10 Best New Video Game Characters Of 2017

Before it arrived on our doorsteps, there was a concern that Horizon: Zero Dawn might emerge as one of those annoying games that looked outright amazing but failed in pretty much every other regard. Fortunately for us, the opposite was true: what gamers ultimately got was one of the best-looking games ever, complete with a great story, intense gameplay, and a fantastic lead character in Aloy.

Cast out from her tribe at birth in a primal 31st century dominated by giant animalist machines, Aloy - voiced brilliantly by actress Ashly Burch, best known for her work as Chloe Prince in video game Life is Strange - initially sets out on an epic quest to reclaim her identity, but is later drawn into a much larger conspiracy.

The best thing about Aloy, of course, is her cool, sardonic manner. She spends most of the game with a detached, almost ironic, "I'm totally above this crap" attitude, and she isn't afraid to call out the other characters on their bullsh*t. It makes her an alluring protagonist to inhabit from the very start.

Essentially Aloy is a smartass of the highest order, then, but she's also a good person and a brave warrior - not to mention she embodies a truly unique, primal character design that cements her as a proper original. What higher compliment is there to pay a fictional character made up entirely of pixels?