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Madness Mantra / Video Games

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Madness Mantras... Madness Mantras... Madness Mantras... Madness Mantras... Madness Mantras... in video games.

  • Some of the Taken in Alan Wake are prone to this, relentlessly shouting phrases from their everyday lives before the Dark Presence enslaved them.
    "Carrrrl Stucky. Pleased... to meet you!"
  • Amnesia: The Dark Descent: Paint the man, cut the lines, paint the man, cut the lines...
    • Amnesia: The Bunker: "Blood on my hands blood on my hands blood on my hands", the first line of Lambert's last journal entry, which the Beast also mutters to itself throughout the game.
  • Baldur's Gate:
    • "TIAX RULES ALL!", "Back! Bad dog! Play dead!", and "Many, many pretties... piled high beyond the sky!"
    • There's also a minor character named Mad Arcand who peppers his speech with "(wertle wertle woo)" and asks you to go and get something from a pirate ship, admonishing you not to wear it or "you'll wertle too." It's a cursed Ring of Folly.
    • There's also the Elven Wizard one originally met on the Wolfwere island, but now held in Spellhold. Almost everything he says ends in, or gets interrupted by him shouting "BAD DOGGIE WEREWOLVES"
  • Baroque gets extra irony points for having the Absolute God chant "Don't go crazy Don't go crazy Don't go crazy Don't go crazy". For added effect, the subtitle for each instance was placed at a random point on the screen. Turns out she was actually telling the protagonist not to go crazy like her.
  • Batman: Arkham Series:
  • Batman: The Telltale Series has Harvey Dent after Jumping Off the Slippery Slope following being injected with a Psycho Serum and walking in on best friend Bruce and girlfriend Selina both in their underwear, who may have even done the deed.
    Dent: It's just me. It's just me. It's just me.
  • BioShock:
    • Practically every NPC who is capable of speech does this, from the Splicers' "Father! Why have you forsaken me?" and "What more can I give you, Mr. Ryan?" to the Little Sisters' "Look, Mr. B, an angel!" to the more unique ones like "Aesthetics are a moral imperative" and "I CAN'T TAKE THE EARS OFF!" The Splicers and Little Sisters have dozens of them.
    • Them singing "Jesus loves me this I know", since Christianity was supposed to be banned in Rapture, and there are smugglers crates full of nothing but tons and tons of Bibles.
  • If left idle, Arakune from BlazBlue will start babbling "I'm different, I'm different, I'm different" in the middle of a battle.
  • Blaze Union: LET'S FIGHT MORE~! MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE!!
  • Bloodborne wouldn't be a Cosmic Horror Story without several:
    • From a random townsperson: "Bless us with blood, bless us with blood..."
    • From the Research Hall patients: "Plip, plop, splish, splosh..."
    • From Yamamura: "Shrouded by night but with steady stride. Colored by blood, but always clear of mind. Proud ** Hunter of the Church. Beasts are a curse and a curse is a shackle. Only ye are the true blades of the Church."
    • From Vicar Amelia: "But beware the frailty of men; their wills are weak, minds young..."
    • From Micolash: "Ah Kos, or some say Kosm... do you hear our prayers? As you once did for the vacuous Rom, grant us eyes, grant us eyes!"
  • One of Krieg's idle quotes in Borderlands 2:
    "Why aren't my fingers in someone's eye sockets right now..."
    "Why aren't my fingers in someone's eye sockets right now..."
    "Why aren't my fingers in someone's eye sockets right now..."
    "Why aren't my fingers in someone's eye sockets right now..."
    "Why aren't my fingers in someone's eye sockets right now..."
    "Why aren't my fingers in someone's eye sockets right now..."
    • Also, while all of his Raving Retribution quotes count, this fits the profile much better.
      "The voices said 'empty, hollow and thud'. The voices said 'empty, hollow and thud'. THE VOICES SAID 'EMPTY, HOLLOW AND THUD'!!"
      • invoked What makes that particularly clever is that it's based on a real Madness Mantra (see the Real Life folder on the main place).
    • Tiny Tina slips into this briefly when she takes up poetry.
    Kill Jack. Kill Jack. Kill Jack. Kill Jack. Kill Jack. KIIIIIIIIIILLLL JAAAAAAACCCCKKKK! Kill Jack. A poem by Tiny Tina.
  • Brawl Stars: We already told you this it's normal, we already told you this time it's normal, we already told you this time it's normal...
  • The numbers of Call of Duty: Black Ops, which can be heard playing incessantly at several points in the game. Except that the person doing it isn't insane and he's not saying them, He's been brainwashed into becoming a Soviet sleeper agent, and the numbers are a Chekhov's Gun.
  • cat planet Cat Planet Cat Planet Planet of the Cats Cat Planet Planet Cat Cat Planet!
  • The Chzo Mythos series: It hurts.
    • Alternatively: "Father, why?"
  • Control: In a similar vein to Alan Wake above, after being possessed by The Hiss, all corrupted humans have an exceptionally lengthy case of this trope burned into their minds. The corrupted are compelled to endlessly babble a mantra filled with unsettlingly nonsensical phrases spoken exclusively in second-person, and it is speculated in-universe that the chanting of idle Hiss victims serves as a signal-booster for its metaphysical presence.
    The Hiss: An earworm is a tune you can’t stop humming in a dream: "Baby baby baby, yeah!"
  • In Cultist Simulator, the final prompt if you lose by running out of Sanity is "YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES".
  • Danganronpa:
    • Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc:
      • "Stupidstupidstupidstupidstupidstupid!" Damn it, Leon! The anime even repeated that.
      • From chapter 2: "Strong, strong, strong, strong, strong, strong! Stronger than you! And stronger than Daaaaiiiyaaaaa!!!"
      • From chapter 3, kicking off what would become something of a tradition: "Because, because...because, because, because, because, BECAUSE!!!!"
    • Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair has Mikan's "It's not fair not fair not fair not fair notfairnotfairnotfairnotfairnotfairnotfairnotfair..."
    • Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony
      • "APOLOGIZE APOLOGIZE APOLOGIZE APOLOGIZE APOLOGIZE APOLOGIZE APOLOGIZE!" Woah there, Korekiyo. Take a chill pill, why don't you?
      • From the final Argument Armament against Ki-bo hacked by the audience: "HOPE! DESPAIR! HOPE! DESPAIR! HOPE! DESPAIR!"
  • Dead Space: 'Make us whole again'. Whether the madness belongs to the player, the NPCs or both is disconcertingly ambiguous. Additionally, the Ishimura's crew leave behind a nice ship full of crazy.
    • Subverted by "Cut off their limbs" which seems like one given that it's written in blood, but it's actually just sound advice.
      • Played straight in the audio log of the engineer who cuts off his own limbs so he can't kill people as a necromorph. It didn't work.
    • Dead Space 3: Awakened has this charming little gem: "They are hungry. They are coming."
  • Deltarune: Spamton repeats "NOW'S YOUR CHANCE TO BE A BIG SHOT" and variations upon it over and over, and the phrase even is voiced and mixed in most of the game's music associated with him.
  • The real Overlord Zenon from Disgaea 2: "I am a being of solitude..."
  • A possible subconscious example in Dishonored: during the dream in which he encounters The Outsider, Corvo finds a note next to the body of the the Empress. The note says: YOU CANNOT SAVE HER YOU CANNOT SAVE HER YOU CANNOT SAVE HER YOU CANNOT SAVE HER over and over. In The Knife of Dunwall, where you play as her assassin, the note says "YOU KILLED HER".
  • In Doki Doki Literature Club!, Sayori's last poem before her suicide begins with "Get out of my head" repeated over and over.
  • In Dragon Age: Origins, Hespith, a dwarf woman in the Deep Roads, driven insane by having watched her family and loved ones be slaughtered, devoured, cannibalized, and mutated, all with the explicit approval of her leader who is also the woman she loves, repeats an incredibly creepy and detailed poem about how, exactly, the whole thing happened.
    • It is actually rather long example of this trope, but she will repeat it endlessly assuming you never make any effort to advance the plot/proceed through the dungeon.
  • Dragon Quest IX: A crime... Their very existence is an insult... an abomination... a crime...
  • In EarthBound (1994): Giygas, the Universal Cosmic Destroyer and the main villain, has become so powerful that his power literally destroyed his body and shattered his mind, leaving him an all-powerful, but completely insane deity of evil. During the final battle with him, aside from the usual "I feel... g...o...o...d......" or at other times, "It hurts... it hurts...", he occasionally calls out main character Ness' name repeatedly...
    Giygas: Ness... Ness Ness Ness Ness Ness Ness Ness Ness Ness Ness Ness Ness Ness Ness Ness Ness Ness Ness Ness Ness Ness Ness... Ness!
    • Also...
    Giygas: It's not right... not right... not right...
  • The Elder Scrolls
    • Sheogorath, the Daedric Prince of Madness: "Wabbajack wabbajack wabbajack wabbajack wabbajack......!"
    • Oblivion:
      • The Dark Brotherhood traitor's Diary, a Book Full of Crazy where all that's written is "killhimkillhimkillhimkillhimkillhim"
      • When he is listing the colors he thinks of in the book, he lists various colors with RED being the only one capitalized, than you flip to the next page to be greeted with: BLACKBLACKBLACKBLACKBLACKBLACKBLACKBLACKBLACKBLACK!!!!
      • Another diary in Oblivion is written by a vampire who's slowly going crazy from bloodthirst. The last page goes "Food blood blood blood blood I need it I need blood need blood".
  • Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem could, potentially, develop a Madness Mantra. Let the true magnitude of what they're fighting take hold, and the various characters will begin to assert that "This... isn't... really... happening!" (Sadly, that was optimistic.)
    • Usually. Sometimes, they weren't just surrounded by horrifying things; they were surrounded and hallucinating on top of it.
    • Then there's "May the rats eat your eyes! The darkness comes..."
  • In ClockUp's Euphoria, in Rinne's route, Rika screams Rinne's name again and again as she kills herself with a knife after failing to convince Keisuke to let go of Rinne. The mad screaming continues as she bleeds and ends as she loses consciousness from loss of blood.
  • In The Evil Within, Leslie, a character the protagonists chase throughout the game, tends to repeat what anyone says like a parrot. Every now and then he will repeat a few original phrases: "No, no, not there." and a phrase repeated in one of the trailers "Losing my mind. Losing my mind. Losing my mind..."
  • In Fable II in the Terry's Cotta area, when you find Terry's Final Diary, the last words were "They watch over me. They watch me. They watch me. They watch me...", which indicates that Terry had gotten insane from the unending stare from the Knights.
  • Fallen London has many involving Mr Eaten and those who seek his name.
    • For example, when deciding what to do with An Unusual Pail of So-Called Snow, Seekers of the Name could decide to drown a rat in it.
      All shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well. All shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well. ALL SHALL BE WELL AND ALL SHALL BE WELL AND ALL MANNER OF THING SHALL BE WELL SHALL BE WELL. ALL SHALL BE WELL. ALL SHALL BE WELL. SHALL BE WELL. SHALL BE WELL. SHALL BE WELL. SHALL BE WELL. NOT POSTPONED. NOT IN THE END. NOT FOR LONG.
  • Fallout 4 has a terminal entry by a raider named Bedlam in the Dunwich Borers mine saying "I am safe in the light. I am safe in the light. I am safe in the light. I am safe in the light..."
  • Farethere City:
    • The floor of your general store, as with any place that had someone living in it who decided to take the journey on the Path of Rebirth, has graffiti on it, which includes the word "me"note  several times. There's also a special version when you're finally investigating the hauntings that says "you".
    • Bonus area Rorschach Hospital has a wall covered in "who am i?" in the "sane" version. (Enter one room, however, and it'll turn into one instance.)
  • Fatal Frame:
    • Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly:
      • The first violet diary written by the Kiryu twins reads nothing but "WHY KILL, WHY KILL, WHY KILL, WHY KILL..."
      • In one of the fluorite Spirit Stones, Sae utters "Kill me, kill me, kill me..."
    • Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse has so many examples in the files:
      • Asagi Hizuki's diary reads "It hurts!!! So much fun!!/It hurts, the fun much hurts/The surgery is fun, it hurts/The surgery fun/Fun nn, it hurts ss/Hate fun nnn/Hurts ss/Ssss..."
      • The Fisherman's testament has "That wo man That woman Th at wo man Th at woman Th at wo man"
      • At the end of both of Magaki's journals, it reads "I was born. I was born. I was born! I was born!"
      • Sakuya's diary has "A world without sound A world without sound a world without sound"
      • The Fisherman's testament also has "her face is not clear! Her face is not clear! her face is not clear! Her face is not clear! her face is not clear! Her face is not clear!"
      • One of Madoka's memos repeat "the moon the moon the moon the moon"
    • Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water: "I'm not sick anymore... I'm not sick anymore..."
  • Final Fantasy VI: Kefka, in the Bowdlerized version during the flying continent Sequence when Celes opts to stab him rather than join him: "Hate Hate Hate Hate Hate"
    • In the Fan Translation replace Hate with Bitch
      • The translation in the GBA version subverts this, as it turns out to be more along the lines of Angrish.
      • And in Dissidia Final Fantasy his madness mantra seems to have become "Destroy" and "Destruction". This is more or less stated outright and explained during Kefka's final moments where it is revealed that he is unable to find any meaning in life due to, and beyond, all things' inevitable destruction.
      • Dissidia 012 brings back the "I hatehatehatehatehate" line.
  • In Final Fantasy VIII, what appears to be random letters that's been overpowering the television airwaves for the last eighteen years is actually a Bilingual Bonus mantra in English if you look carefully: "BRING ME BACK THERE I AM ALIVE HERE" and "I'LL NEVER LET YOU FORGET ABOUT ME." The interference is caused by a powerful magic-jamming device in orbit, imprisoning the evil sorceress Adel for these last eighteen years.
  • Final Fantasy XIII: "Pinhead! Pinhead! McCall is a PINHEAD!"
  • In Final Fantasy IX Black Waltz no. 3's chant "I exist only to kill! I exist only to kill! I exist only to kill! I exist only to kill...!"
  • Five Nights at Freddy's 2: During the mini-games, you'll hear a creepy robotic voice spelling out "Save Them", "Save Him" and "Help Them" over and over.
  • In the horror/adventure/drama game Fragile Dreams, the player character Seto enters a trashed room filled with boxes and other post-apocalyptic junk towards the end of the game. For those using one of the regular flashlights, there is nothing remotely disconcerting about this room. However, if you use the flashlight that allows you to see hidden messages written on the wall, you will suddenly enter a room where every surface has "I don't want to die! I don't want to die! I don't want to die!" scribbled over it in an increasingly desperate hand. If you scare easily, do yourself a favor and don't enter the room with that flashlight.
  • .hack//G.U.'s'' Haseo has "Come on, come on! I'm right here!" It's usually chanted when he's summoning Skeith, the Terror Of Death, into himself.
    • Through the games, we see the Awakening - the first summoning - of four of the eight avatars. Each one is accompanied by the summoner's total mental collapse and their own distinctive mantra, whether it's Atoli yelling Sakaki's name, or Yata just screaming "No!"
  • Hades has Achilles' "fear is for the weak", which more often than not sounds like a casual Catchphrase, if not a Badass Boast. But in the Codex entry for his lost lover Patroclus, it devolves into this.
    ...Forgive me. It is not my place to say much of him, now. May his name yet live. May his soul bask forever in the glory of Elysium. No more. Fear is for the weak. Fear is for the weak. Fear is for the weak. Fear is for the weak. No more!
  • In Hatoful Boyfriend, Hitori Uzune/Kazuaki Nanaki goes through this in The BBL route after finding out that what was left of Nageki Fujishiro,his foster brother after he committed suicide is now in Ryouta, while he tries to dig that part out of him. Just to remind you, this is a dating sim about pigeons.
  • Half-Life 2: A citizen pacing back and forth in the City 17 train station can be heard muttering about the coming and going trains.
    "...they're always departing but they never arrive... and the ones that do arrive, they-they never leave... you never see them go... they're always full... no one ever gets on... but they're always... they're always departing but they never arrive... and the ones that do arrive, they-they never leave..."
  • Halo:
  • Hakaiou: King of Crusher have the alien bug egging you to continuously destroy everything around you, via telepathy.
    Destroy, destroy, destroy...
  • Hungry Lamu: In one of the pages of the fictional children's book, "The Llama is Hungry", found in Lamu's cave, the sentence "they are fruits" is repeated over and over in red writing belonging to Lamu. This indicts that Lamu is trying to believe that he's only eating fruits, which are actually living beings outside of his perspective.
  • On Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory after a certain dominatrix rapes her for 2 hours, Noire comes out of the room babbling:
    Noire: "I AM GOING TO LOWEE. I AM GOING TO LOWEE. THEY WILL HEAR ME COMPLAIN DIRECTLY. IN LOWEE. TO LOWEE... I AM GOING... COMPLAIN DIRECTLY...GOING AND GOING AND GOING AND GOING AND GOING AND GOING AND..."
    Noire: "I WILL GO TO LOWEE. I WILL SAY MY COMPLAINTS DIRECTLY TO HER. GO TO LOWEE. GO TO. GO. TO. GO... GO TO. GO. TO. GO..."
  • The Big Bad of I Miss the Sunrise has one:
    "The emitters made us immortal... EROS makes us all-knowing... Typelog makes our thoughts omnipresent... Immortal, all-knowing, omnipresent... immortal, all-knowing, omnipresent... immortal, all-knowing, omnipresent..."
  • The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction: Blonkys' last audio recording. "I've seen the color of my soul, and it's black. I've seen the colour of my soul, and it's black. I've seen the colour of my soul... and it's black."
  • In Kirby and the Forgotten Land, the Big Bad Fecto Forgo had been used as a tourist attraction for so long that even in their dreams they can still hear the tour guide's pre-recorded speech and the cheery background music accompanying it over and over and over. This is shown by supremely creepy music that plays when Kirby approaches their dream version of Lab Discovera, in which the distorted music and some of the tour guide's voice lines repeat themselves ad nauseam.
    And here we are! And here we are! AND HERE WE ARE! And here we—WELCOME, VISITORS!
  • The Last Story:
    Jirall: She's always treated me with such scorn! Always... Always... Always... Always... Always! Always! Always! Always! AlwaysalwaysalwaysalwaysalwaysalwaysALWAYSALWAYSALWAYSALUUUGH!
  • One of Left 4 Dead's Zombie Infectees, a paranoid survivor who's locked himself in a safe room inside of a church, repeatedly tells himself "Better safe than sorry. Better safe than sorry. BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY!". After you kill the "Church Guy" and enter the safe room, you'll find "better safe than sorry" written all over the walls.
  • Legacy of Kain: Kain refused the sacrifice!
  • Lux-Pain is full of these- the Shinen of those infected with Silent tend to repeat phrases like "I'll kill you" and "This is fun" over... and over... and over...
  • Green Goblin gets one in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order after seeing a Bad Future where Thanos wins:
    Green Goblin: This is how it all ends... This is how it all ends... This is how it all ends...
  • Mass Effect 2: "The square root of 912.04 is 30.2 ...it all seemed harmless..."
  • Max Payne: The Arc Words of the first game, "the flesh of fallen angels," are repeated by certain V-crazed junkies as well as the psychotic Act I boss Jack Lupino. The phrase is also used by "the pink flamingo" in the in-game TV show "Address Unknown", although it's stated in a creepy distorted voice that's hard to make out (a tribute to the backwards talking in Twin Peaks).
    • Also in the "Address Unknown" show: Mirrors are more fun than television.
  • Mega Man X7: "BURN! BURN! BURN TO THE GROUND! BURN! BURN! BURN TO THE GROUND! BURN! BURN! BURN TO THE GROUND!" (All of the mavericks in the game call your attacks, but Flame Hyenard is considered the most annoying because he has an ear-grating voice and he generates clones, all of whom will chant "BURN TO THE GROUND" over and over again, interrupting each other so that it sounds like he's stuttering and repeating himself.)
  • Middle-earth: Shadow of War:
    • Brûz the Chopper's questline ends with him being Shamed into madness and will forever constantly cry out "It's not my fort! It's your fort! I never wanted the fort!" or some variation of the lines.
    • Captains who have been repeatedly Shamed or came Deranged to begin with tend to only repeat a set of words over and over again depending on their other traits, no matter the situation. Some are so broken, however, they don't even get words, reduced to pitiful wailing or constant giggling and screaming.
  • Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. Kano's Arcade ending. "Death to Shang Tsung... Death to Shang Tsung... DEATH TO SHANG TSUNG!"
  • Muv-Luv Alternative: "He witnessed Jinguuji-san eating out with another man." "He witnessed Jinguuji-san eating out with another man." "He witnessed Jinguuji-san eating out with another man." "He witnessed Jinguuji-san eating out with another man." "He witnessed Jinguuji-san eating out with another man." "He witnessed Jinguuji-san eating out with another man." The manga has this from Marimo's stalker: It's not my fault. It's not my fault. It's not my fault. It's not my fault. It's not my fault. It's not my fault. It's not my fault. It's not my fault.
  • Myst III: Exile. If you trap Saavedro behind the shields in Narayan (which you have to do to finish the game with the Good Plus Ending), he first looks up at you, mumbles to himself about how stupid it was to trust you, then starts screaming "NO" repeatedly... And then later, if you try to get the MacGuffin from him, he pleads for his release and starts doing it again.
  • Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2005): In the Pepega Edition Game Mod, Cross yells his memetic Large Ham quote EVERYONE! EVERYONE! EVERYONE! EVERYONE! EVERYONE! EVERYONE! EVERYONE! EVERYONE! EVERYONE! EVERYONE! EVERYONE! EVERYONE! EVERYONE! EVERYONE! EVERYONE! to the point that KuruHS and the rest of the entire world would hear.
  • In Nier, after Devola is killed, Popola is reduced to screaming "NO ONE STOPS" at the heroes after they beg her to stop fighting.
    • "THIS CANNOT CONTINUE" and "BECOME AS GODS" are used as such in NieR: Automata, to the point that the soundtrack has two unique variants of "Birth of a Wish" with a chorus of machines chanting them.
      • Simone also has a few, but the big one is “He won’t look my way.”
      • The Weird-talking Machine repeats "they had it comin'" over and over when you finish its quest.
      • After finishing a certain quest (not mentioned here because it's a spoiler), the quest giver briefly lapses into one of these before breaking down completely. (And by breaking down, we don't mean emotionally, we mean like how a machine breaks down.)
        YoRHa E-Type: Eee hee hee! Do you need a friend killed? A lover? It's my job! My job! Hee! My job! Hee hee! My j-job my j-j-job my-y-y-yyyyy jjjooooeeeheeheeeeeee...
  • Though the real significance of it isn't revealed until the game's end, Travis Touchdown has a nice inner monologue during the first boss fight of No More Heroes which ends with the repetition of the phrase "Can't find the exit" a good twenty times.
  • Octopath Traveler: What Cyrus discovers on the mural in the Ruins of Eld that serves as a warning against releasing Galdera.
    DEATHDOOMDESTRUCTIONDEATHDOOMDESTRUCTIONDEATHDOOMDESTRUCTIONDEATHDOOMDESTRUCTION
  • Octopath Traveler II:
    • The Dark Entity from Ochette's Chapter 1 repeats Roi's last words to Temenos as its only dialogues, suggesting that Roi was tortured and mutated into it.
    • The Enshrouded King from Hikari's Chapter 5 repeats "Quenches the flames. Call out to the night'' upon transforming, and keeps saying these when attacking.
    • The Old Vessel in Lostseed repeats "death", "corruption" and "destruction" for his inquire/scrutinize/bribe/coerce entry.
  • OMORI: The Final Boss ends up reciting one over and over again should you manage to reach his final phase:
    Omori: You should just die. You should just die. You should just die.
  • A couple from Outlast, such as the asylum inmate who keeps saying "Down the drain" over and over, and wrote it on the wall in blood.
    • Outlast II keeps up with that tradition, with Marta being the forefront of it, as her music cues are usually followed by "God give me voice. God guide my hand."
  • In Overwatch, the character Sigma was driven mad in a Freak Lab Accident that fractured his mind and gave him gravity powers. He hears a piano piece no one else can hear, and often asks "What is that melody?". In his more lucid moments, he pleads with himself to "Hold it together."
  • In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, should you attempt to cheat at Lucky the Bob-omb's once-a-day lottery drawing by changing your system's clock, he'll be so disturbed by the fact that he'll go through about six different madness mantras and almost blow himself up in the process before expressing his irritation in a coherent fashion and requiring you to purchase a new lottery number for five times the original price.
  • In Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, Joker uses the word "voices" in this manner — some of his battle taunts are just shouting "voices", and during the point of his most intense breakdown, he just repeats "voices" over and over again for nearly a dialogue box's worth of speech. This is because he's Tatsuya Sudou, a.k.a. King Leo from the previous Persona 2: Innocent Sin, and the leader of the previous Joker's Masquerade Executives. He hears voices — actually Nyarlathotep — that tell him of the previous world and his role in it, causing him to take up the mantle of Joker and try to push events to repeat themselves... with the side effect of making the already deranged Sudou even crazier.
  • Phantasmagoria: A Puzzle of Flesh:
    • A mental hospital patient (although they might be a hallucination) has a habit of chanting "Disco dance! Disco dance! Disco dance!". The result is... less than terrifying. He says several more when clicked on repeatedly, such as "Pizza, pizza! PIZZA!" "There's my taco salad!" "Froot Loops and Cheerios!" "Harry Belafonte went to..." or "Everybody in the POOOOOOOOOOOL!"
    • And the girl repeatedly chanting "Sick and Wrong... sick and wrong!"
  • Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Justice For All:
    Matt Engarde: NOOOO! GUiltyguiltyguILtyguiltyGUILTYgUiLty...
  • Pokémon Scarlet and Violet: The Teal Mask: During the story's ending, a thoroughly broken Kieran declares his desire to defeat the player.
    Kieran: I need to become... I need to become...a lot stronger. Stronger. Stronger! Stronger and stronger and stronger!
    • And then later, after he is defeated as Champion in The Indigo Disk:
      Kieran: ...win...next time... I won't lose... Next time, for sure, I'll... I'll win. Next time... I'll win...
  • Portal: The cake is a lie
    The cake is a lie
    The cake is a lie
    The cake is a lie
    The Cake Is a Lie
  • Psychonauts: I am the milkman. My milk is delicious.
  • Insane Marines in Quake II had several, including "Make it stop!" and "Kill me now."
  • In Puyo Puyo!! 20th Anniversary, after going through Sanity Slippage as a result of sweets withdrawal caused by some Compressed Abstinence, Lemres imagines Dongurigaeru, an acorn frog, is a gumdrop and repeats "sweetssweetssweetssweetssweets" repeatedly. Later, he comes across Schezo, who is in a cave with a wedding cake he had baked himself (for some reason), and repeats "cakey cakey cakey" repeatedly before battling him.
  • Resident Evil:
    • In Resident Evil 4, Los Illuminados Zealots constantly chant "Cogedlo (Get him)", "Morir es vivir (To die is to live)", "Muere (Die)", and "Cerebros (brains)".
    • In Resident Evil: Revelations, Scagdeads often repeat meaningless words over and over again, although they have already lost consciousness. For the communications officer, it results in this:
      "Mayday, mayday... This is the Queen Zenobia... emergency call number... mayday, mayday... maaaaaayyyy.... daaaaayyyyyy..."
  • Rule of Rose has, right at the end, one of these. Stray Dog's "I'm sorry, Joshua," line during the last boss fight seems to fit, at least.
  • Silent Hill 2 has a written one early on: the phrase "Run away!" written over and over again on a sheet of notepaper left on the ground.
  • Silent Hill: Shattered Memories: "I love my daddy! I love my daddy! I love my daddy! I love my daddy!"
  • The KamuiDrome chapter of The Silver Case features one in text that a character types out just after they've contracted a virus through the computer.
  • SI No ALLICE has an out of universe one happen in their Global ad campaigns where if you've downloaded the app before, played it and either stopped playing it by just not playing it or deleting the app, one of the ads will have Parrah and Noyah spam the screen to COME BACK!
  • Sonic Forces: Episode Shadow.
    Infinite: Urgh... Pathetic?! Me... he's calling ME weak?! No! I am not weak! I'm... I'm not. I'm not weak! I AM NOT WEAK! URRRAAAAAAAAGH!!!
    • Happens again later when Infinite traps Shadow in a virtual reality, having his own allies repeat it for him.
      E-123 Omega: I am not defeated, I am not weak, I am not weak, I AM NOT WEAK... I AM NOT WEAK... I AM NOT WEAK...
  • In Soul Sunder Arya, on realizing that she and her brother Alex are outside of their village and its anti-monster protection after falling off a cliff, starts repeating "I don't want to die!"
  • Spirit Hunter: NG:
    • When Akira reaches the peak of the time limit that Kakuya has set for him, the extra mouths infesting his face will jibber on about whatever action Akira has done to anger the chapter's spirit.
      Don't don't look inside don't look inside inside Don't look don't look inside don't look inside
    • In the Screaming Author case, a voice begging people to 'not look inside' can be heard repeatedly if someone attempts to get inside the Miroku Mansion. This turns out to be because the spirit trapped there doesn't want anyone seeing her disturbing appearance after she was experimented on by Yakumo.
  • In Spooky's Jump Scare Mansion, if you're caught by Specimen 9, the last screen you see is a still image of the Specimen's face with an overlaid Wall of Text that exclusively says "TAKE THE DEAD TO TAKE THE DEAD TO TAKE THE DEAD TO" over and over.
  • Some of the prisoners in Strife can be found chanting the measurements of their cells.
    Prisoner: Five feet by four feet. Five feet by four feet. Five feet by four feet.
  • The Stanley Parable: Though it doesn't become a proper Madness Mantra until the Skip Button ending of Ultra Deluxe,
    The Narrator: ...the end is never the end is never the end is never the end is never the end is never the end is never the end...
  • Ashton from Star Ocean: The Second Story has an unusual obsession with barrels and is frequently seen near them, remarking on their qualities. On one occasion, the sight of a colourful checkered barrel seems to make him have a brief lapse of sanity...
    Ashton: ...Barrel. ...Colourful barrel. Barrel BARREL Barrel BARREL Barrel BARREL Barrel BARREL Barrel BARREL Barrel BARREL BARREL.
  • Steins;Gate:
    • "I failed I failed I failed I failed I failed I failed I failed I failed I failed I failed I failed I failed..." Happens to Suzuha Amane after her memories of her mission to retrieve the IBN 5100 finally return to her—nearly 25 years after she was supposed to have retrieved it.
    • A silent version arrives in Kiryuu's constant typing of "FB FB FB FB FB FB FB FB FB...".
  • Sunless Sea: THE SUN THE SUN THE SUN THE SUN THE SUN. The Dawn Machine does strange things to one's mind. The very same mantra occurs in Sunless Skies when approaching the Clockwork Sun, which is the Dawn Machine's spiritual successor (in fact, it is implied that the Clockwork Sun was build from the Dawn Machine).
  • In Superhot, as the game takes control of the player, everything they try to type to warn their friend about their situation is instantly replaced with "SUPER HOT SUPER HOT SUPER HOT SUPER HOT SUPER HOT" and so on.
    • At the end of the game, the system commands players to spread the word about the game, with the exact words "Superhot is the most innovative shooter I've played in years."
  • System Shock 2. The Hybrids, when not attacking, piteously ponder "We are? We are?" and "What... happened to me?", and when they attack, they either apologetically shout "I'm sorry! Run! RUN!" or growl "You are not one of us!" or "You cannot see!" The Cyborg Midwives are even creepier, walking around talking about caring for "the little ones".
  • In the final level of Tattletail, your Tattletail doll invites some "friends" over for a "party"... which turns into some sort of diabolic ritual to banish Mama Tattletail once and for all, which leads to all the Tattletail dolls chanting "NO MORE MAMA! NO MORE MAMA!" over and over again.
  • Thief: Deadly Shadows:
    Stone Golem: A noise... And FIND... A noise... And FIND... And KILL AND CRUSH AND CRUSH AND KILL AND KILL AND CRUSH AND KILL!!!!!!!!!!
  • Treasure of the Rudra. You can use a Mantra (Custom Made spell based on how it is typed; inscribed) to actually invoke madness status on your characters or enemies.
  • True Crime: New York City. All the inmates of the mental asylum chant the same sing-song nonsense after the hero, um... beats them down.
  • Tsukihime: Help me.
  • Umineko: When They Cry:
    • SUMI DESU. SUMI DESU. SUMI SUMI SUMI DESU DESU DESU. SUMISUMISUMISUMISUMISUMISUMISUMIDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESU
  • In Vampire Legends 2: The Untold Story of Elizabeth Bathory, when the main character returns to consciousness after witnessing part of a dark ritual conducted by the title character, a local monk states that when he found her she was repeating over and over "The Countess...the girls, it ate them alive…"
  • In Wario World, Wario's taunting on the pause screen speaks for itself. Though, if you wait long enough, he WILL apologize.
  • In We Happy Few, near the end of the prologue Arthur finds the diary of a man becoming a Wastrelnote , and the last entry is simply him writing the words "WE'VE COME TO THE END OF OUR TIME!" over and over again. Uncle Jack's last transmission also has him finally cracking after some very personal reminders of the Very Bad Thing, screaming the same phrase again and again until he finally assaults the camera with a cricket bat, ending the recording
  • The World Ends with You: "To right the countless wrongs of our day, we shine this light of true redemption, that this place may become as paradise. What a wonderful world such would be." Repeated by anyone wearing a red skull pin, except Neku. By the end of the game, it's affected everyone (including the reapers) in Shibuya except for Kitaniji, Neku, Beat, Joshua, Konishi and Sho... and that one reaper who missed the emergency meeting.
    • If you replay and seek out all the hidden item boxes, Neku finds out that the decals allowing the players to interact with living people in shops also blocks the effects of the Red Skull pin, heavily implying that it's the Composer's power (which is behind the Player Pin and the decals) that blocks the madness.
  • In the city of Theramore in World of Warcraft, there's an NPC, James Hyal (or Smiling Jim). He was the owner of the Shady Rest Inn, before it was burned down by the Grimtotem Tauren, and constantly recites a song written in his honor: "He'll bring you mead, he'll bring you beer; A grinning face from ear to ear; He's served us all from year to year; We call him Smiling Jim." Besides the occasional laugh, that's all he ever says.

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