An innocuous video about how FromSoft protagonists are 5 ft 7 inches tall led to me changing into weirdly fixated about videogame character top this 12 months
2025 was a 12 months of highs and lows for me. Not for private or skilled causes, however somewhat as a result of I received weirdly obsessive about the peak of videogame characters. It began with the stunning revelation that each FromSoftware protagonist outdoors of Elden Ring Nightreign is precisely 5’7″, a reality I discovered from a YouTube investigation by FromSoft savant Zullie the Witch.
I would all the time assumed FromSoftware protagonists have been taller than this. I am undecided why, but it surely’s most likely on account of how Anglo-American leisure media has programmed my mind to understand heroic archetypes as tall, darkish and good-looking. So discovering out that each one FromSoft’s dodge-rolling warriors are the identical top as me was stunning, main me to assume extra deeply about how we symbolize top in video games.
Peak is a lot extra of a priority in VR gaming, to the purpose the place it is one thing of an accessibility situation. Since VR precisely interprets your bodily presence into the game-space, you will note that area as perceived out of your precise top until the builders compensate for it. Consequently, most fashionable VR video games may have bespoke settings that alter the world accordingly, guaranteeing that significantly tall gamers aren’t clipping by means of the ceiling and other people like me do not get neckache when interacting with NPCs.
However I would have an interest to see non-VR video games fold player-character top into the expertise. Not in a dramatic approach like Grounded, and even the way in which Warhammer 40,000: Darktide has a a lot increased view perspective for its Ogyrn characters. However in a subtler on a regular basis approach.
As Zullie notes in her video, Elden Ring: Nightreign kinda does this. The peak of its numerous playable characters does make a slight mechanical distinction to the participant’s experiences. Taller characters just like the Guardian have higher attain, whereas smaller characters like Revenant have a slightly increased likelihood to keep away from being hit by sure assaults.
I believe it will be an fascinating variable to play with in different FromSoft video games, or in RPGs and motion video games extra broadly. I am certain there are some that do it to a sure extent, but it surely’s definitely not a common function. On the very least, I will have the ability to dwell out my fantasy of having the ability to pull issues off a excessive shelf with out risking snapping a tendon.