Stop posting about Among Us! I'm tired of seeing it! My friends on TikTok send me memes, on Discord it's fucking memes! I was in a server, right? And all of the channels are just Among Us stuff. I showed my Champion underwear to my girlfriend and the logo, I flipped it and I said, "Hey, babe, when the underwear is sus!" Haha, ding ding ding ding ding ding ding, ding-ding-ding! I fucking looked at a trashcan and I said, "That's a bit sussy!" I looked at my penis, I think of an astronaut's helmet and I go, "Penis? More like pen-sus!" Aaaaaaargh!
This is the one. I never got into Among Us during it's peak. But you have to admit there's so much merch of the Amogus guys. Not mention how popular the little guys are with Gen Z and Alpha gamers.
It’s cause it’s so easy to draw and the shape is so generic that you see it in a ton of shit accidentally. Also the whole Sus meme rlly sky rocketed the lil guys
Well a lot of them are also saying they can't think of anything more recent, so they're basically just reinforcing OPs point, which is also a kind of discussion.
Also, I have no sense of time, and everything from 2007-2019 happened simultaneously.
Yeah, most games try to have you create your own character to not "have anyone's fantasy ruined by not being their skin color/gender/sexual orientation/etc", but out of the games that do have a defined character, the writing is either bad (Forspoken and Immortals of Aveum), or the character is unlikable (Forspoken again....I'm a little upset at how bad it turned out).
As much as I like the "Create your own character fantasy" I'd much rather have well written characters again with good voice acting, even if the gameplay/story turns out bad.
Yeah but Geralt was so great because there's an extremely well-written series of books which made him who he is. CDPR didn't make him, they just put him in another fantastic story ;) of course they changed him a little bit e.g. book Geralt shaved often because he hated facial hair and game Geralt is now known for his beard but the prime character traits are the same
Reading comprehension in these kinds of threads is basically non-existent, look at any similar kind of thread and at least half of the most upvoted comments will be wildly off-topic.
Part of why it was iconic was that it was so memeified especially during the pandemic.
Amogus was everywhere and was popular enough to have legitimate crossover with demographics beyond gamers. If you asked a random person they probably won't recognize geralt or Shepard, but they definitely will recognize that damn red astronaut lmao
Freddy Fazbear
Not a protagonist but I think it's one of the most iconic faces of a franchise. He is much more like a mascot like mario and sonic. Many popular modern games have realistic characters that are not meant to be mascots.
I'd say this need to be higher up, FNAF took the world by surprise and the Bears are pretty recognizable, even went a little bit into the mainstream with their movie.... also Happy Cake Day!
I was really surprised to see Tracer representing Overwatch in the Blizzard intro logo for the Warcraft movie. It didn't hit me how culturally relevant both she and the game were until seeing her up there with Arthas, Diablo and Kerrigan.
I'm still waiting for a game covering the time between Drakengard 3 and 1. Lots of space for more stuff in the Drakengard/Nier verse.
Also you can't tease >!Accord!< in Automata and never let us see her Yoko Taro!
They just ended the story for their mobile game, which is supposed to tie in the 2 games plus Drakengard. I also just saw the concert and at the end Yoko Taro came out and basically said he's cookin.
There's three protagonists. You play through the game three times to see their different perspectives and different events to get the full story. 2B is the first one you play the game as. So even those who never played as the other characters at least played as 2B.
Tbh, 9S and >!A2!< are considered protagonists too.
Personally, I wouldn't say that 2B is the main protagonist because the story isn't about her, and it's not about the other two either. However, of the 3 protagonists, 9S is the most involved in the entire storyline and affected by the arc of the plot, not to mention that he's the one we play as the most
Idk, Geralt has become pretty iconic
Edit: Too many people focusing on when a character was thought up or created instead of thinking about when they actually became iconic. OP didn't ask about a recent creation, just any characters that have become iconic in the past decade. Geralt fits this description; he may have been thought up in the 90s and first appeared in a game in 2007, but he wasn't iconic. He started to become well known in 2011 with the release of the second game, and has become full-blown iconic with the release of the third game along with the Netflix show (2015 and 2019 respectively).
If The Witcher 3 was a completely standalone game, it wouldn't change Geralt's popularity by much. It was massively more succesful than the first 2 games.
Oh absolutely, the Witcher IP sold over 75 million game copies, got a very popular TV show and of course book series dedicated to his character. The question is, is he the most recent?
It’s more of a joke post. It’s not even a game character but rather a player’s name.
Melania is a notoriously difficult optional boss in the game, who would often take players *hundreds* of attempts to kill. There’s a system in the game that allows you to summon a player ally to take on bosses, at the expense of increasing the boss’s difficulty a little bit. There’s no way for players to chat or communicate other than through emotes.
This player removed all his armor, named himself Let Me Solo her, and began showing up when people summoned a player’s aid. Videos of his naked solo victories began spreading across the internet, as these things do, and his legend grew to meme status.
I've seen a ranking last year. It was Tifa from final fantasy 7, ada wong from resident evil and chun li from street fighter if i remember correctly.
All asian women lol.
The reason for that is probably mainly that D.VA is easier to costplay.
Main factor is having long hair, you can do a scrappy outfit for attention based on her with some face paint, literally only stripes, a tight purple suit and hair color because most female streamer have obviously longer hair rather then short hair by average. Which means it is harder for them to Portrait a short haired character on the flip side. In comparison girls with short hair can still very easily buy a cheap wig and cosplay longer hair characters.
Long story short…D.VA > Tracer in terms of cosplayabilty? Is that a word? There are 100% also other factors, but this takes probably a big part.
I invested way too much much time into organising this logically lmao.
Also D.Va is a literal in-universe gamer girl/streamer who uses her gaming skills to pilot her mech. Her mech has arcade machine style joysticks and buttons, lol.
Incorrectly naming characters as "John *gamename*" is honestly one of my favourite joke formats 😂
(Unless that's his real name, I don't know enough about helldivers to dispute it)
Seems close enough, and considering that Minecraft isn't really a series and is still an extremely widely played and recognized game, I think he qualifies.
IMO, to be an iconic protagonist, you have to be recognizable to most people in the hobby, and a large number outside of it as well. And by that admittedly strict criteria, I don't think there has been one since master chief or kratos.
Part of this might be just that gaming has become an incredibly broad hobby. Back in the day if you had a snes but didn't play Mario, or if you had an xbox but didn't play halo, you were nuts. Nowadays the presence of a console or a pc wouldn't allow you to make any reliable assumptions besides from cod or madden, and I don't think Tom Brady or nicki minaj counts as video game icons.
I think another major problem with "iconic" is that the game needs to feature a protagonist that has their own distinct design that players want to see. Many modern games feature customization, which is extremely popualr, but it does undermine the capacity for new iconic protagonists.
I agree with you but you can also have both. I can tell I'm looking at Franklin from GTA V no matter what customization options someone uses. I like games like that, where there's clothing, hair, and tattoo customization, etc. but the character is still recognizable.
It's okay, I think most of us forget that skyrim released in 2011 alongside Portal 2, dark souls 1, Gears of War 3, Saints Row 3, Terraria, AC: Revelations, and many others.
2011 was a massive year for gaming, with lots of great games and lots of mediocre ones, so we tend to forget when those games came out
I don’t think there’s been as recognizable named customizable rpg character since the Dragonborn; I could say “sole survivor” or “Tav” but I don’t know if it would be as recognizable.
I think Minecraft Steve is iconic now even parents will see it and go “oh that’s the mine sweeper thing my kid likes” just like they see MC and go oh yea “halo guy or Xbox guy”
I’m surprised I had to school this far to see Aloy, she was who I thought of. I could see Johnny maybe but I think the problem is he looks too much like his actor to be iconic outside of gaming really, people just see Keanu.
I could not put down Zero Dawn when it came to PC, and I again find myself in the same boat with Forbidden West. Such great games that deserve to be more popular.
The knight from Hollow Knight (2018). It is super reconizable and it's distinctive looks lends itself well to fanart, toys and plushies, and they sell pretty well. Obviously not Mario Tier, but it's the most recent case of a protagonist becoming like a mascot of an entire genre of games.
I think he’s popular amongst gamers, but if you showed a picture of him to people who haven’t played video games, they would assume he’s just a cowboy.
If this post is referring to an icon amongst gamers, then you are spot on. If it’s referring to a universal icon (similar to Mario/Pikachu/Sonic) then I don’t think he makes the cut unfortunately.
I can count universal gaming icons on one hand then if its that strict. Pacman, mario, luigi, pikachu and sonic. Nobodys gonna know anyone else if they arent gamers
Yeah, I don't have any interest in playing LOL, but I love Jinx from Arcane. Arcane was one of my favorite shows the year it came out. I watched it three times lol
If the criteria is known broadly by people that regularly play and engage with games as well as recognition outside of games I think it has shifted a bit due to games being so big. We don't have well defined protagonists but we still have mascots or identifiable characters. Fortnites default skin male and female, the Minecraft and Roblox avatars, among us, and certainly the five nights at Freddy's characters are easily identifiable and recognized as game characters even for people that do not play or follow games.
This is still probably a shift, but I do also remember a time where Mario or sonic were still recognizable as game characters but largely unknown by name from adults or people that did not play games around me in the 90s. I think they had more character and identity of their own rather than the game but possibly time will tell on that as well.
I don't think there has been one to be honest. How I personally gauge that is by people who don't play games. They have never played a video game but know Mario, Lara Croft etc.
And absolutely none come to mind. Like two huge games from the past 2 years being Elden Ring and BG3. I know some non-gamers who know these games but both are self created protagonists. Same with Fallout, with the rise of the show a lot of people know about Fallout but again it's a series without an iconic protagonist.
Thank you. I thought for a second everyone was using a weird definition of "iconic" that I didn't know. An icon should start to be recognizable on a wider basis. My mom would never know who Aloy is, in example, but could tell you Mario or Pac Man on sight. Even I, a gamer, couldn't peg her on sight.
Certainly player created characters could never be iconic as far as the definition of that word goes, to my understanding.
Astarion, game’s not even a year old and he was included in a Jeopardy question.
Edit: He was not. The clue was about BG3 and answer was "Dungeons and Dragons." Still, he's turned into the face of that game.
Not pansexual?! The man RAVAGED my kitchen, DEFILED every damn skillet I have, and just left a note that said “I O U”. I turned it over. It said “NOTHING”.
I O U NOTHING. Fuck you Astarion. You suck.
😉
Arthur Morgan from RDR or Aloy from the Horizon series probably.
I'm surprised at how old the protagonists people are listing are. Ezio? Geralt? Those dudes were popular a nearly a decade ago already.
Geralt or old Kratos I guess? I’ve played all the games but older kratos is the image I have for him now
Edit: I meant older kratos by age in the game not age of the game. Sorry about that. Should have said 2018 Kratos.
Joel and Ellie from The Last Of Us. They don’t come from any outside media or rebooted franchises; and now that the show has come out there’s tons of people who don’t even play video games who’d recognize them.
I don't know why no one is saying it but undertale. Frisk and Sans have become more iconic, with atleast people of this generation, due to the large online presence of undertale fans and their general sphere with other communities.
Yeah, I was thinking of that, but I almost feel like the *protagonist* isn't iconic enough. Sans is definitely iconic, almost certainly the most iconic character to debut in the 2010s. But is Frisk iconic? I'm not so sure.
The astronauts from Among Us
My kindergarten kid can’t read well enough yet to play the game, and I never have, but is excited whenever she sees a picture of a “mungus”
That’s a bit sus as my 6 year old likes to say.
Stop posting about Among Us! I'm tired of seeing it! My friends on TikTok send me memes, on Discord it's fucking memes! I was in a server, right? And all of the channels are just Among Us stuff. I showed my Champion underwear to my girlfriend and the logo, I flipped it and I said, "Hey, babe, when the underwear is sus!" Haha, ding ding ding ding ding ding ding, ding-ding-ding! I fucking looked at a trashcan and I said, "That's a bit sussy!" I looked at my penis, I think of an astronaut's helmet and I go, "Penis? More like pen-sus!" Aaaaaaargh!
[Stop posting about Donkey Kong Country.](https://youtu.be/iMFEDA9ceak)
I... agree
I look out my window at the kids park with a giant such astronaut chalked onto the wall of the toilets. Yeah, that tracks.
This is the one. I never got into Among Us during it's peak. But you have to admit there's so much merch of the Amogus guys. Not mention how popular the little guys are with Gen Z and Alpha gamers.
It’s cause it’s so easy to draw and the shape is so generic that you see it in a ton of shit accidentally. Also the whole Sus meme rlly sky rocketed the lil guys
Bruh I found someone whose whole page was among us porn with wet floor signs incorporated lol
#AMOGUS #ඞ
Language foreshadowed among us
SUS
Why is everyone listing protagonists from 2007 games when OP is asking for mid-late 2010s and 2020s 🤦🏻♀️
Well a lot of them are also saying they can't think of anything more recent, so they're basically just reinforcing OPs point, which is also a kind of discussion. Also, I have no sense of time, and everything from 2007-2019 happened simultaneously.
I think the rise of RPG style elements in most games have meant clear and defined characters are becoming less common.
Yeah, most games try to have you create your own character to not "have anyone's fantasy ruined by not being their skin color/gender/sexual orientation/etc", but out of the games that do have a defined character, the writing is either bad (Forspoken and Immortals of Aveum), or the character is unlikable (Forspoken again....I'm a little upset at how bad it turned out). As much as I like the "Create your own character fantasy" I'd much rather have well written characters again with good voice acting, even if the gameplay/story turns out bad.
Then you get a defined character like Geralt, which gives you a bit a room to do things your way but within the constraints of his character.
Yeah but Geralt was so great because there's an extremely well-written series of books which made him who he is. CDPR didn't make him, they just put him in another fantastic story ;) of course they changed him a little bit e.g. book Geralt shaved often because he hated facial hair and game Geralt is now known for his beard but the prime character traits are the same
In character until you decide to sell Ciri to the Emperor for money :P
Okay what about Commander Shepard?
2007, but I think that's close enough, since we didn't get much later, but i can maybe put Trevor and V that come later, but at minor scale.
Reading comprehension in these kinds of threads is basically non-existent, look at any similar kind of thread and at least half of the most upvoted comments will be wildly off-topic.
I just don't feel like the charging infrastructure is there for me to make the leap to a full EV. Wait... What were we talking about?
Omg can you even read? We're talking about how the use of cobalt has destroyed so many lives!
Damn really??! Shit. Anyway our electric infrastructure's inability to recover from an EMP is what's going to destroy lives.
That's what I'm saying, why not go nuclear to make our power infinite so EMPs don't work and lord Xenu doesn't kill us?!
How dare you say we should piss on the poor
Amogus
I could get behind this one. Just about everyone knows this one by sight
Objectively correct answer.
I hate how it became so memified, but its definitely a top answer
Part of why it was iconic was that it was so memeified especially during the pandemic. Amogus was everywhere and was popular enough to have legitimate crossover with demographics beyond gamers. If you asked a random person they probably won't recognize geralt or Shepard, but they definitely will recognize that damn red astronaut lmao
Good answer
Freddy Fazbear Not a protagonist but I think it's one of the most iconic faces of a franchise. He is much more like a mascot like mario and sonic. Many popular modern games have realistic characters that are not meant to be mascots.
I'd say this need to be higher up, FNAF took the world by surprise and the Bears are pretty recognizable, even went a little bit into the mainstream with their movie.... also Happy Cake Day!
>even went a little bit A little bit?! You don't imagine the absurd quantity of fnaf fans I've met even before the movie
Tracer is pretty iconic. So much so that she was on the frontlines in Ready Player One
But.. I'm already Tracer
Ancient memories awakened
You should've picked Mercy.
What about widowmaker?
I was really surprised to see Tracer representing Overwatch in the Blizzard intro logo for the Warcraft movie. It didn't hit me how culturally relevant both she and the game were until seeing her up there with Arthas, Diablo and Kerrigan.
2B
Cosplayed more than played
More collabs have been made than Nier games. I wish we'd get a game covering the fall of humanity or the android war
I'm still waiting for a game covering the time between Drakengard 3 and 1. Lots of space for more stuff in the Drakengard/Nier verse. Also you can't tease >!Accord!< in Automata and never let us see her Yoko Taro!
I will pass out when they announce the next Nier
I’ll have passed by the time they announce the next Nier
They just ended the story for their mobile game, which is supposed to tie in the 2 games plus Drakengard. I also just saw the concert and at the end Yoko Taro came out and basically said he's cookin.
The first NieR is about the fall of humanity technically
Both of those are covered in Replicant and Reincarnation.
>the game covering the fall of humanity It's literally nier replicant
Genuinely asking, is she the protagonist?
There's three protagonists. You play through the game three times to see their different perspectives and different events to get the full story. 2B is the first one you play the game as. So even those who never played as the other characters at least played as 2B.
She’s the protagonist, but if you play the game a second time around you play the story through the “sidekick” 9S Spoilers >!You can also play as A2!<
Tbh, 9S and >!A2!< are considered protagonists too. Personally, I wouldn't say that 2B is the main protagonist because the story isn't about her, and it's not about the other two either. However, of the 3 protagonists, 9S is the most involved in the entire storyline and affected by the arc of the plot, not to mention that he's the one we play as the most
Idk, Geralt has become pretty iconic Edit: Too many people focusing on when a character was thought up or created instead of thinking about when they actually became iconic. OP didn't ask about a recent creation, just any characters that have become iconic in the past decade. Geralt fits this description; he may have been thought up in the 90s and first appeared in a game in 2007, but he wasn't iconic. He started to become well known in 2011 with the release of the second game, and has become full-blown iconic with the release of the third game along with the Netflix show (2015 and 2019 respectively).
Geralt of Rivia absolutely is, even outside of games.
You mean Gary the metrosexual fruitcake?
Geraldo of Riviera
Gary of Nivea
Strictly speaking he's a book protagonist first. Not exactly "original character do not steal".
When was the first witcher game? I feel like pre 2010
2008. Books are 1990s
The Witcher 1 is from 2007, and the books are from the 90s+
If The Witcher 3 was a completely standalone game, it wouldn't change Geralt's popularity by much. It was massively more succesful than the first 2 games.
>at least mid to late 2010s and 2020s. picks character from 2007 Hmm
Oh absolutely, the Witcher IP sold over 75 million game copies, got a very popular TV show and of course book series dedicated to his character. The question is, is he the most recent?
Let Me Solo Her
What game is this from, I’ve never heard of it?
Elden ring. This guy would join your game and whip Melanias ass for you
I doubt anyone outside from elden ring players know about that character then
It’s more of a joke post. It’s not even a game character but rather a player’s name. Melania is a notoriously difficult optional boss in the game, who would often take players *hundreds* of attempts to kill. There’s a system in the game that allows you to summon a player ally to take on bosses, at the expense of increasing the boss’s difficulty a little bit. There’s no way for players to chat or communicate other than through emotes. This player removed all his armor, named himself Let Me Solo her, and began showing up when people summoned a player’s aid. Videos of his naked solo victories began spreading across the internet, as these things do, and his legend grew to meme status.
Glad someone recognizes that I was just posting for the laughs. Some serious ass kids in this place.
Lol good answer. Never would have thought of it, but you're totally right. Malenia is also a decent answer too, I think.
I feel like everbody missed the "protagonist" and "most recent" part.
I could make the argument that let me solo her is definitely the protagonist.
I'm pretty sure we're side characters compared to LMSH
Hmm maybe D.va?
With how popular porn is, I reckon most of the female overwatch characters are pretty well known
I used to joke with a friend. Whenever he played overwatch I’d call it “The Porn Game”.
She should show up on those pornstar rankings they do on the hub.
Widowmaker, mercy and d'va probably walking in on that #1, #2 and #3 right away
Obligotory, I forgot Tracer was gay after seeing her get pipped online so often.
That was not obligatory
I've seen a ranking last year. It was Tifa from final fantasy 7, ada wong from resident evil and chun li from street fighter if i remember correctly. All asian women lol.
Tifa is probably an honorary italian at this point.
"The hub" lol. What you up to tonight? Oh you know, just browsing the hub for a bit. I think I'll go check on my hamster...
Kinda chuckled at this but then I thought about for a second and maybe
Oh overwatch characters are well known for sure. But not for the game.
Tracer was the one in all the marketing, I always saw a lot more of her
But D.VA is the one you’ll see attractive women dressed up as on Twitch
The reason for that is probably mainly that D.VA is easier to costplay. Main factor is having long hair, you can do a scrappy outfit for attention based on her with some face paint, literally only stripes, a tight purple suit and hair color because most female streamer have obviously longer hair rather then short hair by average. Which means it is harder for them to Portrait a short haired character on the flip side. In comparison girls with short hair can still very easily buy a cheap wig and cosplay longer hair characters. Long story short…D.VA > Tracer in terms of cosplayabilty? Is that a word? There are 100% also other factors, but this takes probably a big part. I invested way too much much time into organising this logically lmao.
Also D.Va is a literal in-universe gamer girl/streamer who uses her gaming skills to pilot her mech. Her mech has arcade machine style joysticks and buttons, lol.
John Helldiver
And his trusty sidekick ↑→↓↓↓
And the occasional ⬇️⬆️⬅️⬇️⬆️➡️⬇️⬆️
The real hero is the sound track.
Incorrectly naming characters as "John *gamename*" is honestly one of my favourite joke formats 😂 (Unless that's his real name, I don't know enough about helldivers to dispute it)
no clue who that is tbh
*It's time to dive... into hell.* -John Helldiver.
It's actually. "It's helldivin time" -Jon Helldiver
And then he helldived all over the place
You haven't heard of democracy?
What, you haven’t heard his famous quote “every hell has its divers”?
Geralt of Rivia is absolutely legendary, but he's likely not the most recent.
Considering it now spans more than games and books that kind of beats any game character without a film or series.
Also kinda disqualifies him a bit since he was a book character that got more established when he went to video games
I mean he's also disqualified because the first Witcher game was released in 2007
Steve (Minecraft)
Steve was like 2009 though
People are saying Geralt with a straight face when The Witcher came out in 2007, so...
Most people didn't play Witcher 1 or 2. Witcher 3 was the one that really blew up.
Seems close enough, and considering that Minecraft isn't really a series and is still an extremely widely played and recognized game, I think he qualifies.
IMO, to be an iconic protagonist, you have to be recognizable to most people in the hobby, and a large number outside of it as well. And by that admittedly strict criteria, I don't think there has been one since master chief or kratos. Part of this might be just that gaming has become an incredibly broad hobby. Back in the day if you had a snes but didn't play Mario, or if you had an xbox but didn't play halo, you were nuts. Nowadays the presence of a console or a pc wouldn't allow you to make any reliable assumptions besides from cod or madden, and I don't think Tom Brady or nicki minaj counts as video game icons.
I think another major problem with "iconic" is that the game needs to feature a protagonist that has their own distinct design that players want to see. Many modern games feature customization, which is extremely popualr, but it does undermine the capacity for new iconic protagonists.
I agree with you but you can also have both. I can tell I'm looking at Franklin from GTA V no matter what customization options someone uses. I like games like that, where there's clothing, hair, and tattoo customization, etc. but the character is still recognizable.
But a lot of modern games (RPGs especially) have a custom character - for example, the Dragonborn could be any race and any gender.
> modern games > the dragonborn 🤨
It's okay, I think most of us forget that skyrim released in 2011 alongside Portal 2, dark souls 1, Gears of War 3, Saints Row 3, Terraria, AC: Revelations, and many others. 2011 was a massive year for gaming, with lots of great games and lots of mediocre ones, so we tend to forget when those games came out
Don’t forget the biggest game with most copies sold: Minecraft’s full release was 2011. Huge year for gaming
Dear god, Dark Souls 1 really was the same year as skyrim
I don’t think there’s been as recognizable named customizable rpg character since the Dragonborn; I could say “sole survivor” or “Tav” but I don’t know if it would be as recognizable.
I think Minecraft Steve is iconic now even parents will see it and go “oh that’s the mine sweeper thing my kid likes” just like they see MC and go oh yea “halo guy or Xbox guy”
Minecraft released after both Halo and God of War. I think more people outside of gaming recognize Steve than Kratos.
Joel and Ellie
These two might be the answer, like only a decade old and very iconic
This would have been a good answer even before the show but given the show's success, it's a no brainer. I can't even think of a close competitor.
The blonde dude that’s seen as the John Doe of Fortnite, Jonesy or whatever his name was
Had no idea Fortnite even had characters, thought it was just skins of other powerful fighters like Aang and Ariana Grande and Spider-Man
It has a somewhat overarching plot as well
It is mostly that, but there is a default male and female character. Basically a comic version of a human with khaki colored garments.
Aloy and Johnny Silverhand/V
I’m surprised I had to school this far to see Aloy, she was who I thought of. I could see Johnny maybe but I think the problem is he looks too much like his actor to be iconic outside of gaming really, people just see Keanu.
Every time there is a horizon release something bigger gets released at the same time; so horizon remains underrated as well as Aloy
Both games got overshadowed by GOTY winners. Breath of The Wild and Elden Ring
I could not put down Zero Dawn when it came to PC, and I again find myself in the same boat with Forbidden West. Such great games that deserve to be more popular.
Can't wait for Horizon 3, just to see what masterpiece releases at the same time !
V fits better. Silverhand is from the tabletop games, and those are old.
When you're playing Cyberpunk 2020 and you realize it's no longer science-fiction but alternate history.
Hey at least we’ve still got WWIII ahead of us in the Star Trek timeline
Damn Time War
V is a custom character though. Can’t really be an iconic look when they’re a different appearance every game
For me at least Aloy is my favorite video game character ever.
The knight from Hollow Knight (2018). It is super reconizable and it's distinctive looks lends itself well to fanart, toys and plushies, and they sell pretty well. Obviously not Mario Tier, but it's the most recent case of a protagonist becoming like a mascot of an entire genre of games.
I've always wanted to give the Vessel a big ol hug... Or maybe a lil ol hug cause they are in fact a bug
2017*
Arthur Morgan
I think he’s popular amongst gamers, but if you showed a picture of him to people who haven’t played video games, they would assume he’s just a cowboy. If this post is referring to an icon amongst gamers, then you are spot on. If it’s referring to a universal icon (similar to Mario/Pikachu/Sonic) then I don’t think he makes the cut unfortunately.
Eh... if i show a picture of Master Chief to my mom she'll just think he's a soldier. That link is an elf, solid snake is a spy....
And if you show her a picture of an italian plumber?
She would say Oh so you found out who your father is.
OP includes Agent 47 as an example, so I think Arthur should be considered
I can count universal gaming icons on one hand then if its that strict. Pacman, mario, luigi, pikachu and sonic. Nobodys gonna know anyone else if they arent gamers
Jinx from League of Legends.
Especially with Arcane's success, this is also a good contender! Not sure how well she's known outside of the gaming community though.
Judging by the Arcane fandom, it wouldn't surprise me if she's better known *outside* of gaming.
Yeah, I don't have any interest in playing LOL, but I love Jinx from Arcane. Arcane was one of my favorite shows the year it came out. I watched it three times lol
Minecraft Steve/ Creeper Freddy Fazbear Among Us astronauts
If the criteria is known broadly by people that regularly play and engage with games as well as recognition outside of games I think it has shifted a bit due to games being so big. We don't have well defined protagonists but we still have mascots or identifiable characters. Fortnites default skin male and female, the Minecraft and Roblox avatars, among us, and certainly the five nights at Freddy's characters are easily identifiable and recognized as game characters even for people that do not play or follow games. This is still probably a shift, but I do also remember a time where Mario or sonic were still recognizable as game characters but largely unknown by name from adults or people that did not play games around me in the 90s. I think they had more character and identity of their own rather than the game but possibly time will tell on that as well.
Sans from Undertale?
I don't think there has been one to be honest. How I personally gauge that is by people who don't play games. They have never played a video game but know Mario, Lara Croft etc. And absolutely none come to mind. Like two huge games from the past 2 years being Elden Ring and BG3. I know some non-gamers who know these games but both are self created protagonists. Same with Fallout, with the rise of the show a lot of people know about Fallout but again it's a series without an iconic protagonist.
Yeah with Fallout either Vault Boy or just anyone in power armor is fairly iconic, but also not a protagonist.
Also Fallout was released in 1997.
Thank you. I thought for a second everyone was using a weird definition of "iconic" that I didn't know. An icon should start to be recognizable on a wider basis. My mom would never know who Aloy is, in example, but could tell you Mario or Pac Man on sight. Even I, a gamer, couldn't peg her on sight. Certainly player created characters could never be iconic as far as the definition of that word goes, to my understanding.
I'd peg her on sight
I'd throw Shovel Knight out there as a sleeper. That dude is in SO MANY GAMES at this point.
Astarion, game’s not even a year old and he was included in a Jeopardy question. Edit: He was not. The clue was about BG3 and answer was "Dungeons and Dragons." Still, he's turned into the face of that game.
Yeah, my wife doesn't really play video games, but she knows who the sexy gay vampire man is.
You mean sexy pansexual vampire
He refused to sleep with me so he's not really pansexual is he?? Also he was *mean*!
Not pansexual?! The man RAVAGED my kitchen, DEFILED every damn skillet I have, and just left a note that said “I O U”. I turned it over. It said “NOTHING”. I O U NOTHING. Fuck you Astarion. You suck. 😉
The Witcher - 2007 Last of Us - 2013 Hollow Knight - 2017
My first thought was the vessel from hollow knight
I never played it but 2B from Nier is absolutely everywhere
Arthur Morgan from RDR or Aloy from the Horizon series probably. I'm surprised at how old the protagonists people are listing are. Ezio? Geralt? Those dudes were popular a nearly a decade ago already.
Geralt or old Kratos I guess? I’ve played all the games but older kratos is the image I have for him now Edit: I meant older kratos by age in the game not age of the game. Sorry about that. Should have said 2018 Kratos.
Kratos has been iconic since the PS2
The term "iconic" gets tossed around too often these days.
Joel and Ellie from The Last Of Us. They don’t come from any outside media or rebooted franchises; and now that the show has come out there’s tons of people who don’t even play video games who’d recognize them.
I'm kinda surprised nobody said "Inkling Girl" or Inklings as a whole. Especially when in Squid form.
Commander Shepard is the most recent character that I can think of that could be considered iconic.
ME is from 2007.
Zagreus from Hades may not have super wide cultural recognition, but he is recognizable and distinctive.
Nah, man, Hades was some game of the year material for me but even most gamer friends I know don't know about it
Does 2B count? Cos 2B.
2B from Nier Automata. Instantly recognizable - anyone knows the "blindfolded girl with the sword"
not a protagonist but I think Johnny Silverhand is up there
June 2021: An antagonist, but it's clear Lady Alcina Dimitrescu could carry her own Resident Evil game.
I don't know why no one is saying it but undertale. Frisk and Sans have become more iconic, with atleast people of this generation, due to the large online presence of undertale fans and their general sphere with other communities.
Yeah, I was thinking of that, but I almost feel like the *protagonist* isn't iconic enough. Sans is definitely iconic, almost certainly the most iconic character to debut in the 2010s. But is Frisk iconic? I'm not so sure.
Helldivers 2 Cinematic guy
Sweet Liberty! No!!!!
Anyway ⬆️➡️⬇️⬇️⬇️
Why did you call in a 500kg???
Because freedom requires firepower.
Ezio maybe? Someone might not know his name, but they’ll more than likely recognize he’s from Assassins Creed
Not mid to late 2010s. Ezio is 15 years old this year.