Memory loss can play a major role in telling a good story, particularly because both the character and the audience get to go on the ride together in order to unravel the mystery. Video games are no exception, and many titles have successfully leveraged the amnesia element in order to provide a more interactive and engaging experience.
Most times, amnesia is designed to put players in a state of confusion from the very first moment, but other games have taken a different route. Some introduce characters with memory loss into a story that has already been established, in order to add more to the tale. The best uses of amnesiac characters in video games ended up becoming legends in their own right.
Nei (Phantasy Star II)
Amnesiac characters were written relatively light back in the 16-Bit era, and RPGs like Phantasy Star II could only go so far within the limits of technology to tell the story. The character of Nei plays a vital role in the overall storyline, though her true origins are revealed only very late into the game.
Nei was very close to the main protagonist Rolf, an agent working for the Central Government of the planet Mota. She has a limited understanding of her own past, with bits and pieces filled in by various people along the way. She ends up learning the full truth of her origins when she discovers her sister Neifirst, a genetic experiment born from the same program as herself.
Jason Fly (XIII)
Ominous espionage video games featuring amnesiac protagonists became popular with Jason Bourne, but XIII wanted a piece of the action, as well. The video game adaptation put players in the shoes of Jason Fly, a man who wakes up after surviving a gunshot wound, only to learn he's wanted by the FBI for assassinating a sitting U.S. President.
The story unravels throughout the cell-shaded gameplay stages where Jason must use all the tricks of the trade to stay one step ahead of his pursuers. The narrative builds to an epic level where XIII must prevent a coup by a shadowy organization, and come to terms with his true identity.
Mia (Resident Evil VII)
The character of Mia forced Resident Evil VII players to distrust literally every single person in the game, thanks to a nail-biting and terrifying intro sequence. After disappearing for three years under mysterious circumstances, she's finally tracked down by her husband Ethan inside the creepy Baker house, where's she been imprisoned.
Mia flips back and forth between a normal woman and a terrifying monster with superhuman strength. Later, it's learned that Mia had lost many of her memories surrounding her participation in a top-secret bio-weapon that managed to get loose, and her participation in the story made her one of the best characters in Resident Evil VII.
Conrad B. Hart (Flashback: The Quest For Identity)
Conrad Hart was the amnesiac protagonist of the classic 16-Bit era video game Flashback, which tried to blend cinematic quality with a side-scrolling platform formula. He becomes the target of a group of aliens seeking to destroy Earth in 2142, and they decide to wipe his memories in order to deal with him.
Fortunately, Conrad backed up all his memories on a holocube, and his innate skills combined with his training allow him to survive being jumped on a jungle environment, paving the way for some payback. The story is weaved across 7 individual levels before Conrad manages to save the day, and slip into cryosleep.
Terra (Final Fantasy VI)
Final Fantasy VI executes one of the best-written stories in the franchise, thanks to characters like Terra. She awakens from telepathic enslavement to find herself on the run from a ruthless Empire, which sets her on a quest to recover her lost memories and figure out who she really is.
Over the course of the game, Terra undergoes a major character transformation, moving from a potential love interest for the character Locke, to a young woman with a very important purpose in life. She's sympathetic, loveable, and she learns to overcome paralyzing fear about her true identity, and use it for the benefit of others.
Cloud Strife (Final Fantasy VII)
Technically, Cloud is not an amnesiac in the strictest sense, but his fractured and semi-manufactured memories do put him in the same overall class. A severe trauma contributed to his condition, aided by years of experimentation at the hands of the mad scientist Hojo. After Sephiroth went rogue, Cloud's memories were a mess.
To compensate, Cloud essentially crafted a series of false memories based on stories told by the character Zack. It was hard for him to differentiate between what was real and what was not, and even when the dust had settled, Cloud's memories were far from repaired. The name "Cloud" was a reference to his fractured psyche and memories, which is one of numerous Cloud Strife facts many fans don't know.
Daniel (Amnesia: The Dark Descent)
This survival horror game introduces yet another amnesiac protagonist into the mix, this time in the form of Daniel, a man exploring a foreboding castle containing plenty of puzzles and vicious monsters. As per usual fare, his missing memories are revealed as the game progresses, building to the final revelation.
As his amnesia is reversed, players must keep an eye on Daniel's sanity level, which can be affected negatively if not maintained. This will manifest itself in distorted vision, an audible heartbeat, and even hallucinations. It's one of the few games to mix both memory and mental health together into one package.
Geralt (The Witcher)
It took two video games before the popular character Geralt of Rivia managed to cobble together his missing memories, but it was a hard road to get there. Geralt loses his memories before the first Witcher game and slowly starts to repair them during the events of the second. He started out amnesiac on the gates of Kaer Morhen, where Witchers are given their training.
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The circumstances of how Geralt regained his memories are still up for discussion, despite what occurred in The Witcher 2. Much of the storyline is left open for interpretation, and nothing is ever quite as it appears to be in the realm of the Witcher franchise.
Nilin (Remember Me)
Nilin Cartier-Wells was a Memory hunter in the distant future, who used her skills to steal the downloadable memories of others for personal profit. Her memories are wiped following an operation where she uses revolutionary memory technology to convince a target to commit suicide.
Throughout the story, Nilin ends up working with a group of freedom fighters known as Errorists in order to recover her memories, while working to destroy the very technology that so many humans rely on to purge unpleasant memories from their consciousness.
Darth Revan (Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic)
No other video game character is more famous for having gone through a bout of amnesia besides Revan, from the classic Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. This former Jedi fell to the dark side of the Force after fighting a grueling and costly war and believed he could unify the galaxy by bringing it under his own hand.
The Jedi stripped him of his memories, which set him on a quest to fulfill his own destiny. Over the course of the game, players were shocked to learn that the immensely powerful Sith Lord Darth Revan was actually the main character in the game, which flipped the entire story on its head, and upped the stakes to a huge degree.