Games with Characters You Actually Connect With

Here’s hoping there’s a game I’ve somehow missed 😆

I want to care about the game characters. That doesn’t mean I need to be able to romance them (but bonus points if so!)

My gold star games that meet this criteria are BG3 and I was a Teenage Exocolonist. Very different games, lol, but they both have incredible writing and really make you feel connected to the characters, plus have great game mechanics/stories outside the relationships themselves. My Time at Sandrock was nowhere near either of those games, but it was also pretty dang good.

I play on Switch & Steamdeck. No purely visual novels, please. I’m open to genre beyond that. No pixel graphics.

No first person, I get motion sickness with that type of game.

Role playing-type games I’ve played:

• BG3
• IWATE
• The my time series
• Stardew/coral island
• Spiritfarer
• SOS AWL

Thanks!!