Being the strongest can be a huge boon, but also a curse. In video games, it often means that you have a perilous quest to undertake, a destiny that you can’t really turn your back on, or, at best, will typically be outnumbered by your enemies. After all, if you face single enemies at a time and can effortlessly tear them apart like the Doomslayer, there’s really no challenge to be had there.
The protagonists of these titles are either deities, wield absurd superpowers, or are armed with absolutely monstrous weapons. They aren’t untouchable (the games can actually be super difficult), but there’s no doubt that they’re some of the strongest beings in their respective universes.
Okami
The Power of the Sun (and a Paintbrush)
Okami is a game that, two decades after its original release, is as beloved as ever. This really struck me during the 2024 Game Awards, with the excited uproar that met the announcement of the sequel. What is it about the game that’s such a phenomenon? Of course, there’s its wonderful watercolor visuals, and the sense of magic and whimsy that they add to the game. Between that and its embrace of Japanese mythology, I was drawn to the game from the first few screenshots I ever saw.
What’s just as important, though, is the fact that these elements aren’t just for show, and are closely tied into the gameplay itself. Armed with the Celestial Paintbrush, Amaterasu, Sun goddess in wolf form, has immense power to manipulate the world around her. It’s one of the best drawing mechanics in video games. Not only can she control the passage of time, she can alter the weather, create objects, and more besides. The numerous demons she fights in the game’s regular encounters really aren’t a match. In fact, launching enemies around like ragdolls with melee attacks, in combination with Celestial Brush strokes to bind foes and reveal their weaknesses, is my favorite part of Okami. It’s so well done, and really enriches the quest to eradicate the blight on the world.
Asura’s Wrath
Is That You, Kratos?
If the God of War series has given you an appetite for brutally tearing apart all kinds of deities, Asura’s Wrath is sure to also be of interest. The broad strokes here are extremely similar: Asura is a formidable being whose wife was killed by the Guardian Generals (later the Seven Deities), as part of their scheme to use his daughter’s power to consolidate their own. In his grief and, well, wrath, Asura embarks on a campaign to destroy them and their allies.
As Kratos-like as the whole adventure sounds so far, in terms of gameplay, I consider it more a blend of God of War and Bayonetta. There’s a tremendous sense of style about Asura’s Wrath, with the outrageous speed of attack strings and the crunching force with which each attack lands. Sometimes, with similar games, I find that I can feel a little too overpowered from the beginning, to the extent that there’s nowhere to go from there and it becomes a little unsatisfying. In this CyberConnect2 action title, though, Asura’s strength gradually builds further and further, to the point that he can overwhelm Chakravartin, mastermind deity itself. It’s truly as though there’s no match for Asura in this universe.
Saints Row 4
You’re Truly The Boss
Now, Saints Row 4 is not to be taken seriously. Rather like The Expendables movies, it’s a celebration of action genre absurdity and dramatic set pieces, but it goes way further than even Arnold Schwarzenegger and co. did. Armed with hilariously potent superpowers, there’s really no stopping The Boss and their Saints. The experience, for me, has always been like playing Grand Theft Auto 5 but with mods for flight, Marvel-style shockwaves and the like enabled. You really do feel all but unstoppable in this open world title.
It was unfortunate for the protagonist that they became the U.S. President right around the time the Zin invaded, leaving them and the Saints stranded in their own wicked worlds conjured from their personal greatest fears. Still, this sequence of events, which includes the destruction of the Earth itself, is about on the scale that the series aims for. Fighting back and destroying these enemies would be a pleasure.
It really is a wild experience. You’ll be flying around emitting energy like M. Bison in superpower Fight Club, then engaging in what may appear to be a typical TPS-style shootout using a car for cover. Here, though, you can telekinetically throw that car at your foes, toss enemies around using Force powers even Darth Vader would be envious of, and much more. The game keeps its tongue firmly in its cheek throughout, but the silliness never gets in the way of allowing the player to create legitimate builds and enjoy all the power that comes with them. Throughout the game, I was thrilled to see what I’d unlock next, and my very favorite moment was when the protagonist seemed to echo that sentiment, telling an ally, “I still have another slot in my power menu, I want to fill it with something.”
Duke Nukem 3D
FPS games often take the one-person-army approach to protagonists. Duke Nukem is one man who fits that description very nicely, and I knew right from the off that Duke Nukem 3D would be one huge power trip. Not only because of the Duke’s reputation, but because the starting pistol actually feels powerful. With its fast-firing and impactful shots, it was destroying foes just seconds into the game, and that pace really never lets up however far you are in the game and whatever weapon the Duke’s wielding.
Even so, when you’re fending off an alien invasion across locales as varied as Los Angeles and the Moon, you also need rather more specialized hardware. The Freezethrower, my beloved, is perhaps my favorite weapon in any FPS, because the sheer savagery of freezing an enemy solid and shattering them is unmatched. Luckily, when your enemies are technologically-advanced aliens, they tend to have some very nice kit that you can commandeer for yourself. The brutal Shrinker, which allows you to squish enemies from melee range, is another example.
Though he lacks anything like the literal superpowers that the Saints Row 4 protagonist has, he seems to be the very strongest character around through sheer power of ego. He ends the alien threat single-handedly, as he was always going to, because he’s the Duke.
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