History ParentalSubstitute / VideoGames

** In ''VideoGame/PokemonSuperMysteryDungeon'', Nuzleaf takes on this role to the player character. At first, he simply takes them in and lets them live in his house. While there, though, he minds them, acts as the first point of call, tells them what is or isn't safe for someone their age and is portrayed in some scenes with the partner as the counterpart to the partner's dad, Carracosta.

-->[[spoiler:'''Beta''': He raised you, trained you, but he was never warm or loving.The day he died - the day he gave you that charm - he was going to abandon you.]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Skullgirls}}'', 25-year-old Princess Parasoul is this to her [[AnnoyingYoungerSibling little sister]] Umbrella, who would have been very young when both of their parents died.

* ''Franchise/ResidentEvil''

** Sherry Birkin unabashedly sees Claire and Leon Kennedy, as her surrogate parents due to Sherry's actual parents William and Annette Birkin dying in ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvil2 RE2]]'' resulting in Claire and Leon looking after Sherry. Claire's bond with Claire is certainly a reference to Newt and Ripley’s bond from ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' so it's upsetting for long-time fans that Sherry and Claire never reunite in later games with Sherry only keeping Claire's jacket as a keepsake, though ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvil6 RE6]]'' confirms Claire became Sherry's part time guardian off-screen. Speaking of ''[=RE6=]'' Sherry's affection for Leon is shown as she became a Government Agent like him, and Sherry is overjoyed to meet Leon again in Lanshiang though being with [[LoveInterest Jake Muller]] at the time it becomes a sort-of "introducing your boyfriend to your dad" scenario.
*** Further [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in the ''[[VideoGame.ResidentEvil2Remake REmake 2]]'' ending where Sherry furtively [[ShipperOnDeck asks if Leon and Claire are a couple]] then happily goes right out and says it:
---->'''Sherry''': Hey you guys can adopt me.
---->'''Leon''': Ah...
---->'''Claire''': Adopt you?
---->'''Sherry''': We can get a puppy.

** ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvil7 RE7]]'' has a truly screwed up variation as BigBad Eveline's entire motivation is to have a surrogate family of her own despite being a [[HumanoidAbomination biological nightmare]] and so turns the Baker family into her puppets. Specifically, Eveline wants Mia to be her mother and Mia's husband Ethan (the PlayerCharacter) to be her father and starts her VillainousBreakdown when she is rejected. Jack and Marguerite Baker also become murderously jealous of Ethan and Mia when Eveline chooses them to be her surrogate parents while they are demoted to surrogate grandparents... ''weird''.

* In ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'', protagonist Rex has Aunt Corrine and Azurda. Corrine is a Leftherian woman who takes care of many orphaned children who find themselves in Fonsett Village, and it's clear when we meet her in person about halfway through the story that she's the reason Rex is such a NiceGuy. Azurda is a dragon-like Titan who has watched over Fonsett Village for centuries and is especially close to Rex, to the point that Rex has lived in a hut on Azurda's back for some years when the story first starts. Rex always calls Azurda "Gramps," and he makes clear in an early Heart-to-Heart that this isn't just some AffectionateNickname based on Azurda's age but because he really thinks of Azurda as his grandfather.
* ''{{VideoGame/Yakuza}}'': Shintaro Kazama is this to Kiryu and Nishiki, who look up to him and try to emulate him in every way they possibly can. Kiryu worships Kazama to the point that even after Kiryu discovers Kazama's DarkSecret, [[spoiler: namely, that he was the assassin who killed Kiryu's biological parents]] the [[BrokenPedestal pedestal]] still [[AvertedTrope doesn't break]].
** Kiryu becomes this for Haruka Sawamura, the orphaned daughter of his LoveInterest Yumi, working hard to give her a normal childhood despite all the craziness that he keeps getting dragged into, just like how Kazama was with him. Haruka adores her "Uncle Kaz" and goes out of her way to try and project him as best she can (usually trying to talk him down in the event his HonorBeforeReason mindset gets too one-track) and towards the end of his tenure as protagonist Kiryu admits he sees Haruka as the daughter he never had. In ''VideoGame/Yakuza3'', Kiryu owns an orphanage where he raises a group of other orphans. However, [[VideoGame/Yakuza6 the sixth game]] reveals that despite being her adoptive parent in all but name Kiryu evidently never actually went through the process of becoming her legal guardian.

-->'''Sherry''': Hey you guys can adopt me.
-->'''Leon''': Ah...
-->'''Claire''': Adopt you?
-->'''Sherry''': We can get a puppy.

** The reveal of ''[[VideoGame/SilentHill Silent Hill 1]]'' is that Harry isn’t Cheryl’s biological daughter having found on the side of the road and adopted her with his wife Jodie. Harry admits to Cybil he never told Cheryl she was adopted and was planning to before they were sucked into the GhostTown that is Silent Hill. Regardless Harry loves Cheryl as his own and is willingly to go to hell and back to save her [[spoiler: and raise her reincarnation (it’s complicated) and protect her from the town’s cult that wants her back.]]

* The Protagonist of ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2'' Arthur Morgan has two paternal substitutes in his mentors Dutch Van Der Linde and Hosea Matthews and a (lesser) mother figure in Susan Grimshaw who runs the camp. His biological parents are long dead by the time the game starts but Dutch and Hosea took him in his mid teens. He mentions in his journal that while he loves Dutch, Hosea is really more the person he sees as his father. As the game goes along, [[spoiler:Hosea dies and Dutch loses his marbles, Arthur begins to grow disillusioned with Dutch. ]] The protagonist of the first game in the series (''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption''), John Marston also saw them both as father figures since he was taken in by them as a kid after being orphaned. John also [[spoiler: grows disillusioned with Dutch as 2 goes along/ after Hosea's death and grows closer to Arthur (about a decade older) whom he sees as a mix between a father and an older brother.]]

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'': Minfilia, whose father was killed at the very start of 1.0 has two parental substitutes. F'lhaminn was actually responsible for her father's death (though accidentally) and took to raising her as penance for it. Minfilia despised her at first but eventually came to consider her as a mother. Her second parental substitute is Thancred, a member of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn(and initially the Circle of Knowing) who helped take care of her when he was unable to save her father from the event that killed him. He and F'lhaminn aren't a couple, but he does clearly have a crush on her though it doesn't go anywhere. But they are both extremely dedicated to Minfilia and both are heartbroken when [[spoiler: she is sent by Hydaelyn to the First Shard to save it, possibly never to return to their world]].

* The Protagonist of ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2'' Arthur Morgan has two paternal substitutes in his mentors Dutch Van Der Linde and Hosea Matthews and a (lesser) mother figure in Susan Grimshaw who runs the camp. His biological parents are long dead by the time the game starts but Dutch and Hosea took him in his mid teens. He mentions in his journal that while he loves Dutch, Hosea is really more the person he sees as his father. As the game goes along, [[spoiler:Hosea dies and Dutch loses his marbles, Arthur begins to grow disillusioned with Dutch. ]] The protagonist of the first game in the series (''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption''), John Marston also saw them both as father figures since he was taken in by them as a kid after being orphaned. John also [[spoiler: grows disillusioned with Dutch as 2 goes along/ after Hosea's death and grows closer to Arthur (about a decade older) whom he sees as a mix between a father and brother figure.]]

** Naked Snake, in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'', answers Eva's question about his relationship with the Boss by saying that she was like his mother, [[KillTheOnesYouLove only making the inevitable end of the game an even bigger twist of the knife]].
** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'', Otacon and Solid Snake are both this to Sunny Emmerich, the biological daughter of Olga Gurlukovich. After her mother's death, Otacon and Snake take over the role of being Sunny's parents, with the former acting as her legal guardian and adoptive father.

* ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' features a really bizarre version of this. [[TheHero Shepard]] recovers a "perfect" [[BloodKnight krogan]] that was created via cloning, but is essentially born in front of his/her eyes. While the creation process taught him things, and Grunt is fully grown, he obviously has no role model--krogan or otherwise--except for Shepard. After his loyalty mission, this relationship becomes clearer that Shepard is Grunt's mentor.

** During the TimeSkip between ''2'' and ''3'', Grunt picks up ''another'' parental substitute in the form of Urdnot Wrex, assuming Wrex survives the first game. Wrex is the king of Clan Urdnot, and is busting both his primary and secondary guts to reform krogan society, but he's literally older than the works of Shakespeare and can't last forever, so he seems to be grooming Grunt to take over for him. Of course, this means that Grunt's substitute parents are two of the biggest badasses in the ''Mass Effect'' universe; most of both those parents' friends are also huge badasses; and nearly all of those parents' love interests are huge badasses.
** Captain Anderson is this to Shepard, even calling a male Shepard 'son' and female Shepard "child" at the end of [[VideoGame/MassEffect3 the third game]]. This especially notable if Shepard's parents were killed when s/he was still a teenager, or s/he never knew his/her parents. Also, while Shepard can be abrasive, sarcastic or just plain rude to everyone, he/she is ''always'' respectful to Anderson.

* In ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry5'' and to lesser degree ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry4'', Dante becomes this Nero [[spoiler: who is his nephew]]. Despite being a ManChild Dante keeps a watchful eye on Nero, gives him advice, helps him escape The Savior, repeatedly orders him to leave the battlefield and is noticeably [[PapaWolf pissed]] when learns that [[spoiler: Vergil ripped off his son's arm to regain his power]]. Dante even gives Nero physical affection such as patting him on the shoulder multiple times, it's telling that even when he discovers who his real father is, Nero still cares more for Dante.

** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'', Otacon and Solid Snake are both this to Sunny Emmerich, the biological daughter of Olga Gurlukovich. After her mother's death, [[HasTwoMommies Otacon and Snake]] take over the role of being Sunny's parents, with the former acting as her legal guardian and adoptive father.

* ''[[VideoGame/AdvancedVariableGeo Advanced V.G.]]'': Satomi part-times as a combat waitress to support herself and her [[IllGirl kid brother, Daisuke.]] But she [[PerpetualPoverty barely makes enough for them to get by]], since she also has to cover the costs of Daisuke's medical treatment. So she enters the VG Tournament [[OnlyInItForTheMoney to win the prize money.]]

* Samus Aran of the ''VideoGame/{{Metroid}}'' franchise has the Chozo elder Old Bird as her adoptive parent and mentor after her biological parents are killed by Space Pirates. According to ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'', she also views Adam Malkovich, her Galactic Federation CO, as a father figure.

* Happens frequently in any ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'' game:
** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemJugdral'': In the Seisen game Ayra takes her nephew Shannan out of Isaach on request of her older brother Crown Prince Mariccle, [[spoiler:before their kingdom gets destroyed in the war]]. Later, Edain and Oifey take Shannan in as well as many other children that were the kids of the members of Sigurd's army, including Sigurd's infant son Seliph, who is a distant cousing of Oifey, and Edain's own children Lana and Lester. [[spoiler:Travant]] is a darker example, as [[spoiler:he ''killed'' Altena's parents before taking her in as his war spoil]]; at the same time, his retainer Hannibal takes care of a young boy named Coirpre (or his {{expy}} Charlot [[spoiler:in case Coirpre's mother Silvia died childless]]).
** In ''Thracia 776'', Eyvel [[spoiler:aka the amnesiac Brigid]] is this to Leif, Nanna, and Mareeta; Finn, who [[spoiler:was a retainer to Leif and Altena's dead parents Quan and Ethlyn (and can be Nanna's father)]], was Leif and Nanna's guardia and Leif's father figure; additionally, [[spoiler:Nanna's mother Lachesis is said to have been a mother figure to Leif for a while, before disappearing]]. Finn's old friend Selphina is said to have become this in the ending, taking care of war orphans; this would get her called "Mother of Thracia" after her death.
** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemElibe'': Douglas is this to the dancer Lalam. Lugh and Chad also mention a kindhearted priest who raised them until he died in the hand of Bernese troops [[spoiler:and who may or may not have been Lucius]]. Twenty years earlier, during ''Blazing Sword'', Pent and Louise are parental figures for the magician Erk, whose real parents are never mentioned, while his potential LoveInterest Priscilla was raised by House Caerleon [[spoiler: after her parents, the leads of House Cornwell, were falsely accused of corruption and could not clear their names, so [[DriventoSuicide they went the]] "BetterToDieThanBeKilled" way]].

* ''Franchise/MetalGear'' has several of these:

* The Protagonist of ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2'' Arthur Morgan has two paternal substitutes in his mentors Dutch Van Der Linde and Hosea Matthews and a (lesser) mother figure in Susan Grimshaw who runs the camp. His biological parents are long dead by the time the game starts but Dutch and Hosea took him in his mid teens. He mentions in his journal that while he loves Dutch, Hosea is really more the person he sees as his father. As the game goes along, [[spoiler:Hosea dies and Dutch loses his marbles, Arthur begins to grow disillusioned with Dutch. ]] The protagonist of the first game in the series ( ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption''), John Marston also saw them both as father figures since he was taken in by them as a kid after being orphaned. John also [[spoiler: grows disillusioned with Dutch as 2 goes along/ after Hosea's death and grows closer to Arthur (about a decade older) whom he sees as a mix between a father and brother figure.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Tales Of Graces}}'': As lampshaded by the resident GenkiGirl, [[TeamMom Cheria]] and [[TeamDad Asbel]] function as this to Sophie while [[CoolOldGuy Malik]] is this to the group.

* ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead'':

* In ''Videogame/WitchesLegacy'', following the deaths of Lynn's parents and brother, Carrie finds herself the sole guardian of the young relative she didn't know she had. [[MamaBear She steps up admirably]] - as Elisabeth is about to find out.

** Kiryu becomes this for Haruka Sawamura, the orphaned daughter of his LoveInterest Yumi, working hard to give her a normal childhood despite all the craziness that he keeps getting dragged into, just like how Kazama was with him. Haruka adores her "Uncle Kaz" and goes out of her way to try and project him as best she can (usually trying to talk him down in the event his HonorBeforeReason mindset gets too one-track) and towards the end of his tenure as protagonist Kiryu admits he sees Haruka as the daughter he never had. In ''Videogame/Yakuza3'', Kiryu owns an orphanage where he raises a group of other orphans. However, [[Videogame/Yakuza6 the sixth game]] reveals that despite being her adoptive parent in all but name Kiryu evidently never actually went through the process of becoming her legal guardian.

** [[spoiler:Jade]] from ''VideoGame/DragonQuestXI'' lost her biological mother soon after she was born, so she came to view [[spoiler:Queen Eleanor]] as a mother figure. She even refers to their biological son [[spoiler:the Luminary]] as her "[[LikeBrotherAndSister little brother]]" when giving an abridged version of her backstory. She is kind of the Player Characters "God Sister"—if That was a thing that exist.

** Aside from Chris Redfield being PromotedToParent for his sister Claire after their parents died, Barry Burton being a FamilyMan extends his fatherliness to the Redfield siblings and acts as their mentor and guide. This is best shown on in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilRevelations2'' where he cares as much for Claire as he would his own daughter despite Claire being a grown woman at that point.
** Sherry Birkin unabashedly sees Claire and Leon Kennedy, as her surrogate parents due to Sherry's actual parents William and Annette Birkin dying in [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil2 RE2]] resulting in Claire and Leon looking after Sherry. Claire's bond with Claire is a reference to Newt and Ripley from ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' so it's upsetting for long-time fans that Sherry and Claire never reunite in later games with Sherry only keeping Claire's jacket as a keepsake, though [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil6 RE6]] confirms Claire became Sherry's part time guardian off-screen. Speaking of [=RE6=] Sherry's affection for Leon is shown as she became a Government Agent like him, and Sherry is overjoyed to meet Leon again in Lanshiang though being with [[LoveInterest Jake Muller]] at the time it becomes a sort-of "introducing your boyfriend to your dad" scenario.

** Repeated again in ''Anime/ResidentEvilDegeneration'' as Claire and Leon take care of a little girl called Rani and [[MamaBear protect]] [[PapaWolf her]] from zombies.
** [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil7 RE7]] has a truly screwed up variation as BigBad Eveline's entire motivation is to have a surrogate family of her own despite being a [[HumanoidAbomination biological nightmare]] and so turns the Baker family into her puppets. Specifically, Eveline wants Mia to be her mother and Mia's husband Ethan (the PlayerCharacter) to be her father and starts her VillainousBreakdown when she is rejected. Jack and Marguerite Baker also become murderously jealous of Ethan and Mia when Eveline chooses them to be her surrogate parents while they are demoted to surrogate grandparents... ''weird''.

** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemJugdral'': In the Seisen game Ayra takes her nephew Shanan out of Isaach on request of her older brother Crown Prince Mariccle, [[spoiler:before their kingdom gets destroyed in the war]]. Later, Adean and Oifaye take Shanan in as well as many other children, including Oifaye's infant cousin Seliph and Adean's own children Lana and Lester. [[spoiler:Travant]] is a darker example, as [[spoiler:he ''killed'' Altena's parents before taking her in as his war spoil]]; at the same time, his retainer Hannibal takes care of a young boy named Corple (or his {{expy}} Sharlow [[spoiler:in case Corple's mother Sylvia died childless]]).
** In ''Thracia 776'', Evayle [[spoiler:aka the amnesiac Briggid]] is this to Leif, Nanna, and Mareeta; Leif also has a father figure in Finn, who [[spoiler:was a retainer to Leif and Altena's dead parents (and can be Nanna's father)]]; additionally, [[spoiler:Nanna's mother Raquesis is said to have been a mother figure to Leif for a while, before disappearing]]. Finn's old friend Selphina is said to have become this in the ending, taking care of war orphans; this would get her called "Mother of Thracia" after her death.

** Barret Wallance to Marlene in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' after her own father Dyne seemly fell into a chasm and died, Barret is all around bruiser but becomes a gentle FamilyMan whenever Marlene is around. Tifa Lockhart is also a mother figure for Marlene and looks after her whenever Barret is off being a RebelLeader, Marlene also begins to see Cloud Strife in a similar light to Barret especially in ''Anime/AdventChildren'' or older brother figure at very least.

** Captain Anderson is this to Shepard, even calling a male Shepard 'son' at the end of [[VideoGame/MassEffect3 the third game]]. This especially notable if Shepard's parents were killed when s/he was still a teenager, or s/he never knew his/her parents. He calls female Shepard "child" at that scene. Also, while Shepard can be abrasive, sarcastic or just plain rude to everyone, he/she is ''always'' respectful to Anderson.
** If you don't play Shepard as a potential love interest, the same sort of dynamic appears with Tali, during her loyalty mission, especially that hug. Mixed with CoolBigSis if Shepard is a woman.
** The right character choices in ''Mass Effect 3'' can end up with you being like this with EDI, complete with TheTalk.

* In ''VideoGame/NieR'', Emil was essentially taken care of for thousands of years by his non-human butler Sebastian. Eventually, the eponymous protagonist becomes one to him, extending his general fatherly nature to help the boy cope with his numerous issues.

* The Protagonist of ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2'' Arthur Morgan has two paternal substitutes in his mentors Dutch Van Der Linde and Hosea Matthews and a (lesser) mother figure in Susan Grimshaw who runs the camp. His biological parents are long dead by the time the game starts but Dutch and Hosea took him in his mid teens. He mentions in his journal that while he loves Dutch, Hosea is really more the person he sees as his father. As the game goes along, [[spoiler:Hosea dies and Dutch loses his marbles, Arthur begins to grow disillusioned with Dutch. ]] The protagonist of the first game in the series ( ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption''), John Marston also saw them both as father figures since he was taken in by them as a kid after being orphaned. John also [[spoiler: grows disillusioned with Dutch as 2 goes along/ after Hosea's death and grows closer to Arthur (about a decade older) whom he sees as a mix between a father and brother. ]]