The All-Time Best Dads In Video Games

Kratos is the latest character to enter the pantheon of good video game dads, and he’s already carved out a space for himself as a stern and struggling single father. Although Kratos initally refuses to call his son Atreus by his name (instead opting for the instantly memeable “boy”), the ice around Kratos’ heart melts as he learns to accept himself and his son. It’s a heartwarming story full of monster slaying and tough love.

Kratos might struggle to connect with his son emotionally, but he clearly loves Atreus. What other dad would give his son a piggyback ride up a sheer cliff face? Sure, he might not be able to reach out and comfort his son (physically or emotionally), but Kratos dads when it matters most. He’ll leap into combat to protect Atreus at a moment’s notice, expressing love through the only way he knows how: rage and violence.

Joel’s entire story in The Last of Us is defined by his role as a father. The prologue of the game sets up how much Joel loves his daughter Sarah by showing him pull her out of a burning car and carry her through the collapse of civilization. That’s a hardcore dad move, but Joel tops himself towards the end of the game.

After Joel loses Sarah to a trigger happy soldier, his entire life and the entire country fall apart. He finds hope in Ellie, a young girl who is immune to the infection plaguing that is decimating the rest of humanity and apparently immune to the cold shoulder Joel gives her. She slowly becomes the surrogate daughter Joel never wanted and by the end of The Last of Us Joel’s natural paternal instincts return. When Joel realizes that Ellie won’t survive the procedure to extract a cure from her body, he goes on a rampage, killing doctors and soldiers to protect his “daughter.” In a moment of pure unadulterated dadness, Joel dooms humanity to save one girl.

Witcher hero Geralt is all gravel-voiced sarcasm and tough guy bravado until he meets Ciri, a young woman who breaks through his tough, monster killing, exterior. Like all witchers, Geralt is sterile, making Ciri the closest thing he'll ever have to a child. With her, he breaks his tough guy act to show some genuine emotion between hunting and destroying ancient creatures and demons.

Geralt even finds time to joke around and engage in impromptu snow ball fights while trains Ciri in the art of monster slaying. But when his adopted daughter disappears, Geralt spends the third game in the Witcher series searching for her chopping up any skeleton warrior, wraith, demon or other creature that steps to him.

OK, the Big Daddies aren’t technically fathers, but the bond between a Big Daddy and the Little Sister, human girls in the underwater world of Rapture, is just as intense as the one most fathers have with their biological daughters. The heavily-armored and explosively hostile Big Daddies are genetically designed to protect their Little Sisters with their lives and heavy weapons.

The Big Daddies might be a little overprotective, but in a place like Rapture that’s necessary. If anyone lays a finger on a Little Sister, that finger isn’t the only thing that they’ll be missing. A swipe or a spin of a Big Daddie's giant arm drill can dismember or disembowel someone with ease and a Big Daddy isn’t afraid to do that if it senses its “daughter” is in trouble.

How far would you go to rescue your child? For Silent Hill dad Harry Mason, the answer is to another dimension to fight an ancient demon. 

Harry's problems begin when he and his adopted daughter Cheryl travel to the little town of Silent Hill for a quiet vacation. Cheryl is kidnaped and Harry charges headlong into a series of nightmares to get her back. Unlike other characters on this list, Harry is a normal guy. He doesn't have martial arts skills or weapons training, just an incredible amount of devotion and perseverance. Even as Silent Hill reveals its true hellish nature, Harry pushes forward, traveling to the Otherworld to a battle a demon know as Incubus and navigating a world of evil spirits and curses that make coaching your daughter's soccer team look easy.

The Yakuza series central protagonist is a street brawler with a heart of gold and a soft spot for orphans. His harsh exterior and impressive fighting skills might scare some people off, but Kiryu is always ready to help someone in need.

Kiryu’s relationship with Haruka Sawamura is one of the emotional centerpieces of the Yakuza series and after her parents die, he takes her under his wing, realizing his potential as a father in the process. Kiryu is so inspired by his newfound paternal status that he eventually starts an orphanage where he can live out his days helping children in need. Kiryu might not have any children of his own, but he’s no less a father than any other character on this list because of his dedication to the dad lifestyle.