Writer Jaroslav Švelch reflects on a haunting encounter in 2015’s Bloodborne, where a sleeping boss named Ebrietas appears in moonlight. Instead of attacking, the player watches the creature, feeling a rare hesitation to kill. Švelch uses this moment to illustrate a broader tension in games that pit heroic combat against ethical doubt about slaying monsters.

The debate echoes themes from Tolkien’s essay on Beowulf, where monsters serve as sublime mirrors rather than mere targets. In Shadow of the Colossus, Wander must fell sixteen colossal beings to resurrect his lover, yet the game strips away filler enemies, forces players to cling to the beasts, and pairs each death with mournful music. Director Fumito Ueda admitted he questioned the satisfaction of killing.

Scholars such as Tanya Krzywinska note that this “false hero” motif recurs in titles like Dark Souls, where triumph feels hollow amid relentless dread. By forcing players to confront the moral weight of each victory, these games encourage reflection on violence as entertainment. The deeply lingering melancholy proves that monster‑killing can be a narrative device as much as a mechanic.