History UnwinnableByDesign / Sierra

** On the second day, you're supposed to get a slipper from Marian, who's under attack by a Fens Monk. You can either kill the attacker, at which point she'll give you the slipper as a reward, or let her die and then take the slipper from her corpse. If she died, then you'll die the next day when you go to deliver the slipper.

** There is a large button on the wall, but no sign telling you what it does. Upon pressing it, you discover that it was an Inorganic Vaporizer Ray, and are informed that your inventory is now gone.

* In ''VideoGame/LeisureSuitLarry 6'', Larry can die just like characters in older Sierra games, including the first three ''Larry'' games, but the player is given the option to "Try Again" which resets Larry to exactly where he was just before the player did whatever caused Larry's death.

* '''Polite''': You only need one save game, but if you do something fatally wrong, you won't be given a chance to overwrite it.

** Destroying the spitting plants or attacking the white stag will result in the Dryad punishing you with a game-ending BalefulPolymorph, and it can theoretically be a long time between the two events.

* VideoGame/''OmikronTheNomadSoul''--on top of already being punishingly and unfairly difficult in general--manages to go a step beyond Cruel by being Cruel ''about the game saves themselves''. The game limits how often you can save by using a consumable resource, "magic rings", that function similarly to ''Resident Evil'''s ink ribbons. However, there's also a handy Advice option in your menu that can provide you with hints on what to do next. Using it costs ''five'' rings, the equivalent of five saves. The game does not tell you this. Even when you get the hint, there will be no visual indication that you are now five rings poorer. You may go ''hours'' without realizing how badly you're screwing yourself over, overwriting your one save slot several times in the process.

[[folder: Merciful examples]]

*** In order to get the second offer you have to refuse his first offer, leave (probably be going to the cantina), and then come back. If you forget to take the key out of your hovercraft after you park it he steals your hovercraft when you enter the bar, making it impossible to continue.

** Also on Kerona, forgetting the Star Generator self-destruct code, as well as the data cartridge, in the updated version will make the game unwinnable. (If you forgot the code but still have the cartridge, you can check again once on the Deltaur. If you have the code but forgot the cartridge, you will win but with a DownerEnding.) But if you have neither one after leaving Kerona, you will get stuck.

It should be emphasized that this applies to the whole game, and not just a narrow aspect of it. E.g. if part is Cruel but it's Merciful otherwise, the game is Cruel.
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* ''VideoGame/{{Space Quest III|ThePiratesOfPestulon}}'', despite being a BreatherEpisode, has two moments at the Monolith Burger with no indication. If you buy any item besides the kid's meal, you don't get the decoder ring, and can't decode the message in ''Astro Chicken'' and can't advance the plot. The only indication to buy that is the price, $7, and finding $7 in the seat of the Aluminum Mallard at the start. You're also supposed to play ''Astro Chicken'' ten times, which will give a secret message, but there's no indication you're supposed to do this.

* The easiest way to make ''VideoGame/LeisureSuitLarry1InTheLandOfTHeLoungeLizards'' unwinnable is simply by running out of cash and being anywhere but right next to the casino, so you can't pay for cab fare and are basically stuck.

* The easiest way to make ''VideoGame/LeisureSuitLarry'' unwinnable is simply by running out of cash and being anywhere but right next to the casino, so you can't pay for cab fare and are basically stuck.

** Even worse than that, if you forget to visit the cocktail lounge and pick up the magic marker off of the sign board after you switch to playing Patti, which the game never even suggests you might need, you're doomed to die at the end of the game, as it's required to escape a trap.

** Alexander is thrown into a labyrinth and has to find his way out again. This requires certain inventory items, and it's possible to enter the labyrinth without them. If you do, then you can never escape. Better yet, there's no indication of ''which'' items you need until you've already entered the maze; anybody who didn't use a guide was banking on pure luck to avoid a restart there. The game ''is'' a bit merciful in this regard, because if you don't have the required items when this particular point arrives, then you'll be given time "to prepare", at which point you head back, hopeful that you have everything. If you have everything you need, then you'll simply be taken directly to the labyrinth. But you only get ''one'' chance to prepare, and you are never told what preparations you need.

* ''Space Quest IV'': Unwinnable scenarios return with a vengeance.

* ''VideoGame/LeisureSuitLarry Goes Looking for Love (in Several Wrong Places)'', aka ''Leisure Suit Larry 2'', is the cruelest of the franchise. The entire game is strictly linear from start to finish, with several chokepoints where it's impossible to go back to a previous area. As an example: Larry starts the game in L.A., and later moves on to a cruise boat, where he has to escape to a lifeboat before nightfall. To survive the journey on the lifeboat, he needs to have, among other things, a [[GiganticGulp giant soft drink]] that can only be purchased in L.A. The game needs to be started over if he didn't get one way back when.[[note]]To make it worse, you get a one million dollar bill during a certain part of the game. If you go to the convenience store to get the big gulp with the million dollar bill, you will fill it up and stuff it in Hammerspace, but the clerk will tell you that she can't break a one-million dollar bill. You ''do not'' have the option of putting the drink back, and any attempt to leave the store will count as shoplifting, resulting in a game over.[[/note]] The worst, however, is that there are two items that Larry can pick up on the cruise ship (one of them being a bowl of spinach dip) that count towards HundredPercentCompletion but must be discarded in the few seconds of interactivity you have before your lifeboat goes adrift, which many players might not even realize exist. (Larry will eat the spinach dip automatically and die of salmonella). And this whole process needs to be repeated several times during the game's ''other'' chokepoints.
* ''VideoGame/LeisureSuitLarry 3'' is not as ridiculous as the second, but there is a particularly difficult point of no return. Over halfway into the game, you'll get to play as Passionate Patti; forgetting even an insignificant piece of attire once you leave her room makes the game unwinnable. (Women have more clothing than you think.)

* ''VideoGame/LeisureSuitLarry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards'' is just as easy to mess up in as its sequels, but the penalties aren't as strict and the unwinnable situations are a little easier to see coming. The most obvious one is having Larry do the deed with a prostitute. Doing this won't render the game unwinnable as Larry simply decides that he needs a woman that would make him feel more fulfilled. However, if Larry forgets to wear a condom during this, then he gets a sexually-transmitted disease which wreaks havoc on his [[UnusualEuphemism little Larry]] not a minute later. Time to reload!

* ''VideoGame/TheBlackCauldron'' is a little more merciful than other Sierra titles, especially from that era. For instance if you try filling your water bottle from the river near the Horned King's castle it'll be pulled out of your hands, but you can actually follow the river downstream to get it back. If you get captured while carrying the magic sword, though, it's possible to get all your other stuff back but the sword's gone forever. Sorry.

** Similarly, you can also mess up the ChainOfDeals elsewhere in Serenia (e.g. using the golden heart as currency instead of giving it to the weeping willow) and the game will become unwinnable as a result. The game does make the trades and deals fairly logical, though (what else will you do with a golden needle besides give it to the tailor?).

* ''VideoGame/LeisureSuitLarry Goes Looking for Love (in Several Wrong Places)'' has some situations where incorrectly using an item will make the game unwinnable. Examples include scratching your lottery ticket and invalidating it; using the hair rejuvenator in the wrong places (or your head); or misusing the parachute. You do lose points doing these, though, indicating you did something wrong.