History Main / VideoGameCrueltyPotential

** ''Tropico 2'' is still worse though, since at least in 1 your peons can leave, but in 2 you are the Pirate King of a Pirate Isle, and since the pirates under you only work as, well, pirates, or guards and overseers, all of your labor is provided by, well, slaves that you kidnap from settlements, including the prosti...er...wenches that you use to keep your pirates entertained. Plus the aforementioned edits. And the fact that one of the ways to keep your captives from revolting/escaping is by keeping them in abject terror...

* ''JadeEmpire''.....many of the Closed Fist options are downright cruel, especially the final choice of poisoning the Water Dragon's body with blood from your rebelling companions. The scene is actually a TearJerker, as the Water Dragon sadly looks on while you pour the blood into the machine. You then cruelly take her power.

* Game/EvilGenius, SpiritualSuccessor to DungeonKeeper, gives players a wide selection of ways to "Interrogate" (torture) enemy agents and tourists. It's not unheard of in some circles for players to subject female agents and tourist to the [[NaughtyTentacles greenhouse in the lab]]. One of the objectives of the game even requires the player to put an uppity crime boss into a hillariously oversized mixer located in the chow hall.

* In ''TheGodfather'', your character is capable of a wide variety of sadistic acts, including ''throwing people into ovens''.
** And you get a special bonus, a fairly nice amount of money, for managing to fill out the entire list of execution styles. There are 22 for the original PC, PS2 and Xbox versions, but the ante was upped to 52 for the Wii version.
*** The assassination sub missions also have this, as you gain a great deal more money and points for killing the targets in specific ways.

** Some levels even allow you to pick up items and barrels, or rather have them to pick up. So Goofy's standing right in front of you...TOSS IT IN HIS FACE!!
* No one has mentioned [[NintendoWars Advance Wars]]? Remember that using damaged units as bait or as human shields is a valid strategy.

* ''{{Hitman}} Blood Money'' allows many, many ways to kill people. A particularly satisfying example from the mission "A New Life" involves using lighter fluid on a grill and waiting for the wife of your target to start it and go up like a Roman candle.
** And by doing so, you orphan 2 kids since you need to kill their dad in that mission, all this happening on the younger one's birthday.
** Dude. Garden Shears.
*** Rigged pyrotechnic display + Tank filled with oh-so-cooling water. And a shark.

** Of course, you can also plant C4 on the backs of unaware guards, and detonate them when appropriate.
*** For bonus points, plant the charges on them while they're busy taking a leak.

** The fourth games gives you the option of frisking enemies. This plays out as a quick time minigame, with icons popping up. Hit the button at the right time, and an item pops out. The last button press is always as Snake's searching the crotch, and pressing the button here makes Snake grab and twist. It's an instant knock out on any male enemies.
*** Of course, it causes Snake to get slapped if he does it to a female enemy.

* ''Battlefront 2'': the award for getting four critical hits on a vehicle with a rocket launcher in one life is a remote-guided cruise missile launcher. Which you can use to snipe enemy infantry. Without giving them the remotest hint of a chance at shooting back. MUAHAHAHAHA!
* You can be an ''[[CompleteMonster evil]]'' [[JerkAss bastard]] in ''PlanescapeTorment''. Especially to Dakkon. "Oh hey, this chick is suffering but [[ICannotSelfTerminate can't commit suicide]] and you're their culture's euthanasist? [[spoiler: And you swore a [[IOweYouMyLife life debt]] to me?]] ''Torture her to death.''"
** Or you could always [[spoiler:constantly remind him of that debt]]. In every conversation you have with him, no less.
** Or to Morte [[spoiler: whom you had once pulled from the Pillar of Skulls, and get an in-game opportunity to put him back]] in exchange for information you can pay for in other (much less evil) ways.
** The same can be done to other party members. [[spoiler:''Including your current love interest.'']]
** Or by selling Fall-From-Grace back into slavery.
*** You technically can't do that one. Well, you can ''try'', but she refuses. You can sell Morte, Nordom, or ''Dakkon'' into slavery... the last one being particularly cruel because his entire civilization and belief system is centered around the idea of never being slaves again.
** And that's just a sample of the evil things you can do to the NPCs you can ''control''.

*** See [[http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=119 this comic]] from {{VG Cats}}.
**** And [[http://www.duelinganalogs.com/comic/2007/12/11/guest-strip-by-kevin-gritzke-2/ this one]] from DuelingAnalogs.
*** Also in ''WindWaker'', the pigs can kill you. Especially on Windfall Island where there are so many of them, if you attack one long enough, ALL of them will turn red, surround you, and literally attack and try to kill you.

*** You can also fire a cannon at birds, [[AmazingTechnicolorWildlife cow-spotted pigs, and golden dolphins]]. Or you can use it to kill adorible flying elephant things that try to charge you that would be scared away just by blowing the whistle.

* In ''{{Psychonauts}}'', you can set fire to squirrels and birds with your mind. And then ''eat them''.
** You can also toss them against walls and stuff and they break apart into various pieces. You can't eat them afterwards though. But you do get to hear Raz comment "Oops", "I meant to do that", and "I'll SeeYouInHell."

** The traps offer a lot of opportunities for fun.

*** Corridor full of pitfall traps set off by motion detectors

** Three words. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sczxk0IkcVY Life & Death]].

-->'''Boy''': YEEEAARRRGGGGHHHHH! * Goes AxeCrazy and repeatedly slashes the townsperson until he vanishes and dies*

* In ''{{Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri}}'', rioting drones may be repeatedly [[ColdBloodedTorture nerve-stapled]], or cowed into submission by building a Punishment Sphere. (Aside from the generically evil option of using authoritarian and "Mind Control" styles of government.)

** You have the option of letting homeless children starve if you so desire.

** No mention of ''TwilightPrincess''? Beating Cuccos lets you take control of their bodies, and you can make them jump into lakes or off tall structures. If you spot a pair of boar riders aimed at a cliff - and the game helpfully spawns some every time you enter Hyrule Field - shoot the boar. It will scream in pain and sprint cleanly off the cliff, dragging its panicked riders with it.

* [[TwistedMetal Destroying Paris]] while Frère Jacques plays in the background [[CrazyAwesome on '''electric guitar'''?]] Hell Yes.

* [[TwistedMetal Destroying Paris]] while Frère Jacques plays in the background [[CrazyAwesome on '''electric guitar'''? Hell Yes.

* ''FinalFantasyVII'' has one part where you can be a total asshat to Red XIII. When the party reaches the beach town from Junon for the first time, Red XIII sits in the shade and notices how his tail loves to bat the soccer ball the kids are playing with. You can ''smash'' the ball to Red XIII and hit him in the face, causing him to growl, but that is it. Best part is you can do this endlessly and Red XIII won't be mad at you later.
** There is another part in the game where you get to be cruel and it's a part of the storyline! Around disc 3, after Tifa manages to escape from Shinra, Scarlett confronts Tifa and slaps her in the face. You then get to press O and slap Scarlett back over and over again until she gives up. Safe to assume that at least a few people made a separate save file just so they can go back and play the slapping mini game.
*** Justified since Scarlett had just tried to use Tifa and friends as scapegoats and execute Tifa via gas chamber

* CruelPlayerCharacterGod
* PlotAidedBastardry
* TheJoysOfTorturingMooks

* ''DungeonKeeper 2'' gives the player access to prisons, torture chambers, traps, fight pits, a temple where you can sacrifice your minions, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and rigged casinos]]. So many possibilities...
** Capture a group of heroes and convert all but one of them. Feed your converts, heal them, and train them while giving the odd one out only the barest amount of food and healing to survive the prison. Then drop the unconverted one into a pit and put his former friends on the sidelines to cheer as he's beaten to a pulp over and over.
** Capture a hero. Drop him in the torture chamber and keep him barely alive until he gives some information. Award him by dropping him in the fight pit with your meanest monster before returning him to prison and letting him starve to death, becoming a skeleton.
** Take the monsters you don't want and lock them a sealed room without food, money, or beds. Wait until they get angry and revolt and burn them down with lightning. Have your imps send them to prison and let them rot into skeletons or vampire fodder.
** When Payday comes around, grab every minion in your domain and drop them in the Casino. Switch it to rigged and let the money roll in. Once you've got back some and the monsters begin to show displeasure, switch it back to normal and put the monsters back to work.
* Game/EvilGenius, SpiritualSuccessor to DungeonKeeper, gives players a wide selection of ways to "Interrogate" (torture) enemy agents and tourists. It's not unheard of in some circles for players to subject female agents and tourist to the [[NaughtyTentacles greenhouse in the lab]]. One of the objectives of the game even requires the player to put an uppity crime boss into a hillariously oversized mixer located in the chow hall.
* In ''{{Snatcher}}'', HandsomeLech Gillian Seed can flirt with almost every woman in the game, walk in on Jean Jack Gibson's daughter while she is showering (and she was 14 in the original JP version of the game, chances are her raised age in Western countries was due to how {{Squick}}y the scene could be.), [[RapeAsComedy force]] a RobotBuddy to watch a porn movie, and go to a strip club. The problem? Gilliam is '''married'''.
** Gillian has nothing on his SpiritualSuccessor, Jonathan Ingram, from ''Policenauts''. Gillian can hit on every woman. Jonathan can outright molest every single woman in the game, including fondling the breasts of ''every single female character''. The remake for the Sega Saturn actually ''upped'' the amount of FanService "due to popular demand".
* In ''TheGodfather'', your character is capable of a wide variety of sadistic acts, including ''throwing people into ovens''.

*** The assassination sub missions also have this, as you gain a great deal more money and points for killing the targets in specific ways.
* Rather mild example...in ''KingdomHearts'', you can not only run up and smack the Queen of Hearts (who dies in one hit) with the keyblade and she falls in the battle with the card guards, but make [[PeterPan Captain Hook]]'s day miserable. You can simply light his pants on fire and cause him to run around in mid-air. Or knock him off the ship and watch as he yells "YOU'LL NOT GET ME OTHER HAND!!!" before he almost hits the water. Even more satisfying when you light his pants on fire and he puts it out right over the water.
** Some levels even allow you to pick up items and barrels, or rather have them to pick up. So Goofy's standing right in front of you...TOSS IT IN HIS FACE!!

* ''GodOfWar'' is perhaps the king of this trope, as you can kill your enemies in ways that don't bear repeating, hell one of the basic moves is to rip enemies to shreds ''with your bare hands''. In fact, if you don't do horrible things voluntarily, the game will ''make'' you do them.
** There's a very specific scene early on in Athens with Ares attacking the city proper and citizens fleeing around chaotically. The game rewards you for killing them with health.
** In Pandora's Temple, [[PlotAidedBastardry one puzzle is solved]] by you lowering a suspended cage holding a soldier and, instead of freeing him, pushing him uphill to a machine that incinerates him. He pleads with you and shouts for help the whole trip, of course.
*** Whoever did the PAL localization for the game must have thought this to be too horrific even for this game, and thus the soldier [[{{Bowdlerization}} was replaced by a regular zombie enemy]].
** There's also one section where you're on one side of a chasm, and the only way across is to pull the lever on the other side and activate a bridge. Naturally, there's a civilian who'd be all too happy to pull said lever, but he's too terrified of all the monsters on your side. Pop quiz: how do you get across? Answer: [[spoiler:Zap the civilian with lightning. His dead body will fall on the lever and allow you to cross.]]
** And don't forget the sequel, where--not once, but twice--you must drag a helpless and protesting old scholar towards a book so that he can read it for you. Once you get him there, you brutalize him until he does what you want, then kill him. The real cruelty here lies in the fact that the game uses QuickTime events (i.e., button-mashing) to literally ''force'' the player to put some real physical effort into this act of elder abuse.
** The third game ups the ante, by forcing you to drag a screaming and begging woman to be horribly crushed in a wheel... all so he can prop up a door. Why Kratos doesn't just use one of the very plentiful enemies in the area instead is completely unknown. What makes this better is that you brutally murdered her husband earlier in the game.
* ''{{Hitman}} Blood Money'' allows many, many ways to kill people. A particularly satisfying example from the mission "A New Life" involves using lighter fluid on a grill and waiting for the wife of your target to start it and go up like a Roman candle.
** Dude. Garden Shears.
*** Rigged pyrotechnic display + Tank filled with oh-so-cooling water. And a shark.
* ''MetalGearSolid'' as a series had several of these but the worst was ''Metal Gear Solid 2''. It allowed you to do plenty of awful stuff, from shooting harmless animals to knocking over then lying on top of to feel up the TheWoobie's sister you're supposed to be rescuing. Although doing those things does piss off your VoiceWithAnInternetConnection along with several other {{NPC}}s.

*** In San Andreas, they added the abiiity to swim to the player, the girlfrieds and some other NPCs. Note that cops are not on the list.

* ''DungeonKeeper 2'' gives the player access to prisons, torture chambers, traps, fight pits, a temple where you can sacrifice your minions, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywaling and rigged casinos]]. So many possibilities...

* ''DungeonKeeper 2'' gives the player access to prisons, torture chambers, traps, fight pits, a temple where you can sacrifice your minions, and rigged casinos. So many possibilities...

* ''{{Toribash}}''... [[XJustX Just Toribash]]. But just as an example, one of the ways to win a Judo tournament is to make the opponent touch the ground with their hands. There's no rule saying that they have to be still attached to the rest of the opponent.

* [[http://blogs.suntimes.com/scanners/2010/03/horror_has_a_new_accent.html 13 Street: Last Call]] is a film project, wherein you, the audience submit your cellphone number, and the software randomly picks a number and calls it. Throughout the film, the audience member speaks to the protagonist via voice recognition, helping her make vital decisions that drive the films's plot. [[SoYeah]].

*** Hell, there's a sidequest to kick all the lucky and unlucky animals, for which you get even more rewards. Same with kicking as many Chim Chims as possible. Kick The Dog in its most literal sense.

** [[{{Unskippable}} "Good]] [[{{Unskippable}} lord]] [[{{Unskippable}} man,]][[http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/unskippable/833-Wolverine-Uncaged do you have a stabbing quota?"]]

*** See [[http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=118 this comic]] from {{VG Cats}}.