There's always room to play a mindless killer. And how it treats life doesn't mean killing is off limits. U4 does plenty for progress when it comes to mature relationships in games, co-operation, equality etc. Which is why shooting humans like cannon fodder stands out a bit.

It comes down to how it is treated in the game. If you play a mindless killer then reflect that in the narrative. Don't pretend to be a warm family man, or savior (like TR) that disposes of hundreds of people just because they're in the way, unless you're playing Dexter the game. Yet even Dexter had more morality than the average video game protaganist.

We as a species still collectively shrug our shoulders when it comes to collateral damage. Which is reflected in video games and movie culture.

It is interesting though that kids are off limits / indestructible in games. There is a line after which human life becomes expendable. And old people generally don't exist in games unless they are untouchable story characters. So it's about age 15 to 45 where life is worthless in games :)

I felt the same way when playing the Uncharted games. I get that it's a game and they needed enemies to provide a challenge and pad out the game, but it kind of ruins the whole adventurer image when Drake is a 1 man army, taking out trained soldiers with ease. Between the 4 games Drake easily killed several hundred people, probably nearing 1000....

That's why I went the stealth route as much as possible. It just didn't feel right to go in guns blazing, headshot my way through. It's also why I felt disconnected with the game in the last couple of chapters. Tlou had that problem much less as you're mostly fighting infected.

Top notch action adventure game regardless. Maybe one day the formula can be cracked without having to kill a small village along the way. It would be interesting to see the human killcount compared by game. I don't remember fighting many humans at all in the original TR. In the last one I felt like I killed about 100 mercenaries for every person I was trying to liberate on the island.

Last night Dr Who's episode had a great observation
The Doctor: Human progress isn’t measured by industry. It’s measured by the value you place on a life. An unimportant life. A life without privilege. The boy who died on the river, that boy’s value is your value. That’s what defines an age, that’s… what defines a species.  http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2017-04-29/heres-the-doctors-amazing-speech-from-this-weeks-doctor-who
It would be nice if that was extended to video games :) Progress not measured by graphics, instead measured by how it treats life.

I felt the same way when playing the Uncharted games. I get that it's a game and they needed enemies to provide a challenge and pad out the game, but it kind of ruins the whole adventurer image when Drake is a 1 man army, taking out trained soldiers with ease. Between the 4 games Drake easily killed several hundred people, probably nearing 1000....

Good point. I get very invested. I even got tear eyed in Horizon, a couple of times... Lol

I am about to start Fallout 4 once I finish Uncharted 4, probably next year. I antecipate two playthroughs because the first one I will be a very do-gooder and probably will lose a lot of what the game has to offer.