These are some of the best and most compelling video game characters with wasted potential due to the lack of screen time or attention by the developers. Some of these would be fan-favorite characters if they were to receive a place in upcoming games of their respective franchises.
Some entries of this list contain spoilers for the games, so proceed with caution. If you haven’t played any of the following games, skip those entries in order to avoid spoilers.
- S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky
- Elden Ring
- Yakuza 5
Scar from S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky
Scar is the protagonist of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky. He’s a Mercenary who’s an expert when it comes to survival and killing. The Mercenaries Faction is one of the most mysterious and powerful ones in the Zone, and they’d do almost anything for the right price.
From the introductory cutscene from the game to the end, Scar shows a level of professionalism that’s expected from a Merc. He’s a stoic and enigmatic man who’s extraordinary in a way; he survived two deadly Psy-emissions without any protective equipment.
No one knows exactly why he was able to survive them. Not only that, but he also gained a level of strength and speed because of being exposed to the emissions. But the game never exactly reveals why he’s so special.
His fate is not known currently, and many assume that he died at the end of Clear Sky. If that’s the case, this is a prime example of a character with great potential that was wasted. Hopefully, we’ll be able to learn at least a little more about him in the upcoming sequel.
Melina from Elden Ring
Arguably, Melina is the least interesting companion in any Soulsborne game. Emma from Sekiro was very warm towards the protagonist and considered him a friend, Doll from Bloodborne became a fan-favourite for many things including how she reacted to gestures, and the Fire Keeper from Dark Souls III was also close to the Ashen One.
While Melina was friendly towards the Tarnished, she got disappointingly low screen time. She rarely was close to the Tarnished and talked very rarely.
Melina was a good character in terms of the lore, but her eventual demise never felt impactful because she was more or less an acquaintance with whom you shared no emotions or connections. Many players were very interested in her at first because of her appearance and voice, but they were led to be disappointed in the end.
If Melina appeared at more Sites of Grace and actually treated the Tarnished more like a friendly travel companion than a ‘business partner’, her death would’ve been very impactful.
Tatsuo Shinada from Yakuza 5
Tatsuo Shinada is one of the many characters from the brilliant Yakuza franchise that is a character with a great deal of potential only to be ignored by the developers. He’s a baseball player who’s fallen from grace because of ‘game-fixing’. He never really did anything wrong but he was unlucky.
Unlike a lot of other characters from the games, Shinada is lazy, chaotic, and messy. He has amassed a debt of nearly a million yen and is too busy procrastinating to earn the money. To top it all off, he works as a journalist who specializes in adult entertainment. This earns him barely enough to pay the rent, but he’s simply not ambitious enough to seek more jobs and work harder.
In many ways, he’s relatable to players because of his easy-going attitude and witty sense of humor. All throughout the game, he’s lost in a way. It’s hard for him to find purpose and his life is rather dull.
At the very end of the game, he simply sits and asks himself: “What’s next?” That’s a very emotional part of the game because all the other characters are more or less famous and legendary, while Shinada is just another guy. It would be wonderful to see him in an upcoming game of the franchise – or even better, a spin-off.
