History VideoGame / HardTime

* AerithAndBob: Plenty of it, too. You've got names as normal as Grant Clark and Matt Pearce, then you've got larger than life prison nicknames like Wideboy, Fairytale, and Big Pussy.

* ArtificialStupidity: Just like ''VideoGame/TheYouTestament'', characters can go from being friendly to stomping a mudhole in your ass. However, the game justifies this as everyone's hardened criminals. This does not explain why the wardens are just as prone to randomly breaking into fights with each-other.

* DarthWiki/IdiotProgramming:
** As [[http://lparchive.org/The-You-Testament-2/Update%2012/ Daeren's Let's Play]] discovered, [[http://lparchive.org/The-You-Testament-2/Update%2016/16-capture_31032010_133044.jpg it's possible for someone to offer to]] [[LogicBomb protect you from yourself]].
** Similarly, an inmate may demand you to stop being friends with himself, and then call you a traitor if you comply.
** The game also crashes itself to close.

* AxCrazy: Due to the game's unpredictable AI, the inmates and guards have a tendency to break out into all-out brawls. They're also A-OK with trying to murder you simply for not handing over an item or refusing to give up your seat. Then the prisoners in particular have a chance of telling you to "stop hanging out with that asshole", with that asshole being 'themself', and will be angry no matter if you decide to cut them out of your life or not. To make a long story short, the residents of Southtown have more than a few screws loose.

* SurprisinglySuddenDeath: Probably not on purpose. For a reason that can surely only be explained by "It's an MDickie game", the 3D version has a bizarre occurrence where sometimes when lockdown ends (which may be related to not sleeping long enough during that time) everyone in the area except for the player character will just suddenly drop. With the game's death saves they might get back up, but they also might not and oftentimes the cause of death will be attributed to someone at seemingly random.

* SurprisinglySuddenDeath: Probably not on purpose. For a reason that can surely only be explained by "It's an MDickie game", the 3D verison has a bizarre occurrence where sometimes when lockdown ends while the player is in their cell (which may be related to not sleeping long enough during lockdown) everyone in the cell block except for the player character will just suddenly drop. With the game's death saves they might get back up, but they also might not and oftentimes the cause of death will be attributed to someone who was nowhere near them at the time.

* HellholePrison: Southtown Correctional is apparently so brutal that a 50 day sentence is enough to motivate anyone to stay on the good side of the law once they're released. In spite of this, the facilities are actually fairly nice as fictional prisons go... but the sociopathic inmates, unpredictably violent wardens, and terrible diseases you catch at random are all trying to kill you, not to mention the occasional terrorist attacks.

* HellholePrison: But of course, though not quite the way you might expect. The facilities are actually fairly nice as fictional prisons go, but it's a tossup whether the sociopathic inmates, unpredictably violent wardens, or the terrible diseases you catch at random are the most dangerous - all three will be trying to kill you. And then there's the occasional terrorist attacks.

* BerserkerTears: When you or an AI controlled character's happiness meter depletes, they break down in tears before going insane and attacking people at random.

* KarmaHoudini: No matter how horrific the player's actions are, ranging from violence against the other inmates to achieving KillEmAll, the worst they'll ever get is a few more days in jail.

* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: Nothing in the game states that you can't just outright murder someone. Thus, it is probably actually possible to KillEmAll, though you'll get a small trickle of new guys to replace them. A LetsPlay from LetsPlay/NerdCubed ended with his entire cell block dead by katana.

->"I find you GUILTY and sentence you to 50 days in Southtown Correctional Facility! That may not be 'long' time but it will be [[TitleDrop HARD time]]! You'll be lucky if you survive...I'm now handing you over to the wardens, and they'll help you settle into your new home..."
-->-- ''The Judge''.

** If you have cash on you and a warden’s got you in a headlock, they may offer to let you go if you pay them some money. They’ll make good on this if you accept, though refusing will have you hauled into court.

** If a warden decides he doesn’t like your hairstyle, he’ll demand that you change it (usually to match his) lest you have a day added onto your sentence. On the other hand, acquiescing the request, even if you change your hair back immediately after, will get a day chopped from your sentence instead.

* FinalDeath: If your prisoner dies, they're gone for good and you are forced to create a new save file. This is the only way to lose in Hard Time, and it's fairly easy to avoid so long as you make an active effort to stay out of trouble.

* RefugeInAudacity: No matter how outlandish the excuses you give to the court, thanks to how judgment works in the game you always have a 50/50 chance of either getting punished or getting away with it.

* BlackComedy: Some of the WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue results seemingly make attempts at this, such as the infamous line about a prisoner becoming a homosexual. It can also be invoked by lopping off people's legs and watching them ineffectively hobble around and fall over, and get off scott free for the aforementioned mutilation by convincing the judge that they ''lost their limbs by falling down.''

* RabidCop: The wardens dish out beatings and punishments for the slightest infraction, or just because they don't like your haircut. NotHyperbole.

* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: Sometimes, a prison broadcast will announce that a random warden has been arrested and incarcerated for corruption, reducing them to an inmate who can easily be bullied and brutalized by the inmates they abused.

* PetTheDog: As corrupt and unfair as they can be, wardens are more than happy to shorten your sentance for following their orders. They can even stitch you back up if you lose a limb, albeit with a fee attached.