Games Where You're NOT the Main Character

One of the games where the idea that you are not important is MOST implied is a game called “Rain World”. Instead of being some great hero, you are just a piece of a great ecosystem, I would really recommend.

a lot of people didn't like it, but Pokemon Sun/Moon fell into this category of storytelling: you, the player character, is helping Lillie keep Cosmog safe while also helping her grow as an independent person-- something she wasn't afforded while under the heel of her possessive mother who was treading down a dangerous path. The story you play involved your progress towards becoming the champion of Alola, but the entire storyline centered around being a role model for Lillie's growth. A lot of players didn't like that Sun and Moon didn't feel like OUR story as the player, but that's what made it stand out: it was about our impact on other people, that helps other people achieve their goals and allows us to support them while they grow.

i like how he had to specify the cat in stray wasnt anthropomorphic

Another underrated game that fits this category is Gone Home. You play the eldest sibling coming home from college to find that nobody’s home. As you walk through the house, you learn how the lives of your family kept going after you left. The main character of this game is actually your little sister. You learn through notes, newspaper clippings, and pictures that your little sister has grown up and even fell in love. The ending is something that genuinely changed me as a person and had me sobbing like a baby.

The achievements in Wandersong being tied to the hero and not bard is one of the coolest usages of achievements I have ever seen.

wandersong is criminaly underrated, nobody talks about it.

Papers please I would argue is a brilliant example of this, there is clearly a small story that the player only plays a tiny part in, meeting members who possibly are the protagonist

0:36 I heard the same critique about the Arkham series: "If this game didn't have Batman, it would just be seen as generic." Uh... yeah, should there be a game before 2009 that had a protagonist who constantly glided around w/ a cape, climbed w/ a grapple gun, threw some ninja stars, drove around in a futuristic car, etc...; people would likely call that character a Batman ripoff. The entire gameplay is a collection of things that Batman does, which is why he's not swinging around and scaling walls like Spider-Man.

A great book that does a similar thing to Wandersong is "the rest of us just live here". At the start of every chapter is a little snippet of a grand fantasy adventure, but the bulk of the novel is spent following a group of regular people who are only occasionally affected by the magical goings-on of the setting.

Footnote: It was more than a little surreal to be working on a video that features Hi-Fi Rush while the studio behind it got unceremoniously shut down. I really hope the talented team that made it will be able to carry on under a new banner. Hi-Fi Rush is a true gem of a game, the sort of project that I wish more major publishers would take a chance on. I’m glad we got the game we did, though. It will continue to bring joy to those who discover it.

How is no one talking about the INSANE QUALITY of the video? You deserve a lot more

I loved stray, and it’s very clear at many points that you’re just assisting B-12 in their task. But like- cat, plus very heartwarming moments and emotion put into the game, even though none of the characters are human. All of that plus amazing visuals and storytelling really pull it together

In Stars and Time has a very interesting take on this same concept. The character you play as, Siffrin, is literally the /last/ member to join the world-saving party, a trap-defusing rogue who is along for the ride because, direct quote, they "have nothing better to do". Hell, the game's story itself literally takes place in the 48 hours before the party infiltrates the final boss dungeon, already having collected all of their magic doohickeys from around the world! This fact is the driving force between every single snowballing insecurity that forms the game's plot. Siffrin's biggest hangup is that they feel like they aren't important, aren't really "part of the team", and they're terrified of the grand saviors of the world leaving him behind as just a footnote in the legend. Siffrin /knows/ the story isn't about him, and it is ruining him mentally. It definitely hit me with a similar feeling to Wandersong in terms of premise and character building.

people don't talk about wandersong enough

0:36 “if my singing monsters didnt have monsters, it wouldn’t have been popular”

I nearly cried when I saw the bard's sillouhette. Wandersong is my favorite game of all time, and just thinking about it can still move me to tears.

I think a perfect example is Rain World. The 3 base characters are pretty blank aside from wanting to find their family/sibling/perform it’s spoiler task. The world and characters around them are much more dynamic. Especially when playing the expansion, which takes place over lifetimes. The changes that happen to the characters though each slice of the timeline show how while each character is not the “main” one, the small impact they do have shapes the world for the ones that come after

As much as I enjoyed this video --- and I'm saying that as a former English major, and "professional" writer (i.e., it's not something that pays enough to make a living, but never mind that) --- I want to comment just want to thank you for the whole bibliography in the video description. A few of these are games I wasn't even aware of, and I wanted to look them up. It's really helpful to have all that information in one place, about what genre the games are, what game systems they're available on, and who the developers are, so I can look up the studios themselves. I don't know how many people actually read full video descriptions, but I wanted to let you know I appreciate the effort on this one.

Rainworld is a great example for this. You play as a "Slugcat" in an unforgiving and unfair world. You were sepperated from your family and are now forced to survive. In Rainworld at the end of each "Cycle" mass amounts of rain will fall and if you dont get to a shelter with enough food you will either be crushed or drown. Most the the creatures in Rainworld can not be killed and notice how I say creatures and not enemies because the way that the Ai was made makes it feel like you are in a living breathing ecosystem. As you get farther and farther in the game you learn more about your surroundings and get better at surviving but you never get very powerful or make a big effect on the world around you. You are just a lost slugcat looking for a way out

A perfect example of this is Gwimbly Adventure 3D where you play as Gwimbly but the plot revolves around Mr Millipede