History Main / VideoGameCrueltyPunishment

* ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime3'' has soldiers and maintenance workers in the first area that you cannot harm, but if you keep shooting them, a turret appears and the ship's AI warns you to cease fire. Shooting more or shooting the turret will cause it to fire at you. Wreck it, and a stronger one appears. Wreck that one and an even stronger one appears that will instantly kill you, can't be destroyed, and you can't dodge its attack.

* ''VideoGame/ShinSuperRobotWars'': It is possible to kill [[Anime/VoltesV Jangyal]] in Scenario 19 of the Earth Route, who is worth a lot of money and [[WhatTheHellHero earns the burning enmity of Heinel]]. But this is not advisable if you want to recruit Heinel later, so...

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* In the story mode of ''VideoGame/BushidoBlade'', you must make sure to follow the code of Bushido when fighting your enemies. If you [[TalkToTheFist kill them during their pre-battle speech]], throw [[AHandfulforAnEye sand in their eyes]], attack them InTheBack, or otherwise breach the code, your playthrough will be brutally cut short by a random message berating you for it, before the game boots you back to the title screen.

* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'':
** Cuccos show up in ''Super Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS''. If you hit one, you'll get mobbed. If you pick it up and throw it at somebody, ''they'll'' get mobbed. If a Cucco gets harmed by a stage hazard, '''''everybody'' gets mobbed'''.
** In one level based on the ''Game and Watch'' game ''Oil Panic'', attacking the customers will result in the player taking damage.
* Cuccos appeared long before that in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashFlash 2''. You can pick one up and use it as recovery, throw it at opponents, or you can attack it. Guess what happens when you attack it long enough.

* In ''VideoGame/RaidenFighters'', you can uncover fairies that, when collected, yield 100,000 points each. You can also shoot them, and if you shoot a fairy enough, she ''will'' die, resulting in a [[WhatTheHellPlayer "KILLED THE FAIRY!" message]] and a mere 10-point bonus; that's 99,990 points lost. It's very easy to do by accident.

* In most ''VideoGame/EscapeVelocity'' games, boarding and capturing enemy and civilian ships is a good way to earn extra cash or get escorts. Do that in the ''VideoGame/StarfleetAdventures'' mod, and you'll be court-martialed and thrown out of Starfleet.
* This trope is the main idea behind [[http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/616552 a short flash game called "Consequences"]] — the more enemies you kill in the first half of the game, the harder it will be to complete the second one.
* ''VideoGame/BankPanic'':
** Shooting a bank customer cost you a life despite the entertaining aftermath.
** Shooting a bank robber before he has the chance to draw results in an "unfair" kill. You get less points but are otherwise not punished.

* Shooting innocent cars in ''VideoGame/SpyHunter'' costs you points (specifically, it blocks you from scoring for a period of time, and under normal circumstances, merely driving increases the score). In the 3D games, you fail the mission if you kill too many.

* In ''VideoGame/PoliceQuest 4'', you can decide to use your gun on innocent civilians. The first time you do, the narrator simply chews you out and demands you put the gun away. Insist once or twice (depending on the person), and your character actually does shoot them (albeit only the shot is heard), causing the game to end in failure on the spot.

* ''VideoGame/NancyDrew: Danger on Deception Island''
** It's possible to give Nancy and Katie food poisoning. You can make Nancy a sandwich that turns out to be the most volatile sandwich ever created (such as putting jellyfish, baking soda, Koko Kringles ice cream, mayonnaise, tomatoes, and peanut butter on a sandwich) or have her give it to Katie. However, this gives you a game over. It's actually the mayonnaise that's the bad thing, since it expired in 1994 (for context, the game is presumably set in 2003). BLEGH.
** For that matter, doing cruel things in the games (especially to Nancy) almost ''always'' gives you a game over. This is inverted in ''Danger by Design'', where you can get someone fired but are merely given a BittersweetEnding, and in ''Legend of the Crystal Skull'', where you are ''[[CrueltyIsTheOnlyOption required]]'' to do some rather mean things to a poor shopkeeper in order to complete the game.

* ''VideoGame/ReturnToZork'' has The Guardian. If you kill someone you're not supposed to kill, or take something that doesn't belong to you without permission, he takes (almost) all of your items, which is a [[{{Unwinnable}} pretty good incentive to play nice]].[[note]]Although [[LoopholeAbuse you can get past this]]. Kill someone you don't need to anymore and watch as they make a very overly-dramatic death animation. Drop all your items down, and the guardian will take away your ''nothing''. Then you can pick up your items, drop them, then go on a killing spree.[[/note]]

* Attempt too viciously to get into Katrina Gibson's pants in ''VisualNovel/{{Snatcher}}'' and she will throw you out.
* In ''VideoGame/LittleBigAdventure 2'', you are able to go into the kindergarten and attack small children. However, the moment you leave, their older brothers will be waiting outside to take turns in beating you up.
* ''[[Literature/GreenSkyTrilogy Below the Root]]'' takes place on a planet where the society is ''very'' strictly pacifist, and so orderly that KleptomaniacHero is utterly averted as no one thinks of just walking in and swiping another person's stuff without permission. At some point, you can potentially get a sword-like object, the wand-of-Befal, from a rebel group called the Nekom. If you use it for any purpose other than hacking down plants (i.e., killing people or animals), you lose spirit points permanently. Spirit points give you various magical powers as you get more of them, and it's possible to make the game {{unwinnable}} if you lose enough of them.

* In ''VideoGame/DejaVu1985'', shooting any person besides one specific NPC results in either [[NonStandardGameOver the cops hauling you off]] or your intended victim being faster on the draw.
** In the first game, you can kill people with the syringe, and get away with it… until the police catch up with you. Since you have to speak to the police to win the game, killing any innocent makes the game {{unwinnable}}.
* Stealing Weird Ed's hamster in ''VideoGame/ManiacMansion'' is required to complete the game. Giving it back is optional. Also optional is [[MicrowaveTheDog exploding it in the microwave]]. If you give it back to him at that point, he will ''kill you''. This is highly likely to render the game {{unwinnable}}; if you had required items in that kid's inventory, you won't get them back.
* In ''VideoGame/HeroinesQuest'', you can follow the standard adventure game logic of taking anything that's not nailed down. If you take the ''wrong'' item, however, you will find that most of the human characters, who before may have been praising you for your heroics, now consider you a despicable person and refuse to talk to you, demanding that you leave. If you make the (not very difficult) leap of logic that the item you picked up is causing this, you might think to restore a save game from before you grabbed it. Then the game specifically states ''that the item jumped across save games to follow you''.
* In ''VideoGame/ThyDungeonman 3'', attempting to kill a plot-important bird causes the bird to peck you to death.
* ''VideoGame/ConquestsOfTheLongbow'' concludes with a CharacterWitness trial. You ''will'' [[WhatTheHellHero get chewed out]] if you decided to be cruel to the witness in question. If you do really poorly, King Richard will even find you guilty and hang you anyway.
* Early on in ''VideoGame/CodenameICEMAN'', you need to save a drowning girl on a beach. If you decide to just walk away instead, the game ends on the spot before letting you move to another screen.

* ''VideoGame/BorrowedTime'': Killing people you're not supposed to, like the window cleaner, results in you going to jail and a game over.
* ''VideoGame/{{Unavowed}}'': On multiple occasions, you have the option to kill supernatural creatures, or allow them to live. (You get achievements for every choice, so you're encouraged to experiment.) [[spoiler:In the endgame, you have to pass several obstacles, and you can summon the aforementioned creatures to get them to help with specific ones. If you chose to kill any of them? Better hope you can find an alternative solution. Thankfully, it doesn't render the game unwinnable at any point.]]

** While you're in your nuclear bunker, sometime a group will arrive asking for aid and you can give them food, water, medical supplies, or any combination of the three. Give them nothing? [[https://youtu.be/smWcR6Rk3Zo?t=13m40s There's the high chance that they steal all your stuff,]] as LetsPlay/JackSepticEye learned the hard way.

* Mostly played straight in ''VideoGame/RollerCoasterTycoon'':
** Your [[KarmaMeter park rating]] will obviously plummet if one of your rollercoasters crashes. However, [[NeverSayDie getting rid of]] unhappy guests with the use of water can cause your park rating to go ''up''.[[note]]It is, however, possible to exploit this. Build a roller coaster that launches its cars into a neighboring park and ''their'' park rating will go down.[[/note]]

* In ''Literature/SwordArtOnline'', with the majority of the action being set in [=VRMMORPGs=], this is evident in how the systems treat "orange" players, who are players that commit crimes in-game (such as stealing from, harming, or killing other players outside of duels). Said players are forbidden from entering Safe Zones without being attacked by NPC guards (and in [[TheMostDangerousVideoGame SAO]] in particular, often by other players who tend to assume (not without reason) you engage in PlayerKilling in a world where dying in-game means dying in real life) until you leave the area. In the video game continuity of ''Hollow Realization'', getting a "blue" cursor from attacking or killing an NPC directly in ''Sword Art: Origin'' gives you all the disadvantages of being an orange player on top of being attacked on sight by any nearby monsters or [=NPCs=] in the area (even otherwise neutral or friendly ones).

** ''VideoGame/Fallout4'' forgoes a karma meter in exchange for companion affinity. Doing things in a companion's presence that they dislike will cause their affinity to drop. If it's low enough, they'll threaten to leave for good, necessitating a very difficult speech check to keep them around (and that only works once: continue to piss them off, and they'll bail on you). For most companions, the things that drive down affinity are understandable: stealing, killing indiscriminately, and acting like a jerk. Some companions zigzag this, however: Strong, a [[TokenHeroicOrc super mutant]], ''loves'' when you commit wanton murder or cannibalism, but dislikes shows of intelligence. Cait likes it when you act like an ass and take drugs ([[EatingTheEyeCandy and go naked]]), but holds acts of charity in disdain. [=McCready=], similarly, isn't fond of being nice, unless you're being nice to children. In addition, Danse, a Brotherhood of Steel Paladin, approves of acts of kindness to others, [[FantasticRacism unless they're ghouls, super mutants, or synths]].

** Likewise, while letting tigers or ''T. rex''es out of their cages to chase guests in ''VideoGame/ZooTycoon'' can be amusing, it'll also deep-six your zoo's rating.

** Cuccos show up in ''Super Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS''. If you hit one, you'll get mobbed. If you pick it up and throw it at somebody, ''they'll'' [[HilarityEnsues get mobbed]]. If a Cucco gets harmed by a stage hazard, '''''everybody'' gets mobbed'''.

** ''VideoGame/BaldursGateIII'' allows more freedom for evil acts, but not completely scot-free. If playing as a Paladin, going with the evil option in major quests such as siding with the goblin horde in Act I can lock you into the Oathbreaker subclass. Although with the advantages it offers, it could be seen as CursedWithAwesome.

* ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'': Think very carefully before accepting the deal from "[[EldritchAbomination The End of the Cycle]]". You may get a significant power boost to your empire, but [[PowerAtAPrice at a steep cost]]: [[spoiler:After a specified amount of time has passed, your entire empire, save for one tiny colony, will be taken over and converted into an undead army hell-bent on destroying the galaxy. Even on the off chance that this army of the damned is routed and the galaxy is saved, your sole remaining colony will be slapped with a diplomacy penalty so steep that the remaining civilizations of the galaxy will likely hunt it down next.]]
* In the third Orc mission of ''VideoGame/WarCraft'' 3, attacking Grom Hellscream's town will cause him to turn hostile. Considering what Grom is doing in the story at this point, it might not count as videogame cruelty, but regardless, attacking an ally turns him into an enemy.

* ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'':

** ''Baldur's Gate'' and its sequel are ''deeply'' unfriendly to evil characters. If you take the 'evil' option in a given quest, expect to receive a smaller reward or no reward at all. If you allow your reputation to fall into the ranges where your evil-aligned companions start complimenting you, expect prices to shoot through the roof and (at extremes) your good-aligned companions to abandon you. All of this is in addition to the above-mentioned swarms of infinitely respawning guards when you let your reputation fall too low. And to add to the injury, you only have four evil-aligned characters (one only appears in the expansion), so get used to a non-full party, or squeeze in some TokenGoodTeammate who is at best ChaoticNeutral.

* In the NES game ''VideoGame/{{Nightshade}}'', you are a {{superhero}}. You gain reputation for defeating {{mook}}s, and the more reputation you have, the more people will help you. Very high reputation yields such rewards as a healing booth (which you ''[[NintendoHard will]]'' need). Attacking someone defenseless, however, causes your reputation to take a nosedive.

** Early in the game you meet a dog whimpering with its leg caught in a bear trap, and your options are to free it, leave it to its fate, or kill it. If you free it, it shows up to help you fight [[ThatOneBoss El Gigante]], and is basically instrumental in you being able to defeat it with Leon's limited load-out and low health at that point in the game. If you don't, well, good luck with that fight. The dog returns in the [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil4Remake 2023 remake]] where it will also distract the boss during the remade El Gigante fight, and the player has a similar choice to free it or otherwise.
** Unlike the fish you find in a couple other places which can be killed, carried as an item, and used to replenish health, killing the fish in the lake is entirely pointless as you can't reach them to collect them. If you do it anyways though, Del Lago leaps out of the water and [[OneHitKill kills you instantly]]. This same NonStandardGameOver was also carried over to the [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil4Remake remake]]. Downplayed, since once Del Lago has been killed, you're free to hop back in the boat and use its infinite supply of harpoons to spear and collect the fish as an impromptu FishingMinigame.

** Unlike the fish you find in a couple other places which can be killed, carried as an item, and used to replenish health, killing the fish in the lake is entirely pointless as you can't reach them to collect them. If you do it anyways though, Del Lago leaps out of the water and [[OneHitKill kills you instantly]]. This same NonStandardGameOver was also carried over to the [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil4Remake remake]].

* Use one nuke in the ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'' series, and your popularity drops to [[AcceptableTargets President Herbert Hoover lows]]. Use a ''lot'' of nukes, and the global environment can collapse!
** Even without nukes, being a warlord has consequences. Engaging in conquest, even early on, will likely make trading and diplomacy pointless for the rest of the game because no one will give you a reasonable deal, not to mention you'll be rendered an [[AcceptableTargets acceptable target]] for other civs to attack with minimal diplomatic penalties. Earning a reputation as a warmonger basically rules out any course of action other than world conquest, as you'll be under attack frequently and unable to gain anything without force anyway. At the most extreme, you'll be declared a threat to global stability by the likes of Genghis Khan and Attila the Hun.

** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'':

** In one level based on the ''Game and Watch'' game ''Oil Panic'', attacking the costumers will result in the player taking damage.

* Ubiquitous in ''VideoGame/UltimaIV'', a RPG and possibly the video game with the most ethical depth yet (released in 1985 — sigh). The series is between [[BigBad Big Bads]], and the point of the game is to develop the main character into a beacon of virtue for the people. Breaking into people's houses and taking their stuff actively distances the player from completing the game. Interestingly, this goes beyond simple cruelty to also boasting of one's accomplishments (breaking Humility), not being the last to flee a battle (breaking Valor), etc.

* In ''VideoGame/Wasteland2'', doing things like killing off entire towns gets you kicked out of the Desert Rangers, preventing you from progressing any further in the game, and results in a hit squad being sent after you.

* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'':

* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}'':

** The game actually tries to induce VideoGameCrueltyPotential with Nanako, your [[TheCutie adorable]] cousin, with her "I love you, Big Bro!" {{Squee}}! Then of course, she is [[spoiler:kidnapped by Namatame and taken into the TV world. After you rescue her, she apparently dies]]. The punishment comes from the fact that even though you really, [[KickTheSonOfABitch REALLY want to]], [[spoiler:pushing Namatame into the TV (or failing to convince your teammates that there's something you're missing) nets you the bad ending. And a KickTheDog, since he's not really the culprit]].