Best Fathers In Video Games

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As the gaming industry has matured, the classic video game power fantasy has become more focused on telling relatable stories. And given that a lot of influential game designers and story directors in the industry have been men settling down with their families, the stories they tell are often focused on being a dad. Years into this trend, the "dad game" has become a cliche. And while this means moms are notoriously underserved, there are still sterling examples of games that have something meaningful, insightful, or even just funny to say about being a father.

These are the fathers most deserving of a World's Best Dad mug. Some of them are doting, some of them are wise, and some are even cautionary tales. But all of them have something to reflect on what makes a good father. Keep in mind that some of these may include spoilers, so tread lightly if you're still getting around to one of the games on this list.

Barret Wallace (Final Fantasy 7)

Barret's gruff, salty exterior belies a deep and sensitive relationship with his adopted daughter, Marlene. This was present in the original FF7, and given more texture and detail with full voice acting and animation in FF7 Remake and its sequel, FF7 Rebirth. Even as his quest takes him far away from Marlene, his ultimate motivation is still to save the dying planet so that the next generation, like Marlene, can inherit it. The pro-environmental message is one that a lot of modern parents can relate to regarding their own anxieties about our world, even if FF7 gives the threat a more fantastical twist in the presence of Sephiroth.

Bayek (Assassin's Creed Origins)

One of the more tragic fathers on this list, the majority of Bayek's story is told after the death of his son, which propels him to create the Hidden Ones and to hunt down the Order of the Ancients. These were the predecessors of the Assassins and Templars, respectively, which ultimately means that the entire good-vs.-evil saga that Assassin's Creed has revolved around was the direct result of Bayek's family tragedy. Beyond the historical drama, Origins is also an intimate look at a marriage that grows distant and fractured by shared grief. This is given more resonance when you consider that he had been training his son as a Medjay--a protector of Egypt. Instead, in the shadow of his son's death, his quest for justice created a legacy of protectors that lasted thousands of years.

Bowser (Super Mario Series)

Bowser isn't exactly a perfect role-model--his hobbies include tennis, yes, but also kidnapping. However, Super Mario Sunshine established that at the end of the day, he's just a single dad trying his best. The presence of lovable scamp Bowser Jr. recontextualizes all those princess abductions as a misguided attempt to co-parent with Peach. And despite his young age, Bowser isn't afraid to let Bowser Jr. tag along to learn the family trade (villainy) or relax with some go-karting. Sure, he's evil, but he has a soft spot for his son.

Dr. Light (Mega Man Series)

Dr. Light isn't technically the father of the robots Rock and Roll, but it's clear enough the kindly doctor of the Mega Man series sees them as surrogate children--especially given that the concept borrows heavily from Astro Boy, in which a doctor creates the titular character to replace his late son. And like lots of fathers, he wants his children to inherit a better, more peaceful world. Throughout the games, he constantly reiterates that he regrets that Mega Man needs to fight against Dr. Wily, even as he recognizes that his son is the only one who can do it. This goes double when you reach the Mega Man X series and Dr. Light, long since deceased, leaves holographic messages for his other, larger, angstier son.

Joel Miller (The Last of Us series)

If we asked a dozen writers to come up with this list, The Last of Us' Joel Miller wouldn't likely make all or perhaps even most versions of it. Though most of what Joel does to protect his surrogate daughter feels justifiable in the context of the harsh apocalyptic world they now live in, not everything he does is squeaky-clean, least of all the things he did off-screen, which are alluded to by his brother Tommy.

Still, it's difficult to hold Joel's painful and selfish final decision against him in such a way that keeps him off this list. His actions in the 2013 game's closing moments aren't morally right, but they are probably what most loving parents would do if they ended up in the same spot. Therefore, it's difficult to indict him on behavior most would be hard-pressed not to perform themselves, perhaps despite virtues to be better than that. Even in the game's sequel, Joel proves to only ever be a loving parent with wrong-headed ideas, but his being imperfect doesn't make him less of dad--arguably, it makes him typical. Though his fists are sometimes in the wrong place, his heart is in the right place.

John Marston (Red Dead Redemption)

Red Dead Redemption is remembered mostly for its stirring open-world gameplay set in the Old West, but its core story is a tale of how far a father is willing to go for his family. The game begins in media res, as John has sworn off his old life of crime in a gang of outlaws and tried to live on the straight and narrow with his own ranch. He only reluctantly becomes an outlaw again when Bureau agents kidnap his wife and son and force him to take out the remaining members of his old gang. He does what's asked of him, but once the dust has settled, we learn that the Bureau had no intention of leaving any loose ends. When they launch an attack on his ranch, John sacrifices himself to help his wife and son escape, in hopes that they can live a peaceful life like the one he had tried to create with his ranch. But in a haunting coda, his son Jack repeats the cycle of violence, hunting down the Bureau agent who launched the raid on their family ranch and killing him. That ultimately makes John's story a cautionary tale about cycles of violence, but he gave everything he could to break it.

Kazuma Kiryu (Yakuza / Like a Dragon series)

While Kazuma Kiryu himself may not be a biological father to anyone, a list of every remarkable rad dad in video games would be far from complete without him. On his journey through the series, he has not just become a father figure to many characters, but even took it on himself to run a whole orphanage in Okinawa as a way to look after kids in the same way as his own father figure, Kazama Shintaro. A lot of Kiryu's drive comes from wanting to protect all of those children, doing everything he can to ensure they have a good life. The juxtaposition of seeing a violent former Yakuza member concentrating so hard on something as simple as cutting up onions for a curry to feed children is truly touching. It does an excellent job of showing how much work he is putting into being a father.

Kratos (God of War series)

For the purposes of this particular list, let's just ignore the part where Kratos was magically tricked into murdering his wife and child and had their ashes fused to his body as penance. Pobody's nerfect. The point is, much later, after killing his way through the entire Greek pantheon, he settled down, befriended a new pantheon of gods, and had a son. This time he was determined to do right and teach his progeny how to live a quiet and peaceful life, and that violence and bloodshed was a destructive path. It was a plan that may have worked if his son hadn't ended up being the key figure in a prophecy about Ragnarok, the end of all things. The resulting war on Asgard may have undermined the peaceful life he wanted to give his son, but his heart was in the right place, and it drove him to be a better person.

Lee Everett (Telltale's The Walking Dead)

Telltale's explosive success in crafting narrative adventures began with the first season of The Walking Dead, and the heart and soul of the story was the relationship between Lee Everett and an orphaned girl he found named Clementine. What follows is a classic wolf-and-cub story, with a brusque survivor teaching his young surrogate daughter how to survive. But the emotional climax comes in the final episode when, after rescuing Clementine despite nursing a zombie bite, Lee takes time to give Clementine advice about how to live in this world after he's gone. At that point, your ability to select dialogue choices takes on a new level of resonance, as you explain what's truly important and how to make life worth living even in the face of a dystopian nightmare.

Norman Osborn (Marvel's Spider-Man series)

While Normal Osborn is a classic Spider-Man villain, Marvel's Spider-Man series from Insomniac gave the character more nuance than most of his broad on-screen portrayals. After two and a half games, this version of Norman isn't even the Green Goblin yet. Instead, in this telling of the Spider-Man story, he's a doting and genuinely caring father, stricken with grief over the death of his wife and terrified that he'll lose his son, Harry, the same way. That leads him to try experimental cures like the symbiote, to be blind to the terrible impact the symbiote is having on his son and the city, and ultimately, to blame Spider-Man for his son's death. This all seems to be setting the stage for Osborn to emerge as the Goblin with a severe grudge against the wallcrawler, but the games--and especially Spider-Man 2--have taken the time to show us the sadness in the man, before he becomes the monster.

Sam Fisher (Splinter Cell series)

If you're only mildly familiar with the Splinter Cell series, you likely associate protagonist Sam Fisher with his trifocal goggles, brilliant stealth skills, and array of high-tech gadgets. However, longtime fans know the veteran super-spy is also a father. His daughter, Sarah Fisher, is the most important thing in his life, to the point that he is willing to take on a suicidal mission to infiltrate a domestic terror organization after he learns she's been killed in a car wreck. Luckily for Sam (and Sarah), her death was faked and they would be reunited. Unluckily for the person who staged her death, Sam Fisher has little problem beating information out of people. With everyone else, Sam's voice carries a dangerous, gruff tone mixed with sarcastic wit. But with Sarah, he does his best to sound like a loving, ordinary father--even if he just shot and killed multiple people trying to invade their family's home.

Geralt of Rivia (The Witcher series)

Technically, witchers can't have children. The toxins injected into their bodies as children render them infertile. It's an agonizing process that kills many would-be witchers, and the ones who survive are husks of their former selves. At least that's what you might overhear if you lived in The Witcher universe. However, those who know Geralt know he has a big ol' soft spot for Ciri. After Ciri's hometown was ransacked by Nilfgaard, she fled to Kaer Morhen--a stronghold for witchers--where Geralt trained her in the ways of a warrior. It didn't take long for the two to forge an unbreakable father-daughter-like bond. The books and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt are built entirely around Geralt and Ciri's relationship, and they show how far Geralt, a grumpy old witcher, is willing to go for someone he cares about. Sure, Geralt isn't Ciri's biological father, and some might call him more of a step-dad to Ciri, but we'd call him the dad that stepped up.