History Main / StoryBranching

** ''VideoGame/AceCombat2'' has one point in which your allies undertake two simultaneous operations against the rebels, with the player choosing which operation to take part in for four missions before they converge back to one path. There's also some missions with a hidden bonus objective leading to an optional alternate mission (destroy a non-mission-critical cargo plane and your allies will find evidence of a hidden enemy base in the wreckage of it, etc.) and three different endings depending on certain other factors ([[spoiler:normal ending for not shooting down the four ZOE craft across the campaign, bad ending for doing so but then failing the next mission, and good ending for completing that mission and the real final one]]).
** ''VideoGame/AceCombat3Electrosphere'' has four major branching points ([[spoiler:whether to desert UPEO for General Resource with Dision; whether to desert GR with Dision ''again'' for Ouroboros; follow Park's orders and kill Fiona or desert with her to Neucom; whether to desert Neucom with Cynthia to Ouroboros]]) leading to five different FactionSpecificEndings. There are also minor branchings, which converge back into the main plot after one-two missions.

* The Free Worlds storyline in ''VideoGame/EndlessSky'' diverges depending on if you chose to [[spoiler: follow up on a Syndicate defector's claims the Syndicate was involved with triggering the conflict, or allow the Syndicate to take him to preserve the alliance with them]]. The broad strokes of the outcome of the storyline remains the same due to a later intervening event, but the path there is ''wildly'' different, and some of the details aren't quite identical.

* While the original ''VideoGame/{{Star Fox|1}}'' for the SNES uses different difficulty-defined campaigns[[note]]though you can cross between them in a SecretLevel[[/note]], ''VideoGame/StarFox64'' uses this trope, as achieving the secondary objectives/defeating a level's secret boss allows you to choose between two paths; achieve only the primary objective and you only get one path. [[spoiler:If Peppy says "Never give up, trust your instincts", then that usually means that the secondary objectives are out of reach.]]

* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Nemesis'' has several scenarios where you have to make a choice on how to proceed. It usually boils down to whether you have to fight some enemies or finding a way to escape from them. There is one choice near the end of the game that will determine whether or not [[spoiler: Nicolai]] gets away or dies, which also determines what ending you'll get.

* ''[[VideoGame/{{Langrisser}} Der Langrisser]]'' has three points where you can branch the story. If you behave with honor toward the Empire in the intro, then you'll be offered the chance to switch sides to join the Empire or remain aligned with the Light. If you join the Empire, then under the right conditions [[spoiler: depending on how you answer the questions in one chapter, whether Elwin personally takes the Langrisser, and possibly a choice at the crucial moment]], you can betray the Empire and take Langrisser for yourself. [[spoiler: Do this, and the Demon Tribe will join with you. After that, there's one more choice when the Langrisser attains its full power, and you can decide whether to support Bozer's evil, or kill him and fight to free the continent from ''all'' of the warring factions.]]

** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones'' branches after the first third, where you must choose whether to follow Eirika or Ephriam, each sibling having their own set of 5 maps. The branches ''appear'' to meet up after Chapter 15, but the story turns out to have some major differences depending on whose route you're on: [[spoiler: on Eirika's, Lyon is fully possessed by the Demon King, who is the sole BigBad. On Ephriam's, Lyon resists the Demon King's possession and does a genuine FaceHeelTurn.]]

** ''VideoGame/TriangleStrategy'' has the dialogue options a player makes influence an invisible KarmaMeter which determines if their character is more aligned with the convinction of [[HonorBeforeReason morality]], [[PragmaticHero utility]], or [[LibertyOverProsperity liberty]]. These then decide how strongly you can sway your court in voting on major issues - the higher the convinction, the easier to convince them, but if it's too low you might not be able to convince them at all - the outcome of those votes result in drastically different consequences and paths. How strongly you're aligned with a certain conviction also determines what optional characters will join you throughout the game.

[[folder:Real Time Strategy]]

[[folder:RPG -- Strategy]]
* ''VideoGame/TacticsOgre'', ''VideoGame/OgreBattle'', and ''VideoGame/TacticsOgreTheKnightOfLodis'' all have branching stories that terminate a single final mission. While ''Tactics'' and ''The Knight of Lodis'' originally had a single ending, ''VideoGame/OgreBattle'' gave you MultipleEndings based on your end-game alignment and reputation, who you recruited, and, in some cases, either whether you [[GottaCatchThemAll obtained all of the]] {{MacGuffin}}s or the gender of your PlayerCharacter. When ''VideoGame/TacticsOgre'' was remade for the PSP, the "Wheel Of Fate" was added, allowing the player to see the shape of the story so far, and upon completing the game, allows them to go back and remake key decisions to see how it would have affected the story.
* ''[[VideoGame/{{Langrisser}} Der Langrisser]]'' has three points where you can branch the story. If you behave with honor toward the Empire in the intro, then you'll be offered the chance to switch sides to join the Empire or remain aligned with the Light. If you join the Empire, then under the right conditions [[spoiler: depending on how you answer the questions in one chapter, whether Elwin personally takes the Langrisser, and possibly a choice at the crucial moment]], you can betray the Empire and take Langrisser for yourself. [[spoiler: Do this, and the Demon Tribe will join with you. After that, there's one more choice when the Langrisser attains its full power, and you can decide whether to support Bozer's evil, or kill him and fight to free the continent from ''all'' of the warring factions.]]
* ''Franchise/FireEmblem'':
** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThracia776'' was the first game to feature one of these, although it was fairly minor. At one point, you choose between a direct assault on TheEmpire ([[HardModePerks which is a lot harder, but more rewarding]]) or a more stealthy infiltration.
** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones'' branches after the first third, where you must choose whether to follow Eirika or Ephriam, each sibling having their own set of 5 maps. The branches ''appear'' to meet up after Chapter 15, but the story turns out to have some major differences depending on whose route you're on: [[spoiler: on Eirika's, Lyon is fully possessed by the Demon King, who is the sole BigBad. On Ephriam's, Lyon resists the Demon King's possession and does a genuine FaceHeelTurn.]]
** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'' features this as its main selling point: the path the story goes depends whether you ally with the kingdom of Nohr or Hoshido, or [[TakeAThirdOption neither]].
** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' has the BigFirstChoice of choosing a House to teach, which leads to the protagonist joining that House's side when the war starts at the game's midpoint. [[spoiler:There is also another choice before the midpoint on the Black Eagles' route: if you have reached [[RelationshipValues C+ Support]] with Edelgard and accepted her invitation to Enbarr earlier, you can decide whether to remain loyal to TheChurch, leading into the Silver Snow route, or to side with Edelgard after she's revealed to be the Flame Emperor, unlocking the Crimson Flower route; otherwise, you are locked into the Silver Snow.]]
[[/folder]]

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%% Examples from the Fire Emblem series go under the "RPG -- Strategy" folder.
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RouteBoss is a subtrope, where in certain boss battles are only available on certain story branches.

* ''VisualNovel/NineHoursNinePersonsNineDoors'' features several branching paths in the form of choosing which doors to go through. All told, there are fourteen possible routes through the game, but only five endings. Two of these endings are based on the entire route you take, while the other three are based only on the last door you go through. The sequels ''VisualNovel/VirtuesLastReward'' and ''VisualNovel/ZeroTimeDilemma'' are more straightforward, with each branching path leading to a different ending without any convergence.

** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' has the BigFirstChoice of choosing a House to teach, which leads to the protagonist joining that House's side when the war starts at the game's midpoint. [[spoiler:There is also another choice before the midpoint on the Black Eagles' route: if you have reached [[RelationshipValues C+ Support]] with Edelgard and accepted her invitation to Enbarr earlier, you can decide whether to remain loyal to TheChurch, leading into the Silver Snow route, or to side with the Flame Emperor, unlocking the Crimson Flower route; otherwise, you are locked into the Silver Snow.]]

[[folder:Shoot 'Em Ups]]
* While the original ''Videogame/StarFox'' for the SNES uses different Difficulty-defined campaigns[[note]]Though you can cross between them in a SecretLevel[[/note]], the Nintendo 64 version has this Trope, as achieving the secondary objectives/defeating a level's Secret Boss allows you to choose between two paths; achieve only the Primary objective and you only get one path. [[spoiler:If Peppy says "Never give up, trust your instincts", then that usually means that the secondary objectives are out of reach.]]

[[folder:Turn Based Strategy]]

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThracia776'' was the first game to feature one of these, although it was fairly minor. At one point, you choose between a direct assault on TheEmpire ([[HardModePerks which is a lot harder, but more rewarding]]) or a more stealthy infiltration.
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones'' branches after the first third, where you must choose whether to follow Eirika or Ephriam, each sibling having their own set of 5 maps. The branches ''appear'' to meet up after Chapter 15, but the story turns out to have some major differences depending on whose route you're on: [[spoiler: on Eirika's, Lyon is fully possessed by the Demon King, who is the sole BigBad. On Ephriam's, Lyon resists the Demon King's possession and does a genuine FaceHeelTurn.]]
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'' features this as its main selling point: the path the story goes depends whether you ally with the kingdom of Nohr or Hoshido, or [[TakeAThirdOption neither]].
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' is similar, where the BigFirstChoice of choosing a House to teach determines which nation the protagonist joins when the war starts at the games midpoint. But there is also another choice before the midpoint on the Black Eagle's route that determines whether you side with the Church or with Edelgard.

* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'', the route you follow is decided at the very beginning of the game, however... [[spoiler:The Black Eagles route splits into two at a certain point and if you don't fulfill certain conditions, you won't side with Edelgard and be forced to ally with the Church of Seiros for the remainder of the game]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Persona}}'' games all have some degree of Story Branching, for example, the SEBEC route in ''VideoGame/{{Persona}}'', and the Female Protagonist Route in ''[[VideoGame/Persona3 P3P]]''.
* Not just ''VideoGame/{{Persona}}'' but a number of ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' games have branching paths where you choose between Law, Chaos, or Neutral allegiance.

It may fall into StoryBranchFavoritism if one of the branches receives more focus from the creator than the others. Subtropes include MultipleEndings (where plot branches occur at the finale, [[LastSecondEndingChoice or just prior to endgame]], leading to different {{denouement}}s), MultipleGameOpenings (where the story starts along a branch), BigFirstChoice (where the story has a major split after a warm-up period), MultipleChoicePast (when the history of a character can vary), and SecretLevel (where the plot gains an additional episode under certain conditions). Compare and contrast {{Gamebooks}}, the manner in which branching plotlines appear in other media, and StaticRoleExchangeableCharacter, where the story remains mostly linear, but extremely variable thanks to letting the player assign different actors to different key roles in it.

* While the original ''Videogame/StarFox'' for the SNES used different Difficulty-defined campaigns[[note]]Though you could cross between them in a SecretLevel[[/note]], the Nintendo 64 version had this Trope, as achieving the secondary objectives/defeating a level's Secret Boss allowed you to choose between two paths; achieve only the Primary objective and you only get one path. [[spoiler:If Peppy says "Never give up, trust your instincts", then that usually means that the secondary objectives are out of reach.]]

It may fall into StoryBranchFavoritism if one of the branches receives more focus from the creator than the others. Subtropes include MultipleEndings (where plot branches occur at the finale, [[LastSecondEndingChoice or just prior to endgame]], leading to different {{denouement}}s), MultipleGameOpenings (where the story starts along a branch), BigFirstChoice (where the story has a major split after a warm-up period), MultipleChoicePast (when the history of a character can vary), and SecretLevel (where the plot gains an additional episode under certain conditions). Compare and contrast ChooseYourOwnAdventure, the manner in which branching plotlines appear in other media, and StaticRoleExchangeableCharacter, where the story remains mostly linear, but extremely variable thanks to letting the player assign different actors to different key roles in it.

* ''428: In a Blockaded Shibuya'' contains multiple characters with many different choices and branches. In total, there are 85 alternate endings.

* ''VideoGame/HeavyRain'' branches heavily from the moment the first player character can suffer a PlotlineDeath.

[[folder:Puzzle Games]]
* ''VideoGame/VermillionWatch'': In each game, there will come a point where you need to investigate three different locations. The games allow you to pick the order, though it doesn't make any difference to the outcome.
[[/folder]]