Since the early days of video games most of them followed the same recipe of a hero titular character going on some epic quest or journey to achieve some sort of goal. Whether its Mario going from castle to castle looking for the Princess (who's always in "another castle"), Samus Aran exploring some desolate planet or Spartan 117, aka The Master Chief, fighting off all types of aliens to save humanity, they all shared a sense of loneliness that is not felt in recent or modern games. 

These newer games often rely on a type of companion character that plays a supporting or sometimes even a pivotal role in the success of the player and the overall narrative. For years or even decades, companion characters were heavily critiqued and frustrated even the most veteran of gamers. They were the killers of stealth sections, died constantly, and would get stuck in the worst places leaving gamers with the perplexing mystery as to how they got there in the first place. 

It looked like games were going to follow this pattern for eternity until everything changed in 2013. Ken Levine’s Bioshock infinite introduced players to Elizabeth, a companion character that didn’t need protection or simply follow the player, but instead transformed and revolutionized how and what players thought about companion characters as a whole. Elizabeth became the foundation for a new and improved generation of companion characters who were mechanically useful, emotionally compelling and deeply integrated into gameplay and narrative. 

Companions and Their Issues in Early Games

Prior to this revolutionary change, companion characters were mostly thought as challenging obstacles rather than extensions of the narrative or playability. If you don’t believe me, just play 2005’s Resident Evil 4. While the game was praised for its revolutionary over the shoulder camera and fast paced combat, all gamers and reviewers alike can agree that Ashley Graham was a constant thorn in Leon's side for most of the game. She, as well as other escort NPCs in older shooters, were simply created to increase tension through vulnerability. 

The Foundations of Empathy

Before the "intelligent support" revolution of the 2010s, there was one title that dared to flip the script on the escort mission entirely: 2001’s ICO. Developed by Team Ico, this game took the widely reviled concept of the "babysitting mission" and transformed it into a masterpiece of environmental storytelling and emotional connection. Instead of treating the companion as a mobile health bar that needed to be protected through brute force, ICO introduced the simple, profound mechanic of holding hands. By forcing the player to physically grab Yorda’s hand to lead her through the brutalist, desolate architecture of the castle, the game created a tangible, tactile bond that no other title had managed before. She was not simply a tool or liability to be managed from afar; she was a presence that required constant, conscious awareness. This wasn't just about pathfinding, or padding game difficulty, it was about intimacy. 

ICO proved that if you gave the player a reason to care, the burden of protection could actually become the foundation of a narrative experience, but ICO is a rare exception. Despite the different approach taken by ICO, most NPC companions were simply seen as liabilities, driving players to the edge of insanity trying to protect them until the end of a level or section. Developers were faced with a critical problem: How do you create a character that feels alive and supportive without making the player feel like a glorified babysitter? Games struggled heavily to answer this question, until the arrival of Elizabeth.

Elizabeth and the Birth of The Companion Characters of Today

Elizabeth’s brilliance in BioShock Infinite came from one crucial design philosophy: She was designed to help the player, not burden them. Unlike older escort NPCs, Elizabeth never required protection in traditional gameplay. She avoided danger intelligently, searched environments independently, tossed Booker ammo and health during combat, and interacted dynamically with the world around her. Her ability to open and close tears was often the turning point of any gun fight or boss encounter. This completely changed the emotional relationship players had with a companion AI. Instead of constantly micromanaging Elizabeth, players trusted her in new ways that kept gameplay exciting and fun.

But her importance went beyond gameplay systems. Elizabeth also represented a narrative evolution. She wasn’t just a sidekick; she was the emotional and philosophical center of the story. Booker may have been the player eyes, but Elizabeth became the heart of the game’s themes surrounding freedom, identity, and choice. Her constant interaction with the environment also made the city of Columbia feel believable. She reacted to music, examined objects, commented naturally on events, and behaved less like scripted AI and more like a real traveling partner. This was revolutionary at the time; Ken Levine had finally answered the pivotal question! Elizabeth proved that companion characters could strengthen immersion instead of interrupting it. Even though it’s been quite some time since I have visited the skies of Columbia, I do remember the awe I felt when first interacting and playing with Elizabeth. I loved her witty attitude and curiosity while also feeling strong and independent.

 Ellie’s Emotional Survival Through The Last of Us

It seems that 2013 had another surprise for us in our journey throughout companion characters and their evolution. Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us was released in 2013 and introduced us to Ellie. Even though she did not have as many abilities as Elizabeth she pushed companion emotional integration even further than what Bioshock Infinite gave us. While Ellie was not designed as a primary support system like Elizabeth, Naughty Dog pivoted on another angle and decided to focus primarily on emotional dependency and realism. Ellie would scavenge for parts, react in multiple different ways while exploring and would assist in combat in much subtle ways. As you continue playing the game the player starts to discover that her real role was narrative transformation. I won’t get into spoiler territory for those readers that have not experienced this master piece but Joel (main character) starts the game completely broken, alone and emotionally detached from everyone and everything. You could almost say he built a hundred-foot wall around his heart without any doors or windows. As the game progresses Ellie slowly begins to teardown this wall and change Joel. Since players spend the entire game alongside Ellie, they begin to form a bond with her much like Joel. This type of relationship can’t be formed through scripted cutscenes alone but instead is developed organically through various gameplay moments all throughout the game.  

This type of emotion and distinction mattered. Players were no longer watching a bond form; they were actively participating in it! While it may seem small when you compare all the companion innovations Bioshock Infinite gave us, The Last of Us gave us not only the next evolution of companions but the next evolution of all modern narrative games going forward. Using constant companion presence to merge storytelling and gameplay into a perfectly bundled emotional experience. While I always knew Elizabeth had my back in Columbia, I felt personally responsible for Ellie’s fate in The Last of Us. She provided just the right amount of vulnerability and purity with just the right amount of independence that made me want to protect and care for her as we faced the horrors of zombie-infested world.

A Brief Stop into Uncharted 4 and Its Cinematic Companions

Naughty Dog’s 2016 hit Uncharted 4 A Thief’s End redefined another important aspect in companion evolution, pure natural interaction. The game featured a great roster of companion characters with the likes of Sully, Sam and Ellena, who didn’t just follow or accompany Nathan mechanically. They each enhanced the games pacing through casual conversation, dynamic environmental interactions and perfectly seamless transitions between gameplay and cutscenes crucial to the narrative. With series like Uncharted and The Last of Us Naughty Dog gained the essential skills in making companion dialog felt uninterrupted and natural through traversal and exploration. Instead of stopping gameplay for exposition, conversations would flow and evolved in new and interesting ways while gamers climbed mountains, drove through desserts and explored ancient ruins and deep scary caves. This evolved our companion characters by giving them a permanent presence rather than playing individual parts on a script. We can think of this new evolution as the “walking conversation”. While many modern narrative games use this system they all owe a great deal to Naughty Dog’s innovations on cinematic companion design.

God of War and The Beginning of Gameplay Partnership

Our next stop on our journey will be on 2018 with Santa Monica Studio’s fresh take on the God of War franchise. This reinvention of the franchise gave us a more mature and grounded Kratos and more importantly introduced us to his son Atreus. He elevated the companion mechanic even further since his role expanded beyond narrative support. He became an integral part of the combat itself. Players could command Atreus to fire a variety of arrows, use summons, stun enemies, translate a variety or Nordic tablets and totems and solve puzzles. When players would level up Atreus even had his own upgrade tree that would farther expand his skills and abilities to assist you in turning the tides of battle. Unlike most other previous companions Atreus evolved alongside Kratos throughout the game, his gameplay growth mirrored his emotional development. Throughout his journey Atreus matured and grew more confident which in turn updated his role in combat as enemies grew more and more relentless. 

This relationship between gameplay progression and character development became inseparable and peaked in the its sequel God of War Ragnarök. Ragnarök expanded this system by giving us Freya as an additional companion to Kratos while also giving Atreus entire playable levels on its own. Atreus was a “secondary character” no more, he was the first to break the chains of companionship and effectively became a co-protagonist of the game. While the game did have more emphasis on Kratos, the narrative did split to give Atreus its own separate adventure. Ragnarök concluded with another development in the companion mechanic as now the companion and the player were no longer on separate gameplay roles but instead melded into one interconnected system. 

Pragmata and The Future for Companion Mechanics

Our journey concludes with Capcom’s latest 2026 hit Pragmata. This game introduces us to our protagonist Hugh Williams a systems engineer sent in to investigate why communication has been cut off between Earth and a moon base called the Cradle. Moments after arriving Hugh finds the moon base devoid of human life and worst all its robot denizens are controlled by a malfunctioning AI system who no longer wants humans around. In the span of all this chaos Hugh is saved by a child-like android girl called Pragmata D-I-0336-7 who Hugh names Diana. Now the relationship between Hugh and Diana is built upon simultaneous cooperation, survival and trust. It is with Diana that we have found perhaps the next giant leap in the companion mechanic. As the game progresses it feels like Hugh and Diana play different roles, Hugh handles combat and movement while Diana actively assists in hacking systems and manipulating the environment. Rather than Diana helping during scripted moments this companion relationship plays a pivotal role in the games entire design, structure and narrative. 

However, the more you play the more you realize that Hugh and Diana are not separate at all. We started this article talking about Elizabeth and how she represented the foundation of intelligent support companions. Pragmata may represent the next and largest leap in companion evolution: true gameplay symbiosis. The player or Hugh and the companion Diana no longer feel like separate characters in gameplay but instead form a beautiful interconnected system. Now as of the time of this writing you could make the argument that the narrative focuses more on Diana rather than Hugh. She is in my opinion integral to the success of the player, in 9 out of 10 combat encounters the player needs to use Diana’s hacking ability so that Hugh can mitigate the threat at hand. Instead of feeling like 2 separate characters, they seem more as to halves to integrate perfectly to form a cohesive whole. Diana’s hacking is performed in real time while the players still have control of Hugh and they have to adapt and manage on not only how to use their specific abilities to accomplish a goal but more importantly when to use them. I have never seen or interacted with such a fun and balanced system in any game I have played. Diana has saved me multiple times in various boss encounters and has surprised me on combat multiple times by starting her hacking mini game on her own to save me while I thought all was over. This symbiosis needs to be praised and studied as I truly belief this is the future of single player narrative games. I have not seen any metrics on Pragmata’s success but I sure hope the game is at least on the positive as it at least to me signals a major industry shift, the perfect transition of “main character plus companion” to true dual character design.