Video games these days have been associated with violence and horror but some of these have actually taken an effort to tell the love story between two characters and taken them across the series of the franchise. This Valentine’s we’ve compiled a list of our favorite video game couples.
Link and Zelda (Legend of Zelda series)
For more than two decades, the classic video game couple Link and Zelda, whose story has been retold in every Zelda game with different characters in different worlds, has Link bravely struggling to save the damsel in distress. It also has another angle to it: Midna.
Appearing in the Twilight Princess, Midna is a mysterious shadowy imp who assists Link in his traversal of the world of shadow. Though initially a brash and demanding partner, Link and Midna’s constant companionship develops a bond of compassion and trust, one exponentially multiplied as Midna’s true form is revealed in the final act.
Mario and Princess Peach (all Mario games)
The Italian plumber trying to save Princess Peach from repeated attacks by arch-villain Bowser, a fire-breathing turtle determined to come between them. The relationship between Mario and the princess of Mushroom Kingdom has been a key part of nearly all the ‘Mario’ spin-off games to date.
Mario has been devoted to Peach since the first game and has been saving her in every franchise from 1985 and will continue to do till the developers continue to make Mario games. A wonderful love story to take inspiration from!
Nathan Drake and Elena Fisher (Uncharted Series)
Nathan Drake and Elena Fisher is one dangerous couple. They’re more than just your standard video game couples. They’re a dynamic duo as Elena is more of a sidekick than the stereotypical female tied to the train tracks. Elena’s never afraid to pick up a pistol and help out in the fight.
Their relationship feels completely natural as their witty banter bounces off one another even when they’re both under heavy fire.
Dominic and Maria Santiago (Gears of War 2)
Dominic lost both his children on Emergence Day, and their deaths have his wife Maria sink into deep depression. Nothing seemed to help her feel better, and one day she just goes out for a walk and never comes back.
Dom is heartbroken, and can be seen in the game looking at the photo he keeps of the two of them in his wallet. When he’s not fighting the locust horde, he’s tirelessly trying to track her down.
Dom finally locates his missing wife Maria in a Locust cell, but discovers that she’s been starved, tortured and disfigured. So, he decides to euthanise his wife in one of the saddest video game cutscenes ever.
Master Chief and Cortana (Halo series)
Master Chief and his AI Cortana don’t exactly have a traditional romance in the Halo franchise, but their chemistry is undeniable. They go to great lengths to protect each other and their love story culminates in Halo 4 when Cortana sacrifices herself to save Master Chief.
Eddie Riggs and Ophelia (Brütal Legend)
Axe wielding Eddie Riggs works perfectly as an everyman hero: in a world of rock gods, he’s just a roadie. Ophelia, meanwhile, is the hot gothic-girl-next-door who was never out of your league, but still broodingly difficult to approach. Their relationship follows some great ups and downs.
The path of true love never did run smooth, and it gets more than a little bumpy. First, Eddie is stoked about meeting her, even though she seems a bit aloof. But Eddie is later told that she is a traitor. Ophelia who is heartbroken that Eddie doesn’t trust her, ends up believing that he’s the real traitor and decides to throw herself in the Sea of Black Tears.
Evil Ophelia is an imposter who did all the bad things but in the end Eddie claimed Ophelia’s heart and swam to the bottom of the Sea of Black Tears to reclaim her body. When she awakened, they finally sealed their love with a kiss.
Jackie Estacado and Jenny Romano (The Darkness)
The Darkness is often cited as an unfairly overlooked action game. It centers around Jackie and his girlfriend Jenny who have grown together in an orphanage. Jackie, a lowlife gangster makes a deal with a malevolent spirit to gain impossible supernatural power (but at a price, of course). Jenny sadly ends up being collateral damage, something that haunts Jackie through the rest of the game and its sequel.
Despite the game’s dark thrills and bloody action, it was Jackie’s surprisingly human, touching relationship with his girlfriend Jenny that wounds up stealing the show.
Max Payne & Mona Sax – Max Payne Series
Their love story is like Bonnie and Clyde, partners in crime whose noir love story is based on lust and power. There’s a faint attraction as there often is between the protagonist and the femme fatale in noir films. Danger, a common enemy, and pure animal magnetism push the two together, but it seems that Max is destined to lose those he cares for as he loses his wife and child in the first game and Mona in second.
The Prince and Farah (Prince of Persia: Sands of Time)
The chemistry between The Prince and Farah is one that has been done perfectly in the game. Resenting each other initially, being two of the only three humans left in the kingdom forced them to make nice.
The Prince was arrogant, pompous and immature, but it only took a woman’s touch to improve his character by leaps and bounds. As they ventured through what was left of the kingdom, their relationship grew, culminating in a tender moment when they both thought death was imminent.
Gordan Freeman and Alyx Vance (Half Life 2)
They’re the quintessential unusual couple who are madly in love but may never ever speak of it. But you can’t blame them since Gordon can’t actually speak, ever. But aside from his muteness, he’s apparently bound by some unmovable fate.
Gordon may be an unstoppable gravity-gun wielding badass, but it’s Alyx who stays by his side and reminds him that he’s fighting for something worth saving. The paternal gleam in Alyx’s father Eli’s eye when he talks about the two of them makes it clear: these two are destined to save the human race not just by kicking alien ass, but also by making babies.
