Image via Complex Original
Very rarely do games ever try and show us romantic relationships of any substance and even rarer are the times they get it right. Sure, we've had some epic loves that are spellbound fairy tales, but real love isn't always about prince charming and a sleeping beauty; sometimes love's messy, complicated, confusing, depressing, or just plain off.
Love isn't perfect and people in love are most definitely not perfect either, but that's what makes romantic stories so compelling. Each of these cases have something wrong or amiss in them, but they are undeniably more realistic than the myriad of Disney-esque tales we see all over the place.
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Half-Life 2
The Lovers: Alyx Vance and Gordon Freeman
"Aren't you going to speak up for me, Gordon?"
It's probably no picnic being the romantic interest of a mute hero, but when that hero's Gordon Freeman things can't be too rough. There's not a lot of time for sweetness, but the moments they do share are pure enough to tell the whole story without an exchange of words.
Alan Wake
The Lovers: Alan Wake and Alice Wake
"Now the muse, she was his happiness / And he rhymed about her grace"
Like most video game spouses, Alice and Alan Wake have their fair share of problems. With Alan's self-obsessed issues with creativity, substance abuse, and insomnia driving a wedge between them, it's hard to see him becoming the husband he needs to be. Although Alice feels a great deal of strain through this process, she never really gives up on Alan and that's what marriage is all about. Through sickness and in health, she's there for him and does all she can - uprooting her life for the quiet getaway in Bright Falls that starts the game - to ensure he has what he needs to get better.
Gears of War
The Lovers: Anya Stroud and Marcus Fenix
"And Marcus, be careful down there, all right?"
Like a guardian angel, Anya Stroud has watched over Marcus Fenix since we first took control of him in Gears of War. The only glimpse we ever got of the budding romance between the two were in brief, casual snippets; there was a war going on and war rarely affords time for sentimentality.
Maybe it was seeing Dom deteriorate after Maria's death that kept him distant or just the fact that he was a soldier first, but until the final scene of Gears of War 3 came to a close, Marcus never allowed himself to be fully affected by Anya's love.
The Sims
The Lovers: Whoever you want
"WooHoo!"
If The Sims is ultimately a social reality simulator, then I suppose it could be argued that whatever relationships brew in the game are about as authentic as they can get. Considering that you've got to make the Sims spend time with each other, work through their incompatibilities, and all sorts of other mundane things, it's actually pretty realistic. Sure, not everyone's true love dies because someone took the ladder out of the pool, but all the steps of courtship are present in the old digital dollhouse.
Uncharted
The Lovers: Nathan Drake and Elena Fisher
"Just come back in one piece, okay?"
You've got to hand it to Naughty Dog, they know how to make convincing characters. It's one thing to have a quality Indiana Jones knock-off, but where most copycats stop there, Uncharted takes the narrative one step further by adding in a fantastic love interest. Elena and Nate go together like peas and mustard; they're not a perfect mix, but they certainly taste unique.
From the witty banter to the subtle sentimentality, it's all right on screen for you to soak in. After playing through the series it's impossible not to believe these characters genuinely love each other. Sure, it may get a little soap opera-ish at times, but these two are a more real couple than most real couples I know.
Sleeping Dogs
The Lovers: Winston Chu and Peggy Li
"Anything, anything happens to me, you look after our people, ok? We're a family. Family has to stick together."
Although there are a few romantic sidequests for Wei Shen to take part in, they're really nothing of interest when compared to the unfolding romance between Winston and his fiancée, Peggy. With several missions in Sleeping Dogs surrounding the upcoming wedding you'll have to play errand boy for both sides and get to know them and their relationship rather intimately.
The day out with Peggy shopping for last-minute wedding items and other tasks has so much well-crafted dialogue it's hard not to feel emotionally invested in the nuptials. Of course, this only makes the inevitable outcome pull on the heartstrings all the more.
Red Dead Redemption
The Lovers: John Marston and Abigail Marston
"I don't think my dear wife would appreciate that."
You're an outlaw cowboy, miles from home, surrounded by whores, and in an age where nobody can whip out a cell phone and snap a photo of your infidelity, but John Marston is a man who will not break his sacred vows. Seriously, this is a Rockstar game and Marston's got all the opportunity in the world to get some on the road, but he just won't do it; he loves his wife too much. Maybe I'm being too idealistic when I call this realism, but I appreciate the script writers for defining the character and sticking to it.
Silent Hill 2
The Lovers: James Sunderland and Mary Shepherd-Sunderland
"You've given me so much and I haven't been able to return a single thing. That's why I want you to live for yourself now. Do what's best for you, James..."
Nothing ruins a marriage quite like a terminal disease and as Mary's state decayed thanks to her illness, James grew increasingly frustrated because he needed a sexual outlet. The burden on his life, both emotionally and sexually took a toll and with Silent Hill doing what it does best, all those demons came to light in horrific fashion.
This is a story all about a man's need for sexual gratification, his self-hatred and shame for that fact, his dissonant resentment of his wife for being unable to please him and the psychological consequences of a ruined bond.
Mass Effect
The Lovers: Commander Shepard and a whole mess of partners
"Hey, Shepard? Whatever happens down there, I just wanted to say..."
Whether you played as a male or female Commander Shepard, there were more than a handful of worthwhile romantic paths your character could take through the course of the Mass Effect games. While the first game essentially paired you off with a token love interest with only one other, "neutral" option, Mass Effect 2 introduced characters whose romantic status could evolve over the course of multiple games.
Mass Effect 3 had a whopping 11 different options depending on various elements, but they were all intertwined with your decisions through the game, and in games before it. It means a lot to have such a bredth of possibility and accountability for the actions you take.
Dragon Age
The Lovers: The Player and Alistair, Morrigan, Leliana, Zevran, Isabela, Merrill, Anders, Fenris, or Sebastian
"I haven't felt this close to anyone in a long time. I really enjoy your company."
Neither of the Dragon Age games have particularly eloquent romantic dialog, but given the sheer number of partner options and the fact that you've got to court your sweetheart to make any headway, it's a surprisingly realistic simulation.
What sets Dragon Age: Origins in particular above other BioWare romances is that the game's morality system isn't a sliding scale of good/evil but rather a whole bunch of trust/opinion counters for each character. This means that your actions and choices - like in real life - have a direct effect on the potentiality of connecting with every given character. Some doors open, some doors close.
Prince of Persia
The Lovers: Elika and The Prince
"Patience brings its own rewards..."
Not a lot of people are willing to heap praise on the 2008 revival of Prince of Persia, prefering to cite the Farrah/Prince romance of Sands of Time as a better example of a romantic narrative, but it never felt as authentic as the one between The Prince and Elika.
All through the game she's there for you, literally saving your life from every misstep and lost battle. Sure, they may butt heads and pass more than a few jokes between each other at times, but as the Tree of Life dictates they are bound to each other for their love both dooms and saves them. It's remarkably poetic if you're into looping metaphysical constructs.
Max Payne
The Lovers: Max Payne and Michelle Payne
"I thought I would be her knight in shining armor."
The death of his wife is a massive motivator for Max Payne's life. From his reckless, self-destructive lifestyle to his addictions to alcohol and painkillers, we can see the shrapnel from when his damned heart exploded stuck in nearly every aspect of his life. The regret, the shame, and the self-hatred for letting Michelle die is what fuels Max and makes him able to perform all the foolhardy maneuvers that make him who he is.
Although Mona Sax provided a small distraction for Max, the overwhelming weight of losing his loved one in such a violent and traumatizing way made it impossible for him to ever move on. Sadly, this can be the reality for those in shoes similar to Payne's.
Plumbers Don't Wear Ties
The Lovers: John and Jane
"You'll follow my first directive and remove your clothing!"
Alright, this one's a bit of a gag inclusion - the game is a softcore porno made interactive through menu selections afterall - but it earns its right to be here through its use of photo slideshows rather than rendered graphics. If you want to talk about realistic romances, it's hard to get realer than the real-life shots of John and Jane gettin' down.
Final Fantasy VII
The Lovers: Tifa and Cloud
"...... You forgot the promise, too."
You were probably expecting Aeris to be the Final Fantasy VII relationship, right? Truth is, the whole virgin-princess struck down act isn't all that realistic, but the strong childhood bonds between Tifa and Cloud are about as genuine as it gets for the era.
We all remember that special someone from when we were kids and that's part of why the flashback scenes resonate so well with players. Tifa and Cloud don't really make it together as adults, but few young loves ever do.
Monkey Island
The Lovers: Guybrush Threepwood and Elaine Marley
"Plunder Bunny!"
You know those couples that sicken you by how well they fit together? In the video game world, that's Guybrush and Elaine. Through thick and thin the pair are forever in love, but in a way that never feels truly fairytale. There's something just plainly earnest about the way they interact with one another that'll have you believing you could easily find these two performing annoying acts of public affection during your crew's weekly pub night.
Heavy Rain
The Lovers: Ethan Mars, Grace Mars and Madison Paige
"Please Madison, leave. Forget everything that's happened. There is nothing more you can do for me."
Poor, poor Ethan Mars. As if losing his son in a freak accident wasn't bad enough, the damage it dealt to his relationship with his wife was irreconcilable. Seeing the sorry state of his marriage after the fact hammered home just how devastating a tragedy of that magnitude can be and anyone who's suffered a rift due to uncontrollable circumstance could instantly understand.
As things progress and Ethan finds Madison, the ghost of his dead son continues to prove a burden on his ability to be intimate. He pushes her away, despite desperately needing the reprieve she provides him and it's only after he regains his emotional composure that he's able to accept her; if that happens at all.
Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
The Lovers: Monkey and Trip
"Mind telling me what the plan is?"
"To get you home as soon as possible so you can get this headband off of me, and I can break your neck."
Nothing says love like an arranged union, right? A lot of westerners scoff at the idea of real love being found through two people being forced together by circumstance, but in many cultures it's the norm and it's worked fine for centuries.
Enslaved gave us the opportunity to experience this through a rather unconventional, but naturally metaphorical way by having Trip essentially tie her life to Monkey's through a headband that would explode if she died. The relationship between them that grows from pure hostility to genuine affection is one of the most gradual and honest depictions of how a romance of this type can evolve.
Assassin's Creed 3
The Lovers: Haytham Kenway and Kaniehtí:io
"I'm actually curious to know what your mother might have said about me. I always wondered what life might have been like had she and I stayed together."
Kaniehtí:io had a lot of reasons to distrust Haytham Kenway. Having been captured and enslaved by British colonists after years of warning her tribe about the invaders, Haytham initially represented all she hated about the white man. Love found its way between the two however and the result was our hero, Ratonhnhaké:ton.
However, love needs perpetual trust to thrive and fearing her son may turn out like his father she kept the child a secret leading to a rather impactful inverse of the old Empire Strikes Back trope. Victims of circumstance, this romance was never meant to lead to a happy household.
The Darkness II
The Lovers: Jackie Estacado and Jenny Romano
"And that was the first time I died..."
Before all the madness with demons and super powers, Jacke and Jenny were about as ordinary of a couple as they could be. Falling deeply in love at the orphanage they were both raised in, they were set to be a perfect couple in adulthood. Then Jenny died.
Losing someone you care so deeply about is devastating and although she's physically gone, Jenny's ghost haunts Jackie through the entirety of The Darkness and its sequel culminating in the most devastating final embrace ever put in a game. In a game all about the supernatural, there was nothing mystical or magical about their romance, save for the strength of the bond they shared.
To The Moon
The Lovers: Johnny and River
"No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man."
There is no regret like the kind that's never understood. So long as we know why we regret something, we can rationalize it away or at least properly stew in it, but Johnny's dying wish to remember his life as if he had gone to the moon is unknown even to him. The story of how his intense love for his wife River formed that forgotten desire from childhood, how their relationship unfurls, and how sometimes the littlest things in our lives can have the most dramatic is what this game is all about.
Braid
The Lovers: The Princess and Tim
"Tim is off on a search to rescue the Princess. She has been snatched by a horrible and evil monster. This happened because Tim made a mistake."
So many times we've played the role of the stalwart hero rescuing the princess from untold evil, but Braid broke new ground by revealing that all of your efforts and all of your hope to earn her love would be in vain; you were the monster all along.
Through Tim's journey we come to understand that he feels he is meant to be with her, that he believes that she needs him as much as he needs her. Sadly, it's all a delusion; sometimes the hearts we break can never be mended.
Catherine
The Lovers: Catherine, Katherine, and Vincent
"Marriage, all in all, is a cowardly method that tries to subdue love through torture."
Growing up is hard enough without someone pushing you into it and although Vincent's day for manhood has long been overdue, Katherine's insistence that he start taking life seriously by pushing him towards marriage aren't helping. Whether she was a delusion or a demon, when the buxxom Catherine suddenly provides an out for Vincent, entangling him in an affair, it only further's his realization that he's just not ready and exacerbates his vilification of his long-time girlfriend.
Although it's easy to point blame at Vincent for his involvement with another woman while dating Katherine, the game does a fantastic job of making the player realize that staying with her may not be his best option. This story of infidelity, pressure, and the fear of breaking someone's heart handles it all with more grace than most films.
Persona 4
The Lovers: Pretty much everyone
"It ain't a matter of guys or chicks... I'm just scared shitless of being rejected."
If you've ever written the Persona games off for being too-Japanese or dorky, you're doing yourself an incredible disservice. Within this fantastic RPG are some of the most authentic depictions of high school romance, sexual insecurity, and the quest for sexual identity that's ever been made. By letting the player actively pursue their love interest through some rather inauspicious "dates" the romance has time to breathe and grow naturally, like it does in the real world.
In addition, this is one of the few times you'll ever be able to witness a wide range of LGBT relationships explored without novelty in a game. Persona 4 handles the struggles of gender identity for cis and non-cis people incredibly authentically and deserves immense praise for it. This is an incredibly forward-thinking game and you'll learn more about how the real world works having played it.
Dinner Date
The Lovers: Julian Luxemburg and Meiko
"Might have just missed her bus, of course..."
Poor Julian Luxemburg, all he wanted was a nice meal with a nice woman. Dinner Date is the most depressingly realistic portrayal of the average man's dating experience gone awry achieved by putting the player inside the subconscious of a man who's been stood up. If you've ever wanted to play a game that mirrored your forever alone dating experience, this is it.
Passage
The Lovers: Man and Woman
"..."
Passage is a simple game with a very complex subject matter. It has no dialog or real narrative structure save for what you prescribe it, but it communicates so much in its minimalism that you instantly identify the real-world version of the story. I don't want to spoil much of it because this game is most impactful during its first play-through, but if you have given it a shot you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.