Most people can’t wait to retire from their current profession and spend the rest of their days taking it slow and easy. Even video game characters feel the same way, despite their more adventurous jobs. Since most games involve violence, a hero should consider himself lucky if he makes it to retirement.
All of the games below have their protagonists back in action after they’ve retired. That doesn’t mean these characters are necessarily old or drawing pensions, but they left their old ways behind one way or another and were forced back into the game.
Most gamers in the west weren’t introduced to Solid Snake until 1998’s Metal Gear Solid. The hero was only 30 years old, but he was already enjoying his retirement in the Alaskan wilderness. He certainly earned it after saving the world, twice! When Liquid Snake and Foxhound took over Shadow Moses, Colonel Campbell and higher-ups in Washington turned to Snake to infiltrate the base and eliminate the terrorists.
Solid Snake was reluctant to take the job and start a new chapter in the Metal Gear saga, but he was left with no choice. Taking place in 2005, Solid Snake would not retire until 2014 in Metal Gear Solid 4. As far as we know, he spent the rest of his life dating Otacon and Sunny.
5 Hitman 2: Silent Assassin
Agent 47 had a number of adventures before the recent immersive simulators. By the second game in the franchise, released in 2002, he was already living a peaceful life working in a church garden and trying to atone for his sins. He is forced to go back to work when the church’s priest is kidnapped.
Agent 47 once again leaves a trail of bodies in his wake, eventually saving the kidnapping victim. At the end of Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, Agent 47 fully returns to his life of violence. Maybe retirement is in the cards for him eventually, but not today.
4 fragmented cell
Soldiers seem to retire early, but it makes sense considering the danger and physicality of the job. Sam Fisher was already retired from the Navy Seals before joining the NSA and becoming part of Third Echelon. His previous skills were useful for the types of missions he was sent on.
He remains constantly employed throughout the rest of the series, although he leaves Third Echelon in Splinter Cell: Conviction to investigate his daughter’s apparent death. The last mainline Splinter Cell game was 2013’s Blacklist, so the entire series could be said to be a bit retired.
3 grand theft auto 5
Shaking up the well-established Grand Theft Auto formula, 2013’s Grand Theft Auto 5 has you playing as three different protagonists who are at very different stages of their criminal lives. Trevor Philips is middle-aged and as deranged as ever, Franklin Clinton is no longer young and has nothing to show for the work he’s done so far, and Michael De Santa made a deal with the authorities to live a comfortable life in the witness. protection program.
When all their paths cross, Michael finds himself drawn back into the criminal underworld and plans heists with the other two. He, too, is not reluctant to start stealing and killing again. It’s not like retirement is doing you any favors. Michael was rich, but his wife and children hated him.
two God of War
Kratos had a job and a profession as much as any god could have one. After killing almost all of the Greek gods in God of War 3, Kratos spent his days quietly raising his child. At the start of God of War 2018, he and his son Atreus promise to carry his recently deceased wife’s ashes to the top of the highest mountain.
During the journey, Kratos is forced to regain his mojo (as if he had ever lost it) and battle various threats as well as a couple of Norse gods. One of the most memorable moments of the adventure is when he finally retrieves his Blades of Chaos, the iconic weapons from the previous games. Atreus doesn’t know much about Kratos’ past yet, but God of War: Ragnarok is sure to shed more light on their relationship.
1 Uncharted 4
At the beginning of Uncharted 4, Nathan Drake lives a simpler life in the United States after settling down with Elena Fisher. He clearly longs for some adventure, but resists any temptation to take on more dangerous jobs or go after the lost treasure. His tone changes when his brother, long thought dead, returns and asks for help finding pirate treasure.
Sam Drake embellishes the truth a bit to convince Nathan to come along, but the protagonist doesn’t suffer while on this new adventure. However, Nathan hides the truth from Elena, causing serious friction between the two when she finds out about it. In the end, it really does feel like this is Nathan Drake’s last adventure, but only time will tell if he’ll show up again.