This article includes video game spoilers.

People have varying opinions on video games. I've heard people believe they cause violence, cause depression, and even cause ADHD. Even if I don't agree to any of these statements, I do agree that video games have some great stories. In my opinion, video games are like books that you can play. You create your own character, choose your own path, and make your own decisions. Video games bring me a lot of inspiration, and the characters in them do this even more so. The best characters, in books, movies, and yes, video games, are only good because they're relatable, they spark emotions, and they have a good story to tell. With that being said, here are the video game characters I find that fit these descriptions:

1. Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite

Elizabeth is perhaps the most interesting character I've ever seen in a video game. Throughout the whole game she is questioning who she is as a person and a character, and frankly the player does the same. When you first meet Elizabeth; you are rescuing her from the tower that she is trapped in, protected by a giant mechanical bird. While this may seem that Elizabeth is your typical "damsel in distress" character, she is anything but. Elizabeth takes care of herself, as even stated so in the game. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Elizabeth though is that she can open "tears" which are essentially portals to other worlds. I believe the reason I find Elizabeth so inspiring is because of her care-free attitude. She's constantly a beacon of light in an otherwise depressing environment. She's also just trying to figure out who she is, and that's what anyone in this world is striving to do.

2. Joel from The Last of Us

If I had to choose video game characters with the saddest stories, I would say Joel would be one of them. In the beginning of the game, an outbreak causes many people to become infected with a fungus that causes them to become zombies. Joel, along with his daughter, gets caught in the middle of the outbreak. On their way out of the city, Joel's daughter, sadly, gets shot and dies. Years pass and Joel meets another younger girl, Ellie. At first, Joel doesn't want anything to do with her because he's obviously still not over the death of his daughter. Eventually, however, Joel warms up to Ellie and they become extremely close. I find Joel inspirational because of how he keeps pushing on, even through holding the death of his daughter on his shoulders and making his way through an apocalypse. His perhaps most famous quote sums him up perfectly, "I've struggled... a long time with survivin'. And you- no matter what... you keep finding something to fight for."

3. Max Caulfield from Life is Strange

Max Caulfield is the perfect embodiment of a teenage girl. She struggles with school, relationships, and, her biggest struggle, her power. Max has the ability to rewind time. This seems like an ideal power, one that multiple people would want, but as it turns out, having the ability to rewind the past isn't as great as it's cracked up to be. Max, while maintaining her school work and relationships, must find a way to save her town. At the beginning of the game, Max gets a vision where she sees a hurricane blowing through her town and destroying it, and killing all her friends and family in the process. The whole game she struggles with trying to save the ones she loves most. Max inspires me because I don't know if I could be in her position. Being able to rewind time is a power that I wouldn't want to have, it would weigh too heavily on me, and I would constantly feel as if there was something I could have done. But, to me, Max handles her power like a pro.

4. Clementine from The Walking Dead

It's sad when children sometimes have to grow up too fast. This is the case for Clementine, who faces a zombie apocalypse at a very young age. She loses both her parents and is found by a man named Lee. Lee takes her in and the two become incredibly close. Unfortunately, Lee gets bit my a zombie and dies. So Clementine ends up on her own again, traveling with whoever she happens to meet on her journeys. Clementine is inspiring because at such a young age she has to live through an extremely scary event. She loses many friends and also her parents, but she keeps moving because she has to. I know that when I was a kid I would've never been able to survive on my own through something like a zombie apocalypse. The fact that Clementine does, and does it well, says great things about her character.

5. Arcade Gannon from Fallout: New Vegas

Arcade Gannon is truthfully a very complex character. He's extremely intelligent and has a great wit about him. Arcade lives in a post-apocalyptic Las Vegas and works with a group called, "The Followers of the Apocalypse." The Followers work to ensure that people all over the Mojave Desert have the supplies that they need. Arcade is very for independence and wants struggling communities around him to have the help that they need and deserve. Arcade brings me inspiration simply because of his intelligence and his caring nature. He's a very refreshing video game character in that there're not many video game characters I've seen with such a proficient vocabulary and excellent wit.

6. Brigid Tenenbaum from Bioshock 1 & 2

Perhaps one of the most motherly characters in a video game, Brigid Tenenbaum is the kindest and caring character in Bioshock 1 and 2. Brigid is a scientist who created "Little Sisters" who are essentially little girls who have been turned into drug carrying hosts. Brigid greatly resents creating the Little Sisters and wants to save them. She asks the player to take part in saving them, and in doing so rewards the player. Brigid is a kind character that the player so desperately needs in a world as depressing as Rapture, the Bioshock 1 & 2 universe. Everyone in the game is either out to kill you or control you and Brigid is the only one that has compassion for the player and her Little Sisters. This is why she is so inspiring to me, she has a good heart and desperately wants to correct the mistakes she's made.

7. Alphys from Undertale

Alphys is the personification of my nerdiness. She loves anime and manga. She also really struggles with communicating and personifying her feelings. In Undertale, Alphys is a scientist that the player meets on their travels through the Underground. She talks to the player and helps them through their obstacles. I relate very heavily to Alphys because she is extremely nerdy, shy, and kind. She tries her best to help in any way she can but it sometimes doesn't work out as planned. The fact that by the end of the game she learns to embrace her shyness and learns to communicate her feelings better resented strongly to me and also inspired me to do the same.