History Main / UnwinnablebyDesign

* MassEffect cannot be made {{Unwinnable}}, but MassEffect 2 can be made unsurvivable - that is, you can make it so you can still defeat the boss, but your PC Shepherd will die in the final cutscene, leaving you with the BadEnding and without a character to import to Mass Effect 3. This is a ''Hell'' class Unwinnable; there is no way to know without [[GuideDangIt looking it up]] that [[spoiler: you need at least one team member alive to help you onboard when you return to the Normandy. If there are no team members, then you get stuck with Joker trying to help you, and he's too weak. Oh, and characters will not survive the aftermath of the Boss fight unless you have completed their loyalty missions.]] It is much easier to miss the BestEnding [[spoiler: (EverybodyLives)]] and not know it: [[spoiler: all team members must be Loyal, which is tricky because of conflicts - if two characters fight you must agree with one then tell the other you were lying, or talk one character around to the other's point of view; and you must send the appropiate people to do the specialist tasks during the suicide mission because, if they're not up to the job, then they'll die.]] Mass Effect used this trope to great storytelling effect -- it makes the game more [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism "realistic."]]
** For the record, it is remarkably difficult to actually ''get'' the [[KillEmAll everybody dies ending]], the player needs to eff up so badly that this troper tried to get the bad ending on purpose, and ''failed''.

* [[BioShock Bioshock 2]], like its predecessor, has multiple endings, ranging from [[TearJerker good]] to [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel not so good]] depending on what moral choices you make throughout the game concerning certain characters. If you do make certain [[UnderStatement morally questionable decisions]] the repercussions become apparent and the final section of the game affected. The unfortunate thing is, though, that after a certain [[PointofNoReturn point]] during the game there's no way of compensating for what you did earlier, and the game in fact continues for quite a while after as [[ItGotWorse things go from bad to worse]] and by the end of it, if you possess a functioning moral compass, you [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel spend the last section of the game feeling pretty bad about yourself]].

* [[BioShock Bioshock 2]], like its predecessor, has multiple endings, ranging from [[TearJerker good]] to [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel not so good]] depending on what moral choices you make throughout the game concerning certain characters. If you do make certain [[Understatement morally questionable decisions]] the repercussions become apparent and the final section of the game affected. The unfortunate thing is, though, that after a certain [[PointofNoReturn point]] during the game there's no way of compensating for what you did earlier, and the game in fact continues for quite a while after as [[ItGotWorse things go from bad to worse]] and by the end of it, if you possess a functioning moral compass, you [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel spend the last section of the game feeling pretty bad about yourself]].

* [[Bioshock Bioshock 2]] has multiple endings, depending on what moral choices you make throughout the game concerning certain characters. If you do make certain [[Understatement morally questionable decisions]] the repercussions become apparent and the final section of the game affected. The unfortunate thing is, though, that after a certain [[PointofNoReturn point]] during the game there's no way of compensating for what you did earlier, and the game in fact continues for quite a while after as [[ItGotWorse things go from bad to worse]] and by the end of it, if you possess a functioning moral compass, you [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel spend the last section of the game feeling pretty bad about yourself]].

** This gets even worse in ''Stationfall'', where it feels like [[spoiler: the boots]] will scramble your card in a single turn. And [[spoiler: putting the explosive in the thermos]] doesn't stop it from evaporating; it merely slows it down by a factor of four while silencing the messages you would otherwise get about it. This is no fun if you decide to stash your safecracker tools in one location one by one as you get them; when you've got them all some hundred turns later, you'll find out that one thing has silently evaporated on you.

* Besides the various (probably) unintentional examples mentioned in UnwinnableByMistake, Infocom's ''Tombs & Treasure'' on the NES has exactly one instance of this. Walk into a cave from the Ball Court. Hey, that's a nice jewel on that pedestal, I think I'll take it...oh no, the door closed and I'm trapped! That's it, game over, better reset! (The game tells you this is pretty much those words). The solution is to [[spoiler:enter the room from the other side ''via'' a secret passage from an otherwise unrelated area, which gives you two ways out. Taking the jewel only shuts one of them.]]

* Leaked design notes for the unfinished ''Hitchhiker's Guide 2'' game suggest including a puzzle whose solution causes the game to become essentially Unwinnable (ignoring a one-in-a-million random chance). Only by ''not'' solving the puzzle and ''losing the points'' could the player have won the game. This is just how the people at Infocom used to think.

** In the veeery first area in the game, there is a bonding plant. You need to take the bonding plant and keep it alive throughout the entire game. If you don't, then [[spoiler:you can't get into the comedy club, making the game unwinnable.]] It's also RIDICULOUSLY easy to kill the bonding plant.

** One more: When Prosthetic Vogon Jeltz has you strapped down and is reciting Vogon poetry to you, you need to ''enjoy'' the poetry. Failing to do so, or doing other things, will mean that he won't recite the second verse, which contains the PlotCoupon required to open a case in the bay of the Vogon ship to retrieve a McGuffin before you are blown out into space. There isn't much delay between the recital and the appearance of the case, but the game allows you to proceed without taking the McGuffin. It will be several hours before a first-time player will realize that the device was needed. The evillest thing: The PlotCoupon is randomized! The game asks for a certain word in a certain line of the second verse of the poem. But the second verse of the poem is a random string of letters...

* ''Alex Kidd in Miracle World'' had an unwinnable state. If you didn't pick up the letter your brother talked about, then you did not receive the stone slab with the combination on it to unlock the last part of the game. The stone slab is not required, however, if you know the combination of by heart. But if you don't know the code at all, then this renders the game Unwinnable.
** Of course, back before the Internet, this classifies since you don't have any other way to get the code on the slab (unless you happen to know someone who already have beaten the game or this isn't your first playthrough, or well, you actually bought a guide book which the code is printed in). [[TechnologyMarchesOn Nowadays]], one could just FacePalm himself for a moment, then throw his arms up in the air and say GuideDangIt and then go look the code up on GameFAQs.

* ''Final Fantasy VIII'' has a point where you have to disarm a missile -- or, technically, set the error ratio high enough that the missile misses its target. After the alarm goes off, the computer you use to change the error ratio locks itself. If the alarm goes off before you change it, then the game becomes Unwinnable -- and the save point is indeed accessible at that point. Of course, the game clearly explains what you're supposed to do.

* The ''Gateway'' series of adventure games by Legend could be made unwinnable, but it was usually obvious when you did. For instance, breaking the PV commset in the beginning of Gateway 1 makes it impossible to receive a crucial message later on, but that's rather obvious because the screen cracks. [[spoiler:Wearing the ring while in the mirror room in Hell in Gateway 1 also eventually makes the portals close, so you'll be stuck. But if that happens, then you can simply type "die" and restart.]]

* The original ''ColossalCave Adventure'' had a particularly nasty one near the end -- after you deposit the last treasure, you have a small number of moves to get back into the cave system before you're locked out of it (literally). If you're anywhere in the caves when the timer expires, then you're whisked to the last two locations; if you aren't, then you can't get back in -- and thus can't end the game.

*** Everquest had this with the Sleeper. This fight was also intended to be hopeless, but this fact was not communicated to the players. The real kicker? Only one attempt per server ever. The quest to wake the sleeper can only be completed once, and cannot be finished by any other players after completion. Once the raid inevitably wipes, this boss runs rampant through the entire continent of Velious, and kills a major NPC. It was killed on ONE server, and that's only because they forgot to upgrade it to keep pace with the new expansions on that server.
* [[http://xkcd.org/724/ This]] {{XKCD}} comic is responsible for [[http://www.swfme.com/view/1046212 this]] game. Unwinnable? Oh yes.

* ''{{Pathologic}}'' is particularly cruel -- you don't realise how deeply you've failed until up to 12 hours later. Some gamers have had breakdowns when they realize that they're going to have to start over because they didn't pick up something from an unmarked house.

* In ''The Theater,'' an RPG maker game, the final boss battle can be made unwinnable. An imp just before the battle offers you passage to a final save point after a difficult puzzle; in return, you need to give him one of your items. All but one of your items are needed to defeat the boss. Oh, well, that's not so bad; you can just load your sa- OH, WAIT, YOU JUST SAVED! There is no hint beforehand that this will make it impossible to win. The creator, when questioned, claimed that he added this feature because no other game has done it....
* The NES billiards game ''Lunar Ball'' allows the friction of the pool table to be altered. It goes as far down as 0, that is, no friction. Balls will move at a constant speed, meaning that it's very possible that the balls will be caught in an infinite loop if none of them are pocketed, forcing the player to reset the console to try again.
* In ''DevilSurvivor'', during the BossRush that precedes the FinalBoss, there is one particular boss that can only you, the main character, can damage (and thus kill). If you die, and no live character or demon has (Sama)Recarm on hand, the battle keeps going...but with no way to win it.
* MassEffect cannot be made {{Unwinnable}} but MassEffect 2 can be made unsurvivable - that is, you can get to a point where you can still defeat the boss, but your PC Shepherd will die in the final cutscene leaving you with the BadEnding and rendering you incapable of importing your character to Mass Effect 3. Technically this is the ''Hell'' version because there is no way of knowing without [[GuideDangIt looking it up]] that [[spoiler: you need at least one team member alive to help you onboard when you return to the Normandy; if there are no team members you get stuck with Joker trying to help you and he's too weak. Characters will not survive the aftermath of the Boss fight unless you have completed their loyalty missions.]] It is much easier to miss out on the BestEnding [[spoiler: (EverybodyLives)]] and not know it - [[spoiler: all team members must be Loyal (tricky, because of conflicts - if two characters fight you must agree with one then tell the other you were lying, or talk one character around to the other's point of view) and you must send the appropiate people to do the specialist tasks during the suicide mission - if they're not up to the job, they'll die.]]
** In some ways Mass Effect is using this trope to great storytelling effect - it makes sense not to tell you you screwed up because in real life you wouldn't know until it was too late.
* The 80's platform adventure game ''Dizzy'' had a nasty situation just two screens from the starting position. A bridge over a deep crevasse needs to be crossed lots of times during the course of the game. Lots and lots of times. And if just once you tread in the middle of it rather than jumping, the bridge vanishes. It doesn't respawn.

* In the [[ChooseYourOwnAdventure adventure book series]] ''LoneWolf'', in the second book there is a magic spear that can be missed. [[spoiler:It is the only weapon you get that can kill Hellghasts, and you WILL encounter at least two of them]]. Even if you get it, there is an opportunity to give it to an ally so that he can survive guarding the mouth of a cave and allow you to continue. Sure enough, later on, if you did the right thing and gave it to him... then you made the book Unwinnable. [[spoiler:He never shows up again; you are forced to face a Hellghast, which proceeds to kill you because you lack any weapon that can harm it.]]
** It is possible to get past this part without having the magic spear. But it requires picking the right skill from the very beginning, choosing the right path, and talking to mice. [[GuideDangIt Guide Dang It!]] Plus, in the original version, if you had the spear and gave it up, then you missed the chance to talk to the mice. The free online Project Aon version fixes this.

** The first three books were bad with this. In addition to the magic spear kerfluffle, book two becomes Unwinnable if you fail to get the vitally-important Seal of Hammerdale back in Ragadorn or if you [[TooDumbToLive sell it later for some extra cash]]. Also in book two, if you don't have enough money to pay meals and lodging for the ''entire'' carriage journey, then you'll be forced to sleep in the stables at the last stop, where an assassin will get you in your sleep. In book three, you have to go downstairs instead of up at one point, or you'll never meet the captive wizard that has to help you in the final battle. There's also the important-looking magic gem which is evil and will kill you if you hold on to it too long -- though if you do meet the captive wizard, then he will recognize it and get you to dispose of it shortly after you meet him. After this the series [[GrowingTheBeard Grows The Beard]], and these problems become rare -- but there's still the occasional dick move. Book 4 hits you for [[CherryTapping one point of damage]] ''after'' winning the final battle.
** A second example is book 8. God Kai help you if you begin with that book. Unless you get CS-increasing armor, a high CS, the CS-increasing potion, Kai skills including Psi-blast and Weaponskill, the weapon you gain an advantage with using Weaponskill, ''and'' a string of 0s and 9s for the three (or four, depending on how you interpret the text) turns you get in the final battle, you're pretty much SOL.
** A third example of near-Unwinnability comes in book 11. If you played through the books and brought the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Sommerswerd]] to Book 10 (forcing you to retain it for 11 -- Lone Wolf is unable to do much of anything at the end of book 10, and storage is ''many'' miles away), then you're forced to fight three boss battles near consecutively. Even with full health, the [[PhysicalGod Chaos Master]] has about twice your hit points and is nearly unbeatable. Now, don't get us wrong - even if you leave the sword behind, you still have to go through all three battles. But not having it with you nets you an ''even better'' sword for the Chaos Master battle ''and'' reduces the enemy stats.
** It's debatable as to whether Joe Dever intended for you to go play each adventure straight or go through several dry runs so you could find all the cheapo punkouts awaiting the eponymous hero. After reading all 20 books very thoroughly (both print and online), I've reached the conclusion that he realized that the vast majority of players would read ahead before so much looking at an Action Chart. Anyone who doesn't is either hopelessly naive or doesn't mind wasting ''lots'' of paper.... Or to put it another way, "cheating" is expected.

** There is no warning that this is the only such PressXToNotDie moment in the entire game. The player is highly likely to be unaware that the branch needs to be grabbed or even has a purpose. The island has other worthless scenery manifesting as named objects. What, you didn't automatically assume that this one innocuous branch was different? That's a shame. Restart game!

* Ironically subverted in ''Starfleet Academy'' on the SuperNintendo. You are given TheKobayashiMaru scenario as a graduation requirement. It's ''supposed'' to be unwinnable. However, due to the way the video game is designed, it's entirely possible to engage the Klingons '''and beat them.'''
* In the FireEmblem games, if you do a poor job of managing your resources (such as [[CrutchCharacter overusing Jeigan]]) or fail to get plot-important weapons, then it may be impossible to proceed with the game.
** Hardly. You just get a bad ending. FE 2 and 6 are the only ones that did it anyway, you just miss out on a few ending chapters.

** There is no warning that this is the only such PressXToNotDie moment in the entire game. The player is highly likely to be unaware that the branch needs to be grabbed or even has a purpose. The island has other worthless scenery manifesting as named objects. What, you thought this was an exception? That's a shame. Restart game!

** There is no warning that this may be the only such moment in the entire game. The player may even be unaware that the branch needs to be grabbed or even has a purpose.

*** One more: When Prosthetic Vogon Jeltz has you strapped down and is reciting Vogon poetry to you, you need to ''enjoy'' the poetry. Failing to do so (or doing other thing) will not get him to recite the second verse, which contains the much needed PlotCoupon required to open a case in the bay of the vogon ship to retrieve a McGuffin before being blown out into space. The point between the recital and where the case becomes visible is pretty close, but the game allows you to proceed without taking the McGuffin as well. Cue several hours later where you realize that you should've taken the device. The most evil thing of all: The PlotCoupon is randomized and is apparently generated randomly (like copy protection mechanisms, it asks for a certain word in a certain line of the second verse of the poem. The kicker here is that the second verse of the poem is a random string of letters).

* The ''Spellcasting X01'' series of games (supposedly made at least in part by the same people) was phenomenally restrictive in terms of what you had to do and when you had to do it; if a day passed by without one tiny little thing being taken care of, the game became unwinnable.

* In ''Planetfall'', [[spoiler: entering the rad labs]] turns the game unwinnable. At least that's fair, as the game explicitly tells you not to do so. It also taunts you by [[spoiler: having a light source and a repair manual]] in there, either of which would be useful, only you won't live long enough to use them. Slightly worse, keeping a magnet close to any of your cards longer than absolutely necessary will blank the cards without warning.
** This gets even worse in ''Stationfall'', where it feels like [[spoiler: the boots]] will scramble your card in a single turn. And [[spoiler: putting the explosive in the thermos]] doesn't stop it from evaporating; it merely slows it down by a factor of four while silencing the messages you would otherwise get about it. This is no fun if you decide to stash your safecracker tools in one location, one by one as you get them; when you've got them all some hundred turns later, you'll find out that one thing has silently evaporated on you.

* ''Darkseed'', which featured art by H R Giger, thrives on this. The game has a rather specific solution, complete with many chances to screw up before the end. For example, you only have enough money to buy two items at the store, there are many items available, and you need to buy the right two to win... and you can't buy them at the same time. For another example, you need to set up an alternate way to enter your house before you ever learn that the main way will be blocked later. Also, you're playing in "real time", and you need to be in the right place at the right time for certain events. Essentially, the game expects you to [[TrialAndErrorGameplay keep starting over from the beginning until you get it right.]]

**To see exactly how bad it is, check out [[http://lparchive.org/LetsPlay/Darkseed/ this playthrough by Slowbeef]].

* In ''Enchanter'', the Kulcad scroll can only be used once. It cancels magic. Since every puzzle you encounter is basically a magical trap, the spell allows you to "cheat" your way past any puzzle in the game. Doing this gives you no warning that you've done anything wrong -- until you get to the endgame and lack the spell you need to win...

** ''Elvira 2'' is pretty much Made Of Unwin. One of the worst instances: at one point, you need to animate a FrankensteinsMonster so that it moves away from a door that it obstructs. However, if you click on the monster's head beforehand, then you'll automatically cut off the wires connected to its head, making it impossible to animate. The worst thing is, the game ''never tells you that you have cut the wires''; and there are no hints that clicking on the head would have any ill effect.

* Kemco's NES version of ''{{DejaVu}}'' had a mugger which, if handled incorrectly, could beat you up and leave with all your coins. It wouldn't be so bad, except you need the coins to get in a taxi so you can get to different locations.
** This isn't game-breaking outright: if you get out of the cab without paying, then one (if not both) of the cab drivers will sympathize with you and let you ride for free. But only once.
** You can also go back to the secret casino and pick up some coins that "someone left lying around" (the game generates them when the player runs out of money). And you can choose to punch the mugger and escape three times before he finally decides that he's going to shoot you if you say no. Even ''if'' this happens, you can give him a $20 bill that was put into the game for that sole purpose, and he'll never bother you again.
** The only ''real'' unwinnable scenario is if you've already had a cab take you for free and you use up your last 3 coins going somewhere other than Peoria.

*** FridgeBrilliance / FridgeHorror : This also happens if you use certain {{GameShark}} codes. Take the GameShark out and leave it out.

** Also, certain missions in the Portland area, such as the ambulance missions, can become unwinnable after you kill the Mafia boss, as the Mafia will be all over you like flies on a carcass.

* ReturnToZork can be made unwinnable in ''so'' many ways:
** Place the rats into the box with the mice.
*** Don't the rats and mice regenerate if you go back to West Shanbar?
** Give the token to the ferryman on the way to Canuk's island (unless you are carrying [[spoiler:the whistle]]).
** [[spoiler:Turn Canuk back into a duck]] before you've gotten the disc piece from the bottle.
** Feed the rotten meat to the vultures without drugging it first.
** Get in trouble with the Guardian and lose your items. Even if you avoid losing items by dropping them first, you can still render the game unwinnable if you kill or anger a character who still serves some purpose. This can be achieved in the following ways (to name a few):
***Harming any character with your knife or sword.
***Taking the bra box from in front of Pugney's Ranch ''before'' he tells you that you can "take that ludicrous box out there too."
** Lose important items by chucking them in the incinerator, although that ought to be an obvious don't [[spoiler:(except for the one item you DO need to chuck in there!)]].
** In the veeery first area in the game, there is a bonding plant. You need to take the bonding plant and keep it alive throughout the entire game. If you don't, then [[spoiler:you can't get into the comedy club, making the game unwinnable.]] It's also RIDICULOUSLY easy to kill the bonding plant.
*** There's a GuideDangIt way around this: if you destroy the dead bonding plant (by eating or burning it), a new one will regrow in the Valley of the Vultures, and you can use [[spoiler:the whistle]] to go and get it.

* Now in ValkyrieProfile...suppose you decide to have Lenneth rest for a few periods...uh oh Freya's not happy! You'd better get to work! But if you rest long enough or lower your approval low enough, then no matter how much you try to please Odin, Freya will still come down and kill you if you slack off.
** CovenantOfThePlume has another option for unwinnability if you overuse the sacred plume. "I'm going to use it on ''all my party members!'' I WIN THE BATTLE! MUAHAHA...what the hell?! Freya? No Matter, I'll just-AGGGHHHHH!!!! Stupid HopelessBossFight!"
*** To clarify - each chapter has a limit on how many party members you can subject to FinalDeath by using the destiny plume on them. Exceeding this limit will get you too much negative attention from the Gods, resulting in Freya being sent to kill you. If you somehow beat her, then [[spoiler:Hel decides [[DangerouslyGenreSavvy you're too powerful to toy with and kills you herself]]]]). This is a MercyKill for the player! Killing off that many party members would make later battles virtually impossible anyway.

** Of course, back before the internet, this classifies since you don't have any other way to get the stone slab. [[TechnologyMarchesOn Nowadays]], one could just FacePalm himself for a moment, then throw his arms up in the air and say GuideDangIt and then go look the code up on GameFAQs.

*** One more: When Prosthetic Vogon Jeltz has you strapped down and is reciting Vogon poetry to you, you need to ''enjoy'' the poetry. Failing to do so (or doing other thing) will not get him to recite the second verse, which contains the much needed PlotCoupon required to open a case in the bay of the vogon ship to retrieve a McGuffin before being blown out into space. The point between the recital and where the case becomes visible is pretty close, but the game allows you to proceed without taking the McGuffin as well. Cue several hours later where you realize that you should've taken the device. The most evil thing of all: The PlotCoupon is randomized and is apparently generated randomly (it's a random scramble of letters)

*** One more: When Prosthetic Vogon Jeltz has you strapped down and is reciting Vogon poetry to you, you need to ''enjoy'' the poetry. Failing to do so (or doing other thing) will not get him to recite the second verse, which contains the much needed PlotCoupon required to open a case in the bay of the vogon ship to retrieve a McGuffin before being blown out into space. The point between the recital and where the case becomes visible is pretty close, but the game allows you to proceed without taking the McGuffin as well. Cue several hours later where you realize that you should've taken the device.

*** One more, albeit a more minor one: When Prosthetic Vogon Jeltz has you strapped down and is reciting Vogon poetry to you, you need to ''enjoy'' the poetry. Failing to do so (or doing other thing) will not get him to recite the second verse, which contains the much needed PlotCoupon required to open a case in the bay of the vogon ship to retrieve a McGuffin before being blown out into space.

Note that dipping below "polite" is considered a design flaw by most design philosophies today. Old-fashioned adventure games, notably most Sierra games released before 1992, seldom rise ''above'' "nasty".