Even Niko Cries Sometimes

Here’s a question: if a video game character cries in its once lively world, does it make a sound?

If we’re asking this video, then the answer is yes.

In a Youtube video created by YeardlyDiamond1, a distraught Niko Bellic, the protagonist of the critically acclaimed Grand Theft Auto 4, watches heartbroken at the GTA 5 trailer. The clip promises NEW! additions to the gameplay and not one but THREE characters, forwarding the gaming experience light-years  past the series predecessors.

Mouth agape, Niko cries.

 Maybe it’s because this is the closing chapter on his story. His journey starts and ends on a melancholic note, and it’s likely his character will never be revisited for redemption. Maybe he cries because he feels that bigger and better is coming, and they’re after his thunder. In the hype of all of the shiny new graphics, will he be forgotten about?

Spoiler alert: video game characters aren’t real and can’t feel.

But it’s interesting to think about how the characters we once played with for hours on end might feel abandoned; how they might get as tired of their story as we do. How they begin to loathe that bowling invitation from Roman.

Just for you Niko, I’m going to dust off my copy of GTA 4 and play a couple of missions.