Warning: As a potential Death Trope for successful examples, many unmarked spoilers are ahead.
Burn the Witch! in Video Games.
- Just one of the many things the Inquisitors of the Citadel in AdventureQuest Worlds like to do to people. One of your quests on the chain involves rescuing witches who have been put to the torch.
- In Akatsuki Blitzkampf, it looks like the original Mycale was subjected to this. She found a way to cheat on death, however: having her soul take over the bodies of several different people (presumably mostly females) and do some crime streaks out-through the centuries. In the story proper, her latest host is a 14-year-old girl named Kati and now Anonym Merel
- In the Interactive Fiction H. P. Lovecraft-inspired Anchorhead, the founder of the American Verlac clan, Croseus, got his entire family accused of witchcraft, and only he and his youngest daughter escaped being burned.
- The backstory of Partinias, the Arcana of Love in Arcana Heart, talks about how she was burned as a witch in the middle ages because she criticized violence and tried to spread compassion during a time when Europe was covered in war.
- Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn:
- Maybe not a witch per se, but the game features a mob threatening to burn Viconia at the stake in the middle of Athkatla. As the protagonist, you can choose either to save her (incurring the ire of the mob in the process), or to be a jerk and let her die. It was originally part of an initial decision for Viconia to be infected with Lycanthropy, but they still went with it after they scrapped the werewolf idea. Since she's still a drow elf and a priestess of very nasty goddess Shar, they have a pretty natural reason to try to burn her.
- There is a +4 magical staff in the game which is stated to be the remnant of a stake at which a powerful witch was burned. It is stated that with her last breath, the witch caused the fire to burn down the entire village.
- An achievement in Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts called "Burn the Witch" involves shooting the antagonist Gruntilda in the town square with the laser you get near the end of the game. Naturally, since you have to fight her later, the laser doesn't do anything except irritate her.
- In Blasphemous, this is common practice in Cvstodia. One of the bosses is named Quirce, Returned by the Flames. He was burned at the stake for heresy, but then rose again from the ashes. So they burned him again. And again. And again.
- Very present in the Castlevania series, especially in the 1470s stories.
- As detailed by Symphony of the Night, Lisa's crucifixion inspired Dracula to destroy humanity.
- When a similar fate struck a woman named Rosaly, Hector was inspired to seek revenge in Curse of Darkness. Julia from the same game was a witch in hiding.
- As was Sypha from Dracula's Curse, who went so far as to take up the Sweet Polly Oliver approach.
- Later games in the series suffered witches more politely, and by the time of Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow and Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, one of them directly works for the church. (Said witch is a descendant of the aforementioned Sypha Belnades.)
- Conquests of the Longbow: Invoked by the Abbot towards Marian. You will have to rescue her from this. How well you handle this determines the ending you get.
- In Crusader Kings II, your peasants and the Christian Church will want you to torch random women for being witches; not doing so will displease them. If you have the Monks and Mystics DLC and have turned on supernatural events, don't dismiss them without investigating first; a freakishly large number of "sinful" traits (like the Seven Deadly Sins, "Possessed", "Cruel", or especially "Impaler") is an indication that they may, in fact, deserve to be set alight.
- The Fanatic from the Crimson Court DLC of Darkest Dungeon will do this to anyone afflicted with the Crimson Curse, no matter how they got it or what they do with it. He'll also do this to anyone who so much as associates with someone who's cursed; as you can well imagine, this guy is quite insane. The only way to stop him from trying to burn your heroes at the stake is to destroy his pyre, but that just makes him even madder.
- Averted in Darklands. When you defeat and capture a witch during a special encounter, you get many options to deal with her, but killing is not one of them.
- In the first Deception, the player character is burned at the stake for the crime of regicide, his sword having magically skewered the king. However, a sorceress named Astarte saves him before he can perish.
- In Diablo IV, it's standard protocol for the Cathedral of Light to burn the wicked (criminals, demons, and those possessed) on a tall pyre, both to burn out their evil and to set an example to any would-be criminals of their own fate. It should also be noted that what constitutes a crime worthy of death isn't exactly strict or proportionate to the crime, such as one condemned prisoner who stole a loaf of bread.
- In the backstory of the Dragon Age games, Andraste was burned at the stake after her husband betrayed her to the Tevinter Imperium. The leader of the Imperium, Archon Hessarian, felt pity for Andraste in her final moments and drove his sword into her heart so she wouldn't suffer any longer. He became the first convert to the Chant of Light and helped spread it over Thedas. The Blades of Mercy are enchanted replicas of Hessarian's sword and are considered badges of honor in the Imperium. An inversion, as Andraste was burned by witches (well, mages).
- In Drakengard 2, Manah is accused of being a witch, and she did break one of the seals, so she's captured by the hero, and the guy he's working for burns her. She does have magic, however, and escapes, and later joins you.
- In The Elder Scrolls, vampires are near-universally feared, loathed, and ostracized throughout Tamriel. They are often killed on sight wherever they are found. The use of fire is common, as the majority of vampire bloodlines have a weakness to it.
- In Eternal Champions, this was the cause for Xavier's death. There's even a smoldering stake in the immediate background of his stage that you knock your opponent into.
- It's never witnessed, but Eternal Darkness says that the Roivas family was persecuted upon coming to America and often burned for witchcraft, but enough survived to have descendants in the form of Maximillian, Edward and Alexandra, among others.
- In the Family Guy Video Game!, one of Brian's levels requires you to get by a trio of police officers by knocking a witch hat onto one of them, causing the other two to mistake him for a witch and set him on fire.
- Not completely true to the trope, but when Final Fantasy VIII's Rinoa is discovered to be a Sorceress, she is sentenced to put into stasis. Of course, she gets saved by the hero at the last moment.
- It's implied that this was attempted with Witch Princess from Harvest Moon DS. Witch Princess mentions that in the past Keira called her evil and got others to attack her home. She survived but put Keira into a coma and imprisoned her deep within a mine. Witch Princess had planned on removing her eventually, but she forgot to and thus Keira was left there for centuries. She would have stayed like that for a long time if not for the protagonist finding her.
- In Heroes of Might and Magic IV, a necromancer named Gauldoth is wrongfully accused of being a child murderer, and a town guard named Mardor attempts to have him burned. Gauldoth flees the town, returns several months later with an army, besieges the town, and captures it. One of the first things he does is have Mardor arrested... and executed by being burned at the stake.
- Jeanne d'Arc, naturally. In a twist, however, it is not Jeanne who suffers this fate, as she's currently missing and presumed dead. Rather, the girl who's burned at the stake is her best friend Liane, who had been forced to impersonate her by the French commanders in order to keep morale up. Poor Jeanne struggles to bring herself back just in time
, but when she gets to Rouen, Liane has already been killed. For worse, Jeanne and Liane's other childhood friend Roger also can't save her, and has a Face–Heel Turn out of despair. - In King of the Castle, the Church of the Ninth's preferred punishment for witches and heretics - common folk, nobles, even the King - is to burn them at the stake, and this comes into play in several storylines.
- The Grandees' Witch Hunt scheme sees them gathering "evidence" of heresy in the capital that will lead to the King being tried for witchcraft. For the third stage of their scheme, the Grandees can vote to either show mercy to the King as long as they abdicate, or get rid of them the old-fashioned way by burning them at the stake.
- The Counts' Possession scheme entails the summoning of one of two demons (Racchamassa, the Mad Tyrant, or Murmuriach, Duke of Greed) to possess the King, rendering them a mindless puppet. If the scheme fails, the "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue reveals that the Count researching the summoning ritual was arrested by the Inquisition and burned at the stake for practising evil magic, and they shouted the true name of the Seventh God as they died.
- The "Escaped Experiment" story event involves a creature sewn together from corpses by one of the Counts, who explains that the creature is their "son" and is normally chained up securely to prevent him from causing harm to himself or others. The High Inquisitor declares that both the creature and his creator are evil and must be burned; the Council can vote to burn both of them, just the creature, or neither of them.
- If the Sainthood ambition succeeds, the King is elevated to the status of a living saint, and the Council ranks swell with members of the Inquisition. In the "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue, their reign is said to be one of warmth, which may have something to do with all the heretics being burned.
- Referenced in Left 4 Dead, an achievement titled "Burn the Witch" is obtained by setting fire to the Witch boss zombie. It's also arguably one of the most effective ways of dealing with one if you have someone to run.
- The Big Bad of Legaia 2: Duel Saga was the victim of a witch hunt, which is what made him into the monster he became. You visit his home village later on in the game, and the place still bears the mark of his retaliation.
- Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney: The city of Labyrinthia is rather hardcore when it comes to witches: any young girl suspected of witchcraft is immediately put on trial, then punished by being locked up in an Iron Maiden-esque cage and plunged into a pit of fire. It doesn't help that much like people in the medieval ages, the citizens are very superstitious, quick to refer to anything they don't understand as "magic", and rather stubborn, which leads to many innocent young ladies being burned to a crisp. Eventually subverted when it is discovered that this is actually an elaborate scam used to smuggle the accused witches out of the city and brainwash them into being slaves. In addition, the Judge delivers a stay of execution for the culprit of one case as Phoenix had argued that she had not committed any crimes, and he expresses relief when he learns that no one was actually executed, suggesting that he had doubts about the whole thing.
- In Quest for Glory IV, the suspicious townsfolk go on a Witch Hunt after the gravedigger goes missing, capturing a gypsy and accusing him of being a werewolf. If you don't set him free in time, he gets burned at the stake, but not before he curses you and the entire town, causing game over. If you free him, you find out that he really was a werewolf, although innocent of what he was charged with.
- Played with in The Secret World: during a visit to Solomon Island, it's revealed that the infamous Black House is the direct result of an impulsive witch-burning back by an angry mob; the accused didn't want to leave her house and actually be burnt at the stake, so the crowd ended up just burning it to the ground with her inside it. Lore reveals that the "witch" was indeed a mage, but was innocent of the crimes she was accused of and mainly a victim of a smear-campaign by The Illuminati, who didn't appreciate her turning down their membership offer.
- In the backstory of the 2010 version of Splatterhouse, Dr. West's wife (who Came Back Wrong thanks to his experiments) was strapped into a Wicker Man-esque effigy to be burned as a witch by the citizens of Arkham. Then the Corrupted interfered and things got out of hand.
- Starbound has the Glitch as a race born of an experiment to test out how civilizations advanced, who got stuck in Medieval Stasis when their programming bugged out. The response of the rest when one figures it out and turns self-aware? This trope.
- The Suffering reveals that while it was still settled by the Puritans, Carnate Island suffered a spate of witch-burnings that began when three little girls accused several of their fellow villagers — as a joke. Centuries later, these three children live on as the Infernas, the personification of all those on the island that were burnt at the stake. Lampshaded by Consuela, who notes that burning was non-existent among Puritans in other parts of America.
- TearRing Saga:
- This can happen to Rennie, if neither Runan nor Mintz arrive in time and seize the castle she's about to be publically executed. If they do, she joins their group some chapters later.
- In the backstory, Zeek and Karla's parents and sisters were executed like this, kicking off their Dark and Troubled Past.
- Used almost exactly by angry mob in the outskirts area of The Witcher (the first real area in the game). The witch in question is most likely harmless, although her exact morals are certainly questionable (especially if you have the uncensored version, in which she appears nude and smeared with blood on her card), and the player has the choice of sleeping with her (which happens rather frequently in this game) or not, and then a second choice between allowing the villagers to kill her or saving her. If Geralt saves her, the player later has to fight off most of the important villagers (while fighting a hell hound variant).
- By The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, the Ax-Crazy King Radovid, betrayed by his treacherous adviser, the sorceress Phillip Eilhart, is out to exterminate every last magic user he can get his grubby fingers on. Anti-magic pogroms are going full-force in Novigrad and the surrounding countryside, conducted officially by his army of witch-hunters and the Church of the Eternal Fire.
- Averted in World of Warcraft, in which Lucille Waycrest is nearly hanged for witchcraft. Witches are a very real threat to the people of Drustvar, but Lucille is the victim of a misunderstanding, and you must clear her name.
- In The X-Files: Resist or Serve, one storyline features Mulder and Scully travelling to a small town to prevent several girls' execution in this manner.
- Yes, Your Grace: A Ban on Magic in the third act of the game quickly becomes a literal Witch Hunt, and results in Princess Lorsulia getting burnt at the stake.
