Overview
Also known as sellswords, hired guns, or cash-strapped vigilantes; bounty hunters are a prolific part of many video games.
Bounty hunters usually fill in for traditional law enforcement when the situation is too dangerous or the target is too off-the-radar. There is also a tendency for bounty hunters to appear in places where law enforcement is ineffective or overwhelmed. However, fugitives from justice are not a bounty hunter's only target; often individuals who have fallen on the wrong side of powerful corporations or crime syndicates will have a bounty placed on their head.
Generally well-paid, at least when successful, bounty hunters usually have access to advanced equipment and weaponry that gives them the edge in the pursuit of their marks. For example, the iconic Boba Fett from the Star Wars universe managed to carry around a sawed-off rifle, flamethrower, various laser weapons, rockets, a grappling hook, and a jetpack in addition to his suit of reinforced armor.
The wild west and outer space are two locations where bounty hunters seem to spring up, due in part to the uncharted nature of these locales where the rule of law has not yet been firmly established. However, bounty hunters still find employment in sprawling urban centers where they tend to pick up contracts from criminal elements. Fantasy settings also have their share of bounty hunters, though they are more often mercenaries hired to track down a specific person.
Most video games, such as the Fallout series, tend to cast bounty hunters as enemies. Its common in many RPGs for "good" characters to have bounties placed on their head by the bad characters.
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