History ShootTheHostage / VideoGames

* ''VideoGame/Fallout4'' has a hostage situation at the end of the rather humorous Silver Shroud questline. You can solve the problem by talking, either to goad the hostage takers into attacking you or each other, by dosing up un combat drugs to kill them all before anyone can hurt your buddy -or by fatally shooting your friend, leaving the kidnappers utterly baffled.

*** During Thane's loyalty quest, his son, Kolyat, takes a turian politician hostage. If you don't use the Paragon QuickTimeEvent (which has you shoot the wall behind Kolyat as a distraction and then take him down hand-to-hand), you have two choices: shoot Kolyat (nonfatally) or shoot the hostage (fatally). Your possible justifications for the latter are that you kept Kolyat from doing it (the whole point of the quest) or that [[AssholeVictim the hostage deserved it]] (we see earlier that he has a pretty drastic anti-human bias and was threatening shopkeepers), and Shepard, being a Council Spectre, is allowed to kill him without consequence.

* Defied in ''VideoGame/SilentScope''; several missions in the arcades end with you shooting the last foe while he's holding a hostage. If you hit the hostage, you fail the mission. [[NonStandardGameOver Or the game]].
** ''VideoGame/OperationWolf'''s sequel, ''Operation Thunderbolt'', did this one too.

* ''VideoGame/SakuraWars 3'' has a slightly odd example where the "hostage" is a painting (a very thinly-veiled {{Expy}} of the Mona Lisa). [[BoxedCrook Lobelia's]] response? Use her [[PlayingWithFire pyrokinesis]] to destroy the painting, which turns out to be a forgery. When asked how she knew it was a fake? [[HowDidYouKnowIDidnt She didn't.]]

* Zoran Lazarevic, the BigBad of ''VideoGame/Uncharted2AmongThieves'', does this without hesitation, after giving an impassioned speech comparing himself to such "great men" as Hitler, Stalin, Genghis Khan, and Pol Pott, saying that "they had the will to do what other men would not."
* ''VideoGame/KaneAndLynch''. Lynch does this during one of his [[AxCrazy psychotic episodes]] and is genuinely distressed when Kane returns. It doesn't help that things go downhill from there as a result.

* The Courier is asked to do this in a side quest of ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', because the NCR troops outside Legion-captured Nelson refuse to attack as long as it would risk their comrades who are crucified in the town square. It's very possible to TakeAThirdOption by killing all the Legionaries and then letting down the hostages, which amazes the questgiver and gets you loyalty points with one of your possible companions.

* The ultimate goal of every [[PoweredArmor battlearmor]] player in ''[[Videogame/MechWarrior MechWarrior Living Legends]]'' is to [[PersonalSpaceInvader jump onto an enemy]] [[HumongousMecha battlemech]] and bait his buddies into shooting the annoying battlearmor, before dodging away and letting the shots hit the mech. Bonus points if his buddies fire [[DeathFromAbove Arrow IV missiles]], [[MacrossMissileMassacre medium-range missiles]], or a [[LightningGun particle projector cannon]] at the armor, killing the hostage mech via [[SplashDamage splash damage]].

* In ''[[VideoGame/BattleClash Metal Combat: Falcon's Revenge]]'', the FinalBoss shields its weak point with the ST used by your MissionControl. You can opt to destroy her mecha and take a huge chunk out of the boss's life meter, but in order to get the good ending, you have to keep her alive (a lot tougher than it looks, as the boss slowly regenerates health ''and'' hammers you with powerful attacks all the while, constantly leaving you on the defensive).
* ''{{VideoGame/Halo 4}}'': ''Spartan Ops'' has a variant. Covenant leader Jul 'Mdama tries to use the scientist Dr. Halsey as a shield. What he doesn't know is that Halsey has been marked for assassination, resulting his attacker shooting at them anyway. [[spoiler:Neither of them are killed, but Halsey does lose an arm thanks to her wound.]]

* During the ending of ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'', [[spoiler: Batman hallucinates what would happen if the Joker infection caused him to turn as insane as the Joker was. During this hallucination, players play as Joker, carry a shotgun, and shoot several known supervillains. Riddler takes a hostage, and players can just shoot her. Riddler becomes very confused. Remember, only the players see the Joker; the villains see Batman carrying the shotgun.]]
* In the DOS RealTimeStrategy game ''War Inc.'', kidnappers have taken a CEO of an airline hostage and made an extremely high demand. The airline considers it more profitable to disregard the safety of the CEO and simply have the kidnappers killed, while retrieving his dead body to receive insurance payments.

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'', the first plot twist, and Delita's StartOfDarkness, includes a [[LaResistance resistance]] knight using Teitra as a human shield at an abandoned fortress, mistaking her for one of the nobles. Argath, under order of Ramza's KnightTemplar brother Zalbag, shoots ''Teitra'' first, and then puts another arrow into the knight when he's frozen in disbelief. This gets Delita mad enough to want to kill him, and a ClimaxBoss battle ensues. She dies instantly, but the kidnapper actually survives, holed up in the arsenal, until after the battle where he ignites the powder stashes and blows the whole place to bits.

*** During Thane's loyalty quest, his son, Kolyat, takes a turian politician hostage. If you don't use the Paragon QuickTimeEvent (which has you shoot the wall behind Kolyat as a distraction and then take him down hand-to-hand), you have two choices: shoot Kolyat (nonfatally) or shoot the hostage (fatally). Your possible justifications for the latter are that you kept Kolyat from doing it (the whole point of the quest) or that the hostage deserved it (we see earlier that he has a pretty drastic anti-human bias and was threatening shopkeepers), and Shepard, being a Council Spectre, is allowed to kill him without consequence.

*** During Thane's loyalty quest, his son, Kolyat, takes a turian politician hostage. If you don't use the Paragon QuickTimeEvent (which has you shoot the wall behind Kolyat as a distraction and then take him down hand-to-hand), you have two choices: shoot Kolyat (nonfatally) or shoot the hostage (fatally). Your possible justifications for the latter are that you kept Kolyat from doing it (the whole point of the quest) or that the hostage deserved it - we see earlier that he has a pretty drastic anti-human bias and was threatening shopkeepers.

--->'''Kolyat:''' All of you, back off! I'll kill him!\\

** During Thane's loyalty quest in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', his son, Kolyat, takes a turian politician hostage. If you don't use the Paragon QuickTimeEvent, you have two choices: shoot Kolyat (nonfatally) or shoot the hostage (fatally). Your possible justifications for the latter are that you kept Kolyat from doing it (the whole point of the quest) or that the hostage deserved it - we see earlier that he has a pretty drastic anti-human bias and was threatening shopkeepers.
--->'''Kolyat:''' All of you, back off! I'll kill him!
--->'''Shepard:''' No, you won't. ''(kills the hostage)''
--->'''Kolyat:''' OhMyGods...
--->'''Shepard:''' [[BondOneLiner Hostages only work when your enemy cares if they live.]]

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'', the first plot twist, and Delita's StartOfDarkness, includes a [[LaResistance resistance]] knight using kidnapped "noble" (shows what he knows!) Teitra as a human shield at an abandoned fortress. Argath, under order of Ramza's KnightTemplar brother Zalbag, shoots ''Teitra'' first, and then puts another arrow into the knight when he's frozen in disbelief. This gets Delita mad enough to want to kill him, and a ClimaxBoss battle ensues. She dies instantly, but the kidnapper actually survives, holed up in the arsenal, until after the battle where he ignites the powder stashes and blows the whole place to bits.
** This is actually [[{{Foreshadowing}} telegraphed beforehand]], as Argath openly states his displeasure for anyone not of "[[BlueBlood noble blood]] right before Ramza kicks him off the team.
* Defied in ''VideoGame/SilentScope''; several missions in the arcades end with you shooting the last foe while he's holding a hostage. If you hit the hostage, you fail the mission. Or the game.

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'', the first plot twist, and Delita's StartOfDarkness, includes a [[LaResistance resistance]] knight using kidnapped "noble" (shows what he knows!) Teta as a human shield at an abandoned fortress. Algus, under order of Ramza's KnightTemplar brother Zalbag, shoots ''Teta'' first, and then puts another arrow into the knight when he's frozen in disbelief. This gets Delita mad enough to want to kill him, and a ClimaxBoss battle ensues. She dies instantly, but the kidnapper actually survives, holed up in the arsenal, until after the battle where he ignites the powder stashes and blows the whole place to bits.
** This is actually [[{{Foreshadowing}} telegraphed beforehand]], as Algus openly states his displeasure for [[{{Muggles}} anyone not of noble blood]] right before Ramza kicks him off the team.

* ''Goldeneye 64''. A valid way of solving the hostage situation on the train level. Shoot Natalya in the leg and she lurches forward and down in pain, leaving the general open to a lead surprise.

* ''{{VideoGame/Halo 4}}'': Spartan Ops has a variant. Covenant leader Jul 'Mdama tries to use the scientist Dr. Halsey as a shield. What he doesn't know is that Halsey has been marked for assassination, resulting his attacker shooting at them anyway. [[spoiler:Neither of them are killed, but Halsey does lose an arm thanks to her wound.]]

* During the ending of ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight, [[spoiler: Batman hallucinates what would happen if the Joker infection caused him to turn as insane as the Joker was. During this hallucination, players play as Joker, carry a shotgun, and shoot several known supervillains. Riddler takes a hostage, and players can just shoot her. Riddler becomes very confused. Remember, only the players see the Joker; the villains see Batman carrying the shotgun.]]

-->'''Kolyat:''' All of you, back off! I'll kill him!
-->'''Shepard:''' No, you won't. ''(kills the hostage)''
-->'''Kolyat:''' OhMyGods...
-->'''Shepard:''' [[BondOneLiner Hostages only work when your enemy cares if they live.]]

* ''SakuraTaisen III'' has a slightly odd example where the "hostage" is a painting (a very thinly-veiled {{Expy}} of the Mona Lisa). [[BoxedCrook Lobelia's]] response? Use her [[PlayingWithFire pyrokinesis]] to destroy the painting, which turns out to be a forgery. When asked how she knew it was a fake? [[HowDidYouKnowIDidnt She didn't.]]
* During Thane's loyalty quest in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', his son, Kolyat, takes a turian politician hostage. If you don't use the Paragon QuickTimeEvent, you have two choices: shoot Kolyat (nonfatally) or shoot the hostage (fatally). Your possible justifications for the latter are that you kept Kolyat from doing it (the whole point of the quest) or that the hostage deserved it - we see earlier that he has a pretty drastic anti-human bias and was threatening shopkeepers.

** The DLC mission ''Lair of the Shadow Broker'' has a moment when an enemy takes a hostage and makes her talk, making her confess that she has a son, she wants to live and see him again, she doesn't want to die. If you don't have a sufficient Paragon or Renegade score to talk your way out of it (in either of those paths, you can [[BadassBoast list off some of your more terrifying achievements]] and ask if the enemy ''really'' thinks you can't kill one innocent for the greater good), you can still choose to shoot the woman nonfatally.
* ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' does it again when you confront [[spoiler:Miranda's father]], who's holding [[spoiler:her sister Oriana]] hostage. If you can't / don't use the Charm / Intimidate options (different ways of saying "You let her go, you walk"), you get a Renegade Interrupt to shoot his hostage in the leg, giving you or [[spoiler:Miranda]] the chance to finish him off.

* ''KaneAndLynch''. Lynch does this during one of his [[AxCrazy psychotic episodes]] and is genuinely distressed when Kane returns. It doesn't help that things go downhill from there as a result.
* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'': Psycho Mantis holds Meryl hostage by forcing her to hold a gun to her own head. One of the ways to stop her from committing suicide would be to throw a stun grenade, knocking her cold. Another way to prevent this is to ''punch Meryl to the point of unconsciousness''. In Twin Snakes, the remake, you can also shoot her with the tranquilizer gun.
** The situation repeats itself in 4, this time with Screaming Mantis and Meryl (Again).
** Then there is the variation with Raiden in 4 where Vamp grabs him from behind and he uses his sword to stab himself and nail Vamp through his own gut.
* In ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'', a MadScientist is holding a young boy at gunpoint while gassing a bunch of kids to death. The boy tells Raiden to [[KillUsBoth kill them both]] and Raiden, in a moment of [[AxCrazy ax craziness]], complies and ''cleaves both of them in half.'' The boy survives and gets a cybernetic shoulder and arm, but still...
** The game also features an unintentional example: Hostages are immune to all of Raiden's attacks, so the easiest way to rescue them is by launching grenades directly at them to kill the hostage-takers.

* Can be done optionally in the ''ModernWarfare 3'' mission "Stronghold"; one of Makarov's men grabs a Czech POW and tries to take him hostage, but there's absolutely no penalty if Yuri (the player) decides to simply shoot through the prisoner to kill the thug. Captain Price even quips, "He never would have made it anyway...".

* Zoran Lazarevic, the BigBad of ''{{Uncharted}} 2: Among Thieves'', does this without hesitation, after giving an impassioned speech comparing himself to such "great men" as Hitler, Stalin, Genghis Khan, and Pol Pott, saying that "they had the will to do what other men would not."

** Alternatively, you could just side-step enough so that she isn't in your way. The hostage-take doesn't react in the slightest.

* During Thane's loyalty quest in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', his son, Kolyat, takes a turian politician hostage. If don't use the Paragon QuickTimeEvent, you have two choices: shoot Kolyat (nonfatally) or shoot the hostage (fatally). Your possible justifications for the latter are that you kept Kolyat from doing it (the whole point of the quest) or that the hostage deserved it - we see earlier that he has a pretty drastic anti-human bias and was threatening shopkeepers.

** The DLC mission ''Lair of the Shadow Broker'' has a moment when an enemy takes a hostage and makes her talk, making her confess that she has a son, she wants to live and see him again, she doesn't want to die. If you don't have a sufficient Paragon or Renegade score to talk your way out of it (in either of those paths, you can [[BadassBoast list off some of your more terrifying achievements]] and ask if the enemy ''really'' thinks you can't kill one innocent for the greater good) you can still choose to shoot the woman nonfatally.
* ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' does it again when you confront [[spoiler: Miranda's father]], who's holding [[spoiler: her sister Oriana]] hostage. If you can't / don't use the Charm / Intimidate options (different ways of saying "You let her go, you walk"), you get a Renegade Interrupt to shoot his hostage in the leg, giving you or [[spoiler: Miranda]] the chance to finish him off.
* Zoran Lazarevic, the BigBad of ''{{Uncharted}} 2: Among Thieves'' does this without hesitation, after giving an impassioned speech comparing himself to such "great men" as Hitler, Stalin, Genghis Khan and Pol Pott, saying that "they had the will to do what other men would not."

* In ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'' a MadScientist is holding a young boy at gunpoint while gassing a bunch of kids to death. The boy tells Raiden to [[KillUsBoth kill them both]] and Raiden, in a moment of [[AxCrazy ax craziness]], complies and ''cleaves both of them in half.'' The boy survives and gets a cybernetic shoulder and arm, but still...

* Several missions in the ''VideoGame/SilentScope'' arcades end with you shooting the last foe while he's holding a hostage. If you hit the hostage, you fail the mission. Or the game.