We've all done this. We've all taken a game and decided to do an evil playthrough, if we have the option, but it just doesn't feel nearly as fun to do as any other type of ending. And I believe there are a few reasons for this regarding both the game and the player. In this part, I'll be giving a bit of a deep dive into the alignment chart to maybe help with understanding different classes of evil.
The main explanation is how games and gamers view evil which, a majority of the time, just ends up being a psychopathic murderer that at least tries to kill anything that moves. This...is boring. It's such a flanderization of evil that it helps people avoid doing evil playthroughs because there's nothing interesting about doing them since you just go on a mindless rampage. Games like Undertale actually make their genocide ending a chore to do since you actually have to kill enough enemies that nothing shows up if you run into a random encounter. I actually like that as it sort of deters it only for those who think they can accomplish it or were just bored and wondered what would happen which gives them access to new dialogue and bosses. Regardless, this is still the biggest issue that faces evil playthroughs.
Even if you don't play D&D or other ttrpgs, many have come into contact with the alignment chart. There are three alignments labelled as evil; Lawful Evil (my preferred), Neutral Evil and Chaotic Evil with Chaotic Neutral being an honorary evil in my eyes. Generally speaking, evil implies hurting, opressing and killing others to further your own goals. These alignments all still embody those traits (save for CN but bear with me) but with different flavors. Law implies honor, trustworthiness, obedience to authority and reliability where chaos implies freedom, adaptability and flexibility. Both of these have downsides like close-mindedness and recklessness respectively to name some. Now that that's over, I am going to paraphrase the descriptions of alignments given on d20PFSRD since they are how I can best explain the following alignments.144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyjJIeAjPTY
Chaotic Neutral characters follow their whims and are an individualist who prioritizes their own liberty before the safety of others. They despise restrictions and tradition but they don't want total anarchy since that would pull them more towards either good (liberating others) or evil (make others suffer). This is a character who likes to rock the boat when it affects them but don't really care when it doesn't. This doesn't mean that they'll never help anyone, but it does mean that they're less inclined to out of the goodness of their heart, and might do it right before turning tail and immediately undoing their work. Think of Gru at the beginning of Despicable Me when he makes the crying kid a balloon animal to make him stop crying over his ice cream before immediately popping it in the kid's face. I would consider that a Chaotic Neutral action in some way.
Chaotic Evil characters are driven by greed, hatred, lust for destruction, etc. They can be vicious, violent and unpredictable. Plans are haphazard at best and completely non-existent depending on the situation so most groups that fall into this category are poorly organized and only work together because they're beaten into submission or their leader manages to avoid being murdered by their minions. CE characters represent the destruction of order and thus the destruction of life and beauty, but they are at the mercy of their toxic passions which can change their goals at the drop of a hat. They also have issues with long-term planning in favor of immediate satisfaction of something like murder or riots. This is sort of how much games/gamers view evil playthroughs.
Neutral Evil is what I would describe as the basic criminal alignment. You're out for yourself plain and simple and don't care who you hurt or in what way as long as you get what you want. You don't care for laws or tradition but without the restless nature and love of conflict of CE. This is evil without honor or variation...evil for the sake of it. These characters could also be disillusioned with the laws that are meant to protect people, even themselves, and just decide not to follow them. Some examples of NE in the world are nihilists, narcissists, and psychopaths (in the actual correct use of the term).
Lawful Evil is my chosen evil alignment as well as my general chosen alignment. This alignment focuses on getting what you want within the realm of law and own personal code of ethics without caring who you hurt to do so. You care about tradition, loyalty and order but not so much about freedom, dignity or life. You bend the rules just enough to not break them to get whatever you want regardless of how you do so, wanting to move higher in the hierarchy but willing to serve and hates to breaks oaths and agreements because you depend on the rule of law to protect yourself from moral opposition. My usual playstyle of this is being willing to commit acts such as torture, hiring a hitman and bribery (among other things) but will refuse to kill a defenseless creature (I have others for that) or physically harm an innocent person for no reason. This is the mafia alignment where you believe law and power structures mean safety because the hierarchy enables certain outcomes by bending the rules put in place.
Hope that this helps you if you ever find a game that allows for more nuanced forms of evil during a playthrough. Have a day
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