History Main / VideoGameCrueltyPunishment

** Zigzagged with angel and devil rooms, which have a chance to appear after a boss fight, contain powerful items, and are mutually exclusive. The items in devil rooms cost hearts, while the items in angel rooms are free. Some 'good' actions like giving money to a beggar and donating to the shop will increase your angel room chance, while some 'bad' ones like paying a devil beggar increase your devil room chance. However, other 'bad' actions like killing a beggar, holding a pentagram and blowing up a shopkeeper's corpse increase both your angel and devil room chance. That's right, God himself rewards you for murdering beggars. And to complicate things further, before the ''Repentance'' DLC devil rooms were almost universally considered to be the more powerful option.

** Attempting to attack the horse will result in you getting killed. You still have to [[spoiler:spook him]] to progress, though.
** Lowering the baby down the well and then leaving the screen will kill you. The game doesn't even bother with an explanation, it's just so disgusted with you that it won't let you play anymore. Throwing the baby in the lake does not have this consequence, but only because he's an amazingly skilled swimmer for his age.

* In ''[[VideoGame/MissionImpossibleKonami Mission: Impossible]]'' for the NES, if you kill a civilian in the first level, a ''helicopter flies in from nowhere'' and captures your current character, which has the same effect as killing him.

* In the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS version of ''VideoGame/LegoBatman'', once you unlock Alfred as a character, he'll usually be peaceably standing around as an NPC in the batcave. You can attack him, but once you do, he'll come after you with a [[StealthPun bat]].

** In the modern versions of the ''UsefulNotes/GameAndWatch'' game ''Chef'', you play as Princess Peach cooking meals for Yoshi. Feeding him cooked foods over time will make him grow, lay an egg, and have the egg hatch into a baby Yoshi, upon which the cycle continues. However, you can also feed Yoshi burnt foods, which will instantly reverse one step of the process (though you still get points for doing this).

** An early mission in the first ''Armored Core'' game has you being paid by a corporation to cause mass destruction in a city, with you getting bonus pay explicitly for causing more civilian casualties (one of the biggest bonuses in the level is earned from blowing up a monorail car full of people). Toward the end of the mission, the player will be confronted by Valkyrie, the [[AcePilot number two ranking AC]], who is more than likely the first AC opponent you will encounter this early in the game. She has ExclusiveEnemyEquipment with [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard cheated stats]] which will make short work out of you if you're caught unaware.

** An early mission in the first ''Armored Core'' game has you being paid by a corporation to cause mass destruction in a city, with you getting bonus pay explicitly for causing more civilian casualties (one of the biggest bonuses in the level is earned from blowing up a monorail car full of people). Toward the end of the mission, the player will be confronted by Valkyrie, the [[AcePilot number two ranking AC]], who is more than likely the first AC opponent you will encounter this early in the game. She has EnemyExclusiveEquipment which will make short work out of you if you're caught unaware.

* ''VideoGame/FearAndHungerTermina'': Murdering a contestant in the train/PRHVL Bop while some other contestants are present (who aren't currently in the party) will get you grabbed and tied up with no possibility of resisting, with you escaping only on day 3 with severe starvation and a lot of lost time. Any party members will also refuse to do anything in such a battle until they're attacked.

* While ''VideoGame/PalWorld'' ''revels'' in BlackComedy and VideoGameCrueltyPotential, you still can't do whatever the hell you want and not suffer consequences:

* This is basically the whole point of the computer game based on Creator/HarlanEllison's ''VideoGame/IHaveNoMouthAndIMustScream''. Doing the right thing is the ''only'' way to win.

** Passive [=NPCs=] will fight back if you attack them. In particular, the merchants and Palpagos Islands Defense Force soldiers will draw guns and riddle you with bullets if you attack them.

* It may have been a bug, but killing too many women in ''Soldier of Fortune'' would cause all their death sounds to start looping incessantly, [[HellIsThatNoise sounding like hell itself]].

* While ''VideoGame/PalWorld'' ''revels'' in BlackComedy and VideoGameCrueltyPotential, you still can't do whatever the hell you want and not suffer consequences.

** Certain actions, like slaughtering pals for food, assaulting passive [=NPCs=], or capturing humans with Palspheres, are considered illegal. Performing them within sight of other people will get the [[CityGuards Palpagos Islands Defense Force]] after you, and these guys ''[[IFoughtTheLawAndTheLawWon do not]]'' mess around.

* ''VideoGame/{{Terraria}}'' is usually very tolerant of your evil ways, allowing you to slice bunnies and birds in half left and right. There's even a voodoo doll that lets you kill one of the [=NPC=]s at your will! [[spoiler:Throw that voodoo doll into lava, however, and you get attacked by the massive Wall Of Flesh. It will rip newer players apart, and there is literally no escape — you ''have'' to kill it or die to escape. Even worse — ''you have to kill it at least once to advance the game''.]]

** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2'', if you go around shooting seagulls or doing sinister things in the women's bathrooms, then your CO calls you a monster, your girlfriend breaks up with you, and you can't save until you've said sorry.
** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'', the more soldiers you kill, the harder your encounter with [[spoiler:The Sorrow]] becomes.
** Likewise, if you go on a major killing spree in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'', you collapse to the ground and throw up from the gore. All while the villain's mocking voice echoes in your head.
** Killing children in ''VideoGame/MetalGear2'' reduces Snake's [[HostageSpiritLink life gauge]]. Given what most of the punishments entail when killing anyone, this is surprisingly lenient. Likewise, ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'' has, get this, ChildSoldiers gunning for you. Anything lethal used on them ends the game.
** ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' on the NES and MSX allows the character to shoot hostages. All of these [[spoiler:except TheMole]] reduce Snake's rank, which translates to lowered health and ammo capacity. This can actually make the game {{Unwinnable}}, since you need to be at top rank to gain access to certain radio contacts, who will then leave vital weapons and equipment for you to pick up. Certain hostages are also related to said contacts, and killing them breaks off their contact with you, also making the game unwinnable.