Video Games Where You're Not The Main Character

It's common for video games to put players in the shoes of a heroic character. Whether it be Link from The Legend of Zelda or Master Chief of the Halo franchise, video game fans are accustomed to their characters having entire narratives centered on them. However, in a few cases, players instead control characters with less impact on the story.

In these titles from across video game history, players take control of a character who doesn't carry as much narrative weight as non-playable characters in the same game. Whether they're actually the antagonist, deuteragonist, or a supporting role, these games allow players to bear witness to a real hero's journey rather than embody it themselves.

Related

6 Best Open World Games With Children As Main Characters

Video games often offer players a new perspective. In these open-world titles, you take control of a child main character.

Posts

By  Sam Carrick

8 Dragon Quest V

The Main Quest Is Finding The Real Hero

The Dragon Quest franchise has always been ambitious, but never more so than Dragon Quest V. The JRPG centers on the birth of a Hero, the player character. However, over the course of the adventure it becomes clear that they are not the Legendary Hero mythologized by their father, Pankraz, who spent his entire life searching for them in order to save his wife.

As the protagonist searches for the Legendary Hero, it becomes clear who it is: the player's son, born twenty years after the story begins. As a result, it's the player's son who dons the legendary Zenithian Sword and armour set by the end of the game, while the standard Hero missed out on a Super Smash Bros appearance for not being a sword wielder.

7 Xenoblade Chronicles X

One Party Member Has A Higher Purpose

The Wii U installment of the Xenoblade Chronicles franchise is often forgotten, but contains one of the best stories in a Nintendo IP. Xenoblade Chronicles X centers on a war between the humans of the planet Mira, led by the protective unit BLADE, against the Ganglion invasion. Players control an avatar refugee who crash-lands on Mira.

However, the game's story places more of a focus on Elma, the first companion players encounter on Mira, and BLADE's leader. It's later revealed that Elma is a member of the Ganglion race who helped humanity escape Earth and survive on Mira. While players feel more like a soldier in the war, Elma is the one who set everything into motion at the start.

6 Metroid Prime: Federation Force

Faceless Soldiers Are Tasked With Saving Samus

Even though Samus is one of the most iconic video game heroines of all time, there's one Metroid game where players don't control her. The 3DS title Metroid Prime: Federation Force follows what happens when Samus is captured by Space Pirates, resulting in a rescue team of faceless Galactic Federation marines adventuring to save her.

Related

Metroid: Samus Aran's Biggest Mistakes & Failures Ever

Protagonist of the Metroid franchise, Samus has been around for nearly 30 years. Though she's seen her share of victories, she's made mistakes too.

Posts

By  Blaise Santi

The game released to mixed reviews, mostly due to how short the main story was. However, its incorporation of multiplayer invoked the series' past successes, like Metroid Prime Hunters on DS. Perhaps if the Galactic Federation officers had more of a personality like Samus, fans would have revisited this 3DS title more.

5 The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Sean Bean Plays The Most Important Role

Gamers who are well acquainted with The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim are probably used to the franchise deeming them the chosen one, or "Dragonborn." However, that's not the case for the predecessor, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. In this game, players attempt to thwart a cultish uprising that threatens the land of Tamriel, but one character is key to the solution.

That character is Martin, voiced by Sean Bean of Game of Thrones, who players team up with after rescuing him from a cult assault on Kvatch. Eventually, it becomes clear that Martin is a bastard son of the emperor's bloodline, making him the leader of a new resistance. However, his fate at the end of the story is ultimately tragic.

4 Fire Emblem Awakening

Everything Centers Around Chrom's Family

It wouldn't be fair to say that the avatar character (named "Robin" by default) in Fire Emblem Awakening is unimportant to the story. The amateur magician becomes the strategist for the Shepherds, a mercenary group led by Chrom, the brother of Ylisse's ruler. But as a war wages on against the barbaric Plegia, it's Chrom who bears the emotional weight of the story.

Related

10 Things That Hold Up About 2012's Fire Emblem Awakening

Although it's true that most games eventually become dated, there's still plenty to love about 2012's Fire Emblem Awakening.

Posts

By  Blaise Santi

Another vital character who some call the protagonist is Lucina, Chrom's daughter who travels from the future to prevent her father's death. It's also implied that Chrom and Lucina share blood ties with Fire Emblem's original hero, Marth. Lucina even masquerades as Marth for nearly half the story, lending further credence to her importance to the franchise over Robin.

3 Final Fantasy 10

The Player Is The Bodyguard For The Real Heroine

Final Fantasy 10 was released on the PlayStation 2 in 2001, and like many games in the franchise, features a cavalcade of characters who could be considered heroic. The main playable character is Tidus, though the athletic hero is merely a bodyguard to the real protagonist of the story: Yuna, who is quested with defeating the creature known as "Sin."

Yuna gets her chance to be the main playable character in Final Fantasy 10-2, in which Tidus goes missing. But even in the previous game, Yuna plays an integral part of the story as the hero who saves the world, while Tidus is merely her companion. Nevertheless, the synergy between the two heroes places them among the most popular characters in the series.

2 Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty

Solid Snake Takes A Backseat In This Game

It's hard to imagine a Metal Gear Solid game that doesn't feature Solid Snake, but Sons of Liberty is the exception. In fact, the game's protagonist was considered controversial at the time. Solid Snake only helps out in certain missions, while the game's antagonist, Solidus Snake, is also a clone who leads the titular terrorist organization.

The main protagonist that players control instead is Raiden, a rookie agent later revealed to be a child soldier trained by the Sons of Liberty. Raiden re-appeared as the main character in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, but it's safe to say that fans of the franchise are much more enamored with games where they can play as the true hero, Solid Snake.

1 The Last Of Us

There's A Lot That's Special About Ellie

It may seem obvious to call Joel Miller the protagonist of The Last of Us, but many would disagree. The first game in the franchise finds players mainly controlling Joel as he escorts a young Ellie, who is immune to the Cordyceps virus that has zombified the world, to a Firefly outpost where they can use her for a cure, though Joel's actions are that of an anti-hero.

As is made clear by the second game, The Last of Us: Part II, the real main character of the franchise is in fact Ellie, who is only briefly playable in the first game. The second game also allows players to control the antagonist, Abby, for a significant amount of time. Meanwhile, Joel is only playable for a short period at the beginning of the game.

More

The Last of Us: The 20 Best Ellie Quotes

The Last Of Us features many unforgettable lines, moments, and quotes. It's no surprise that so many of them involve Ellie.

Posts