History BreakTheCutie / VideoGames

** This has already happened to [[spoiler:Mr. Aishi. He was the reason why Ryoba went around killing people (canonical information for 1980s Mode says she killed a total of six girls), was kidnapped, was implied to have been sexually assaulted by his captor, and eventually developed StockholmSyndrome. When you play one of the later Basement Tapes, you can hear the empty tone in his voice, signifying that he has been broken by his wife.]]

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'': Oh, Otacon. Otacon, Otacon, Otacon. He's an adorable nerd-boy who loves all things nerdy and Japanese, is enthusiastic about his work, and genuinely believes in people. [[spoiler: Also, he's a statutory rape victim, his father committed suicide, he's inadvertently responsible for the creation of one of the deadliest weapons mankind has ever known, his crush was shot, his long-lost sister was killed, his ''other'' crush was killed, and his HeterosexualLifePartner, the ''only person who's ever stuck by him,'' is doomed to die of old age at forty-five.]] This series might as well be called ''Metal Gear Horrible Things Happen to Hal Emmerich.'' It's to the point where the ten years of happiness he gets [[spoiler: with Snake]] between ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2'' and ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'' feels almost like a slap in the face--"We're giving you a break from your horrible life. Enjoy it while it lasts, 'cause it's not going to last long!"

* ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead'' has quite a few examples:

* The traitor in ''VideoGame/WingCommander II'' tries to do this to Spirit. She retaliates by blowing up the space station her fiance's life was threatened over, in an interesting way.
* Albedo attempts this on MOMO in ''VideoGame/XenoSaga''. Debatable whether or not it worked.
* Elly, of ''VideoGame/XenoGears'' fame, just can't get a break in the last hours of the first disc. On top of her [[spoiler: parents getting killed, shortly followed by her entire civilization getting torn apart until there's ''nothing left,'' she then finds out that her boyfriend, Fei, has a SplitPersonality that manifests itself as a destructive madman -- the same destructive madman, moreover, that just destroyed her civilization ''single-handedly,'' and has been known to destroy entire continents because he was bored.]] Yeah, something tells us that Elly won't be remembering that day very fondly...

* Akira Nishikiyama of ''VideoGame/{{Yakuza}}'', now that he's been much more [[CharacterDevelopment developed]] by the [[VideoGame/Yakuza0 prequel]] and the [[VideoGame/Yakuza1 first game's]] remake. Despite trying so hard to be noticed by the higher-ups and advance through the ranks of the {{yakuza}}, he's continually overshadowed by his best friend, Kiryu. Their childhood crush also favors Kiryu. Despite this, he and Kiryu are extremely close, and he's devastated when Kiryu [[TakingTheHeat takes the blame]] for Nishiki's own murder of their boss and goes to prison for a decade in his place. Ironically, though Kiryu's absence allows him to advance, everyone respects Kiryu more for his supposed 'crime' and view Nishiki as a spineless nobody, to the point where his own men out and out bully him. Then his sister dies after he's taken advantage of financially by a doctor who promised he could save her. By that point, it's no wonder he snaps.
** Subverted by Haruka. Over the series and before the age of 18, Haruka has been orphaned, kidnapped, beaten, and seen pretty much every single aspect of the dark side of the human psyche in some form. While she has taken some damage, she has never let her traumas break her, but remains genuinely kind, cheerful, and relentlessly optimistic.

** A variation of this in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' involves breaking a large group of lovable characters called the Gorons. A peaceful, friendly group, they just want to live in peace and harvest their crops, but are content to welcome outsiders as well. However, when Ganondorf shows up and demands they turn over their spiritual stone, they refuse to do it and he punishes them by sealing off their primary food source. Later in the game, when Ganondorf takes over, he has several Gorons locked up in cages in the Fire Temple and is going to feed them to a dragon as a warning to those who might oppose him. Once you get to the Fire Temple, you see the Gorons trembling in their cells, evidently terrified, begging for mercy, and not being given any. And then you get to march in there, save each and every one of them, and smash the dragon's head in with a shiny new hammer.
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' has Princess Zelda. [[spoiler:Her encouraging mother's death and her father's stern demands that she unlock her RoyaltySuperPower for the upcoming fight against Calamity Ganon means that she is not allowed to be the scholar she really wants to be. Then, when Ganon returns, he possesses the mechanisms originally designed to defeat him and devastates the kingdom, all of which Zelda was unable to prevent due to the lack of said power. Cue CryIntoChest scene with Link.]] A less extreme example is Paya, a shy ShrinkingViolet [[TheIngenue Ingenue]] with a crush on Link [[WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove that she doesn't fully understand]], who is devastated when the important Sheikah heirloom she and her ancestors have been guarding for 10,000 years for Link's eventual use gets stolen under her watch; once Link retrieves it and uses it for its intended purpose, though, she gets over it quickly.

* Lyude from ''VideoGame/BatenKaitos'' is a good candidate. Let's see... yes, he's real cute, he's got red hair, and a somewhat naive and/or innocent view on the world, claiming he stands for justice and all. I will try to explain best I can on the "Break the Cutie".
** It always appeared to me that he had shaky confidence, but after he gets hypnotized by one of the BigBad's men (not sure when it happened, but it happened), causing the group to lose a valuable PlotCoupon, he gets pretty depressed. To paraphrase his words "What should I do? I can't return to my homeland...but they used me. Manipulated my thoughts as a tool for their plans. Why would I even want to go back?". And his little bouts of depression don't stop there.

** ...And finally, the [[spoiler:fake]] ghost of Almarde shows up herself, saying terrible things to him. Then she teams up with the former commander, his brother and sister, and tell Lyude that he is a coward and has no right to love or be loved by anyone. Poor kid breaks down and actually cries, asking through tears what he should do. The [[spoiler: fake]] Almarde ghost nearly pulls Lyude into the dark side...until [[spoiler: the ghost of the real Almarde shows up, saving Lyude from any more break-ness just in the nick of time.]] Cue a huge monster showing up, a monster that is a manifestation of Lyude's self-doubt, self-hate, low-confidence, and broken status.

* Penny, from ''VideoGame/AdvanceWars: Days of Ruin''. At first, she looks like some sort of insane child in command of an army. [[spoiler:Her insanity actually comes from the fact that her father kept experimenting on her brain, leaving a lot of damage. And she's aware of how ravaged her mind is, without even being able to reason beyond it.]]

* ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'':