I tried the poison Charkov for the first time yesterday, and I am having feels for a minor npc once more lol
On my first playthrough, I did the option where you persuade the prisoner to kill Charkov, then on my second one I had Charkov framed so that Kravchenko goes and interrogate him. So to me, Charkov was just basically a random minor antagonist soviet general.
But yesterday I tried the poison Charkov route, and it really humanized Charkov for me. The way Belikov and him talk about their past missions together (one of which apparently only the two of them survived), their country, their love for flying and Charkov's wife made it clear that they've been friends for some time. Like Charkov says: "Two old warriours, still fumbling their way through the dark"
This makes the fact that Charkov knew all along that Belikov was the mole all the more heartwrenching, and then he says "Are you going to kill me for it?" (the bunker access key). And Belikov not only kills him, but he kills him with Nova 6, which is basically one of the worst and most painful ways to kill someone. Belikov saying "I'm sorry I wasn't a better friend" was really the biggest emotional gut punch to me :(
It really isn't, Dimitri. It really isn't :(