History VideoGameCrueltyPotential / TurnBasedStrategy

* In ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'', you can pass bills in the Dark Assembly to improve at-base quality-of-life, recruit advanced-proficiency units, gain in-battle perks like boosted EXP, and so on. If a bill fails, you can force it to pass by [[BloodOnTheDebateFloor killing the Senators who voted Nay]]. ''Orrrrr'', noting that many bills are cheap and repeatable, most notably "I Need War Funds!", you can use the Dark Assembly as an excuse to beat up Senators over and over,

* In ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'', you can pass bills in the Dark Assembly to improve at-base quality-of-life, recruit advanced-proficiency units, gain in-battle perks like boosted EXP, and so on. If a bill fails, you can force it to pass by [[BloodOnTheDebateFloor killing the Senators who voted Nay]]. ''Orrrrr'' you can use the Dark Assembly as an excuse to beat up Senators over and over.

* The game ''Stalin's Dilemma'', by Edward Bever, as you might guess from the title, abounds in this. The question is not whether you will kill millions of people, but how many millions. If you keep the death toll below ten million while improving your industrial output and military capabilities to the point where you can win UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo, while simultaneously maintaining political stability, you are rated as a hero of the human race. If you want, though, you can go full Stalin and just see how many millions of people you can kill.

** The Advance Campaign of the first game only ranks you on Speed. [[GeneralRipper Cruely sacrificing most of your troops tends to be the best, and in some cases ONLY, way to get S Ranks.]]
* In ''VideoGame/LaPucelle'' you are encouraged to take the monsters that you purified, [[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/05/10 put into your party, and loved and nurtured to trust you...]] and sell them into eternal slavery to the Dark World. You are ''encouraged to do this'' as the Dark World will send you gifts for any accomplishments that monster does, such as working through the ranks to Demon Lord or Overlord. In addition, the process fuses any items they had together. Maybe there's a reason Prier is a Demon Overlord in the ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'' games...
** Granted, that "loving and nurturing" you did involved stuff ranging from making them break blocks and do push ups to turning them into cyborgs and even ''shooting'' them (Granted, you have to build up their trust a number of times before they wouldn't quit over that last one).
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance'' can be like this if you leave a character KO'd in a Jagd, which they will die afterward. [[StopHavingFunGuys People who aim to have the best optimized team]] will quickly kill off Montblanc as soon as they enter their first Jagd battle since he can't be booted from the clan and most "pro" players hate him for having poor magic stats compared to others.

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' pretty much from the very beginning, you can pass over Mandalia Plains repeatedly until you get a random encounter. The enemies' party will invariably have a yellow chocobo in it and you can kill off everyone else in its party, then surround it and attack it virtually endlessly as its only healing action, Choco Cure, also heals characters on all four sides, thus giving you a way to level up and get a hell of a lot of jp to boot, and joy of all joys, all you have to do is torture a sad-faced chocobo forever.
** It doesn't stop there. You can attack your fellow party members for experience and/or job points, invite people into your party just to take their gear and kick them out, or murder your own teammates, wait for their FinalDeath and eat their soul absorb their crystal to instantly learn the skills they did. You can also raise monsters only to kill them permanently for their "skins" (which can them be traded for rare items in certain shops).

* In ''VideoGame/LaPucelle'' you are encouraged to take the monsters that you purified, [[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/05/10 put into your party, and loved and nurtured to trust you]]...and sell them into eternal slavery to the Dark World. You are ''encouraged to do this'' as the Dark World will send you gifts for any accomplishments that monster does, such as working through the ranks to Demon Lord or Overlord. In addition, the process fuses any items they had together. Maybe there's a reason Prier is a Demon Overlord in the ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'' games...

* It is a common occurrence in FireEmblem games for there to be a non-recruitable friend/mentor figure/family member/lover/etc. of one of the player's characters on the enemy side. If one so chooses, he can make them the one to do their loved ones in. Usually, they get a special battle conversation for that.

** You can also have [[TheScrappy characters you don't like]] killed this way, [[HeroMustSurvive unless they're a protagonist]].
* ''Franchise/StarTrek: BirthOfTheFederation'' can implement this trope. Though you're usually given a diplomatic option (an option you're [[VideoGameCrueltyPunishment encouraged]] to use if you play as the [[LawfulGood Federation]]), you can simply choose to subjugate or destroy other races. In fact, your people will actually be happier with you for choosing these options if you're playing as the [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Cardassians]] (in the case of the former) or the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Klingons]] (in the case of the latter).

* Some enemies from the VideoGame/{{Piratez}} mod for ''Openxcom'' may qualify, like the Dark One axemen, [[Main/VideoGameCrueltyPotential but it's mostly the pirates themselves]].
* VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsUX: In the chapter where Jin deploys with his first ever squad he leads. When you shoot them down, he casts Spirit Commands in anger and sorrow; Spirit, Strike, and Valor. When the last subordinate is shot down, a sad music begins to play. You can leave them alone so this doesn't happen, but they die anyways when the Island detonates with the Fenrir.

* The game ''Stalin's Dilemma'', by Edward Bever, as you might guess from the title, abounds in this. The question is not whether you will kill millions of people, but how many millions. If you keep the death toll below ten million while improving your industrial output and military capabilities to the point where you can win WorldWarTwo, while simultaneously maintaining political stability, you are rated as a hero of the human race. If you want, though, you can go full Stalin and just see how many millions of people you can kill.

* A favorite late-game battlescape tactic in ''VideoGame/XCOM'' 1 and 2 is to mind-control the first enemy you see and use him as a ''very'' expendable scout to locate his nearest friends. Mind control them as well and repeat until the entire alien force is under your control. Then herd them all into a nice big group, and force them to drop a couple HE or stun grenades at their own feet. Sometimes it's so effective you can wrap up a ground assault or terror mission on one turn without any of your own troops so much as leaving the ship. And even if a few baddies escaped your notice, they're likely to be so terrified and demoralized that they'll throw down their weapons and run about aimlessly.

* A favorite late-game battlescape tactic in X-COM 1 and 2 is to mind-control the first enemy you see and use him as a ''very'' expendable scout to locate his nearest friends. Mind control them as well and repeat until the entire alien force is under your control. Then herd them all into a nice big group, and force them to drop a couple HE or stun grenades at their own feet. Sometimes it's so effective you can wrap up a ground assault or terror mission on one turn without any of your own troops so much as leaving the ship. And even if a few baddies escaped your notice, they're likely to be so terrified and demoralized that they'll throw down their weapons and run about aimlessly.

** And then there's the common occurrence of having said friend/mentor figure/family member/lover/etc. being on the same team as said player's characters. With the game's concept of FinalDeath and even having a few plotline deaths, you can pretty much ruin someone's day by killing off their partner. Case in point with [[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening Chrom]], where the only two characters that are related to him you can't kill off are his elder sister ([[spoiler:because she dies anyways, though you can recruit her late into the game via {{DLC}}... and proceed to kill her [[TearJerker with amazing results]]]]) and his [[spoiler:[[KidFromTheFuture daugher]] (as she'll retreat upon critical injury, as with most plot-important characters in the series)]] but everyone else is fair game. His younger sister, Lissa? Killable. His LoveInterest which you have a choice in deciding? Killable. [[spoiler:Chances are he'll father another KidFromTheFuture that you can also kill, especially if their recruitment mission has them be a member on the enemy side, like Cynthia]]. You can even go the extra mile and kill off [[TrueCompanions his group, The Shepherds]], either [[DwindlingParty one by one]] or [[DroppedABridgeOnHim all at once]].

* ''[[VideoGame/JaggedAlliance Jagged Alliance 2]]''. [[TwoWordsObviousTrope Two words:]] [[DeadlyGas mustard gas.]] It is entirely possible with a mixture of launchers, mortars, and hand-thrown canisters to flood an area with sickly yellow clouds, and then serenely walk with your own (gas-masked) mercs wielding [[CherryTapping knives and punching weapons]].

* ''[[NintendoWars Advance Wars]]''. Remember that using damaged units as bait or as human shields is a valid strategy.

** And then there's the common occurrence of having said friend/mentor figure/family member/lover/etc. being on the same team as said player's characters. With the game's concept of FinalDeath and even having a few plotline deaths, you can pretty much ruin someone's day by killing off their partner. Case in point with [[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening Chrom]], where the only two characters that are related to him you can't kill off are his elder sister ([[spoiler:because she dies anyways, though you can recruit her late into the game via {{DLC}}... and proceed to kill her [[TearJerker with amazing results]]]]) and his [[spoiler:[[KidFromTheFuture daugher]] (as she'll retreat upon critical injury, as with most plot-important characters in the series)]] but everyone else is fair game. His younger sister, Lissa? Killable. His LoveInterest which you have a choice in deciding? Killable. [[spoiler:Chances are he'll father another KidFromTheFuture that you can also kill, especially if their recruitment mission has them be a member on the enemy side, like Cynthia]]. You can even go the extra mile and kill off [[TrueCompanions his group, The Shepherds]], either [[BattleRoyaleWithCheese one by one]] or [[DroppedABridgeOnHim all at once]].

** And then there's the common occurrence of having said friend/mentor figure/family member/lover/etc. being on the same team as said player's characters. With the game's concept of FinalDeath and even having a few plotline deaths, you can pretty much ruin someone's day by killing off their partner. Case in point with [[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening Chrom]], where the only two characters that are related to him you can't kill off are his elder sister ([[spoiler:because she dies anyways, though you can recruit her late into the game via {{DLC}}... and proceed to kill her [[TearJerker with amazing results]]]]) and his [[spoiler:[[KidFromTheFuture daugher]] (as she'll retreat upon critical injury, as with most plot-important characters in the series)]] but everyone else is fair game. His younger sister, Lissa? Killable. His LoveInterest which you have a choice in deciding? Killable. [[spoiler:Chances are he'll father another KidFromTheFuture that you can also kill]]. You can even go the extra mile and kill off [[TrueCompanions his group, The Shepherds]], either [[BattleRoyaleWithCheese one by one]] or [[DroppedABridgeOnHim all at once]].

** And then there's the common occurrence of having said friend/mentor figure/family member/lover/etc. being on the same team as said player's characters. With the game's concept of FinalDeath and even having a few plotline deaths, you can pretty much ruin someone's day by killing off their partner. Case in point with [[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening Chrom]], where the only two characters that are related to him you can't kill off are his elder sister ([[spoiler:because she dies anyways, though you can recruit her late into the game via {{DLC}}... and proceed to kill her [[TearJerker with amazing results]]]]) and his [[spoiler:[[KidFromTheFuture daugher]] (as she'll retreat upon critical injury, as with most plot-important characters in the series)]] but everyone else is fair game. His younger sister, Lissa? Killable. His LoveInterest which you have a choice in deciding? Killable. [[spoiler:Chances are he'll father another KidFromTheFuture that you can also kill]]. You can even go the extra mile and kill off [[TrueCompanions his group, The Shepards]], either [[BattleRoyaleWithCheese one by one]] or [[DroppedABridgeOnHim all at once]].

* It is a common occurence in FireEmblem games for there to be a non-recruitable friend/mentor figure/family member/lover/etc. of one of the player's characters on the enemy side. If one so chooses, he can make them the one to do their loved ones in. Usually, they get a special battle conversation for that.

* ''VideoGame/{{Eador}}'' has random events with moral choices, so if traders are looking to buy some virgins, the player can refuse, accept, or have the traders killed and take their gold. Among the more creative options, the player can have shipwreck survivors killed and loot their wreck, force subjects to farm poisonous spiders and sell the silk, hire adventurers to clear out a dungeon and have them killed for the loot, kill babies, eat a mermaid, or eat a unicorn and have the chef executed when it tastes disgusting. The ever-popular favorite: a band of hunters can bring in captive evil sorcerers. The player can have the hunters flogged to get an item from the sorcerers, then have the sorcerers tortured to make them spill their magic. The good and neutral choices are ''not'' deranged, and it's a bit weird how good-aligned players can go along holding festivals and rewarding adventurers like normal people, while evil-aligned ones descend into madness.

* ''[[JaggedAlliance Jagged Alliance 2]]''. [[TwoWordsObviousTrope Two words:]] [[DeadlyGas mustard gas.]] It is entirely possible with a mixture of launchers, mortars, and hand-thrown canisters to flood an area with sickly yellow clouds, and then serenely walk with your own (gas-masked) mercs wielding [[CherryTapping knives and punching weapons]].

* ''{{Eador}}'' has random events with moral choices, so if traders are looking to buy some virgins, the player can refuse, accept, or have the traders killed and take their gold. Among the more creative options, the player can have shipwreck survivors killed and loot their wreck, force subjects to farm poisonous spiders and sell the silk, hire adventurers to clear out a dungeon and have them killed for the loot, kill babies, eat a mermaid, or eat a unicorn and have the chef executed when it tastes disgusting. The ever-popular favorite: a band of hunters can bring in captive evil sorcerers. The player can have the hunters flogged to get an item from the sorcerers, then have the sorcerers tortured to make them spill their magic. The good and neutral choices are ''not'' deranged, and it's a bit weird how good-aligned players can go along holding festivals and rewarding adventurers like normal people, while evil-aligned ones descend into madness.

* ''{{Eador}}'' has random events with moral choices, so if traders are looking to buy some virgins, the player can refuse, accept, or have the traders killed and take their gold. Among the more creative options, the player can have shipwreck survivors killed and loot their wreck, force subjects to farm poisonous spiders and sell the silk, hire adventurers to clear out a dungeon and have them killed for the loot, kill babies, eat a mermaid, or eat a unicorn and have the chef executed when it tastes disgusting. The ever-popular favorite: a band of hunters can bring in captive evil sorcerers. The player can have the hunters flogged to get an item from the sorcerers, then have the sorcerers tortured to make them spill their magic. The good and neutral choices are ''not'' deranged, and it's a bit weird how good-aligned players can go along holding festivals and rewarding adventurers like normal people, while evil-along ones descend into madness.

* Some of the most interesting dialogue in ''VideoGame/PokemonConquest'' is the character's response to being teamkilled.

* VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsUX: In the chapter where Jin deploys with his first ever squad he leads. When you shoot them down, he casts Spirit Commands in anger and sorrow; Spirit, Strike, and Valor. When the last subordinate is shot down, a sad music begins to play. You can leave them alone so this doesn't happen, but they die anyways when the Island detonates with the Fenrir.

* In ''VideoGame/LaPucelle'' you are encouraged to take the monsters that you purified, [[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/05/10 put into your party, and loved and nurtured to trust you]]...and sell them into eternal slavery to the Dark World. You are ''encouraged to do this'' as the Dark World will send you gifts for any accomplishments that monster does, such as working through the ranks to Demon Lord or Overlord. In addition, the process fuses any items they had together. Maybe there's a reason Prier is a Demon Overlord in the ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea}}'' games...

* In the otherwise excellent old game ''No Greater Glory'', a simulation of the US Civil War, your score if you won depended on how well you had brought your country through the war, and evaluated you on the basis of four criteria: popular support, finance, diplomacy, and peace terms. You will note what is missing from that list: casualties. The number of men you had killed on either side over the course of the war has no effect on your final score, so if sacrificing more of your own men would improve your performance in one of the four categories, the game would register that as a better and higher-scoring performance. What that often meant in practice was that if you knew you were about to win, you could juice your score by grabbing areaa that you didn't need to win, even if that meant both inflicting and taking unnecessary casualties.

* VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsUX: In the chapter where Jin deploys with his first ever squad he leads. When you shoot them down, he casts Spirit Commands in anger and sorrow; Spirit, Strike and Valor. When the last subordinate is shot down, a sad music begins to play. You can leave them alone so this doesn't happen, but they die anyways when the Island detonates with the Fenrir.

** [[VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown The reboot]] offers its own method, overlapping with CombatPragmatist. There's a room ahead, and you can't see what's in it, but there doesn't seem to be much cover. Eh, send the NewMeat in to LeeroyJenkins his way in and get a line of sight into the room, with one of your precious high-leveled Heavy troopers near the door to lob a rocket in if there's a group of aliens clustered together.