History CrapsaccharineWorld / VideoGames

** It's eventually revealed that Seido is a PoliceState that values their own philosophy above the lives of its people. AllCrimesAreEqual, and you can be kept in holding for '''DECADES''' before you are even given a trial. They are also in brutal war with their Chaos Realm counterparts (who are just as bad) and a civil war with the equally ruthless LaResistance, whose tactics include inciting riots and framing guards for murder, so they'll be forced to change sides. The citizens are so thoroughly brainwashed with propaganda, they've become {{stepford smiler}}s that can casually talk about disowning their own children if they join the resistance, and don't seem to care about life and death. Oh and finally, the elite warriors patrolling the streets will side with anyone, regardless of whether they're good or evil, as long as they are LawfulGood or LawfulEvil.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'' series takes place in Inkopolis, a bright and shiny {{Americasia}}-flavored city inhabited by colorful BadassAdorable squid and octopus people, a plethora of wacky anthropomorphic sea creatures, and two cats. The most popular form of sport is all but harmless and involves nothing more than covering as much of the field as possible with ink using your FamilyFriendlyFirearms. Sounds light and fluffy, right? Well... the franchise is set in an AfterTheEnd version of Japan where a climate change-induced rise in sea levels drove almost all land creatures to extinction and left the species that evolved to fill the niche humans left behind in a near-constant dispute over what land remains. As cute as they are, Inklings and Octarians are just as petty as humans, and [[FantasticRacism racism]] is still a major issue. Homelessness remains a problem, and energy crises run rampant. An unknown amount of land outside Inkopolis is an inhospitable wasteland filled with polluted water and the twisted ruins of human civilization, now inhabited only by bloodthirsty salmon-like creatures whose eggs are harvested (using child labor, no less) by a shady organization for unknown reasons. Oh, and the ''entire planet'' came dangerously close to an unambiguous genocide at the hands of a [[AIIsACrapshoot rogue AI]] that was created by the humans to attempt to pass down their knowledge, only for it to become disgusted at the other races and determine the best way to accomplish its initial goal would be to wipe everything out and start again.

** This is taken UpToEleven with the Arcane Flight, whose [[ColorCodedElements element colour]] is [[PinkMeansFeminine pink]] and whose themes include crystals, dreams and stars, and who also happen to be accidentally [[RealityWarper warping the world around them]]. Arcane-themed things tend to be both pretty and/or cute and rather foreboding, if not [[UncannyValley downright creepy]], such as the [[ExtraEyes many-eyed]] bird familiars or [[ILoveNuclearPower Irradiated Astronomers]], or the world map flavor text for the [[EldritchLocation Starfall Isles]], all of which have a distinctly [[AdorableAbomination Lovecraftian]] writing style. If you gather items from Arcane you have an equal chance of turning up tooth-rottingly sweet foods (like Sugary Prickleleaves and Nebula Floaters) and unsettling or grotesque things that you could also find in Plague or Shadow (like the see-through Glass Minnows or weird-sound-making Dark Creepers).

** Terraria ''looks'' friendly and cheery, but you will quickly learn otherwise. Undead roam the land at night and are constantly active underground, and a land disease called the Corruption is filled with many an EldritchAbomination as it slowly consumes all in its path. And this is to say nothing of the bosses, ''[[UpToEleven especially]] [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Wall of Flesh]].''

* ''VideoGame/Psychonauts2'': Bob's Bottles is a [[SceneryPorn beautiful level]], involving Raz sailing around a shimmering blue ocean following marigold trails to get to islands that contain worlds within them, and those worlds are just as beautiful. The context of the level, however, is melancholic and upsetting: Bob Zanotto is a depressed alcoholic who has basically given up on seeing his friends and family ever again. The beautiful ocean is a sea of alcohol and the whole level contains the tragic story of Bob's life. [[spoiler:His mother is all but outright stated to have drank herself to death in their family greenhouse and his nephew fired him when Bob began to lose it after the Battle of Grulovia. Even the heartwarming memory of Helmut and Bob's marriage is bittersweet because Bob thinks Helmut is dead.]] The level also contains self-loathing implications, such as a mental version of Otto telling Raz [[InsecureLoveInterest the Psychic Six only kept Bob around because he was a "package deal" with Helmut]] and [[spoiler:the Helmut cactus]] telling Raz that if he had really loved Bob, he wouldn't have died and left him alone.

* Santa Destroy in ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'', honestly, doesn't look like to much of a bad place to live. Good pizza, law-abiding drivers, and people who generally mind their own business. They don't even require guards at the border. But then you find out that some organization is promoting a bunch of hitmen (many of whom are ''very'' mentally disturbed) to fight each other to the death. Also, business men are even more corrupt than normal. [[VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes2DesperateStruggle It becomes a crapsack world when it all goes public though]]. At that point you better watch your back.

* ''VideoGame/FistOfTheNorthStarLostParadise'' has the city of Eden. Compared to other settlements trying to scrape by, Eden is the closest thing to civilization in the post-apocalyptic wastes; with plentiful food, clean drinking water, and even electricity, those who live within Eden's walls want for nothing. Unfortunately, Eden is run by some rather corrupt individuals (their official leader, a compassionate woman, is little more than a figure head) who are very picky about who they allow into the city. Anyone turned away is left with little choice but to continue wandering the wastes.

** In ''Rescue Team'', the land is constantly being ravaged by natural disasters that are so troubling to the populace that that they're willing to kill off the hero when they're mistakenly led to believe that they're the cause of it all.
** In ''Explorers'', criminals run rampant, and parts of world are becoming frozen in time. You eventually learn that the entire world is going to become victim to this, plunging it into an eternal darkness you get to bear witness to when you visit the future.
** In ''Gates to Infinity'', crime is also made out to be commonplace, and many Pokemon have become hostile, selfish and lacking in any trust amongst one another. [[spoiler: It's eventually revealed that all of the negativity has created an EldritchAbomination that's going to destroy everything, and the villains have decided that this is for the best. Even though destroying it does alleviate the world's problems to a degree, it's acknowledged that there's nothing keeping things from going back to as they were before, and that one can only hope for a brighter future.]]

** ''VideoGame/PersonaQ2NewCinemaLabyrinth'' brings this trope to a new height. The fourth labyrinth appears as an overly cheerful musical setting that is so colorful that it TastesLikeDiabetes, but at the same time, it is also quite creepy and its lyrics are basically summing up as LossOfIdentity, complete with a forlorn Hikari standing in the middle, surrounded by the dancing, cheerful fairytale characters and her past copies, then sinking back into depression. Everyone watching the trailer is creeped out, and the worst thing is that [[spoiler:this movie is actually Hikari's biopic mixed with her [[PsychologicalTormentZone Palace]], where all of her SuppressedMemories are literally out to ''torture and destroy her''. The colorful and cheery landscape facade ends at the final floor, where it becomes into a monochrome flowerbed with the flowers ''having hollow eyes and dripping blood from them''. To make things worse, judging from the contents of the labyrinth, this frightening landscape is her '''actual mindset'''.]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'', Gloria's Theater has two different settings, which can be shifted by changing the lighting. The first is a TastesLikeDiabetes {{sugarbowl}}, and the other is a DarkerAndEdgier version of the same world where the formerly cute kids in flower and puppy costumes [[EverythingTryingToKillYou start attacking]]. [[spoiler:After finding out more about Gloria's past, it seems the second setting is more accurate to her life.]]

* ''VideoGame/MetalSlug''. Tribespeople living in historical ruins? Check. Animals living in peaceful nature? Check. Tourist attractions around the world? Check. Then General Morden's Rebel Army starts their rising...

* ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' brings us the magical Kingdom of Zeal from 12,000 B.C. -- warning sign number one right there, nobody from later on the timeline has ever heard of it. At first glance, it is presented as an idyllic world where everyone's needs are taken care of, free time is devoted to the study of science, magic, philosophy, and sleep, and the worst thing to worry about is overly pretentious navel-gazing. [[TownWithADarkSecret It's]] [[TheMagocracy all]] [[EvilIsNotAToy downhill]] from [[TheCaligula there]]. Oh, and the "idyllic" floating sky-castles? Those are off-limits to the humans who can't use magic, who are confined to dirty caves on the surface, which is locked in an ice age.

* ''VideoGame/DreamingMary'' is about an adorable little girl's dream and the games she plays with the TalkingAnimal inhabitants of her sugary-pink dream world who just want her to be happy and have fun. The first big hint that something might be a little off is the book in the library that tells the tale of "Literature/SleepingBeauty"... more specifically, the version where she gets raped in her sleep by the king. Then you get to the part where Mary enters a nightmarish parallel to her dream world where a hulking shadow figure wants to get her...

* ''VideoGame/EndRoll'' is set in Russell's Happy Dream, a bright, cheerful place filled with smiling faces who welcome him into their community... but not only is it a literal [[DreamLand Dream World]], it's part of an experimental rehabilitation project. A world tailored to try and induce guilt and remorse, and the effectiveness of its facade holding up depends upon his mental state.

** ''VideoGame/EarthBound'' also has an alien invasion, gang violence, and zombie uprisings, but stacks that atop corrupt police and politicians, slave labor, ''a cult that makes human sacrifices'', and a plethora of brainwashed citizens that want nothing more than to beat the main characters senseless. All of this is stated to be the result of [[BigBad Giygas]]' influence, and the heroes' triumph over him allows the world to start healing in the aftermath.

* ''VideoGame/DoItForMe'' is presented as a SugarBowl game akin to {{Retraux}} platformers, with cute characters and enemies, but [[spoiler:it's all just the player's demented delusion- it's really a [[AxesAtSchool school massacre]]]].
* ''VideoGame/DreamingMary'' is about an adorable little girl's dream and the games she plays with the TalkingAnimal inhabitants of her sugary-pink dream world who just want her to be happy and have fun. The first big hint that something might be a little off is the book in the library that tells the tale of "Literature/SleepingBeauty" [[spoiler:...or more specifically, the version where she gets raped in her sleep by the king]]. Then you get to the part where [[spoiler:Mary enters a nightmarish parallel to her dream world where a hulking shadow figure wants to get her...]]

* ''VideoGame/EndRoll'' is set in Russell's Happy Dream, a bright, cheerful place filled with smiling faces who welcome him into their community... but not only is it a literal DreamWorld, it's part of an experimental rehabilitation project. A world tailored to try and induce guilt and remorse, and the effectiveness of its facade holding up depends upon his mental state.

** Downplayed in its SpiritualSuccessor, ''{{VideoGame/Xenoblade}}'', but still present. Bionis might be a beautiful place, but that doesn't change the fact that it's full of hostile monsters. It doesn't help that the [[HumansByAnyOtherName Homs]] are on their last legs thanks to repeated invasions by a race of nearly invincible killer robots, the [[OurElvesAreDifferent High Entia]] practice eugenics and are openly racist towards [[HalfHumanHybrid half-breeds]], and there's a criminal syndicate run by a brutal drug lord who ends up getting away with his crimes unless you [[GuideDangIt complete a specific chain of sidequests before reaching a certain point in the game]]. [[spoiler:And that's not even getting into the fact that all life on Bionis was created as a backup energy source for a MadGod.]]

** ''VideoGame/{{Mother3}}'' is even worse. After a long, winding game with a story so vague it's almost taunting you, it comes right out and slaps you in the face with [[spoiler:Leder]]'s speech, in which you learn [[spoiler:the small island you live on is the only inhabitable place left on earth, and prior to Porky's time travel abuse, there were only a small handful of survivors left in the world, completely oblivious and susceptible to being wiped out by any disaster. Hurricane? Minor fire? Disease? There goes the human race.]] And then, you know what happens in this colorful and kid-friendly game? [[spoiler:Your long-lost brother deliberately electrocutes himself to death and you ''blow up the island''. Yes, all of the main characters and [=NPCs=] live through it, but you don't ''actually'' find out what happened to them after the end of the game.]]

* Dear ''God'', the ''VideoGame/{{MOTHER|1}}'' [[VideoGame/EarthBound trilogy]]:
** The second game, ''VideoGame/EarthBound'', has corrupt police, gang violence, an alien invasion, ''a cult that makes human sacrifices'', and a plethora of brainwashed citizens that want nothing more than to beat the main characters senseless. Fortunately, things get better once the BigBad is defeated.
** [[VideoGame/{{Mother3}} The last one]] is even worse. After a long, winding game with a story so vague it's almost taunting you, it comes right out and slaps you in the face with [[spoiler:Leder]]'s speech, in which you learn [[spoiler:the small island you live on is the only inhabitable place left on earth, and prior to Porky's time travel abuse, there were only a small handful of survivors left in the world, completely oblivious and susceptible to being wiped out by any disaster. Hurricane? Minor fire? Disease? There goes the human race.]] And then, you know what happens in this colorful and kid-friendly game? [[spoiler:Your long-lost brother deliberately electrocutes himself to death and you ''blow up the island''. Yes, all of the main characters and [=NPCs=] live through it, but you don't ''actually'' find out what happened to them after the end of the game.]]

* ''Franchise/MortalKombat'': Seido, or the Orderrealm. At first, it looks like a place of absolute beauty; a peaceful floating city with architecture, like something out of an Utopian society, connected by an intricate network of bridges, rivers that flow out of no where, a well organized police force patrolling the streets, and gems and gold so common, the friendly people will hand them to you for free. But then, you start hearing things like:

** It's eventually revealed that Seido is a PoliceState that values their own philosophy above the lives of its people. AllCrimesAreEqual, and you can be kept in holding for '''DECADES''' before you are even given a trial. They are also in brutal war with their Chaos Realm counterparts (who are NotSoDifferent) and a civil war with the equally ruthless LaResistance, whose tactics include inciting riots and framing guards for murder, so they'll be forced to change sides. The citizens are so thoroughly brainwashed with propaganda, they've become {{stepford smiler}}s that can casually talk about disowning their own children if they join the resistance, and don't seem to care about life and death. Oh and finally, the elite warriors patrolling the streets will side with anyone, regardless of whether they're good or evil, as long as they are LawfulGood or LawfulEvil.

** Pelican Town looks so nice and serene - the ideal small town, right? Unfortunately, the characters have a ''lot'' of issues going on - people suffering from ParentalFavoritism, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from being held in a POW camp, alcoholism, suicide attempts, homelessness, and ParentalAbandonment. What's more, a good portion of Pelican Town's residents are not even participating in the labour force due to the fact there are almost no jobs there - and [[CrueltyIsTheOnlyOption the player has to drive at least one or two of them out of work]] in order to bring at least one or two back ''into'' the labour force. For a farming community, there sure isn't much, well, agriculture around - especially because the player only got their farm because they inherited it - [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome much like in real life where farms tend to be held along family lines]].

** Pelican Town looks so nice and serene - the ideal small town, right? Unfortunately, the characters have a ''lot'' of issues going on - people suffering from ParentalFavoritism, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from being held in a POW camp, alcoholism, suicide attempts, homelessness, and ParentalAbandonment. What's more, a good portion of Pelican Town's residents are not even participating in the labour force due to the fact there are almost no jobs there - and [[CrueltyIsTheOnlyOption the player has to drive at least one or two of them out of work]] in order to bring at least one or two back ''into'' the labour force. For a farming community, there sure isn't much, well, agriculture around - especially because the player only got their farm because they inherited it - [[RealityEnsues much like in real life where farms tend to be held along family lines]].

* The ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'' series takes place in Inkopolis, a bright and shiny {{Americasia}}-flavored city inhabited by colorful BadassAdorable squid and octopus people, a plethora of wacky anthropomorphic sea creatures, and two cats. The most popular form of sport is all but harmless and involves nothing more than covering as much of the field as possible with ink using your FamilyFriendlyFirearms. Sounds light and fluffy, right? Well... the franchise is set in an AfterTheEnd version of Japan where a climate change-induced rise in sea levels drove almost all land creatures to extinction and left the species that evolved to fill the niche humans left behind in a near-constant dispute over what land remains. As cute as they are, Inklings and Octarians are just as petty as humans, and [[FantasticRacism racism]] is still a major issue. Homelessness remains a problem, and energy crises run rampant. An unknown amount of land outside Inkopolis is an inhospitable wasteland filled with polluted water and the twisted ruins of human civilization, now inhabited only by bloodthirsty salmon-like creatures whose eggs are harvested (using child labor, no less) by a shady organization for unknown reasons. Oh, and the ''entire planet'' came dangerously close to an unambiguous genocide at the hands of a [[AIIsACrapshoot rogue AI]].

* ''VideoGame/MortalKombat'': Seido, or the Orderrealm. At first, it looks like a place of absolute beauty; a peaceful floating city with architecture, like something out of an Utopian society, connected by an intricate network of bridges, rivers that flow out of no where, a well organized police force patrolling the streets, and gems and gold so common, the friendly people will hand them to you for free. But then, you start hearing things like:

* On the surface, ''VideoGame/TheBattleCats'' appears to be a fun and lighthearted, if [[WidgetSeries quirky]], romp through the world starring [[CuteKitten adorable Cats of all shapes and sizes]]... who eventually [[TakeOverTheWorld take over the entire world]], [[KillEmAll have a take-no-prisoners attitude towards enemies]], [[HiveMind can work in perfect unison]], can fight [[AlienInvasion aliens]] and [[ZombieApocalypse zombies]] with no trouble, eventually [[TimeTravel conquer the past and future]]...

* ''VideoGame/DoItForHer'' is presented as a SugarBowl game akin to {{Retraux}} platformers, with cute characters and enemies, but [[spoiler:it's all just the player's demented delusion- it's really a [[AxesAtSchool school massacre]]]].