When we look back on the standout games of 2025 in the years to come, in many cases it’s as likely to be for the characters who populated them as it is for the greatness of their mechanics or level design. Whether it’s the heroes we inhabited, the villains we faced, or the random side characters we met just for a fleeting moment, there were some memorable newcomers in the best games of 2025, as well as a few characters we’ve known for years that had a moment worth celebrating.
Here are our picks for the best video game characters of 2025.
© Team Cherry
Garmond and Zaza – Hollow Knight: Silksong
Hollow Knight: Silksong has a lot of weird little guys in its cast, and Garmond and Zaza are two of the most memorable. This regal-as-fuck little guy and his flying steed become Hornet’s allies when she saves them from captivity, and Garmond’s battle cry as he charges in to face one of Silksong’s tough bosses is enough to get anyone ready to fight god. — Kenneth Shepard
© Toby Fox
Tenna – Deltarune
Every year when compiling the best characters in games, you’ve gotta have some absolute gremlin-level freaks on the list. Tenna, the TV host with a TV head, is one of 2025’s standouts on that front. Deltarune is full of colorful and memorable characters, but few pop off the screen like Tenna, whose 1950s variety show host schtick is perfectly punctuated by the game’s use of Word-Art-style text flourishes and a 3D model that lets him get more animated than most other characters in the cast. Tenna is technically interfering with your group’s journey in Toby Fox’s RPG, but he smokes too tough and his swag is too different for you to be mad about it. All his crazy antics lead to one of Deltarune’s most insane boss battles, which is practically an extended WarioWare mini-game barrage. All of this showmanship masks a deep-seated fear of being forgotten, and boy, does it reach a tragic finale — Kenneth Shepard
© Screenshot: Gabe Cuzzillo, Maxi Boch, Bennett Foddy
Nate – Baby Steps
Baby Steps, a cross between the insufferable movement controls of QWOP and a climbing game like Only Up, could have easily been content with being a $20 shitpost of a video game with no real character development to speak of and still been successful, but its main character, Nate, actually has quite a bit going on as he walks barefoot up the side of a mountain.
All of Nate’s problems in Baby Steps could be avoided if he merely accepted or asked for help. He could have shoes to help him take more confident steps, a map to tell him where he’s going, and a bathroom to empty his full bladder, if he only would say “yes” instead of “no” any time someone offered to help him. The quick wit of Baby Steps’ writing makes scenes showcasing Nate’s obstinacy, which should be frustrating to watch unfold, a hoot instead. But as the game goes on, it becomes clear Nate has a degree of social anxiety that dwarfs any I’ve experienced giving my order to a server at a restaurant. His biggest problem isn’t walking in the awkward way he does; it’s realizing that he wouldn’t have to suffer half as long if he let himself be uncomfortable for just a moment. But for some, the molehill of an awkward interaction is larger than any mountain we have to scale. — Kenneth Shepard
Swann – Lost Records: Bloom & Rage
Like Baby Steps, Lost Records: Bloom & Rage is basically a social anxiety simulator, and it stars Swann, a teenage introvert just trying to find a space to occupy around a group of girls she doesn’t know, but would like to. From Life Is Strange creators Don’t Nod, the studio’s return to narrative adventure lets you determine the nature of the girls’ relationship, and if their reunion is one of rose-tinted nostalgia or tense discomfort. But no matter how you play Swann, there’s a melancholy sense of yearning for not just love, but belonging. She’s the kind of girl who could easily be talked over, or invited to the party but still left out of all the conversations and moments of connection that transpire. Don’t Nod manages to capture the sense of isolation you can experience when you’re standing in a crowded room, and Swann is at her most memorable when she’s able to break through her own barriers and find a place among friends and summer loves. — Kenneth Shepard
© Kojima Productions
Dollman – Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
Dollman, Death Stranding 2’s living puppet, could have been a joke character, but instead, he ends up being one of the most tragic figures in a series full of them. Still, he’s not without moments in which his silly appearance as a mouthy, stop-motion doll matches his in-game actions. You can throw him around to do surveying for you, and then when you turn in for the night, he’ll tell you scary stories about him doing scary doll shit. Death Stranding has always been a mix of dramatic political commentary and unhinged absurdism. Dollman just wears that juxtaposition on his sleeve more than most. And damn, the dude can dance. — Kenneth Shepard
Hazel – South of Midnight
There’s something about South of Midnight’s southern gothic fantasy that speaks to me as a former southerner. Hazel, the game’s sorceress heroine, embodies a lot of the ideal parts of the south. She is the best of us: a kind-hearted person who seeks to help those in need, but is able to do so with wit and while taking no shit from those who meet her empathy with a thorny disposition. Hazel respects those who have long gone without consideration, but never gives up her own self-respect to offer a helping hand. — Kenneth Shepard
© Kaizen Game Works
Pinky – Promise Mascot Agency
Pinky is cute on the outside, vile on the inside. As her name implies, she’s…well, a severed pinky but made to look like the kind of mascot you might see at Disneyland. Promise Mascot Agency is full of whimsy and chaos in equal measure, and Pinky dials up the latter with her frequent angry outbursts. Pinky is, as the kids say, a mood. You never know what she’s going to say next, other than that it will be one of the filthiest reads you’ve seen put to paper. — Kenneth Shepard
© Nintendo
Pauline – Donkey Kong Bananza
For better or worse, the connection between Donkey Kong and Pauline is foundational to the history of video games. It was there in 1981’s Donkey Kong, the game that launched the career of gaming’s greatest and most versatile superstar, where it helped establish the “damsel in distress” template which hundreds of games would employ in the decades to come as an easy way to create some kind of basic motivation for the player.
But what makes Pauline’s presence in Donkey Kong Bananza so refreshing is the way that it reimagines both her as a character and her connection to DK. No longer a kidnapping victim in need of rescue or an object of weird obsession, Pauline is a talented but insecure singer who forms a fast friendship with Donkey Kong as the two find themselves flung together on the game’s grand journey. Their abilities complement each other, with Pauline’s voice providing accompaniment to DK’s rhythm, and her confidence in her own abilities grows over time thanks to DK’s unwavering belief in her. More than 40 years after they first debuted, it’s a thrill to see these two embark on an epic adventure in which they just get to be BFFs, enjoy each other’s company, and help each other out, without a Mario anywhere in sight to come between them or spoil their fun. — Carolyn Petit
© DotEmu
Cider – Absolum
Cider is the kind of character that just oozes cool. They tear into enemies with their vicious, fast-paced battle style while also basically dancing across the battlefield with acrobatic flair. Also, just look at their sick, masked design. Each of Absolum’s characters is distinct in their playstyle and visual identity, and everything about Cider screams “your teenage nephew’s favorite.” Their edgy, ninja-like persona could have been cheesy, but instead it makes you feel like you did when you were younger and those kinds of characters were your entire personality. — Kenneth Shepard
© Obsidian
Kai – Avowed
Kai is the first companion you meet in Obsidian’s fantasy RPG, and for many, once he joined the party, he never left. This affable and loyal former soldier is hard to dislike. He’s charming when he needs to be, aggressive when circumstances calls for it, and always has your back. He’s a good man with a troubled soul who just needs some help, which you can provide.
Oh, and it doesn’t hurt that his voice actor is Brandon Keener, the same actor who provides the alluring voice of Mass Effect’s Garrus. So yeah, basically, Kai is a fantasy version of Garrus. Now you get why most people meet Kai and never remove him from their traveling party. — Zack Zwiezen
© Surgent Studios
Vinny – Dead Take
Dead Take is plenty unnerving as an FMV horror game, but Vinny Monroe is terrifying in a completely different way, in that we see Final Fantasy XVI and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 actor Ben Starr in a completely different light. The live-action scenes in which Starr embodies the kind of face-punchable nepo baby ego that hides something far more sinister underneath its surface are some of the most frightening in Surgent Studio’s horrifying escape room adventure. Here’s an actor we largely know as the stoic, noble heroes of Verso and Clive, revealing a capacity to terrify us as someone rotten to the core. It’s a performance made all the more effective by the knowledge that people like this guy, who was willing to sabotage his friends for the role of the lifetime, walk among us. — Kenneth Shepard
© The Pokémon Company / Kotaku
Lysandre – Pokémon Legends: Z-A
I gotta commend Game Freak for keeping Lysandre, the now amnesiac ex-boss of Team Flare from X and Y, out of Pokémon Legends: Z-A’s marketing. The return of a villain long thought dead by the Pokémon fandom is one of the game’s best reveals, and seeing him have to make peace with what he’s done in what probably feels to him like a previous life makes for a surprisingly dark, existential storyline in a game that could have easily omitted it. Mortality is a major throughline in Legends: Z-A, and Lysandre, having survived the events of X and Y only to find he is now seemingly unable to feel the sweet release of death, is one of the most contemplative inner struggles the Pokémon series has ever devised. After the events of Legends: Z-A, it’s entirely possible Lysandre may become a regular figurehead in the Pokémon series outside of his home region. I hope so, at least. I wanna check in on how he’s doing every few years. — Kenneth Shepard
© AdHoc Studio / Kotaku
Robert Robertson III – Dispatch
Dispatch’s cast of weirdos features an assortment of ex-villains so distinctive and memorable that each is primed to be somebody’s favorite. Robert Robertson III, an ex-hero damned to a life behind a desk, could have become a cynic discouraged by his new office job. Instead, he becomes a leader to a bunch of criminals who would not have cared if he was found dead in a ditch at the beginning of the game. The guy formerly known as Mecha Man has spent his life being a hero, and if he can’t be on the field with his mech, he decides he can make just as much of a difference by leading a new generation of heroes. Even though these menaces are a handful, he perseveres through his own hardships, and still shows up as a leader to help his teammates through their own, proving you don’t need to be out in the field to be a hero. — Kenneth Shepard
© Too Kyo Games / Kotaku
Takumi – The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy
Too Kyo Games’ The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy has a large cast of teenagers who each shine to varying degrees in the tactical RPG visual novel’s many routes, but Takumi, the time-traveling leader of the Last Defense Academy’s students, is the sole constant. He has to make hard decisions, nudging the fate of each one of his classmates far beyond their fate on the battlefield. Takumi bears the weight of every failed attempt to save not only the academy he and his friends are trapped in and defending, but also multiple versions of his classmates. There are versions of his classmates that are terrified of him, and yet he still persists in his time-jumping effort to find the way forward. The Hundred Line is the Doctor Strange “I love you in every universe” line, but for the power of friendship, and Takumi’s loyalty transcends time and space. — Kenneth Shepard
© Sandfall Interactive
The cast of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
The party in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 goes through quite a few transformative moments throughout the RPG’s run, but in every iteration, each member of the titular expedition embodies different stages of grief. They are resilient, angry, despairing, hopeful, and still carrying the love of those they lost in their hearts. Clair Obscur’s exploration of its heroes’ grief is messy but, then, dragging the corpse of everyone you’ve ever seen wiped out of existence by an uncaring paintress is, too. Its cast of sad 32-year-olds and their little sister shine when they’re cheerful, unburdened—even for a moment—by the life-or-death stakes of their journey, and those brief flickers of joy make every loss harder to bear. The members of Expedition 33 are not the same people they were when they left on their journey by the time they see either version of the game’s conclusion, and just how endearing they are on the way to those closing hours makes the finale all the more devastating.. — Kenneth Shepard
