Our Favorite Generation Heroes

Spoilers for Final Fantasy XIV Shadowbringers and Endwalker.

After the Shadowbringer incident, Graha Tia became a new member of the Children of the Seventh Dawn, but has not yet fully transformed from his previous life. A former leader of great political and magical power, he now travels with the Warriors of Light, not quite sure how to handle some of the crises you both face, and struggles to find his fit with the Scions. In the Endwalker expansion, G’raha slowly regains his self-confidence and, in turn, his natural leadership abilities as he is able to keep his composure under pressures that threaten the world. His entire journey from his humble beginnings as a historian to an interdimensional traveler may be the most exciting aspect of this adventure, but his eventual growth from mere companion to devoted best friend and worthy scion is the generation One of the best heroes of all.

Insomniac’s version of Miles Morales first appeared in 2018’s Marvel’s Spider-Man. While we don’t get to see him actually become Spider-Man, it’s clear that’s where Insomniac is headed, and sure enough, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales launches with PlayStation 5 in 2020. In those eight hours, we’ve all gotten to know this already great character more and more, and perhaps most importantly, we’ve seen him become the protector New York City needs without Peter Parker being there to protect it. Miles appears on the other side of the journey as a hero — not a little Spider-Man or Peter’s backup, but a real Spider-Man alongside the original. It was heartwarming to watch the story unfold, and we couldn’t be more excited to wear Miles’ signature black and red suit once again in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.

In many ways, Selene is the new Samus. No, she’s not from Metroid, but, like Samus, she’s a stoic, alien-killing, badass who will do whatever it takes to get the job done. That’s how we’re introduced to Selene in Returnal, and every action she takes through the game’s mysterious narrative furthers our point. But Selene is much more than it seems. Horror-like house sequences fill in the pivotal backstory, completely changing the perspective of what’s going on, and some late-game apocalypse turns all of this upside down again. Still, Selene is determined, capable, and the kind of space soldier we all want to be. We’re not sure what the future holds for Selene — some things tell us it’s going to be similar to the day before and the day before — but we can’t wait to see what Housemarque and PlayStation do with her character.

The wielder is not a hero at the start of the game. She is just the gatekeeper and fangirl of Chicory, the savior of the world. But when Chicoli inexplicably locks herself in a tower and leaves the world colorless, the janitor picks up her paintbrush and does what any hero would do: save the day herself. It’s a crazy premise that quickly hooked us, growing from janitor to picnic saviour, a place where everyone names their food after it’s mesmerizing. Also, Chicoy’s message about overcoming imposter syndrome is important, seeing it through The Wielder’s eyes, he felt it after picking up the cape, like seeing Chicory relying on The Wielder to deal with her depression . In the end, both are better suited to relying on the other to overcome personal obstacles and insecurities. Wielder is a hero who brings color, beauty and life into her world. She is an inspiration for our generation of future heroes. Not everyone feels like a hero, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be a hero. We hope endive is just the beginning of an adventure for The Wielder’s generation.

Kit is a new character introduced in Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart as Clank’s multiverse antagonist. Everyone knows the iconic duo of Ratchet and Clank as heroes, but Kit represents the inspiration this duo can bring to others through their good deeds. When we meet Kit, she is haunted by her own evil past. She’s a robot made for destruction, but she bucks those tendencies to become a peaceful and ultimately better human being. Kit struggles with her own wrongdoing and often doubts herself, but Ratchet instills in her the potential to help others. When no one else believed her, Ricky said, “I do.” Now, Kit is an ally we can’t wait to see more of. Whether she’s kicking ass or sitting down and staring at the stars, Kit is the perfect face to remind us that impostor syndrome has no place in our lives.

Alex Chen has achieved considerable success in Life is Strange: The Color of Life. Not only will she have to solve the mystery of her brother’s death and navigate a new town as the new girl, but she’ll also have to stand out in a franchise built on the shoulders of fantasy characters. She does it so effortlessly, it’s clear that she’ll be joining characters like Max Caulfield and Sean Diaz soon after the first episode of True Colors kicks off. Her powers, seeing her use her empathic abilities to read other people’s emotions, and in some cases to take them as her own, are underrated, but they are crucial to navigating through her story as the narrative she experiences Arc is very inspiring. Alex Chen of True Colours shows how important it is to trust your intuition and why when you believe something, you should stick to it regardless. Alex Chen took on a corporate structure that was doomed to silence her, but crucially, she put love for her friends and family first and persevered because of it. Life is Strange usually continues after each entry, but we hope True Colors isn’t the last time we see Alex Chen.

Colt Vahn becomes a character you want to spend more time playing, like in the first few minutes of Deathloop. He ends up in a very strange situation where, unlike most heroes in video games, he asks, “What the hell is going on?” That’s fine, because if we wake up on the beach, we’ll all have the same The question is doomed to repeat the same day over and over again. He doesn’t try to be tough on it or hide his fears. In fact, he didn’t even try to be a hero, you could say he never became a hero by traditional standards. He’s just someone who wants to break the cycle so he can’t be a part of it anymore. He’s the kind of protagonist we can all respect – he’s totally unaware of what’s going on, but perseveres. There were a lot of twists and turns along the way, but in the end, Colt came out as an unlikely hero we already wanted more of. Plus, he’s a black leader who doesn’t gravitate to harmful stereotypes, which are unfortunately rare in the game. Hopefully his success will inspire developers to write more black heroes, because if Deathloop proves anything, it’s that games need and deserve more black heroes.

We all know Drax as a hero — he’s part of a very famous superhero team, after all — but Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy expands the heartbreaking backstory that drives everything he does. Yes, he defeated Thanos. Yes, he’s pretty much unstoppable, and if you look at him, you’d probably write it like, “Okay, look at him — dude is a beast.” But, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy emphasizes, It was the family who lost Drax who cheered him on and gave him the motivation to fight another day. This led to one of the most heartbreaking and heartbreaking moments in the game last year, when Drax had to painfully compromise his loss for the greater good, a moment that cemented Drax as our favorite The status of one of the heroes. Star-Lord, Groot, Rocket, and Gamora are great heroes in their own right, but Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy prove that Drax is the truly impossible core of the organization.

Comparing to the Master Chief, one of the game’s most iconic heroes, isn’t easy, but Cortana’s successor weapon does it easily in Halo Infinite. Cortana’s role was drastically changed in Halo 5: Guardians, and while some fans were unhappy with the direction, it was set in stone and Halo Infinite had to fix that. Weapon does just that, combining all of Cortana’s grit and optimism with an extra level of innocence and innocence, and we’re excited to have her on more world-saving missions in future Halo entries. Cortana is almost irreplaceable, but luckily, 343 Industries has found a way to replace her. They did it in the best possible way: introduce us to someone who doesn’t want to be Cortana; the weapon just wants to be herself.

Aloy was an excellent protagonist in 2017’s Horizon Zero Dawn, but due to the nature and general mystery of the game, she doesn’t really become her hero until the final hours of the game. Horizon Forbidden City, though, is about Aloy’s rising star as the savior of Meridian (and the world), and we could see her take up the title. She has an unwavering commitment to helping people and doesn’t stand idly by when authority demands her. If she believed in something, she put her heart and soul into it, and watching Aloy become the hero everyone claimed she was was an unbelievable sense of accomplishment. We can’t wait to see where her next journey takes us.