History FateWorseThanDeath / VideoGames

** [[spoiler:In Gorilla Grodd's arcade ending, [[TheStarscream the]] [[DragonWithAnAgenda ape]] not only killed Brainiac (and stole his technology), but also turns Batman and his allies by [[UnwillingRoboticization into mindless robotic slaves]]. The worst part of this ending? It's NotSoDifferent from Superman's ending in the fact that both of them use Brainiac's resources to conquer and expand their authoritarian rule, besides turning their enemies into robots]].

** [[TheDragon The Dragons]] of the BigBad are a [[DrivenToSuicide zombie-like man]] and [[CruelAndUnusualDeath young mutilated]] [[WouldHurtAChild children]] [[spoiler: that had been killed by the BigBad, too]]. To elaborate, the children [[spoiler: got kidnapped. The boy ends up getting his tongue cut out, chocking to death on his own blood. The first girl got her head cut off from the jaw upwards and then the tongue removed. The second girl got her eye thoroughly destroyed, then also her tongue cut. All with a rusty, ''unsharpened'' scissor. While ''alive'']]. And the man? [[spoiler: Just a mentally-challenged man that the BigBad forced to kidnap the children and then made him watch in horror as she killed the children slowly. When he later got accused of having been the murderer, he simply hangs himself]]. The agony of their pain and the corruption of the school finally made them go mad, resulting in them helping the BigBad unconditionally. And the best part? [[spoiler: BigBad Sachiko can be freed and get peace. Everyone else in the school? Nope. And Yuki, one of the mutilated children? She becomes the ''next Sachiko'' almost the second Sachiko leaves]].

* ''VideoGame/CorpseParty'' is a variation as everyone ''is'' dead and it is more a case of "How to make death ''way'' more agonizing?". The solution to that question is to make one forever feel the pain of their death, if they died in that school. And not only die a lot o people in the games, some die in absolutely horrible ways. And to rub salt into the wound, once you die in the school, you will disappear from the real world, meaning nobody will even know you ever existed.

* ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'': Amélie Lacroix was tortured, programmed to murder her husband, brainwashed, had her personality obliterated, and her body's physiology altered so it experienced no emotion apart from the joy of killing. The renamed Widowmaker is essentially a completely different person inhabiting her body and mind, and serves as nothing but a tool of murder for Talon. Even if Overwatch ever managed to revive Amélie, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone she would have to deal with the]] [[HeelRealization guilt of murdering her husband, helping to break up the original Overwatch, and murdering countless others]]. Not to mention the fact that [[RealityEnsues all the pain she caused to the world wouldn't magically go away]] should she become a good person again, as the world would still be in fear of her. It's also been implied that deep down, [[AndIMustScream the old Amélie is still there on some level]], and is at least partially aware of what she has done.

* Chimera in ''VideoGame/{{Resistance}}''. The first game even has a level titled "Fates Worse than Death."
* [[BigBad Malefor]] gives the Apes one of these in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfSpyro: Dawn Of The Dragon''. He turns them into skeletons that are forever cursed to remain in the shadows, hungry for the energy of others but never able to be full. This fate is so terrible that Spyro and Cynder are visibly horrified by it.
* ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}'':

** ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}'' drops this trope by name. When Ann is explaining why she spared Shadow Kamoshida, she explains that she'd rather he spend the rest his life repenting for his sins and living with the guilt rather than simply die.

* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'':
** Played for laughs when the boys "accidentally" spend too long in the hot spring, until after it switches from boys-only to girls-only. When Mitsuru and the rest of the girls enter, Akihiko freaks out and with good reason: if Mitsuru detects the boys in the ensuing minigame, she "executes" them; a fate [[NoodleIncident not seen]] but referred to as "hell on earth".
** A more serious example in the [[FridgeHorror underlying implications]] of [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt The Fall]]: with the coming of [[spoiler:Nyx, the [[EveryoneHatesHades incarnation of Death itself]]]], every single living thing will be consumed from the inside out by its own desire for destruction. Thus everything, everywhere, will lose all sense of self and become a mindless, soulless shell that can only moan and whimper, completely unaware of its own death. Should the protagonists choose to challenge this fate, [[spoiler:the Appraiser/Nyx Avatar]] warns them that they will suffer more than they could possibly imagine, ''then'' die. It'll be even worse for Aigis, who's a robot, and thus most likely won't be affected by the Fall. Instead, she'll get to watch her friends turn into shambling shells of their former selves, and then spent the rest of her life in a lifeless wasteland until her body mercifully breaks down.
* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}'' drops this trope by name. When Ann is explaining why she spared Shadow Kamoshida, she explains that she'd rather he spend the rest his life repenting for his sins and living with the guilt rather than simply die.
** In a much darker note, at the endgame, when [[spoiler:The Holy Grail fuses Mementos into the real world, it also manipulates the public into thinking the Phantom Thieves don't exist. The end result is they get erased, and not in a peaceful way either; You can see them, starting from Futaba/Oracle to Ren/Joker, writhing in pain and making incredibly agonizing screams and expressions until they all collapse into the ground and fade out. And apparently, the Grail/Yaldabaoth has imprisoned them in the Velvet Room and it's impersonating as the BigGood Igor, and the Velvet Room is also revealed to be subverted by him. He then offers you to join him; If you do, [[DownerEnding you become a slave of the Grail]] and everyone in Tokyo will be enslaved by it as well. To top it all off, none of your Phantom Thief comrades ever appeared after you joined Yaldabaoth, indicating that they are all still imprisoned and are doomed to rot in the subverted Velvet Room for eternity alongside the real Igor. Oh and it's never explained what happens to Lavenza or the other Velvet siblings afterwards, but you can guess they are doomed in no time.]]
** In ''[[UpdatedRerelease Royal]]'', [[spoiler: [[WellIntentionedExtremist Dr. Maruki]] inherits the power of Yaldabaoth and uses it to turn reality into a utopia where everyone's wishes are fulfilled. [[TokenEvilTeammate Akechi]] is brought back to life but he resents Maruki's actions on the grounds that he [[FreedomFromChoice robs people of their agency]] and [[VictoryIsBoring leaves them with nothing to strive for]], in some cases even [[BrainwashingForTheGreaterGood changing people's personalities]] to make them more amiable, and word-for-word calls it a fate worse than death. In the BittersweetEnding where you accept Maruki's reality, the Phantom Thieves and the rest of humanity have everything they ever wanted at the cost of mankind's ambition, and Akechi's personality is rewritten exactly as he feared. But the NonStandardGameOver where you don't give Maruki an answer in time is a much more straightforward example; he comes to the conclusion that Joker never confronted him because the stress of having to make a decision was too much for him, and "fixes" it by essentially removing his will to live and causing him to spend all his time sleeping.]]
* In ''VideoGame/PersonaQ2NewCinemaLabyrinth'', it was revealed by [[spoiler:Enlil]] near the end of the game that the Cinema that acts as the hub is [[spoiler:just one of the LotusEaterMachine Cinemas and the one housing Hikari; she has an ''entire'' street filled with these Cinemas and each of them were housing people whom like Hikari before her rehabilitation, are people that she "protected" from their real-life hardships, and they don't even look like they wanted to live in the first place;]] It turns out that the movies in the Cinemas are actually [[spoiler:pure negativity with all of the positivity cut off appearing as a documentary film, fueling their already horrible depression to outright dangerous levels.]] Since the movie labyrinths [[spoiler:in Hikari's cinema are merely transformed by Doe to allow her to rehabilitate, this is actually what Hikari is watching in her confines ''all the time''. There's no wonder that she was an EmptyShell at the start of the game, and it is [[FridgeHorror heavily implied to be much worse than that.]]]] While thankfully EverybodyLives, [[spoiler:if Doe didn't appear to drag in Persona users with the movies, Hikari (Or other people trapped) wouldn't even be able to sustain their mental health and will most likely be DrivenToSuicide.]]

** Arthas again (after the Lich King got his soul this time), gets in on this during the invasion of Quel'thalas. The leader of the High Elven resistance is the ranger-general Sylvanas Windrunner. After battling through her defences for hours, he finally traps her and mortally wounds her through the chest with Frostmourne. With a pained murmur she asks Arthas for a clean death. [[NightmareFuel A clean death, she does not get.]] Instead he mutilates her body and tortures her to death, and then defiles her spirit by raising it her as a powerful banshee bound to his will. And then he [[ForcedToWatch turned her on her own people]].

** At the end of the fourth and final game, [[spoiler:Theo]] is taken into Chzo and mentally and physically warped in the same way as the Tall Man in order to replace the latter as the New Prince (Chzo having grown tired of the Tall Man's [[DragonWithAnAgenda machinations to overthrow it]]). The New Prince's appearance hints at the BodyHorror he has undergone, [[spoiler:being covered in bandages and wearing a welder's mask with the visor ''turned horizontally'']].

** [[spoiler:One of the Trilby clones]] is [[AndIMustScream trapped inside Chzo itself, immobilised and subjected to constant pain for Chzo's enjoyment]]. By the time the Caretaker finds him, his only desire is to die, [[MercyKill which the Caretaker grants]]. Made worse for the player since the game leaves it unclear whether [[spoiler:he is merely a clone, orthe protagonist Trilby himself]].

** [[spoiler:One of the Trilby clones]] is [[AndIMustScream trapped inside Chzo itself, immobilised and subjected to constant pain]]. By the time the Caretaker finds him, his only desire is to die, [[MercyKill which the Caretaker grants]]. Made worse for the player since the game leaves it unclear whether [[spoiler:he is merely a clone, or Trilby himself]].
** At the end of the fourth and final game, [[spoiler:Theo]] is taken into Chzo and mentally and physically warped in the same way as the Tall Man in order to replace the latter as the New Prince (Chzo having grown tired of the Tall Man's [[DragonWithAnAgenda machinations to overthrow it]]). The New Prince's appearance hints at the BodyHorror he has undergone, [[spoiler:being covered in bandages and wearing a welder's mask with the visor turned sideways]].

** [[spoiler:One of the Trilby clones]] is [[AndIMustScream trapped inside Chzo itself]]. By the time the Caretaker finds him, his only desire is to die, [[MercyKill which the Caretaker grants]]. Made worse for the player since the game leaves it unclear whether [[spoiler:he is merely a clone, or Trilby himself]].

* Since ''VideoGame/TheChzoMythos'' is a CosmicHorrorStory, it's not a surprise that most characters suffer unpleasant fates. The murder victims are, by and large, comparatively lucky.

* In ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'', [[spoiler:the Joker doesn't seem to mind being dead, and he not only considers death more lively than being alive in the first place but also writes off his body, which had been reduced to ash, as something he'd long outgrown. What he ''does'' mind, however, is being completely forgotten, even by his colleagues in Batman's Rogues Gallery and the Batman himself.]]

* In ''VideoGame/Mother3'', the villain, [[spoiler: the immortal Porky Minch, locks himself inside of a device called the Absolutely Safe Capsule, which is impenetrable. However, it is discovered that the capsule is absolutely safe from the outside ''and'' inside. Unable to die, he is trapped inside for all eternity.]]

* ''VideoGame/StarCraft'': [[TheVirus Zerg infestation]] usually alters your mind into conformity with the collective will of the [[HordeOfAlienLocusts Swarm]] and its [[HiveMind Overmind]]. However, ''VideoGame/StarcraftII'' shows that this is not always the case. Some infestees end up ''fully aware'' of their miserable condition, and only have enough control over their bodies to ''beg'' other people to kill them.

* ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcomClashOfTheSuperheroes'': The SecretCharacter known as Shadow Lady is [[VideoGame/StreetFighter Chun-Li]] from an AlternateUniverse where she was [[ReforgedIntoAMinion forcibly turned into a]] [[UnwillingRoboticization brainwashed cybernetic minion]] for Shadaloo. Before she was forcibly roboticized, Chun-Li routinely foiled Shadaloo's plans at every turn, and in retaliation, Shadaloo kidnapped, experimented and [[{{Cyborg}} cyborgized]] her for the sake of turning her into a pawn against Interpol. When the task was completed, they turned her into a living weapon, complete with a new name and transformed her into M. Bison's [[TheDragon top operative]]. Unlike Shadow--a roboticized Charlie Nash, who escaped shortly after being transformed--Shadaloo added a RestrainingBolt to Shadow Lady's programming and internal systems so the cyborg would [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul remain fully obedient and loyal to Bison]], and complete her missions by having her body be remotely controlled, essentially making her a [[DarkActionGirl Dark Action]] RobotGirl. As Shadow Lady, [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul Chun-Li's formerly cheerful personality was obliterated, and her body's physiology altered so it]] [[EmotionlessGirl experienced no emotion apart from being a ruthless but highly effective killing machine]] and assassin for Shadaloo - in essence, she is essentially a completely different person inhabiting her body and mind (being more machine than human), and serves as nothing but a weapon against her former allies and Interpol. It's also been implied that deep down, [[AndIMustScream the old Chun-Li is still there on some level]], and is at least partially aware of what she has done. Even if her allies ever managed to revive her, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone Chun-Li would have to deal with the]] [[HeelRealization guilt of being a tool for Shadaloo]], not to mention the fact that [[RealityEnsues being a brainwashed robotic minion wouldn't go away overnight]] should she become a good person again. Aside from retaining a few moves from her non-cyborgified variant, she has built-in high tech weaponry, and all of this was augmented to her robotic body, like the T-X from the ''{{Franchise/Terminator}}'' series, thus making her more faster and stronger than Shadow, but at the cost of becoming a brainwashed minion for Shadaloo. She shoots [[HomingProjectile homing]]/[[MissileLockOn heat-seeking missiles]] from [[BackpackCannon her back]], thrusts forward with [[ThisIsADrill a drill]], encases herself in a [[ShockAndAwe electric barrier]] (that also [[DeflectorShield deflects attacks]] and stuns opponents), miniaturized Vernier thrusters in her feet that enable her to jump much higher (and allow her to kick more rapidly) and fires a large beam ([[ArmCannon Big Bang Laser]]) from [[HandBlast her palms]]. [[spoiler:In her ending however, she manages to [[HeroicWillpower overcome Shadaloo's brainwashing,]] [[HeelFaceTurn regain her original memories as Chun-Li]], and join forces with Shadow in taking down Shadaloo. Despite this, she retains her robotic parts even after the brainwashing broke.]]

* In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain, [[spoiler:when Huey is found guilty twice of betrayal over the course of the story, Venom Snake opts against killing him despite ''everyone'' in the Diamond Dogs wanting him shot. Instead he has Huey exiled on a tiny life raft too small to support his prized mechanical legs, forcing him to drop them overboard to stay afloat. He spent the rest of his life as a disgraced fraud until he committed suicide years later via drowning himself.]]

* In ''VideoGame/Mother3'', the villain, [[spoiler: the immortal Porky Minch, locks himself inside of a device called the Absolutely Safe Capsule, which is impenetrable. However, it is discovered that the capsule is absolutely safe from the outside ''and'' inside. Unable to die, he is trapped inside for all eternity.]]

** In ''[[UpdatedRerelease Royal]]'', [[spoiler: [[WellIntentionedExtremist Dr. Maruki]] inherits the power of Yaldabaoth and uses it to turn reality into a utopia where everyone's wishes are fulfilled. [[TokenEvilTeammate Akechi]] is brought back to life but he resents Maruki's actions on the grounds that he robs people of their agency and leaves them with nothing to strive for, in some cases even changing people's personalities to make them more amiable, and word-for-word calls it a fate worse than death. In the BittersweetEnding where you accept Maruki's reality, the Phantom Thieves and the rest of humanity have everything they ever wanted at the cost of mankind's ambition, and Akechi's personality is rewritten exactly as he feared. But the NonStandardGameOver where you don't give Maruki an answer in time is a much more straightforward example; he comes to the conclusion that Joker never confronted him because the stress of having to make a decision was too much for him, and "fixes" it by essentially removing his will to live and causing him to spend all his time sleeping.]]

** In a much darker note, at the endgame, when [[spoiler:The Holy Grail fuses Mementos into the real world, it also manipulates the public into thinking the Phantom Thieves don't exist. The end result is they get erased, and not in a peaceful way either; You can see them, starting from Futaba/Oracle to Ren/Joker, writhing in pain and making incredibly agonizing screams and expressions until they all collapse into the ground and fade out. And apparently, the Grail/Yaldabaoth has imprisoned them in the Velvet Room and it's impersonating as the BigGood Igor, and the Velvet Room is also revealed to be subverted by him. He then offers you to join him; If you do, you become a slave of the Grail and everyone in Tokyo will be enslaved by it as well. To top it all off, none of your Phantom Thief comrades ever appeared after you joined Yaldabaoth, indicating that they are all still imprisoned and are doomed to rot in the subverted Velvet Room for eternity alongside the real Igor. Oh and it's never explained what happens to Lavenza or the other Velvet siblings afterwards, but you can guess they are doomed in no time.]]

** VideoGame/UltimateCustomNight: You are in control of the [[UnknownCharacter protagonist]] who is eternally imprisoned in Freddy's Fazbear Pizzeria full of homicidal robots to pay for your crimes [[spoiler: for being a child killer]]. You never die, you always come back to relive the horror of robots attempting to murder you over, over, and over again.

** VideoGame/UltimateCustomNight: You are in control of the [[UnknownCharacter protagonist]] who is eternally imprisoned in Freddy's Fazbear Pizzeria full of homicidal robots to pay for your crimes [[spoiler: for being a child killer]]. You never die, you always come back to relive the horror of robots attempting to murder you over, over, and over again.
*** It is theorized that you play as either William Afton or Michael Afton, both characters known for [[spoiler: having killed children]] in the series, but it isn't exactly stated in the game.

** It is theorized that you play as either William Afton or Michael Afton, both characters known for [[spoiler: having killed children]] in the series, but it isn't exactly stated in the game.

** VideoGame/UltimateCustomNight: You are in control of the [[UnknownCharacter protagonist]] who is eternally imprisoned in Freddy's Fazbear Pizzeria full of homicidal robots to pay for your crimes for being a child killer. You never die, you always come back to relive the horror of robots attempting to murder you over, over, and over again.

* ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2'' add-on, ''Mask of the Betrayer'' introduces a fate [[SerialEscalation doubly worse]] than death. First and most fundamental based on [[TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms its source material]], The Wall of The Faithless is reserved for those who do not worship any god, or if no god comes to claim their soul when they die. Your soul is placed in the wall, to be absorbed over time and eventually become part of the wall. The titular Betrayer was placed in the wall as punishment for going against his patron god... [[spoiler:but just as he's about to be completely consumed, said god pulled him out of the wall, by which point his soul has largely been reduced into a ravening void. He became the living incarnation of the wall's hunger, the Spirit-Eater, compelled to devour soul to fill the void, doomed to never be sated, to die of hunger, and pass on the curse to other. ]]

** In ''Blood and Wine'', Geralt has to deal with a Wight supposedly haunting an old estate in Toussaint. On investigating the Wight, it is discovered that the Wight was once a young baroness who loved to hold parties. One night Gaunter O'Dimm came to her door under the guise of a poor beggar and asked for food; in violation of Toussaint SacredHospitality tradition, she refused to give him anything and even told him that she would rather give the leftovers to her dogs than give him anything. Gaunter O'Dimm then cursed her, saying ''"None shall sit and dine with you at your table, no spoon you have shall sate you, never again shall you wish to spy your reflection in the mirror"'' before breaking his spoon and leaving. [[HorrorHunger He meant it.]]

* Reaching the end of the [[BonusLevelOfHell Fourth Kalpa]] in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIIINocturne'' reveals that [[spoiler:Jyoji Hijiri]] has been condemned to an eternity of life, death and rebirth without hope of reincarnation. He will be forced to witness the Conception and the creation of the new world over and over again until the end of time, but will never be allowed to influence its outcome himself. He received this punishment from {{God}} for committing "the ultimate sin" in a previous life; because of this, many suspect that he is a reincarnation of [[spoiler:Aleph from ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiII'', who committed ''deicide'' at the end of the game by killing [[{{God}} YVHV (God)]]. That's right, {{God}}]].