10 Video Game Characters Better Than EVERYONE Expected

No matter how much time a developer spends workshopping, designing, and testing a new video game character, there's never any guarantee that they're going to click with players at large.

Despite all the hard work that goes into making just about any character, sometimes the aesthetic, or how they're implemented into the story or gameplay, just isn't something that most players are interested in.

And marketing is of course a huge part of this - we've all been introduced to a new character in a beloved video game franchise through trailers which made them look, well, just bloody awful.

But then, when we got the game in our own hands and played it for ourselves, it quickly became clear that the pre-release bleating was overblown. In fact, these characters actually turned out pretty damn great.

Perhaps it took us a little while - or even a few games - to warm up to them, but time sure has been kind to these characters who many initially viewed with an intense air of suspicion, if not outright disdain.

Few expected much from them, and yet, each has become a categorical icon in their own right...

When it was revealed that players would spend most of BioShock Infinite retrieving and protecting a petite young woman by the name of Elizabeth, many fans groaned at the prospect of the game being one long, boring escort mission, because who among us actually enjoys escort missions, like, at all?

But in a refreshing departure from the norm, the game swiftly tells you, "You don't need to protect Elizabeth in combat. She can take care of herself." Grand.

But Elizabeth isn't merely a capable escort character - she's also tremendously useful in both combat and navigation, able to toss protagonist Booker weapons and health items, and open portals in the environment.

Ultimately Elizabeth's such an unexpectedly brilliant NPC that she far surpasses Booker himself, who can't help but seem a bit lackluster by comparison. 

All the same, for a character many presumed would get the same treatment as, say, Metal Gear Solid 2's Emma Emmerich or Resident Evil 4's Ashley Graham, it was so damn satisfying to see her be so useful.