Video game characters introduced in 2012

Handsome Jack is a fictional character in Gearbox Software's Borderlands video game franchise. He is the president of the Hyperion Corporation, which takes control of the planet Pandora, and is the main antagonist of Borderlands 2. Jack shows narcissistic traits, believing himself to be a heroic character and savior of others. Jack was conceived early on as a fellow Vault Hunter "frenemy" before being changed to an outright villain to make Borderlands 2 clearer. Primary concerns fell on making him balance both the seriousness and humor of the game. The character is voiced by Dameon Clarke.

Clementine is a fictional character in The Walking Dead episodic graphic adventure video game series, a spin-off of the Robert Kirkman comic of the same name and developed by Telltale Games. An original character developed by Telltale for the video game series, she is the series' main protagonist and one of the playable characters. She is voiced by Melissa Hutchison and was written by several people, including Gary Whitta.

Ratonhnhaké:ton, commonly known by his adopted name Connor, is a fictional character in the video game series Assassin's Creed. A half-British, half-Mohawk Master Assassin who serves as a central character in the games set around the American Revolution, he first appears as the main protagonist of Assassin's Creed III (2012), in which he is portrayed by Native American actor Noah Watts through performance capture, and voiced by Jamie Mayers as a young child. He also makes a minor appearance in the tie-in game Assassin's Creed III: Liberation. The character has made further appearances in various spin-off media of the franchise.

Chiaki Nanami (Japanese: 七海 千秋, Hepburn: Nanami Chiaki) is a fictional character from Spike's 2012 visual novel Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair. Formally known as the Ultimate Gamer (超高校級の「ゲーマー」, Chō-kōkō-kyū no "Gēmā", lit. Super High School Level Gamer), Chiaki initially appears as an apparent high school student trapped with fifteen other students in the Jabberwock Island chain, where an omnipresent robotic bear named Monokuma forces the student to participate in a killing game in exchange for freedom. She can bond with the protagonist Hajime Hinata in both social life gameplay and the main storyline before her true persona is revealed as the artificial intelligence observer daughter of Chihiro Fujisaki, and the younger sister of Alter Ego and Usami / Monomi. Chiaki makes a cameo appearance in two episodes of the anime series Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School, with an identical character the original Chiaki Nanami, the visual basis for her design, appearing in the prequel Despair Arc who bonds with Hajime.

Nagito Komaeda (Japanese: 狛枝 凪斗, Hepburn: Komaeda Nagito), also known as The Servant (召使い, Meshitsukai), is a fictional character introduced in the 2012 Spike Chunsoft visual novel action adventure game Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair. Nagito is a high school student from Hope's Peak Academy, holding the title of "Ultimate Lucky Student" due to his supernatural luck. He is first seen in the game's beginning when meeting the protagonist Hajime Hinata as they and multiple other students find themselves trapped in a series of tropical islands. Initially presenting a caring personality, Nagito shows his true maniacal and hope-obsessed demeanor when a bear-like robot, Monokuma, orders the students to participate in a killing game if they want to leave the islands, with Nagito violently encouraging the killing game's progress. Under the guise of the Servant, Nagito returns in Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls as the secondary antagonist.

Edward James Kenway is a fictional character in Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed video game franchise. He was introduced as a supporting character in Assassin's Creed: Forsaken, a companion novel to the 2012 video game Assassin's Creed III. He subsequently appeared as the protagonist of the 2013 video game, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, and its novelization, Assassin's Creed: Black Flag. In the former, he is portrayed by Welsh actor Matt Ryan through performance capture. Since Black Flag's release, the character has made further appearances in several other works within the franchise.

Ratonhnhaké:ton, commonly known by his adopted name Connor, is a fictional character in the video game series Assassin's Creed. A half-British, half-Mohawk Master Assassin who serves as a central character in the games set around the American Revolution, he first appears as the main protagonist of Assassin's Creed III (2012), in which he is portrayed by Native American actor Noah Watts through performance capture, and voiced by Jamie Mayers as a young child. He also makes a minor appearance in the tie-in game Assassin's Creed III: Liberation. The character has made further appearances in various spin-off media of the franchise.

Aveline de Grandpré is a fictional character in Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed video game franchise. She first appears as the protagonist of Assassin's Creed III: Liberation, a spin-off installment originally released for the PlayStation Vita in October 2012. She has also featured in a titular expansion pack for the 2013 title Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, as well as other spin-off media of the franchise. In both of her video game appearances, she is portrayed by actress Amber Goldfarb through performance capture.

Vaas Montenegro is a character from Ubisoft's Far Cry video game franchise. He first appears as the secondary antagonist of the 2012 title Far Cry 3, and was extensively featured in promotional material for the game. Vaas is depicted as a capricious and mentally unstable character who antagonizes Far Cry 3's main character Jason Brody, and also serves as his dark psychological mirror. Vaas is later revealed to be a drug-addicted wayward member of the local community of the Rook Islands, the setting of Far Cry 3, who betrayed his people and aligned himself with the crime boss Hoyt Volker. Outside of Far Cry 3, Vaas' appearances include a live-action web series prequel called The Far Cry Experience, the virtual reality title Far Cry VR, and as the player character in Vaas: Insanity, a downloadable content (DLC) expansion for the 2021 title, Far Cry 6.

James Vega is a fictional character in BioWare's Mass Effect media franchise, who is a party member (or "squadmate") in the third game of the series. Within the series, he is a human Systems Alliance Marine holding the rank of lieutenant, and first appears in Mass Effect: Conviction where he is assigned by Systems Alliance Admiral David Anderson to escort series protagonist Commander Shepard, who is en route to an Alliance defense committee hearing in Vancouver. After the Reapers invasion of Earth commences, James joins Shepard and the crew of the Normandy as they depart Earth to rally support from humanity's allies. The character has also appeared in other media, including the first issue of the comic mini-series Mass Effect: Homeworlds, and anime film Mass Effect: Paragon Lost. James Vega is voiced by American actor Freddie Prinze, Jr.