There are times in games when the protagonist is pushed to their limit. Regardless of whether they’re a super soldier or brave warrior, sometimes the situation can become so dire that you really wonder if they’re ever going to make it. But then again, something only seems impossible until you see someone else do it, and these video game characters are proof of that.
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Whether it’s an island full of mercenaries or a spaceship infested with a parasitic monster, these protagonists are the ones that somehow survived the impossible.
10Lara Croft - Tomb Raider
Where do we even begin with Lara Croft? A fan-favorite heroine, Lara has been through numerous adventures that have seen her battle witheverything from gods to dinosaurs. However, survival was definitely a priority when it came to the 2013 reboot simply titledTomb Raider.
Lara Croft goes from an inexperienced archaeologist into a brave and fearless hero, single-handedly rescuing her friends and defeating an island full of cultists. Not to mention she goes up against an army of Oni and survives a wrathful storm by Queen Himiko, all while likely hungry, dehydrated, and tired on an island.
9Ethan Winters - Resident Evil 7
Resident Evilis known for having perhaps some of themost deadly antagonistsin gaming, with mutated monsters that cause mayhem everywhere they go. However, the characters of Resident Evil are usually equipped with enough experience to handle such monsters. That is until Ethan Winters strolls on the scene, looking for his missing wife and ending up having to fight a family corrupted by mutated fungi.
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Although he has some mutations himself, it’s still impressive for Ethan to deal with life-threatening injuries and monstrous foes, especially given that the events of Resident Evil 7 all occur in just one night.
8Niko Bellic - Grand Theft Auto 4
It may be odd to have a protagonist fromGrand Theft Autoon the list, especially when usually all of them are notorious criminals who know more or less what they’re getting into and how to handle themselves. But the stakes almost get too high when it comes to Niko Bellic.
We have to remember that Niko isn’t just surviving the events of the game; he also survived a brutal war. He is a one-man army against the Russian mafia, who are powerful enough to burn down his home and run him and his cousin outside an entire district of Liberty City. Despite the endless shootouts and close calls, Niko still manages to make it even when others around him don’t.
Some situations are just so dire from the start that there’s no way you can picture anyone surviving. Isaac Clarke proves us wrong.Dead Spacetakes place on an abandoned spaceship filled with Necromorphs, a parasitic species comprised of the mutated corpses they infect.
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Their sole purpose is to infect as many as they can, and Isaac Clarke is an engineer with limited time and ammo who manages to fight off the Necromorphs and lives to tell the tale.
6Clementine - The Walking Dead
The world ofThe Walking Deadis harsh with its often bleak tone and portrayal of the worst parts of humanity that often tear each other apart quicker than any zombie can. That’s what makes Clementine so special.
Despite being eight at the start of the first season, Clementine survives all four seasons of apocalyptic mayhem, including fighting off zombies, traveling through hordes of them, raising a baby by herself, and battling bandits. Despite being so young, Clementine manages to fare better than adults in the same world.
5Nathan Drake - Uncharted
Nathan Drake is somehow the luckiest and unluckiest explorer in the world. You can’t count on your fingers the number of times he has to hang on for dear life in crumbling ruins or survive numerous mercenaries, all shooting at him at once throughout theUnchartedgames.
Although he may trigger almost every trap in every tomb he comes across, Nathan still manages to use his wits to keep himself alive and managed to get the treasure and his happy ending along the way.
4Jason Brody - Far Cry 3
There are few worse holidays than ending up on an island run by mercenaries that kill your brother and kidnap all your friends.Far Cry 3sees spoiled rich kid Jason Brody, who has barely ever held a gun before in his life, turn into a warrior who leads a rebellion against the mercenaries and their leaders.
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Similar to Lara, Jason also helps rescue his friends. And though he gets much assistance along the way from the rebels, the fact he’s able to take down entire encampments of armed men, battle the wildlife and kill Vaas is impressive.
3Kazuma Kiryu - Yakuza
There is perhaps nobody who can beat down a hundred men on his own and take down corrupt criminals like Kazuma Kiryu. He regularly achieves superhuman feats of powering through grave injuries, enduring back-to-back fights, and defeating almost every powerful figure of the underworld that tries to go against him in theYakuzagames.
Throughout the games, Kiryu has survived being beaten with a pipe, being stabbed, shot, almost blown up by a grenade, and beaten up by trained criminals. Despite it all,Kiryu still finds time to changeand grow as a human after having survived it all.
2The Courier - Fallout: New Vegas
Although not much is known about The Courier, they manage to survive what can usually kill anyone, a shot to the head. In the first few moments ofFallout: New Vegas, we see The Courier; they are tied up, shot in the head, and buried.
Yet not only does The Courier survive this, but they are also actually good enough to keep moving, thinking, and breathing like nothing happened as well. But furthermore, they manage to track down their killer, defeat irradiated monsters, slay any Legion or NCR soldier that comes their way, and survive some of the most hostile parts of the Wasteland, such as The Divide and Sierra Madre Casino.
1Miles Upshur - Outlast
Some stories are just not worth telling, and it’s hard not to believe that when it comes to whatever Miles Upshur is doing inOutlast. Miles is a freelance journalist who sneaks into an asylum where inhumane experiments have turned many of its patients into insane monsters known as variants.
Despite being armed with only a camera, Miles manages to sneak around, escape and expose the asylum and its experiments to the world. Now if that isn’t surviving the impossible, then it’s hard to say what is.
