Kessler has always been such a strange but iconic staple of InFamous 1. It’s kinda crazy he isn’t talked about more in the gaming landscape.

Who tf thought infamous 1 was a bad game???

I really liked Kessler as a villain, he is a tragic yet selfish character. He is a man who refused to take action in his own time and when it destroyed his life he decided to go back and fix his mistake. The big issue with him is that instead of finding a way to give Cole his powers without destroying a city and training him and working together to face the beast he decided that Cole needed to be like him, Cole needed to know the pain of lose and despair so that he would be strong enough mentally to face the Beast, to force him to grow up and take action. Kessler had so many more options, he could have raised a whole group of conduits to face the beast together but instead he believed only he could defeat the Beast, only his past self would have the strength to do so. I think Kessler wanted cole to be the one to face the beast because maybe it would somehow undo the sins of kesslers pass, maybe redeem his failure in some way, a selfish desire that only caused needless suffering to both himself and the world

The bald three: Kessler, Sasha and Alden Tate

I can't see how anyone would play the InFamous series and NOT start with the first game. It's an incredibly compelling story with a phenomenal twist and the series wouldn't feel complete without it.

Still remember the day I beat Kessler. The plot twist was INSANELY good for me. I played the game again (to do the evil route) and every dialogue, every scene, every tiny detail was very well crafted and plan out. The foreshadowing was insane. I miss villains like Kessler and I really want Infamous to return in some way. I don't nessasary mean infamous 3 the return of Cole or something like that but a spin off or a cameo like a Playstation all stars 2 maybe? Something. I just love these games. They need/dereve more love!!!!

"So he invited Cole to a final confrontation. To join him at the location where Cole's world was forever changed"
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ad break plays At Honda

It's worth pointing out that, based on Kessler's own memories, he did legitimately believe that he could have won if he fought the Beast the first time. With this, and with him fighting Cole as the final test to make sure Cole was ready, you could argue that even now, altering time to set up Cole, he was still running from the responsibility of fighting the Beast directly by shoving it onto another version of himself.

Calling the first InFAMOUS a “bad game” is simply delusional. Sponsors nor the good ratings that the game received, wouldn’t even have been thought of a sequel.

Rest in peace Sam Mowry, your voice acting work as Kessler will be forever immortalized in one of gaming's greatest antagonists.

Kessler seems like a prime example of what an Anti Villain is. Like Thanos in the MCU. Having overall good intentions, but means that are awful if not worse than if they didn't act at all. The saying goes "the ends don't always justify the means" is a great way to describe Kessler. A man wanting to save the world, but in doing so caused harm to thousands of lives.

I remember in one of my playthroughs I used the raysphere for black lightning and sacrificed Trish for the doctors. Kessler actually praised me as being exactly what he was hoping for.

I believe Kessler knew the very year the beast would appear. The infamous 2 guidebook implies that Kessler gave the year to everyone he told about the beast. Which would explain everyone’s shocked reaction to the beast showing up.

It would also be in everyone’s best interest for Kessler to warn them years in advance to give them time to prepare


That being said i think you’re absolutely right saying Kessler chose to punish Cole as I had always believed that myself. It also fits exactly in inFamous’s black and white morality system as being the most grey method of stopping the beast. Kessler is cole if neutral karma existed in the game and Kessler’s plan is both selfish and selfless at the same time i can’t think of a more neutral response.

Kessler is, I'd argue, one of the best villains in gaming. After the loss of his family, his mind was completely broken by guilt. He could have gone back in time and helped the world prepare for the beast, but what he chose was to punish his younger self for the mistakes he made, convincing himself it was the only way to right his wrongs is to put Cole through hell. Inadvertently though Kessler thought he had won in creating a hero out of Cole, his actions also caused the Beast to appear sooner (I wonder if the conduit to become it was John in Kessler's past) and though Cole's mindset was set, his abilities and tools necessary to fight it were not ready. Ultimately to stop the Beast, Cole had to have help, he couldn't do it on his own.

Despite Kessler having such a vast knowledge and influence over so many things, his view was so narrow, he wanted to prepare not the world but his younger self for the hell to come, in the end that was extremely selfish for him to do and I wonder if we could say Kessler learned from his own mistakes. If the canon of Infamous 1 story was Cole doing selfish things once he got the powers, I'd say Cole losing Trish and her being disappointed in Cole being the last memory was the thing that made Cole try and redeem himself, not witnessing Kessler's future.

I am now going to replay this game wish we had a remastered version

Infamous 1 is the best infamous game and it isn’t particularly close

Imo, Kessler putting all that work into creating Cole instead of stopping The Beast himself is one more example of how Cole is stronger than him.
Even after everything, Kessler is still shirking responsibility, still making other people achieve his goals for him.

Also note that Kessler always kept Zeke somewhat safe, because Cole and Zeke might be selfish to a certain extent, Cole wouldnt have any moral point or anyone to rely on if it wasnt for Zeke.
Even when pushing him away, he doesnt kill him

Since the good ending in canon, I think Kessler knew that if the time came, Zeke would push Cole to do/be better, considering that Zeke starts fixing his mistakes nearly immediately which is a trait that Kessler wants, and Cole ignores that if Zeke stayed with Alden, he wouldve died, but Zeke doesnt blame Cole at any point for lashing out on him and admits his mistake, even though it mightve lead to his own death.

Kessler was smart as he knew who needed to be filtered from Cole's life to keep him straight and focused on his goal

Infamous 1 was peak and revolutionary, i know so many people that say they want another game like infamous or another game like prototype but devs wont do it anymore

Kessler’s character reminds me of the song “Iron Man” by Black Sabbath, a song telling a story about a man who travels to the future to find a metallic beast wreaking havoc on the world, causing an apocalypse. while in the future he was turned to steel in a magnetic storm. The man travels back in time to the present to warn the people who then turned away and ignored him, causing him to go into a fit of rage and eradicate the human race he once tried to save, becoming the monster he was warning them of.

And Kessler witnessed the end of the world due to the beast, so he travels back in time to ready his past self who goes on to become the beast in the evil ending (which is to my knowledge the ending that was supposed to be canon before they changed the canon because of trophy data) becoming the monster his alternate self readied him to face.

Pretty interesting