The best Daddy And The Boy games

Summary

• Popular apocalypse road trip tropes in gaming often feature unique family relationships, not just father and son.
• Games like
  The Last of Us, God of War,
  and
  A plague story
  exemplify emotional storytelling within this trope.
• Lisa: The painful
  subverts typical apocalypse dad tropes and highlights moral ambiguity and unique relationships.

The parent figure and the child character on an apocalypse road trip became a popular trope after the release of Cormac McCarthy's The road and the subsequent film adaptation three years later. While it's definitely overused, it's also provided some great gameplay stories and memorable relationships.

Despite the title given to the trope, (often also referred to as “apocalypse dad”, to describe the parental figure), only a few of the games that embody this narrative trope actually feature a father-son relationship. In fact, some of the best stories involve different family relationships or explore the trope in unusual ways. But if they all share one thing in common, it's likely that they're exercising the old tear ducts.

8 I am alive

Dusty dad and missing family

I am alive is a bit different, as the main character is separated from his family, and finding them is his reason for being in Haventon. But soon enough he comes across a mother and child in need of protection.

While the game definitely suffers from the symptoms of rushing development to get it out the door, I am alive is an ambitious and atmospheric game. It's admirable in its setting of a definitive climate-induced apocalypse, and the only enemies are small groups of people as desperate as the main character.

7 The last of us

Angry Dad and Miracle Girl

Perhaps the most famous and literal version of this trope in video games, The last of us takes its inspiration from The road on his sleeve. Naughty Dog's classic craft creates a unique central relationship and boldly tackles the subversive moral questions that arise from it.

Players control Joel on his mission to escort Ellie across apocalyptic America and deliver her to the self-proclaimed freedom fighters who believe she may be a cure for the fungus-initiated zombie apocalypse. Joel and Ellie make a great couple, and their encounters with other characters are consistently the highlights of the adventure.

6 God of War (2018)

Reformed father and sassy boy

While many loved the first-and-don't-ask-later approach that old Kratos took to solving all of life's problems in the original The God of War game, making him a struggling dad was definitely one of 2018's franchise continuation ideas.

Seeing a mass-murdering mental case trying desperately not to scream at his bratty boy, Atreus, as they cross the mythical Nordic realms on the verge of Ragnarök, while also making genuine attempts at better life choices, proved to be character-focused. story the series needed.

5 Clash: Artifacts of Chaos

Xeno Zeno's father and feather boy

Collide is an interesting example of a game where lore takes a massive backseat to putting story first. The player controls Pseudo, a Zenozoic hermit, who encounters the boy, a puffball of black feathers with enormous eyes and infinite good intentions. Pseudo decides to defend him from the tyrant Gemini, who wants to use the boy's powers to cure their disease.

All the questions this might raise won't be answered, and yet the story is engaging, the characters grow and change in their time together, and even though it's a fairly short game, it feels like a grand and bizarre odyssey. taken.

4 Telltale's The Walking Dead Season 1

Moral dad and adorable girl

The first season of Telltale's video game adaptation of The Walking Deadpp world put players in control of Lee Everett, a man who is unlikely to be saved from a long prison sentence by the apocalypse. Seeking refuge, Lee finds himself protecting Clementine, a young girl left to fend for herself due to unfortunate circumstances.

It wasn't just a story of survival that made Season 1 so memorable, but the choices made to survive, how those choices would affect the group, and how Clementine would see Lee. The player felt a part of how the relationship developed and because of how well both characters were written, it was a relationship that players felt easily and deeply invested in.

3 NieR

Determined father and sick girl

Although there are two versions of this game, both featuring either a father-daughter relationship or a brother and sister, both are equally fitting. The game's opening, where the player, either as a brother or father character, must defend Yonah from shadowy monsters against the backdrop of a desolate snow-covered city. It feels like a conscious nod to the trope it examines.

By purposefully placing the player in a scene that they may feel more familiar with before the endless carpet pulling begins, towards the end, the player approaches the same trope and relationship with a completely altered understanding.

2 Plague Tale: Requiem

Teen Girl Dad And Rat King Boy

Amicia DeRune, a young girl of just 15 tasked with taking care of her younger brother during the medieval rat apocalypse, is also the ugliest apocalypse dad of them all. Hunted by merciless knights, cross wastelands on the battlefield and fight rat tornadoes; her commitment to their survival transcends all barriers.

A game that's both heart-warming and heart-stopping – and with a very underrated, bombastic and emotional soundtrack, composed by Oliver Deriviere – A Plague Tale: Requiem is an unforgettable sequel that delves deep into the theme of family and found family, and its importance in surviving the strife and ruin of war.

1 Lisa: The painful

Doubtful father and last girl

For some, tropes are like rules; they exist to be broken. This seems very much the case with Lisa: The painfula story that deliberately uses many tropes and subverts almost all of them. Uses a sort of macho camp aesthetic (think Lord Humongous from Mad Max 2: Road Warrior) Lisa tells the story of a world where, after a catastrophic event, there are no women and all that remains is the madness of men.

The story focuses on the protagonist Brad and Buddy, a female child he finds and raises in secret. What follows is a steady breakdown of tropes, expectations and hopes, until all that remains is the unanswerable question of “the right thing” and if someone did it, whatever “it” is.