Life isn't easy for a video game character. If they aren't being shot at, chased relentlessly, or hounded by a mystical entity from outer space, they're grappling with their past and the trauma that comes with it. Sometimes, these protagonists and characters find their childhoods unaffected by these events. More often than not, though, it shapes them for the rest of their life.
Some characters, through circumstances created by themselves or otherwise, are forced to grow up way before their years. Some are pushed into carrying a prophetic burden, while others simply can't escape their doom-filled fate. However these characters matured, one thing's for certain: it happened way too soon.
10 Max Caulfield Starts Playing God In Life Is Strange
A student at the prestigious Blackwell Academy, Max witnesses her childhood best friend, Chloe Price, die at the hands of another student. After the incident, she discovers she has the power to rewind time and begins to use it to help Chloe unravel the disappearance of a girl named Rachel Amber.
Throughout Life Is Strange, Max witnesses some traumatizing things, often over and over again as she rewinds time to fix them. She and Chloe even discover Rachel's body, and by the time the credits roll, Max has left no space to be a kid anymore.
9 Ness Must Save The World Before Going Through Puberty In Earthbound
In Earthbound, when Ness and his friend Pokey decide to investigate the site of a meteorite crash, they couldn't have expected they would end up on a perilous quest to save the world from an alien force.
There are no amount of words that can accurately describe the kind of journey Ness goes on. As well as the Giygas, Ness must contend with zombies, alternate dimensions, and a betrayal from one of his closest allies, all while still being a kid. After it's all over, Ness' struggle doesn't end, as the one who betrayed him sends him a taunting letter to remind him that there's unfinished business.
8 Atreus Is Stricken With Grief And A Heritage He Doesn't Understand In God Of War
2018's God Of War introduced a sickly young boy called Atreus to an unsuspecting audience. Atreus is the son of Kratos, and a woman called Faye, who is revealed to be a frost giant later in the story. The game begins with Faye's death which hits Atreus hard, as Kratos has been a semi-absent father for most of his son's life.
Atreus' dual heritage causes him further issues, which include falling into a coma after using his own Spartan Rage, and mercilessly killing a defenseless enemy. By the end, Atreus has largely accepted who he is thanks to his father, but is plagued by prophetic visions, with his unique heritage being something only he can shoulder alone.
7 Aloy's Destiny Got Her Cast Out From Her Tribe In Horizon
In Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West, Aloy was created by GAIA to, essentially, save the world. However, due to Aloy's unusual conception, she was immediately shunned by her tribe, who believed she was unnatural and a curse.
Aloy spent her entire life with only her adoptive father, Rost, for company. He taught her everything she knew before he was murdered before her very eyes. From that moment on, Aloy had no option but to go off on her own to not only save the tribe that had shunned her but to save the world and avenge her father.
6 Makoto Naegi Is The Unwilling Participant Of A Killing Game In Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
All the characters in the Danganronpa games, with only a few exceptions in Ultra Despair Girls, are high school students. Makoto Naegi is the original protagonist of the first game, and the first character that players take control of as Monokuma forces Naegi and his classmates into a killing game.
During Trigger Happy Havoc, Naegi not only has to discover his friends' bodies but also must win the trials that come after to avoid his own execution. Between simply trying to survive and watching those he loves succumb to despair, Naegi is never the same after his killing game experience.
5 Ciri Is The Daughter Of Destiny In The Witcher 3
Ciri only ever wanted a simple life, but hers and Geralt's intertwined destinies, as well as her having Elder Blood, meant that her life would forever be one full of adventure and tragedy. Ciri lost both of her parents and her grandmother in her youth, all while fruitlessly chasing after Geralt, who she was aware shared her destiny.
Ciri's time as a witcher was traumatic and difficult, and her life from then on became full of running from all the people who would harm her. Unable to have a peaceful life with Geralt and the rest of her witcher family, Ciri didn't experience any comfort until the end of The Witcher 3, by which point she had seen things that would leave her forever changed.
4 Grunt Was Fully Grown And Confused In Mass Effect 2
Grunt literally never had a childhood. Being the only tank-born krogan in existence, he was created by warlord Okeer to be a genetically perfect example of his species and came out of the tank on Shepard's ship in Mass Effect 2 nearly fully grown.
Due to his lack of true krogan upbringing, Grunt was violent and unpredictable, yet had a large amount of loyalty to Shepard, who did everything they could to help him mature. Grunt had mere months to understand his existence, connect with his people, and help his beloved commander save the world, all while not even being a couple of years old.
3 Cloud Strife Led A Life Of Pain That Erased His Identity In Final Fantasy
It can be argued that Cloud suffered from the moment his father died. Excluded by the other kids in his neighborhood, blamed for Tifa's early near-death experience despite being the one to save her, and failing to reach SOLDIER status due to his lack of skill are but a few of the traumas he'd collected as a child.
Cloud then became further traumatized after genetic experimentation, so much so that he took on the memories of his dearest friend and ally, Zack Fair, after Zack's death. All of this happens before Cloud's stand-out game, Final Fantasy VII, in which he's only twenty-one years old. And all of this is not even half of what he's been forced to suffer through.
2 Sora Was Thrust Into Worlds He Didn't Understand In Kingdom Hearts
Sora's journey begins at only fourteen years old, but he manages to retain his childlike optimism and naivete for much longer than most other young protagonists. However, most fans don't believe Sora is any older than seventeen in Kingdom Hearts 3, a game in which his personality and outlook on life have started to become affected by the journey he's been on.
That means, in a mere three years, Sora has battled darkness, seen his beloved friends taken from him time and time again, and traveled across worlds he didn't even know existed. Before recovering Riku and Kairi, the fate of their world was solely on his shoulders, and even now it's clear he has a much bigger part to play than anyone else.
1 Clementine Fought Against All The Odds In Telltale's The Walking Dead
When players meet Clementine in Telltale's The Walking Dead, she is a sweet and shy eight-year-old who clings to protagonist Lee Everett after they save each other in the zombie outbreak. By the end of the first game, she is forced to either leave Lee to turn or shoot him herself, an event that shapes her for the rest of her journey.
Eventually, Clementine gains custody of a young boy named Alvin Jr, or A.J, and she mirrors Lee's adoption of her in her adoption of A.J. Becoming his mother at only thirteen years old, Clementine not only hardened herself for her survival but for A.J's too. She becomes mature beyond her years and does anything she can to keep him safe.