Death of the Hero

& why modern games want you to be an NPC

By David Roberts, Creative Director

We have felt it, and we have seen it. Yet only recently has the enormity of this issue really made itself known to me. Throughout my video game journey I have consistently taken the roles of individuals whom “the fate of the world, rests on their shoulders.” From Cloud Strife, Solid Snake, Raziel, Lara Croft, James Bond, to the very real veterans of WWII, and larger-than-life personalities such as Tiger Woods and Tony Hawk. Today, we are inundated with blank-slates and create a character menus for avatars that likely wouldn’t last basic training, never mind a confrontation with the hordes of the apocalypse. We have gone from “it could be no one but this specific person with this specific set of skills and experiences” to “it could be anyone, it could be you.” And not in the Alan Moore The Killing Joke “one bad day away” scenario, no. Much more sinister than that. Modern media would have you believe that you, yes you, have the moral fortitude and endurance to overcome situations that would break any normal person. This creates a dichotomy where if it could be anyone, then the deed means nothing. Worse than that yet, it introduces freedom of self above all else, the inverse of the traditional reluctant hero. Where once the greatest stories and the greatest heroes were forged by a necessity for personal sacrifice, modern fables flatten all cost and highlight only irrefutable moral authority.

This is easily quantified by looking at society in general and who makes games. Most creators are from affluent to semi-affluent families and nations, clearly so if they can pursue an artistic career and purchase the necessary equipment. The drive for the creator to voice thier dissatisfaction with the status quo has gone, replaced by a self-congratulatory need. Those of us who have experienced life in all its ugliness are few and far between, and many men are societally forced into physical labour. Where once a large section of the male demographic had served in the military, it has been replaced with men (and women) who want the perks of the platform without the weight of responsibility. Which leaves me with Banshee Interactive. If no one else is writing our story, then I must.

Video games have been emasculated, and what the media has yet to grasp is how that affects women. Whilst Jin Sakai grapples with the need to cut throats in the dark, Atsu is cheered for doing so and putting an end to the “bad men.” Joel must live with the memory of Sarah, and the weight of Tess’ last request, yet Abby is presented as having a masculine strength, and morally superior, delivering swift and final justice for Joel’s choice at the end of The Last of Us Part I. This is not only damaging for the male player base with public, major, dissatisfaction, but sends the incorrect message to young women — that existing is enough for moral superiority, or strength must come from masculine traits. Lara Croft on the other hand is hyper-feminine yet an exceptional, intelligent, woman who had every tool at her disposal to become that person, including the guidance of her father. Even the rebooted trilogy shows the cost of her personal endurance and the destructive obsession that comes with it. Lara never tries to be masculine, yet she is consistently competent. The backlash regarding Pragmata is the boiling point for resentment, and understandable to a degree with current events such as the Epstein-ring. But it leads me back to my point, if we allow the greater media to paint men as predatory and of low emotional and/or ethical value, it not only destroys an entire genders morale, but lowers the opposing standard for women, LGBTQ, and “allies.”

It is also worth noting that aside from some genre and pulp titles, a male protagonists sexuality is almost never the driving cause of their story, or forefront in their personality. This is abundantly obvious in Final Fantasy XVI, with Clive and Dion. This also stands true for the female cast where Benedikta uses her sexuality as a personality trait, not as a gendered trait. Anabella on the other hand uses her lineage, whilst Jill’s femininity is almost irrelevant to the guilt in her deeds, and faith in Clive. There has been recent uproar regarding Bayonetta and Hideki Kamiya, where the Western fandom has cited Bayonetta as a “Queer Icon” to the displeasure of the creator. I do believe (though intensely disagree) that a creator loses any “ownership” over creation the moment it goes public, what is problematic is that certain demographics expect others to accommodate, yet hold no respect for traditional values that many cultures still hold as primary. This includes myself, my domiciliary, and my targeted location for incorporation.

This specific issue is abundant in video-games-as-play, as we know it is a biological release of endorphins for activities that promote survival, that’s fight, flight, and reproduction. Now the endorphin is more potent than the actual need for any, including in many instances in the West — reproduction. That is not the case in the East where birthdates have come to a crawl. Stellar Blade to Pragmata, they did not come from a vacuum, despite sitting at opposite ends of the reproduction spectrum. Both titles tackle the core subject matter, that modern media wants you to be an NPC regardless of gender. Stellar Blade should be praised as pro-feminine. Eve is a beautiful, ideological, competent, protagonist and in any other society would be considered as a model for women to aspire to. Instead modern Western media berates Eve as “unobtainable” figure or “unrealistic” beauty standards, whilst not once mentioning Adam. Pragmata should be heralded as how a healthy father-daughter dynamic should function, yet media would rather perpetuate a more sinister narrative despite only weeks prior Capcom’s other title, Resident Evil requiem, puts Grace in a very similar “motherly” role. It is not that they want strong, pro-female, or even pro-queer representation, but the elimination of the endurance that makes a person (regardless of preferences) morally erudite.

This hit me hard over the past few months of R&D, even with Eastern titles such as Nioh forsaking "a stranger in a strange land” William [Adams] for Body Type A or B, Dynasty Warriors Origins replacing equally flawed (and equally important to the modern world) Cao Cao and Lui Bei with The Wanderer, it occurred to me that this is not a coincidence. This is overlap with a growing trend from the West, where even narratively-led games have neutered the protagonists actual agency over the story such as in God of War Ragnarök. Banshee Interactive believes in the traditional values of family, equal opportunities rather than equal reward, and equality over stigmatic leniency due to preference. Banshee Interactive refuses to pander to any demographic, and abhors flattened moral equity. With the male population increasingly denied legitimate outlets for biological necessities — the reward for hunting, gathering, protecting something larger than themselves; or incentivised by basic social gratification for acting with decency, including the possibility of a mate — our story is being told by the loudest voices: the toxic, bitter, masculinity; and the media who will repeat ad-nauseum the heinous misdeeds of predators and parasites undeserving of breath.

A male voice is not one less female voice. Masculinity does not render femininity weak. Banshee Interactive will not be gaslit into believing so. And for those who do not believe in genders, it does not excuse you from accepting both the biological and chosen reality of the vast majority on this planet. It certainly does not give you a superior moral imperative. I stated to Playground Games on a public post regarding the issue that I do not mind the addition of pronouns (key word being addition) to Forza Horizon 6 but vehemently oppose the removal of male and female. I personally identify as male, as that is what I was born, and is what I am. Not He/Him, not Body Type A. I am a man, and hope that despite the hand life dealt, I have acted as one. Removing that choice is not a neutral positioning, and denies me (and the vast majority of people on this planet) the ability to choose their own identity. This is a subtractive practise. The response was as expected. The demographic in question resorted to base insult, an imagined moral superiority, and not a single person sought to even accept my feelings regarding the matter as valid. If the reverse were true, and I acted as such, this would be considered bigoted.

A great term that I have come across recently is “we now [referencing media consumption] live under the petty tyranny of theatre kids.” To the person who coined it, kudos. I wish you never had to.

After sitting on this finished article overnight I have decided to include an addendum of sorts. There was a time I would have said to myself “this doesn’t materially affect you, move on.” Yet that isn’t true, it clearly does. It affects me, and it degrades the medium I love. It is clearly also affecting what I would easily count into the millions of other people. Unfortunately, most are unable to articulate why they feel the way they do, or even identify the splinter from the pain itself. This then emerges as hostility and toxicity within the community. This argument is much the same as the pro-AI movement. I cannot give credence to the movement because ultimately the output is sub-par. It is not truly a class, race, gender, or sexual preference, argument. It is an argument that the traditional hero is dead, and inclusivity as it is being presented excludes more than it includes, whilst coddling those it professes to offer equality. There is no shield that can protect anyone from fair evaluation and criticism. Equality is the right to equal trial, the verdict is placed on the outcome, not the individual — unless it is deemed anomalous. Haze (Free Radical Design - Ubisoft, 2008) being case in point. Thorough examination reveals that the onus of failure sat externally to Free Radical’s capability. The gunplay was tight, the premise was fairly original, the execution was unfinished. It was a product of failed corporate expectations in both timeline and cost, not inherently a show of capability. Factor 5’s Lair and a plethora of early-stage PS3 titles share the same fate, from BlackSite: Area-51, denounced by its director, to Ninja Theory and Heavenly Sword, which pioneered motion capture in the medium. All of which can be traced to poor initial adoption of the console, and the learning curve (note curve, not ability) of programming for Sony’s Cell processor. If that throughline can be made, the one I am making today should be just as obvious. The current output is anomalous due to the abundantly clear and condescending nature of the political ideology of the creator class. I would be confident that sales figures back me on this — with many of 2026’s best-sellers to-date being Japanese, Korean, and Nordic single-player, narrative-centric titles: Resident Evil: requiem over 8M units, Crimson Desert over 6M, 007 First Light, the only Western IP, and Nordic-made game trailing at 3M, barely more than the2.5M units of Pragmata, especially in comparison to it being an entirely new IP previously under development-hell. Saros stands as a stark counter-point at just 300K units, and 1348 Ex Voto with a meagre 30K, where even narrative and/or character focus (the quality of which I am unable to comment on having passed on both titles) are unable to redeem these titles from the stigma of association — but only in the next iteration will we see the knock-on effect of lost loyalty, as I just mentioned; I personally am passing on titles I would have once tried due to studio trust, as with Housemarque and Saros, or interest in subject and setting, as with the chivalrous, medieval Italy of 1348 Ex Voto. Not because the protagonist is queer or female (that setup is rife for exploration, a la Mulan, Arya Stark, or a favourite of mine, Amicia of A Plague Tale), neither are the case for Saros. 1348 Ex Voto should have been viewed with the same lens as Dante and Beatrice, if all love is equal, yet it is not [viewed the same]. I consider this a fair positioning, because the suspicion as to the insidious nature of the project is entirely founded in today’s environment regardless whether it is true or false. For better and for worse, I have reached the point where I literally refuse to engage any longer, and I am not alone in this.

I also wanted to introduce an example outside of our medium in the reception of manga and its animated adaption, 恋は雨上がりのように or After the Rain. It follows 橘 あきら (Akira Tachibana), a high school student and star of the local running team. After injuring her foot, she takes a job at a chain-restaurant where she encounters, and falls into a brief relationship with, 近藤 正己 (Masami Kondo) her forty-something manager. On concept alone Western media is quick to assume their posture towards the setup, yet fail to take into account cultural differences. Whilst I explicitly stated relationship, it is not romantic and certainly not sexual. Because Akira-chan is pretty, the West defaults to her needing to be lusted after. Because Kondo-san is older, he must automatically be a creep. Now these issues plague Japan as much as anywhere, but the inability to recognise subversion is what is on display here. Ultimately After the Rain is a tale that uses 物の哀れ (mono no aware—and I’d spend a whole essay trying to describe it) as engine, and the longing for a future that is just out of reach, as propellant. Akira-chan and Kondo-san connect due to a longing for a life than never quite turned out the way it should, and whilst there are certainly elements that rub against romanticism, I think it is from the part of a high school girl that cannot yet readily separate or identify these emotions (a narrative string—not coincidental). Their respective timelines are used to mirror each others chosen careers, a summer vacation life-altering to a teen athlete, yet somehow just as catalytic to a decadal author. The two are never meant to end up together in any capacity, even as manager-waitress. Akira-chan was always going to leave frame stage-right. It is what stayed after she left, what happens after the rain stops. Kondo-san (and us) are left with the lingering taste of youth, urgency, and that even then life can be cruel and deny us. Whether it momentary, or permanent is left to us. None of this needed swords, sandals, dungeons or dragons to explore, yet is a testament to endurance, resilience and perseverance that is being forcefully driven from modern (and generally Western—though Isekai is out to prove me wrong on this) storytelling.

To bring it back to gaming; there is a reason Millennials love Gyarados and Charizard — because we nurtured them through forests of Weedles, caves of Zubats and fields of Rattata before they showed any promise. And there is a reason that certain demographics love the Eeveelutions, Mew or Celebi. There is a reason that Elden Ring became a breakout-hit and why Boomer-dads are playing it with their sons instead of fixing up the Chevelle. Nothing worthwhile comes easy, and anything that comes easy ultimately leads to an ineffable, yet tangible, dissatisfaction.