10 Best Video Game Side Characters Who Made Everything Better

4. Garrus Vakarian - Mass Effect Trilogy

final fantasy 7 tifa
Bioware

Also known as the biggest space-bro in the Milky Way, Garrus Vakarian is widely regarded as one of the best characters Bioware has ever put out. From the first Mass Effect all the way to the third, he was a constant presence in the trilogy.

The Turian joins Shepherd's squad very early on and proves his worth many times. As an adept marksman, he's out to bring down Saren and the Commander is the best way to do it.

Yet what makes Garrus even more engaging is his struggle with morality and taking action. In the first game, he reveals that as a C-Sec Officer, he was forced to let a sadistic doctor escape due to taking hostages. Then in the second game, he questions taking revenge on a former member of his squad. As Shepherd you can nudge him in one direction or another.

By far the best squad-mate in Mass Effect, Garrus is always ready to support Shepherd and also undergoes his own moral transformation. Perhaps his finest moment comes in Mass Effect 3 when he challenges Shepherd to a bottle shooting match. It's a fantastic culmination of their friendship that stands out even when the Reaper War is destroying everything around them.

In this post: 
Mass Effect 2
 
First Posted On: 
Contributor

A tough but fair writer and critic broadly covering games, movies and just about every type of entertainment media. Spent a good part of the last seven years blogging and more recently, making amateur videos under "The Cainage Critique". You can follow my work on my website https://robc25.wixsite.com/thecainagecritique and my YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCftJ6WcozDaECFfjvORDk3w