Game developers have created some of the most enthralling, relatable and heart gripping characters we’ve had the pleasure of playing. It’s no reaching statement to say coded fictional masterpieces such as; Master Chief, John Marston, Laura Croft, Samus, Donkey Kong, Kratos, Solid Snake, Link, Mario etc., shaped gaming culture as we know it. Some of the biggest developers in the industry are expanding on ways to improve the player/character experience, using exceptional living and breathing talent to create unique content.

In 2013 Naughty Dog borrowed from the likeness of actress Ellen Page when designing their widely praised protagonist “Ellie”. If the name wasn’t enough of a dead give away Ellen also commented on the obvious resemblance, the developer later altered Ellie to be more like her voice actress Ashley Johnson. Naughty Dog was trying to create a fictional character that is identifiable as someone you know.

Rockstar has recently pushed past simply emulating Hollywood talent and decided to invest serious effort into finding the perfect fit for their lead gaming roles. One example is the massive success of RDR2’s single player campaign. This can be traced to a single pivotal piece of content, Arthur Morgan. Portrayed by Roger Clark his stunning performance as Arthur Morgan earned him a best Performance Award at the Video Game Awards. Arthur Morgan is a tough and gritty cowboy, the last of a dying breed in a “civilized world”. Roger may not be a household name but he is no noob in the video gaming business. Among voice acting, extensive theater work experien. My only regret is that up until his role as Arthur Morgan, Roger’s face was regrettably forgettable. Luckily some of the biggest developers are pushing Rockstar’s experiment further and bringing some heavy hitters to our upcoming titles.

Ubisoft is among those giants joining the mad grab for big screen stars. The anticipated Ghost Recon Breakpoint will be making use of the impressive Jon Bernthal. If you haven’t had the chance to see the trailer, your in for a treat and can see the official one  here. Not only does the game lighting, environment and mechanics look impressive, we get a clear look at Recon’s antagonist played by Jon or Colonel Cole D Walker. In this latest installment of Tom Clancy, Walker will lead an ex military group of rogue ghosts into taking control of Skell Technologies a drone facility located on the island of Aurora. Players will get the chance to play as four different ghosts from Nomad’s team tasked with stopping Walker’s take over. It would’ve been amazing to play as Jon Bernthal aka the led laying Punisher! For now the next best thing is playing for his cinematic scenes, foiling cynical plans and laying down high caliber fire in Jon’s direction.

If soldiering and Western RPG’s fall out of your gaming preference don’t worry, the trend for drafting big names into future projects is reaching developers of all shapes and sizes. While on the subject of “big names”, Keanu Reeves is arguably the current biggest action star in western cinema, he’s pushing his well chiseled mug to a console near you. CD Projekt (gave us Witcher III) is developing and producing Cyber Punk 2077. A FPS with an RPG play style, described as a mesh of Borderlands meets Skyrim meets Fallout. Keanu will be playing Rockerboy, Johnny Silverhand. Johnny is one of the most memorable cybernetic, guitar slaying names in the cyber punk lore. My biggest question is why has this not happened sooner, maybe it’s just that no one asked nice enough. Keanu is a machismo action juggernaut, with the release of John Wick 3 and rumored talks of a Marvel superhero movie, it’s unlikely Keanu will stop at projects like Cyber Punk 2077.

The only critique an eager fan might have is that the mentioned titles take the role of actor, character, player interaction half seriously. Omitting or simply overlooking the options to play as the digitized celebrity. After all everyone dreams of being able to run and gun like Keanu while avenging their dead dog. Respawn Entertainment is well known for multiplayer marvels like Apex and Titanfall 2: now they are giving us a chance to jump into the driver’s seat of a Jedi portrayed by one of our favorite Gallaghers.

Driver’s seat is bad phrasing, fallen Jedi Padwan mastering the force is actually a more accurate description. Star Wars: Jedi the Fallen Order had a phenomenal premier this year at E3’s 2019 release, the story will revolve around fallen Jedi Cal Kestis voice acted by Shameless star Cameron Monaghan. Cal has been in hiding since the massacre of Order 66. An incident brings to light his affinity with the force, the display of power quickly exposes Cal to Imperial sympathizers. With his powers recognized , Cal begins a run for his life to escape the deadly Imperial Inquisitor known as Second Sister.  Keeping my own bias to a minimum, I’m very excited for this release and you should be to. This is a project that has been in the pipeline for some time and was originally released by Respawn’s Vince Zampella at the 2018 E3 release. After the struggles EA experienced with Battlefront I & II sales, fans are expecting a standalone single player Star Wars game that delivers. Monaghan has already proven he has the chops to cut it with some of televisions best in series like Gotham, giving us a Joker performance that sends nauseated chills down your spine. It is only natural to expect great things as he trades in his comic books for a role set in a galaxy far far away.

Terrific content is nothing new to the gaming community, if anything the continual improvements in technology create a polarized gaming view point, either it is a good game or bad game. As companies continue to seek new avenues for attracting new gaming followers, we can expect to see some of our favorite move faces making their way into your console.