units in the early game. With their help you can demolish resistance easily. The problem is each battle they win makes you more dependent on them, removing opportunities for your other generals to gain experience. By first appearance this demonic pact gives far more than it takes away, stealthily seducing the player by having it advance between a hundred small decisions rather than one big decision.