The 5 Best (Video Game) People I Met This Year

People are what make games compelling. They give you a reason to keep going, whether it’s through friendship or antagonism. Without good characters, games just aren’t as fun. Below you’ll find five video game people that left a lasting impression with me in 2017.

Ann Takamaki-Persona 5

Originally, Ann is portrayed as the stereotypical blonde, slutty girl. Rumors circulate that she’s sleeping with the volleyball coach, Kamoshida, and using his status for her own gains. Upon further investigation however, it becomes clear that Ann is more than meets the eye.

Ultimately, Ann cares about her friend Shiho more than anything else. She’s fiercely loyal and is willing to put herself through hell to ensure that her friend is successful. When she finds out that everything she put herself through was in vain, she shows her unbreakable determination, vowing to take down the man that ruined both her and Shiho’s lives.

Ann’s femininity is generally used as an excuse to write her off (and the wild over-sexualization of her costume doesn’t help anything). Originally, Ryuji doesn’t want to bring her to Kamoshida’s palace because he thinks she won’t be safe, even though he ran around there twice with no persona to protect him. I admire Ann because even when other people discount her, or make assumptions about her based on her femininity, it doesn’t stop or even really bother her. She owns who she is and learns to take joy from it. Panther is a fearsome, determined enemy, and adds the necessary oomph to keep the Phantom Thieves going.

Ann is also willing to be introspective with she wants to go in life. She takes the time to listen to others and think about what she wants to do, instead of following a path because it’s easy or seems like what she should be doing. This trait feeds directly into her commitment to better herself. While she still seems to be figuring out what exactly she has to do to become a stronger, better person, she’s committed to doing whatever it takes to achieve that goal. She takes inspiration from the people she cares about, and turns it into motivation to be the best she can.

While Ann can be a bit spacey, she’s a ferocious girl-next-door with a heart of gold. She was one of my dearest friends in Persona 5 because of her bravery, kindness, and laid back charm.

Bea-Night in the Woods

Bea is your goth alligator friend in Night in the Woods. She runs the local hardware shop, and often seems like she kind of hates your guts.

There’s immediately tension between her and Mae, and that spurs you to find out what’s going on. Bea is an excellent foil for Mae, showing who our protagonist used to be before going off to college, and highlighting her flaws now that she’s back. Mae becomes more sympathetic as you go on in the game, but she can be a dick a lot of the time, and Bea isn’t afraid to call her out on it. Bea sees the privilege and ignorance that drip off of Mae, and forces her to think about her actions. Mae becomes more sympathetic in part because Bea makes her realize that she’s being shallow or insensitive.

Despite calling Mae out on her bullshit all the time, Bea is still an incredibly kind and understanding friend. She goes out of her way to help Mae with her problems, even when she doesn’t actually believe in them, because she cares about her friend’s well being. She also has the patience of a saint, continuing to hang out with Mae and help her through her issues even after Mae makes the same mistakes over and over again.

Bea is a strong, loyal person. Working at her family’s store, she gave up her own dreams to keep her family afloat. She lost out on so much of what being a young person usually entails, and doesn’t even get the respect or thanks she deserves for it. Finding out the entirety of Bea’s story made my heart ache, and had me hoping that maybe she’d find a way out by the end, that she wouldn’t have to be trapped anymore. Unfortunately, I’m not sure that will ever happen for her. But that’s part of what makes her such a great character: she knows she’ll probably never get out, but she finds the positives where she can and is still willing to take care of the people that really need her.

Pamitha Theyn-Pyre

(There are some light spoilers for Pamitha’s arc in Pyre ahead, you’ve been warned)

Sassy, morally ambiguous, complicated, secretly wounded, and always seductive? Sign me the fuck up, because that’s the recipe for my fictional ladycrush and Pamitha checks all of those boxes.

I love Pamitha because out of everyone on your team, she cares the least about being a good person or changing the world. Really, all she wants is to find some semblance of redemption and reconciliation with her sister. Other than that, she’s just kind of along for the ride. The honesty that she approaches this with is refreshing and adds a nice counterbalance to the other characters that are more invested in your collective higher purpose.

But just because she’s not as invested in the greater good, Pamitha still doesn’t end up being a bad person. She always comes around eventually, it just has to be on her terms. It feels like she joins the resistance efforts in the Commonwealth more to be reunited with her old companions than to actually fight the good fight because it’s the right thing to do. With a history of bad decisions behind her, it’s easy to see why Pamitha would want to wait to decide what to do and where to go.

Those bad decisions also shaped who Pamitha was. Her fall out with her sister really knocked her down, and made her feel unworthy of a second chance. In my playthrough, I put Pamitha up for freedom, and lost. At the next rite, I put her up again and she was shocked. She didn’t see why I would try to free her again after we had already failed; she didn’t even understand why I was trying to get her out in the first place. This was a rare moment of vulnerability for Pamitha. Usually she’s carefree and flippant, calling you “Reader, darling” and shooting the shit with Rukey. I’m a sucker for characters that so easily hide their pain and complications under a facade of confident carelessness.

Pamitha’s relationship with her sister is incredibly real. Tamitha feels wronged and, violent militant that she is, she doesn’t just let Pamitha off the hook with an apology or even a screaming match. They physically fight, and when it’s over things still aren’t completely patched up, but they’re moving in the right direction. It’s not a perfect reconciliation, or probably even the one Pamitha wanted, but it’s enough to make her journey worth it.

Akarsha-Butterfly Soup

Akarsha is the ridiculous meme queen I didn’t know I needed in 2017. Her weird sense of humor kept me laughing and guessing through all of Butterfly Soup. 

Akarsha’s humor is so relateable because it’s in large part a defense mechanism. She makes seemingly random jokes and says confusing things to deflect the existential dread she’s feeling about her future. She laughs in the face of failure, because the only other option is to cry. And honestly, same. I don’t know many people these days who don’t have a similar reaction.

Aside from her mad deflection skills, Akarsha is close to my heart because she’s so supportive of Diya and Min. As the only one of the girls who seems to be out before you start the game, she already has an understanding of what Diya is going through and she wants to help. She’s a safe person for Diya to talk through her feelings with and enough of an instigator to get Min to actually do something. While she does actively go out of her way to drive Noelle crazy, Akarsha is ultimately a good person with her friend’s best interests at heart.

Grace-Wolfenstein II

Grace is tough as nails and doesn’t give a fuck what anyone thinks, traits that are extremely aspirational in my own life. Every moment from her introduction on reminds us that Grace is a badass and what the resistance so desperately needs if it’s going to survive.

Grace doesn’t have time to slow down or look back, even when ultimate tragedy strikes. She has a resistance to lead and a regime to overthrow. There also ins’t time for BJ’s white apologies. She makes it abundantly clear that white America is to blame for what has become of the US, and BJ can either accept that or get the fuck out of the way.

Grace is the real hero of The New Colossus. While BJ is the one murdering his way to the objective, Grace is the one who provided it to him. When the resistance is wounded and lost she takes control, giving them security and new blood in a time of uncertainty. She also provides the plan they so desperately need to actually do some damage to the Nazis. Ambition and unwavering strength are Grace’s key personality traits, and without them, the resistance would be lost.

Her strength doesn’t make her hard however. She’s a loving mother and partner, dedicated to her small family even in the midst of fighting for a revolution. She isn’t able to display weakness most of the time, but she’s still human. Though she can’t afford to grieve openly or for long, you get to see a moment of her pain at losing someone close to her. While everyone knows the risk of what they’re doing, it’s still hard to accept losing someone you love, and even battle maven Grace isn’t immune to that.

Complex and confident, Grace is probably the character that captured my attention most this year, despite not being directly in the spotlight. Her determination and passion to accomplish her goals helped to remind me that you can’t back down in the face of oppression, and you have to keep fighting, even when it looks like all is lost.