im thinking about shadow of the erdtree again and just reflecting in awe about how soulsborne + elden ring actually makes an effort to humanize the enemies you fight, especially in elden ring. marika, a dictator-like god-empress who has committed multiple genocides, is humanized by portraying the torment she and her people went through. the hornsent in turn are humanized by showing the grief and pain marika and messmer's genocide has inflicted on the survivors. messmer is humanized by showing his mixed devotion and resentment of his mother.

even the beasts in bloodborne are humanized. in the hunter's nightmare the game makes a point to show them cowering away from you in fear. djura straight up tells you, point blank, that these are people you're slaughtering.

idk i've just always seen video games throwing faceless unpersons at you, even dragon age despite its constant scrambling for justifications for everyone. soulsborne + elden ring doesn't really try to justify anyone's actions, they're still despicable and deeply damaging to the world, it's just more willing to show you that these people exist and are human without then shying away and saying "but not THESE ones" and pointing towards some ultraviolent subfaction of dehumanized cannon fodder (coughs. the subsets of the mage and templar rebellion that didn't pull back and stop fighting in dragon age: inquisition)