History WhatMeasureIsAMook / VideoGames

** Done very subtly through EnemyChatter in ''VideoGame/Fallout4''. During battles with groups of raiders, Gunners and other human mooks, if you kill one of them, their comrades will actually cry out in grief and horror, almost as if they'd just watch their friend or [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes even their lover]] be [[TearJerkermowed down in front of them]]. It really puts a damper on your OneManArmy moments.

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'', there's a battle where you're fighting a bunch of squires. One of them remarks that they all "have families they would like to be able to go home to." You kill them anyway without a second thought.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}''

** Done very subtly through EnemyChatter in ''VideoGame/Fallout4''. During battles with groups of raiders, Gunners and other human mooks, if you kill one of them, their comrades will actually cry out in grief and horror, almost as if they'd just watch their friend or [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes even their lover]] [[TearJerker be mowed down in front of them]]. It really puts a damper on your OneManArmy moments.

** Most of the [[BonusBoss Marks]] you kill are essentially large animals or magical constructs gone berserk and murderous, but one is a [[PlantPerson cactoid]] that has become a [[DesertBandits desert bandit]]. It's not even clear early on that cactoids are sapient, but later a whole group of cactoids takes half of a human village hostage to demand the return of their relative. It seems that the cactoid they're looking for is ''the same one you killed'', causing the other villagers (and the player) to react with a MyGodWhatHaveIDone. You can then find the missing cactoid alive, but it still puts your earlier quest in a very different light.
** The [[FishPeople Urutan-Yensa]] are stated to be entirely hostile to humans, but it's also noted that this is mostly because the Rozarrian Empire [[NoBloodForPhlebotinum invaded their lands to drill for oil]] and you also meet an Urutan-Yensa who attempts to overcome the language barrier to ask for your help against a giant tortoise known as [[BonusBoss the Urutan Eater]].

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblem:''

* ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty: VideoGame/ModernWarfare 2'' reminds one of this near the end. [[spoiler:The BigBad is then revealed to be a rogue general who has orchestrated the events of the game as one giant BatmanGambit, and now the two main characters shoot up his private guard in a mission to take him out for sheer revenge. While the game implies that these mooks are an elite paramilitary unit handpicked by the general and not really US soldiers at this point, there's no question that most if not all signed up believing they would be doing the right thing and probably aren't even aware of their boss's behind the scenes actions. On the other hand, Shepherd's troops saw him shoot Roach and Ghost, then threw their bodies into a ditch then doused them with gasoline.]] Although the Player is encouraged as [[spoiler:Mactavish]] to treat them such a way when [[spoiler:Shepherd bombs a base with many soldiers STILL INSIDE.]] And a variation of this occurs within the [[spoiler:Airport]] scene, as most people treat the [[spoiler:civillans]] as faceless, even though being encouraged to feel for them (and all the other people they have to kill). Some are [[spoiler:dragging the bodies of their [=FRIENDS=] less than 20m in front of you. On the other hand, you're playing as someone pretending to be a terrorist, it is possible to play the mission and not kill a single civilian, or you can just skip the mission outright.]]
* One of the missions in an expansion for ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer: [[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert Red Alert]]'' gives you a Russian {{cyborg}} SuperSoldier who easily slaughters his way though infantry, tanks, even a battleship and the Allies' MemeticBadass commando Tanya. The {{cutscene}} afterward shows Tanya's grave...among hundreds of others.
* In ''[[VideoGame/{{Crysis}} Crysis 3]]'' after spectacularly blowing up a dam, you can find a black box next to the washed-up corpses of some enemy soldiers. Playing it reveals the screams and desperation of the soldiers trying to escape the flood, with their [[AFatherToHisMen commander]] frantically ordering "Stay calm!", "Keep your head above the water!", and "Save your breath!". Suddenly the blowing of the dam doesn't look so awesome anymore. And if that wasn't enough, you can also encounter another group of soldiers whose EnemyChatter reveals that they are there to rescue any survivors and their commander instructs them to separate the dead and resuscitate those who can.
* The first ''VideoGame/DeusEx'' has several instances where the question of killing mooks is mentioned. The most memorable instance, however, is in Paris where JC encounters a couple in a café. The couple are discussing the recruitment of their son to Majestic 12. When JC enters the conversation and makes his intentions for Majestic 12 clear, the mother begs JC to keep an eye out for their son even though "those gas masks make them indistinguishable from each other". The whole game can be considered an example of this as well as it is possible to finish the whole game without killing a single mook.