History Main / VideoGamesAndFate

* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrolls'' plays with this idea often. Though destiny and fate almost certainly exist, how much they effect the player (if at all) is left unclear. ''VideoGame/Morrowind'' notably plays with this with its heroic prophecies and vague divine intervention.

* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrolls'' plays with this idea often. Though destiny and fate almost certainly exist, how much they effect the player (if at all) is left unclear. ''Morrowind'' notably plays with this with its heroic prophecies and vague divine intervention.

!!!Unmarked spoilers below.

* ''VideoGame/MaxPayne 2'' is entirely linear, with NoSidepathsNoExplorationNoFreedom (although there are two MultipleEndings depending on difficulty level). It also features numerous ruminations upon the nature of free will and destiny, with several of the characters debating whether they truly have agency of their own or if their actions are simply pre-determined.

This can be done in various ways: by having characters discuss the concept of free will in dialogue; using tropes such as NoSidepathsNoExplorationNoFreedom to visually represent the player's lack of choice both in-game and in-story; or having characters actively announce their lack of free will. In terms of plot devices, this trope can encompass supernatural examples such as YouCantFightFate; or more mundane MoreThanMindControl plot devices, in which the character's actions are controlled by another party in much the same way that the player's actions are "controlled" by the game itself [[note]]or how the player character's actions are controlled by the player, who is in turn controlled by the game, but the player character is part of the game so [[MindScrew oh no I've gone cross-eyed[[/note]]. It can often overlap with PlayingThePlayer, in which the player is actively deceived by the game and their expectations about it betrayed, but this trope need not involve deception.

This can be done in various ways, such as by having characters discuss the concept of free will in dialogue, using tropes such as NoSidepathsNoExplorationNoFreedom to visually represent the player's lack of choice both in-game and in-story, or having characters actively announce their lack of free will. In terms of plot devices, this trope can encompass supernatural examples such as YouCantFightFate; or more mundane MoreThanMindControl plot devices, in which the character's actions are controlled by another party in much the same way that the player's actions are "controlled" by the game itself. It can often overlap with PlayingThePlayer, in which the player is actively deceived by the game and their expectations about it betrayed, but this trope need not involve deception.

->''There are no choices. Nothing but a straight line. The illusion comes afterwards, when you ask "why me?" and "what if?". When you look back and see the branches, like a pruned bonsai tree, or forked lightning.''
-->- '''Max Payne''', ''VideoGame/MaxPayne2TheFallOfMaxPayne''

[[AC:Adventure]]

[[AC:Action-Adventure]]

[[AC:First-Person Shooter]]

[[AC:Role-Playing Game]]

[[AC:Stealth-Based Game]]

[[AC: Strategy]]

[[AC:Third-Person Shooter]]

* The protagonist of the ''VideoGame/{{Hitman}}'' series, No. 47, is a clone who has been genetically engineered and conditioned for his entire life to be the perfect assassin. Although he is a relatively sympathetic HitmanWithAHeart who desperately ''wants'' not to be an assassin and often feels guilty about the crimes he has committed (even attempting to retire at the beginning of the second game in the series), he finds it impossible to go against his genetics & conditioning, and continues to carry out assassinations.

[[AC:RPG]]

!!Unmarked spoilers below.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' and [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII2 its sequel]] have fate as one of their {{Central Theme}}s, though it is only first expressed in the gameplay in the latter: Serah learns to manipulate time and thus to replay events leading up to the ending as many times as she wants, even creating paradoxes along the way, but nothing can really change the conclusion of her story (namely, that TheBadGuyWins and TheHeroDies).

** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid''[='=]s protagonist is, as in the ''Hitman'' example above, a clone named Solid Snake who was cloned from the world's greatest soldier, Big Boss. Throughout the game, numerous characters opine that, as he is a clone, his genetic destiny is essentially pre-determined and he has no choice but to become a vicious BloodKnight. This theme is reflected in several of the other characters also, who often insist that they were pre-destined to make the choices they made as a consequence of their genetics. Subverting this, however, the game's "good" ending seems to more optimistically suggest that Snake's destiny is ''not'' pre-determined and he can choose to live however he pleases.

* The ''Franchise/MetalGear'' series has this as an ongoing theme. Creator Creator/HideoKojima referred to the dominant themes of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'', ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty 2]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearZolid3SnakeEater 3]]'' as "gene, meme and scene" respectively, referring to the extent to which these three concepts could influence an individual's destiny:

This trope is hence about video games in which the strict linearity of the storyline and the lack of agency afforded to the player is not employed solely as a gameplay contrivance but also as a storytelling device or thematic element. This can be used as a means of PaintingTheMedium or LeaningOnTheFourthWall, a device to express the themes of the game through its formal structure, or simply an amusing way to [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] the inherent artificiality of the medium. It can also act as a convenient way to avert GameplayAndStorySegregation (as many of the examples on that page illustrate).

* The ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' series has this as an ongoing theme. Creator Creator/HideoKojima referred to the dominant themes of ''Metal Gear Solid'', ''2'' and ''3'' as "gene, meme and scene" respectively, referring to the extent to which these three concepts could influence an individual's destiny:
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'''s protagonist is, as in the ''Hitman'' example above, a clone named Solid Snake who was cloned from the world's greatest soldier, Big Boss. Throughout the game, numerous characters opine that, as he is a clone, his genetic destiny is essentially pre-determined and he has no choice but to become a vicious BloodKnight. This theme is reflected in several of the other characters also, who often insist that they were pre-destined to make the choices they made as a consequence of their genetics. Subverting this trope, however, the game's "good" ending seems to more optimistically suggest that Snake's destiny is ''not'' pre-determined and he can choose to live however he pleases.
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2'' uses this as part of a MindScrew PlayingThePlayer plot device. The game centres on a new PlayerCharacter named Raiden, who is placed in a situation that exhibits eerie similarities with that of the first game in the series. At the end of the game, the villains reveal that their goal is to control society at large by systematically deleting information from the Internet which goes against the party line, and their MoreThanMindControl plot was to see if they could control an individual's behaviour and choices simply by providing them with the appropriate context and misleading information for their actions (that is, if they could control Raiden by putting him in an artificial simulation similar to the first game). Even after Raiden learns the truth, he still nevertheless follows his orders to the letter, as he has no real choice (just as the player does not).

* The PlayerCharacter in ''Videogame/{{Bioshock}}'', Jack, is eventually revealed to be a LaserGuidedTykebomb who has been mentally conditioned into following any order that involves the phrase "Would You Kindly...", and Atlas, the mysterious freedom fighter who serves as MissionControl, has been using the phrase since the beginning to force Jack into helping him bring down Andrew Ryan, Rapture's corrupt and tyrannical ruler. The point is driven home twice in quick succession: First, Jack finds an audio diary of [[MadScientist Dr Suchong]] testing the mental conditioning by [[KickTheDog making Jack snap a puppy's neck]]. Then, when you finally meet Andrew Ryan, he decides to commit SuicideByCop and [[CutsceneBoss uses "Would You Kindly" to force Jack to beat him to death with a golf club]], while repeating his motto [[ArcWords "A man chooses, a slave obeys".]]

* The ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKain'' series takes place in a universe in which free will does not exist and all destinies are pre-determined; the only way to change destiny is to travel back in time and create a temporal paradox, which forces time to "reshuffle". Both player characters, Kain and Raziel, initially believe they have free will, before discovering that it is an illusion. At one point in the final game in the series, ''Defiance'', Raziel is informed by another character that, as a result of a temporal paradox, he was in fact the only entity in the universe capable of free will, and yet his choices were nevertheless staggeringly easy to manipulate by outside influences.

* In ''Videogame/{{Bioshock}}'', the PlayerCharacter, Jack, arrives in the city of Rapture following a plane crash and assists the mysterious freedom fighter Atlas in bringing down Rapture's corrupt and tyrannical ruler, Andrew Ryan. After a certain point in the story, it is revealed that Jack is a LaserGuidedTykebomb who has been mentally conditioned into following any order that involves the phrase "Would You Kindly...", and Atlas has been using the phrase since the beginning to force you to help him. The point is driven home by Andrew Ryan deciding to commit SuicideByCop and using the phrase to force Jack to beat him to death with a golf club, while repeating the phrase [[ArcWords "A man chooses, a slave obeys".]]

* ''VideoGame/SpecOpsTheLine'' plays with this. Throughout the game, the interventions of the entirely well-meaning PlayerCharacter Cpt. Martin Walker only succeed in making the game's situation worse until the situation has degenerated to the point that hundreds of people have been killed and the entire population of Dubai is doomed to die of dehydration in less than a week. When questioned about his actions, Walker repeatedly insists that he had no choice but to carry out the actions he did, and so cannot be held responsible for the deteriorating situation. However, at the end of the game, another character calls him out on this and points out that none of the tragedies of the game would have occurred had he simply ''stopped interfering''. Where it gets complicated is that, although in-story Walker could have turned around and gone home at any time, in-game the player is not afforded the choice to do so. The development team have however stated that putting the controller down and stopping playing the game is an entirely valid ending (just don't expect to get those 60 bucks back, though).

* ''VideoGame/SpecOpsTheLine'' plays with this. Throughout the game, the interventions of the entirely well-meaning PlayerCharacter Cpt. Martin Walker only succeed in making the game's situation worse until the situation has degenerated to the point that hundreds of people have been killed and the entire population of Dubai is doomed to die of dehydration in less than a week. When questioned about his actions, Walker repeatedly insists that he had no choice but to carry out the actions he did, and so cannot be held responsible for the deteriorating situation. However, at the end of the game, another character calls him out on this and points out that none of the tragedies of the game would have occurred had he simply ''stopped interfering''. Where it gets complicated is that, although in-story Walker could have turned around and gone home at any time, in-game the player is not afforded the choice to do so. The development team have however stated that putting the controller down and stopping playing the game is an entirely valid ending.

This can be done in various ways, such as by having characters discuss the concept of free will in dialogue, using tropes such as NoSidepathsNoExplorationNoFreedom to visually represent the player's lack of choice both in-game and in-story, or having characters actively announce their lack of free will. Other games may make use of a MoreThanMindControl plot device, in which the character's actions are controlled by another party in much the same way that the player's actions are controlled by the game itself. It can often overlap with PlayingThePlayer, in which the player is actively deceived by the game and their expectations about it betrayed, but this trope need not involve deception.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'' Trilogy's Security Officer, in contrast to the other FPS protganists at the time like [[VideoGame/{{Doom}} Doomguy]] and [[VideoGame/DukeNukem Duke Nukem]], is for all intents and purposes a pawn on the [=AIs'=] figurative chessboard, particularly Durandal, who enjoys rubbing it in about the protagonist's lack of freedom while bragging about gaining his. In the second game, ''Durandal'', the Security Officer is hinted to be an EternalHero destined to battle evil for all eternity, whatever he likes it or not. And then in the final game, ''Infinity'', [[spoiler:the CosmicHorror screws everything up, and the Security Officer has to take matters into his hands, while going slightly insane in the process somewhat similar to the AI Rampancy, in the end managing to break free from the AIs control. In the epilogue, moments before the heat death of the Universe, Durandal muses about the Security Officer, and concludes that he is Destiny itself.]]

This can be done in various ways, such as by having characters discuss the concept of free will in dialogue, using tropes such as NoSidepathsNoExplorationNoFreedom to visually represent the player's lack of choice both in-game and in-story, or having characters actively announce their lack of free will. It can often overlap with PlayingThePlayer, in which the player is actively deceived by the game and their expectations about it betrayed, but this trope need not involve deception.

A subtrope of PaintingTheMedium and GameplayAndStoryIntegration. See also SlidingScaleOfLinearityVersusOpenness, SlidingScaleOfFreeWillVersusFate, ButThouMust, {{Railroading}}, PlayerAndProtagonistIntegration, MortonsFork and YouCantFightFate.