Although things are slowly improving in the entertainment industry when it comes to representing Black people, there is still a ways to go.
But in recent years, video games have arguably been better at representing black people than other mediums like TV and movies. Here is our pick of the best black video game characters.
Lee Everett
The protagonist of the episodic adventure game The Walking Dead: Season One, Lee Everett, is convicted of murdering a state senator after Everett finding out he had slept with his wife.
However, Everett’s incarceration does not last long because the apocalypse happens. He then hooks up with a group of survivors, and it is not long before Everett becomes the leader of the group. Everett is intelligent, resourceful, independent, and caring. Who said there were no positive role models in video games?
Michael LeRoi
Various comic book characters have appeared in video games and slot games over the years, such as the Princess of the Amazons in the Wonder Woman Gold slot that is available at Casumo casino.
But few black comic book characters can claim the same. One exception is Michael LeRoi, who is also known as Shadow Man. The games Shadow Man and Shadow Man: 2econd Coming, which were based on the 1990s Shadow Man comic books, have become cult favorites of gamers.
The voodoo-inspired atmospheric action-adventure games follow LeRoi, who has the ability to cross over from the world of the living to that of the dead. He is on a mission to prevent the apocalypse from occurring.
Alyx Vance
The biracial daughter of two murdered scientists, Alyx Vance, first appeared in the 2004 first-person shooter game Half-Life 2. As Gordon Freeman’s ally, she takes on the evil alien empire the Combine.
With her high intelligence and expert combat skills, Alyx Vance is every bit as capable as the game’s leading man. Indeed, she often helps to keep Freeman out of trouble in various situations.
Alyx Vance is a fantastic role-model, and if you want to get closer to her, you can play the virtual-reality spin-off game Half-Life: Alyx, in which you step right into her shoes.
Carl “CJ” Johnson
CJ Johnson is a character in the hugely popular Grand Theft Auto series. He appears as the protagonist in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
Johnson returns home after an absence of five years, after learning that his mother was murdered. He tries to earn back the trust of his friends and family members and restore the Grove Street Families gang to power, only to be betrayed.
Johnson then goes into exile, but over time he becomes very wealthy. Eventually, CJ Johnson returns home to reunite with his family and take revenge on those who wronged him.
Barret Wallace
The hunky action hero Barret Wallace is a playable character in the hugely successful RPGs Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VII Remake. Wallace is the leader of an eco-terrorist group called Avalanche.
The group’s mission? To prevent the Shinra Electric Power Company from using the planet of Gaia’s life-source energy, mako. Wielding a gun-arm instead of a fleshy limb, Wallace can attack with full force against the Shinra Company. It is not only that he believes in his cause.
He also wants revenge after Shinra murdered his wife and best friend. Wallace’s revolution against an oppressive entity helps to make him one of gaming’s most popular black protagonists.
Lincoln Clay
The protagonist of the action-adventure game Mafia III, Lincoln Clay, is a Vietnam war hero. But after the evil Marcano crime family murder his adopted family, he begins his own criminal empire and is out for revenge.
That may sound like a fairly standard plot, but it is elevated to a new level in Mafia III. The setting of New Bordeaux was inspired by 1960s New Orleans, which enabled the developer Hangar 13 to explore race issues in the criminal underworld with some depth.
And if you want to get some anger out, this is a great game to play. You get to take on the racist mob boss Sal Marcano, as well as a white supremacist group inspired by the KKK.