History ThouShaltNotKill / VideoGames

* Maintaining the same belief in the comics, Batman in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum'' never kills. According to his detective mode, his enemies always wind up unconscious. Yes, even the ones who have been punched in the face, or had a wall they were standing in front of blown up. Unconscious, every one.
** The game has many ways of preventing you from killing enemies, bordering on DevelopersForesight territory. Knock a guy off a tower, and Batman automatically attaches a cable to his foot. Throw a Mook down a bottomless pit and you hear a splash right away, implying that there's water just out of sight. There's even an invisible wall around the pool of electrified water, so you can't throw anyone in (Batman can still fall in himself, though).
*** The sequel ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'' extends this selective invisible wall to all of the many rooftops Batman fights on. Pay no attention to the fact that he's beating people into immobility, and leaving them lying around unable to defend themselves in a city filled with psychopaths, while they're wearing light clothing in the middle of winter.
** Taken to the extreme in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamOrigins'', where in the finale, Joker is so hellbent on forcing Batman to kill someone [[spoiler:he connects a heart monitor Bane is wearing to an electric chair, which the Joker is sitting in. Either Batman kills Bane, the electric chair kills Joker, or Bane kills Batman. How does Batman solve this situation? He ''puts Bane into cardiac arrest'' so that his heart stops long enough for Gordon to secure the Joker, then uses his shock gloves to ''bring Bane back to life'', knowing that Bane will try to kill Batman as soon as he wakes up again... and he does, leading to the boss battle with Titan-Infused Bane.]]
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCl0Qv8DkvQ As pointed out by]] ''WebVideo/OutsideXbox'', the people Batman nails in the head with propane tanks, drags off the GCPD roof to a multi-storey fall, pummels in the face at point-blank with "less-than-lethal" ammunition, or clonks in the throat with a car door should really not be as alive as Detective Mode claims they are.
*** [[https://youtu.be/XXyrRdDlE-0?t=215 Outside Xbox also pointed out]] that there were two times in ''Arkham Origins'' where Batman [[MurderByInaction could have let the Joker die and the blood technically wouldn't be on his hands]], [[LoopholeAbuse meaning that the Joker would be out of the picture without Batman technically violating the trope.]] [[spoiler: First was when they first met and Bane blasted the Joker off of a rooftop, the second time was the above mentioned electric chair scenario. In both cases, the Joker's death would have been on ''Bane'' and Batman could have walked away guilt-free, [[SaveTheVillain but nope.]]]]
** In ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'', some soldiers in the Arkham Knight's militia start exploiting Batman's refusal to kill by wearing suicide vests that are programmed to explode and kill the wearer if they become unconscious. Against Batman, this is probably better protection than any body armour you can get. The only reason this doesn't cause the Dark Knight serious problems is because he manages to catch the militia briefing on the vests and prevent them from being carried into the street.
*** The Batmobile can knock out random thugs by shooting them in the head and center-mass with "non-lethal slam rounds", which are a "Flexible plastic casing filled with 50 grams of rubber pellets". Also, if you actually hit someone with the car, they go flying through the air, with an electrical effect on them to imply they're stunned. And you can chase cars and blow them up with missiles, which only knocks out the bad guys or stops their cars.
*** Also played with in ''Knight'', when Batman has the option to [[spoiler:destroy the last Lazarus sample in the "Shadow War" DLC mission, essentially dooming Ra's al Ghul to die. While Ra's won't die in-game, he has at most days to live in the mission's "Destroy the Cure" ending, according to Nissa Raatko. Ra's even tells Batman how he is SoProudOfYou for letting him die, but Batman's reaction is YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame. Tellingly, when Batman enters the hospital with the sample, Alfred contacts him to ask whether letting Ra's unnatural existence end is the same as taking a life and states that he will support Batman's decision either way.]]
* In the [[VideoGame/BatmanSunsoft NES Batman game,]] Batman averts movie canon and hurls the Joker off the cathedral. [[HesDeadJim The rest of the ending is spent zooming in on the Joker's corpse.]] Then it plays it straight with the [[DirectToVideo NES only sequel]], ''Batman: Return of the Joker''.

* {{Deconstructed}} in both ''VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'' and ''VideoGame/Injustice2''. Batman thinks killing in the name of justice would make him no different from the criminals he or the Justice League frequently deal with but couldn't end ComicBook/TheJoker's KarmaHoudini problem, which backfired horribly when the MonsterClown killed millions in Metropolis in a bid to drive Superman to villainy. He insists on applying this rule out [[ControlFreak of his]] [[ItsAllAboutMe own ego]] even when he's outclassed by the likes of Darkseid or Brainiac, but [[LameComeback can't respond]] when the Regime members [[VillainHasAPoint all but]] [[ArmorPiercingQuestion accuse him of]] MurderByInaction by asking how many innocents must die before realizing that MurderIsTheBestSolution, or how his misplaced leniency has caused villains like Gorilla Grodd to keep on breaking out of {{Cardboard Prison}}s like Arkham and terrorize society with [[JokerImmunity no impunity]], despite knowing they [[ChronicVillainy won't reform]] no matter how many chances they're offered. Believing traditional superheroics to be outdated, the Regime remnants see Batman's refusal to kill as a sign of weakness and think the ethical framework that lets criminals alive is too ineffectual. They also call him a hypocrite in that while he won't kill, traumatic brain knock-outs are fine, but he never finds out if they survived said injuries.
** It's also reconstructed. The Regime's adherence to PayEvilUntoEvil is rooted in the belief that sparing criminals like the Joker led to the destruction of Metropolis. While some do agree that criminals do deserve to die, the Insurgents believe that RevengeIsNotJustice and not killing avoids JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope and entering HeWhoFightsMonsters territory.

* It is strongly implied in ''VideoGame/SpiderManShatteredDimensions'' that the player never kills anyone. This is {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in the tutorial, when ''ComicBook/SpiderMan2099'' throws a {{Mook}} off an elevated bridge, only to have Madame Web whisk him to safety via a dimensional portal. Also, Spider-Man Noir doesn't have [[SuperheroPackingHeat his pistol from the comics]]; its absence is never acknowledged.

** Also played with in ''Knight'', when Batman has the option to [[spoiler:destroy the last Lazarus sample in the "Shadow War" DLC mission, essentially dooming Ra's al Ghul to die. While Ra's won't die in-game, he has at most days to live in the mission's "Destroy the Cure" ending, according to Nissa Raatko. Ra's even tells Batman how he is SoProudOfYou for letting him die, but Batman's reaction is YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame. Tellingly, when Batman enters the hospital with the sample, Alfred contacts him to ask whether letting Ra's unnatural existence end is the same as taking a life and states that he will support Batman's decision either way.]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Yakuza}}'', though the main characters have ties into the criminal world, they do not have the murderous impulses of their crime sandbox brethren. It is often used to separate the honorable and dishonorable characters. For Kiryu, his reason for not killing was after the deaths of the only 3 people he considered family, and his vow to renew his life by being Haruka's father-figure. Granted, gameplay-wise Kiryu has been in shootouts where he's shot and blown up his enemies, or when he's tossed enemies out of the windows of skyscrapers or a moving vehicle on the freeway, or when he's shot at people driving cars that were trying to ram him, or when he's smashed people's skulls against walls or the ground, or when he's beaten people on the street with bicycles, or when he's run them through with knives, or when he's grabbed a fistful of nails and jammed them into a person's mouth, of which every scenario had [[GameplayAndStorySegregation the game itself ignoring]] the brutality and any beaten enemies are shown as tired and panting (or running away in a good number of substories). That said, by Kiryu's own admission he will kill if necessary - it's just a matter of last resort, as he doesn't treat death frivolously.

** This rule comes in particularly useful during one of the boss fights in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3''; if you've killed no one (including the bosses), it will simply be a [[ZeroEffortBoss very short walk down a river.]] Conversely, if it's been a bloodbath, you're in for quite a hike.

* Bang Shishigami of ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'' has this epithet as a memento from his master, Lord Tenjo. No matter what wrongdoings someone does, he will not move to kill them; even Jin Kisaragi, the man responsible for killing Tenjo, is only to be "brought to justice" in Bang's eyes. On the other hand, Bang is sworn to protect the lives of children, and that vow supersedes this one, as he sought to (unsuccessfully) demonstrate to Hazama over beating Tao and Carl to near-death [[ForTheEvulz as a masturbatory aid]].

* In the ''VideoGame/TrailsSeries'', this is the stance of [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky Estelle Bright]], [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsFromZeroAndTrailsToAzure Lloyd Bannings]], and [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel Rean Schwarzer]] due to either their professions in general or that they're just adverse to not killing any humans in general. Monsters and other worldly beings are fair game however. Averted with Kevin Graham, [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsIntoReverie a man named "C"]], and [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesKuroNoKiseki Van Arkride]] who are more than willing to dirty their hands if need be.