The horror game genre is continually evolving, from the2D spaces of the pastinto cinematic experiences with the multiple choice adventures today. Huge franchises have come and gone, with some even stronger than ever as scary games continue to find huge audiences in the ever-growing world of gaming.
But one aspect too often overlooked in the horror game genre are the heroes thatmust tackle the horrors before them. Many great horror games have focused on putting the player in a terrifying situation over any character development for the people in the story, but these great characters have heroically faced off with terrors beyond imagination — and have often miraculously survived.
One of the stranger horror game franchises, as well as a hugely underrated one that hasn’t seen a new entry in a decade now,FEARwas a great idea at a time when FPS games were emerging as the most popular genre in the gaming world. Mixing this style with a psychological horror game was a bold move that paid off, and Point Man is the protagonist at the front of these fascinating games.
The developers wanted to use Japanese horror inspirations while making the player the lead in a dark action movie, and they achieved this via a fictional military team whose job was to investigate paranormal activity. Point Man is the lead of the first and thirdFEARgames and a soldier whose history and family are wrapped up in a lot of horrors that slowly unravel over the course of the games. His brother, Paxton, and his mother, Alma, are mixed up in twisted games, leading to a huge showdown, which has made him and his franchise memorable to horror game fans.
Any horror game focused on characters thrown into surreal worlds and situations needs to nail characterization, as surrealism often focuses on the characters themselves. Such is the case withThe Evil Within, which features a cop named Sebastian finding a mass murder at a mental hospital where he and his coworkers are drawn into a crazy world of terrorfeaturing some incredible jump scares.
Many horror games are about normal people rising to the occasion in a terrifying situation, but Sebastian is a trained detective who finds himself in a situation even his skills can’t help him with. The terrors he faces across the two games in the series, and the things he is forced to do, make him a surprisingly relatable and intriguing protagonist, especially in the second game when he goes into a VR hellscape just to try and save his daughter.
TheSilent Hillgamesare known for several memorable protagonists. James Sunderland, the hero of the second game in the franchise (still considered one of the best horror games ever), is an intriguing character.
A widower who travels to the terrifying town of Silent Hill after receiving a message from his dead wife, James is a great protagonist who showed how flawed video game heroes could be before many heroes in games were anything other than white knights. James became an archetype for the modern horror game hero, someone with a traumatic past whose mistakes have made them the broken-down person they are by the time the game starts.
One of the most recognizable video game charactersof all time, Jill Valentine, has been back at the forefront of pop culture since theResident Evil 3remake put such a highlight on her. Jill is the epitome of what makes a popular video game heroine. She has an appealing appearance; she’s strong, capable, and confident; and she provides a different style of female gaming protagonist to what was typical at the time.
Jill has appeared in theResident Evilmovies, as well as both versions ofResident EvilandResident Evil 3, not to mentionResident Evil 5. She’s synonymous with one of the biggest horror game franchises on the planet and has practically become a household name — a true achievement for a character who hasn’t appeared in a new video game in many years.
Another character who has become hugely recognizable is the Doom Slayer. Despite never really getting named, this figure isconfirmed to be the same characterin every entry of the long-running franchise, making him one of the longest-running protagonists in gaming history.
Having helped define the FPS genre without having much characterization, the more recentDoomgames have finally started to round out the Doom Slayer as a character instead of simply an embodiment of the player’s ability to rip and tear through demonic hordes. He is now an icon in his own right and is beloved as a prime example of a character who doesn’t have to say much to be impactful.
A systems engineer turned tragic horror hero, Isaac Clarke is the lead of theDead Spacefranchise. Forced to combat the terrifying Necromorphs, as well as the effects of the Markers on his mind, Isaac is generally a stoic character who epitomizes how many horror game protagonists were portrayed before games started to focus more on characterization.
Isaac has become iconic through the threeDead Spacegames, as well as the recent remake of the first game in the series. He is a tragic character who harbors resentment towards the Church of Unitology for converting his mother, leading to her committing murder-suicide on herself and Isaac’s father. Isaac is constantly being beaten down by one thing or another, but he always manages to stand tall as he continues his fight against the Necromorphs.
The continuity of theSilent Hillgames doesn’t make a lot of sense. In short, Heather Mason is the reincarnation of Harry Mason’s adopted daughter, Cheryl. The protagonist of the third game in the series, Heather must contend with the forces of the dark town as a 17-year-old girl only now beginning to learn about her place in all the madness that surrounds Silent Hill.
It’s rare to see a game use a teenager as a protagonist, and Heather was one of the best examples of a character that really feels like a teenager despite having to contend with horrors beyond her wildest nightmares. She loves shopping, is a regular kid, and is also forced to the center of a terrifying prophecy.Silent Hillhas several iconic games,but Heather andSilent Hill 3take the cake.
Another game that was a bold and strange blending of genres,Parasite Evemixed horror into an RPG and created something beloved and well remembered today. Part of this is because of the protagonist, Aya Brea, who was a detective created specifically for the game, not having originally appeared in theParasite Evenovel that Square Enix based the game off.
Aya, alongside several other strong female heroes in ’90s games, were considered responsible for the booming number of women who played games around that time. A competent detective who went on to work with the FBI in the second game — and fought Mitochrondriac creatures even when she had amnesia inThe 3rd Birthday— Aya is considered one of the best female heroes in any game.
The other hugely recognizable character from theResident Evilfranchise, alongside Jill Valentine, is the co-protagonist ofResident Evil 2and the outright lead ofResident Evil 4, Leon S Kennedy. A rookie police officer in a nightmare when a zombie outbreak occurs on his first day in Raccoon City, Kennedy has to team up with Claire Redfield to escape. When he does, he is forced to join an anti-Umbrella team that turns him into a seasoned veteran who later attempts to rescue the President’s daughter from a cult in rural Spain.
Leon has consistently been a fan favorite over the years in a variety of roles, becoming a man truly exhausted with all the situations he is forced to deal with. Not much can surprise Leon by the timeResident Evil 4comes around, and between the remakes of bothResident Evil 2andResident Evil 4, he has been revived in the minds of many gamers as one of the best protagonists in horror gaming history.
One of the best game protagonists of all time, Alan Wake, has become a modern classic hero despite only having appeared in three games so far (four, counting theControlDLC). Originally, Alan was portrayed as a crime novelist attempting to unravel the mystery behind his wife’s disappearance in a thrilling survival game. The cinematicfocus of the game and outdoor settingwere major factors in making Alan an instant classic hero.
However, inAlan Wake 2, a much more horror focused title, Alan has escaped from an alternate dimension after thirteen years and is a much different, more haunted character, adding complicated layers that changed him quite a bit over the course of his games.
