History DirtyCoward / VideoGames

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGaiden'' (Both Platform/{{NES}} original and Platform/Nintendo3DS remake): In his first battle, should Slayde be defeated first, Desaix slips away and escapes to his fortress, leaving his men behind without a commander. Alternatively, if ''Desaix'' goes down first, it's revealed that he [[DisposableDecoyDoppelganger forced some poor shmuck to take his place as a body double]].

* In "VisualNovel/Gnosia", Sha-Ming is pretty much the embodiment of this trope. It shows the most in the Biotic Contamination event, where he leaves Remnan to die, claiming that "he’s already screwed". Granted, he is hesitant to get in a capsule with the Player, leaving Stella to potentially suffocate as she plans to drain the ship of air and kill the slime mold, but he quickly gives in and saves his own life. Even though he is infected with Gnosia in this loop, so sacrificing him instead of the innocent Stella would be much more justified.

* In "VideoGame/Gnosia", Sha-Ming is pretty much the embodiment of this trope. It shows the most in the Biotic Contamination event, where he leaves Remnan to die, claiming that "he’s already screwed". Granted, he is hesitant to get in a capsule with the Player, leaving Stella to potentially suffocate as she plans to drain the ship of air and kill the slime mold, but he quickly gives in and saves his own life. Even though he is infected with Gnosia in this loop, so sacrificing him instead of the innocent Stella would be much more justified.

** ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'': Dr. Castrofari hides behind hired Driver mercs and later the Lindwurm terrorist organization, never doing any fighting himself.

* ''VideoGame/BorderlandsThePreSequel'' has the Meriff, the Mayor of Concordia. [[spoiler:He conspired with scav leaders: [[MiniBoss Red and Belly]], to set up a jamming signal to shut down [[SpaceStation Helios' defences]]m allowing [[WellIntentionedExtremist Colonel Zarpedon]] to hijack it.]]

** ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps'' features a Spetznatz operative who gleefully torments Mason, Bowman, and Woods when they are captured, forces them to play Russian Roulette, and [[spoiler: kills Bowman]]. As soon as Mason breaks free, the operative flees for his life, and he is shot in the back running away.
** The same game also gave us Friedrich Steiner, who fled to the Arctic in 1945 to avoid the Allied armies, then sold out his own men, including shooting one of them in the back personally, to defect to the Soviets, and then when fled to Rebirth Island in fear that Dragovich will decide that Steiner has [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness become expendable,]] hides in a control room while the base is under attack, and eventually [[spoiler: begs for his life before Mason executes him.]]

** Jack Layzon tricked Kirin into conflict with a group of cultists overtaking his city then betrayed and left him for dead in the desert. However, Kirin not only survives, but he also eventually corners Jack at his quarters. The latter could only stutter at Kirin's survival as he backs away from him towards the balcony where he finds himself impaled and ripped apart by Abdullah's dagger.
* Recurring Creator/FromSoftware character Patches always uses the most cowardly fighting style available in whatever game he's in. In ''VideoGame/ArmoredCoreForAnswer'', he snipes from the high ground, while in ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'' and the ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' series, he [[LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe turtles behind a greatshield]] while poking you with a spear (unlike most other weapons, you can attack with a spear while having your shield raised). Especially true in ''Demon's Souls'' where he uses the Adjudicator's Shield, which regenerates his HP, and the Scraping Spear, which [[BreakableWeapons rapidly degrades your equipment]]. But that's only if you actually get him to ''fight'' you. He usually tries to kill you via trickery first, and if that doesn't work, he will [[AintTooProudToBeg shamelessly beg for your forgiveness]]. He'll only attack you if you attack him first, or you admit to being [[BerserkButton a cleric]]. Continuing the trend, in ''VideoGame/EldenRing'', he can be summoned to aid against Starscourge Radahn... and immediately unsummons himself as soon as he sees the boss in question.
* Late in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaLamentOfInnocence'', it is revealed that [[spoiler: Mathias wanted to become immortal and found out he could do this by taking the soul of the vampire Lord Walter. Instead of challenging Walter himself, he set up his friend Leon's betrothed Sara to get abducted by Walter, gambling that Leon would find a way to kill Walter. The end result: Sara dies anyway, Mathias takes Walter's soul to become Dracula, and Dracula spends his eternal life evading the Belmont family's wrath]].

* In ''VideoGame/DiabloIII'', Holus, the ex-mayor of New Tristram, is regarded as this by pretty much everyone in the game, and not without reason. While the people of New Tristram, most of them being simple farmers, are desperately trying to keep the ZombieApocalypse at bay, Holus worries more about his broken cart and how he can't flee anymore. The man can't catch a break, because he turns up later in the game as a stranded merchant at Bastion's Keep... which is besieged by TheLegionsOfHell. He complains about wanting to flee the entire time and the PlayerCharacter constantly chews him out for it... [[spoiler:only for him to die when Diablo is resurrected. A nearby soldier notes how he had the chance to flee, [[WhatYouAreInTheDark but never did]]]].

** In an unique option for ''Digimon'' games in general, [[TheProtagonist Takuma]] ''can'' actually cross the MoralEventHorizon through being a Dirty Coward. In the branching path of Part 8, choosing the [[spoiler:bottom left option will result in a DownerEnding where Takuma ditches Agumon, Miyuki and all of his friends to go home knowing the threat of the Master is still prevalent. He gets rewarded by being ostracized by all of his former friends who believes he was working with monsters, and the world is JustBeforeTheEnd where he and his mom prepare for relocation. Unlike Shuuji's abuse of Lopmon this is also a ''conscious choice'' done on Takuma's own volition rather than him being too insane to make proper decisions.]]

* ''VideoGame/DragaliaLost'': Emile starts out this way, not hesitating to abandon his allies whenever things get tough, and always trying to get others to fight his battles for him. [[spoiler: He’s actually a bit of a deconstruction. He once tried to being brave [[SuccessfulSiblingSyndrome just like his siblings,]] but he wasn’t any good at it, and always failed no matter how many times he tried to make himself useful, so he eventually gave up and didn’t even bother trying to enter tough situations. Eventually, due to a combination [[ItMakesSenseInContext of having his heart stolen by]] [[VideoGame/Persona5 the Phantom Thieves of Hearts]] as well as having a heart-to-heart with [[MentorArchetype Audric]], [[CharacterDevelopment he starts to become more of a]] CowardlyLion.]]

*** Narcian, full stop. He's too busy dealing with his own personal leisures to even bother to face the heroes himself (even when he could wipe them all out single-handedly). After they defeat a dragon, he starts to panics when he starts to lose, and has no qualms about blaming others to cover his failures or letting his underlings die so he can live.
*** High Chancellor Roartz and Nobleman Arcard took advantage of King Mordred's depression over the death of his son to take over their country and sell it out to Bern. When their regime in Etruria collapses, their reaction is to run as fast and far as they can from the Lycian League, beg their masters in Bern for help, and throw every last soldier they have at their disposal at the alliance to stall for time. Says a lot that [[RewardedAsATraitorDeserves neither Murdock or Brunnya sympathize with their disloyalty and only provide them a few troops to them before leaving them to their deaths]].

*** Kronya is a SmugSnake who flipflops to this when things don't go her way. She taunts the PlayerCharacter after killing their father, but once they catch up to her and defeat her in battle, she runs to her allies for support. When said allies use her as a HumanSacrifice, she has the gall to [[VillainsWantMercy beg the player to save them]].

* While normally the farthest thing from it, Darth Vader of all people became this in ''VideoGame/TheForceUnleashed''. When [[TheEmperor Darth Sidious]] catches him and Starkiller [[TheStarscream pulling a Starscream]], Vader quietly panics and throws his apprentice [[AbusiveParents and adoptive son]] under the bus, impaling him with his saber and [[ThrownOutTheAirlock tossing him into low orbit]] to save his own skin. Vader then revives him and convinces him it was an elaborate ruse, only to throw him under the bus ''again'' under Sidious' orders and cement his HeelFaceTurn. And the worst part of it all is that even without the element of surprise the two of them together were more than strong enough to take out Sidious, but Vader became HisOwnWorstEnemy a long time ago.

** Zeus is revealed to be one in ''God of War II'' onward. Strip away his grandiose boasts and badass credentials, and it turns out he is absolutely consumed with fear of the son-killing-father cycle: like Zeus had done with his father Cronos, he in turn fears being killed by Kratos. He only fights Kratos when he is too weak to fight back or when he himself is cornered, and after Athena sacrifices herself by jumping in the way of Kratos' attack, Zeus flees without barely reacting to her death. He spends much of the third game hiding from Kratos while he is storming Mount Olympus in search of his father; it's not until after he had killed most of the gods in his way that Zeus decides to confront him head on. It's revealed that [[spoiler:Zeus was actually corrupted by Pandora's Box evil of fear, which may have made him extremely paranoid and pushed him to betray Kratos]].

** Then, when you catch up to him,he makes you run after him nearly the entire day, forcing you to chase his goons all over the Internet for a needle needed to break the barrier where he is hiding.

** Book VI: [[spoiler:Letizia]], the initial ArcVillain of the book, attacks the Order of Heroes by having an arsonist burn the supply convoy, then jump into the flames. Anna, the commander of the Order, notes that their enemy is not averse to sacrificing her own soldiers to defeat her enemy or save her own skin, and is "as cowardly as she is cruel."
** Book VII: [[spoiler:Njörðr]] orchestrated Seiðr to become [[TheFatalist Gullveig]] in the future as he intended for her to purge the world of mortal life, but the moment the latter turns on him and targets him first, he's quick to plead for his life before she erases him from existence without hesitation.

** [[spoiler:For his part, not unlike in actual mythology (see above), Ares, after turning Kratos against him by tricking him into killing his wife and daughter, tries to reason his way out of trouble when the latter is in a position to take revenge, and claims that he was only trying to make him into an unstoppable warrior by destroying the last of his attachments to humanity; [[GoneHorriblyRight Kratos tells him he succeeded]], and kills him.]]

** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemHeroes'': In Book VI, [[spoiler:Letizia]], the initial ArcVillain of the book, attacks the Order of Heroes by having an arsonist burn the supply convoy, then jump into the flames. Anna, the commander of the Order, notes that their enemy is not averse to sacrificing her own soldiers to defeat her enemy or save her own skin, and is "as cowardly as she is cruel."

* The mayor in ''VideoGame/AdvanceWars: Days of Ruin''. A non-humorous example who [[spoiler:gets a well-deserved KarmicDeath near the end by trying to bargain with BigBad Caulder to save himself after selling out the heroes to him]].
** From the same game, Waylon, whose own men desert him en masse after his first appearance because he would throw their lives away to cover his own. His theme song is even called "Flight of the Coward".

* ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps'' features a Spetznatz operative who gleefully torments Mason, Bowman, and Woods when they are captured, forces them to play Russian Roulette, and [[spoiler: kills Bowman]]. As soon as Mason breaks free, the operative flees for his life, and he is shot in the back running away.

* ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty: VideoGame/ModernWarfare'': Khaled Al-Asad [[spoiler:nukes a whole city ''to cover his own ass''. While hiding in a safe house in Russia, while the war is in the [[{{Qurac}} Middle East]]]]. Doesn't get much more cowardly than that. [[spoiler:Subverted, as it turns out that it was [[BigBad Vladimir Makarov]] who nuked the city in the first place.]]

* ''[[VideoGame/CannonDancer Osman]]'':
** At a certain point, some of the armed {{Mooks}} will start to panic in front of Kirin and fall on their backs while trying to crawl away.
** Jack Layzon tricked Kirin into conflict with a group of cultists overtaking his city then betrayed and left him for dead in the desert. However, Kirin not only survives, but he also eventually corners Jack at his quarters. The latter could only stutter at Kirin's survival as he backs away from him towards the balcony where he finds himself impaled and ripped apart by Abdullah's dagger.