History Main / BlamedForBeingRailroaded

* Intentionally done in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain''. Most of Snake's allies are understanding of the tough calls he has to make, but the HateSink Huey Emmerich will always make sure to vilify him, even in situations like Episode 43 where the player character has only one option: [[spoiler:kill every single one of his soldiers stationed on the Quarantine platform]]. Since the whole thing [[spoiler:turns out to be Huey's fault]], his criticism of you comes across rather flatly. Most of the tapes of Huey's interrogations reveal that [[NeverMyFault he's almost pathologically incapable of accepting fault]] and impulsively tries to find ways to justify framing himself as an innocent hero and calling everyone against him evil villains. This reaches an especially disturbing conclusion when [[spoiler:it's discovered that he murdered his wife, Strangelove, to keep using their son (the future Otacon) as a Metal Gear test pilot. As obvious as all of the evidence is, Huey continues lying himself into increasingly ridiculous contradictions and trying to find ways to blame everyone else for her death.]] Even as you exile him from the station, he still blames you for everything even though [[spoiler:he was lucky you didn't let everyone else kill him]].

[[caption-width-right:350:"Years later, you die under the weight of your sins.\\

* In ''VideoGame/LordOfTheRingsOnline'', you have taken an Orc Chieftain captive, and are given the option to kill him or use him for a hostage exchange. If you say that he must die, the Dwarf at the scene overrules you and says he's too valuable to kill. Later on, in a conversation with the elf Celeborn, you are chewed out for making such a poor decision to allow him to live given his history, despite having no real choice in the matter. To make matters worse, the events are shown out of order (making a decision on the orc's fate is done in a later flashback), meaning that you are chewed out first, and then given no option to make a different choice later, as if the developers were trolling you.

* ''[[VideoGame/ChoiceOfGames Choice of the Vampire]]'' blames the [[MortonsFork Morton's Forked]] Player Character: in [[spoiler:St. Charles]], you are [[WarmBloodbagsAreEverywhere starved for blood]] and hear a child crying in pain. If you try to help, you lose control of your HorrorHunger and kill them; if not, you abandon the injured child. Either way, you get [[TorchesAndPitchforks run out of town by a mob]].

** There are further cases of this, regardless of your origin, in Lae'zel's questline and in Act 2. [[spoiler:In Lae'zel's questline, if you enter Creche Y'llek at her suggestion and trigger the meeting with Vlaakith, she'll give you a mission to infiltrate the Astral Prism in your possession and kill its occupant. Regardless of what you do in response, she will brand you a traitor and the Githyanki will promptly turn hostile, permanently ostracizing Lae'zel from her own people. Furthermore, in Act 2, your efforts to infiltrate the Cult of the Absolute will always go awry. Regardless of how hard you try to ingratiate yourself with them, you ''will'' be exposed as one of the fugitives they've been hunting down because of the artifact in your possession (which you can't give away), prompting the cultists and Ketheric Thorm to brand you a traitor and try to kill you.]]

* In ''VideoGame/BaldursGateIII'', this is a major feature of [[spoiler:the Dark Urge origin, as your twisted background will pressure and outright force you into committing heinous, murderous acts throughout the story. The first major instance of this occurs on Act 1, wherein an innocent Bard will die because of you no matter what you do, and your companions are suitably aghast if you come clean about it. You're continually pushed down the path of villainy in Act 2, and will be punished for resisting the railroading by being compelled to attack one of your companions. Understandably, the target of your vicious urges does not take it well if they survive. And finally, in Act 3, you're revealed to be a Bhaalspawn and the amnesiac GreaterScopeVillain of the entire plot, much to the horror of your companions who realize they've been travelling with one of the ''main villains'' this entire time.]]
** There are further cases of this, regardless of your origin, [[spoiler:if you try to infiltrate the Cult of the Absolute, particularly in Act 2. Regardless of how hard you try to ingratiate yourself with them, you ''will'' be exposed as one of the fugitives they've been hunting down because of the artifact in your possession (which you can't give away), prompting the cultists and Ketheric Thorm to brand you a traitor and try to kill you.]]

** In ''VideoGame/BaldursGateIII'', this is a major feature of [[spoiler:the Dark Urge origin, as your twisted background will pressure and outright force you into committing heinous, murderous acts throughout the story. The first major instance of this occurs on Act 1, wherein an innocent Bard will die because of you no matter what you do, and your companions are suitably aghast if you come clean about it. You're continually pushed down the path of villainy in Act 2, and will be punished for resisting the railroading by being compelled to attack one of your companions. Understandably, the target of your vicious urges does not take it well if they survive. And finally, in Act 3, you're revealed to be a Bhaalspawn and the amnesiac GreaterScopeVillain of the entire plot, much to the horror of your companions who realize they've been travelling with one of the ''main villains'' this entire time.]]
*** There are further cases of this, regardless of your Origin, [[spoiler:if you try to infiltrate the Cult of the Absolute, particularly in Act 2. Regardless of how hard you try to ingratiate yourself with them, you ''will'' be exposed as one of the fugitives they've been hunting down because of the artifact in your possession (which you can't give away), prompting the cultists and Ketheric Thorm to brand you a traitor and try to kill you.]]

* ''VideoGame/BaldursGateII'': An interesting [[InvertedTrope inversion]] of roles happens with [[KarmaHoudini Saemon Havarian]]. At the end of Chapter 2 you have to choose whether to side with the Shadow Thieves or the rival guild of vampires and complete tasks for one of them. Whichever side you choose, at the end of Chapter 3 the leader of that faction (respectively Aran Linvail or Bodhi) pays Saemon to ferry you to the island of Brynnlaw to start Chapter 4 and pursue the [[BigBad Irenicus]] in the asylum of Spellhold. If you sided with the Shadow Thieves, it is revealed that Saemon was actually allied with the vampires and he staged an ambush as soon as you land. You will later encounter him again inside the asylum, when he first points you what to do fight Irenicus and in a second moment when he proposes a way to escape the island, and you can call him for his treachery. If you sided with the vampires, nothing will happen once landing in Brynnlaw, no ambushes of sorts (despite [[FridgeLogic it would be even easier]]), Saemon even gives you some hints about the location. Yet, once inside the asylum, you can still confront him and call him for his treachery, despite none having happened. Yes, he was paid by Bodhi who is in league with Irenicus, so technically he is a subject of the BigBad, but in this branch Sameon simply acted as the captain of a ship and only did what he was paid for. He was railroaded into the role a scoundrel and a betrayer regardless, and you blame him for that - or rather, for what [[SchroedingersGun he would have done in a different timeline]].
** Speaking of Saemon Havarian, if you accept his offer at the end of Chapter 4, he will give you his silver sword, and you [[ButThouMust can't refuse it (it will appear in your inventory anyway)]]. Comes the next cutscene where you are escaping Brynnlaw on board of Saemon's ship, but the Githyanki attack because they are searching precisely for that sword and are furious for it was stolen. Of course, Saemon being Saemon, he pledges innocent and diverts attention from him by suggesting the Giths to check in the inventory of other people on board... Later in Chapter 6, another party of Githyanki will approach you, again blaming you for the theft, but you have now an occasion to give back the sword.

* Played with in ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert'': In the Soviet campaign, you're blamed for failing to capture the Chronosphere in a mission where it's impossible to capture. [[note]]And if you somehow capture it anyway, the mission [[FissionMailed immediately fails]].[[/note]] However Nadia ''shifts'' the blame away from you and into Intelligence. YouHaveFailedMe ensues.

* Played with in ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert'': In the Soviet campaign, you're blamed for failing to capture the Chronosphere in a mission where it's impossible to capture. [[note]]And if you somehow capture it anyway, the mission immediately fails.[[/note]] However Nadia ''shifts'' the blame away from you and into Intelligence. YouHaveFailedMe ensues.

** In ''VideoGame/Fallout2'', TheChosenOne befriends a community of [[UpliftedAnimal uplifted]] [[DemonicSpiders Deathclaws]] created by [[ANaziByAnyOtherName the Enclave]]. However, two weeks after this DragonInChief Frank Horrigan wipes them out and the ending narration blames the player ''who wasn't even there'', talking as though they personally committed the genocide. It's technically possible to save them, but it's a massive GuideDangIt that the ''[[AllThereInTheManual Fallout Bible]]'' established to be non-canon.
** ''VideoGame/Fallout3'' contains an infamous inversion of this trope: Being Blamed For ''Refusing'' to be Railroaded. At the end of the game the player is expected to activate Project Purity, a machine that will provide clean drinking water to the Capital Wasteland, but the control room is flooded with lethal levels of radiation. The game fully expects the player to sacrifice their life for the Greater Good, and if you ask a human companion to activate the machine instead, you get an ending where Creator/RonPerlman calls you a coward for refusing to accept your "destiny". What makes this infuriating is that the game contains three companions who are completely immune to radiation (a robot, a Super Mutant, and a Ghoul), but all three of them will refuse to activate the machine in your place, with the former two insisting that it's your destiny and the latter simply saying that he's saved your ass more than enough and this time it's all on you.[[note]]Making this more infuriating, the Ghoul has been brainwashed to be absolutely obedient to whomever holds his contract...except for this one time, apparently.[[/note]]

** In ''VideoGame/Fallout4'', the ''Nuka-World'' expansion's storyline revolves around the PlayerCharacter [[ForcedIntoEvil becoming a Raider boss]] through a KlingonPromotion. Once you finish claiming the park for the various gangs, the story requires you to expand into the Commonwealth. Once this is done, LawfulGood companion Preston Garvey will give you a WhatTheHellHero speech and refuse to associate with you any longer. The expansion offers no real alternative, as you ''can'' kill all of them, but this [[BeingGoodSucks ends the storyline prematurely]] if done too early and [[ShaggyDogStory leaves the park barren]] [[https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/31164 without the use of mods]].

* ''[[Creator/ChoiceOfGames Choice of the Vampire]]'' blames the [[MortonsFork Morton's Forked]] Player Character: in [[spoiler:St. Charles]], you are [[WarmBloodbagsAreEverywhere starved for blood]] and hear a child crying in pain. If you try to help, you lose control of your HorrorHunger and kill them; if not, you abandon the injured child. Either way, you get [[TorchesAndPitchforks run out of town by a mob]].

[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/YouWereHallucinatingTheWholeTime https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/how_dare_you_have_fun_7.png]]]]

* In the [[DummiedOut now-deleted]] and much-hated ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'' mission "Divide et Impera", the player leads an attack on what is said to be a Romulan weapons lab, but quickly turns out to be a medical research facility. Unfortunately, despite it rapidly becoming apparent that you're slaughtering helpless researchers, you're unable to stop until you reach the base commander, who gives you a WhatTheHellHero speech, calling you out for "Federation hypocrisy". (According to the devs this was meant to be MyGreatestFailure for the Starfleet PC and lead into a three-mission StoryArc, but [[TroubledProduction the other two missions were never completed due to Cryptic's rush to finish]]. The [[LevelEditor Foundry]] community eventually stepped in and wrote a couple of sequels, including [[Recap/StarTrekOnlineFoundryDivideUtRegnes "Divide ut Regnes"]].)

* In the online platformer ''[[https://armorgames.com/play/19299/bird-on-bird Bird on Bird]]'', you play as a chicken, who must jump on other chickens to form huge chicken stacks in order to proceed. You also frequently have to drop the other chickens onto spikes in order to save yourself. At the end of the game you find yourself surrounded by chickens who demand you stop enslaving and mudering them. To progress to the actual ending screen, of course, you have to continue doing so anyway.

*** [=GLaDOS=] is constantly upset over you "killing" her in the previous game, spending a good half of the game flinging passive-aggressive remarks about it at you. This is despite the fact that in the previous game, your "escape" was set up in such a manner that you just couldn't go anywhere but straight to [=GLaDOS=]' room, with the only way to advance the plot being throwing her cores into fire. This is made all the more egregious by the fact that even if you deliberately attempt NOT to throw them into fire, [=GLaDOS=] will keep nagging you to do it with (unintentional?) ReversePsychology.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Colobot}}'', there is a mission where you land on a new planet, with no bots or supplies at your disposal, and you are ordered to retrieve a TNT box lost by the previous expedition. That TNT box is guarded by hostile giant ants that shoot acidic projectiles at you, and there's literally nothing you can do to retrieve the box without dying, which is something that has to happen in order for you to be able to proceed to the next mission. And even if the ants weren't there, retrieving the box still wouldn't be possible, since there's quite a few ponds you have to fly over, and you can't fly nor walk underwater while carrying objects. After the whole ordeal, the Houston base expresses concern over you "walking around disturbingly carelessly" that has led to this failure. Probably the best part of this is the fact that the level is literally called "The Trap".

* The original ''VideoGame/SaintsRow1'' ends with the player character being supposedly killed by a bomb planted on a boat. A hidden mission in ''VideoGame/SaintsRow2'' allows the player to reunite with Julius, the former leader of the Saints, who claims that he did it because the Saints were becoming just another gang terrorizing the city rather than helping clean up the city and protect the Row as he'd intended. Yet Julius did not attack any of the other Saints - not even Johnny Gat, who is by far [[BloodKnight the most bloodthirsty]] of the Saints, and only ends up out of the picture between the games because [[spoiler:he gets arrested from trying to kill [[TheMole Troy]]]] - and for most of the original game, you had no particular influence over the direction of the gang as a whole, except in the loosest sense of propelling the Saints upward by tearing down the other three more obviously villainous gangs. Moreover, although you are named Julius' right-hand man towards the end, everything you do after that is forced upon you by the need to rescue Julius, since he gets arrested in the very same cutscene and the last stretch of missions involve a corrupt mayoral candidate blackmailing you into removing his opponents in return for Julius' safety. At that point, it looks less like Julius [[IDidWhatIHadToDo doing what needed to be done]] to put down a psychopath before he destroyed the city, and more like Julius having a predetermined notion of what you're like without his influence and then, when you prove to [[TrueCompanions still care about people other than yourself]], blowing you up [[DisproportionateRetribution for not following his script]].

** [[PlayerCharacter Walker]] encounters a heavily defended chokepoint that he and his squad need to get past. Luckily, they gain access to white phosphorous artillery and proceed to bomb their way through. They soon discover, to their horror, that in doing so ''they murdered innocent civilians'', and this is a [[MurderMakesYouCrazy critical turning point]] for the character. But in fact there is no alternative for the player; if you attempt to fight the defenders normally, the game will respawn them forever until either they overwhelm you or you give in and use the white phosphorous. If you use the phosphorous but deliberately aim the bombs to avoid hitting the civilians, the game will place a military vehicle in the trench with them, which must be destroyed for the sequence to end. This was quite a point of contention among the press since the game [[WhatTheHellPlayer calls you out]] for completing the only objective available to you in the only available way. The game, using both characters ''and the loading screens'', mocks the player for not ''stopping playing''. WordOfGod later stated in an interview that he knew that players would consider this unfair, because they're right to do so. Earlier builds actually did give players the option of fighting their way through (among other options, such as reportedly being able to [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere simply leave when ordered to do so early on]]), but because a majority of playtesters chose to do it that way, it was removed, as otherwise it'd ruin the narrative.

* Exaggerated early into ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory'' when Bowser fights a Wiggler who attacks him as retaliation for eating a giant carrot it had been growing… When the Wiggler had ''told him to do so''. Even after you beat the Wiggler, it complains about you being mean to it and beating it up, when it attacked you unprovoked.

* Exaggerated early into ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory'' when Bowser fights a Wiggler who attacks him as retaliation for eating a giant carrot it had been growing… When the Wiggler had ''told him to do so''.

[[caption-width-right:350:"Years later, you die under the weight of your sins. Press Z to restart the game."]]

* Done early into ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory'' when Bowser fights a Wiggler who attacks him as retaliation for eating a giant carrot it had been growing… When the Wiggler had ''told him to do so''.