Multiple Choice Past / Video Games

• In Alpha Protocol, each of the classes Mike can choose will result in him having a different backstory prior to his induction into the eponymous agency.
• In Amnesia: Memories, the café manager Waka has a mysterious past and background that changes for each route the player is currently going through, which also changes his personality. Heart World implies that he's trained in theater and dance and acts rather Camp Straight, while Spade World and Joker World make his background be military-based. In the former, he's a hothead and treats his business like a battlefield, while the latter has his background closer to that of an assassin and specifically mentions guerilla-fighter tactics.
• Assassin's Creed Origins: Reda the merchant child gives several different explanations for why he's a wandering merchant, which Bayek eventually points out. Reda just shrugs it off. However, Assassin's Creed: Valhalla shows Reda is a Sage of some kind, so all those origins are probably true... for each different life he's lead.
• The Joker, unsurprisingly, has one of these in Batman: Arkham City. He's just finished telling his Start of Darkness story to Hugo Strange (it's the mostly same one from The Killing Joke), and Strange points out just how many different stories the Joker has. The only common link is that he blames Batman in every one. The Joker even cites this trope verbatim:
  "A wise man once said, 'If you're going to have a past, make it multiple choice.'"
  • Notably, Strange accuses Joker of just using this trope as an excuse to never face up to his past and what he's become. Unlike the other rogues Strange interviews, he fails at getting under the Joker's skin.
    • Batman: Arkham Asylum has Joker try to do the same thing to Doctor Young during one of his interview tapes. Specifically he goes from claiming he grew up in a fishing village with a father who wouldn't let him join the circus to his dad being a cop who was killed by the mob one week before retirement, with Doctor Young not buying either story. Given the above comment by Strange in Arkham City, it would interesting to see how he fit Batman into those origins.
    • Batman: Arkham Origins seems to indicate the story he told Strange was not completely made up, as during a segment where you play as Joker in flashbacks Dr. Harleen Quinnzel plays through scenes taken from The Killing Joke in an interview; of course it could be he just remembers that origin more than once.
• In the original game Betrayal at Krondor, Gorath was from the Green Heart, and moved his tribes to the Northlands during the Riftwar (Possibly making his tribe the one that Longbow tricked into fighting the Tsurani during the seige of Crydee). In the novelization, Krondor: The Betrayal, his tribe was originally based near Sarth, and moved to the Northlands over a century earlier when the Keshians colonized the region.
• The final boss of Borderlands, the Destroyer. In the first game, it's said by Angel to be a Precursor Killer Eldritch Abomination, sealed away by the Eridians. However, later games suggest that it's really "just" a powerful Eridian superweapon, and that the story Angel fed the Vault Hunters on Jack's orders was a lie.
• In The Cat Lady, this trope is invoked during one of the consults with Dr. X, which he asks Susan a couple of questions about her parents. The player can choose if she had a good or bad relationship with her father and her mother respectively (or if they even are around during her childhood), which means that part of Susan's backstory can diverge from different players and/or different playthroughs.
• Cyberpunk 2077 follows in the footsteps of Mass Effect by giving players three different backstories inspired by the original tabletop game: the player can start as a Corpo looking to make their way up the corporate ladder, a Nomad come to Night City in search of work, or a Street Kid who just came back from out of town.
• In Disco Elysium, the defining events of the amnesiac Detective's past are set in stone. However, his dominant political views and "copotype" (the quirks that defined him as a cop) are eventually retroactively applied to his past. If the cop runs around preaching communism and declaring he's a superstar cop, for instance, a group of bums he met pre-amnesia will remember him as having been such last time they met.
• Dragon Age: Origins:
  • The game takes this to a whole new level with its Player Character: each of the six available "Origins" for the Warden has a separate starting quest chain, with a follow-up in one of the main story quests later on. It is implied that all six origins occurred, but the five not chosen by the player were killed because of Duncan's absence.
    • The Human Noble, Cousland, was a member of a beloved Fereldan noble family, who were betrayed by family friend Rendon Howe, and massacred. If Duncan is there, he leads the player character to safety in exchange for them becoming a Grey Warden.
    • The City Elf, Tabris, was about to meet their arranged fiancee when a corrupt noble kidnapped their cousin (and Tabris if she's female) to rape her. Tabris rescued their cousin and murdered the noble, and the racist authorities would have executed Tabris if Duncan didn't invoke the Right of Conscription (Grey Wardens can conscript anyone into service, which renders them above the law for the most part).
    • The Mage (Amell if human, Surana if an elf) passed their Harrowing, but were tricked into aiding a colleague who turned out to be a Blood Mage in escaping the Circle (they knew he wanted to escape, but not that he used blood magic), an offense punishable with death or Tranquility if Duncan isn't there to save them via conscription.
    • The Dwarf Commoner, Brosca, is a Justified Criminal (dwarves' Fantastic Caste System literally forbids them from taking legitimate work) who gets caught illegally participating in a Proving tournament (they were trying to fix it, but things went sideways), and would be executed if not conscripted.
    • The Dwarf Noble, Aeducan, was a prince/princess of Orzammar who was either tricked into killing their older brother or framed for the deed (the true mastermind/culprit being their younger brother Bhelan) and exiled to the Deep Roads to die fighting Darkspawn, which would be their fate if Duncan didn't find them and get them to the surface.
    • The Dalish Elf, Mahariel, investigated an Eluvian along with their clansmate Tamlen. The Eluvian turned out to be contaminated with Darkspawn Taint, which in turn infected both Tamlen and Mahariel, and the only cure is becoming a Grey Warden to gain their immunity.
  • In-story, Flemeth combines this trope with Unreliable Narrator. At least two different versions of her story, the legend and the story she told Morrigan, have been told thus far, and Morrigan even says she doubts Flemeth told her the truth.
    • Her true origins are finally revealed in Inquisition: She was once a human woman who was imbued with the soul of the Elven God Mythal. However, she speaks vaguely enough about her past life that the previous stories could potentially have happened as well, at least if you substitute Mythal for the demon that supposedly possessed her.
• Dragon Age II provides one of three choices for how the game begins from the first game (aside from importing a save file from Origins): "Hero of Ferelden" (a Big Good Human Noble defeated the Archdemon and survived the fifth Blight, Alistair is king of Ferelden), "The Martyr" (a cynical Dalish Elf sacrificed herself to kill the Archdemon and end the blight, Alistair and Anora marry and rule Ferelden together), or "No Compromise" (a Determinator Dwarven Noble let another Grey Warden die to defeat the Archdemon, Alistair is exiled from Ferelden, and Anora is queen).
• Dragon Age: Inquisition: The player can choose to be either a Human, Elf, Dwarven or Qunari (well, Vashoth) Inquisitor. They have different explanations for being at the cataclysmic event at the beginning of the game (The human was attending the conclave as a representative, the elf and dwarf were sent as spies, the Qunari was hired as security) but they aren't playable like in Origins - the story always starts in the same place. The player does, however, get to flesh out their backstory in conversations, either describing past events of their lives or simply stating their opinion on certain parts of their background. Like the Warden, it is implied that all four were present at the Conclave, but the three not chosen were killed by the Breach.
  • In a semi-continuation from Dragon Age II, Varric's codex mentions that he will always give a different story for how he got Bianca. He'll tell you how he got her early in the game, but multiple playthroughs will reveal that he changes that story as well. But in a late-game sidequest, we finally learn Bianca's true story... we think.
• The Elder Scrolls:
  • Was Talos a divinely chosen warrior from the ancient Atmora who achieved apotheosis by his own merit or just a shrewd politician from High Rock with powerful friends? Possibly both. After achieving divinity, it is possible that he retroactively re-wrote his life. Many things credited to Talos were originally actions and traits of different individuals, including Tiber Septim, Zurin Artcus, and Wulfharth Ash-King. (With the latter two also possibly merged into the same "Underking" identity.)
  • Similarly, the history of Vivec and the entire account of the events during the Battle of Red Mountain have several vastly different and conflicting versions, all of which can be true at the same time. Vivec may have originally been a low-born, devious general of Nerevar's but similar to the above example of Talos, might have made his fantastic origin story as a demigod warrior poet true retroactively with his acquired divine power.
  • Sources conflict greatly on the early history of the races of Men. The most popular theory, espoused most prominently by the propaganda of the Septim Empire, is that all of the races of Men (save for the Yokudan Redguards) descend from the Nedes, who originally hailed from the northernmost continent of Atmora. However, other sources indicate that the Nedes were among Tamriel's many indigenous human tribes (or may have been the collective name for these tribes) from whom the Imperials and Bretons get their human ancestry while the actual Atmorans were a distinct race of Men who came over in the early 1st Era and settled in Skyrim, interbreeding with the Nedes to create the modern Nords. In either case, there is evidence of habitation by humanity in Tamriel which predates the earliest known dates of Atmoran migration. Even the creation of the races of Men is unclear. The most prominent theory is that the Ehlnofey who would become the races of Mer and the Ehlnofey who would become the races of Men ("Wanderers") split very early in world history following a great war between the two factions. However, Altmeri religious beliefs (dating back to the ancient Aldmer) state that Men were created by Lorkhan out of the "weakest souls" to spread chaos throughout all corners of creation.
  • The Tsaesci are supposedly an Akaviri race of Snake Vampires complete with serpentine lower bodies. However, sources differ radically as to whether they are actually serpentine or humans just like those found in Tamriel.
    • On the "human-like" side: Several in-game books outright state that they are humans little different from those in Tamriel. One account specifically mentions a Tsaesci soldier with an injured leg. The most recent (and probably most reliable) account, Uriel V's campaign report from the 3rd Era, does not describe them as snake-like at all. It also mentions them having "mounted raiders," which would be a difficult task for a species without legs. The Akaviri ghosts and skeletons who appear at a few points in the series are completely humanoid in appearance.
    • On the "serpentine" side: Mysterious Akavir, a work of admittedly dubious accuracy, supports this side. Additionally, the in-universe historical fiction (loosely based on in-universe historical events) 2920, The Last Year of the First Era also describes them as having serpentine lower bodies. Other chronicles, such as "History of the Fighter's Guild" indicate that the Tsaesci couldn't wear human armor at all, indicating a non-humanoid shape. The Elder Scrolls Online has an item, an Akaviri Silver Mask, which depicts a reptilian-looking appearance.
    • The Take a Third Option-option: Since the "races" of Akavir share their names with the name of their nation, it's possible that they aren't one single "race," but multiple races living within those nations. The "Tsaesci" could include serpentine snake vampires as well as the former Men of Akavir and/or their cross bred descendants.
  • Likewise, there are many conflicting theories regarding the origins of Giants:
    • One of the most popular, especially among the Nords, is that they share an ancestry with the ancient Atmorans. The Atmorans were known to be tall, strong, and somewhat primitive. According to this theory, after coming to Tamriel from the northern continent of Atmora, the Atmorans split into two groups — one who would interbreed with Tamriel's Nedes to become the modern Nords - and another who would, through unknown means, become the progenitors of the Giants.
    • Other sources, however, make it clear that Giants existed in Tamriel before the Atmorans crossed the sea. The Dwemer were said to have gotten the nickname "Dwarves" from Giants they encountered in the Velothi Mountains after splitting off from the Aldmer, which occurred well before the Atmoran migration. The Aldmer themselves drove a "multi-eyed" race of Giants known as the Ilyadi to extinction when they first settled the Summerset Isles, which was even earlier. Standard Giants also have pointed, tapered ears like those of the Mer (Elves).
    • In either case, there are known instances of Giants interbreeding and producing offspring with the other races of Tamriel, particularly Nords. This would suggest that, at the very least, Giants have a shared ancestry with the other races dating back to the Ehlnofey, a progenitor race from whom all extant races (save for perhaps the Lizard Folk Argonians) descend.
  • Similarly, the origin of Vampires in Tamriel is not clear cut. While the general scholarly consensus is that Lamae Beolfag was indeed the first vampire, there are other origin stories as well. Given the numerous other vampire bloodlines and tales of other individuals acquiring Vampirism directly from Molag Bal as well, it's possible that each of these stories has some truth to them.
  • In Daggerfall, the player can choose to determine their character's class, reputation, ethics, abilities, etc, through an extensive survey of his background... or can choose to have it all automatically generated. One of the questions asks what item you received as a gift from the emperor. If you choose the Ebony Dagger, you start the game with that weapon, which is substantially superior to other weapons at that level.
  • The recurring character of Barenziah, a particularly controversial Dunmer queen, has at least three (or four, counting a revision) different in-story backgrounds as seen in books, all following roughly the same story but presenting her in different lights. There's an official one that paints her as saintly and misled by Evil Sorcerer Jagar Tharn, and several that suggest she was a promiscuous manipulator in the mold of the traditional view of Cleopatra VII. That's not even counting her involvement in the "Warp in the West" at the end of Daggerfall.
• In Fallout: New Vegas, there are several contradicting stories about the past of Legate Lanius, from being a Legionary at the age of 12 to being press-ganged into joining the Legion. Even Joshua Graham, the former Legate states that he's never even heard of Lanius during his time in the Legion (and he's the cofounder of the Legion who left the Legion about 7 years ago). In Lonesome Road, Ulysses, a former Legion spy, considers the idea that Lanius wasn't always the same person considering that no one has ever actually seen him without his mask.
  • Lonesome Road also fills in the backstory of the Courier, though only by choosing certain dialogue paths. There's an achievement for getting all six, and as a result is arguably this trope.
• Deacon from Fallout 4 will tell you multiple, often conflicting versions of his own backstory, including being one of the first Gen 3 Synths liberated from the Institute, being one of the Founding members of the Railroad, and being it's real leader while it's apparent leader, Desdemona, is a puppet he installed to keep suspicion away from himself. If challenged on this, he'll freely admit that most of what he tells the Player Character is lies and that he's trying to groom them into embracing the "trust no one, don't believe everything you hear" attitude that's allowed him to survive so long as a Railroad spy. That being said, the version of his backstory that most players consider canon is the one he tells you when you reach maximum affinity with him — he was part of a gang of anti-synth extremists as a teen, but fell in love with a synth woman who the gang killed, and murdered the entire gang in retaliation.He sees working with the Railroad and supporting synths as a way to atone for the evils in his past.
• Final Fantasy VII:
  • About five versions of Cloud's past in Nibelheim have been officially released so far. At least one of these (the most detailed) is eventually revealed as a lie within the story, although due to the circumstances of the lie and due to it covering more than the others do, it's still debatable whether huge chunks of it are true or not.
  • The other four are wildly divergent, with Crisis Core and Final Fantasy VII`s "true" account having roughly equal canonicity despite Crisis Core having an entirely new character provoke Sephiroth's downwards spiral and the fact that Zack doesn't get the opportunity to do all the silly things Final Fantasy VII'`s "lie" account implied he did.
  • The OVA Last Order is also diverging, but probably the most radical in terms of what it implies about Cloud's past — it contains a strange scene where Cloud summons a great strength and his eyes begin glowing, causing Sephiroth to ask "What are you?", long before Cloud was granted Mako abilities in the original Final Fantasy VII, implying that Cloud isn't human or was experimented on previously. The events of Last Order have been explained that since most of the animated-special takes place from the Turks' point of view (the opening scene shows the report on the Nibelheim incident, which implies that the whole flashback is from what the official Shin-Ra history report says) its account is different from what was shown in the original game and Crisis Core.
  • When asked about all this, scenario writer Kazushige Nojima has said that there is no definitive version of the Nibelheim story because it's impossible to be objective about memories.
• This happens in Hyperdimension Neptunia and Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2, due to the two taking place in alternate continuities. In the original, Compa meets Neptune after she falls out of the sky, and IF is met (and unknowingly tricked) into joining Neptune and Compa's party a little later. In the sequel, Compa and IF were childhood friends, and they met Neptune (and Nepgear, who is exclusive to the sequel) after she fell off the top of a 10,000 story tower.
• You get to do this in Guild Wars 2. However, all it changes in game is your personal story for the first twenty levels.
• The premise for Hail to the Chimp is that former king, the Lion, resigned in disgrace due to a "scandal" that neither the box nor the instructions describe in any way. There are several possibilities as to what this scandal is, one of which is chosen at random each time you load the game.
• In Harvest Moon: Back to Nature, the protagonist meets a girl whom he befriended during his childhood visit to the Mineral Town farm. Said girl will turn out to be whoever bachelorette he chooses to marry. Similarly, Harvest Moon Back To Nature For Girl has your life being saved by a mysterious person, who always turns out to be the person you marry, regardless of who you choose. Even Kai, though it makes no sense since he only appears in summer.
• In Injustice 2, the Joker was unambiguously killed during the original game and shows up only as a fear toxin hallucination. However, in non-canon fights, he's a playable character. Pre-fight banter often has his opponent wondering how he's still alive. The Joker will list some of the many possible sources of resurrection in the DC Universe or, if his opponent makes a specific guess, the Joker will confirm it. He even sounded perked-up when Atrocitus mentioned something specific drove the Monster Clown to nihilism, but the exact reason remains a mystery.
• In Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, you have the option in several conversations to choose certain aspects of what happened in your past, as well as what happened in the first game. You can even choose the non-canon Dark Side endings for the first game, and the rest of the game will change to fit with those events instead.
• The Legend of Zelda:
  • The end of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword ends with the implication that Link and Zelda will stay on the surface to establish the Kingdom of Hyrule together. In The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, the Zonai king Rauru is introduced as the co-founder of Hyrule with Queen Sonia. Hidemaro Fujibayashi, who directed both games, has mentioned the possibility of Rauru and Sonia refounding Hyrule after the original was destroyed.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
    • Anju's grandmother says Termina was an ancient land created by the Giants. The manual repeatedly refers to it as a parallel world to Hyrule. Some sources say that Termina is an offshoot of Hyrule created when the goddesses sent their power through the cracks of the land. Hyrule Encyclopedia claims that Termina is a figment of the Skull Kid's imagination given life by Majora's Mask.
    • The Skull Kid himself is given this treatment. In The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time he was said to be a child who got lost in the Lost Woods and was cursed into his current form. According to Anju's grandma however he is an ancient being who was once friends with the Four Giants and became a trickster due to his resentment that his friends left him and was threatened into exile by them as punishment.
• When starting a game in Liberal Crime Squad, the player may choose events in the squad founder's past, or let the events be randomly selected. These events inform their in-game attributes and skills.
• In The Love Boat Isaac tells Jenny, who's over-eager to get married, that he pushed the girl he loved into marrying before she was ready and it didn't work out. Later on he tells Ronald, a Manchild who's scared of commitment, that he refused to tell the girl he loved how he felt and another guy snapped her up.
  Gopher: Who are you?
• This is quite literally true for Commander Shepard in Mass Effect. At character creation, Shepard's appearance, gender and military specialization are filled in by the player, as well as two different sets of background details, with three choices each. The backgrounds offer unique missions and dialogue during the games, and affect the amount of Paragon and Renegade points you start with.
  • The Pre-Service History choices are these:
    • Colonist: Shepard was born in the colony of Mindoir, which was later sacked by the batarians, with Shepard barely escaping being sold into slavery. Choosing this background grants you a middling amount of Paragon/Renegade points, and grants access to a unique mission where Shepard helps out Talitha, a fellow Mindoir survivor who was Made a Slave by the Batarians and is now traumatized.
    • Earthborn: Shepard was an orphan raised on the streets of Earth, escaping poverty and gang violence by enlisting in the military as soon as s/he could. Choosing this background grants you the most Renegade points, and gives you a unique assignment where you deal with your old gang, the Tenth Street Reds, and their attempt to free a member arrested by the turians.
    • Spacer: Shepard's parents were both in the military, and s/he spent your childhood transferring around ships and stations as they went from posting to posting, never having a permanent home. Choosing this background grants you the most Paragon points, and means that Shepard's mother, Hannah Shepard, is still alive and a captain in the Alliance military, allowing you to have several conversations with her and a unique mission meeting someone who once served with her before a mission involving a batarian slave raid caused him to develop PTSD.
  • The Psychological Profile choices are these:
    • Sole Survivor: Shepard's squad was massacred by a Thresher Maw on Akuze. Choosing this background grants a mix of Paragon and Renegade points, and alters the playthrough of a mission where you meet another survivor of the Thresher Maw attack (who was the sole survivor of the squad if this background was not chosen), who reveals that Cerberus was behind the attack, and kidnapped and experimented on him.
    • War Hero: Shepard was recognized as a war hero for their role in repelling the Skyllian Blitz, an attack on the colony of Elysium by Batarian slavers (Whatever the background, Shepard was present at the Blitz, but War Hero Shepard rallied the colonists against the invaders and single-handedly sealed a breach in their defenses). Choosing this path grants extra Paragon points, and alters the playthrough of a mission where you tangle with the mastermind behind the Blitz.
    • Ruthless: Shepard was involved in the Alliance's attack on Torfan in retaliation for the Skyllian Blitz, and took heavy losses to massacre all the Batarians there, even the ones who surrendered, giving him/her the title "The Butcher of Torfan". Choosing this path grants extra Renegade points and alters the playthrough of a mission where another soldier who was at Torfan (and knows Ruthless Shepard) has started to amass a biotic cult.
  • Thanks to the save import feature in both Mass Effect sequels, Multiple Choice Past extends to the storyline of later games in the trilogy, which can be affected in subtle (and not-so-subtle) ways based on choices you made in a previous game. To compensate for those without save games to transfer, Mass Effect also offers DLC that allows you to make the biggest choices in the prior game, such as saving or killing the council and which teammate dies on Virmire in Mass Effect, or whether you destroyed or saved the Collector Base in Mass Effect 2 by making a choice on a multiple-choice style quiz in the prologue.
• Metal Gear:
  • Psycho Mantis has multiple Freudian Excuses for his madness and sexually damaged behaviour. Calling Naomi on the Codec leads her to explain that he was once a sane and ordinary, if unusually powerful, police psychic who developed his madness after looking 'too far' into the mind of a serial killer and becoming infected with his mind. However, upon death, Mantis explains that he's obsessed with the concept of reproduction ("the selfish and atavistic desire to spread one's seed") due to his mother dying in childbirth, finding out his father hated him, and burning down his village in fear. Material released in Japan-only supplemental material explained that he naturally had a split personality which he refers to as "the parasite" or "the Mantis". What's more, production documents and concept art reveal that he was intended at first to have developed his psychic powers due to surgery and sexual torture (probably he was originally intended as an Expy of the villain from the cult Japanese horror movie Rubbers Lover, who had this origin) - while nothing from this backstory is stated in game or any supplemental material, he still has heavy cranial surgery scars and a bondage aesthetic with no accompanying explanation. (Shinkawa's note on Mantis's character design sheet lists his main character traits and sarcastically notes, "it all came together!") A young version of Mantis later emerges as Tretij Rebenok in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, in which he's a child soldier who psychically feeds on the strong negative emotions of others - his nationality is also adjusted from Russian to Czech.
  • In the original Metal Gear Solid, "Naomi Hunter" is revealed to be an imposter, and to have taken on a fake identity based on a real doctor who went missing in the Middle East; her real name goes unknown. However, the character who informs us of this is Liquid Snake, and Naomi's brother knows her as "Naomi". Supplemental materials on the Metal Gear Solid 2 disc detail the past of the real Naomi and how the main Naomi was able to usurp her identity. In Metal Gear Solid 4, this element to Naomi is forgotten about; everyone calls her Naomi and there's no indication that she was ever an imposter.
• Planescape: Torment dances around between this and Expansion Pack Past thanks to the nature of the Nameless One's immortality — he suffers magical Trauma-Induced Amnesia every time he is "killed" and comes back to life, which happens so many times that his personality and behavior have been radically different many times across his long lifespan. The "multiple choice" in his past is really the question of "which version of him are we talking about now?" It's effectively an In-Universe version of these two tropes, even from the Nameless One's own perspective.
• Mix Ore gives Kantarou, the Amnesiac Hero, three different backstories with each route he selects. Nagisa's route reveals that he was a normal guy who was dating Sanae and was being stalked by Nagisa. Rikana's route reveals that he was a recently orphaned rich kid who was hit by a car and was discovered by Rikana. Ayano's route reveals that he was a popular high school boy who sexually harassed Ayano.
• Mount & Blade has a set of questions in the character creation that asks you about your character's past. This sets up your character's starting stats and equipment.
• In the opening of Night in the Woods, the player makes a series of choices about what Mae remembers most about the year her grandfather died, including the disasters that struck Possum Hollow (the flood or the new highway taking away all the traffic from town), his favorite quote from the Prayer of the Forest God, and what he was staring at in his final moments.
• The Outer Worlds incorporates this into its character creation system with "Aptitudes", previous careers your character pursued before arriving in the Halcyon system, which also has a small effect on their abilities. These include, but are not limited to: "Beverage Service Technician" (small increase to the duration of drink effects), "Construction, Electrician Class, Wire Spooler" (increased defense against electrical damage), "Tossball Team Mascot" (increased determination, which affects party members), and "Sub Sous Chef" (increased damage with one-handed weapons).
• Pentiment has you choose what Andreas is like as a person at the beginning of the game, including what sort of things he learned at his university, and where he spent most of his Wanderjahre. In Act II, which takes place after a Time Skip, you get to pick where he spent his time in the last 7 years. At the start of Act III, you get to similarly choose elements of Magdalene's backstory... though part of it is also determined by what book Andreas bought her when she was still a small child.
• Pillars of Eternity gives you a literal Multiple-Choice Past, by letting you shape your character's backstory through dialogue options or the character creation screen. You can invoke this further by deliberately giving your Watcher a mysterious and self-contradictory past, or simply refusing to elaborate on said past when asked about it. It is even taken to a higher level as you also get to choose what kind of a person your character was in their past life and what relationship they had with the Big Bad and the Big Good respectively.
• Plague Inc.:
  • The Necroa Virus has several backstories, depending on where you start and what transmissions and/or you start with (quite a few are Whole Plot References to zombie media):
    • Starting with America/Drug Resistance reveals that it was genetically engineered by Umbrella-um, I mean, DarkWater Corporation as a bioweapon that escaped containment.
    • Starting with England/Segmented Genome states that it was part of a cure for A.I.D.S. but there was a Freak Lab Accident and it escaped.
    • The Ukraine/Zoonotic Shift backstory states that it evolved in Chernobyl within irradiated animals, and jumped over to humans when a tourist got bitten near Pripyat.
    • The Egypt/Heat Resistance backstory is that it infected a Pharaoh, who was immured in a pyramid to contain the infection.
  • The Shadow Plague also has a few backstories. They require you to stay hidden for a long time.
    • The Shadow Pool backstory has the first vampire emerging from the deepest cavern on Earth somewhere in Turkey, with an unknown pathogen in the very deepest pool being responsible for infecting them.
    • The Stonehenge backstory involves the vampire in question having been buried in a sacrificial pit under one of the titular structure's standing stones, unearthed when tourists accidentally toppled it.
    • The Dracula backstory, as one can imagine, involves the vampire being Dracula after finally reawakening in his castle deep in Transylvania.
• In Pokémon Sword and Shield, everyone in Crown Tundra can agree that Calyrex, the ancient king of Galar, rode a signature horse-like Pokémon. However, legends both mention of a horse as white as ice and a horse as black as shadow, and nobody can agree which is correct, if either one even is. Some time after meeting Calyrex himself, in a rather literal case of this trope, the Player Character gets to decide which of these is correct by growing the corresponding steed's Trademark Favorite Food to lure it over.
• The titular Rayman has had several conflicting origins. The original game depicted him as an ordinary member of a species who all looked like him, only for Rayman 2: The Great Escape to claim he wasn't native to the Glade of Dreams and was found by a fisherman (and he had no species). Rayman Origins claims he was created by the fairies to fight nightmares, and the Play Station Vita version (and oddly, only the Vita version) deepens the hole by showing him as originally being bald with a wife.
• Roadwarden has you pick the roadwarden's backstory and goals at the beginning of their journey. Throughout their adventure, you are also presented with multiple-choice options that let you shape certain elements of their home city of Hovlovan, and how the roadwarden spent their time there.
• Like his rival Mario, Sonic The Hedgehog has a fairly inconsistent past as well, though the video games themselves have never done much to elaborate on his past. Tails, Eggma..., er, "Dr. Robotnik" and especially Blaze have similar inconsistent pasts:
  • Sonic's origin is not concrete in the games. Sega of Japan originally created a backstory of Sonic coming to life after a human ace pilot, who had him as a mascot, died. This was later used in the first manga with slight alterations. Sega of America went with their own backstory about Sonic being an antisocial brown hedgehog who befriended a human scientist named Dr. Kintobor. An accident turned Sonic blue and turned the friendly doctor into Dr. Robotnik. This origin story was reused in the British Sonic the Comic. Shortly after this, Sega of America gave him yet another origin that had him learning his abilities (including his super speed) from his animal friends. They were unable to make up their mind, however, as they used the previous origin years later in the official website. Later on, Sega of Japan changed Sonic's backstory to remove the mystical element. He's just a hedgehog who was born on Christmas Island and decided to leave because he wanted adventure. This hasn't been mentioned in over two decades, so Sonic largely has a Mysterious Past.
  • Eggman had no origin in Japan but internationally he received one where he was the benevolent Dr. Kintobor before an accident transformed him into the evil Dr. Robotnik. Why he lives on a World of Funny Animals is not explained. This backstory was used in the prerelease promo comic and the British Sonic the Comic, but American adaptations ultimately used different backstories. Sonic Adventure introduced human NPCs, giving an explanation to Eggman being a human, and Sonic Adventure 2 gave him a motive for being villainous.
• In StarCrawlers, you select the backstory of your starting crawler, defining their childhood, adulthood, and work history. Your choices affect things like dialogue options, starting favor with certain corporations, and your initial equipment.
• BioWare really does love this trope. In Star Wars: The Old Republic, most classes (barring the Warrior and Inquisitor) touch on the player's past but both the Republic Trooper and the Imperial Agent have certain backstory details revealed based on particular factors.
  • The Republic Trooper is either a top graduate at the Academy (Light-Sided) or has been fighting The Empire since they were old enough to hold a blaster and an underground resistance movement (neutral or Dark-Sided)
  • The Imperial Agent based on species specific dialogue options on Voss is a former member of the Imperial military that descended from the original exiles that settled Dromund Kass (Human or Cyborg) a former of the Chiss Secret Police who may or may not still be working for them, or a Street Urchin who was found by Imperial Intelligence and sensed "something greater in them"
• Steambot Chronicles had a literal version of this, where after meeting with Mallow you can recover from your amnesia and reveal your past. Or not, if you didn't feel inclined. Unfortunately, this leads to some incredibly stilted dialog in the following scenes.
  [Name] is... the son of a baker... fast... ...and a lone wolf.
• Street Fighter: Charlie Nash encountered M. Bison (North America; "Vega" in Japan) during a [wartime mission/secret operation/solo assignment] in [Cambodia/America/Venezuela/a Shadaloo base near Thailand]. Charlie prevailed over the dictator but tragically [turned his back and got zapped/was blasted by a Shadaloo gunner/failed to escape the base before it blew up/suffered some mysterious terrible fate]. Guile wanted to prevent it, of course, but [didn't know Charlie was in danger/wasn't strong enough/wasn't fast enough/realized Charlie did what he had to do]. One thing is certain, though, [he's dead/he's missing, presumed dead/he got turned into Shadow/suffered the previously mentioned mysterious terrible fate].
  • As of Street Fighter V, Word of God has given some canonical information regarding him. He was blasted by a gunner Vega/Bison paid off and stitched together in ways similar to Frankenstein's Monster. He's Not Quite Dead, but he has Come Back Wrong and is Living on Borrowed Time.
• In The Suffering, your actions in the game dictate how Torque's family died via Karma Meter. There are three endings. In the good ending, they were murdered and you were framed. In the neutral one, Torque killed them by accident, and in the bad ending, he murdered them all.
• Super Mario Bros.:
  • Having a canon that's basically built on Rule of Fun (as well as implied), has a few different origin stories. Americans of the 80's and early 90's might have known Mario and Luigi as two plumbers from Brooklyn who got sucked into a pipe and ended up in the Mushroom Kingdom, but that was only invented by DIC for their three animated series based on the games. Yoshi's Island and its sequels imply that they've always lived in the Mushroom Kingdom. Other regions just avoid origin stories. Note that the Mario Bros. have never been seen in the Mushroom Kingdom between the time they were babies and the present. It can be pretty easy to put the pieces together and say that they were taken to Brooklyn to be protected, because, seriously, who in their right mind wouldn't move after all the stuff that happened to Baby Mario and Baby Luigi?
  • The Brooklyn thing, in part, came from the fact that Donkey Kong and Mario Bros. seemingly takes place in New York City. In Super Mario Odyssey, Donkey Kong is now stated to take place in New Donk City, an NYC-like city that appears to be set in the same world as the Mushroom Kingdom.
  • Mimi from Super Paper Mario doesn't have a concrete past, either. Carson theorizes that Mimi was either a failed Pixl created by the ancients or that she was created by a witch who was researching shape-shifting potions. She could also maybe be a robot, given the fact that her transformed form has gears inside of her head.
  • There are contradicting backstories to the original Donkey Kong. The titular character is either Mario's pet gorilla who decided he had enough of his abuse, or he is a gorilla that escaped from the zoo.
• Tangledeep has a downplayed version of this with Mirai. Depending on what Job she starts the game with, she'll give a slightly different Opening Narration, reflecting her past and her worldview. A few details are always the same; she's Happily Adopted, and she's setting out to Tangledeep for some reason. This can extend a bit further than normal with the final class to unlock, the HuSyn class, wherein Mirai herself mentions that she was built, not born, though her narration notes that despite this, she is still loved by her friends and family in Riverstone Camp.
• In the Tomb Raider series, Lara's origin seems to be "whatever the designer of the current game/movie/comic feels like", and has therefore changed drastically each time it's been told.
• Touhou Project:
  • Almost but not quite literally the case for Sakuya, who has knowledge and skills far beyond her physical age (late teens to twenties), is a Time Master, and was seemingly recognized by Eirin, an immortal being who hadn't been to Earth in over 1000 years. Perfect Memento in Strict Sense mentions several rumors going around the human village, including her being a fallen Vampire Hunter or a Lunarian, but said book also says that they're all just rumors and more than likely none of them are actually true.
• The Amnesiac in Town of Salem can choose to have a different role each game, which can affect the outcome.
• Tyranny allows you to not only choose the background for your Fatebinder but also detail their actions during the conquest of the Tiers, which can have significant consequences during your playthrough due to how your actions have affected the various factions.
• Unavowed gives gives you three possible origin stories for the Player Character, bartender, actor, or police officer, all three coming with their own playable prologue.
• The player character gets to choose his/her own past in the character creation of Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. This only affects stats though, not the actual story.
  • This was originally cut from the game and was reintroduced by an official patch.
• As if the Warcraft lore didn't see enough changes/retcons, the setting also features a fair dosage of time travel. Certain forces can tamper with the timeline, while the Bronze Dragonflight tries to fix it. In World of Warcraft, the Caverns of Time feature a set of dungeons where the players assist them by whatever means possible. For instance, there are two versions of Thrall's escape from imprisonment: either a bloodless escape during a distraction, or a group of strangers assaulting the keep and a nearby town. Although at the end of that one, the bronze dragon that was guiding you implies that after you've destroyed the last of the Infinite Dragons who were trying to alter the time stream, he would alter events so that the original bloodless escape is what everyone will remember.
• In Wasteland 3, part of creating your character entails deciding on a background that tells of their history before arriving in Colorado. Each background also grants different bonuses:
  • Bookworm: Raised in the Ag Center in Arizona among scientists, giving access to a plethora of books. Grants a 5% bonus to EXP earned.
  • Desert Cat: Survivalist who is well acclimated to navigating the wastes in Arizona. Grants +1 Perception.
  • Disciple of the Metal: Proud wasteland warrior. 15% bonus to fire damage.
  • Explodomaniac: Joined with the Desert Rangers because they have explosives, and you like things that go boom. 15% bonus to explosive damage.
  • Goat Killer: You kill goats because it will bring you closer to the monster goat that killed your mother. No, really! 15% boost to critical chance.
  • Grease Monkey: A skilled mechanic. 15% bonus damage vs. vehicles.
  • Lethal Weapon: A wannabe Cowboy Cop who hunts down bad guys and doesn't play by the rules. 10% bonus to melee damage.
  • Mannerite: Raised in the good part of LA to mind your manners. +1 bonus to Kiss Ass.
  • Moneybags: Grew up in affluence, but your family was killed by those who coveted your wealth. +1 bonus to Barter.
  • Mopey Poet: You are an Emo. +1 to Evasion.
  • Paladin: A Knight Templar determined to see justice mete out. 10% bonus to critical resistance.
  • Raider Hater: You hate raiders. Tried raiding for a time, didn't work out. 10% bonus damage vs. human enemies.
  • Sex Machine: You like sex, and just as importantly, you're good at it...but not much else. +0.1 bonus to Combat Speed.
  • Stoner: The world's a messed up place, but through it all, you're chill as hell. 10% bonus to status ailment resistance.
  • The Boss: It's your way or the (nuclear devastated) highway. +1 bonus to Hard Ass.
  • Viscious Avenger: You were Made a Slave, but you fought your way to freedom, and woe befall any who stand in your way. +2 bonus to Penetration.
• World of Horror has several different character backgrounds which affect the game, including:
  • "World of Horror": the default background, which has no effect.
  • "Medical History": Your character has a history of physical illness and injury. As such, they begin the game with a bandage for treating minor injuries and a medical discharge paper that grants extra EXP, but they are more prone to suffering injuries when sustaining damage.
  • "Hunted by the Cult": You're on the run from the cult trying to summon the Old Gods. As such, you're more likely to face combat encounters, which now includes unique cultist enemies, but the Doom counter will reduce by a larger amount when a mystery is cleared.
  • "The Seventh Curse": Thanks to a Deal with the Devil, you start the game with more Funds than usual, but because everyone around you tends to die, you're barred from recruiting any allies.^note Save for Kana, who is necessary for one mystery; rescued dogs, which don't count as human; and the Hermit, who is a special encounter in another mystery
  • "Ill-Fated": Your luck is so incredibly bad that all of your skill checks will automatically fail, but you're used to it enough that you start the game with enough experience to immediately level up.
  • "Knight-Errant": Your determination to save the town of Shiokawa is such that completing mysteries with anything short of "Ending A" will result in a steep Doom penalty.
  • "Scars": You suffered scars from a perilous encounter in the past. As a result, you start the game with your maximum Stamina and Reason reduced by 3, but enemies deal less damage in combat.
  • "Curious Birthmark": You have an unusual birthmark that seems to change shape. Similar to "Medical History", you're more likely to suffer curses when you take damage in battle, but you start the game with an Old Coin that can be used to remove a curse.
  • "Eldritch Parasite": Something evil is lurking and growing inside your body. You start the game with maximum Stamina and Reason increased by 20, but you cannot recover Stamina or Reason at all.
  • "Exquisite Taste": Your character is very peculiar, thus reducing your options for additional locations in each area of the town to one.
  • "Fatalist": So resigned are you to your fate that you can only investigate each mystery in the order they appear, and you won't know what mysteries they are until you start them.
  • "Commoner": You were destined to die, but somehow, you're still alive...for now. As a result, you cannot gain any experience points at all, and will remain at Level 1 for the duration of the playthrough.

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