6 Of Our Favourite Dads And Father Figures In Video Games

With the UK and many other countries celebrating Father’s Day this weekend, let’s take a look at some of our favourite virtual dads and father figures in some of our favourite video games!

Joel- The Last of Us

Perhaps the first character that comes to mind when the topic of video game dads comes up (and also Pedro Pascal who portrays Joel in the HBO series doubles as the “internet daddy”), Joel is the surrogate father of Ellie in Naughty Dog’s multi-award-winning, one-of-the-greatest-video-games-ever-made The Last of Us. Ellie is not the only girl to whom Joel has been a father figure, with his biological daughter Sarah meeting her demise in the first scenes of the story- a scene that sets you up for the emotional rollercoaster that is to come. It is immediately clear that Joel and Sarah have a great relationship and bond, and he is greatly affected by her death.

In the post-apocalyptic world that follows, Joel is brought together with Ellie, a teenage girl whom he becomes entangled with due to a business arrangement to smuggle her to a militia group known as the Fireflies in exchange for a cache of stolen weapons. As they travel across the abandoned streets, buildings and marsh of the US; fighting off runners, clickers, bloaters and hostile survivors, it’s unsurprising that they grow close. Initially, it's just because they both have reason to keep each other alive and something to gain. As time goes on, this remains true but in vastly different ways as their relationship grows to transcend a simple business arrangement.

Whilst Joel is certainly not perfect- something that would come back to bite him in the sequel, his questionable decisions were all made for what he thought was best for Ellie. Said questionable decisions do lead to Ellie’s estrangement, but it’s always abundantly clear just how much she cares for him as a surrogate father.

Rost- Horizon Zero Dawn

Another post-apocalyptic setting, Horizon Zero Dawn by Guerilla Games takes place much further into the future- in the 31^st century. Humans live in scattered tribes with varying levels of technological advancement and large robots, called “machines”, dominate the Earth. These machines peacefully coexist with humans for the most part but are sometimes hunted for parts.

The main character is an outcast of the Nora tribe and has been since birth due to her being without a mother, something that is highly sacred to the Nora. She is raised by another outcast, Rost. Rost’s biological daughter was killed by outsiders invading the tribe and he left to seek revenge. When a baby appears, he is given the task of raising her, and due to their status as outcasts, they spend all of their time alone together. The only parent figure she has ever known, Rost raises Aloy as his own and teaches her everything she knows, nurturing her to possess unparalleled skills as a hunter, tracker, and warrior.

When the time comes for Aloy to be able to prove herself to the Nora through a quest appropriately named “The Proving”, Rost encourages her to go through it, even though it would mean that they would never be able to speak again. Rost ultimately sacrifices himself early in the story to save Aloy, with his final word to her being the exhortation “Survive!”

Lee Everett- Telltale’s The Walking Dead

Another surrogate father (and another post-apocalyptic setting), Lee Everett is the protagonist of season 1 of Telltale’s episodic series The Walking Dead. As Lee takes refuge in a suburban home to keep himself safe from the zombies, dubbed “walkers” here, he comes across eight-year-old Clementine, whose parents and babysitter have disappeared.

Throughout their time together, Lee takes Clementine under his wing and becomes her guardian and mentor- teaching her the survival skills that she needs to get by in this zombie-infested reality, and later even becoming a parental figure herself, Lee, like any person, isn’t perfect. He has done things that he isn’t proud of but is determined to redeem himself by helping others and of course, caring for Clementine. He wants to help her find her parents or at least find her somewhere to live safely and enjoy any remnant of a childhood that she has left.

The end of their journey together is one of the most tragic and heartbreaking things you will ever witness in any medium, and due to the nature of Telltale Games, you as the player choose how that goes (spoiler, both options suck). Lee Everett remains one of the most beloved father figures and characters that has ever graced our consoles and screens, and Clementine, along with all of us, will remember that.

Ethan Mars- Heavy Rain

In Quantic Dream’s Heavy Rain, players take control of four characters all connected to the case of the “Origami Killer”- a serial killer who drowns their victims in extended periods of rainfall and leaves origami figures nearby. One of those characters is Ethan Mars, whose son has been abducted by said Origami Killer.

Ethan Mars is as average a joe as average joes get, but if we’re talking about good dads- well that’s pretty much his whole thing. From happy family man to an unfortunate incident in a mall and pressing X to “Jason”, things take a dark turn in the life of Ethan Mars. Mr Origami contacts Mr. Mars and informs him that in order to save his son, he must complete a series five tests, with each success revealing part of the address to where he is. Unfortunately for Ethan, none of these tests involve spelling or reciting your 9 times table. They include things like crawling on broken glass, drinking poison and cutting off one of his own fingers. Similar to Telltale, Quantic Dream’s games feature a multi-choice narrative and no “game over” screen so how these tests go is down to you.

Regardless of whether or not he makes it though, Ethan, even in his frail, broken and beaten state proves just how far he is willing to go to save his son. And if that isn’t worthy of being called one of the best dads in gaming then I don’t know what is.

Kratos- God of War

If you've followed Kratos’ journey from his bloody beginnings in the realms of Greek mythology as you thought “this guy could never be a good father figure”, it’s nice to see that in fact, despite murdering his own ‘first’ family (it’s ok, he was tricked), he can. Santa Monica Studios’ God of War series is renowned for its gruesome hack-and-slash violence and tearing the heads off sun gods with your bare hands. Not to mention the fact that Kratos, especially in the latter part of the original series and his hellbent-on-vengeance-state, just isn’t a good person.

In the 2018 sequel/soft reboot, Kratos leaves Greece behind along with much of his indescribable rage, lust for blood and his past transgressions in favour of a more regular life in Scandinavia. Joining him is his son, Boy, also known as Atreus.

Their relationship initially strained after the death of Atreus’ mother, a much more mellow Kratos guides his son through the Norse realm as they encounter monsters, gods and other mythological creatures along the way. Kratos, as any good father would, goes to great lengths to keep Atreus safe, including tapping into his surpassed Spartan rage. It goes both ways though, with Atreus risking his life for Kratos several times too.

John Marston- Red Dead Redemption

Perhaps the word “outlaw” isn’t the first thing that you’d associate with “good dad”, but if there’s one thing that Rockstar Games are really damn good at, it’s creating deep, complex and fleshed-out characters. John Marston wasn’t a bad guy, he just did bad things. Bad things that he would eventually go on to give up in the interest of the well-being of his wife and his son.

Trying to stay on the straight and narrow, he moves his family to a new ranch to get as far away from his former life of crime as possible, raising his son to know right from wrong and teaching him about the more wholesome things in life. That is until the FBI knocks on his door demanding that he help to hunt down his former associates (whose story you get to explore in RDR2). Naturally, he wants no part of that, and turns back to his wife and son only to discover that they’re being held hostage by the law until he does what they want. Outlaw things require outlaw tactics, right?

Marston then goes on a reluctant crusade against the gang to which he once belonged as he taps back into his criminal ways. Those old criminal ways prove to be something he can’t run from though as it is ultimately decided that they still deem him unworthy of living freely. He goes out in a big ol’ blaze of glory but only after ensuring that his family are nowhere near it.

Honourable Mention: Octodad- Octodad

JUST A REGULAR HUMAN DAD DOING REGULAR HUMAN DAD THINGS.