We all wish we had a bit more money. A lot of the time, it’s not even greed but what’s actually needed to survive. Some people have more money than they know what to do with while others toil away at some of the most pointless, absurdly difficult tasks for the most insulting reward.
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Being a bounty hunter sure is hard work, after all. The law fails at its job so you end up picking up the pieces and bringing people to justice, whatever ill-informed justice that may be. With so many games centred around the growth of your own wallet, being a bounty hunter fits pretty well.
8Billie Lurk
The originalDishonoredgame and its sequel have you taking up the roles of Corvo Attano and Emily Kaldwin on a quest equal parts justice and revenge. It’s a simple premise but one with enough emotional weight to lend it credence.
Its DLC and Death of the Outsider instead have you playing as Daud and Billie Lurk respectively. Morals be damned for these blades for hire, they’ll pick up any contract that pays well enough.
For Billie, this is taken a step more literally, being able to pick up optional contracts during her missions. With an ambivalent conscience and otherworldly powers, she’s more than up to the task.
7Bridget
Guilty Gear’sBridget is a character that many people would call ‘controversial’, though that would be to imply being a girl is somehow controversial, and is maybe something you should do some reflection on if you’ve called her as such. What is actually controversial about her is that she is English.
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On top of the many oddities of Bridget, raised in a billionaire family and fighting with yo-yos while dressed as a nun, is that she’s also a bounty hunter. The bounty hunting was actually picked up to battle superstitions, but at a certain point it honestly just seems like it became a valid career path.
6Sadie Adler
Rockstar has, in the nicest words possible, not the best history with regard to its treatment of women. From the general lack of exposure to humour based on stereotypes, women haven’t always been given a fair look, and yes, all the characters are exaggerated, but that’s not so great when you only see it from a man’s perspective.
This is whyRed Dead Redemption 2is such a shocking breath of fresh air. Despite being set in 1899, Sadie is a woman that lives by her own rules.
She was wronged, and wronged in a more fundamentally concrete way than anyone else. So what does she do? The one thing she’s good at - hunting down degenerates.
5Zaeed
We like to praise Bioware often for their characters, and it’s been a while since they’ve created a character with real staying power, though it’s still a testament to their skill that they’ve made so many memorable ones at all. InMass Effect, they range from assassins to thieves, ancient aliens to the most standard human.
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And then there’s Zaeed. You’re meant to hate him, and he’s more abrasive and hard to get along with than anyone else, seemingly opposed to anything that implies you value another living being.
In general, he’s just a bit of a dick. Yet there is no denying that as vile a human as he is, he is damn effective at his job, burning a factory with workers to the ground to get his target.
4Stranger
TheOddworldgames are, and credit to their name for this, a bit odd. The themes though are sadly something very real, of a planet driven close to extinction by mass exploitation and people becoming nothing but drones in a factory for the production of mundane content.
These games started back in 1997 in case you were wondering. Though the original series has you playing Abe in his daring escape, Stranger’s Wrath as you playing as Stranger, a bounty hunter.
He hunts targets across the land just to make a living, though ends up playing the role of saviour to a local tribe. That said, he’s incredibly resourceful, using the local flora and fauna as ammunition and other tools. Never empty-handed.
3Agent 47
A consideration needs to be made here: can aHitmantechnically be classified as a bounty hunter? In the sense that they are wanted by the law and they’re bringing them to justice? Not always. That they are freelance agents taking on contracts against other people for a monetary reward? Absolutely.
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And Agent 47 is one of the best in the business. Unlike many other gaming characters who get wrapped up in things like character development and morals, Agent 47 is the perfect killing machine.
Pure, efficient and with an ever-expanding wardrobe, Agent 47 will always find his mark and be rewarded handsomely for it.
2Geralt Of Rivia
If you’ve ever heard of critical analysis, you’ll be well aware thatthe Witcheris about racial injustices, but also the degrees that exist in racism. Witchers are evil mutants, but they look human enough so they can enter cities and towns.
There’s a reason Geralt always picks a side despite claiming to exist outside politics. His existence is political to them, though one they can take advantage of. The one things the Witcher games excel at, the third game especially, is that it’s hard to get paid a fair wage for your work, and even harder if you have a heart.
Geralt is constantly investing his money in better gear to keep on hunting, leaving him destitute until he gets another contract. Oh, this peasant is paying a meagre sum because their family is starving? Well, the money has to go to someone, and it may as well be the person hunting.
1Samus Aran
When you think about it, Samus Aran has always been called a bounty hunter, butwho or what has she ever huntedthat has actually ever had a bounty on them? She has often times hunted the Space Pirates, most notably Ridley, yet has more commonly done it for the greater good than any particular bounty.
But does that really matter? Samus calls herself a bounty hunter, and it frankly seems best to just believe it. She has wiped out entire alien races (including theMetroidsmultiple times) and saved planets, so you probably don’t want to call her bluff.
Plus the title ‘Galactic Bounty Hunter’ is a pretty cool title.
