In the vast landscape of video games, fathers have emerged as complex, multifaceted characters who often drive the narrative forward. As we enter 2025, the portrayal of fatherhood in gaming continues to evolve, reflecting our changing understanding of what it means to be a parent in today's world. From the mountains of Midgard to the zombie-infested streets of America, these digital dads have captured our hearts, broken them, and sometimes left us questioning the very nature of parental love.

The Paragon Fathers: More Than Just Warriors

The most compelling father figures in gaming aren't just those who can swing an axe or fire a gun with deadly precision—they're the ones who actively parent on screen. Take Kratos from the God of War series. Once a one-dimensional rage monster, his character transformation in the 2018 reboot and its 2022 sequel Ragnarök showcased a father learning to balance discipline with compassion. There's something genuinely moving about watching this former god of war struggle with when to hold his son's hand and when to let go.

John Marston of Red Dead Redemption fame follows a similar trajectory. His entire journey is fueled by his desire to provide a better life for his son Jack—one free from the violence that defined his own existence. The way he awkwardly tries to connect with his son during fishing trips or hunting expeditions feels so painfully authentic. You can almost feel the weight of regret in every word he speaks, the desperate hope that his son might somehow escape his father's fate. Spoiler alert: the game's ending still makes me tear up every time I replay it, even in 2025.

Geralt of Rivia and Chuck Greene represent another archetype—fathers who will move heaven and earth to protect their daughters. In The Witcher 3, Geralt's search for his adopted daughter Ciri transforms what could have been a standard fantasy adventure into a deeply personal tale of parental devotion. Similarly, Chuck Greene's desperate scramble to find Zombrex medication for his infected daughter in Dead Rising 2 elevates what might otherwise be a mindless zombie-slaying romp into something with real emotional stakes.

The Complicated Fathers: Love Amid Trauma

Not all gaming dads fit neatly into the hero category. Some of the most interesting father figures are those who struggle with their parental responsibilities while dealing with their own demons.

Barrett Wallace from Final Fantasy 7 (including the Remake series that concluded in 2024) exemplifies this complexity. His involvement with eco-terrorist group Avalanche keeps him away from his daughter Marlene, yet his motivation—creating a better world for her future—comes from a place of genuine love. His growth from revenge-seeking warrior to thoughtful protector is one of the more nuanced character arcs in gaming history.

Sam Fisher of Splinter Cell fame and Ethan Winters from the Resident Evil series share a willingness to walk through fire for their children, though their methods differ dramatically. Sam leverages his elite training to rescue his daughter Sarah, while poor Ethan—just a regular guy caught in extraordinary circumstances—somehow manages to survive werewolves, vampires, and all manner of bioweapons to save his daughter Rose in Resident Evil Village. Talk about dad strength, am I right?

Then there's Harry Mason from the original Silent Hill, whose desperate search for his missing daughter through a fog-shrouded nightmare town still stands as one of gaming's most powerful portrayals of parental devotion. Twenty-seven years later, and that game still gives me the creeps—but Harry's determination never falters, not even for a second.

The Broken Fathers: When Grief Consumes

The most heartbreaking category might be those fathers whose grief has fundamentally altered them. Max Payne and Joel Miller (The Last of Us) both lost daughters to violence, and both responded by becoming violence personified.

Joel's relationship with Ellie in The Last of Us series (now spanning three critically acclaimed games after the 2024 release of Part III) is particularly fascinating in its moral ambiguity. He protects her, guides her, and ultimately loves her—but there's always that unsettling undercurrent of selfishness, the sense that he's trying to replace what was lost rather than truly seeing Ellie for herself. Man, that ending to the original game... still gives me goosebumps just thinking about it.

The Bad Dads: When Love Isn't Enough

Some video game fathers, despite their occasional good intentions, simply fail at the fundamental task of parenting. James from Fallout 3 abandons his child in a dangerous environment without explanation—all for a noble cause, sure, but c'mon, dude, leave a note at least!

Hades, the titular character from Supergiant's 2020 masterpiece (which received its highly anticipated sequel just last year), represents the controlling father whose love manifests as restriction. His relationship with his son Zagreus is a masterclass in toxic parenting—though his eventual growth and reconciliation offer a glimmer of hope that even the worst fathers can change.

The Truly Terrible: Beyond Redemption

At the bottom of the barrel are fathers like Ethan Mars from Heavy Rain and Booker DeWitt from BioShock Infinite. Ethan's negligence directly contributes to one son's death and another's kidnapping. Like, seriously? You lost track of your kid in a mall and then took your other kid to a playground despite knowing you were experiencing mysterious blackouts? That's not just bad luck—that's bad parenting, plain and simple.

Booker DeWitt, meanwhile, literally sells his daughter to pay gambling debts. In an alternate timeline, as Zachary Comstock, he imprisons her and grooms her for leadership in a cultish society. There's really no coming back from that kind of paternal failure.

What Makes a Good Father in Games?

The best video game fathers aren't perfect—they're human. They make mistakes, they struggle with their emotions, they sometimes prioritize the wrong things. But what separates the good dads from the bad is their willingness to grow, to learn, to put their children's needs above their own desires.

As we look at the landscape of gaming in 2025, it's clear that developers have moved beyond using fatherhood as mere window dressing or motivation for revenge plots. The most compelling games now explore the full complexity of the father-child relationship, with all its joys, sorrows, triumphs, and failures.

From Kratos learning to say "Yes, sir" to his son in a moment of pride, to Joel teaching Ellie to play guitar in a world where beauty seems all but extinct, these digital dads remind us that parenthood isn't about perfection—it's about presence, persistence, and the courage to love someone more than yourself.

In the end, perhaps that's why fathers have become such a focal point in video games. In a medium that often celebrates power, skill, and independence, the vulnerability required by fatherhood offers a compelling counterbalance. Just as we began this journey through gaming's paternal landscape, we find ourselves returning to a simple truth: the most heroic act isn't slaying a dragon or saving the world—it's being there for your child, day after day, through all of life's quests, both epic and mundane.