The best couples in games
- 8 years ago
The Darkness and The Darkness 2
For a first person shooter, based on a comic about the mob and supernatural horrors, The Darkness games manage to do a brilliant job setting up poignant romantic moments.
Much of the relationship is quiet obvious, and laid out through a lot of exposition. Your character, Jackie Estacado is very much in love with his longtime girlfriend Jenny Romano. The two fell for each other during their time living in an orphanage, and had a fairly standard life – despite Jackie’s ties to the mob.
All of which is until Jackie dies, and becomes possessed by the evil shadow of The Darkness. For a little while it seems the two will be able to continue their relationship, until Jenny is kidnapped and killed by another crime family. And that could be it, but your bond is so strong that your lover continues to haunt you through your after life – providing a driving force in this tale of revenge.
But, if you are in a hurry, then it is easy to brush over the most powerful moments in front of the TV. In these scenes you can quickly hop up and move the game forward – or sit on the coach with Jenny and watch huge chunks of movie, just enjoying each other’s company in silence.
It’s calm, uneventful, and by most counts unnecessary, but it’s the closest I have come in a game to just thinking – yeah, I recognize that.
Enslaved
Sometimes love is instantaneous, often it grows over time, and - occasionally – it can spring up through hate-filled co-dependence. Okay, I admit that would make an awful valentines card, but it is exactly what happens in Enslaved: Odyssey to the West.
When the kidnapped Trip escapes her kidnappers hundreds of miles from home in a post-apocalyptic world, she sees that her only chance of getting back safely is with the help of fellow escapee Monkey.
Having previously seen him in action, she realizes that this feral inhabitant of the waste land probably won’t help willingly, and so she slaps on one of the slavers headbands – a device that will explode if the two are separated or if her heart stops.
Monkey isn’t too happy, and makes various theoretical threats on her life, but slowly an affection and respect grows.
There are multiple twists during this tale, with !spoilers! Trip breaking her promise, and then Monkey revealing that really – for him – the headband is just a convenient excuse to stay near her. But ultimately it is revealed that the two need each other, as Trips mechanical skills and computer expertise saving Monkey when is raw power is not enough.
It’s a different take on romance, and one without any titillating moments of passion that could so easily have undermined the tenderness of the couples burgeoning co-dependence. Plus the great chemistry between Andy Serkis and Lindsey Shaw and the beautiful character models didn’t hurt the believability of the romance.
The Passage
Passage is on this list for 2 reasons. First I think it’s a clever interactive metaphor for relationships, and two – its low res pixel art is going to drive my video editor CRAZY.
Seriously, good luck making that look HD.
But I digress. This free little game has you walking down a narrow path. In front of you everything is hazy, and there is little behind you. Move forward and you can explore unseen parts of the world, avoiding the various obstacles and walls in what is basically a simple maze.
The twist in all this is that you can meet another person. Running into them sees a huge heart appear and suddenly you are in love – okay, that bit may not be realistic. Having someone with you makes the desolate journey less lonely, and can offer bigger rewards – but the tradeoff is that you must move as a pair.
Together you are less nimble, and unable to fit through narrower gaps, a fact that sometimes forces you back track. Plus, depressingly, eventually your partner can die leaving nothing but a gravestone, which is surprisingly upsetting considering the game’s low res look.
It may not be the most detailed game, but in Passage forming a relationship provides a true trade-off, so - as in life - if you want the benefits of a partner you must be prepared to put up with inconveniences.
For a first person shooter, based on a comic about the mob and supernatural horrors, The Darkness games manage to do a brilliant job setting up poignant romantic moments.
Much of the relationship is quiet obvious, and laid out through a lot of exposition. Your character, Jackie Estacado is very much in love with his longtime girlfriend Jenny Romano. The two fell for each other during their time living in an orphanage, and had a fairly standard life – despite Jackie’s ties to the mob.
All of which is until Jackie dies, and becomes possessed by the evil shadow of The Darkness. For a little while it seems the two will be able to continue their relationship, until Jenny is kidnapped and killed by another crime family. And that could be it, but your bond is so strong that your lover continues to haunt you through your after life – providing a driving force in this tale of revenge.
But, if you are in a hurry, then it is easy to brush over the most powerful moments in front of the TV. In these scenes you can quickly hop up and move the game forward – or sit on the coach with Jenny and watch huge chunks of movie, just enjoying each other’s company in silence.
It’s calm, uneventful, and by most counts unnecessary, but it’s the closest I have come in a game to just thinking – yeah, I recognize that.
Enslaved
Sometimes love is instantaneous, often it grows over time, and - occasionally – it can spring up through hate-filled co-dependence. Okay, I admit that would make an awful valentines card, but it is exactly what happens in Enslaved: Odyssey to the West.
When the kidnapped Trip escapes her kidnappers hundreds of miles from home in a post-apocalyptic world, she sees that her only chance of getting back safely is with the help of fellow escapee Monkey.
Having previously seen him in action, she realizes that this feral inhabitant of the waste land probably won’t help willingly, and so she slaps on one of the slavers headbands – a device that will explode if the two are separated or if her heart stops.
Monkey isn’t too happy, and makes various theoretical threats on her life, but slowly an affection and respect grows.
There are multiple twists during this tale, with !spoilers! Trip breaking her promise, and then Monkey revealing that really – for him – the headband is just a convenient excuse to stay near her. But ultimately it is revealed that the two need each other, as Trips mechanical skills and computer expertise saving Monkey when is raw power is not enough.
It’s a different take on romance, and one without any titillating moments of passion that could so easily have undermined the tenderness of the couples burgeoning co-dependence. Plus the great chemistry between Andy Serkis and Lindsey Shaw and the beautiful character models didn’t hurt the believability of the romance.
The Passage
Passage is on this list for 2 reasons. First I think it’s a clever interactive metaphor for relationships, and two – its low res pixel art is going to drive my video editor CRAZY.
Seriously, good luck making that look HD.
But I digress. This free little game has you walking down a narrow path. In front of you everything is hazy, and there is little behind you. Move forward and you can explore unseen parts of the world, avoiding the various obstacles and walls in what is basically a simple maze.
The twist in all this is that you can meet another person. Running into them sees a huge heart appear and suddenly you are in love – okay, that bit may not be realistic. Having someone with you makes the desolate journey less lonely, and can offer bigger rewards – but the tradeoff is that you must move as a pair.
Together you are less nimble, and unable to fit through narrower gaps, a fact that sometimes forces you back track. Plus, depressingly, eventually your partner can die leaving nothing but a gravestone, which is surprisingly upsetting considering the game’s low res look.
It may not be the most detailed game, but in Passage forming a relationship provides a true trade-off, so - as in life - if you want the benefits of a partner you must be prepared to put up with inconveniences.