History MistreatmentInducedBetrayal / VideoGames

** [[spoiler:The Jester eventually sides with the dice because of their perseverance, as well as the fact that Lady Luck doesn't even consider them a sidekick after all the work they've done under her.]]
** [[spoiler:In the final level, nearly ''every'' enemy can do this, rebelling against Lady Luck for their own various reasons. It's also implied that the enemies you didn't fight aside (those banned from the final level) are on board as well.]]

* ''[[VideoGame/NintendoWars Advance Wars: Days of Ruin]]''.
** When you rescue Waylon from the Lazurian army, he takes off but his entire unit sticks around (which gives you access to aerial units). They only followed him because they had nowhere else to go, and are more than happy to jump ship to Brenner's Wolves when they hear Brenner isn't a complete dick.
** Cyrus. Although he is a clone, he helps the heroes thwart the plans of the Big Bad, losing his life in the process.
** Meanwhile, it's averted by Lin when she's forced to take over the unit after the loss of Captain Brenner. She's a good leader but is very coldly analytical, at one point even leaving some of their members behind who can't keep up since her priority is escaping the New Rubinelle Army. She realizes the troops and civilians under her command are either furious with her or losing hope, and thus either ready to turn on her or just give up, so she names Will the leader with herself acting as his advisor knowing he's well-liked by the unit and not willing to mistreat them.
* ''VideoGame/SaintsRow''
** Subverted in [[VideoGame/SaintsRow1 the first game]]. Warren was rather displeased with how badly the situation was faring on the criminal front and always used the opportunity to anger King with his gung ho policy of trying to kill every opposing gang member. After the Saints cracked down on several of King's bribed cops, Warren betrays King... and gets killed trying to put his policy to work.

* In ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'', nearly every member of Organization XIII eventually betrays or abandons the Organization, mostly because Xemnas simply can't stop being a BadBoss. His final moments consist of his HeelRealization as he's left with only his enemies to console him as he dies, with all of his allies either dead or driven away by his long history of abuse.
* In ''VideoGame/BrutalLegend'', after being belittled and fired by Lionwhyte for constantly losing against Eddie Riggs, the Bouncers are then recruited by Lars. Lionwhyte does attempt to make amends (promising to get them slimming t-shirts), but by then it's too late for him.
* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'', [[spoiler:Gabranth]] was loyal to [[spoiler:Vayne]] because his primary task was to [[spoiler:protect Larsa, upon orders by his Excellency Emperor Gramis, his honor as Judge Magister, and an oath to colleague Judge Drace, who was killed under orders from Vayne himself]]. But he was fiercely loyal up to the very end when [[spoiler:Larsa opposed Vayne and Vayne decided that Larsa was an enemy that had to be put down. Vayne even taunted Gabranth about his role as Larsa's guard dog]], [[TheDogBitesBack which he really shouldn't have done]].
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'' begins with Cecil and the Redwings under his command returning to the kingdom of Baron after having attacked Mysidia to seize its [[MineralMacGuffin Crystal]]. His men are concerned about the atrocities they were ordered to commit, and Cecil speaks his mind to the King of Baron: he responds by stripping him of his command and sending him off to deliver a signet ring to Mist, home of the summoners. Once he arrives, he discovers two things: he's killed an innocent girl's mother by defeating the Eidolon that was guarding the exit to the cavern leading to the village, and the seemingly innocuous ring he was tasked with delivering summons an army of Bomb monsters which destroy the village and murder its inhabitants. It's not surprising that the rest of the game concerns [[TheAtoner Cecil's quest for redemption]], fighting a losing battle against the armies of his former kingdom to stop them from seizing the Crystals.
** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'':
*** It's heavily implied that [[TykeBomb Rafa]] turned against her master because [[spoiler:he ''[[RapeAsDrama raped]] [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil her]]'' ([[AttemptedRape or at least attempted it]]). Her brother Marach would also later [[HeelFaceTurn turn against him]] when he learns of this]].
*** The reason why [[RebelLeader Wiegraf]] and the [[LaResistance Corpse Brigade]] rebel against the [[AristocratsAreEvil Duke Larg]]. After risking their lives in the [[GreatOffscreenWar Fifty Years War]] they returned with no jobs, ''[[MemeticMutation little money]]'' and of course, less loyalty to the crown.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' gives us Sephiroth, an exceptionally powerful SOLDIER who discovered that he was the product of an experiment and that he had been lied to for his entire life. He then mistakenly believes himself to be the sole survivor of an ancient race which the humans betrayed by hiding during the battle with the BigBad of that time. Needless to say, he does not take this well.
** In the ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'', it's revealed that Domino, the Mayor of Midgar, is a mole for the eco-terrorist group Avalanche because of this. When Cloud, Tifa, and Barret meet him, he makes it clear he resents being nothing more than a glorified librarian with no real power, put in charge of keeping track of Shinra's records, with an office out of sight in a hidden backroom. The main Shinra heads don't even invite him to the meetings, which is accurate since they are having a meeting around the same time the Mayor is helping the crew access the higher floors in the Shinra building.
*** The prequel, ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'', gives us his fellow high-level supersoldier [[AxCrazy Genesis]], the BigBad of the prequel game, who finds out he was genetically engineered around the time he starts getting CloneDegeneration, since Shinra canceled his program in favor of Project S, or something like that, and stuck the baby with a family that may or may not have been his original genetic donors. Fan opinion holds that he did not have a good home life.
*** Also from the prequel, [[TheBigGuy Angeal]] also counts, albeit to a less extent. [[TheHero Zack]]'s mentor who was always talking about honor, he did go rogue because of the AwfulTruth, but didn't really do any harm to either side after going AWOL. He was actually raised by his mother Gillian, the scientist who self-experimented with Jenova cells to create Project G. She appears to have been a pretty good mother, despite his degenerative condition being all her fault, but her choice to suicide where he'd find her body and (she probably didn't intend this part) be mistaken for her murderer was pretty shitty. And probably inspired Angeal to, in turn, [[SuicideByCop make his protege Zack kill him]].
* ''VideoGame/HeroKingQuestPeacemakerPrologue'': Leaders of the non-dark elf factions in the Dark Realm support Spiderweb's planned coup against Spidergland because the latter treats them as second-class citizens.
* Edgar from ''VideoGame/KingsQuest''... '''twice'''. In his first appearance in [=KQ4=], he's a homely little hunchback who the wicked fairy [[BigBad Lolotte]] introduces as her son [[spoiler: turns out later not to be the case]]. Rosella shows up and Lolotte's eager to kill her, but Edgar convinces Lolotte to send Rosella out on some {{FetchQuest}}s instead. After Rosella obtains the items, Lolotte gleefully announces that Rosella's "reward" will be to marry Edgar and locks her up. Edgar ends up slipping a single red rose under the door...with the key attached. In his second appearance, he's BrainwashedandCrazy [[spoiler: and turned into a troll]] by [[spoiler: his aunt]] Malicia. He drags his heels and stalls for time as much as he can, despite the brainwashing, allowing Rosella and Valanice to start throwing wrenches into Malicia's plan.

* Beldam in ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'' goes out of her way to belittle, berate, and degrade her sister Vivian at every opportunity; her taunts in the Japanese, Spanish, French and Italian versions even have her insulting her for being transgender and she repeatedly misgenders her by calling her "a man". She's also scapegoating Vivian constantly, as on at least two occasions Beldam blamed Vivian for losing something when previously Beldam had decided to hold onto it herself on the basis that she couldn't trust dumb ol' Vivian not to lose it. Vivian ultimately ends up siding with Mario [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe because he treated her way better than Beldam ever did]].
* In ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry2DiddysKongQuest'', it's hinted that the reason Klubba is completely neutral and will let anyone pass his toll for enough Kremkoins is that he had enough of how terribly Kap'n K. Rool treats them.
--> '''Klubba:''' Kap'n K.Rool treats us rotten. I hope yer scupper his plans!
* According to the backstory of ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong64'', K. Lumsy disliked K. Rool's plan to destroy the island where the Kongs live. In response, K. Rool imprisoned him. Conveniently enough, all of the Kongs' progress occurs as a direct result of K. Lumsy's intervention. [[BullyingADragon Way to antagonize the guy]] [[{{Kaiju}} who's about as big as the island you're trying to destroy]], K. Rool.
* ''VideoGame/MetalGear'':
** Kyle Schneider and Dr. Drago Pettrovich Madnar's reasons for defecting to Zanzibar Land in ''VideoGame/MetalGear2SolidSnake''. In regards to Kyle Schneider, he initially supported NATO/FOXHOUND in regards to taking down Outer Heaven, but after Outer Heaven was destroyed, he and his resistance were stabbed in the back so to speak when NATO commenced an air raid that completely and indiscriminately wiped out pretty much everyone left to leave no witnesses, and he himself was also captured and experimented upon at NATO for an extraterrestrial special forces project. After traveling to the Mercenary War, he ended up joining Big Boss and Outer Heaven not just due to what NATO did to him, but also because unlike NATO, Big Boss actually saved his resistance as well as the rest of his soldiers. As for Madnar, after defecting to America from the Soviet Union, even abandoning his own daughter, his treatment by the American government and the Scientific Community was... not too good to put it simply. Aside from being ridiculed for his theories about Metal Gear, he also was frequently abused by his superiors and often treated with complete contempt, especially when they only wanted him to make stuff like SDI, NEDW, and brain bombs. Eventually, he had enough and joined Zanzibar Land.
** Although not a direct result of Outer Heaven, it is implied that Gray Fox's defection to Zanzibar Land, aside from [[MyMasterRightOrWrong his obvious loyalty to Big Boss]] and [[BloodKnight his need for war]], also came from a Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal. While watching the Calgary Winter Olympics in 1988, Gray Fox (living under the paper-thin alias of Frank Hunter [his last name, Jaeger, was German for Hunter]) ended up falling in love with Gustava Heffner, an ice-skating competitor from Czechoslovakia, and they attempted to elope together, with her attempting to defect to America. Unfortunately, America rejected her request, which also made life a living hell for her and the rest of her family as she was stripped of her competition rights and she and her family were later hunted down. Suffice to say, Gray Fox was not too happy about this at all.
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' has a rather twisted double subversion: The President of the United States, James Johnson, secretly worked with the Sons of Liberty in their Big Shell takeover because he was never given any real power besides creating an illusion that the People actually voted for him under their free will, and wanted to have power similar to The Patriots who orchestrated his win. However, they presumably refused to grant him this. Unfortunately, this backfires on him when Solidus ends up keeping him alive just to reconfirm his vital signs, stating that "pawns can never become players." It is also later revealed by Ocelot that even his reasons for defecting were in fact manipulated by The Patriots, and the script even mentions this.
** Ocelot is a slight subversion. At first, it seems as though he aids Snake in stopping Volgin because he became too disgusted with his former employer to continue working with him. However, it turns out that the real reason why he's aiding Snake is [[spoiler:that was his mission given to him by the CIA, his true employers -- all along, he was ADAM, the contact Snake was supposed to work with]]. Possibly played straight in ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPortableOps Portable Ops]]'', when he executes the CIA Director in cold blood if one buys his statements about regaining what the DCI stole from them about The Boss.
** In ''Portable Ops'', Elisa defects to Naked Snake's side when she realizes that Gene is going to launch a nuke due to negotiations failing since she feels that nukes should never be used after she was exposed to radiation from the Khystym Disaster. Ursula, although she took longer, also ended up turning against Gene (it is also implied that the reason why she didn't turn sooner is that she didn't discover her boss's true intentions until after she barely survived her battle with Snake). Cunningham also intended to go through with the Pentagon's plan of defacing the CIA's reputation due to their casting him aside when he was forced to amputate his leg, and also because of disgust towards them for selling The Boss out.
** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker'', Huey Emmerich initially worked for the Peace Sentinels under the belief that he could maintain true peace under deterrence and not have to launch a nuke even once. After discovering that Coldman, the leader of the Peace Sentinels, had actually planned to launch a nuke just to show the world its power, and presumably to get a step up in negotiations with the CIA (the organization he used to run as director until they eventually became so disgusted with him they ended up [[KickedUpstairs kicking him upstairs]] to Station Chief of Central America), he ended up going against him, and his chances of defecting from him increased substantially after Coldman pushed him down the stairs. Although not as clear, Strangelove was also implied to have undergone a similar Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal. If the player managed to complete the quick-time event that cumulates in Snake swiping Strangelove's ID badge, she apparently allows Snake to keep the badge. The fact that the torture sessions afterwards do not show her with an ID badge at any point hints at Snake stealing her ID badge being canon, which means that she was actually helping Snake, the one person she hated the most due to his involvement in The Boss's death, escape and presumably take down Coldman's group.
** Big Boss ''himself''. His entire StartOfDarkness was triggered by [[spoiler:having to kill his maternal figure The Boss. It only went downhill for him from there]].
* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', this can arguably be used by the player to justify choosing to [[spoiler:destroy the Collector base rather than hand it over to Cerberus]] after the Illusive Man talks about using it to ensure the dominance of humanity, despite all his assurances during the game that Cerberus really isn't anti-alien. Also justifies [[spoiler: the crew of the ''Normandy SR-2'']] apparently all deciding to go with Shepard (in the Everyone Lives ending). They knew the Illusive Man and Cerberus considered them expendable in order to carry out the mission; [[NoOneGetsLeftBehind Shepard doesn't]].
** ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' has it happen to a Renegade Shepard who chose not to destroy the Collector Base. The Illusive Man turns on them due to [[BrainwashedAndCrazy indoctrination]]. Likewise with Miranda for the same reason. Despite sticking with Shepard, the Illusive Man still tries to kill her for no readily apparent reason, so she turns on Cerberus and helps destroy them.
*** Renegade Shepard may well find themselves on the receiving end, if Wrex is still alive and [[spoiler:they sabotage the Genophage cure. Wrex finds out and tries to kill Shepard, but retracts any krogan support before he does.]]
* [[spoiler:[[TheDragon Dusknoir]] and his Sableyes]] in ''[[VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeonExplorers Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of the Sky]].''
* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry1'': Mundus taking Trish hostage after her failure in killing Dante finally causes her to completely turn on him and start genuinely helping Dante instead.
* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedBrotherhood'' had Lucrezia Borgia betray her brother [[BrotherSisterIncest and lover]] Cesare because in a fit of rage after their father denied Cesare more money he informed her that he doesn't care about her, just the Apple because that will allow him to rule. When Ezio finds her afterwards, she willingly tells him where Cesare is going.
* ''VideoGame/MadFather'': If you're on the path to the Good Ending, Maria pulls one of these. She's right and dandy about her father, Doctor Alfred, [[spoiler:killing his wife, and whatever homeless he can get his hands on (which, at one point, included Maria herself) in the name of science. She's even alright with killing Aya]]. But when the Doctor fatally wounds her in frustration (and [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe Aya comes along to fix it]]), she promptly switches sides.
* The Dungeon Leader in ''VideoGame/SakuraDungeon'' is such a JerkAss BadBoss that main character Yomi is easily able to recruit the various {{Cute Monster Girl}}s that live in the dungeon to her side just by offering to allow them to go outside and to give them spare outfits.
* In the ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' comics, Medic betrays his new employers, the [[spoiler:Classic team]], when [[KickTheDog their leader stomps on his beloved pet dove, Archimedes]].
* 10,000 years before the events of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'', the Sheikah tribe built a huge army of {{Magitek}} machines in order to defend Hyrule from [[BigBad Calamity Ganon]]. This worked out, but the power of said machines made the other inhabitants of Hyrule fearful, and the Sheikah were banished from the kingdom lest they become a threat. While some abandoned their technology in order to be readmitted back into mainstream society, others, who came to be known as the Yiga Clan, decided to take revenge against Hyrule by swearing their allegiance to Ganon and eliminating any who opposed the Demon King.
* Fairly early on in ''VideoGame/WolfensteinIITheNewColossus'', [[BigBad Frau Engel]] brings her daughter Sigrun to an operation to try to capture [[TheHero B.J. Blazkowicz]]. But since Frau is pure {{Jerkass}}, she takes every opportunity she can to treat her daughter like absolute shit, mocking her for being a BigEater and reading her diary before giving the young woman absolute hell for the [[CovertPervert sexual fantasies]] inside of it. With [[ImpliedDeathThreat implications of sending her off to the camps.]] After trying to force Sigrun to [[spoiler: execute Caroline]] despite not having much in the way of violence in her system and then ''brutally'' mocking and slapping her for failing to meet Frau's standards, [[BigDamnHeroes Sigrun finally snaps and incidentally saves BJ in the process.]]
** Notable in that, in Wyatt's timeline at least, she fully expected to be RewardedAsATraitorDeserves and killed by the resistance afterwards. Blazkowicz, having made a friend in the late Klaus from ''VideoGame/WolfensteinTheNewOrder'' despite the man having been a former Nazi, has no second thoughts about recruiting her instead ([[DudeWheresMyRespect not that the rest of the Resistance gives her much mind]]).
* ''{{VideoGame/Warframe}}'': This seems to be the default end result of ''absolutely everything'' the [[AbusivePrecursors Orokin]] do.[[note]] And given what we've learned, and keep learning, of the Orokin, they ''completely deserved'' what they got.[[/note]]
** Their best and most brilliant minds? If their scientists fail ''once'' they're executed for it. They have a chance to plead for their lives to a panel of their leaders who act as judge, jury, and executioner, but the scientist has to both be very eloquent, and have a backup experimental program to offer as proof they're too valuable to kill. It's implied that even that's usually not enough, and the one successful example we ''do'' know of ''still'' managed to bite the Orokin in the ass.
** Their medics, capable of healing absolutely everything, including potentially old age? Hidden out of sight and regarded as "shameful" if their aid is needed for anything.
** Their cannon fodder non-clone army? "Here's an unarmored spacesuit and a flintlock, you're up against robots with disintegration beams. We don't care or expect you to survive our human-wave tactics."
** Their elite super-soldiers? Turns on them ''and destroys the ruling class'' for their abuse and the torture required to make them into said super-soldiers.
** Their cannon fodder, slightly better-equipped ''clone'' army? Turns on them and wipes out the last remnants of their empire and create a new empire, leading them into conflict with...
** Their mercantile minions? Tired of the threat of executions of whole families if they fail to meet draconian quotas, instead of moving to give aid to the shattered empire, go off on their own to found their own empire by scavenging the tech of their former overlords.
** Their terraforming drones sent to a different system? Gain sentience and try to wipe them out (and very nearly succeed), leading to the creation of said super soldiers, armies, and indirectly the Grineer and Corpus empires.
** Their method of immortality? "HarmfulToMinors" is a ''woeful understatement''. Every time the playerbase thinks they've discovered the Orokin's MoralEventHorizon, they somehow manage to ''find a new one to cross''.
* ''VideoGame/RandalsMonday'': The HorsemenOfTheApocalypse agree to help Randal return everything to normal because they're fed up with how [[spoiler:Sally]] is treating them.
* The Grunts in ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' have rebelled against the rest of the Covenant several times due to their poor treatment since they are at the bottom of the social and political hierarchy. The largest of these came about when their methane supply was poisoned by the Jackals, rendering thousands of male grunts sterile, and the Prophets did virtually nothing about it. While the ensuing insurrection was eventually suppressed it pushed the Covenant nearly to the breaking point and ultimately worked out in the Grunts' favor. As their ferocity in battle earned the respect of the Elites, who not only spared the Grunts but allowed them to serve in the military them from then on.
* In ''VideoGame/SouthParkTheFracturedButWhole'', the reason why the Chaos Minions still attack you even with Professor Chaos in the party is that he failed to pay them. They're still antagonistic toward you even if you solve Butters' financial issues (though it does allow him to hire Mexicans).
* In ''VideoGame/HenryStickminSeries'' entry "Completing the Mission", this is one of the scenarios you can bring about: [[spoiler:If you choose to have become leader of the Toppat Clan in "Infiltrating the Airship" yet leave Ellie behind in "Fleeing the Complex", then Ellie will take over the Toppat Clan, furious that you left her behind after she helped you escape.]] [[spoiler:This brings about the "Toppat Civil Warfare" ending]].
* In ''VideoGame/MafiaIII'', this can happen to the player. Should you choose not to give [[spoiler: Vito Scaletta]] enough of your territory after expanding, he will betray you and go rogue, meaning that you will have to hunt him down and kill him. In his last words, [[spoiler: Vito will remark on how everyone he worked with or for has betrayed him and how he was foolish to believe that Lincoln would be different]].
* Pretty much what kicks off the whole plot of the ''VideoGame/{{Oddworld}}'' series. Series protagonist Abe is driven to rebel against the IndustrializedEvil of the Glukkons upon learning that he and all his fellow Mudokon slaves are going to be rewarded by [[HumanResources being used as ingredients for snacks and soft drinks]]. Prior to that, [[HappinessInSlavery he had been a happy (or at least ambivalent) worker]].
** The bad endings tend to be this too. If you fail to rescue enough Mudokon's, they'll take it very personally and let you die at the hands of the enemy (or in some cases, kill you themselves).
** This happens in the Good Ending of ''Videogame/OddworldSoulstorm''. [[spoiler:Upon hearing that the other Glukkons are planning to pin the destruction of the brewery on him, Mullock gets his chauffer to bribe their security retinue into betraying them, which is helped by the fact that they've all been stiffed on bonuses. While Mullock is clearly furious about having to pay them the money they're owed as well as taking them to his island getaway, he does succeed in getting them to eliminate his rivals and ultimately fulfills his end of the bargain]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Pikuniku}}'': Two of Mr. Sunshine's robots refuse to help him after realizing that they are paid either barely or none at all.
* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilOperationRaccoonCity'': [[spoiler:[[MissionControl USS Command]] spends most of the game verbally abusing the Wolfpack and sending them on suicidally-dangerous missions to clean up Umbrella's latest mess, culminating in him leaving them for dead in a city overrun with {{Bioweapon Beast}}s after [[YouHaveFailedMe failing him]]. In response, they [[LastSecondEndingChoice can choose at the very end]] to turn on Umbrella, protect the people they were sent to kill, and then depart with the intent of bringing Umbrella down from within.]]
* [[BigBad Master Vakhushti]], also known as [[spoiler: Ray Kerensky]] in ''[[VideoGame/TraumaCenter Trauma Center: New Blood]]'' used to be a doctor that was trained in Russia and the United States and went back to his home country to treated wounded refugees. The government betrayed him by having its soldiers attempt to assassinate him, thinking he was aiding the enemy in the country's civil war. This caused Vakhushti to snap and he turned to the use of the biological weapon, Stigma, to spread destruction and chaos around the globe, thinking that all people were just like his government. [[spoiler: It also didn't help that Vakushti had a certain strain of Stigma in him to halt the progression of a disease he had (namely, the petrification of his brain) which had the side effect of delirium and it made his radical views even more extreme.]]