Sometimes video game designers are purposely non-descriptive of their player characters. This is sometimes to make the character feel as bland as possible, so the player assumes the identity.Half-Lifedid this even though they named the player,Doomis the epitome of this, and… well we can’t complain aboutPac-Manbecause they actually gave him a backstory.
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With sequels and lore outside of games being tacked on, some initial nondescript characters need some reworking to make the gaming experience richer. Otherwise, we just have a blank, boring, slate.
8Gordon Freeman (Half-Life)
The original Half-Life came out in a time in the 1990s when the playable character being a well fleshed-out person wasn’t a big thing (see Doomguy). Valve settled on making Gordon Freeman a silent protagonist in both Half-Life 1 and 2, to better allow the player to be immersed in the game. This is all fine and dandy except most of us aren’t theoretical physicists, so the illusion was already broken from the beginning.
Having Freeman be quiet in the first game is passable and even a great artistic choice. But in the second title, it’s weird having this grand narrative around Freeman withhim being a blank slate. We get that he is an MIT graduate, and he chose to come to Black Mesa, but a much more fleshed-out backstory and character inlayed onto Gordon would have made Half-Life even richer in detail. It would also explain why he is so good at kicking butt.
7Donkey Kong
Let’s see what Nintendo has asDonkey Kong’sorigins story: an evil monkey who kidnaped Pauline, Mario’s girlfriend. But … why? Donkey Kong’s characterization these days includes a red tie with DK on it. Shigeru Miyamoto said that the Beauty and the Beast, along with the movie King Kong played a large part in the character’s creation. At least King Kong gives us the courtesy of a smidgeon of backstory for their big ape.
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His son and then himself become protagonists in games after a rough starting patch, so it would be cool to know what was making this gorilla tick. Sure, subsequent DK games have added iconic relatives to Kong’s family, expanding what we know about him, but his backstory has still been pretty lacking.
6Doomguy (Doom Series)
We know, we know. Doom isn’t exactly heralded for its expansive lore and deep character development. It’s a game designed for killing demons. The Doom Marine, also known asDoom Guy, falls under that old-school philosophy that you needed no backstory because the game designer’s intention is to make him the avatar for the player.
That’s fine for the early 90s, but once you get to modern-day Doom, the backstory of “he is a marine that is good at killing demons” just feels like ID made the original game first and wrote something on a napkin quickly before it shipped.
5Ghost (Destiny)
For this entry, we are going to reference Nolan North’s Ghost and not Peter Dinklage’s mailed-in voiceover. Ghost, using the power of the Light from the Traveler inDestiny, resurrects you, the player. While your character is essentially their avatar, the Ghost is something different. He has some attitude, humor, and emotion that makes him far more intriguing than most video game sidekicks.
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It would be great to see what Nolan North’s Ghost was doing all these years before he found the skeleton outside the Cosmodrome. Had he lost other Guardians? Where did he get this comedic timing? Is everyone’s Ghost just a wise-cracking comedian in the future? Questions need to be answered, Bungie!
4Link (Zelda Series)
Nintendo’s choice to essentially reset the timeline every time a newZeldagame is released makes you wonder if poor Link isn’t some poor Star Wars droid that gets his memory wiped after each mission. Link is easily one of the most identifiable characters in video games period. Just don’t ask what school he went to, or where he learned how to fight — it changes all the time.
Also, Link is apparently a common name in Hyrule, so he is essentially the John Doe of video game heroes at this point. Sometimes, even the people of Hyrulecan’t stand him being around, so what does that tell you?
3Steve (Minecraft)
Steve is one of the most recognizable protagonists ever due to the popularity ofMinecraft. The funny thing, however, is despite many of us playing as Steve, we know diddly about who the guy is. Granted, this is in a sandbox game, but Steve has become so popular he has appeared in other video games.
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You put this guy in other titles, but you don’t tell us who he really is? Why can’t anyone be put in a video game then? The nondescript clerk at Walgreens in Smash Bros.? Car valet guy from Hollywood in Tekken? There needs to be a Steve origins comic, otherwise you leave his backstory to… (shudders) fanfiction.
2Duke Nukem
Very little is known about Duke’s early life.Duke Nukemis literally the name of the game series, so you would think the marquee character would have much deeper lore. Duke’s early life hasn’t been fleshed out and the reason he is an alien butt-kicker isn’t really explained.
Much like Gordon Freeman, why is Duke handling the situation better than anyone else? We need to know about thisiconic sunglass-wearing hero! A man is simply more than his one-liners.
1Mar Sara Magistrate (Starcraft)
Of all the player characters on this list, the Mar Sara Magistrate of the originalStarcraftwas the most… worked around. He is apparently MIA in Starcraft II and seemingly the commander role has been shifted over to Raynor.
A fun bit of fan canon could have made the magistrate Starcraft 2’s Matt Horner. This would have made people like the character of Matt much more, and be the perfect bit of attaching a nameless character in the first game to a well-liked character in the second game. Instead, we just have weird text briefings from the original Starcraft. We won’t forget, Magistrate.
