There are few things more compelling than a good romance story, no matter the medium it appears in. Unlike movies, video games tend to have pretty long and substantial runtimes. This can allow players to further immerse themselves in a game, but it also lets them engage with a game's love story to a much deeper extent. That is, if it's good and decently written to begin with.

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There are plenty of video games that have endearing love stories, and while most tend to be written quite well, some are better than others. Mario saving the Princess can only do so much for players. Even when a game's main selling point caters to something else entirely, if its love story feels real, it can easily become a game's best feature.

Updated on June 11th, 2024, by David Heath: Love comes in many forms, and video games have told many grand stories about love in all its interpretations. The first Walking Dead game, the 2018 God of War game, and Silent Hill 1 are strong depictions of familial love. Platonic love is everywhere in games, as seen in Jak & Daxter, Ratchet & Clank, Sly Cooper, InFamous, Days Gone, and anything involving the ups and downs between best friends.

Nonetheless, it's romantic love that gets the heart pumping, and there are plenty of pairings in video games that could fit as updates on this list. For now, this list has received a handful of new examples, alongside some additional info, some reorganization, and other tweaks to make it an enjoyable, and hopefully informative, read.

12 Juno & Starkiller

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

The Star Wars sequel trilogy really could've done more with Rey and Finn, as fans thought the unknowing Jedi and ex-Stormtrooper could've made for an unlikely pairing. The closest equivalent to this comes from the games, as Star Wars: The Force Unleashed followed Sith apprentice Starkiller (previously known as Galen Marek) during his time in servitude to Darth Vader.

He mostly does a great deal of Vader's dirty work, but he manages to find love with Juno Eclipse, an Imperial Officer and pilot employed by the Galactic Empire. When Juno and Starkiller are branded as traitors, however, they are both forced to go into hiding. They grow closer, being equally torn in their allegiances to Vader and Emperor Palpatine respectively, before ultimately sticking together to go against them both.

11 Sora & Kairi

Kingdom Hearts

Before becoming the famed Keyblade wielder, Sora was nothing more than an ordinary boy who wished to live a simple life with his best friends, Riku and Kairi. When his world was plunged into darkness, however, he was forced to embark on a perilous quest to reunite with them. He finds Riku quite easily, but the remainder of the game follows him on his search for Kairi.

Sora and Kairi have been an item since the first game, when Sora got simultaneously flustered and keen on the idea of sharing a Paopu fruit with Kairi. It's said that, if two people share the same Paopu fruit, their lives would be intertwined until the very end. As crazy as Kingdom Hearts' plot gets, with its different Nobodies, realm-traveling, memory-tweaking, etc., Sora and Kairi's goal to share the fruit and be with each other for the rest of time is a consistent one.

10 Clementine & Louis / Violet

The Walking Dead: The Final Season

In Telltale's The Walking Dead: The Final Season, Clementine and AJ find themselves making an array of new friends at Ericson's Boarding School for Troubled Youth, two of whom can be romanced if the player wishes. Louis and Violet are completely different people, but they both serve to offer players satisfying love stories, no matter who is pursued.

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The Clementine and Louis pairing gives her the chance to have a sweet if awkward meet-cute, as he tries to flirt with her, and later dedicates a song to her when they're going steady. While the Clementine and Violet pairing starts off with the latter being more stand-offish, but gradually opening up to her. Whether things get better or worse for either pairing depends on the player's choices, so they have to choose carefully.

9 Nier & Kaine

NieR Replicant

In the original Gestalt version of the game, players saw the unnamed hero (called Nier for convenience) try to save his sickly daughter Yonah from shadowy beings called Shades, and their master, the Shadowlord. In NieR Replicant, the hero is now much younger and is Yonah's sister. Either way, he travels through the post-apocalyptic world to save her. Along the way, he meets Kaine, an intersex replicant on a similar Shade-killing adventure.

Aside from their hatred of Shades, Nier and Kaine have very little in common. Nier is a moody but loving parent/brother to Yonah. Kaine's a foul-mouthed swordfighter seeking to avenge the death of her grandmother and her abusive past on a Shade called Hook. Not that this is apparent, as NieR's different endings reveal different parts of Nier and Kaine's story. But the two gradually warm to each other over their shared goals, leading Nier to make the ultimate sacrifice to save Kaine's life.

8 Achilles & Patroclus

Hades

In Greek mythology, Achilles and Patroclus were childhood friends, with the former teaching the latter all he knew about being a warrior. In choosing between a long but uneventful life, or a short but glorious one, Achilles chose the latter, and went to fight in the Trojan War. Patroclus joined him, and led a charge against the Trojans in Achilles' armor, only to be killed by Hector. His death drove Achilles to fight on before later being killed by Paris.

In Hades, Achilles gives up his place in Elysium, Greek Heaven, to Patroclus without telling him. Patrolcus just thought he'd earned a spot in paradise, but being there alone just makes him feel abandoned. As Zagreus, if the player manages to build a rapport with the two warriors, he can repair their contract, so Achilles can join Patroclus in Elysium...occasionally. They may not be together 24/7, but it gives them enough time to amend their differences and spend time with each other.

7 Geralt & Yennefer

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt follows Geralt of Rivia, a Witcher, on his quest to locate Ciri, his adopted daughter. Finding Ciri, however, proves to be quite difficult because of her time-jumping abilities. To ensure these powers don't fall into the wrong hands, Geralt seeks help from Yennefer of Vengerberg, a powerful sorceress with whom he shares a complicated past. TW3 allows players to pursue several different romances, but the relationship between Geralt and Yennefer is the most compelling.

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She's the only character considered to be Geralt's true love, and like a mother to Ciri. Players can pair Geralt with Yennefer's friend Triss, but canonically, she never understood how Geralt and Yennefer formed their connection. They're like two broken jigsaw pieces that somehow manage to fit together. Just don't try to date Yennefer and Triss at the same time, or that won't be the only thing broken.

6 Kiryu & Sayama

Yakuza 2/Yakuza Kiwami 2

Romance is a spotty affair in the Yakuza/Like a Dragon series. Kazuma Kiryu has managed to charm all sorts of women, yet has never had a long-lasting relationship. His first love, Yumi, would form the basis for Yakuza 1, along with its Kiwami remake, and will play a big part in the upcoming Like a Dragon: Yakuza Amazon series. Yet Kiryu and Yumi never got to have a real romantic encounter with each other until it was too late. Yakuza 2 stepped things up by bringing Kiryu and Kaoru Sayama together.

She's a hotheaded cop known as the 'Yakuza Huntress' who contrasts with Kiryu's quiet, serious demeanor. They press each other's buttons in a way that's funny and endearing, where their growing feelings feel believable, even when Kiryu thinks he's lost his shot with her forever. Nonetheless, by the end, it seemed like they'd be the series' power couple. Unfortunately, the developers didn't want Kiryu attending hostess clubs in the sequels while being in a relationship, so Yakuza 3 cooled the two off and sent Sayama off to America.

5 Shepard & Garrus

Mass Effect 2

Shepard can romance a variety of different characters in Mass Effect, but the most compelling of the bunch is arguably the Shepard and Garrus pairing. Though the Turian made his debut in Mass Effect 1, it's not until Mass Effect 2 that players can pair their Female Shepard character with Garrus, where they get a look at his softer side.

For an otherwise gruff, tough guy, Garrus comes off awkward in an endearing way when pursued romantically. When Shepard asks him if he's uncomfortable with the two of them being together, he says it's quite the opposite. He feels alone in the cosmos, with Shepard as his only friend. After everything that's happened to him, he wants at least one thing to go right. By making the right choices, the player can help do that for him.

4 Majima & Makoto

Yakuza 0

Kiryu had his relationship retconned into friendship for gameplay purposes, but his best frenemy had better luck with a longer-lasting but equally bittersweet love in Yakuza 0. To get back into the Shimano family, Goro Majima is tasked with carrying out a hit on someone named Makoto Makimura. He thinks he's after some pimp, only to find out they're actually a young woman left with psychosomatic blindness after being rescued from a human trafficking ring.

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Majima's desire to get back into the yakuza now clashes with his urge to keep Makoto safe from them. Even when he learns more about Makoto and her part in the overall plot, he tries to keep her away from the brutality of the yakuza life while sinking more into it himself. He can't give Makoto the security she needs, but he'll do his best to lead her to someone who can. It's a sad story, but the Majima & Makoto romance shows love can be more complicated than a meet-cute.

3 Ellie & Dina

The Last Of Us Part 2

Familiarity can breed contempt. The Last of Us impressed players with its more serious take on the post-apocalypse. However, the series' numerous, arguably negligible remasters, and the dwelling on its dour drama from fans and Naughty Dog staff alike has worn its welcome out with some. Nonetheless, when the storytelling hits, it hits, like with Ellie's tortured love life. TLOU: Left Behind saw her relationship with her best friend Riley get ruined by the infection. In The Last Of Us Part 2, she ruins her own relationship with Dina.

Ellie and Dina develop feelings for each other at the beginning of the story, and though they allow their feelings to blossom during their trip to Seattle, they rarely get time to enjoy how they feel. This is because Ellie is too obsessed with avenging Joel's death, yet Dina still accompanies her on this journey, just because she loved her that much. But Ellie's determination to locate and kill Abby leads her to give up a peaceful life with Dina, and ultimately leaves her alone. Not every love story ends happily.

2 Nathan & Elena

The Uncharted Series

Naughty Dog weren't always so dedicated to remastering bitterness. They previously saw success with the more lighthearted Uncharted series, where Nathan Drake is pulled into one adventure or another, one that uncovers a famous lost treasure or hidden city, often while killing off scores of pirates, mercenaries, and other never-do-wells. Yet they also tell the story of how Nathan Drake and Elena Fisher's relationship develops over time.

Since the games were inspired by action movies like Indiana Jones, it's not the most grounded romantic tale, as the two go on and off with each game. Yet they remain an engaging couple whether they're getting on well, falling out, reconnecting, or trading barbs. They really come off like two similar but different characters that players can believe are truly in love with each other, even when they (mostly Nate) mess up and need to make amends.

1 Tidus & Yuna

Final Fantasy 10

The Final Fantasy games are full of famous video game romances, from FF4's Cecil and Rosa, to FF8's Squall and Rinoa. Love in all kinds is as key to the series as chocobos, moogles, and level-ups. But arguably the most standout romance is between Tidus and Yuna in Final Fantasy 10. Seemingly sent forward into the future, Tidus joins Yuna and her party on their journey to stop Sin, a gargantuan monster, from destroying their hometown of Spira.

As they travel across Spira, they begin developing feelings for each other, but they spend most of the story attempting to conceal them. But when Tidus learns the way to stop Sin involves Yuna sacrificing himself, Tidus doesn't accept it. His love for her drives the party to find another way to stop Sin, though as the truth behind the beast is revealed, it puts Tidus on the proverbial chopping block instead. It's a bittersweet romance that sees the couple forced to part to save the world. They could reunite in FFX-2, but not without a lot of effort.

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