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Leaning On The Fourth Wall / Video Games

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Leaning on the Fourth Wall in video games.

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    Metal Gear 
  • Early on in the first Metal Gear Solid, while Snake is walking over a grating designed to make loud noises when stepped on (thus attracting the attention of nearby guards), you can call Master Miller to have him give you an explanation about how to walk quietly. He gives a detailed explanation on how to put your heel down first then slowly shift your weight onto that foot to prevent making any noise, suggesting Snake should try it - and in the PS1 original, Snake, who runs at full speed regardless of whether you're lightly pushing the left stick or holding it as far as it will go, notes with frustration that "I can't do it!"
  • Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty:
    • At one point, Snake lectures Raiden about how computer simulated violence (i.e. video game violence) is completely unlike violence in real life, unintentionally discussing the argument that violent video games contribute to real life violence.
    • Arguably, the entire point of the game was to lean on the Fourth Wall. Raiden, like the player, wants to be the guy, Snake, despite never having met him, although he has "simulated" his other missions (i.e. played the previous Metal Gear games). When the opportunity comes to prove himself, however, he constantly fails. Unlike Snake, he wants to go home instead of feeling at home on the battlefield. At the end, none of the bosses (with the possible exception of Fatman, assuming you're not going for a non-lethal run) are actually confirmed dead by his hand. Raiden is essentially a deconstruction of a generic video game character, with the player sharing his role of Butt-Monkey. For more information, read this.
    • "I'm a whole different game from Liquid!" yells Solidus. Later, immediately after the penultimate boss battle, he warns the player that there's going to be a lot of cutscenes coming up by promising Raiden, "No more games".
  • Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater:
    • If the player wishes to avoid a long sniper battle with the End, they can take the easy way out by setting the PlayStation 2's internal clock more than a week ahead (or by simply not playing the game for more than a week). When the save file loads, a cutscene will be shown of Snake finding the End already dead of old age, and calling Major Zero on his Codec. As a way of chastising the player for cheating, Snake comments that he regrets "disappointing" the End, as it was his dying wish to have a real fight. Zero, however, orders Snake to get his head back in the mission, telling him, "It's not a game. It's not a sport. You think you're competing for the gold at Tokyo or something?"
    • When The Boss and Snake have a radio conversation before beginning the Virtuous Mission, The Boss notes that Snake doesn't have much experience in fighting or sneaking through the jungle, and that urban warfare and infiltrating buildings were his specialty - urban warfare and building infiltration being the primary settings of every previous Metal Gear game, while jungles were at best limited to the first few minutes of Metal Gear's NES port. She's talking about what the player is used to by this point as much as she's talking about what Snake is good at.
  • Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots:
    • The chase scene in Act 2, where Snake is defending Drebin's vehicle, and at one point they get chased by a Mobile Gun System. Drebin very intentionally chooses to refer to the opposing vehicle by its acronym, resulting in lines like "We've gotta shake off that MGS!"
    • Naomi and later Big Mama give similar lectures to Snake's MGS2 lecture during this game, while the visuals show us the covers of violent games such as Metal Gear, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, Metal Gear Solid and so on. Some Fourth Walls are just too thin to be leaned on safely.
  • Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain:
    • Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes runs headlong into this trope before breaking it completely at the end of the mission. During the "Deja Vu" Extra-Op, the player can find logos throughout Camp Omega, and pick up a rifle outfitted with a special UV light that "erases" them. These logos are actually the titles of every game in the franchise. Calling Miller while looking at the logos of the mainline, Kojima-directed games (the MSX2 games, the numbered Metal Gear Solid entries, and Peace Walker) causes Miller to recite the title's name, state how many pixels or polygons made up Snake's character sprite/model, and quote a line, and pointing the light allows the player to erase them, which counts for a secondary objective; calling Miller about the logos for spin-off titles (Ghost Babel, Portable Ops, Metal Gear Rising and several more obscure spin-offs like Metal Gear Solid Touch) has him fail to recognize it, and the light does nothing to them, nor are they counted for the objective. This also applies to the "Jamais Vu" mission, where Miller will inexplicably diss Raiden's own game to his face. When all the relevant markings are erased, Miller will tell you that even though they are gone, "every one of them will be with you," an apparent nod to the tumultuous Troubled Production that led to Hideo Kojima's departure from the franchise and the restructuring of Kojima Productions.
    • In the final mission of Phantom Pain, where Venom realizes he used to be the "avatar" you created at the start of the game, punches through a mirror into another world where there is an un-mirrored version of himself wearing his very first uniform, and he receives a tape detailing the 1995 Metal Gear 1 mission while still apparently in 1984. The scene concludes with Venom saying, "Another mission, right, Boss?" before punching the mirror and walking off. You (the player) are Big Boss's phantom, and you will continue his legacy by playing the other games in the series, even if the original creators have now left.
  • After a long wait for Metal Gear Solid 2, and a long cutscene to start the game, Snake acknowledges the players' frustration with what would become his Catchphrase - "Kept you waiting, huh?" This is repeated word for word in the adventure mode in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, where after what is probably a few hours of play time after a short cutscene teased at his role in Subspace Emissary, Snake pops out of his cardboard box and says the line directly to the camera before his first gameplay section begins, as if he acknowledges everyone that had been dying to play as him since he was revealed in the first preview trailer. Not a single coherent word was spoken anywhere else during a cutscene, outside of those accompanying an attack, in the entire game.

    # 
  • In the game The 11th Hour, one of the characters, Samantha, has rigged a series of security cameras inside of Stauf Manor to keep an eye on the goings-on there. During the video where she's shown referencing her recordings, it's actually presented via captured footage of the game's predecessor, The 7th Guest, which is made obvious by a split-second appearance of the game's skeletal hand cursor.

    A 
  • In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Lazy villagers will sometimes talk about how everything on the island seems too convenient. They're also weirded out by the music constantly playing from the Resident Services building, and lampshade Tom Nook's business practices as impractical.
  • On the continue screen of Arcana Heart 3, if you lose with Lilica, she may chastise the player and say that "losing a game just causes stress".
  • The outro to the first mission in Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon introduces ALLMIND, who has a line of dialogue that in-universe is simply welcoming an MIA mercenary back into the fold from wherever they've been. To long time Armored Core fans however it will more likely come across as FROM welcoming their players back to the franchise they've not seen a new release for in a decade.
    "Welcome back, Raven."
  • Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag: Given the game's modern day segment takes place in a video game company (making games about the Assassins, no less), there's the occasional burst of this, some silly, some... less so.
    • One note found has one of the company's developers refusing to make games set after the invention of cars, a choice the Assassin's Creed makers have generally kept to for the sake of gameplay flavor.
    • On a more mean-spirited side, there's one where the company state they couldn't get "more than one game" out of Connor, the protagonist of Assassin's Creed III, which had something of a mixed reception at the time.
  • Near the end of the true final fight of Asura's Wrath, Chakratarvin's final form starts doing his own QTEs that are similar to your own QTEs, as if someone else is controlling him.
  • Atomic Robo-Kid have the non-spoken variety in-between levels. After defeating a boss, the following cutscene then zooms in on the titular character, who turns around and makes an audible beeping sound as if he's glaring at the camera and the players.

    B 
  • Batman: Arkham Series:
    • Batman: Arkham Asylum:
      • As you complete more and more of the Riddler's challenges, he grows increasingly annoyed at Batman, at one point making this comment which seems like he's accusing the player of something they've likely done at least once:
        Riddler: What? You're nearly done? Are you cheating? Looking them up on the internet? Tell me!
    • Batman: Arkham City:
      • This comes up frequently as Enemy Chatter.
        Criminal: Arkham City's worse than the old one. I should get a refund.
      • One dialogue among three thugs inside the museum during the epilogue initially sounds like they're just discussing what's going to happen to the inmates now that the Arkham City experiment has failed. But considering that players never hear who the 'they' they're talking about are, it sounds an awful lot like they're talking about where the sequel will take place. Here's the exchange, with a bit of paraphrasing.
        Thug 1: So what happens now?
        Thug 2: I guess we'll just stay here until they figure out what they're doing next.
        Thug 3: C'mon, man. What could they do next? Arkham County? Arkham Country? Big-ass Arkham World?
        Thug 2: I dunno, man. These guys are crazy, aren't they?
        Thug 3: Yes, they are.
      • In "Harley Quinn's Revenge", a couple of thugs discuss the fan theory that Batman carried Clayface out of Arkham City, not the Joker before one of them dismisses it as stupid and unrealistic. The other responds that so was the idea of two Jokers.
      • Joker (as usual) leans on the wall throughout all the games. However he outright leans so hard the fourth wall cracks with this line:
        "Helloooo, Batman! You can hear me, right? It's just, you don't seem to be coming to the movie theatre, and I'd hate for you to read the spoilers on the Internet again!"
      • There's also Calendar Man's secret conversation. To access it, you need to set the game's clock to December 13, 2004 (the date of Rocksteady's founding):
        Calendar Man: Do you remember my early work? Flawed, but it showed promise. Just like you. As your skills improved, I perfected mine. Starting with seasons, and moving through the weeks, I became stronger. My work more elaborate. Days were the secret, Batman. And the end of days is coming. I was there at your beginning and I will be there at your end."note 
    • Batman: Arkham Knight:
      • The first time Batman hallucinates the Joker, he cackles, "Oh, don't act all surprised, Bats; you knew this was going to happen sooner or later!" — a not-so-subtle nod to everyone insisting he would return somehow, either revealed as Not Quite Dead or resurrected as the Arkham Knight.
      • One mook-chatter has one stating they've been through Arkham Asylum, Arkham City and Arkham Knight and wondering what will happen next. Another mook will then say that it's probably time to leave Gotham City, while also noting they had a great run.
      • If Batman stalls during the final confrontation with Penguin, waiting to save Nightwing from being held at gunpoint just to hear the entire conversation, Dick will nervously mention how Batman probably likes listening to this play out, but he doesn't.
  • In Black Mesa, before the resonance cascade you can find a scientist lampshading NPC behavior (as well as the fact that Gordon and his fellow physicists never seem to do more than push buttons):
    Scientist: I've got two PhDs, and an Oersted Medal, yet I find myself doing work best suited for an intern!
    Coworker: Please. You do very meaningful work here.
    Scientist: Really? Push that button! Walk over here! Push this one! Stand and stare at the screen! Walk back over there! Push another button! Again!
    • Additionally, there's another group of scientists that can be heard arguing about the merits of reproducing an old experiment with modern technology.
      Male Scientist 1: You're living in the past.
      Male Scientist 2: That experiment is singlehandedly responsible for inspiring my career in science.
      Female Scientist: How much recognition do you think you're going to get for reproduction, though?
      Male Scientist 1: You should focus on creating something new and unique.
      Female Scientist: He does have a point.
      Male Scientist 2: Oh, but this is more than a replication, I assure you. For one, it shows how far our field has come since the original study was published, and to say nothing of the modern perspective necessary to monitor its influence. I mean, combined with today's technology, I've recreated-
      Male Scientist 1: Bah, I can't stand to hear another word of this malarchy. (walks away)
      Female Scientist: Don't mind him, but here's something to think about for the next time: Creativity is the art of hiding your influence.
  • BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle: As one of her victory quotes, Yuzuriha shouts 'Divide!' like a superhero slogan - which happens to be the match start quote from her home game, Under Night In-Birth.
  • This kind of thing is all over the place in BoxxyQuest: The Gathering Storm, especially when Tyalie is involved - she loves to make playful jabs at the fourth wall as a coping mechanism to hide her existential fears about being fictional.

    C 
  • The second mission of Call of Duty ends with a line that can very well be read as commentary on the game itself rather than the war it's portraying, given that its stated goal was being "Medal of Honor, perfected".
    For those of you who've seen your first action*, welcome to the Big Time. For those who've seen it before*, trust me - you ain't seen nothin' yet.
  • In Chocobo's Dungeon: Everybuddy, each NPC has their own mental dungeon that must be cleared to heal them. Dialogue snippets from the person involved precede every level of these dungeons...and in Charlotte's dungeon, an extremely frustrating location where the protagonist is turned into a One-Hit-Point Wonder that must run from every monster or kill it in one hit, the writers have the temerity to say this:
    "I know things are hard right now, but I promise you, it will get better."
  • Chrono Trigger:
    • After Dalton modifies the Epoch and gets ready to test it, the Heroic Theme plays, to which he exclaims "No, no, no! Stop the music!" at which point the crisis theme starts and he comments "Ah! Much better!".
    • Additionally, in the endgame sidequest to stop one of Magus' Generals in the Middle Ages, in one of the rooms of Ozzie's Fort, there are two conveyor belts with chains at the top and holes at the bottom. When Ozzie turns the crank, two monsters ride the chains from the depths and land on the conveyor belts, the Battle Theme starts playing and the party readies to fight, but the conveyors dump the monster in the pits, causing the party to face the player and blink as the music breaks down to a stop before Ozzie runs away.
  • Control features several otherworldly, seemingly omniscient characters whose awareness at the very least brush against the fourth wall.
    • The Board occasionally assigns missions and directives in video game terminology, referring to the situation Jesse has found herself in as "the game", the various items and upgrades as "loot" and "Mods" (the same term the interface itself refers to upgrades with). Considering that its dialogue is occasionally eldritch-to-English word salad, it's unknown just how aware it really is.
    • No one knows what exactly Ahti's deal is, but during conversations with him and beats where Jesse is monologuing to herself, Ahti is unusually able to respond directly to them, implying he either has Telepathy or outright Medium Awareness.
    • Speaking of Jesse's Inner Monologue, it's delivered in a way that seems both like she's talking to the player and/or Polaris, her silent guardian entity, implying that the two are likely meant to be one and the same. In addition to that, because of how the ways Polaris is described to guide Jesse is almost identical to how the game's interface is structured, it's greatly implied that the game's UI represents what Jesse literally sees thanks to Polaris' help.
  • In Crash Twinsanity, right before warping to the Tenth Dimension, Cortex, while speaking to Crash, hints at a reference to the game's apparently unfinished development. Originally, two additional dimensions were planned to be implemented into the game, but were ultimately scrapped due to a restricting timeline budget from Interactive Studios.
    Cortex: Come, now, as we explore... a new dimension!! ...It should have been two dimensions, but we ran out of time.

    D 

    E 
  • At the beginning of EarthBound (1994), Pokey explains some of the game's mechanics to Ness, then apologizes for all the "game-type advice".
  • The Elder Scrolls
    • The series has M'aiq the Liar, a recurring Easter Egg Legacy Character who has appeared in every game since Morrowind. M'aiq is a known Fourth-Wall Observer to the point of leaning on it (and sometimes outright breaking it) who voices the opinions of the series' creators and developers, largely in the form of Take Thats, to both the audience (given the ES Unpleasable Fanbase) and isn't above taking some at Bethesda itself. His "meta" dialogue understandably doesn't make any sense from an in-universe perspective and justifiably makes him seem very detached from the game world.
    • In Morrowind, the Tribunal deity Vivec (cryptically and metaphorically) states in his dialogue and his 36 Lessons series that his "godhood" comes from realizing that he was in a video game and using that knowledge to edit the situation around him. He makes vague references to things like the Player Character ("The ruling king who only he can address as an equal"), pausing the game, console commands, and the Construction Set Level Editor. His explanation on what happens if he should "die" also sounds a lot like reloading a saved game:
      Vivec: "When I die in the world of time, then I'm completely asleep. I'm very much aware that all I have to do is choose to wake. And I'm alive again. Many times I have very deliberately tried to wait patiently, a very long, long time before choosing to wake up. And no matter how long it feels like I wait, it always appears, when I wake up, that no time has passed at all."
    • Oblivion has a Dunmer NPC who identifies themselves as a member of House Hlaalu, a faction from the previous game, only to note that such distinctions don't matter anymore.
    • In the city of Windhelm in Skyrim, there's a book in Calixto's Museum of Curiosities called The Book of Fate, which purports to show the reader's fate. When the Dovahkiin reads it, the book is blank. When you think about the nature of the series (and its habit of making Fourth Wall jokes)... (It's actually a critical point. The book remains blank for anyone who has no fate, which in the lore refers to the "Heroes" referenced in the Elder Scrolls themselves, which in turn is referring to the player characters of each Elder Scrolls game.)
  • After completing Eternal Darkness a couple of times, Alex will narrate in the ending that she feels as if a hole has opened in her mind and given her a glimpse of "a strong ally", but she can't figure out its identity; it's implied to be the player.
  • Exponential Idle: The player character mentions after the second Prestige that the function value growing at an increasing pace is beginning to feel like an idle game.

    F 
  • Fable III has this little gem during a conversation with an NPC:
    NPC: You ever feel like someone's playing games with us?
    Hero: All the time.
  • In The Fermi Paradox (a game currently exclusive to PC), one of the philosophical questions that a civilization can ponder is "are we all living in a computer simulation?"
  • Of all games, FIFA Soccer 2012 does this. Martin Tyler and Alan Smith comment casually on the fact that the players' passing looks like the players are part of a computer game if they're timed right and accurate enough.
  • Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII has a quest about the topic of free will. During the quest Lightning and Hope will make various comments about whether or not she has free will but it's the end of the quest when Lightning wonders if someone else is making all her choices for her.
  • In one of the mission postings in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, the poster complains about a law that requires people to not have full HP, which has caused people to randomly attack him because of the silly law.
  • In Final Fantasy XIV, the Final Boss of the Shadowbringers expansion declares before the final fight that he and the Warrior of Light should "cast aside titles and pretense, and reveal our true faces to one another!" before going One-Winged Angel. When his Boss Subtitles pop up, unlike every boss with them up to that point, it's just the boss's name with no epithet attached.
  • Fire Emblem:
    • Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade: Kent and Farina's support chain has them wonder why such polar opposites keep running into each-other, and suspect someone is behind it.
    Kent: But we have seen quite a bit of each other lately...
    Farina: This is probably someone else’s doing... ...Like Marcus, or Oswin... You know, Merlinus might try something like this, too...
    Kent: I don’t think it I a conspiracy... I mean, what would anyone have to gain from making us fight together?
    • Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance has several conversations wherein a character is playing a war game and asks for strategic advice on a battle that just happens to be very similar to the battle you're about to play.
    • In a conversation involving Tiki in one of Fire Emblem: Awakening 's DLC episodes, when asked by someone jealous of her Really 700 Years Old nature, she says "You must see these things in perspective. I used to look no older than a wee child. If people who knew me then saw me now, they would be shocked by how I aged." Players who knew Tiki from Marth's original games certainly were shocked at how much she'd aged in Awakening.
    • Fire Emblem: Three Houses: If you have Bernadetta in your party between the last two chapters and speak to her in the Monastery, she'll express worry that "Everyone's acting like this is leading up to the final chapter in a book or something."

    G 
  • God of War
    • In God of War: Ghost of Sparta:
      Thanatos: You are nothing but a pawn in a game you don't even know is being played.
    • God of War (PS4)
      • Kratos tells Atreus that he's ready for a new beginning. Given the major thematic shift between Blood-orb Unstoppable Rage psycho-murder god-killer Kratos in the previous games and the mellower version of him and the characters surrounding him, it's indeed the beginning of a new cycle.
      • The first conversation between Kratos and Atreus has the latter asking the former if he's felt something change. Kratos tells him not to dwell on it. It's the beginning of the game and the presentation and gameplay are already very different from previous installments in the series.
      • After finally defeating the tough Optional Boss Sigrun, Atreus comments that his fingers are sore and Kratos responds that what he did was no small feat and that he should be proud, both comments that could well be addressed to the player.
  • In the Golden Sun series:
    • In Golden Sun: The Lost Age, answering "No" or being otherwise disagreeable to Kraden throughout the game eventually results in him throwing a tantrum and asking if Felix thinks this is all just a game.
    • Golden Sun: Dark Dawn:
      • When you first meet Briggs, he notes that Matthew has his mother Jenna's eyes. Amiti's next comment that "your ship is in an advanced state of disrepair" can apply equally to Briggs' old sailing ship and to all of the people who shipped Isaac/Mia and Garet/Jenna.
      • At Belinsk Ruins, Karis and Sveta wonder if someone else is guiding the party's actions.
  • Granblue Fantasy: In the Persona 5: Thievery in Blue crossover event's daily cutscenes, Ryuji / Skull is amazed at how the world of Granblue "totally looks like an RPG Fantasy".
  • Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas: Ryder making derogatory comments on CJ's poor driving is basically Rockstar's own way to mock those gamers who can't learn how to use the driving controls in the Grand Theft Auto games, only crashing through objects and having the vehicles end up in the most absurd positions while driving poorly.
  • Grand Theft Auto V:
    • Michael tells his psychiatrist, "One minute I'm one person, and the next I'm another person."
    • We also have this billboard◊.
    • When Trevor first looks over the city, he remarks: "Los Santos, end of the fucking Earth." Los Santos literally makes up the lower extremity of the game's map.

    H 
  • In Half-Life 2 and its Episodes, the vortigaunts possibly subtly refer to the player, using wording like "Far distant eyes look out through yours" and "We serve the same mystery".
  • Halo:
    • Grunts will sometimes make wry comments to this effect. In Halo Infinite, one can comment "What Halo is this anyway? Six? Seven? I can't tell anymore." In-universe, he's referring to the Halo the game takes place on being either the sixth or seventh Halo found, depending on how you count things, and how many spin-off media you include. But he's also snarking at Infinite departing from the numbered sequels naming convention. Another Grunt in Halo Infinite might complain "It feels like we've been fighting the same guy for, like, twenty years!"
    • In Halo 3, after rescuing Cortana from the Flood infested High Charity, Master Chief says his plan is to “Shoot my way out. Mix things up a little.” Halo is a linear first person shooter wher literally the only option in most situations is to shoot your way through it.
  • Helen's Mysterious Castle:
    • During a segment in late game, the Undead Knight will complain about non-stop fighting, due to the fact that the player will face three, consecutive boss fights.
    • Helen only communicates using "!" and "?", which other characters comment on.
  • In Hidden Expedition 4: Devil's Island the concluding paragraph of a history of the Elysian Islands commented that the islanders really needed a scientific genius to swoop in and save them all. "But that kind of thing only happens on TV, and sometimes in games."
  • Hotline Miami:
    • When Richard asks the player character "Do you like hurting other people?", he's asking both the protagonist and the player themselves.
    • Towards the end of the game, Biker remarks that he's bored and wishes for the "stupid game" to end now and demands some answers. In-universe, this refers to him getting tired of the assassinations he's been made to do, but on a meta-level, he's reflecting the feelings of players who are tired of playing the game and want actual answers to mysteries the game has presented.
  • In Hundred Days, Emma asks Luca for tips on how to cure her vineyards of disease, and he uses video game terminologies such as being the "team healer" and using "mana potions" on plants to describe his role as an agronomist. He then tells Emma this:
    "I transcend the planes of existence every time I meditate, I am sorry to be the one to break this to you, but we are all playing our role in a video game."

    I 
  • Idol Manager:
    • If the Player Character takes an idol to a first date in a bookstore, some dialog choices will result in discussing the Featureless Protagonist trope in interactive fiction and Eyes Out of Sight character designs. The latter trope applies to the Player Character's own design for both sexes. It's also possible for the idol to tell the Player Character that they strike her of the type of person who plays a lot of video games.
    • Aya Naya's route includes a discussion about the balance between the group's artistic output and its finances, resulting in the player being able to address whether they would do things differently if money wasn't an issue. The game's story mode itself has a setting in which the financial aspect is removed entirely.

    K 
  • This was done in Kane & Lynch: Dead Men while they were riding in an elevator. Kane dismisses the idea that anyone would play a game based on two washed up thugs like themselves. The sequel (like the Fight Club example) has the camera as a third character as Kane tends to shoot glances right at you from time to time. Since he's insane, however, it makes sense.
  • Kid Icarus: Uprising:
    • Pit's first line in the game is "Sorry to keep you waiting!". He's talking to his superior, the goddess Palutena, but it also counts as pointing out the fact that the game came out 21 years after the previous game.
    • Palutena mentions it's been about 25 years since she last battled Medusa, the Big Bad of the original games. The original Kid Icarus released to Japanese audiences in December 1986.
  • Kingdom Come: Deliverance: Several times, the game gets really meta.
    • Near the beginning, when you're supposed to get up and go see your Father, one of your speech choices for what took you so long is, "I just wanted to have a look around." When you choose this option, Henry says, "Somehow I had the feeling I was seeing everything for the first time." Which can be really creepy if it's the first time you've ever played the game.
    • During one of the quests, a priest asks you to erect an "atonement cross", something which is ubiquitous in the time period the game is set in, but unheard of in modern times. Your character says, "A what?" to which the priest replies, "You act like you just fell from the stars!"
    • In one of the DLC quests, Henry engages in a drunk philosophical discussion with a tailor about the nature of free will. It starts leaning against the wall from the start, but at one point in the discussion Henry is asked if he had the free will to come to the bar by himself or was it fated that he should go there, and he has the option to say "Someone else controls everything!"
  • Kingdom Hearts:
    • In Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance], Xigbar has some outright suspect lines that imply he's aware there's a confused audience watching.
      Xigbar: Hey. Let's hit these plot points in order, Sora.
    • In Kingdom Hearts III, the cast of Toy Story assume Sora, Donald and Goofy are toys based on a videogame they've been playing. When Sora starts talking about cosmic-level stuff, Buzz thinks he's talking nonsense, but then remembers, "Oh, right, you're from a videogame."
      • Also from KHIII, when Xemnas calls him a useless and forgettable rogue pawn, Lea has this to say in response to him.
        Lea: You kidding? Do you know how popular I am? I got loads of people rootin' for me.

    L 
  • League of Legends: This is surprisingly common for the music-themed skins:
    • One set of skins for Ahri, Kai'Sa, Akali and Evelynn depict them as a K-Pop band. Their band name is K/DA.*
    • A hip-hop group comprised of Ekko, Yasuo, Qiyanna, Sekko, and Akali has the name True Damage.* Unsurprisingly, this is the same Akali of K/DA that started this group up as a side project.
    • Pentakill* is a heavy metal band featuring the talents of Karthus, Kayle, Mordekaiser, Olaf, Sona, and Yorick. The "penta" in their name refers to a pentagram here.
  • The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure: While discussing the pandering nature of Lloyd and Randy's Homoerotic Subtext moment, Tio notes that the scene "would surely excite a great many fans".
  • The Legend of Zelda:
    • The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past: When you buy a bottle from a merchant in the village, he tells Link to hold it up high above his head because that's good for business. Of course, this is what Link does with every item you find regardless.
    • The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: According to the Gossip Stone in the throne room of Zora's Domain, 'They say that players who select the "HOLD" option for "Z TARGETING" are real "Zelda players!"'.
    • The Legend Of Zelda Triforce Heroes has Mr. Tudor, who explains the game's Hero Tokens system. It serves as a reward for good online behaviour, but Tudor explains it in terms of not being like 'false heroes' who 'refuse to see things through'.
    • The Legend of Zelda: The designs of the second quest's first five labyrinths look like blocky letters which spell out "ZELDA".
  • There are two instances of this in The Logomancer that are serious rather than comedic:
    • Switch out a few words, and Glenton's description of his Forgotten Plantation and other logomancers' constructs could easily fit into a discussion about the purpose and artistic trajectory of the video game medium. Other logomancers create escapist paradises that are enjoyable but not particularly stimulating; Glenton wants to use his creations as an educational tool, recreating old myths and stories as interactive adventures that provoke thought and analysis.
    • In "Edited For Content", Ardus' discussion of his novel is clearly a commentary on the writing process in general and the artistic motives of novelists. And though the parallel is never made explicit, it is distinctly possible the discussion applies to the writing of the game itself, as many of the tropes used or subverted in the game (such as In Medias Res and Infodump) are discussed rather extensively.
  • Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon: The device that Prof. E Gadd uses to communicate with Luigi is very unreservedly a DS, which the game calls the Dual Scream. It even resembles an original, 2004 DS with the thicker pre-DS Lite design. When E Gadd first calls Luigi through it, he says he was worried the battery was dead - luckily, though, it should last longer because he turned the screen brightness down.

    M 
  • Märchen Forest: Mylne and the Forest Gift: Interaction with a barrel at the first opportunity to do so, can result in this, presumably as it's the Japanese for barrel:
    Mylne: "TA-RU!"
    Sweatdrop-ing Mylne: Hmm... It's like someone forced me to say that...
  • Mass Effect:
    • In Mass Effect 2's DLC Lair of the Shadow Broker, Shepard must battle waves of mooks with Liara as a hacking tool slowly unlocks a door for them—Shepard will reminisce about the days when you could just slap omni-gel on everything. Liara says the change made a lot of people angry.
    • In Mass Effect 3 the player meets with recurring character Conrad Verner once again. A well-known glitch in the second game was that Conrad would claim you had drawn a gun on him, even if you had not taken that option in the first game. Conrad apologizes for the mistake, saying he was really stressed out. Possibly as an added joke, he will say this even in games where you actually did hold a gun on him. Conrad is also surprised that weapons now use "thermal clips" instead of cooling down. His doubts about the efficacy of this switch mirrors what many players said, with a line about how "you might as well be going back to limited ammunition" reflecting suspicions that the change was done to appeal to fans of more traditional FPS games.
    • In the Citadel DLC for Mass Effect 3, you can overhear several soldiers talking about missions they were on, clearly referencing the multiplayer. For instance, an Infiltrator rants to a Vorcha about how one Vanguard she deployed with was focused on racking up kills instead of completing the objectives.
      Vorcha Soldier: Vanguard charge away! Upload go slow! Bad for team!
    • One of these multiplayer characters is an N7 Fury talking to an Alliance Procurement Officer, who gets her a heavy shotgun, thermal clips, and a strength enhancer. Given that none of these things are optimized for such a class, those who've played the multiplayer get this is a nod to the fickleness of the Random Number Generator nature of the online store.
  • Medieval Dynasty: Some dialogue options include discussing a dream where Racimir feels someone else is in control of his body, looking through his eyes as he builds a house and commenting that he's hungry. An NPC can respond that they have a similar dream where they are frozen with their arms horizontal.
  • The Medium features Dual-World Gameplay, and has a long quest to get a pair of bolt cutters. Near the end, Spirit World Marianne sees the outline of the bolt cutters and says "Can I just pick you up already?" and a minute later Our World Marianne picks them up and says "Fucking finally," possibly expressing the players' feelings.
  • In the Mega Man Battle Network series, installing the "Humor" program into Mega Man makes him do and say some nutty things. Battle Network 6 gives us this conversation between him and Lan:
    Mega Man: Lan, do you ever get the feeling that someone is operating you...Like you aren't in control of yourself?
    Lan: What do you mean?
    Mega Man: You operate me, right? Well, what if someone was operating you like some kind of game? What if you weren't really in control?
    Lan: You mean someone is operating me!? I'm not a Navi, I'm a person!! Why would anyone operate me like I'm the star of a game? A game in its 6th hit installment perhaps... Are you feeling alright Mega Man?
    Mega Man: Sorry...I'm just saying...What if?
  • In MLB: The Show, if a batter swings too early, or swings at a ball well outside the strike zone, there's a good chance it'll result in a very ugly, off-balance swing, and- sometimes, commentator Matt Vasgersian will comment on it, saying "Oh my, I don't think I've ever seen such an ugly swing, even in a video game!"
  • In the Monkey Island series:
    • In Escape from Monkey Island, a frustrated Guybrush Threepwood complains, "It's like my life is a neverending series of puzzles!"
    • After Escape, fans had to wait 9 years for a new game. When it arrived, it was in episodic format, with episodes coming out a month apart. At the end of the first episode a woman says "I've been waiting a long time for this!", to which Guybrush replies "Can't you wait a little longer?" Later, the woman turns out to be a fangirl.
  • In the 26th chapter of My Cafe, Bill mentions that he's developing a game called My Bistro, which is similar to the setting they are in right now. The wording is such that he might be either talking about being inside a game, or that he's simply using the titular cafe as an inspiration for his game's setting
  • Monster Eye have a cutscene where the player characters barely survived an attack from a giant beetle:
    Betty: Is this really happening?
    Jack: Do you think we're playing a video game here?
  • Murder in the Alps: The flashback that resolves the How We Got Here mystery of Forgotten Memento ends with one of Anna's kidnappers knocking her out and telling their cohort to enjoy the game.

    N 
  • In the Mountain Range level of The Nameless Mod, you can sneak up on two mooks facing a jumping puzzle the player must pass in order to enter the facility through the back way. One of them mentions how stupid and dangerous it is for people to use it, and that its is "just like those old video games, adding in a stupid jumping puzzle instead of just giving you more enemies to shoot."
  • The Neptunia series does this all the time, and takes full advantage of its primary cast being the Anthropomorphic Personification of various game consoles to be particularly blunt about it. A particularly unusual example in Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory is Noire's equipment options, which have their descriptions written as though the PS3 (as in, the one sitting in your living room running the game) is quite proud of itself for rendering such appealing objects for its patron goddess to use.
  • Implemented in Ending D in NieR. Since it involves a Heroic Sacrifice, with cancellation from existence, this translates into erasing all your save data.
  • In No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle, after Travis kills Alice, the 2nd ranked assassin, he unleashes all his bottled rage due to Character Development at Sylvia. Except if you take the rant for yourself, it strikes really close to home.
    See that? Now THAT was a BATTLE! Look at this blood! We HUMANS are ALIVE! Even if we ARE assassins! Doesn't matter if it's a video game, movie, drama, anime, manga... We're ALIVE! People shed blood and die. This isn't a game! You can't selfishly use death as your tool! THIS is Alice's blood! I bet you've already forgotten she existed! Same way you would have forgotten me! And that's why I'm tearing down the UAA!

    O 
  • Odin Sphere:
    • During the best ending's post-credits scene, the shopkeeper talks to an unseen writer about how peaceful everything is, but he faces towards the screen while doing so, making it look like he's addressing the audience.
    • During the bad ending, Myris exclaims, as the world is dying around her, that it's a terrible ending.
  • In Ōkami, Ninetails has the same Celestial brush ability that you do. If you take too long drawing your attacks on the canvas, its own brush appears and cancels them. This falls into Leaning on the Fourth Wall territory because the brush looks the same and pauses time like you do.
  • Blizzard is a company in the world of Overwatch that produced all of the other Blizzard games. D.Va is a champion StarCraft player, and Blizzard has an in-world amusement park which contains rides based on their other games.
    • One of the pre-match dialogues goes like this:
      Soldier: 76: War isn't a game.
      D.Va: Are you sure life isn't a game, Soldier: 76?

    P 
  • In Persona 3 Mr. Edogawa notes that Summon Magic is "widely seen in books, movies, better video games, and so on...". Shin Megami Tensei combat is heavily reliant on summoning demons (except for Digital Devil Saga, where the characters turn into them instead).
    • Mr Edogawa later has an entire lecture on Jungian Psychology, which forms the basis behind the entire Persona series.
    • Persona 4 continues the trend: During one pivotal late-game scene, when a major twist is revealed, the plot so far is called a "cat and mouse game" and a character remarks, "Games like these always have to have some kind of twist at the end to keep things interesting."
    • In both Persona 3 and Persona 4, Edogawa holds a lecture on the arcana of the tarot. Tarot Motifs are very prominent in the Persona series, especially from the third game onward, where they tie in with the games' Social Link/Confidant mechanics, in addition to the major plotline bosses in 3 being themed after the arcana.
    • Rise's final Social Link event ends with her saying she doesn't know what to do after this since "if we were on TV, this would be a wrap." Cue fadeout.
  • Persona 5:
    • The protagonist will stick his hand out to the screen when you open the menu, with text reading "Don't look at me like that" in the corner of the screen. This is often done in Japan when making eye contact with fictional characters. The fact that the protagonist is doing it implies that he's not the fictional one.
    • Igor will regularly refer to the events of the game as, well, "a game." Though in his case it's more an allusion to the Picaresque / thief Caper nature of your activities.
    • In one of her Confidant events, Futaba will comment on how fortunate she is that people seem to show up to help her right when she needs it, and in her usual use of gamer lingo, she'll state that her "Luck stat must be high." She legitimately does have the highest Luck stat of your entire party, and by a wide margin.
      • In the same scene, she also asks the very non-playable Mishima "Are you an NPC?" because he's so boring and plain.
  • Peter Panic: Once you start Act 2, the gang acts like they haven't had something to do for a long time, which is resonable, since it took about seven months for the game to be completed.
  • In Phantasy Star IV when leaving the party he vastly out levels, Rune mentions to not think about defeating Zio, as "At this stage of the game, you're no match for him!", with "game" argubly being a figurative speech given his cocky personality.
  • Pokémon:
    • In Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, Steven makes a remark along the lines of, "Have we met...before? That's not possible. All the Trainers I have battled seem to have the same look, anyway. Especially the ones who gave me tough battles..." referring to the main character of this or really any Pokémon game.
    • In the post-game portions of Pokémon Black and White, Cynthia explicitly compares the hero/ine's determined expression to that of the hero/ine of Pokémon Platinum.
    • Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 have a Running Gag of random characters mistaking you for the previous games' protagonist. Even Hilbert/Hilda's mother. The best lean of BW2 is performed by Ghetsis in the Giant Chasm, commenting to the teenage player character that random teenagers always seem to screw up his plans... so this time, he'll just get you out of the way first.
    • In Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, a Bug Catcher in an early Pokémon Center talks about the trading centers located on the second floor. When the games were remade as Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, the Centers were cut down to one story since the trading feature had been retooled as part of the Player Search System (accessible from anywhere in the game), so instead he talks about how they used to have second floors "about ten years ago".
    • In Pokémon Platinum, when Charon starts talking down to Mars, she tells him that "You only joined us recently, you know!", in reference to how Charon didn't exist in the original Diamond & Pearl.
    • Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl have a similar gag to the aforementioned Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire example. In the original Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum, Professor Rowan's aide stops you as you enter Canalave City for the first time to upgrade your Pokédex to be able to show gender differences, which were first introduced in this generation. Since this has been standard in all succeeding generations, he says he's supposed to do this, but it seems your Pokédex already has this capability, and marvels at how "technology has improved in recent years".
    • In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity's postgame, Hydreigon has an odd moment where he senses something and looks around curiously, eventually appearing to settle his gaze on you before giving a Quizzical Tilt. In the climax of the postgame, it turns out that he was looking at you; just "you" as in the player character who had returned to the human world at the end of the main story, but had been watching him and the rest of their friends from the other side.
  • In Portal's end song: Still Alive
    GLaDOS: And we're out of beta, we're releasing on time.
    • In the sequel, a few of Wheatley's lines.
      Wheatley: Look at this! No rail to tell us where to go! This is great, we can go wherever we want! Hang on now, where ARE we going? Let me just get my bearings... just follow the rail, actually.
    • Also from the sequel, at one point Wheatley announces "This is the part where I kill you." Then the chapter name comes up, and it's "The Part Where He Kills You". And then the Steam achievement notification pops up, and it's also "The Part Where He Kills You". Cue achievement/Trophy description: "This is that part".
  • One level in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time takes place in a library. During gameplay, the Prince's sidekick/love interest Farah will occasionally read excerpts from books, and eventually the Prince exclaims, "If you want to be useful, try finding a book that'll tell us how to get out of here!" Farah replies with, "This isn't that kind of game", causing the Prince to mutter, "Game? She thinks this is a game."
  • Psychonauts 2: At several points throughout the game, a character will behave as though something from the previous games happened a long time ago, only to then be reminded/remember that it was only a few days ago in-universe. This is poking fun at the long period between the games' releases. Psychonauts 2 came out in 2021, Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin came out in 2017, and the original Psychonauts came out in 2005.
    Raz: Interesting, the campfire at Whispering Rock. I haven't been here for...days!
  • Puyo Puyo Chronicle: After you break the stone in Bleuo and arrive in Retty, Ringo points out that this means a hypothesis Maguro had made earlier came true. Maguro explains that he thought "maybe we're dealing with some sort of progression mechanic?" and that since a lot of the video games he plays have a mechanic like that, that's how he figured breaking the stone would let them move on to the next village. While he explicitly uses the term "progression mechanic", he doesn't say much else to imply that he's aware that he's in a game himself.
  • In Puzzle & Dragons Z, when they reached the final stage of The Passage of Life, the Hero, Nick and Sara mention how they've gotten to the end of the dungeon. Sara says that at the end of a dungeon there's only one thing there could be. Prompting everyone to simultaneously shout out "BOSS BATTLE!"

    R 

    S 
  • While Sam & Max: Freelance Police breaks the Fourth Wall regularly, sometimes they teasingly poke the glass, like lampshading their formulaic exchanges:
    Sam: Random but innocuous comment.
    Max: Irreverent reply which hints at mental instability!
    Sam: You crack me up, little buddy.
  • In Scratches, Arthate's working notes contain his musings over whether the threat in his latest horror novel should turn out to be natural, supernatural, or Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane. This corresponds to the original ending of the game itself, and to each of the multiple endings of the Director's Cut version.
  • Shantae: Risky's Revenge: Near the end, Shantae shows reluctance at helping a boss from earlier in the game, claiming that she saw her "exploding in some sort of massive Stage Clear spectacle."
  • Shing!: Despite having no reason to trust her, should you choose the alternate ending by heeding the AI's request to turn back to the elevator and leave without the Starseed, the quartet will comment on how it felt like a strong, overwhelming force was telling them it was the right thing to do, during the ride up. Wilhelm remarks that the will of the gods is not to be questioned.
  • When you take down the first enemy in Scenario 22 of the Earth Route in Shin Super Robot Wars, the enemy will use a Spirit Command. Of course, Zuhl's "galactic" genius is not matched by his assistant, who rapidly starts pushing the wrong buttons. After a while of this (culminating in Tekagen), Zuhl furiously orders his subordinate not to use any more Spirit Commands. All this is done to Ryusei Date's vast amusement.
  • One of the flavor quotes in Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri features the solipsistic musings of an individual speculating that the reality they're in is one big artificial simulation. In the "real world" of the game, they're a Brain in a Jar serving as a test subject for a science experiment.
  • Silent Hill 3: "Is this the end? Time to roll the credits."
    • Have Silent Hill 2 as an Old Save Bonus and you get a cutscene of Heather attempting to retrieve something from a toilet, before deciding it's too gross.
      (while looking directly at the camera) Who can even think about doing something so disgusting?
    • At the end of the credits for Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, Kaufman's analysis notes on the patient are directly referring to what he's deduced about you during the therapy sessions. Not the first game that's done this, until he ends the notes with "Lots of ground uncovered. Might be best to go back to the start and reexamine everything with the knowledge we have now. Think patient will agree?"
  • The Simpsons Game has a moment, after the Sea Captain spends an entire level assisting Bart and Lisa in overthrowing the dolphins (based on the Halloween Special "Night of the Dolphin").
    Sea Captain: Y'arr, I've had a great time today, kids. I almost never appear this much in the series...
    Bart and Lisa: Huh?
    Sea Captain: ...of events that constitute your lives.
  • Slaps and Beans is a video game where the two main characters, Terrence and Bud, are shooting a film the titular Slaps and Beans. Bud at one point complains Slaps and Beans "sounds more like a video game".
  • Several lines of dialogue in Spec Ops: The Line are clearly aimed as much at the player as at Capt. Martin Walker.
    John Konrad: The truth, Walker, is that you're here because you wanted to feel like something you're not - a hero.
  • One of Venom's taunts in Spider-Man (2000) is him humming part of the famous opening of the original Spider-Man cartoon.
  • In Splatoon 2, after the Chicken vs Egg" Splatfest Marina comments to one of Pearl's comments with "It's funny because we're all living in a simulation and free will is a lie." It refers to the fact they're in a video game, but also refers to the ideas that life is actually a simulation and that free will doesn't truly exist. On a darker note, it also refers to Marina's old life as an Octoling soldier; being raised on orders in such a tech-heavy environment will do that to people.
  • The first two Splinter Cell games used alarms as a "lives" system, where even outside of missions (or sections of them) that would immediately fail if the player got detected once, they still usually had a limit of being detected three times before game over. Chaos Theory demonstrated that it would handle alarms much differently, by having the first mission not give the enemy any actual alarm system, and then starting off the second one with this conversation:
    Lambert: Fisher, we just pulled up Celestina's dry-dock report for the Maria Narcissa. They have a newly-installed central alarm system.
    Sam: Don't tell me... three alarms and the mission is over?
    Lambert: Of course not, this is no video game, Fisher.
  • Spyro: A Hero's Tail:
    • Ember's line, "Don't take that bridge to the swamp, Spyro. If you do, I might never see you again." This both refers to the fact that it's dangerous, and that she literally disappears from the game after you cross the bridge.
    • Later, when Spyro encounters a mammoth boss, he mentions that all he has to do is run around for while until he figures out the boss's weakness, then hit him three times. The mammoth then stomps him flat. This is basically Spyro describing how to beat all the bosses in that game (and in several other Spyro games too).
  • The Stanley Parable does this a lot, given that the Narrator serves as a medium between the player and Stanley, who the player is controlling.
  • In StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, just before the final mission if you click on Tychus he will comment that he is worried about the artifact they are using and that he fears it might shatter the entire space-time continuum. Raynor's response is to tell him that it's not science fiction.
    • Ten years passed between the release of the original StarCraft and the announcement of its sequel. What were the first word's spoken by a character and the only line in the trailer?
      Hell, it's about time.
    • In Heart of the Swarm, when breaking into a lab, Kerrigan notes how heavily fortified it is and comments, "Just getting inside will be an achievement." Sure enough, the achievement for completing the ensuing mission is named, "Just Getting Inside".
  • Star Wars Legends:
    • Done in Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords a few times, generally by Kreia, in regards to Experience Points. The line from the rejoined Jedi Council about the Player Character getting strength through killing others is a particularly spelled-out instance.
    • After three games as protagonist of the Dark Forces Saga, Kyle Katarn knows the score when he accompanies new protagonist Jaden Korr in a mission halfway through Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy, and when they find a locked door Kyle has some choice words regarding them.
      They always lock the door... you think they'd have learned by now.
      Doesn't look like there's a key... that would be too easy.
      The console to unlock the door's probably hidden in some room twelve floors up or something. How does that make sense?
  • In Stellaris, one of the precursor civilizations you can investigate actually died because of this. The Vultaum attained an advanced society marked by a particular love for virtual reality games, until a philosophical movement formed that believed that "the entire universe was an artificial reality which all sentient beings had been unwittingly plugged into for the amusement of some higher power." The movement grew until at one point its adherents all committed mass suicide in an attempt to "disconnect" from this reality by overloading its system, and the Vultaum who didn't participate were too few to repopulate the species.
  • The final episode of Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People opens with the Trogdor arcade machine seemingly malfunctioning, making roaring noises. Strong Sad says it sounds like a problem with the fan, and that it'll need to be serviced. "Where am I supposed to get fan service around here?" Cue the cabinet sprouting Trogdor's head, legs, and beefy arm and coming to life.
  • Super Mario Bros.:
    • Super Mario Galaxy 2 does this when Mario is low on lives or runs out and gets a Game Over. If you are low on lives, Lubba suggests using the orange Luma (Player 2) to help you with the more difficult tasks and to have more fun. If you run out of lives, he will suggest to Mario to take a break. Similarly, if you lose a lot of lives in the process of getting through a level, he'll commend Mario for pulling through on a galaxy he was having a tough time with.
    • There's also Mario humming the theme tune of Super Mario 3D Land.
    • In Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, Luigi will hum what is actually the background music in an attempt to maintain morale.
    • Mario Party 5: When it comes to the final five turns, Bowser will show the current player ranks and then remark 'At this rate, (leader) is going to beat all of you! If it's that easy, this ain't a Mario Party!', in what can definitely be read as an acknowledgement from the developers of how you can be screwed out of the lead in no time at all in this series.
  • Most of the other shows involved in the crossover game Super Robot Wars V also have characters Spared by the Adaptation or otherwise better-off than they were in canon. Near the end of the game, almost everything that Black Noir has to say is some form of complaint about characters getting off easier than they were supposed to.
  • One of the many examples from Super Robot Wars: Original Generation:
    Sanger: Shut up! The Colossal Blade is the sword of my soul! As long as I have this I can still fight! This mech will inherit my soul! Behold the power of...
    *Giant writing on the screen*: Episode 30: Dygenguard!
    Vigagi: What was that!? And what does 'Episode 30' mean!?
    • Tenzan, who learned how to pilot mechs entirely through video games, constantly sees everything in video game terms. After he is defeated, he insists with his last breath that he'll just press Continue and try again with full HP. Which is something the player can actually do in case of a Game Over, but he can't.

    T 
  • Tales of the Abyss has some skits triggered by having the characters fight in their alternate swimsuit costumes. In the skits, they wonder why they're dressed like that, claiming they have no idea why and feeling like some unknown force was causing them to do it.
    • The in-battle quotes are also weirdly fourth-wall-leaning-ish. In the Tales Series characters often have incantations, quotes for when they're at low health, etcetera, which all make sense in the context of a fight. In Abyss, the AI members have quotes if you order them to take certain actions, but the character you're controlling doesn't verbally give the order. So if you ask Jade to cast Thunder Blade for the eight hundredth time, when he snaps "oh, very well," he seems to be snarking at you.
  • Tales of Vesperia has the same thing as Abyss if you make Karol run around in a towel. He says someone's making him wear it because they thought it would be funny, but everyone in the party insists it wasn't their idea, and then Karol looks really confused.
    • Similar to the Abyss example above, party members will often pick on your playstyle if you do weird/bad things like running around without attacking, using too many artes, or using too many items.
  • Tekken 8 has an example in Reina's trailer: Before her fight with Kazuya, the latter questions who she is, which, given that Reina is a new character, the viewer will likely be wondering too. She chuckles and comments that he'll "understand soon enough". Then the match begins and Reina immediately starts by using a Wind God Fist, answering that question for any viewers experienced with this franchise.
  • In Terminator 3: Redemption, the T-850 kills the T-X with the Pre-Mortem One-Liner "Game Over". Very aptly, it's the end of the game.
  • Tokyo Xanadu: Yuuki, being a Playful Hacker gamer, likes making videogame references. He specifically makes references to being just about to pass Point of No Return, and when the Bonus Level has started as part of the Golden Ending.
  • Tomb Raider: Anniversary, a remake of the original game, begins with Lara being hired to find an artifact she previously spent years searching for. Or as Natla puts it, "This is a game you've played before".
  • Touhou Project occasionally breaks the fourth wall, but more often makes passing comments in throwaway puns that give translators headaches that lean pretty heavily on the fourth wall. A good example is Marisa's comment in Touhou Eiyashou ~ Imperishable Night where, when asked what she was doing out at night early on in the game, Marisa replies, "It's my annual Youkai Extermination Month. I'll go wherever youkai live." - Imperishable Night and the other Windows Touhou games before it were all released in the same month of consecutive years. It's worth noting that even though the game came out in the same month in real life, the games take place during different seasons in-game (with the seasons being important basic elements to several of those games, like Touhou Youyoumu ~ Perfect Cherry Blossom being about someone stealing the season of Spring, keeping Winter from passing), meaning the joke only makes sense when it is referencing the fourth wall.

    U 
  • Until Dawn pretends like it's Breaking the Fourth Wall by occasionally having a psychiatrist character appear and speak directly to the camera about how "you" are "playing your little game," making it seem like he's talking to the player of Until Dawn. It's eventually revealed that "you" is actually one of the characters in the game, and the "little game" he's referring to is the character's elaborate prank he's playing on his friends.

    W 
  • In Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, during the briefing before the final mission, Arthas exclaims something along the lines of: "It's time to end the game ... once and for all." Which is a reference to Malah's line from Diablo II: Lord of Destruction: "You knew it would come to this. Kill Baal; finish the game!"
  • The Witness: The prize for completing a hidden, difficult-to-achieve reward is a lecture that talks about why hidden, difficult-to-achieve rewards shouldn't be the coolest part of a game. Naturally, the hidden achievement was one of the most talked about part of the game from players, because it was so cool (and the lecture was actually well-researched, too).
  • In World of Warcraft there is an NPC in Honor Hold who claims he feels as though he is going through the same sequence of actions repeatedly, making reference to going through an action loop.

    X 
  • XCOM: Enemy Unknown: At one point during the alien base infiltration mission, the following remark is heard from the peanut gallery that is your base's command staff:
    Dr. Shen: Is this what the aliens do for fun? At least they're not playing ... computer games.

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