May 27, 2026
Boss fight or guilt trip?
The Melancholy of Slaying Monsters
Gamers are spiraling over whether monster-killing was the bad guy move all along
TLDR: The article argues that some games turn monster-slaying into a sad, morally messy choice instead of a simple win. Commenters loved the idea but fought over which games really count, with some saying titles like *Dark Souls* reward killing too directly to make the guilt feel real.
A thoughtful essay about games like Bloodborne, Shadow of the Colossus, and Undertale asked a deceptively simple question: what if the monster fight is the tragedy, not the triumph? The writer describes stumbling on a sleeping cosmic creature in Bloodborne and freezing instead of attacking, turning a standard boss battle into a mini existential crisis. And honestly, the comments said: welcome to the club.
That’s where the real fun starts. One camp basically went, “Nice idea, but some of these games are absolutely not moral dilemmas.” The sharpest pushback targeted Dark Souls, with one commenter arguing that if your power-up points literally come from killing enemies, then the game is less “ethical struggle” and more “murder with rewards.” Ouch. Others rushed in with their own examples, turning the thread into a giant group therapy session for players still haunted by fights they maybe, possibly, definitely did not feel great about. Fallout, The Witcher, Elder Scrolls Online, and even sleeping bears in Lord of the Rings Online got dragged into evidence.
There was also some delightfully nerdy one-upmanship: “You forgot this game!” became the unofficial sport of the thread, from Hollow Knight: Silksong shout-outs to lonely giants and cute animals minding their business until players start something. The vibe was part philosophy seminar, part confession booth, part “are we the baddies?” meme — and the community clearly had a lot of feelings.
Key Points
- •The article begins with Jaroslav Švelch’s account of encountering the sleeping boss Ebrietas in *Bloodborne* and choosing not to attack immediately.
- •The article argues that many games complicate the traditional player-versus-environment model by making monster-slaying feel ethically troubling.
- •It links this idea to earlier literary and religious traditions, especially Tolkien’s reading of *Beowulf*, where killing monsters is not treated as inherently virtuous.
- •Games scholar Tanya Krzywinska is cited to support the idea that horror and fantasy games often use the “false hero” theme.
- •*Shadow of the Colossus* is presented as a central example of ethical gameplay, in which the protagonist Wander must kill 16 colossi to try to revive his dead lover.