When games want to give different, distinct ways to play a game, 3 is a dime a dozen. This allows for a decent range of different gameplay styles while staying small in number.
Usually, players will be given a class or character who specialises in one approach. This can give replay value to single-player games, as players can go for a different specialisation on different playthroughs, while multiplayer games benefit from having clearly defined roles, giving a clear idea of what each player needs to do for their group. In more complex games, there may be a range of characters or classes who share one approach but handle them in different ways and/or are capable of dealing with more than one approach but not to the level of someone more specialised.
More rarely, a character may actually be capable of all three approaches with what style they go for up to the player. This is usually found in single-player games where the player only controls one character, as there is less of a need for defined roles.
While this is a gameplay trope, sometimes the approach of a character will affect the story as well. This can range in minor ways, different aftermaths for one-off quests from different methods, to outright Story Branching, with each approach essentially having its own story path.
Three Approach Systems commonly found in games:
- Balance, Speed, Strength Trio: A fast but weak character, a strong but slow character, and an all-rounder.
- Combat, Diplomacy, Stealth: Three paths commonly available in non-linear games, based on solving problems with either violence, words, or sneaking around them.
- Damager, Healer, Tank: A trio mostly found in MMOs linked to damage (dealing it out, healing it, and soaking it up)
- Physical, Mystical, Technological: Three different areas a character can specialize in, physical power, magical power, and hi-tech gadgets.
- Strength, Sorcery, Finesse: Three archetypes commonly found in Role Playing Games focusing on physical power, magical power, and fine skill respectively.
Compare with Three-Stat System, where character attributes follow Rule of Three. See also Balance, Power, Skill, Gimmick, where the three approaches are represented by three different playable characters plus a Jack of All Stats who's moderate in all approaches.
Examples not fitting into sub-tropes:
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4X
- The late game of any nation in Civilization V is largely dictated by the chosen ideology, which increases the chances of achieving victory in any of the three "buffed" ways.note
- Autocracy enhances the strength of units and the amount of strategic resources, allowing to significantly reinforce the existing army, which can be used both for direct territorial conquests and for pressure on scattered city-states in order to attain a Diplomatic Victory.
- Freedom makes the economic component and improvements built by Great People even better, also encouraging a more active use of specialists, which helps both in the course of the space race and in the consolidation of city-states across the globe.
- Order improves the individual performance of the civilization's cities, placing a particular emphasis on production, which will come in handy both to make spaceship components and to modernize the military and expand the empire's holdings.
Adventure
- Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis has three separate paths through the game. They all lead to Atlantis eventually but the Fists path is more combat-oriented, the Wits path has more difficult puzzles, and the Team path is based on diplomacy and working together with Sophia.
Fighting
- Street Fighter 6 is designed with three different ways to play and enjoy the game: World Tour, a Wide-Open Sandbox Action RPG where players can build a character of their own and interact with the core cast of the game; Battle Hub, a multiplayer hub where players can interact and play with one another; and Fighting Ground, where players can jump straight into fighting through a variety of modes, from arcade ladders to unique "Extreme" battles.
First Person Shooters
- Aliens vs. Predator (2010): Each of the playable characters provide unique playstyles.
The Alien, Specimen Six, is reliant almost completely on stealth and deceit to earn her kills and survive. While she can survive single combat and overwhelm prey in a few blows, she’s frequently put in scenarios where she can get riddled with bullets by a squad of humans or a sentry gun on lookout if she’s caught out, thus encouraging the player to put her speed, wall climbing abilities and slim stature to hide in vents and sewers while running circles around humans and gradually pick everyone off like a slasher villain.
The Predator, Dark, has access to powerful weaponry and easily capable of blasting things to bits and cleaving right through body parts, and even on hard difficulties a fully charged plasma caster or mine blast will leave most enemies blown onto their ass and helpless, but they take time to cast and can’t be spammed without leaving Dark vulnerable, on top of needing plentiful energy to recharge. This encourages thoughtful and creative use of Dark's tools while always being ready to follow up anything with an escape plan or a wrist blade beatdown to finish the kill.
The Marine, Rookie, lacks agility and flashy specialized weaponry, but has access to the most efficient and straightforward of combat methods, namely guns. Compare to Dark whose tools can only be used sparingly before he runs dry/is left vulnerable, and Six who needs to use stealth and speed to get into melee combat, the Rookie can reliably gun down all his opposition with a generous supply of ammo and ranged weaponry. - Ghost in the Shell: First Assault Online: The characters are organized into "Assault, Disturb, and Support" classes.
The Assault characters (Batou, Ishikawa, Borma, and Azuma) are designed to tank. They have higher HP but a slower run speed, and are limited to Assault Rifles and Machine Guns— both of which have relatively high power but low accuracy.
The Disturb characters (Motoko, Maven, Pazu, Kuro, and Reiko) have low HP but high mobility, being able to slide around the map after sprinting. They're restricted to Submachine Guns and shotguns, as well as a smoke grenade for concealment. They're designed for quick kills and disorienting enemies.
The Support characters (Saito, Togusa, and Sitara) are restricted to sniper rifles and personal defense weapons, as well as a scrambler grenade for disrupting enemies. They're designed for picking targets off from a distance, locating them using Saito's heat sensor, flushing out enemies with Togusa's seeker drones, and controlling areas with Sitara's hover drone. - The first Hexen game allows you to choose one of three characters to play the game with.
- Baratus the Fighter, a strong, tough and quick warrior who lacks long-ranged weaponry: his Hammer and Quietus, while having ranged attacks, are slower and not auto-targeting, meaning he's still encouraged to get close to his enemies.
- Daedolon the Mage, who is slow and fragile but possesses powerful magic to keep enemies at bay. His weapons are slower, but harder for enemies to avoid. His ultimate weapon, the Bloodscourge, is a very powerful homing attack that enemies will struggle to avoid.
- Parias the Cleric, who has a mix of physical ability and magical power that allows both short-ranged and long-ranged combat to be an option. His weapons are strongly situational: the Serpent Staff has different effects at shortnote and long-rangenote , while the Bloodstorm spell is extremely powerful against groups of enemies while lacking strength against single targets. His ultimate weapon, the Wraithverge, is the most costly weapon in the game, but makes up for it by summoning enemy-seeking ghosts that will pass through walls.
- Team Fortress 2 divides the nine classes into three class roles.
- Scouts, Soldiers, and Pyros are Offensive classes, being the main attack force of their teams.
- Demomen, Heavies, and Engineers are Defensive classes, aiming to inhibit enemy access and to hold enemies back from vital points on the map.
- Medic, Sniper, and Spy are Support classes, who cannot hold the fight on their own, but their specialised abilities can tip the balance in their team's favour.
Idle Games
- Armory & Machine has the Soldier, Inventor, and Hunter skill paths as the Fighter, Mage, and Thief respectively. Soldier skills focus on high raw damage, making it excellent at damaging enemy health but does not at bypassing shields. Inventor skills specialize in heavy Shield damage, allowing it to easily destroy enemy shielding but is less effective against health. Finally, Hunter skills do penetrating damage, which bypasses enemy shielding and hits health directly but are generally less damaging than Soldier skills.
Mecha Games
- Mobile Suit Gundam Battle Operation 2 has three classes of units: Generals, Raids, and Supports. Generals are for players who want to be Jack of All Stats types, well rounded but lacking in specialization. Raids are Fragile Speedster close-combat machines that trade their armor for firepower. Supports are Mighty Glacier bricks carrying high firepower and equipment, but weighed down by their gear to be slower and easier to intercept. All use the same controls, but you will normally see Generals skirmishing at the front, Raids flanking around the map unseen, and Supports in prime sniper positions.
- In SD Gundam Battle Alliance, The playable mechs are categorized into 3 different roles with each having unique role actions. The melee-focused Infighters can activate their role action so they can be Immune to Flinching and have the most health making them a Mighty Glacier, The long-range Sharpshooters can instantly reload all ranged subweapons and are Glass Cannons due to having less health but have the highest amount of repair kits by default making them an ideal Combat Medic, and the All-Rounders are a Jack of All Stats with their role action giving them enhanced attack speed for faster combos and quick cancels.
- The Super Robot Wars series divides its individual units into super robots (emphasizing tanking and melee combat), real robots (emphasizing high mobility and ranged combat), and assault carriers (emphasizing long-range artillery support and healing allied units).
Platform Games
- The three main protagonists of Astalon: Tears of the Earth follow this dynamic: Arias, in exchange for lacking a ranged attack, possesses an incredibly fast melee attack and can cut down blue "vines" that other characters have no way of getting past. Algus has a medium-range, medium-speed attack that hits through walls and can be used to activate switches. Kyuli has a slow but long-ranged attack and the ability to Wall Jump.
- Freedom Planet's three heroines have different ways to tackle the stages:
- Lilac the Water Dragon is innately the fastest of the three along with being capable of boost attack that can launch in any direction
- Carol the Wild Cat can climb walls and has access to a motorcycle power-up. She can also deliver a flurry of kicks for as long as her energy bar is filled.
- Milla Basset has less health than the other two heroines but makes up for it with ranged attacks and a deflector shield.
- Sonic Heroes: The game has teams of three, each member fitting the archetype of Speed, Flight or Power. The current leader decides the current approach of the trio, with a Speed character leading allowing fast speeds and homing attacks, a Flight character leading allowing safety and an advantage against aerial enemies, and a Power character leading allowing powerful attacks.
Real Time Strategy
- In King Arthur: The Role-Playing Wargame, the Knights of the Round Table are categories by being either Champions, Sages, or Warlords. Champions are the kings of melee battle, having stats and powers designed to smash foes in battle. Sages are the wizards of the game and are your most powerful spellcasters. Warlords are useful generalists designed around improving the governing of a realm, surviving adventures, and boosting your armies rather than directly wreck havoc themselves.
Role Playing Games
- Alpha Protocol has combat, stealth, and the use of gadgets, with skills and equipment designed for each option.
- Fate/EXTRA allows the player to choose one of three servants to fight for him/her. Saber has the best stat growths in strength and endurance, and has skills that are either direct physical damage or add small buffs to her choices in the game's Tactical Rock–Paper–Scissors. Archer specializes in agility, endurance, and magic, and has a unique skill set revolving around preparation to use his Hyperspace Arsenal, dealing a mix of physical and magical damage. Caster can easily gain levels in magic, agility, and luck, and is the only character whose skills rely almost completely on magical damage and MP recovery.
- The first 3 Geneforge games have a unique take with this trope with each class being strong, average, and weak in three areas (later games adding classes with the same logic).
Rhythm Games
- Mobile rhythm games with a gachapon mechanic for cards typically abide by the system popularized by Love Live! School idol festival, where cards are split into three major archetypes: Scorers (increase score gain), Healers (regenerate lost HP), and Perfect Locks (convert notes above a certain judgment to Perfect judgments). How heavily the stick to these archetypes varies on the game; some games introduce a fourth archetype that boosts the activation rate of other cards, some make all cards boost score but give Scorers more raw power as a result, and so forth.
Tabletop Games
- In 7 Wonders Duel, there are three ways to win the game: having the most Victory Points once all three Ages are over, Military Supremacy and Scientific Supremacy. The latter two are Instant-Win Conditions.
- Chrononauts has three ways to win: create a Close-Enough Timeline and go home, collect the artifacts for your secret mission and get paid a ton of money, or build up your hand size to ten cards (generally from rewards from fixing temporal paradoxes or selling artifacts) and retire in comfort. Any given play may put you closer to one or more of these, or put your opponent further away from theirs (you hope), or it may be a neutral move in hopes that your opponent wastes a countermove on it.
- Living Forest has three win conditions: extinguishing 12 fires, having 12 different protective trees, and having 12 sacred flowers at once.
Toys
- B-Daman: The three basic core types of B-Daman - Power, Control, and Rapid-Fire respectively. Power is designed to hit harder with slower fire speed, Control is more accurate and sometimes capable of trick shots, and Rapid-Fire can pump out a lot of shots very quickly at the cost of much lower power. Special Type cores usually combine high power with elements of one or both of the other two types.
- Rumble Robots: The three primary concentrations a bot can have. Because you have an extremely limited amount of upgrade slots for your bots (a mere three max level upgrades) you'll need to focus on making your bot good at one thing to win. Laser focused builds are unable to shrug off much punishment and unlikely to be very fast or punch very often, Tanking focused builds are able to absorb laser shots while they close the distance to try and go for knockovers or hitting the opponent's weak spot, and speed and punch focused builds are able to move quickly and unleash Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs but not able to take much damage from lasers and still just as vulnerable to an overturn or getting hit in their weak spot.
Wide-Open Sandbox
- In Grand Theft Auto Online, the Diamond Casino Heist gives players three ways of pulling off the caper:
- Silent & Sneaky: The players set up the heist in such a way as to get into the casino, swipe the money, and leave with no one any wiser. When pulled off successfully, this gives the players ample time to swipe as much money as they can.
- Aggressive: The players eschew finesse for weapons and armor to barge into the casino, take what they can, and beat feet. While this affords less time to collect money, it allows for a fast payoff.
- The Big Con: The players gather disguises that allow them to slip into the casino, take the money, and walk out the door with security simply letting them (at least up to a point). As a mid-point between the silent and loud approaches, it affords a moderate amount of time to gather money before fleeing.