The characters that debuted in the 2010s will always be associated with this time span, especially since eighth generation consoles are nearing their ends. The PS4 had a number of exclusives since its release in 2013, but the hold it has had on the market has led to multi-platform releases also being identified with Sony’s console.
This is why we’re taking into account any character that has been seen on the PS4, regardless of exclusivity. The “worst” here entails the characters who were either below expectations, didn’t have anything to like about with them, or were irrelevant to the story. Finally, even side characters qualify for this list, and we’ve included many supporting ones too.
10 Arkham Knight - Batman: Arkham Knight (2015)
The only reason he turned out to be a very underwhelming character was because of the reveal that his real identity was that of Jason Todd. A lot of hype had surrounded the game for a brand new villain to arrive, only for it to be a spin on the Red Hood.
In some ways, you might even consider this to be an old character, but the developers promoted him as a new one so we’ll be taking him that way. Another letdown was the fact that the Arkham Knight wasn’t even strictly an antagonist either, with him being one of the lesser threats for Batman during the story.
9 Nico - Devil May Cry 5 (2019)
The reason why characters like Lady and Trish worked was because the series didn’t try hard in placing them in a position of importance. With Nico, there was an obvious indication that the developers wanted people to see her as this cool punk chick with a flair for sarcasm.
We already had a smack talking character in Dante, so Nico had next to nothing to contribute. While this choice is definitely going to be debatable as Nico does have her fans, we can’t consider her as a great character since she doesn’t have any prominence other than making wisecracks. It would’ve been passable had other characters not had this attitude already.
8 Chloe Price - Life Is Strange (2015)
A character like this is best left off in the pages of a romantic young-adult novel rather than on our gaming screens, and Chloe was a punk teenager in a story that tried very hard to paint her in such a light. While her dynamic with Max was well enough, Chloe herself wasn’t.
She might have been relatively appealing to teenagers, but by and large her devil-may-care attitude made her seem like a brat. Her quiet but rebellious attitude didn’t do her likability factor any favors either. And while we get that a lot of elements were because of her emotional problems, it still doesn’t hide her overall lack of appeal.
7 Ethan Winters - Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (2017)
We’ve compared the difference between Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and Silent Hills before, and one thing that isn’t in the former’s favor is the protagonist. Ethan was so inconsequential, that he wasn’t even seen in full for the whole game.
He was like one of those arcade game protagonists from ‘80s game where it makes no difference who the playable character is. Even though Chris Redfield had a cameo in the game, he’s the one players enjoyed having onscreen compared to Ethan.
6 Deacon St. John - Days Gone (2019)
This isn’t the first time we’ve gone off on this protagonist’s lack of impact, and our exasperation is justified since Days Gone was also a so-so affair at most, meaning the hero character had to be one of a kind. In the end, he really wasn’t.
The problem with Deacon is that he doesn’t offer anything other than a framing device to the story. You could even forget about this guy while playing as him - that’s how unremarkable he is. He starts off the same person and ends as the same person. Overall, what you see with Deacon is the extent of what you can expect to get.
5 Knack - Knack Series (2013-17)
Being a launch title for the PS4, you can see how the character of Knack was made in the hopes of establishing him as one of the mascots for the system. The game was meant to appeal to a younger demographic, being accompanied by a lot of juvenile elements to do so.
Unfortunately, Knack just came off as bizarre and inconsistent the whole time. When he was big, his size was strangely intimidating; when smaller, he only seemed like a joke. His personality was also all over the place, with the humor seeming extremely forced. None of this got any better about him in the sequel either.
4 Arno Dorian - Assassin’s Creed Unity (2014)
There have been many good protagonists in this series over the years; Arno Dorian is far from one. Unlike the other heroes in Assassin’s Creed who fought for something they believed in, Arno was just a lover boy who wasn’t believable as an assassin.
Making things worse for him is the fact that Unity is easily the worst game in the franchise, but Arno contributed to this by lacking qualities like conviction, coolness, and having an attitude. All of which allowed the other protagonists to be memorable.
3 Bast - Horizon Zero Dawn (2017)
You won’t find any fans of the game who liked this piece of work, as Bast had no redeeming qualities to him. In fact, his death scene was the one moment which fans liked watching of him onscreen. While the others had also treated Aloy as an outcast, Bast found some twisted pleasure in antagonizing her.
Not only was he bigoted toward Aloy for being an outsider, he actively attempted to sabotage her attempts to be accepted in the community. Bast is also known for outright attacking Aloy, and then taking pride in the memory. All in all, this was one negative character we had no reason to like in any way.
2 Aiden Pearce - Watch Dogs (2014)
Here comes the blandest of the bland characters you could ever find in video gaming, who also happened to be something of a moron considering the choices he made. Watch Dogs is known for being a game that promised so much and delivered so little, and while we didn’t have much expectations with Alden, he still managed to be below them.
There was nothing to his character other than commenting on the events we already saw happening. He was given a family in order for players to see had some personality, but it seemed as if Alden didn’t care much for them to begin with. Perhaps it was down to the not-so-great voice acting, or maybe Alden was just boring overall.
1 Nadine Ross - Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (2016)
We’re specifically talking about the Nadine we saw in her debut appearance, as she had some likability going for her in The Lost Legacy. In the original, though, Nadine was extremely frustrating to watch since it made no sense why she was so difficult to beat and why she was so angry at the protagonists.
While Nathan and Sam had finished off enemies who were clearly stronger than Nadine before; for some reason, they always got walloped by her. Players would’ve been justified to feel cheated to see a character whose only personality trait was ordering deaths and betraying people to escape Scott free. She had no humor, no scary aura that villains like Marlowe and Lazarevic had, and no ties with the protagonists.
NEXT: Uncharted: 10 Best Puzzles From The Series
