A former Dead Echo Squad member, he and his team betrayed their superior (Sarrano) after they discovered that they were doing "dirty" jobs and not being told all the details; Sarrano had ordered them to kill an innocent man - a reporter named Bryce Novak - who had discovered too much about Dead Echo "erasing" civilians. Grayson and his crew then flee to the outer edge of known space in self-exile and take up piracy, raiding Confederacy ships and depots to get by. Extremely cynical, resentful and harboring a drunken disposition, Gray is pissed at the world, a ticking time bomb ready to explode at any second, which makes him both a dangerous and a skilled soldier. Voiced by Steve Blum.Tropes related to the weapons Grayson uses alongside the game go in the main page.
The Alcoholic: He can slake his thirst for hooch by toking entire bottles of the local firewater in one go, stumbling around for a few moments then immediately sobering up. The Booze Based (De)Buff this awards the player gives additional points for kill enemies while under the influence. Alternatively the player can opt to make him a teetotaler by destroying bottles he finds instead of emptying them. Both options give a Achievement/Trophy for finding each one in the campaign.
The Atoner: A significant part of Grayson's character development is him attempting to atone for doing all of those assassinations for Sarrano and later getting nearly his entire crew killed in a Roaring Rampage of Revenge. Ishi ultimately agrees that he's trying to make amends.
Determinator: He's lost everything, either because of his own mistakes, because of Sarrano, or because of his need for revenge. But he's not going to give up on it, nor is he going to give up on getting Ishi off-world.
Hidden Depths: Grayson hides some surprising intelligence behind the foul-mouthed bruiser he projects. Sometimes he proves to be oddly eloquent and aware of literary conventions, and does his own Layman's Terms for Trishka and Ishi's technobabble. He even quotes Fifteen Men on a Deadman's Chest in the intro when he rams his ship into the Ulysses. This can be explained by the fact that Special Ops commandos include intelligence in their selection criteria, and Gray was the leader of one such team.
Hyperspace Arsenal: Although he can only carry three guns at a time, you can only see the assault rifle on his back during cutscenes.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He loves killing and being brutally cruel to his opponents, but this is juxtaposed with the fact that the entire reason he turned on Sarrano was because he was having them kill innocents, he orders Ishi to protect an innocent bystander, and that his driving motivation for most of the game is to get Ishi off the planet so he can be properly treated.
Knight in Sour Armor: Initially it seems like he's just out for a Roaring Rampage of Revenge purely because Sarrano betrayed him, but towards the end it looks more and more like he's convinced himself (perhaps because of some of the things Ishi and Sarrano have said) that it's not just about revenge, it's about doing the right thing and making amends for all of the suffering he's caused to innocent people.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Throughout the game, he fights alongside a lot of the people who he either dislikes or is disliked by, with only survival trumping their need to shoot one another instead of the dangerous criminals and/or mutants trying to kill them.
Late in the game, even Sarrano pokes at Grayson for all of the deaths that he's caused due to his actions. And Sarrano is no saint. Of course, it's mostly because Sarrano is an ass who gets his kicks by messing with people's heads, but still.
Ishi Sato
Essentially both The Lancer and The Smart Guy, Ishi is the most distressed by the group's "repurposing" into assassins during the prologue. He is the voice of reason, tempering Grayson's (self)destructive tendencies. Voiced by Andrew Kishino.
A.I. Is a Crapshoot: His robot half. Mostly because he's only got half its brain, and even that is operating off a dodgy connection.
Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: Post-injury. Vaguely justified as since the doc had to use the processor from a nearby robot to fix his brain, its AI is trying to take control, because A.I. Is a Crapshoot. It zig-zags back and forth from there.
In this universe it seems Cybernetics Eat Your Soul happens if it's an emergency patch job, with little to no proper supplies, you're missing half your brain and need them replace with a combat robot's, the doctor gets an axe to the back during the process, in constant pain because of the rushed patch job, and you're pissed at the guy who caused it to happen to you.
Hollywood Cyborg: He gets half his body burnt to a crisp and is subjected to a rather slap-dash operation that fuses him with a bunch of nearby robot parts. It really hurts, and his mind has been partially made cybernetic, resulting in him going Terminator whenever he's pissed.
I Know You Are In There Somewhere Fight: When Sarrano uses his special leash to control him into trying to kill Grayson. Grayson fights it long enough for Ishi to throw off Sarrano's control.
I Owe You My Life: The only reason he was following Grayson around at the beginning. Since Grayson nearly got him killed all over again, Ishi pretty much figures that's the end of that.
Deus ex Machina: When she shows up to rescue Grayson and Ishi just as it looks like they're about to be stuck with the DNA Bomb. Grayson actually calls it a Deus ex Machina, even. But they Never Found the Body, so it was bound to happen eventually.
Ms. Fanservice: The developers made sure not to overdo it though; some dev interviews mention that they tried to strike a balance between "cute" and "practical". The result is Trishka decked out in military fatigues and combat boots from the waist down, while from the waist up she's wearing a tank top. It's actually pretty effective at making her look both attractive and like a practical soldier.
The Reveal: Towards the end of the game, she reveals that Novak, the man Dead Echo assassinated in the prologue chapter, was her father; she was the little girl Ishi found waiting just outside the office. Later, an in-universe example: Serrano tells Trishka that Grayson's Echo squad (specifically, Grayson himself) were the ones who pulled the trigger.
Sexy Walk: How she's introduced, just after she's done curb stomping a Creeper.
Tsundere: A not-romantic type A example. She hates Grayson at the beginning of the game and is willing to make sure he understands that. A fire nurtured by Gray's incredibly brainless tactics. Then, they decide to work as a team to survive and save each others' life countless times, making her start to see him as a teammate, not a liability. At the end, she is his only friend left.
You Killed My Father: Her motivation for going after Sarrano, and later, Gray. Then Sarrano again.
General of the Confederate Army, likely one of their highest ranking officers and almost certainly personally responsible for the creation Dead/Heavy/Final/etc. Echo trooper lines, designed as his personal shock troopers. Voiced by Anthony De Longis.
He doesn't seem to have left his crashlanding site since touchdown (likely several hours) and was almost certainly under attack by the locals almost the entire time.
Depopulation Bomb: The entire reason why he and the Ulysses were at the planet was to drop a "DNA bomb" on Stygia that will kill all organic life on the planet, allowing the corporations to rebuild from the ground up. Naturally, said bomb goes off at the climax of the game, wiping the planet clean.
Drill Sergeant Nasty: Though he's technically a general, his never-ending verbal assault makes him seem more like this.
Jerkass Has a Point: No matter which way you cut it, you did kill a number of Heavy Echo troopers, and the crew of the Ulysses, who were by-and-large innocent bystanders in your feud with Serrano.
Not Quite Dead: Unlike Trishka's one, it's a genuine plot twist, given that we're actually able to see him give Grayson his last "Afterburner"/"Voodoo Doll" combo. And then there's the post-credits scene...
