10 Video Game Clichés That We Secretly Love
1. Thirsty Supporting Characters
While it's absolutely fair to say that most video games do a horrible job of depicting authentically believable romances, these love-ins can at least prove entertaining when developers lean into the soap opera-infused silliness of it all.
In particular, there's nothing quite like a supporting video game character who clearly has the hots for the protagonist and conceals their thirstiness behind only the most gossamer-thin veil.
Most recently, Final Fantasy 7 Remake had great fun littering Jessie's dialogue with sexual innuendo, and while on one hand it might seem like a throwback to gaming's sexist tendency to pander to horny teenage boys, it was also self-aware enough to rouse frequent, genuine laughs.
Other examples include Mass Effect 3's Kelly Chambers, God of War 3's Aphrodite, and Resident Evil 4's Ashley Graham.
Yes, the trope is sadly skewed heavily against women, but at least the ladies have got...Yakuza's irrepressibly horny "Walking Erection," right?
There's a fair argument to be made that romance feels shoehorned in the majority of video games, but if developers are smart enough to revel in the wink-wink nature of it all, it can enhance the entertainment value.