History PlayerPunch / WideOpenSandbox

*** If you go after Playboy X, it's a standard battle to get to him, but Dwayne? One guy with a baseball bat is between you and Dwayne. The punch comes when you get to Dwayne, who offers no resistance, besides making you feel like a horrible person. Then you call Playboy X, who calls you "cold", gives you the money for the job and never speaks to you again. If that wasn't enough, Dwayne was probably the only character that Niko clearly respected, and one of his few actual friends.

** ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'': Seeing the remnants of the Lost MC (including Johnny Klebitz himself) become shells of their former glory (because of their meth addiction) when they meet Trevor, but seeing [[spoiler: Trevor effortlessly kill arguagbly the most badass of the GTA IV protagonists with minimal effort by [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath curbstomping him enough to literally expose his BRAIN]] and then see Ashley devastated to shit afterwards]] is worse than just a player punch; it's a player kick in the crotch. Then comes the final mission where you must choose between [[spoiler: Franklin murdering one of the two other protagonists who are his best friends at this point just to make some corrupt government officials (Steve Haines) or rich-kids happy (Devin Weston), or killing said corrupt government officials. If you chose Ending A (kill Michael) or B (Kill Trevor)]] it's a player punch and a half, because once you do that, they will be KilledOffForReal.

* In ''VideoGame/TheGodfather: The Game'', your {{Love Interest|s}} Frances "Frankie" Malone gets abducted and murdered by Tattaglia goons, complete with a HopeSpot where Aldo briefly thinks she's made it... Nope. Okay, Tatty bitches goin' down hard.

** And then you find out that Luisa's "love" didn't even know her name? And that he turns out being a worse tyrant than the man Luisa and the rebellion were attempting to bring down? Ouch.

** Uncle's death can also count if you've played ''[=RDR2=]'' before, because by now you've probably grown to love that old goat, only to watch him get violently murdered.

* There's a moment midway through ''VideoGame/DeadRising'' that involves a side character and is therefore not plot-important, but it's unexpected, unpleasant, and potentially [[TearJerker downright depressing]] nonetheless. Said side character is Cliff, a miniboss and an obvious ShellShockedVeteran who thinks Frank is Vietcong and attacks him on sight. Upon his defeat, the player is treated to a proper death scene as usual. Of course it's not until he's dying on the floor that he comes back to his senses, gives Frank a photo of his family, and explains that he went back to the war when he saw his granddaughter get devoured by the zombies. At least you can take his WeaponOfChoice (a machete) afterwards and chop off a few heads for him, eh?
** Also, if you get the real ending by doing everything right and fully investigating the mystery, you wander out onto the helipad to see if the affable helicopter pilot Ed has returned as promised. Ed spots you from another rooftop and gets all excited that you made it and that he's going to share the rewards of your success, and in comes the cavalry, cheering and waving at you. And then a zombie that crawled into his chopper at some point pops up behind him and tears his throat out. Poor Ed...

** '''The punch is a LOT harder in''' ''[[UpdatedRerelease Off The Record]]''. [[spoiler: Chuck is re-imagined as a psychopath this time around due to losing Katey, and after beating him he takes "Katey's" (actually, a doll) now disembodied head, holding it to his chest and trying to reassure his little girl that she'd be okay, and then he wouldn't know what he'd do without her.]] Ouch.

** The beginning has plenty of these too. The Saints are gone, Dex has become an enemy and Saints Row has become gentrified to the point of being completely unrecognizable. Then comes the death of Aisha, the brutal deaths of Shogo and Jessica and watching as your character murders Julius can all hit pretty hard in a game that is largely about goofy escapist fun.

** Believe it or not, ''VideoGame/SaintsRowIV'' has an even harder punch. You've just escaped the simulation, grouped up with Kinzie and Kieth David, and are on your way back to Earth when [[spoiler: Zinyak blows the whole damn thing up. Earth is gone, and so are Oleg, Viola, and the rest of the Saints.]] On the bright side, [[spoiler: Gat is back!]]
* ''The Legend of Heroes: A Tear of Vermillion'': After a happy HopeSpot that suggests everything will go happily ever after, the main character's beloved sister (resident LivingMacGuffin) is kidnapped and the main character's childhood friend who the story has been characterizing for the past 20+ hours of gameplay is apparently dead. And then the NPC's that you met earlier ask where your friend is. Ouch. At least he gets better though.

** Want to enable the game's Hard Mode and get access to a whole bunch of cool new stuff? You have to kill the Guide - the first NPC who joined you in your new world, and who spent the entire game up to that point freely sharing advice and crafting recipes with you. [[WhatTheHellPlayer You are a terrible person]]!
** In a similar fashion, if you want to rematch Skeletron, you're gonna need to kill the Clothier. You know, the guy you freed from Skeletron's curse to live the rest of his life happily? [[SarcasmMode Hope you have a good time with that rematch.]]

** ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'': Seeing the remnants of the Lost MC (including Johnny) become shells of their former glory when they meet Trevor, but seeing [[spoiler: Trevor effortlessly kill arguagbly the most badass of the GTA IV protagonists with minimal effort by [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath curbstomping him enough to literally expose his BRAIN]] and then see Ashley devastated to shit afterwards]] is worse than just a player punch; it's a player kick in the crotch. Then comes the final mission where you must choose between [[spoiler: Franklin murdering one of the two other protagonists who are his best friends at this point just to make some corrupt government officials or rich-kids happy, or killing said corrupt government officials. If you chose Ending A (kill Michael) or B (Kill Trevor)]] it's a player punch and a half.

* In ''VideoGame/TheGodfather: The Game'', your LoveInterest Frances "Frankie" Malone gets abducted and murdered by Tattaglia goons, complete with a HopeSpot where Aldo briefly thinks she's made it... Nope. Okay, Tatty bitches goin' down hard.

* Midway through the Brotherhood campaign in ''[[SaintsRow Saint's Row 2]]'', Carlos, the guy who helped you break out of prison in the prologue gets kidnapped, and the mission consists of chasing the truck dragging him around by a chain. In the cutscene after stopping the truck, his body is so mangled that you can only [[MercyKill put him out of his misery]].

** The punches come harder in ''Saints Row the Third'': [[spoiler:Johnny Gat dies in the second story mission, and in a alternative ending also kills off Shaundi. Making the only remaining original members of the Saints left are the Boss and Pierce.]]
** Believe it or not, ''Saints Row IV'' has an even harder punch. You've just escaped the simulation, grouped up with Kinzie and Kieth David, and are on your way back to Earth when [[spoiler: Zinyak blows the whole damn thing up. Earth is gone, and so are Oleg, Viola, and the rest of the Saints.]] On the bright side, [[spoiler: Gat is back!]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Terraria}}'': want to enable the game's Hard Mode and get access to a whole bunch of cool new stuff? You have to kill the Guide - the first NPC who joined you in your new world, and who spent the entire game up to that point freely sharing advice and crafting recipes with you. [[WhatTheHellPlayer You are a terrible person]]!

* Midway through the Brotherhood campaign in ''[[SaintsRow Saint's Row 2]]'', Carlos, the guy who helped you break out of prison in the prologue gets kidnapped, and the mission consists of chasing the truck dragging him around by a chain. In the cut scene after completing the mission, you put him out of his misery.
** The beginning has plenty of these too. The Saints are gone, Dex has become an enemy and Saints Row has become gentrified to the point of being completely unrecognizable. Then comes the death of Aisha, the brutal deaths of Kenji and Jessica and watching as your character murders Julius can all hit pretty hard in a game that is largely about goofy escapist fun.

* ''VideoGame/DeadRising2'' has a punch for those who saw the survivors they were rescuing as just mini-quests. The very first survivor you have to save is your ''daughter'' and she's been bitten by a zombie, so you need to find the cure or ''your daughter will turn into a zombie''. And parents around the world have an entirely new nightmare to contend with.
** [[AllThereInTheManual Actualy, Katie was bitten awhile before the game started.]]
*** '''The punch is a LOT harder in''' ''[[UpdatedRerelease Off The Record]]''. [[spoiler: Chuck is re-imagined as a psychopath this time around due to losing Katey, and after beating him he takes "Katey's" (actually, a doll) now disembodied head, holding it to his chest and trying to reassure his little girl that she'd be okay, and then he wouldn't know what he'd do without her.]] Ouch.

*** If all the survivors in a town under siege by zombies die, the town and its save point will be LostForever.

** Believe it or not, ''Saints Row IV'' has an even harder punch. You've just escaped the simulation, grouped up with Kinzie and Kieth David, and are on your way back to Earth when [[spoiler: Zinyak blows the whole damn thing up. Earth is gone.]] On the bright side, [[spoiler: Gat is back!]]

* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'': Either Roman or Kate must die to end the main storyline. Then when you get The Lost and Damned expansion pack, you meet the biker gang that Niko has run-ins with during IV, and characters that you (as Niko) killed are the Player Punches. It's somewhat lessened with Kate, as she was introduced too late and made less sympathetic than intended.
** If you go after Playboy X, it's a standard battle to get to him, but Dwayne? One guy with a baseball bat is between you and Dwayne. The punch comes when you get to Dwayne, who offers no resistance, besides making you feel like a horrible person. Then you call Playboy X, who calls you "cold", gives you the money for the job and never speaks to you again. If that wasn't enough, Dwayne was probably the only character that Niko clearly respected, and one of his few actual friends.

* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'': Seeing the remnants of the Lost MC (including Johnny) become shells of their former glory when they meet Trevor, but seeing [[spoiler: Trevor effortlessly kill arguagbly the most badass of the GTA IV protagonists with minimal effort by [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath curbstomping him enough to literally expose his BRAIN]] and then see Ashley devastated to shit afterwards]] is worse than just a player punch; it's a player kick in the crotch. Then comes the final mission where you must choose between [[spoiler: Franklin murdering one of the two other protagonists who are his best friends at this point just to make some corrupt government officials or rich-kids happy, or killing said corrupt government officials. If you chose Ending A (kill Michael) or B (Kill Trevor)]] it's a player punch and a half.
* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCityStories'' pulls a particularly nasty one towards the end of the game. Louise, Vic's closest friend in Vice City and perhaps the closest thing to a genuine LoveInterest in the series before ''IV'', gets kidnapped by [[BigBad Jerry Martinez]], who rapes her and then brutally murders her... but not without leaving her just alive enough for her to die moments after Vic arrives to rescue her. Then, just to rub salt in the wound, Martinez proceeds to taunt Vic all the way up to the end of the game about how much he enjoyed doing it. It makes taking him down second only to [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas Frank Tenpenny]] in terms of overall satisfaction in watching a ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' villain die.

* ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'' has Luisa, a naive young girl, who [[PlayerCharacter Marston]] begins to take a liking to, rush at three armed men with a knife to save [[LoveMakesYouDumb her love]], who is being held by the men, and get shot three times, killing her instantly. This appears to smash Martson's BerserkButton.
** And then finding out that Luisa's "love" didn't even know her name? And that he turns out being a worse tyrant than the man Luisa and the rebellion were attempting to bring down? Ouch.

** Other then that, we also get to see the already CrapsackWorld be and even bigger crapsack, with recurring characters dying, or already dead characters being zombies.

** If all the survivors in a town under siege by zombies die, the town and its save point will be LostForever.

* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'' has Madd Dogg, a famous Los Santos rapper whose rhyme book you steal, murdered his guards, and murdered his manager just to make OG Loc happy. After the Grove Street Family goes to shit, OG Loc rises to fame and can be heard bragging on the radio that he is a hardcore gangster rapper (he still sucks and is still a total wuss when you confront him later). Later on, you see Madd Dogg in Las Venturas attempting to commit suicide because he is a nobody after his career went down the drain. The punch comes from that you were the one responsible for his downfall and Madd Dogg doesn't even know about it. Luckily, you can save him and bring him back to his feet, but Madd Dogg never finds out the truth.

** Actually, {{YMMV}}. Usually, this isn't a PlayerPunch at all; [[StopHelpingMe the Guide is more annoying then]] ''[[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Na]][[UpToEleven vi]]'' to most people.

** Actually, {{YMMV}}. Usually, this isn't a PlayerPunch at all; [[StopHelpingMe the Guide is more annoying then]] ''[[StopHelpingMe Navi]]'' to most people.

* ''DeadRising2'' has a punch for those who saw the survivors they were rescuing as just mini-quests. The very first survivor you have to save is your ''daughter'' and she's been bitten by a zombie, so you need to find the cure or ''your daughter will turn into a zombie''. And parents around the world have an entirely new nightmare to contend with.

** The punches come harder in ''Saints Row the Third'': [[spoiler:Johnny Gat dies in the second story mission, and the real ending also kills off Shaundi. The only remaining original members of the Saints left are the Boss and Pierce.]]

** John Marston's death itself: Watching the character you played as for so long being gunned down by the law for no reason other than protecting his own family was heart-wrenching. Anyone who doesn't admit to having felt some kind of loss in that scene has no soul. It's made slightly better in that playing as John's son, you can hunt down the man responsible for payback. What makes the punch even worse afterward is realizing that Jack is now living the very life John was trying so hard to protect him from.

* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCityStories'' pulls a particularly nasty one towards the end of the game. Louise, Vic's closest friend in Vice City and perhaps the closest thing to a genuine LoveInterest in the series before ''IV'', gets kidnapped by [[BigBad Jerry Martinez]], who rapes her and then brutally murders her... but not without leaving her just alive enough for her to die moments after Vic arrives to rescue her. Then, just to rub salt in the wound, Martinez proceeds to taunt Vic all the way up to the end of the game about how much he enjoyed doing it. It makes taking him down second only to [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas Frank Tenpenny]] in terms of overall satisfaction in watching a ''GrandTheftAuto'' villain die.

*** '''[[ItGotWorse The punch is a LOT harder in]]''' ''[[UpdatedRerelease Off The Record]]''. [[spoiler: Chuck is re-imagined as a psychopath this time around due to losing Katey, and after beating him he takes "Katey's" (actually, a doll) now disembodied head, holding it to his chest and trying to reassure his little girl that she'd be okay, and then he wouldn't know what he'd do without her.]] Ouch.

* There's a moment midway through ''DeadRising'' that involves a side character and is therefore not plot-important, but it's unexpected, unpleasant, and potentially [[TearJerker downright depressing]] nonetheless. Said side character is Cliff, a miniboss and an obvious ShellShockedVeteran who thinks Frank is Vietcong and attacks him on sight. Upon his defeat, the player is treated to a proper death scene as usual. Of course it's not until he's dying on the floor that he comes back to his senses, gives Frank a photo of his family, and explains that he went back to the war when he saw his granddaughter get devoured by the zombies. At least you can take his WeaponOfChoice (a machete) afterwards and chop off a few heads for him, eh?

* ''HellgateLondon'' attempts this with the late-game death of your MrExposition.

* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCityStories'' pulls a particularly nasty one towards the end of the game. Louise, Vic's closest friend in Vice City and perhaps the closest thing to a genuine LoveInterest in the series before ''IV'', gets kidnapped by [[BigBad Jerry]] [[CompleteMonster Martinez]], who rapes her and then brutally murders her... but not without leaving her just alive enough for her to die moments after Vic arrives to rescue her. Then, just to rub salt in the wound, Martinez proceeds to taunt Vic all the way up to the end of the game about how much he enjoyed doing it. It makes taking him down second only to [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas Frank Tenpenny]] in terms of overall satisfaction in watching a ''GrandTheftAuto'' villain die.

* ''GrandTheftAutoIV'': Either Roman or Kate must die to end the main storyline. Then when you get The Lost and Damned expansion pack, you meet the biker gang that Niko has run-ins with during IV, and characters that you (as Niko) killed are the Player Punches. It's somewhat lessened with Kate, as she was introduced too late and made less sympathetic than intended.

* ''RedDeadRedemption'' has Luisa, a naive young girl, who [[PlayerCharacter Marston]] begins to take a liking to, rush at three armed men with a knife to save [[LoveMakesYouDumb her love]], who is being held by the men, and get shot three times, killing her instantly. This appears to smash Martson's BerserkButton.