Down to Details: the Best Glasses for Cosplaying the Most Popular Bespectacled Video Game Characters

People love cosplaying video game characters. Plenty of titles come with rich lore, and that attention to detail extends to character design itself—making them more appealing to replicate in real life. In fact, a Cosgear survey reveals that 62% of cosplayers only play certain video games just to get to know the character they want to dress up as.

That’s not surprising given that gamers and cosplayers alike can now personally connect with the characters they see on screen. Our piece  notes that countless video games now include diverse storylines and characters that break down stereotypes and foster empathy when it comes to race and ethnicity, gender identity and expression, and even disability and accessibility. That means it’s now easier than ever to accurately cosplay your favorite video game characters because you’re bound to find one that looks just like you.

That can be great news for glasses wearers—instead of your specs hindering cosplay accuracy, they can make you look more like the fictional persona you want to portray. In fact, all you need to do is choose the right frames! If you’re looking to dress up with glasses at your next con, here are some of the best glasses you can try when cosplaying some of the most popular bespectacled video game characters:

Ray-Ban Wayfarer Ease Optics for Half-Life’s Gordon Freeman

Theoretical physicist Gordon Freeman, protagonist of the Half-Life franchise, is best known for fighting aliens after a failed science experiment sees Earth being invaded by an inter-dimensional empire. To pull off your look as this badass intellectual, you can dress up in either his casual lab attire or Freeman’s battle armor, which consists of a grey-and-orange hazmat suit. Whichever outfit you go for, however, you definitely need to include his trusty crowbar—and, of course, his signature pair of glasses. To perfectly mimic his frames, you can buy some Ray-Ban eyeglasses to get the job done. The brand is already known for iconic styles like the Aviator and Wayfarer, and the latter closely resembles Freeman’s preferred specs thanks to their chunky black rectangular frames.

MYKITA GETZ for Valorant’s Killjoy

If you like playing Valorant, you probably know Killjoy as one of the best agents in the game. With an astonishing 100% pick rate in professional Valorant circles, her stealth skills, ability to survive nerfs, and a Nanoswarm perfect for clearing 1v1 matches make her one of the most versatile sentinels available in the game’s current roster. Cosplayers, however, may best know her for donning an eclectic outfit consisting of ripped leggings, a lemon-yellow puffer jacket, a green beanie, and round eyeglasses. You can easily copy her look by topping it off with handcrafted glasses from MYKITA’s Decades collection. Here, you’ll find that the brand’s GETZ model perfectly matches the dark, circular frames that are essential for any Killjoy cosplay.

Marvel Optics Bastrop for Metal Gear Solid’s Hans Emmerich

If the name Hans Emmerich doesn’t ring any bells for you, that may be because you better know him as Otacon. Though this shy individual is most popular for serving as a staunch ally for the game’s protagonist—the super soldier Solid Snake—his character design actually went through a number of changes. One bit of Metal Gear Solid you may not have known is that its creator, Hideo Kojima, first conceptualized Otacon as a heavier character. Over the course of the game’s development, however, lead artist Yoji Shinkawa decided to make Emmerich look more like Kojima himself. Given that the video game designer is best known for his slim physique, neat brown hair, and wire-rimmed glasses, you’ll definitely need specs to cosplay Otacon to a tee—in fact, the one thing players remember about this character is how he constantly readjusts his glasses. That’s where models like Marvel Optics’ Bastrop can help. Their silver, half-rim frames look just like the ones you’ll constantly see Otacon wearing in the game.

Giant Vintage AZALEA for Bayonetta

Might we just add, Va, Va and Voom. Thank you.

Bayonetta, the main character in a video game of the same name, is nothing short of iconic. Sure, she’s fun to play as an Umber Witch—but she’s also a trendsetter. The Bayonetta franchise first rose to fame in the early ‘00s. With today’s fashion waxing nostalgic and endorsing the Y2K aesthetic, it girls like Bella Hadid have recently fueled a demand for what’s now known as Bayonetta glasses.

The character’s slim, angular frames perfectly encapsulate the “office siren” look popular during the late ‘90s and early ‘00s, and they’re so closely associated with Bayonetta herself that her name is now used to refer to this particular eyewear trend. That means her glasses are a must if you want to cosplay her—and, thanks to the fact that they’re currently an in-demand style, you’ll find that brands like Giant Vintage even offer entire collections dedicated to Bayonetta-inspired eyewear. Out of all of the models available, though, the brand’s AZALEA Clear Bayonetta-Style Glasses is the pair that most closely hits the mark when it comes to replicating the witch’s now-iconic black skinny glasses.

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