9 Overused Video Game Criticisms That Make No Sense

5. "The Protagonist Is Too Unlikeable"

Across art forms, there's an increasing misconception among audiences that a protagonist who happens to be an awful person is an inherently bad thing.

This is especially contentious in gaming, where the medium's greater sense of interactivity makes players more conflicted about playing as a character who commits terrible acts.

But the world is a complex place, and wouldn't playing as a squeaky-clean hero in every video game just get boring incredibly fast?

If the likes of pre-2018 Kratos and Grand Theft Auto V's Trevor have proven anything, it's that unrepentant a**holes can be a ludicrous joy to play as...as long as you put some personal distance between yourself and their undeniably heinous actions.

Obviously it's all about the game's overall intent - if a game wants the audience to like their hero and they come off as dull or irritating, then that's a whole other conversation.

But hand-wringing over morally grey (or even black) heroes is rather silly, because not every game needs to be a hero fantasy in the purest sense of the phrase.