History Main / VideoGameCrueltyPotential

** In a similar way to the hand to hand example above, custom fatigue draining spells can be added to zero weight items, which when reverse pickpocketed into the inventory of essential characters to leave them paralysed and [[AndIMustScream unable to die]]

** The Hulk actually has two special moves he can use only use when holding civilians. One has him putting the civilian down and [[VideoGameCaringPotential patting them on the head]]. The other has the Hulk [[FingerPokeOfDoom flick the civilian]] and send him flying. You can also do a dramatic elbow drop while holding someone. While it doesn't hurt them, it seems cruel to basically piledrive some random person off the tallest skyscraper there is.

*** You can feed your spouse into a hacked organ extractor (it can remove ''bowels'') but this isn't quite so cruel

** In case 2-3 [[spoiler:Acro turns out to have killed Berry accidentally while trying to kill Regina because she accidentally killed his brother Acro. At the end of the case, Regina asks is Acro is going to come after her. The "correct" answer is to say "No", and to show her some evidence, but's there's no real reason you can't say "Of course he is!" and send her off in tears.]]

** Try killing Vico in the arena sequence in the second chapter of ''A Dance With Rogues''. Just try it. I dare you.

* ''The Comicbook/IncredibleHulk: Ultimate Destruction''. Considering that the main protagonist is the embodiment of Bruce Banner's suppressed rage, it's no surprise that the player gets to do some pretty mean things. Players can pick up policemen, soldiers and absolutely defenseless civilians alike and beat them up, throw them from buildings, into the sea or traffic. Speaking of which, all cars, clearly driven by mere passers-by, can be picked up, destroyed, thrown or ''crushed into metal gloves'', whereas buses can be crushed and used as '''surfboards'''. Several buildings can be destroyed, different destructible objects piled up for bigger explosions, lampposts can be turned into clubs... In fact, there are several side-quest minigames that make a pronounced point out of cruelty. One particularly noteworthy example is using a metal girder to bat soldiers away for distance records. On top of all of that, one unlockable changes the Hulk into his gray "Mr. Fixit" incarnation, who gleefully throws out one-liners about the suffering he causes.

* Played with in [[BaldursGate Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn]]. Taking certain party members along when you have interacted with them in certain ways can cause them to start banters with each other that in a few cases become horrifically cruel. If you let Sarevok hang out with Imoen before his [[spoiler:FaceHeelTurn]], she will start a conversation that ends with him discussing her [[spoiler:torture at Irenicus's hands]] in intimate detail, and Imoen on the verge of tears. Pick romantic dialogue options for both Aerie and Jaheira, and leave them both in your party, and Aeire will eventually [[spoiler:suggest that Jaheira's dead husband Khalid is happier being dead since she's no longer able to hector him.]] Keep in mind this is possibly only weeks after [[spoiler:Jaheira found his brutally mutilated remains in a torture chamber]], and the games make it pretty clearly that [[spoiler:she genuinely loved him, even if she did criticize him.]] Viconia's romance also allows the player to take her to bed when it's clear she'd rather not. Thankfully, this ends the romance and avoids RapeIsLove.

** The happiness system. There are most of the time only things that increase a Mons happiness, which result in them evolving, on the other hand you can also decrease their happiness with letting them faint in battle and giving them bitter medicine. Especially seducing with the Revival herb, it resurrects you k.oed Mon with full health. Besides the Full Restore, that only exists in limited quantities it´s the only item with this power.

* ''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 feeling 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.
** And then of course, there's the classic move of [[http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=48 delivering anal "surprise sex" to unconscious guards]]...
*** [[http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_Y8ArzlU_nM Jungle Boogie! Get it on.]]
** You can even be a sadistic monster to your own player character, at multiple points - in the most egregious example, you're given the opportunity to stand Raiden under a constant stream of urine, if you don't feel like distracting the guard mid-flow, and there's no penalty for doing so. Or you can goad Snake into killing you by ''running into him enough times''.
** 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.
** ''Metal Gear Solid 3'' had a higher cruelty potential than ''2''. You could hold a soldier hostage and slit his throat while he begs for mercy, for example. Other ways to mess with them are throw snakes and scorpions on them, feed them rotting/poisonous food, play ''{{Predator}}'', and this editor's favorite, shoot their arms and legs and watch them try to hobble away. Also, knocking Eva unconscious actually makes the last area easier to get across. The games get more cruel every time a new one comes out.
*** In addition, any indirect method of killing guards (such as throwing a poisonous animals on them, electrocution, drowning, food poisoning, setting off the soldiers' own traps or dropping unconscious enemies off cliffs) ''does not count'' towards your final "kill" total [[spoiler: though enemies killed with these methods still show up while walking through The Sorrow's river.]]
** And in the extension of ''3'', ''Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence'', you can also throw up on guards to make them freak out.
** Let us not forget that you can kill a man, let a vulture eat him to fatten the vulture up, then ''kill the vulture and eat it.'' Doing this results in [[spoiler:''the men you ate'' with vultures on their shoulders [[TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything appearing in the Sorrow's river of people you killed]]. And they will groan ''"You ate me!"'' as they pass you.]]
** The Nikita! Remote-controlled Rocket, with a camera you can switch into. So you can not only get to aim one of those babies right into some Mook's (or Boss, if you're REALLY good at working the controls) face, and immediately switch into First-Rocket-View to see the {{Oh Crap}} Reaction. [[YourHeadAsplode BOOM]] baby! [[EvilLaugh Muwhahhaha!]]
** ''Metal Gear Solid 3'' also reverses the trope by inflicting emotional cruelty on the player in its last moments. [[spoiler:In the endgame, the player is tasked with killing The Boss, the player's lifelong mentor and mother figure, only to learn in the end that it was all an act on her behalf to be framed as a traitor to her country. The game even makes you '''[[TearJerker pull the trigger]]''' on her, for chrissakes!]]
** Try dragging Emma through the bugs in front of the Shell 2 elevator instead of clearing them away for her. Or planting C4 on the ground, putting a magazine over it and detonating the explosive when a guard stops to look at the magazine (even better if they lean down to look at it rather than sit on the ground).
*** The tranq provided some serious cruelty potential. It was generally the best way to take out guards, because if you missed a headshot with a handgun, the enemies would be alerted to your presence, but if you missed a headshot with the tranq, they'd just take a moment longer to fall asleep. And if you shoot and kill a guy, and another guard finds him before you can hide the body, alert mode again. If you tranqed him? Just wakes him up. So it's just much safer to use the tranq than any other gun. However there is still one problem: the guy isn't actually DEAD, so he will wake up eventually and start causing problems for you, and who wants that, right? So you're gonna want to murder him in his sleep. Often the most efficient way of dealing with this in ''Metal Gear Solid 3'' was, after tranqing a guard and dragging him off to some secluded spot, maybe in some tall grass, to take out the hunting knife. Crouch over the guard and go into first person view and carve that poor bastard up until the Z's indicating sleep stop coming off his head -- the tranquilizers are thankfully strong enough that he won't wake up screaming as you're stabbing him, because it does take multiple swipes to kill. Particularly disturbing in the heavily fortified areas with few hiding places that appear later in the game, so you end up piling five or more corpses in the same spot.
** 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.
** And let's not forget the extended dialogue you're forced to go through if you piss off Rose enough and then contact her to save your game, which includes telling her that "you won't make her save."
** In one of the very first areas in MetalGearSolid4 you get your first chance to try out the thermal vision and end up in a room full to bursting with unconscious wounded friendly units. They had just introduced you to the tactic of knifing unconscious enemies and no one makes a point of telling you not to kill all the helpless people in the room.
** In ''MetalGearSolid 3'', upon obtaining the Raikov disguise, you are actually ''encouraged'' by the other characters in the game to run around punching people in the face, or stalking scientists, or whatever. Because of the kind of person Raikov is, Snake can get away with it. It's one of the most memorable, satisfying portions of the game.
** Also in ''Metal Gear Solid 3'', there's so many fun things you can do with TNT. Consider this: Plant a TNT charge on the door of the locker you put Raikov in, then set a Claymore mine in front of it. Get somewhere you can see it, and then trigger the TNT. The locker door (with Raikov on top of it) falls outwards, triggering the Claymore which blows both of them back into the locker. Also, if you have the Invisibility Cloak item "Stealth Camo", try planting TNT on every person in an inclosed area (the Shagohod construction area is ideal) then bringing friends over and taking bets on who explodes next.
** Metal Gear Solid has one of the worst: in one area, it's infested with wolves. You can shoot them to make it easier to get through. But if you call Otacon first, he'll tell you that those are Sniper Wolf's pets, and that he and she would feed them. [[YouBastard Then he begs you not to kill them]]. Snake's response: "Gimme a break."
** The End in ''MetalGearSolid 3''. You can snipe him while he's in his wheelchair so that you never end up having to face him. If you do choose to face him, you can either shoot or capture and eat his parrot, or save and wait an entire week before playing again to find that he dies of old age.

** 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.
*** How do you kill them with health?

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]
* In an episode of "XMenEvolution", a teenage (but not evil) version of Arcade hacks into Cerebro and commands it to attack all the X-Men who show up in the Danger Room, believe it is simply an advanced computer game.
** For some reason he doesn't recognize any of the "characters" as his schoolmates.
*** Well, obviously, he thinks everyone except Kurt created a "character" who looked just like them.
* Averted in ''TheVentureBrothers'' where 21 and 24 are discussing Tomb Raider and how Lara could drown, which a horrified 21 described as grisly.
[[/folder]]

* [[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.

* In an episode of "XMenEvolution", a teenage (but not evil) version of Arcade hacks on to Cerebro and commands it to attack all the X-Men who show up in the Danger Room, believe it is simply an advanced computer game.

* The ''{{Civilization}}'' games have a hefty VideogameCrueltyPunishment for using nukes, which makes cities unusable and [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating turns global opinion against you]]. However, it can be amusing to win a diplomatic victory while building up a massive arsenal of ICBMs. Once the rest of the world unanimously elects you Secretary General of the UN for your benevolent leadership, [[YouBastard let 'em fly.]] The resulting fallout ruins their militaries, the pollution ruins their economies, and they're ripe for the conquering. [[EvilLaugh Mwahahaha!]]

** Also the monkies were put in the game for pretty much just this purpose.

* TimeSplitters has a few examples. In several levels, you have the option to either fight it out with mooks, or just shoot the explosives near them and watch them all get whiped out. There are also weapons called Plasma Grenades (or you'd probably know them as Sticky Grenades). When you hit somebody with one, it sticks to them as they run away panicking for several seconds before it goes off. However, if you stick it to their feet or legs, it won't just blow them away, it will ''launch them several feet in the air.''

* In ''NinetyNineNights'', you can kill unarmed civillians when playing as Inphyy or Dwingvatt.

* In the old-school days of ''{{Oregon Trail}}'', it became common practice to play "Suicide Trail"(aka "Oregon Fail"), trying to achieve a TotalPartyKill as soon as possible. There is also a lot more cruelty potential in the sequel, such as administering WorstAid or taking the more dangerous routes. Beware though, [[VideoGameCrueltyPunishment you may be punished for it]].

* ''RedDeadRedemption'' gives you a lasso to [[WreakingHavok Wreak Havok]] with after you help Bonnie McFarlane out a few times. You ''will'' inevitably lasso and [[ChainedToARailway hogtie a woman onto some train tracks]] and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi1qe5KhOhA be rewarded for it]], or if you're particularly sadistic, you can just skip the hogtying and drag her around until she snaps her neck on the ground.

* In ''FinalFantasyTactics'' pretty much from the very beginning, you can pass over Mandalia Plains repeatedly until you get a random encounter. The enemies' party will invariably have a yellow chocobo in it and you can kill off everyone ele in its party, then surround it and attack it virtually endlessly as its only healing action, Choco Cure, also heals characters on all four sides, thus giving you a way to level up and get a hell of a lot of jp to boot, and joy of all joys, all you have to do is torture a sad-faced chocobo forever.

* In ''[[FinalFantasyCrystalChronicles Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles The Crystal Bearers]]'' you have the ability to manipulate gravity. You use this power to toss monsters into one another and make impossible jumps. You can also use it to toss random civilians around. Some of them drop money when thrown. ''old ladies are the most likely to drop Gil''. It's like they ''want'' you to abuse your powers.

* In ''[[FinalFantasyCrystalChronicles Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles The Crystal Bearers]]'' you have the ability to manipulate gravity. You use this power to toss monsters into one another and make imposible jumps. You can also use it to toss random civilians around. Some of them drop money when thrown. ''old ladies are the most likely to drop Gil''. It's like they ''want'' you to abuse your powers.

** [[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/5/25/ Another option is demonstrated in this Penny Arcade strip]]. AGodAmI anyone?
*** [[spoiler: Pressing any button to start the game kills a large part of the city]]
**** If you play the good karma route, you can be even crueler. Innocent people love you and run after you to take your pictures. Lead them into a dead-end alley with a puddle at the entrance. Fry one person once they're all clustered around you, and then stand in the puddle. They all try to run out of the alley, through the puddle being charged by your electricity. [[HilarityEnsues Excellent.]]