Heavy Rain's Ethan deemed gaming's worst protagonist, and we couldn't agree more

The end of the year is often a time for reflection. Sometimes, that reflection simply relates to the year that’s passed and in other instances, it extends slightly further back in time. This festive season, fans have gathered to determine who exactly is gaming’s worst protagonist and there was an easy winner.

Reddit user Roblson240YT kickstarted the conversation, writing, “Who’s the worst video game protagonist that you hated playing as and why?” with Heavy Rain’s Ethan Mars easily winning the vote, although it’s not a ‘win’ in the conventional sense. Heavy Rain boasts a somewhat interesting story but there’s no denying that Ethan is a strange fellow. User mysterymanatx said, “Ethan Mars from Heavy Rain,” garnering almost 5K upvotes.

Yet to dive in? Take a look at Heavy Rain's launch trailer below to see Ethan Mars in action.

“Blacks out and makes creepy origami. Refuses to elaborate,” joked compulsive_criticism, while many users simply evoked the “JASON” meme. Who could ever forget the cursed ‘Press X to Jason’. “That game is worth playing just to run around shouting ‘Jason’ at random people’s faces that don’t even recognise you’re doing it,” wrote benjyk1993.

Ethan Mars may have won by a landslide but he wasn’t the only disappointing protagonist mentioned. “The guy from Sniper Elite,” commented TheHunterJK with over 1.7K upvotes. “I don’t dislike him. He’s just forgettable. I can’t even remember his name without looking him up.”

Over 3.4K upvotes went to Solafuge’s suggestion: “I enjoyed Far Cry 3 but Jason Brody is insufferable. He develops as a character but he just changes from one kind of an asshole to another kind of asshole. At no point is he remotely likeable.” Forspoken and Atomic Heart were also cited as honourable mentions, although I do sense that Forspoken’s Frey was doomed the second that Whedonesque trailer dialogue went live.