History Main / StaticRoleExchangeableCharacter

** The ''Legacy of the First Blade'' DLC has Natakas and Neema, Darius' son/daughter and the new LoveInterest. Who shows up depends on the player character's chosen character (Natakas if Kassandra and Neema if Alexios), with the other having been killed many years prior to the events of the DLC. Unlike that of Kassandra and Alexios, Natakas and Neema are essentially just gender-inverted versions of each other and are basically identical as characters.

** An unconventional example. The game has two protagonists to choose from: Alexios and Kassandra, Spartan-born brother and sister. Whoever the player chooses to play as will always be the Eagle Bearer; a Mercenary who spent their childhood on the island of Kephellonia under the employ of Markos, and long-lost eldest child of Spartan princess Myrrine. Whoever isn't chosen, however, will appear as [[spoiler:ArcVillain of the main campaign, Deimos]], a warrior working for the Cult of Kosmos and [[spoiler:Myrrine's ''other'' long-lost child]]. Although they follow virtually identical scripts and scenes, Kassandra and Alexios ''are'' seperate characters with slight deviations in their depictions depending on who is in which role--usually due to differences in the voice direction or animations. As the Eagle Bearer, Alexios tends to be more [[HotBlooded expressive and boisterous]], while Kassandra tends to be more [[DeadpanSnarker cool and snarky]]--as [[spoiler:Deimos]], this translates to Alexios being more [[EvilIsHammy aggressive and hot-headed]] while Kassandra remains [[ColdHam coldly sarcastic and measured]].

** Both player character and "Deimos": At the start of the game, you pick whether to play as Alexios or Kassandra, and the sibling you didn't choose shows up later on as Deimos, a warrior for the Cult who serves as TheHeavy of the main plot. Canonically, [[spoiler:Alexios]] becomes Deimos.
** The ''Legacy of the First Blade'' DLC has Natakas and Neema, Darius' son/daughter and the new Love Interest. Who shows up depends on the player character's chosen character (Natakas if Kassandra and Neema if Alexios), with the other having been killed prior to the events of the DLC.

* In ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series' spin-off DungeonCrawl game, ''[[VideoGame/AnElderScrollsLegendBattlespire Battlespire]]'', the story is the same whether you choose to play as male Apprentice (Josian) or the female apprentice (Vatasha). The only difference is that you are now rescuing the one you did not choose to play as.

* In the Imperial China chapter of ''Videogame/LiveALive'', the Shifu recruits three apprentices. Whomever he ends up training the most will end up being the heir after [[spoiler:the dojo gets attacked by [[ThugDojo The Indomitable Fist]] and the two others are killed]] and become the Earthen Heart Master in the endgame.

** The ''Legacy of the First Blade'' DLC has Natakas and Neema, Darius' son/daughter and the new Love Interest. Who shows up depends on the player character's chosen character (Natakas if Kassandra and Neema if Alexios).

* ''VideoGame/AHatInTime'', the Chapter 2 Boss and the Bomb Defuser. The main focus of the Chapter is a rivalry between movie directors The Conductor and DJ Grooves. Players can help one or the other win an award by completing their missions; the winner takes a Time Piece to try and change a previous loss (in The Conductor's case) or several previous losses (in DJ Grooves's case) in the past, while the loser shows up during the boss fight to save Hat Kid from an explosive attack.

* In the Imperial China chapter of ''Videogame/LiveALive'', the Shifu recruits three apprentices. Whomever he ends up training the most will end up being the Successor of Earthen Heart Kung Fu after [[spoiler:the dojo gets attacked by [[ThugDojo The Indomitable Fist]] and the two others are killed]].

*** There's also a noteworthy [[{{Averted}} Aversion]] in ''Game of Thrones'' just for good measure: you're given a choice between rescuing [[spoiler:Malcolm]] or [[spoiler:Beshka]] from a [[spoiler:dragon]] at one point, with everything beforehand hinting that it's going to result in this trope. However in fact, [[spoiler:both survive and continue on the story-lines they would have been on anyway — just one of them is a bit mad at Asher.]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{SOS}}''. You get the choice of 4 playable characters, and once you pick one, the remaining 3 become rescuable survivors.

* In the Imperial China chapter of ''Videogame/LiveALive'', the Shifu recruits three apprentices. Whomever he ends up training the most will end up being [[spoiler:the survivor of the attack from [[ThugDojo The Indomitable Fist]] and become the Earthen Heart Master]].

*** "Ruler of Ferelden": At the end of the landsmeet, the player will decide who will rule Ferelden: [[spoiler:Alistair or Anora.]] While there are some minor variations to it (such as marrying the two to each other), only one of them will be treated as ''the'' ruler of the kingdom by the end. The chosen ruler will give a big speech before the final battle, offer the player a boon at their coronation, [[spoiler: give a eulogy at the player's funeral]] and goes on to make cameos in future games.

*** "[[spoiler:Mythal's Thrall]]": Towards the endgame, either the Inquisitor, or Morrigan drinks from the Well of Sorrows, allowing them to neutralize the Elder One's dragon in the FinalBattle, but also [[spoiler:making them a thrall to Mythal.]]

* ''VideoGame/AlwaysSometimesMonsters'': You select your protagonist and their significant other out of the numerous attendants at a party, and most of the ones you didn't pick show up later in the game as [=NPCs=].

*** "Chrom's Wife": [[TheHero Chrom]] is the one character who gender-inverts this. He is the only character who MUST marry in-story, and he can marry one of 5 different characters (or 6, as Chrom marries a nameless village girl if neither of the five girls qualify or they're already married). Regardless of who they are, "Chrom's Wife" fills the same story role in two scenes: appearing with his baby after Chapter 11, and [[spoiler:meeting Chrom's KidFromTheFuture in Chapter 13]]. Every one of these apart from the generic village girl also has a child of their own in addition to Chrom's fixed child. This child fills the role of "Lucina's Sibling": having a set of support conversations that like [[spoiler:Morgan]]'s case, are pre-fixed and with the same subject matter.

** ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'' (and their remakes) has [[CanonName Brendan]]/May take the role of Professor Birch's child and one of your [[TheRival rivals]], though they ultimately stop pursuing battling to focus on research work by the time you get to Lilycove City.

*** "King of Orzammar": The player will decide whether or not Bhelen or Harrowmont takes the throne. The chosen ruler will promise an army of dwarves to the Warden and will be mentioned in future games. [[spoiler:The runner-up, on the other hand, will be KilledOffForReal.]]

* ''Videogame/AstralChain'': The player chooses between a BrotherSisterTeam as their player character. The one you don't choose is given the name Akira Howard and serves as a secondary character.

* ''Videogame/KingsQuest2015'': Queen Valanice. In Episode Three, Graham meets two princesses named Vee and Neese. The one he chooses to romance is revealed to be Valanice in the present.

* In ''VisualNovel/DeathMark'' and ''VisualNovel/SpiritHunterNG'', the player can pick from one of two companion characters to accompany him in various parts of the investigation. While some segments are locked to a character, others are not, and so you can get different dialogue or even different Bad Ends despite the role of companion character being functionally the same.

A telltale sign of this trope at work is when players or even the game itself start using [[CanonIdentifier generic, gender-neutral role descriptors]] (like "the Specialist", "the Volunteer", "the Love Interest", etc.) instead of character names to simplify walkthroughs. It commonly overlaps with RomanceSidequest (if the PC's love interest, regardless who it is, has a role in the overarching plot) and MutuallyExclusivePartyMembers (if one such member dies, the other may be called "the Whatever Survivor"). A [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters sufficiently large cast]] is often required to use this trope effectively. If a particular character is unfairly promoted for a certain role by the game, it may be suffering from StoryBranchFavoritism.

** ''VideoGame/TelltalesGameOfThrones'':

* In ''Videogame/Rage2'', the protagonist's gender is chosen by having you choose between a male and female soldier. The one who doesn't get chosen gets killed in the following cutscene.
* In ''Videogame/WolfensteinTheNewOrder'' and [[Videogame/WolfensteinIITheNewColossus the sequel]], you are given a SadisticChoice between saving [[NewMeat Wyatt]] or [[ViolentGlaswegian Fergus]], which alters the "timeline". This means that the survivor serves as TheLancer to Blazcowicz and, in ''The New Order'', is accompanied by a different NPC (Tekla in Fergus' timeline, "J" in Wyatt's) and some minor gameplay alterations (getting to some minor optional areas by learning to pick locks from Wyatt or rewire fuseboxes from Fergus).

* In ''Videogame/DragonQuestHeroesTheWorldTreesWoeAndTheBlightBelow'' and [[Videogame/DragonQuestHeroesIITwinKingsAndTheProphecysEnd the sequel]], you're given a choice between a male or a female as your main character, with the one who you didn't choose functioning as TheLancer.

* In ''Videogame/DungeonSiege III'', the character you choose is the one that shows up to the invitation to the meeting that turns out to be an ambush. The ones you didn't will show up later at various points in the game with an explanation as to why they didn't go and join you as companion characters.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'', "Sole Survivor": The game starts off with a married couple preparing for an event later that night, and the player can customize the two of them before selecting one (either army vet Nate or law student Nora). The other then becomes an NPC with a default name [[spoiler:who dies at the end of the prologue.]]

** In ''Videogame/MassEffectAndromeda'', the male and female playable characters are twin siblings. The one you don't choose starts off in a coma due to their cryopod being damaged and is later awakened to be a secondary NPC.

* In ''Videogame/GenshinImpact'', you choose your gender by selecting between a brother and a sister. The one you don't choose is captured and your goal is to rescue them.

* ''VideoGame/TheDarkPicturesAnthology'': ''VideoGame/ManOfMedan'' has two principle variations on the final chapter, depending on how many (and, to a lesser extent, which) characters are still alive by the time you reach that point. Since AnyoneCanDie, who fills what role in the finale is extremely variable — not quite every character can fill any role, but it's a close thing.

** In ''[[VideoGame/TheWalkingDeadSeasonThree The Walking Dead: A New Frontier]]'', Eleanor forces Javi to make a SadisticChoice between [[spoiler:Tripp and Ava]]. [[spoiler:She executes whoever Javi tries to save in a show of power]], leaving the other character as a companion for the remainder of the season. [[spoiler:Whoever survived dies partway through the next episode anyway.]]

** Similar with the starters. Whoever ends up as your main rival will always end up with the starter whose main type is super-effective against your own, and outside of the [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue Kanto]], [[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver Johto]], and [[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Hoenn]] games, the third starter will end up in the hands of another NPC. Horrifically/hilariously explained in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvp8vvH2EqE this fan video]]. But more likely, Professor Oak keeps the third starter with him, as a DummiedOut [[http://lparchive.org/Pokemon-Blue/Update%2014/ battle]] with him shows. There are actually three versions of this battle programmed into the game, one with each of the starters (fully evolved) as the fifth Pokémon on the team; presumably, you would fight the version with the starter neither you nor your rival chose.