History CanonCharacterAllAlong / VideoGames

* ''VideoGame/Injustice2'': Choosing to play as [[BigBad Brainiac]] in Arcade Mode and then [[MirrorMatch defeating Braniac as Braniac]] at the end would seem like the standard fighting game MST3KMantra at play... only for the ending cutscene to reveal that the playable Brainiac is actually Querl Dox, aka Brainiac 5, the heroic descendent of the villainous Braniac and a member of the ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes.

** [[WhatCouldHaveBeen Had the series continued under David Jaffe's vision]], Kratos would have been revealed to have been one of TheThreeWiseMen of Christian mythology.
** Kratos turns out to be a different canonical character by the [[VideoGame/GodOfWarPS4 fourth game]] as the series' version of Fárbauti by virtue of being Loki's father and "Fárbauti" is Norse for "cruel striker". This in turn reveals Kratos' son Atreus to be the trickster Loki, [[Myth/NorseMythology who is responsible for causing Baldur's death and triggering Ragnarok.]]

* ''VideoGame/Injustice2'': Being able to play as [[BigBad Brainiac]] in Arcade Mode and [[MirrorMatch have him fight himself]] at the end of it seems like the standard fighting game MST3KMantra at play... only for the final cutscene to reveal that the playable Brainiac is actually Querl Dox AKA Brainiac 5, Brainiac's heroic descendent and member of the ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes.

** In ''VideoGame/DoomEternal'', flashbacks and codex entries concerning the history of the Night Sentinels reveal that the Doom Slayer is actually the main character of the original ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' games. He's even depicted in his original helmet and outfit, with the subtitles outright referring to him as "Doomguy".

* Zigzagged through FlipFlopOfGod by the lead designer of ''VideoGame/Fallout3'' and ''VideoGame/Fallout4'', Emil Pagliarulo, when he [[https://twitter.com/Dezinuh/status/1779178683841790068 tweeted in 2024]] that Nate, the male protagonist of 4, was meant to be the American soldier in the intro to ''VideoGame/Fallout1'' who witnessed another execute a Canadian, and can be seen laughing about it and waving to the camera as part of U.S. propoganda. Following backlash from fans who expressed their discomfort at one of the protagonists apparently being enthusiastically complicit in war crimes, plus pointing out that 4 indicated Nate had [[ContinuitySnarl nothing to do with the Canadian front, but Anchorage]], Emil backtracked shortly afterwards by claiming that this was merely an ''internal'' thought of the writers, but fans could come up with different backstories for Nate.

* ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys3'' revolves around the character "Springtrap" which is revealed to be [[HauntedTechnology possessed by]] [[GreaterScopeVillain William]] [[SerialKiller Afton]], who killed the children that possessed the main antagonists and likely helped design them, although we do know he definitively designed the animatronics featured in ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddysSisterLocation''. Although, his involvement with engineering wasn't clear yet.
** In ''VideoGame/FreddyFazbearsPizzeriaSimulator'', all of the four remaining animatronics are what's left of them after the fire at Fazbear's Fright. And three of them are very clearly old ones returning for one more go round with the nightguard, with Molten Freddy being the remains of Ennard, with Funtime Freddy now being in control, Scraptrap being what's left of Springtrap and Scrap Baby being what became of Circus Baby after getting kicked out of Ennard. The final one, however, is Lefty, who is seemingly a brand new character. At the end of the game, they are revealed to actually be [[VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys2 the Puppet]], who was sealed in the new Lefty suit.
** Michael Afton, the protagonist of ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddysSisterLocation'', manages to top his father in this contest. In fact, he's actually Mike Schmidt, the protagonist of the first ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'', who went under a fake alias.

* While the Ancient Minister, the field leader of the Subspace Army in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'''s Subspace Emissary, appears to be an OriginalGeneration character, when his clothes burn off, it's revealed that he's actually [[VideoGame/RoboticOperatingBuddy R.O.B.]]
* ''VideoGame/TacticsOgreTheKnightOfLodis'', despite being a prequel to ''VideoGame/TacticsOgre'' initially does not seem like it has any real connection to it. However, in the game's canonical ending, the protagonist of [=KoL=], Alphonse Loehir, has his name changed by the Pope to Lans Tartare, who is the primary antagonist of ''Tactics Ogre'' (the remake translates his first name as "Lanselot").

* ''VideoGame/ShantaeAndTheSevenSirens'' introduces players to zombie half-genie, Fillin the Blank, who is revealed to be Shantae's friend Rottytops near the endgame.
* In ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiV'', the {{deuteragonist}} of the game is a proto-fiend called Aogami, an artifically-created demon with the power to fuse with humans and turning them into a [[HalfHumanHybrid Nahobino]]. Late in the game, said proto-fiend turns out to be Susano-O, a series staple demon and god of seas and storms of Japan.

* In ''VideoGame/SeaOfThieves'', the "A Pirate's Life" update, a crossover event which includes multiple characters from ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'', introduces a new character called the Castaway, who acts as the quest giver for the storyline, and who knows a fair bit more than a seemingly random stranger should know about Jack Sparrow's exploits. That is, until Chapter 4 reveals that she's actually the sea goddess Calypso, one of Jack's allies and Davey Jones's former love interest.

* ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'' does this with its titular villain. Up until the game's release, Rocksteady insisted that the Arkham Knight was an original character who stood as Batman's antithesis. While the Arkham Knight '''as an identity''' was new, the person behind the mask, Jason Todd a.k.a. ComicBook/RedHood, was an already established character. This set up a MetaTwist when the Arkham Knight became a CanonImmigrant in ''Detective Comics'' #1000. Many fans assumed this incarnation of the Knight was a preexisting character, due to how knowledgeable the Knight is about Batman. Then ''Detective Comics'' #1003 had an unmasking revealing that the Knight is actually Astrid Arkham, [[GenderFlip a woman]], thus making the Arkham Knight a truly original character within the comic book canon.

* ''VideoGame/BendyAndTheInkMachine'': The tie-in novel, ''Dreams Come To Life'', stars Daniel "Buddy" Lewek, a volunteer at Joey Drew Studios who appears to have been created solely for the book. Come the end of the book however, Buddy is transformed into a Boris clone, with the heavy implication that he's the Boris we ally with in Chapter Three.

* ''VideoGame/CognitiveDissonance'': Your companion Zarbol is revealed to be an insectoid alien in a protective craft near the end of the game. Then he goes back in time, becoming Buzz Buzz from ''Earthbound''.

* ''VideoGame/RedAlert'': One of the background extras occasionally seen talking to Stalin is played by Creator/JosephDKucan, a.k.a. Kane from VideoGame/TiberianDawn (although wearing a suit rather than his usual black shirt), which is likely to be excused by the player as the game having a small cast. Only at the very end, when he helps kill Stalin then kills Nadiam, do we realize he is, in fact, Kane himself.

* In ''[[https://games.softpedia.com/get/Freeware-Games/Megaman-X-Nightshade.shtml Mega Man X: Nightshade]]'', the true identity of the BigBad Epsilon is Bass.

* ''VideoGame/MarvelsSpiderManTwo'': A series of side missions follow Peter and Yuri as they track down a deranged destruction-obsessed cult leader calling himself the Flame. Eventually, Yuri reveals the Flame's name (one of them at any rate) is Cletus Kasady, the host of the Carnage symbiote in the comics.

** ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3'': two of the statues of the City's founders are actually of their mentors, and the two statues and the statue's desriptions heavily resemble Shulk and Rex, the protagonists of the first two games. The story DLC ''[[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3FutureRedeemed Future Redeemed]]'' outright confirms that those statues were of them.