History HalfTheManHeUsedToBe / VideoGames

* This happens in one of the earliest scenes of ''VideoGame/ReturnOfTheObradinn'', where a kraken kills topman Maba by ripping his body in two.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-JMSERC8sA will do this to Alex if you fail to escape]] a Schism.
** In addition, it is how [[JudgeJuryAndExecutioner Pyramid Head]] deals with [[spoiler: Adam]].

** Its sequel, ''VideoGame/AITheSomniumFilesNirvanaInitiative'' deals with a SerialKiller who slices their victims in half and leaves each half as a calling card. In a variation of this trope however, instead of being sliced horizontally like many would, they're instead sliced ''vertically''.

* The interactive-based arcade LightGunGame, ''VideoGame/{{Badlands}}'', have vertical separation as at least one of your onscreen death animations. Notably, failing to shoot an ax flung towards you and [[https://youtu.be/3B7NJY9w8Is?t=147 catching it in your face, spiliting you all the way to the crotch]]. (The following cutscene however shows you patched up, somehow)

* ''VideoGame/BloodBreed'': Well, Half The Woman She Used To Be, but the PlayerCharacter [=WILL=] get bisected down the middle if she touches any of the giant exposed moving circular saw blades that are so liberally placed around the Killamoor Meat Works.
* A special move in ''[[VideoGame/BloodRayne BloodRayne 2]]'' allows you to cut a mook in half vertically.

* ''VideoGame/{{Cayne}}'' have the protagonist, Hadley, killing a mutant pursuing her by stepping on a switch and slicing it vertically via PortalCut. [[https://youtu.be/kgityZh0qNE?t=3755 With fascinatingly gory results]].

** PlayedForLaughs: Crash's lower half [[RuleOfFunny walks away!]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Endoparasitic}}'' is an indie game where you start off as ''half'' an upper body, with a single limb, in a bio-lab's containment room, because you're playing as a ''sentient'' zombie parasite infecting an incomplete corpse. Most of the game have you dragging yourself around with your one hand while trying to find a new host. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weQ1COLGoNA Yes, really]].

* ''VideoGame/EvilNight'' has limbless zombies, who splits vertically into half once they're killed (accompanied by a nasty ripping sound - sweet dreams). There's also a less-frequently encountered variety of zombies, the torso zombies, who only have an upper body and move around with their arms.
* ''VideoGame/ExitLimboOpening'' allows you to perform enhanced uppercuts on enemies, and if they're finished off in this manner their bodies will fall apart from the waist. There are also infected enemies without their lower bodies, who continues crawling after you to attack.
* In ''VideoGame/Fallout1'' and ''VideoGame/Fallout2'', this is what happens when you kill someone with a laser {{critical|Hit}}. This also happens to the FinalBoss of ''VideoGame/Fallout2'' and he still doesn't die right afterward. He's that tough.
* In ''VideoGame/Fallout3'''s ''Broken Steel'' [[DownloadableContent DLC]], Liberty Prime is blown in half by a KillSat strike.
* In ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', the icon for the Unstoppable Force perk shows [[SeriesMascot the Vault Boy]] bisecting an opponent at the waist with a fire axe.

* In almost every one of his various ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' appearances, Odin's [[OneHitKill Zantetsuken]] slices enemies in two for instant death, and [[DiagonalCut the halves slide apart]]. ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' had Seifer counter the Zantetsuken and slice ''Odin'' in half. When Gilgamesh inherits the Zantetsuken, the upper half of the sliced enemy (and parts of the scenery) fly off violently. He uses this in his fight in the flashback of his battle in the War of the Magi in the castle sequence of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'', cutting apart several Mooks in the process. Then [[TheWorfEffect it fails to even faze]] [[OhCrap that last foe]]...
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'', this is how the manipulative schemer Teledji Adeledji meets his end when he [[BullyingADragon taunts Raubahn]] about the fact the Sultana was just assassinated. The Bull of Ala Mhigo holds his twins blades to Teledji just long enough for him to react before crossing them, cutting Teledji in half at his waistline and instantly killing him.
* In ''[[VideoGame/FirstEncounterAssaultRecon FEAR]]'', you can blow {{mooks}} in half with the shotgun.

* ''Manga/GhostSweeperMikami - Joreishi wa Nice Body'' (an NES platformer adaptation of the anime) have zombies one of the few enemies that requires two hits to kill. The first hit severs them by the waist, the upper which disappears but the lower - a pair of legs supporting half a torso - will continue attacking.

* In ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' you come across [[PuppeteerParasite headcrab]] zombies who are just a torso. You can use the gravity gun to fire a circular saw blade through a zombie's torso and cut them in half... but it only works on zombies, and only cutting them in half, no decapitations or amputations. And [[WhoNeedsTheirWholeBody it doesn't necessarily stop them coming at you]]...

* ''VideoGame/JitsuSquad'' gives most of it's characters edged weapons, and most enemies have a death animation where they split into halves (either horizontally or diagonally) with plenty of cartoonish-looking blood. And then there's also the DarkActionGirl Shade who's one of the last bosses, who's [[YouHaveFailedMe punished for her failure]] via vertical bisection.

* ''VideoGame/Legend1998'' have a special death animation for enemies, if their killing blows are a low-angle slash in the waist using a particularly curved weapon. Enemies killed in this manner will be split from the waist, and it can be achieved mostly by the curved dual swords, or by players using Tara who specializes in low-angled hits.

-->'''Orc Captain''': You cleaved me in two! Any other Orc would have died but I survived. More than that, I thrived! My brothers put me back together, [[CameBackStrong stronger than ever]], but they didn't make me into what I am. ''You'' did. ''You'' created the Machine!
* Very common in ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' [[FinishingMove fatalities]]. Usually a horizontal cut, as it's easier to animate, but Kung Lao can do vertical cuts in a few games.

* ''VideoGame/NanoBreaker'' have you dishing these out regularly to the Orgamech enemies using your AbsurdlySharpBlade, either horizontally or vertically. ALL of them accompanied by plenty of {{gorn}} and HighPressureBlood in entire ''fountains''. And then [[spoiler:you get betrayed by your partner, Keith, who halves you diagonally above the waistline, but you got better]].
* A possible result of using the Tsurugi of Muramasa on human-size or smaller opponents in ''VideoGame/NetHack'': it happens on about 5% of hits, and [[OneHitKill kills instantly when it occurs]][[note]]Larger opponents can't be killed in this way, but take double damage when it happens.[[/note]]. However, only Samurai can get it without wishing or [[{{Macrogame}} bones]], and have to take it from someone wielding it, and that instakill chance still applies when the player is targeted.

* The mutants in the hospital level in ''VideoGame/MachineHunter''. They are humans stripped of their humanity after being experimented upon by aliens, with their lower bodies missing, and attacks everything in sight - including you- by crawling around with their hands. You killing them can be considered as a MercyKill.

* It's one of the finishing moves in ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersiaWarriorWithin''.
* The [[SmashingHallwayTrapsOfDoom crashing blades]] in ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia1'' and the wall scythes in ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia2'' could cut the Prince or {{Mooks}} in two.
* With the {{Blade|BelowTheShoulder}}, [[CombatTentacles Whipfist]] and Claw powers in ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}'' you can slice up people in three different ways: sideways, vertically and diagonally. Or you can just grab people with the Musclemass power, and [[BloodyHilarious pull them in half]].

* The Megacorp Trooper and [=ExtermiBot=] enemies in ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankGoingCommando'' will have their torsos explode after sustaining enough damage, the latter [[WhoNeedsTheirWholeBody still being able to walk slowly and will attempt to kick Ratchet]]. The Franchise/{{Terminator}}-esque Qwarkbot enemies in ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankUpYourArsenal'' are the inverse of the latter, attempting to punch Ratchet after being reduced to a torso.

* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil'' had this as something of a secret. If, rather than going from the dining room to the hallway where you encounter your first zombie and the mutilated body of Kenneth, you try to go back to the main hall twice the zombie will instead come into the dining room. Doing this gives the zombie enough time to eat the lower half of Kenneth's body and costs you a magazine of handgun ammo for your cowardice.
* In ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'', Leon can literally blast a zombie in half with a standard shotgun if they are close, while Claire can blast the legs off a zombie with a grenade round-loaded grenade launcher. [[{{Determinator}} And they still come after you.]]
* In the remake of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'' taking aimed shots to blow a zombie in half is one of the most effective ways to defeat zombies while conserving ammo. Though they remain active, a legless zombie is much easier to avoid and it [[DamageSponge takes a lot fewer bullets than it does to kill them]].
* In ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'', Mendez' legs come off once down to about half-HP. The boss U-3 can [[OneHitKill instant-kill]] Leon via bisection with its Plaga pincers. In [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil the]] [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil2 earlier]] [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Nemesis games]], zombies could be bisected with the shotgun but would continue to crawl after you until you head-stomped them.
* The Duvalia in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'' finishes off the player character by devouring their upper body.
* This happens in one of the earliest scenes of ''VideoGame/ReturnOfTheObraDinn'', where a kraken kills topman Maba by ripping his body in two.
* ''VideoGame/SARSearchAndRescue'' have an ex-human colonialist enemy, since converted into a monster by the mutant virus, whose lower body have melted off leaving behind his exposed spine. His sole attack is by crawling all over the place and trying to grab you.

* ''VideoGame/SavageHalloween'' have FrankensteinsMonster enemies which needs multiple shots to kill, your first few hits removing everything under their waist. But they can continue crawling after you on their torso.

* Can be done to enemy ninjas, with a katana, in ''VideoGame/ShadowWarrior1997''

* ''VideoGame/RoboArmy'' have the player fighting legions and legions of MechaMooks, and since they're superpowered {{cyborg}} soldiers, they can easily rip enemies into half. More often than not robotic footsoldiers will be reduced to a pair of legs carrying half a torso, and landing a downward chop will halve most low-level enemies ''vertically''.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Smile|2020}}'', the brown-haired entity is sometimes shown missing its lower half.

* A death scene cut from the VGA remake of ''[[VideoGame/SpaceQuest Space Quest 1]]'' had Roger vertically cut in half with what appeared to be a chainsaw, in a manner similar to the ''VideoGame/LauraBow'' example above.
* ''VideoGame/SplatterMaster'' have you regularly bisecting enemies throughout the game, including bosses, thanks to your weapon being a [[ChainsawGood chainsaw]]. The aftermath is as satisfyingly bloody and {{gorn}}tastic as it sounds.
* ''VideoGame/SpiritualAssassinTaromaru'' have various undead enemy, like the zombie hordes and lesser demons, who gets sliced into halves from the waist after getting hit by your attacks. Alas, their halved bodies will actually continue attacking.

* ''VideoGame/{{Splatterhouse}}'' have Rick repeatedly tearing enemies into sizeable chunks, or ripping them from their waists with his bare hands.

* ''VideoGame/TheSuffering''. The protagonist finds a prison guard who had somehow just been bisected horizontally. A mercy bullet is a good thing right now.

* The third TMNT game, ''[[VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesTheManhattanProject The Manhattan Project]]'', has Krang's Exosuit weaponize this trope. His second phase has his legs run about the room, tossing anyone unfortunate enough to be in their way, whilst the torso fires EyeBeams and tries to DropTheHammer on you. However, both parts will take damage from your attacks, and after taking enough abuse, they will rejoin.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'', Slash damage has a chance to do this to enemies killed by it. It's not just an aesthetic effect: each part counts as a separate target when Nekros casts Desecrate. Canonically, this happened to Captain Vor, but he got resurrected thanks to his Janus Key. The gap between his torso and legs, now filled with energy, is his only weak point in his Corrupted form.
* Wario can get cut in half vertically in ''VideoGame/WarioLand 3''. Since he always comes back together as if nothing happened, it's only a minor inconvenience.

* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' -- when you kill one of the various tree-style elementals.
* ''VideoGame/XKaliber2097'' have the titular AbsurdlySharpBlade, who slices mooks into two with each slash. Most enemies are halved by the waist, though in some rarer occasions you can divide them vertically.

* ''VideoGame/{{Endoparasitic}}'' is an indie game where you start off as ''half'' an upper body, with a single limb, in a bio-lab's containment room, because your playing as a ''sentient'' zombie parasite infecting an incomplete corpse. Most of the game have you dragging yourself around with your one hand while trying to find a new host. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weQ1COLGoNA Yes, really]].

* Most of the enemies in ''VideoGame/DeadSpace'' are capable of doing this to Isaac, but with the proper weapons he can do it right back.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Smile}}'', the brown-haired entity is sometimes shown missing its lower half.

* ''VideoGame/{{Bloodstorm}} gives each character a "Sunder" move, which cuts off the opponent's legs and leaves their upper half sitting in a pile of their own entrails. Notable in that this ''doesn't'' automatically kill the victim, and the game will give you a bonus if you manage to pull off a win after being cut in half.

* Defeated enemies in ''VideoGame/BarkeyShutUpAndJamGaiden'' randomly choose between splitting in half, [[EverythingFades fading away]], and [[DefeatEqualsExplosion exploding]].

* ''Anime/GhostSweeperMikami - Joreishi wa Nice Body'' (an NES platformer adaptation of the anime) have zombies one of the few enemies that requires two hits to kill. The first hit severs them by the waist, the upper which disappears but the lower - a pair of legs supporting half a torso - will continue attacking.