Besides Plague Doctors being an essential part of history as these physicians attempted to prevent the spread of plague while also protecting themselves. The outfits which they wore have stuck in the minds of many players and game developers when considering the characters they create.
Many gothic themed games or those set during darker times tend to rely on characters like Plague Doctors as not only NPCs the player meets but some also taking on the role of the main character from time to time. These are by far the best Plague Doctors players have met across a variety of gaming genres that have made a lasting impression on the player.
6 The Leech – Wytchwood
While The Leech may not be a good person, she is still an incredibly interesting character that players will meet in Wytchwood. After being tasked by a goat to collect souls in a hope to bring a woman back to life, players will stumble upon the Leech's clinic that has apparently been overrun with plague. Through helping an old find out what happened to her husband, players will discover that the illnesses and diseases these patients are dying from are being deliberately injected into them by the Leech to make her sickening blood beverages.
Her design is by far one of the most interesting things about her. Especially how her leech body coils inside the Plague Doctor attire to make her stand like a normal person, her long leech mouth mimicking the beak of a plague doctor's mask.
5 The Warden – The Serpent Rogue
Medieval fantasy titles are the most common to use Plague Doctors or at least characters that are influenced by them and The Serpent Rogue is no different, allowing players to control the mysterious alchemist known as The Warden. It is up to the player and their knowledge of potion craft to halt the growth of the Serpent Rogue, a terrible infection runs rampant across the land of Mount Morbus.
Players are left to explore alongside The Warden finding new pays to evolve them through their potions. The Warden only has one goal and that is to remove the Serpent Rogue from the land. How they decide to do this is entirely up to the player as each potion masterfully brewed will have different repercussions.
4 Corvus - Thymesia
Although Corvus is incredibly lucky to be alive, the challenging world that he must fight through as well as his tragic origins makes this plague doctor quite the intriguing protagonists for players. Corvus himself was infected by the plague that is ruining the kingdom he is a part of.
However, an experimental treatment luckily cured him while also making him part raven. In many cases this treatment had awful side effects, but Corvus somehow lived. With these new feathered powers he must adventure back into his memories to find a solution for the kingdom. Combining his bird identity with his plague doctor like outfit, Corvus goes above and beyond to help this kingdom challenging himself against the souls-like combat.
3 The Plague Doctor – Darkest Dungeon
Darkest Dungeons is a grim rogue-like role-playing game that continues this theme through the characters players can recruit in a hope to make their way through the various dungeons when looking for treasure. Out of all the characters available many players gravitated towards Paracelus, the plague doctor.
Appearing as one of the youngest team members available she's an incredible support character as well as a lethal DPS making her a vital member for players to not only keep alive but also bring into each dungeon they explore. Alongside this power are her witty one-liner that had players cracking a smile in-between the intense moments as she claims to keep bits of her foes for experimenting as the battlefield becomes her laboratory.
2 Oswald Keller – The Plague Doctor Of Wippra
Although many games keep the design of plague doctors few of them actually allow players to take on the role of a Plague Doctor such as looking after patients and dealing with a lethal plague. The Plague Doctor of Wippra is a point and click adventure where players control Oswald Keller, a plague doctor in medieval Germany.
It is up to Oswald to look after the people of Wippra and hopefully get to the root cause of the Black Death. However, it's never easy as even the townsfolk Oswald is trying to cure are filled with supinations and doubts on the treatments of Oswald though he continues to try to cure them. Players may have only been able to spend a short amount of time as a Plague Doctor getting to know Oswald and the people of Wippra is certainly something to be remembered.
1 Doctors – Assassin's Creed 2
Out of all the plague doctors available throughout gaming by far one of the greatest doctors' players have had the chance to meet and interact with are the literal lifesaving doctors of Assassin's Creed 2. While the Black Death may have been long wiped out since Ezio's time the Italian doctors still continued to wear the outfits allowing them to stick out on busy streets when the player needed healing.
Unlike the usual Doctor, these physicians also sold poison to the player for a fair amount allowing Ezio to slyly inject his foes and cause a distraction while sneaking past unseen. Players were even able to invest in one of the doctors, helping to fund his store for a discount on healing making him an incredibly valuable asset.