10 Creators Who Killed Video Game Characters So They Could Move On

Question! What do you do when you neatly plan out an at-most three-game story arc centering around a central protagonist but, find yourself so critically successful you know both fans and studio owners with nice ties will be literally kicking your front gate open to talk you into making a fourth?

Well, and this is admittedly a very obvious answer given the headline of the article here, you kill off said central protagonist. Then they really, really, want that fourth game, they're going to have to let you come up with something new and profound rather than messing up your wonderful story. Shepard's story was always intended to be a trilogy, and Bioware made sure it stayed that way.

When Mass Effect: Andromeda rolled around a few years later - despite the fact it took place prior to his death - they were able to leave the Commander out entirely, thus enabling a new gameplay format that moved away from the Paragon/Renegade morality system that had come to define both the initial three installments and Shepard themself.