Games, much like all other kinds of fiction, have extremely long lifespans and throughout them, while a bunch of the games keep their protagonist for every game, there are tons that change them.
This happens either due to protagonist fatigue, an anthology-type approach or just trying to reinvigorate the franchise. This isn’t exclusive to any genre in particular, and it won’t stop happening any time soon.
Odds are, if you’re following a long-running franchise, you’ve seen the protagonist switch multiple times. This allows the games to take on a slightly different flavor each time around. Whether it’s protagonists who are more or less blank slates, or strong personalities that change the feel of the story completely, it’s always a big move to switch out your main character.
We’re going to check out some games today that couldn’t just have one hero, but multiple over their extremely long lifespans.
A Snake of Many Skins
Metal Gear Solid is a franchise that is nearly 40 years old and is still coming out with titles to this day. From its inception, there have been a bunch of titles that feature the same protagonist, and several others that switch it up.
While Metal Gear 1, 2, and Metal Gear Solid starred Solid Snake, from there, the franchise got a little experimental. Metal Gear Solid 2 would infamously give us the bait and switch, with us starting the game as Solid Snake and then shifting to Raiden for the majority of the game. That was the first real gaming controversy I can remember, and from there, the switching didn’t stop.
Metal Gear Solid 3 starred Big Boss, giving us a look at the ultimate villain’s origins, and then, we went back to Solid Snake for Metal Gear Solid 4 before switching it up again with Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker and finally, Metal Gear Solid V, where we thought we were getting Big Boss again until the big twist at the end that we were playing as an entirely new character, Venom Snake.
If the franchise carries on without Kojima, I would venture a guess that we might see yet another iteration of Snake going forward.
9 Final Fantasy
Multiple Fantasies
Final Fantasy is a series that has spanned just about every console there is, but oddly enough, there are only a couple of titles that share protagonists.
The way the series is set up is that it’s an anthology from game to game, so the cast as well as the protagonists are constantly changing. There have only been three main games in the franchise that have had the same protagonist throughout spin-offs.
The reason the series is so consistently intriguing is that we’re constantly getting new characters and worlds. There is always a mystery over whether the protagonist will be an all-timer like Cloud, or an all-time dud like Vaan.
That “what if” ability of the series keeps it feeling fresh from game to game, and we’re nearly 40 years into the franchise, and there is no sign of it slowing down, so we’ll definitely be getting yet another new protagonist in Final Fantasy 17.
8 Tales Of
A New Tale Each Time
The Tales of franchise takes after Final Fantasy games in its anthology approach to games, and it’s all the better for it. While some of the games in the series do share the same world, the protagonist constantly changes throughout.
We are thankful for that, as there are so many great ones here, from Luke to Velvet and everywhere in between; there are some absolutely awesome main characters throughout this series.
This approach allows us to jump to the various lands that the Tales series takes us to while even connecting some from game to game, but always making sure to give us a new leading man or woman. Tales of is not the most consistent series when it comes to releases, but considering the mega success of Tales of Arise, we should be seeing a new entry in the series in the near future.
7 Grand Theft Auto
Different Types of Criminal
-
- Released
- September 17, 2013
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ due to Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Mature Humor, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, Use of Drugs and Alcohol
- Engine
- Rockstar Advanced Game Engine
- Cross-Platform Play
- no
- Cross Save
- yes
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- yes
- PC Release Date
- April 14, 2015
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
- March 15, 2022
- PS5 Release Date
- March 15, 2022
- How Long To Beat
- 32 Hours
- X|S Optimized
- Yes
- File Size Xbox Series
- 84 GB (July 2023)
- Metascore
- 81
- PS Plus Availability
- Extra & Premium
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
Grand Theft Auto is a series that revels in switching protagonists from game to game. This is due to both the location changing and the era. We’ve had games set in the 80s to ones set in modern times when they’ve been released, and they’ve shown us tons of locales and unique characters to get to know and love.
This makes the excitement for each game always build before release, because this series has some of the best protagonists of all time. From getting the talents of Ray Liotta for Grand Theft Auto: Vice City to CJ, to the incredible trio of performances in Grand Theft Auto V, some of gaming’s best come out of this series.
I think it’s a good thing, because it would be pretty hard to believe that these criminals would make it for the span of multiple stories. The reason the series is so great is that it makes us get to know entirely new cities and characters with every game.
6 Resident Evil
It Takes a Village
Resident Evil is one of gaming’s most recognizable names and has been since its first title in the mid-90s. From game to game, we generally see the protagonist change.
For a while, it was following the Redfields, brother and sister, in the Raccoon City police force, but then, we shifted to games starring Leon Kennedy, and from there, it’s been a huge mix. Resident Evil 6 basically starred, well, everyone, and then in recent years, we’ve got the introduction of Ethan Winters, who is the world heavyweight champion of having a bad time.
The upcoming Resident Evil: Requiem is going to have a new protagonist as well, so while the story is all one, big, fluent thing, the star is consistently changing from game to game, and we don’t expect to see that change any time soon.
5 Call of Duty
Soldiers of Fortune
Call of Duty is one of the longer-running franchises out there, and with each entry, we usually have a pretty good chance of a new protagonist. While there have been some games in the series that do star the same character, the rest of the series have different protagonists with every entry.
This is largely due to the era switching that we get throughout the many, many games in the series at this point. We actually started with World War 2 games here, so, naturally, the protagonists would change from game to game and, going on nearly 20 years with the franchise, we are still seeing new faces at the helm of the games.
While it’s a first-person shooter, the protagonist is always a big deal in Call of Duty, as each one always brings something very different to the table in terms of personality, which makes the entries feel pretty unique from the standpoint of the campaign.
4 Far Cry
The Lost
Far Cry is a series that has stretched for a very long time, and as we go game to game, we are consistently getting a new protagonist with each series. The reason is that the locale has continued to change game after game.
We’ve gone from the Himalayan mountains to Montana and just about everywhere in between, seeing as the series is consistently producing good games with each entry. Each character has a lot of personality, so you’re not just getting blank slates from game to game.
Ubisoft churns out these games on a fairly consistent basis, and we’ve still got most of the world left un-Farcry’d. I think with Dani Rojas in their last game, the series has got one of their best protagonists yet, so hopefully they can build on that for whatever game and locale comes next.
3 Persona
New Kid in School
Persona has only really been in the mainstream since 2015, but the games go back far, far longer. The beginning of the Persona franchise was in the 90s, and it was a much darker and stranger affair back then. Along with a different sort of tone, Persona was switching out protagonists left and right.
Often, the protagonist of the series is propped up as the new kid in school, which is what everyone pretty much dreads in the real world, but in Persona, it means you’re going to have a bunch of friends and superpowers, so it’s not all bad. The school changes as well, so the protagonists always have a unique set of challenges to go through, no matter what the game is.
The most famous of the protagonists is, of course, Joker, but there are tons of others that are notable as well, like Yu from Persona 4. We will inevitably get one more game in this series, so we will probably have a new protagonist when that one releases as well.
The Faces That Write History
The series stretches back to 1994, and although the games didn’t exactly hit it big in the gaming scene until Morrowind came out, there were still several titles before that to come out and make their mark in different ways.
For every game of this iconic franchise, which has been more or less the video game version of The Lord of the Rings, comes a new protagonist.
Whether it’s the person chosen to stop the invasion of Oblivion or the iconic Dragonborn, it’s always a new, wayward soul that gets thrust into the mantle of world savior without a moment to catch their breath.
While the protagonist of each game is more or less a blank slate to be written by the player, they do have specific roles to play in each game in the series, so while you choose what you say or do from moment to moment, your role in the story is always set in stone.
1 Assassin’s Creed
From Era to Era
Assassin’s Creed, believe it or not, has been going on for nearly 20 years. After you recover from that fact, it’s interesting that from game to game, we rarely see the same protagonist.
While Assassin’s Creed 2 started an entire trilogy starring Ezio, since then, we have hopped from protagonist to protagonist. The reason is due to the era-hopping we do from game to game. You can’t possibly have the star of an Ancient Greece game appear in a game about the Vikings conquering England.
This is a good thing, as the series has mostly dropped the ball when it comes to protagonists since Ezio. We need to see them keep swinging for the fences with their characters, and at the very least, it gives us a lot of variety in both the tone and feel from game to game.
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Author: 360 Technology Group
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