History Main / AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent

** In ''[[VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheMiracleMask Miracle Mask]]'', you briefly team up with Layton’s childhood friend Randall in a flashback and solve a few puzzles as him. Also the final puzzle is solved by [[spoiler:Angela...who is then revealed to be Descole in disguise, meaning you were actually playing as the BigBad.]]

** Potentially subverted if you manage to gain the Immortal trait, in which case you may be able to continue playing as the same character for the rest of the game.

* In ''VideoGame/AITheSomniumFiles'', you play as Kaname Date (or, more specifically, Aiba as an extension of Date's psyche) as you explore other people's Somniums, with two late-game exceptions. [[spoiler:On Mizuki's route, Mizuki ends up being the one to Psync with Date in an effort to wake him up from his psychological coma. Later, on the Resolution route, Date ends up on the receiving end of a Psync again, but this time you play as him as Saito is Psyncing with him to get his original body back. [[ControlledHelplessness And all you can do is let it happen.]]]]
** [[spoiler: During the Resolution route Hitomi is briefly playable during her recollection about Manaka’s death.]]

* ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'': The player spends the first few hours of the game controlling Roxas before resuming control as Sora from the first game. All of Roxas' stats are transferred to Sora after the switch. Additionally, during the final boss battle, the player character briefly switches to [[spoiler:Riku]] after [[spoiler:Sora is grabbed and starts having his energy drained by Xemnas]]. Also, if Sora falls during specific boss fights, Mickey will leap in action to save him, under the player's control. (Though he lacks a finishing move and must revive Sora to deal the final blow)
* ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'': Even though Sora is playable through the very end, Riku is playable twice in the Realm of Darkness, fighting the Demon Tower, and again in the [[=Remind=]] DLC, during a OnceMoreWithClarity BossBattle where he and Sora swap party positions. Aqua is also playable in Castle Oblivion during the boss fight against Vanitas and again during Remind. Roxas and Kairi are optionally playable in the [[=Remind=]] DLC. [[spoiler:There's also a segment in Remind where the play controls every keyblade wielder, except Sora and Kairi, at the same time, and then a short segment as Mickey]]

* This is quite common in the Blog/ReadingRainbowverse, to the point where brief cameos can evolve into full on cohosts.

* ''Fanfic/TheTwilightChild'': The last two flashback chapters focus on the life and exploits of the main character's cousin, and her gradually evolving relationship with a friend of her cousins, and explains her until-then hinted at fate.
* ''Fanfic/TheSecondTry'': Most of the story follows Shinji and Asuka's point of view, but the bulk of the final chapter "End" shows the events of the second-to-last chapter from Rei's viewpoint.

* In ''Fanfic/NeitherABirdNorAPlaneItsDeku'', the story is primarily told in the third-person and focuses on Izuku's perspective with the exception of the interludes, which are told entirely from his point of view. Come Chapter 7, the narrative flips between Izuku and an unnamed wealthy socialite whose grandfather was an infamous supervillain, with the two sharing the same opening lines with the coming of each season. They finally meet in the winter months before the U.A. Entrance Exam, upon which the socialite reveals herself to Izuku as [[spoiler:Alexis Lois Luthor. She also informs him that she knows that he's an alien and will be attending U.A. just so she can observe him.]]

** In [[VideoGame/Sly2BandOfThieves the first sequel]], Murray and Bentley are both playable characters, it stars using the practice of switching characters within story missions (for example, you may start one mission as Sly and then after a certain point automatically switch to Bentley).

** ''VideoGame/SonicRidersZeroGravity'', has two intertwining storylines -- the heroes and the Babylon Rogues. The heroes team has (again) Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, while the Babylong Rogues team has Jet, Wave and Storm. Amy gets a level for herself -- though, oddly, her level is in the middle of the Babylon Rogues' story, even though she spends most of her time with the Hero team. And her objective is to outrace a computer-controlled Babylon Rogue.

** Likewise, its SpiritualSuccessor ''VideoGame/HeavyRain'' switches between the four main characters frequently, sometimes in the middle of a chapter. Additionally, in two chapters you also get to control [[spoiler:a young version of the Origami Killer]] in {{Flashback}}.

* ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUs'' has two instances of this. [[spoiler: The prologue of the game has you play as Joel's daughter while the perspective shifts between Ellie and Joel in the Winter chapters.]]

* The core premise of ''VideoGame/DriverSanFrancisco'' has the player character John Tanner leaping into different character's bodies and take control of the car they are driving, usually to drive them headlong into any car you're chasing down. The player still sees John whenever they leap, but other characters treat them like the original person they were, and in many cutscenes this leads to strange reactions to John breaking character when he's thrust into the middle of a conversation. The game even plays around with this more later on, [[spoiler: in one mission having the player jump into an antagonist's body following his car, but the player controls their own car from the viewpoint of the car following.]]

** An interesting example in ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsII''. If [[spoiler: Karma gets captured, you can rescue her]] in one strike force mission called Second Chance. If you save [[spoiler: her]], you can play as [[spoiler: her]] during the mission. Unlike the strike force soldiers, don't expect a respawn to save you though.

* The final chapter in ''[[VideoGame/{{Killzone}} Killzone: Shadowfall]]'' is the only one played from the perspective of someone other than Keller: [[spoiler: Echo]], [[spoiler: out to avenge Kellers' death by assassinating the man that did it.]] It also marks the first time in the ''franchise'' where [[spoiler: you play as a Helghast]].

* ''[[VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}} Bayonetta 1]]'''s epilogue has you play as [[spoiler: [[TheRival Jeanne]] for a while, as she ascends the statue of [[FinalBoss Jubileus]] in a bid to rescue the captive Bayonetta]]. In the same chapter, providing an odd twist, [[spoiler: you take control of Jubileus' soul as it [[HurlItIntoTheSun hurtles towards the sun]], you having to guide it past the planets in the Solar System]].
* ''VideoGame/Bayonetta2'' has you take control of [[MouthyKid Loki]] for one verse. Given that [[GiantMook a gihugic angel]] is chasing him, and he [[FragileSpeedster isn't exactly the most sturdy combatant]], all you can do is [[AdvancingBossOfDoom run, run, run as fast you can]]!
** In the Chapter before that in the battle against the Masked Lumen, just before the Sage's health hits zero, you start playing as Madama Butterfly as she does battle with the Sage's Temperantia.
** And finally, in the final chapter, doubling as a CallBack, [[spoiler: you briefly take control of [[BigBad Loptr's]] body as it flies towards the open maw of Gomorrah. Unlike the last game, there's no way that Loptr can escape his well-deserved doom, making this double as ControllableHelplessness]].

* ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes2DesperateStruggle'' has a couple of levels where you play as [[spoiler: Shinobu]], and a dream sequence where you control [[spoiler: Henry]]. Both of them end up helping Travis. [[UnwantedAssistance He doesn't]] [[KillSteal appreciate it.]]

** In ''VideoGame/JadeEmpire'', this is limited to a few brief segments, notably two where you command Black Whirlwind and your choice of Dawn Star or Silk Fox during [[BigBadassBattleSequence the siege of Dirge]]. There's also a less obvious instance where [[spoiler: you have the option of playing as Black Whirlwind fighting in the arena against his brother]].

** During the climax of ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda'' [[spoiler: after Archon severs Ryder's connection to SAM the player takes control of their opposite-sex twin as they have to re-establish the connection onboard the ''Hyperion'' while it's under Kett attack]].

* ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'' does this with both main character and party members, but in an unusual way. [[spoiler: Your antagonist [[GrandTheftMe body-swaps you]]. Your old party members stay behind with "Serge" and you're forced to recruit and equip a new party as Lynx.]]

** In ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy'' you play as the mains from I to X [[spoiler: and a bit of XI and XII to unlock]] in separate character storylines. However, characters make appearances in each others' storylines, and you end up all together at the climax. The Museum section allows you to see a video of the whole story in chronological order.

* ''VideoGame/LiveALive'', which was the entire point of the game -- seven completely unrelated stories happening in different time periods. [[spoiler: It all comes together in the end of course. And it turns out the stories weren't ''completely'' unrelated.]]
* ''VideoGame/TheLongestFiveMinutes'': Two of the flashbacks are played from the points of view of [[spoiler: Haru]] and [[spoiler: Fuzz]].

** ''VideoGame/MOTHER3'' does this ''multiple'' times. The prologue starts as Lucas, the hero. Then the first chapter has you play through the game as Flint, Lucas' father, up until the first "big" boss. He's joined about halfway through by Duster. The second chapter has you playing as Duster by himself, later joined by his father, Wess, and RebelliousPrincess Kumatora. The next chapter switches focus ''entirely'' to a monkey named Salsa (though the chapter itself primarily serves to introduce {{QuirkyMiniboss|Squad}} Fassad). Then, ''finally,'' in the fourth chapter, the game switches to Lucas again, and only shifts once more [[spoiler: to you, after you watch the effects of the Dark Dragon's awakening unfold, to speak to most of the game's main cast for a bit before the credits roll]].

* ''VideoGame/NierAutomata'' does this on multiple occasions after Route A. [[spoiler: Route B begins with a prologue where you control a random machine lifeform, before shifting control to 9S for the remainder of the route. Route [=C/D=] starts off by switching between 2B and 9S, but after 2B's death the remainder of the game alternates between 9S and A2.]]

* ''VideoGame/OdinSphere'' does this, as all five of the main characters are part of the same chain of events. After clearing one character's story, you move on to the next character, and so on. For the final confrontation, you then decide which characters fight the final bosses, and selecting them [[GuideDangIt in the correct order]] is the only way to achieve the best ending. [[spoiler: Sadly, selecting them in the wrong order on multiple runs is also the only way to get HundredPercentCompletion to earn the ''true'' ending, which is uplifting enough to endure the bad endings.]]

* ''VideoGame/MarioTennis Aces'' has you playing as Mario for the entirety of the single player adventure mode. Towards the end of the game, [[spoiler: you play as Peach in a doubles match with Daisy on your side and playing against the corrupted Wario and Waluigi. You resume control of Mario after winning to play against the corrupted Luigi.]]

** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPortableOps'' also grants the option and a similar limitation. The game will force you to invoke this when [[spoiler: Snake gets captured]].

* In the very middle of the story in ''VideoGame/AlienIsolation'', you briefly play as [[spoiler: Marlow, as he tells Amanda how his wife came to be infected with the alien.]]

* In ''VideoGame/TheCrookedMan'', you briefly play as David's best friend Paul, and have to save David from [[spoiler: DemonicPossession by the Crooked Man.]] After that's all over you resume playing as David.

* ''VideoGame/EternalDarkness'' can feel like this if you play the game without having been spoiled of the plot beforehand. [[spoiler: As a rule, it's best not to get too attached to the characters you get stuck with.]] Fortunately, there's no LevelGrinding, and once each character finds the Tome, they have ''all'' the spells learned up to that point.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Ib}}'', under some very special circumstances, you can play as Mary. [[spoiler: If you're playing as Mary, you're screwed. You are stuck on the path for the worst ending of the game; you've already lost Ib and Garry, and it's only a matter of time for Mary.]]

** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil7Biohazard'' features a completely new protagonist, named Ethan Winters, as oppose to the series' main gang. This ultimately makes sense, as the game inverts the ActionizedSequel trope that had been in effect since ''Resident Evil 4'', and all the previous protagonists have [[TookALevelInBadass taken pretty large levels of badass]] beyond that point. You can also switch to other characters in the playable VHS tapes, including cameraman Clancy and Ethan's wife Mia. [[spoiler: Near the end of the game you are forced to play as Mia for the ship section when Ethan is captured and Mia attempts to save him.]] The DLC adds two more playable characters: Joe Baker and [[spoiler:Chris Redfield.]]
**
''VideoGame/ResidentEvilVillage'' has Ethan as the protagonist again, but briefly switches to [[spoiler: Chris Redfield]] when Ethan is incapacitated near the end.

*** The Aftermath chapter of Judgement is set during the events of the third game and features Clayton Carmine in place of Judgements [[spoiler: Sophia.]]

* In ''VideoGame/MaxPayne2'', two levels are played from the perspective of [[spoiler: Mona Sax]].

* Occurs in the ''VideoGame/ReservoirDogs'' game for the simple reason that the game follows the plot of the movie. The only character who doesn't die the second you stop controlling him is Mr Orange, who is only controllable in the tutorial, and [[spoiler: possibly Mr Pink.]]

** Done three times in ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations'': in Cases 1 and 4, you do a flash-back to early cases of Phoenix's mentor, Mia Fey, and naturally play as her. In case 5 of the same game, Phoenix suffers a nasty accident and [[spoiler: convinces [[TheRival Miles Edgeworth]] to briefly [[AntiHeroSubstitute take his place]] as a defense attorney]]. In ''Justice For All'', you very briefly play as Maya as well.
** Also done in ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'', where [[spoiler: you end up playing as Phoenix in his last trial. After that you play as Thalassa Gramarye playing out Phoenix's seven year investigation through the MASON system]].

* The Bad Boys Love route of ''VisualNovel/HatofulBoyfriend'' begins with [[spoiler: the human girl getting killed]]. For the remainder of that route, you play as Ryouta. The protagonist-shift goes hand-in-hand with a GenreShift from a weird dating sim to a weird [[spoiler: murder mystery thriller]].

* Downplayed in ''VisualNovel/{{Morenatsu}}'', where POV switches to another character for brief moments. The most notable instance is the denouement of Kouya's route where the POV shifts to Kouya [[spoiler: when he visits his father after the [[ConcertClimax big concert]] and begins the process of reconciling with his estranged family.]] while the player character waits outside.

** After Trevor and Michael [[spoiler: kidnap Patricia Madrazo]], you are briefly locked in as Franklin while the other two lay low in the desert.

* Geoph Essex's ''Lovely Assistant'' sticks almost entirely to the point of view of main protagonist Jenny Ng, with a few minor exceptions: the first chapter (before she's introduced), a chapter where her friends have to work together without her [[spoiler: because she's missing]], parts of the final chapter, and a very spooky interlude in Chapter Sixteen describing the point of view of [[spoiler: the angry cosmic creature that's coming to visit our world]].

* In ''Webcomic/SilentHillPromise'': After the Theme Park arc, the story switches to Evelyn after Vanessa [[spoiler: gets apparently killed by Pyramid Head]].
* Since the end of Episode 10,[[spoiler: where it ended with Plank was left in the Perriman cloning facility after "killing" Selenis that only activated her next clone in continuing episode]], the Webcomic/SupermassiveBlackHoleAStar has been continuing from Selenis' perspective.

->''"For this chapter alone, you will make your way through a dungeon controlling [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsFromZeroAndTrailsToAzure police detective Lloyd Bannings and Arc en Ciel performer Rixia Mao]]. Both link attacks and Overdrive are available to them."''

* The ''VideoGame/{{Suikoden}}'' series is fond of player character changes. ''VideoGame/SuikodenII'' and ''VideoGame/SuikodenV'' both had sections where you created 3 different teams of characters to complete a section, and there was a small section of the original where you played a lone Dragon Knight. In ''VideoGame/SuikodenIII'' you get to see a single story unfold from the perspective of up to six different characters (three of which had to be unlocked via certain game events and the last of them being ''the BigBad'').

* ''VideoGame/Splatoon2: Octo Expansion'' is a first for the ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'' series in that you take control of a character who is ''not'' the Inkling you customize when you first start up the game. During this campaign, you instead play as an Octoling named Agent 8, who has woken up in an abandoned subway without their memories. Beating the campaign lets you switch between your original Inkling and Agent 8 as your player avatar at any time for use in multiplayer.

* Occurs in the ''VideoGame/ReservoirDogs'' game for the simple reason that the game [[KillEmAll follows the plot of the movie]]. The only character who doesn't die the second you stop controlling him is Mr Orange, who is only controllable in the tutorial, and [[spoiler: possibly Mr Pink. See KarmaMeter, MultipleEndings.]]

** ''VideoGame/SonicRidersZeroGravity'', has two intertwining storylines -- the heros and the Babylon Rogues. The heroes team has (again) Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, while the Babylong Rogues team has Jet, Wave and Storm. Amy gets a level for herself -- though, oddly, her level is in the middle of the Babylon Rogues' story, even though she spends most of her time with the Hero team. And her objective is to outrace a computer-controlled Babylon Rogue.

* ''VideoGame/Splatoon2: Octo Expansion'' is a first for the ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'' series in that you take control of a character who is ''not'' the Inkling you customize when you first start up the game. During this campaign, you instead play as an Octoling named Agent 8, who has woken up in an abandoned subway without their memories.

* ''VideoGame/Arcaea'' does this very often, though with minimal effect on gameplay. There are around a dozen different storylines, each following a separate character or pair that must be used when unlocking their respective entries.

* A subversion in Konquest mode of ''VideoGame/MortalKombatDeception''. You play as Shujinko throughout the game, but depending on who he trained with, you will participate in fights as a physical manifestation of that character. Basically, it's Shujinko fighting '''exactly''' like that character he trained with.
** A more straight-forward example was put in place with ''VideoGame/MortalKombatVsDCUniverse''. You will take control of a character for a few matches before moving on to the next character. The characters you play as depend on [[AnotherSideAnotherStory either being the MK or DC side.]]
** The same example resurfaced in the story mode of ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9'', minus the whole 'pick a side' option of the previous game. This format would be used in [[VideoGame/MortalKombatX every]] [[VideoGame/MortalKombat11 game]] [[VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs developed]] [[VideoGame/Injustice2 by Netherrealm]].
* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'' does this in the Adventure Mode, where you switch between various groups between levels, until the gang comes together for the grand finale. Unlike the previous examples, levels aren't much of an issue, but you still lose out on sticker bonuses that you applied to the characters. And if they just became playable, you can't use stickers on them until you finish the level, and of course you need to get familiar with the character as well. However, it can be said that the purpose of this is so you get used to the different characters and know which ones you're good with. This counteracts the possibility of people just saying "Hey, I liked this guy's game! I'll use him!" even if it's a crappy character.

* This is commonplace in the ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' games. You'll often switch viewpoints between characters fighting on different parts of the world. Considering the series (especially the Modern Warfare games) often pulls the "AnyoneCanDie" trick on you, some of them may not last long.

** Another to note: The Zombie games in World At War, Black Ops, and Black Ops 2 has a habit with pitting you with at least one totally different group of characters, either canonically or non-sensibly, such as the generic US soldiers to the four unique characters, to the executives (JFK being one), to famous action actors, etc.

Compare MissingMainCharacter. Not to be confused with SomethingCompletelyDifferent, which is the non-VideoGame equivalent of the UnexpectedGameplayChange. The non-video game equivalent of this is TwoLinesNoWaiting. For starting back at level 1 in a sequel starring the same characters, see BagOfSpilling.