8 Video Game Characters Who Desperately Need Therapy

7. James Sunderland - Silent Hill 2

The Last of Us Part 2 Ellie
Konami

Nathan Drake would be a positive cakewalk to therapise compared to Silent Hill 2's James Sunderland, given that the survival horror masterpiece is basically a nightmarish embodiment of James' own guilt.

It doesn't take long for players to appreciate that James is basically a broken man following the death of his terminally ill wife Mary, but his true mental state becomes much clearer later on when it's revealed that he actually smothered Mary to death himself.

The precise nature of James' intent is kept agonisingly ambiguous, falling somewhere between a mercy killing to put Mary out of her misery and an act of exhausted selfishness to get his own agency back.

James' experience in Silent Hill represents his repressed knowledge of this act bubbling back up to the surface, and regardless of which ending you receive, it's clear that James is a ticking PTSD time-bomb who desperately requires assistance and intervention.

Contributor
Contributor

Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.