Storytelling is heavy, and this is obvious. As J. R. R. Tolkien said once, you can craft a world with a green sun. The trick is about the natural place of this sun in your fictional universe. A solid and consistent character without a single cliché is even harder to describe. That’s why we sincerely love RPGs, where the souls reveal.
Our chart is about specific heroes. First of all, we don’t include renowned mass-culture persons or fictional characters. The Arkham series is gorgeous action games, but Batman is primarily famous for comic books and numerous movies. The opposite example is when the protagonist becomes a world legend via games. Geralt of Rivia is an iconic demon-slayer from the well-renowned writer Andrzej Sapkowski. But this fame was only for Poland. After the hit video game trilogy, the person became a part of mass culture.
For the same reason, we will not analyze so-called franchise games. The best Australian online casino no deposit bonus often has a bunch of licensed reel machines. And the famous characters from Game of Thrones or Marvel Cinematic Universe are not developed at all. They are very expensive and pompous backgrounds for the live gaming process. We will talk about standalone protagonists.
Then, our chart will categorize by the origin of the hero. It can be genre or the specific details of game design, no matter. The only criteria should be uniqueness and strict parts of the biography. The Dark Souls series has a good narrative, but which is told via item descriptions and other uneven sources. And this is not a great way to have a solid character.
Eastern school of game design
Although the Korean and Chinese market is booming now, the cult characters are all from the Japanese game industry. It is the oldest and the most complicated part of the videogame lore. The very first concepts were made for Westerners. Here we have the most adorable and renowned protagonist ever – Mario. Firstly he was even of Mexican origin! The tradition is strong and alive today. A lot of game series adapt well for the Western audience. The Silent Hill or Evil Within franchises are very “American” from their core. The popular heroes of this type are:
- Ethan, Albert Vesker, Leon Kennedy, Chris Redfield, and other periodic protagonists of the Resident Evil series;
- Solid Snake, Naked Snake, Liquid Snake, Major Zero, The Boss, Raiden, and other action heroes from the Metal Gear franchise. Sometimes they are become cult cosplay models, like Quiet:
- Dante, Nero, V, Vergil, other heroes of a classic slash action Devil May Cry (based on the European design of demon hunters).
The other group of protagonists consists of some original fantasy and realistic Japanese concepts. They are unique and widely renowned:
- Bayonetta, the witch with a grotesque oversexualized look;
- Cloud Strife, from the “middle” Final Fantasy series. And his antagonist, Sephiroth, respectively;
- Link, from the golden classic – a prosperous “The Legend of Zelda” franchise.
Traditional Western action stars
American and European industries are based on the mass culture from the movies, seldom – from the books, comics, tales, etc. All the archetypes are trusty and popular. Their design is cornier, not pompous and androgyne. Of course, the styles of the hundreds of people are pretty different, but the aesthetic sense of Euro-American players is usual.
Recently, the fandoms have changed. Today strong women are more welcome. Unfortunately, not all of them have decent scripts and characters. Still, the narrators evolved a lot, and today we have a lot of interesting female protagonists.
The biggest stars of the Western school today are:
- Kratos. God of War, exclusively for Playstation. A brutal Spartan made a lot of cameos throughout their career.
- Lara Croft. Female Indiana Jones, literally. The first versions were made for male fans, with a sex-appeal outfit. Modern Lara is a more realistic young woman;
- Geralt of Rivia, the White Wolf. Mutant, playboy, philanthropist, master of the sword and primitive sorcery, a true neutral hero with honor;
- Gordon Freeman. The rarest example of the silent hero with a great charisma
- Master Chief. The Xbox mascot, the soldier with no face, a clone with deep personal issues;
- Commander Shepard from Mass Effect. The first chapter has a fresh and pretty good remaster. So, you need to save the Galaxy from the Reapers again;
- Arthur Morgan and John Marston, the Red Dead Redemption dilogy. The most epic western on the PC;
- Ezio Auditore da Firenze. Every main person from Assassin’s Creed is charismatic. But the Italian trilogy was the most innovative and obtained the very first fame to its creators;
- Max Payne. The noir detective with revolutionary gameplay;
- Garrett the Master Thief. The granddaddy of all modern stealth games. Also, the guy is charismatic.
There are no persons from classic WRPGs here. They are just too numerous. Also, a good roleplay game is about character development via deeds and interactions. Though we recommend studying this genre too, there are many great dialogues and rich lore in these games, no doubt.
Conclusion
Of course, these lists are not complete. We took a brief look just at the most classic media protagonists. Some franchises are old (like Sonic) and are not very relevant today. Some games are sandboxes with the flexible protagonist’s future. Your Nerevarin or Dovahkin can have various behaviors. But the cult heroes with a strict game plot are also remarkable.