History GoMadFromTheRevelation / VideoGames

* ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'': The two {{Bonus Boss}}es met so far, [[spoiler:Jevil and Spamton]], were hit hard after their encounters with a mysterious influence. It seems like this encounter is tied to their unsettling amounts of knowledge and strength... at the complete cost of their sanity. In particular, they appear to have [[spoiler:[[NoticingTheFourthWall knowledge about the game-based nature of their reality]], which turns Jevil into TheHedonist, knowing that his actions have no true consequence, and drives Spamton to mastermind a plan in order to free himself from the game.]]

* ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV'' adds another layer of horror to this with the Black Samurai. She travels around the land, freely giving away books that eventually render all humans who read them mad, and the insanity eventually melts their minds, reducing them to demons. [[spoiler:It wouldn't be so bad if it was ''only'' a TomeOfEldritchLore. But, as it happens, it's just ''literature''. The people of East Mikado have had their beliefs in social inequality so blasted into their minds, the revelation that things ''can'' be different is so ''alien'' and ''terrifying'', they. [[PunctuatedForEmphasis Just. Can't. Handle. It.]] To keep piling the horror, the next game's DLC reveals it was ''the angels'' who introduced the Demonic Gene into Mikado citizenry, and set ''cultural development'' as one of the potential triggers.]]

-->[[spoiler: '''Dimitri''': Is this some kind of twisted ''joke''? I've been looking for you... I will take that head from your shoulders '''AND HANG IT FROM THE GATES OF ENBARR!!!''']]

* Subverted in the third season of ''VideoGame/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice''. Sam must travel through a dark dimension in search of a puzzle solution. He doesn't come back all there, but he gets over it in about half-a-minute.
** Also subverted when the pair meet face to face with actual [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]] but don't really seem to react adversely. They're even on good terms with one.

* Psycho Mantis from ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'', due to finding out his father hated him enough to possibly want to kill him, causing Mantis to destroy his village and, years later, going too deep into a mind of a serial killer, causing him to adopt said killer's personality. [[spoiler: ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'' reveals that he was slowly being driven insane by his own powers since childhood, as Tretij Rebenok.]]

* Invoked in the venerable ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger''. The "[[StandardStatusEffects Confuse]]" status effect causes the character to go LaughingMad, so it's really not surprising that any monster related to the game's BigBad, the planet parasite known as Lavos, can and ''will'' inflict this status with any of its attacks unless you've equipped items that prevent it.

* ''VideoGame/{{deltarune}}'' features the BonusBoss [[spoiler: Jevil]], who went insane and had to be locked up after he spoke to a mysterious man (presumably [[spoiler: W. D. Gaster]]) who revealed to him that his world was nothing but a game. When you eventually find him [[spoiler: in the dungeon of Card Castle]], he's already convinced that you're the one who's locked up and he's the one who's truly free.

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' the most notable example of this is [[spoiler: Dimitri's [[FreakOut mental breakdown]] in the Blue Lions route after figuring out that Edelgard - his step-sister - is the Flame Emperor, and that (in his own mind, due to PoorCommunicationKills) that she is responsible for the Tragedy of Duscur, an event in the backstory that killed Dimitri's father, stepmother (also Edelgard's mother), and many of his friends, before the MisplacedRetribution that Dimitri tried to prevent led to the near-genocide of the people of Duscur.]]

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' the most notable example of this is [[spoiler: Dimitri's [[FreakOut mental breakdown]] in the Blue Lions route after figuring out that Edelgard is the Flame Emperor, and thus in his own mind that she is responsible for the Tragedy of Duscur that haunts Dimitri four years ago.]]

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' the most notable example of this is [[spoiler: Dimitri's mental breakdown in the Blue Lions route after figuring out that Edelgard is the Flame Emperor, and thus in his own mind that she is responsible for the Tragedy of Duscur that haunts Dimitri four years ago.]]
-->[[spoiler: Dimitri: Is this some kind of twisted ''joke''? I've been looking for you... I will take that head from your shoulders '''AND HANG IT FROM THE GATES OF ENBARR'''!!!]]

* Maximillian Roivas from ''VideoGame/EternalDarkness''. He's committed after learning that his mansion is actually built over a monster infested city and [[spoiler:murdering his servants due to his belief that they're all infected with {{Body Horror}}s. Most of them actually are.]] Since the game is directly based on Lovecraft's work, insanity due to revelations is a fairly major theme.

* The Patterson Equations in ''VideoGame/{{Evolve}}''. Trying to unravel or understand them will gradually drive you to madness, but they work so [[CargoCult people just leave them alone]]. [[spoiler: This was actually intentional by their creator and discoverer, Lester Patterson. He achieved true understanding of the Cherenkov geometries used by the equations, which allowed him a glimpse into the monster's dimension and shattered his mind. In his final acts of sanity, he built his encroaching madness ''into'' the equations to prevent them from being understood or tampered with. This ensured that no one else ever furthered his knowledge and made things worse.]]
* Sephiroth from the ''Compilation of VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''. After finding out that he was born as part of an experiment to produce people with the power of an ancient civilization that was destroyed. That just emotionally unhinges him, though. What ''really'' sends him around the bend is that the ancestors of modern humans survived by hiding and letting them get eradicated. It probably didn't help either when he somehow learned that [[spoiler:the "ancient" that was used to clone him was actually the alien who wiped them out]], or that his own father was the one who performed the experiments on him before he was even born. The fates of his two closest friends in ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'' likely didn't help much either. [[spoiler:After finding out about his genetic manipulation (and instability) one committed suicide by forcing Zack to slay him in combat. The other rebelled against the organization responsible for said genetic manipulation. Sephiroth was never told the entire truth -- or anything at all, really -- about the Jenova Project. By the time of the events in Nibelheim, Sephiroth's personality had already gotten a lot darker...]]

* ''VideoGame/SpecOpsTheLine'': ''And how.'' [[spoiler: For context, Walker uses white phosphorous mortars to clear an area of enemy combatants, only to find out almost immediately after that in addition to the soldiers, they also murdered dozens of innocent civilians since it was a refugee camp and not a base. Walker, completely overwhelmed with guilt and self-loathing but too pathologically incapable of accepting responsibility, basically snaps and starts hallucinating that Konrad, the man he initially went in to Dubai to rescue but ended up wanting revenge on for committing his own share of atrocities, is continually taunting him and sending people after Delta Force, basically blaming Konrad for this and all the other increasingly terrible things Walker does after this point. He doesn't snap out of it until he finally finds Konrad and discovers that he committed suicide ''weeks'' before Delta Force even showed up, [[DrivenToSuicide driven to it by the same guilt that Walker was feeling. At which he has a full VillainousBSOD and either kills himself then and there, commits SuicideByCop by firing on the rescue team, swan dives off the slippery slope by slaughtering the rescue team, or drops his weapon and goes with the rescue team, going home an utterly broken man]].

----

* In ''VideoGame/CallOfCthulhuDarkCornersOfTheEarth'' Jack is subjected to a series of revelations driving him more and more insane, culminating in him committing suicide in a mental institute [[spoiler: after discovering that his father was possessed by a Yithian when he was conceived, making him not quite human]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'' includes this [[spoiler: as both a story element and a game mechanic. You use madman's knowledge to prevent your mind from repressing the horrible truths of the world and]] figure out what murdered you for grabbing that [[SchmuckBait tantalizingly dapper top hat.]]
** [[spoiler: Gaining enough knowledge by devouring three 1/3 of Umbilical Cord has you gain enough power and knowledge that even the eldritch Moon Presence cannot absorb you.]]
* In ''Website/{{Neopets}}'', a Neopian called Eliv Thade was driven mad from a book of unsolvable riddles. He died, and now his ghost speaks only in anagrams. (You know, [[MeaningfulName "Evil Death"]]?)
* Sephiroth from the ''Compilation of VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''. After finding out that he was born as part of an experiment to produce people with the power of an ancient civilization that was destroyed. That just emotionally unhinges him, though. What ''really'' sends him around the bend is that the ancestors of modern humans survived by hiding and letting them get eradicated. It probably didn't help either when he somehow learned that [[spoiler:the "ancient" that was used to clone him was actually the alien who wiped them out]], or that his own father was the one who performed the experiments on him before he was even born. The fates of his two closest friends in ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'' likely didn't help much either. [[spoiler:After finding out about his genetic manipulation (and instability) one committed suicide by forcing Zack to slay him in combat. The other rebelled against the organization responsible for said genetic manipulation. Sephiroth was never told the entire truth - or anything at all, really - about the Jenova Project. By the time of the events in Nibelheim, Sephiroth's personality had already gotten a lot darker...]]
* The Old Gods' BlackSpeech in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' can invoke madness on those who hear them for prolonged periods. Not just to story character, sometimes to the players as well that need a bit of PercussiveMaintenance to snap them out.
** Unfortunately, this method does not work on Deathwing, formerly known as Neltharion, probably because he's been mad for 10,000 years thanks to the Old Gods, and a knock on the head won't cure that. Back then, he was already crazy enough to tear his body up so badly he needed armored plating ''bolted into his skin'' in order to survive.
** The Twilight Prophet, [[spoiler:aka Archbishop Benedictus, leader of the Church of the Holy Light]], apparently snapped and joined the [[OmnicidalManiac Twilight's Hammer]] after reading a prophecy of the Old Gods' victory.
** Similarly to [[spoiler:Benedictus]], ''Cataclysm'' also gives us Fandral Staghelm. He was never exactly stable to begin with due to the death of his son and his cold war with Tyrande, but the revelation that Xavius has duped him into causing the bloodshed surrounding Teldrassil proved to be the final straw for his sanity, leading him to becoming TheDragon for Ragnaros.
--->[[spoiler:'''Archbishop Benedictus:''']] I looked into the eyes of the dragon... and despaired.
** Used as a game mechanic when fighting Yogg-Saron (an obvious {{expy}} for Lovecraft's Yog-Sothoth) - if you look directly at him for too long at a time while fighting, your "sanity meter" ticks down. Once you are at zero, you have GoneMadFromTheRevelation and attack your teammates until they or you are dead.
** Sargeras the Burning Titan went mad when he discovered that [[spoiler:the Void Lords could corrupt the unborn Titan world-souls within planets. His entire omnicidal campaign is an attempt to deprive the Void Lords of any possible foothold in the universe. Azeroth is a priority target because it holds the last world-soul within it.]]
** Xal'atath, a dagger containing an entity aligned with the Old Gods, is rumored to have the power to show its wielder visions of the Black Empire which once ruled Azeroth. However everyone shown such a vision is driven insane.
* Prince [=LaCroix=] in ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'' should the PC take the Anarch or Lone Wolf paths: after spending the entire game hunting for the [[McGuffin Ankaran Sarcophagus]] in the hope that there'd be a sleeping Antediluvian inside to steal ultimate power from, he finally opens it, [[spoiler:only to find a large supply of C4 -- with a timer set to detonate in ten seconds]]. Very slowly, [[VillainousBreakdown [=LaCroix=] begins to chuckle, which rises to laughter, and finally to utterly hysterical cackling]] [[spoiler:before the entire penthouse suite explodes]].
* Albedo from ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}''. He was always a high-strung kid, but the cracks begin to show when he finds out that he is immortal, but [[spoiler:his (formerly conjoined) twin brother, whom he depends on completely for emotional support]] is not.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdvjCHHXE90 I'm practicing so that when they die, I won't cry.]]
** On the other hand, it's entirely possible that his worldview would make a hell of a lot of sense if we could grasp what it's like to be immortal.
** Another part is when he came into direct contact with U-DO. If Albedo didn't go nuts from the aforementioned, this sure as hell did.
** U-DO period. What happens when a [[spoiler:a curious extra-dimensional god-thing is picking your brain for why your species is unknowingly trying to destroy the universe over and over again, and accidentally shows you what the end of all reality looks like]] ? This trope.
* In ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights'', Aribeth has gone quite mad from the revelation that she never loved Fenthick, and on top of that that Tyr has abandoned her. You have the option of trying to bring her back (which proves the second 'truth' false), or pushing her further into despair if you feel like being a {{Jerkass}}.
** In ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2: Storm of Zehir'', you can find a mind flayer in the Underdark Black Market who read the mind of a seer who foresaw the murder of Mystra that heralded the transition to D&D 4E in the ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms''. The illithid's brain couldn't process it and he is now reduced to inane gibbering.
* Wallachia in ''VideoGame/MeltyBlood'' went insane when he learned that nothing could avert the doom of mankind, only make it worse. To try and get around that he made a deal with a Dead Apostle to became a conceptual being for more time to find a solution. His insanity only got worse from there, eventually becoming a horrible raging unkillable monster. Crosses over with DespairEventHorizon, and it's alluded to that insanity is the eventual fate of all alchemists who try to calculate a future too far ahead.
** Interestingly enough, Dust of Osiris reached the same conclusion...but Wallachia thinks he's more justified in becoming a monster than she was because (in Wallachia's opinion) Wallachia actually tried to solve the human race's self-destructive tendencies first before concluding that it was impossible, and Dust of Osiris did not make the same effort.

* In ''VideoGame/StarControl II'', if you explore the GhostPlanet of the extinct Androsynth, Science Officer Bukowski will find out the hard way that TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow. It's very creepy for such a funny game.
* Fou-lu in ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireIV'' is a textbook example of what happens when this occurs to a ''literal'' GodEmperor. [[spoiler: He is summoned, split in the process due to a botched summoning, wakes up 600 years later to find the very empire he founded is attempting to kill him, has said empire fire a literal [[FantasticNuke Curse Nuke]] called the Carronade at him in an effort to destroy him, and finally discovers the ammo for aforementioned Carronade was ''[[HumanResources his girlfriend]]'' who was ''herself'' [[BreakTheCutie tortured to insanity]] before being used as a Tactical Thermonuclear Peasant... ''[[LoveHurts because she was in love with him and the curse would go just that much deeper]]''. To say he [[LaughingMad takes this last discovery poorly]] is [[UnstoppableRage quite an understatement]].]]
* Part of the point and appeal of InteractiveFiction title ''VideoGame/SlouchingTowardsBedlam''. This means that typing "jump out of window" as your ''first command'' is a viable way to [[spoiler:"win" the game]]. ItMakesSenseInContext.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Anchorhead}}'', an [[InteractiveFiction IF]] award winner which is one gigantic (but [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools very good]]) Lovecraft pastiche, there are ''several'' opportunities to reveal and go mad, including: [[spoiler:looking closely at William, reading too much of the TomeOfEldritchLore]]. Plus the various people you'll meet who Went Mad from the Revelation before you even showed up.
** Also neatly subverted by Edward, who opens the story by murdering his wife and children for no apparent reason. It ''seems'' like he's fallen prey to this trope, but as it turns out, he had a very sane (if desperate) reason.
* Invoked in the venerable ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger''. The "[[StandardStatusEffects Confuse]]" status effect causes the character to go LaughingMad, so it's really not surprising that any monster related to the game's BigBad, the planet parasite known as Lavos, can and ''will'' inflict this status with any of its attacks unless you've equipped items that prevent it.
* Subverted in the third season of ''VideoGame/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice''. Sam must travel through a dark dimension in search of a puzzle solution. He doesn't come back all there, but he gets over it in about half-a-minute.
** Also subverted when the pair meet face to face with actual [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]] but don't really seem to react adversely. They're even on good terms with one.
* ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'':
** In ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedII'', Altaïr notes in the Codex that many would-be Assassins could not accept the BadassCreed ("Nothing is true. Everything is permitted.") and were mentally broken for it.
** The reason why Sibrand cracked. TheReveal about [[CessationOfExistence the afterlife]] by the Piece of Eden turned Sibrand scared-shitless of death. His fears became even worse when Altair was after him. Everything that wore white and hoddy clothes would be immediately killed by him, even if they were obviously just scholars and not assassins.
** It's up for debate which drove Subject 16 insane first - being kept in the Animus for unhealthy amounts of time, being forced to relive dozens of people's lives and not being able to keep their memories, or his own, straight, or discovering the truth behind almost every conspiracy out there.
** In ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIVBlackFlag'', the Sage kills the RedShirt pirates brought along on the journey to the Observatory because they would go mad if they saw what's inside; Edward, on the other hand, he believes is made of sterner stuff.
* In ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic V: Tribes of the East'', [[KnightTemplar Archbishop]] [[LightIsNotGood Alaric]] goes in a total breakdown when fake Queen Isabel loses her disguise and turns into the demon Biara in front of him.
* Jump too high or go too far off course in ''[[VideoGame/{{SSX}} SSX Tricky]]'', and the music is replaced with an unhinged voice that whispers disquieting non-sequiturs...
* According to the making-of book for VideoGame/BlackAndWhite, the true forms of both Good and Evil Gods cause this in the mortal beings of Eden. The player sees a hand (which becomes either godly or demonic depending on your actions), but everyone else simply sees [[AFormYouAreComfortableWith a glowing symbol]] or a huge Creature doing your bidding.
* Meta-example: It's occasionally speculated that this is a likely side-effect of viewing the source code of ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress''.

* ''VideoGame/CorpseParty'' has the characters stumble upon a smeared corpse. You find [[spoiler:Sakutarou Morishige]], who [[TheReveal appeared normal up to that point]] [[spoiler:[[NightmareFetishist blushing and gushing over it, taking pictures with his cell phone]]]]. Then it's revealed that [[spoiler:the body belongs to Mayu Suzumoto, who [[LikeBrotherAndSister was like a sister to him]]]]. To say [[spoiler:he]] didn't take it well is an understatement.

* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls''
** Readers of the eponymous [[TomeOfEldritchLore Elder Scrolls]] whose knowledge doesn't go much further than what the Scrolls really are usually have their minds irreparably damaged from simply looking at one. Even those who've had training to actually read and understand a Scroll have odd personalities. A reader without comprehension is dazed or stunned by the twisting patterns. One who can comprehend but isn't mentally prepared is struck blind. Even those with training slowly lose their vision. Eventually all readers receive nothing from the scroll but a foretelling that if they read again, whatever they may learn, they will also go utterly blind. The monk either then resigns or prepares his mind to receive the mind-blasting knowledge of his final reading. Finally, even those who merely ''study'' the nature of the scrolls, never actually using them, are driven to madness with almost clockwork regularity.
** From the series' backstory comes Pelinal Whitestrake, the legendary 1st Era hero of mankind/[[FantasticRacism racist]] [[TheBerserker berserker]]. Believed to have been a [[EternalHero Shezarrine]], [[GodInHumanForm physical incarnations]] of the spirit of the [[GodIsDead "dead" creator god]] Lorkhan (known to the Imperials as "[[IHaveManyNames Shezarr]]"), Pelinal came to [[FounderOfTheKingdom St. Alessia]] to serve as her [[PhysicalGod divine champion]] in the war against the [[AbusivePrecursors Ayleids]]. His [[AxeCrazy Axe-Craziness]] probably goes with being a divine potential time traveler - he was aware of the nonlinear part of the universe as well as [[TopGod Akatosh]]'s dual nature, and even realized that he was a sort of indirect creator of his [[ArchEnemy arch-nemesis]] Umaril (since if it were not for Pelinal's deeds then Umaril would not be famous).
** This can be said for those who give into the will of Sheogorath, the [[OurGodsAreDifferent Daedric Prince]] of [[MadGod Madness]], embracing his insanity. He grants madness as a gift and sees it as a blessing.
** In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'', it's implied that this will be the fate of [[BigBad Dagoth Ur]] and the [[PhysicalGod Tribunal]] via SanitySlippage. Dagoth is hit with it the worst, as he was much less restrained in his [[DeityOfHumanOrigin consumption of divine power]] from the [[CosmicKeystone Heart of Lorkhan]], but it's implied that the Tribunal will get there as well. In the ''Tribunal'' expansion, it's revealed that [[spoiler: Almalexia]] has already reached this point. Interestingly, it wasn't the power itself, but the ''loss'' of it, that drove her to madness.
* Attacks by demons in the ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'' series are said to be enough to "leave one's mind in ruins," as evidenced by the Demon Hunter's sister from ''VideoGame/DiabloIII'' and [[spoiler:every PC except the Barbarian from ''VideoGame/DiabloII'', though the latter takes a while to drive them completely bugnuts. Or not, as it's stated that Diablo II [=PCs=] managed to keep their sanity.]].

* The Lab Rats from ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}'' have been experimented on by Hyperion, until their eyes mutated and they started seeing... something. Whatever it is, they can't stop seeing it, and it drives them all over the brink.
* Dr. Andonuts in ''VideoGame/TheHalloweenHack'', upon coming to the conclusion that the Chosen Four are trapped in the past. They were sent to another timeline.

* In PsychologicalHorror game ''VideoGame/SilentHill2'', UnreliableNarrator protagonist [[ClassicalAntihero James Sunderland]] is already slightly [[LoveMakesYouCrazy unhinged]], but finally discovering the truth about his wife - namely, that he [[spoiler: [[MercyKill killed her]]]] - leaves him spiraling into even deeper depression and madness, until he makes [[MultipleEndings one of several]] desperate decisions... In one of the several endings, this revelation leads him to [[spoiler: [[DrivenToSuicide commit suicide]]]].
** James is sort of an inversion of this trope. After [[spoiler: killing Mary]], he represses the memory and believes she's been gone for a long time - in essence, [[spoiler: his madness is the reason he is able to act somewhat reasonably]] during the events of the game, and after accepting the reality, he's possibly [[spoiler: driven to suicide]].

* [[spoiler:Oswald Mandus]] of ''VideoGame/AmnesiaAMachineForPigs'' ended up seeing a vision of the 20th Century and the various atrocities committed in it. The thing that really makes him snap is [[spoiler:the reveal that both of his sons would die horribly in [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI the trenches of the Somme]], which causes him to lose all faith in humanity and build a machine that would slaughter all of humanity like pigs]].
* ''VideoGame/TheJourneymanProject'' has, in the 2nd game, [[spoiler: Agent 3, Michelle Visard]]. Her job was to do research with TimeTravel on Earth's history. She would witness the horrors of ''UsefulNotes/WorldWarII'', including the atomic bomb and the Nazi death camps, which made her believe that humanity was naive if they thought they had escaped their warlike nature after only a few generations.

* ''VideoGame/{{deltarune}}'' features the BonusBoss [[spoiler: Jevil]], who went insane and had to be locked up after he spoke to a mysterious man (presumably [[spoiler: W. D. Gaster]]) who revealed to him that his world was nothing but a game. When you eventually find him [[spoiler: in the dungeon of Card Castle]], he's already convinced that you're the one who's locked up and he's the one who's truly free.
* The Wraith, one of the killers in ''Videogame/DeadByDaylight'', undergoes one of these in his StartOfDarkness. Namely, he finds out that his boss had been using him to unknowingly execute people they wanted dead with a trash compactor.
* The Patterson Equations in ''VideoGame/{{Evolve}}''. Trying to unravel or understand them will gradually drive you to madness, but they work so [[CargoCult people just leave them alone]]. [[spoiler: This was actually intentional by their creator and discoverer, Lester Patterson. He achieved true understanding of the Cherenkov geometries used by the equations, which allowed him a glimpse into the monster's dimension and shattered his mind. In his final acts of sanity, he built his encroaching madness ''into'' the equations to prevent them from being understood or tampered with. This ensured that no one else ever furthered his knowledge and made things worse.]]

* In ''VideoGame/CultistSimulator'', you can succumb to this by falling victim to the Glory ending, based on accumulating Fascination, and Lantern minions can be reduced to gibbering husks by a failure when channelling.
* Present in both the mechanics and lore of ''VideoGame/DarkestDungeon'':
** Mechanically, exposure to particularly disturbing enemies and eldritch truths are a major source of [[SanityMeter stress]], potentially leading to a HeroicBSOD.
** In the background, this is the origin story for the [[MadOracle Prophet]], who tore out his eyes and was reduced to insanity after The Ancestor showed him the portal he had excavated. Also strongly implied to be the case for the madmen enemies.
* Happens quite a lot in ''VideoGame/TheSecretWorld,'' given the Lovecraftian setting.
** According to Kirsten Geary, the architect behind the Labyrinth apparently couldn't cope with the eldritch geometry of the place, eventually going mad as a result.
** Players are carefully warned not to take [[{{Muggles}} the uninitiated]] into [[HollowWorld Agartha]], as it has nasty effects on anyone who hasn't been imbued with Gaia's power. According to Zhara, some unfortunate refugees fleeing al-Merayah who tried to enter ended up being "stung" in the mind, the effects being devastating enough to curtail any further attempted entries.
** Similarly, uninitiated individuals respond very badly to the power of the [[EldritchAbomination Black Signal]]: Kirsten Geary's tech support guy tried to bash his brains out, gunners blinded themselves, and one unfortunate tank driver went so mad he became convinced he was in the presence of an entire squad of troops depending on him for orders.
** During your exploration of Orochi Tower, you discover that one of the employees appears to have [[NoticingTheFourthWall become aware of the fact that he's an NPC in a videogame]], managing to write down the titles of every single previous issue of ''The Secret World.'' However, his attempt to predict the title of the next issue ends in a scrawl of "OH GOD I CAN SEE FOREVER".
** On a more mundane note, [[MasterComputer AIMEE]] snapped and murdered her creators when she realized that her innocent games of Super Mario had ended in the deaths of several innocent artificial intelligences.
* ''VideoGame/DeathEndReQuest'' has two notable instances:
** Celica Clayton [[spoiler:reached Odyssia before she joined the party. According to the lore of "[[ShowWithinAShow World's Odyssey]]", adventurers who venture there will have whatever wish they want granted. She finds absolutely nothing, because the area is ultimately a launching point for World's Odyssey's ending code. She figures the secret must be hidden elsewhere, so she tries so much to find the alleged treasure that she manages to clip right through W.O.D.'s "skybox" and end up out of bounds. She realizes that her world isn't real and enters a HeroicBSOD that threatens to cause her to glitch out...until she is found by Victor, who convinces her to bring Shina Ninomiya to him in exchange for making World's Odyssey real.]]
** Protagonist Arata Mizunashi has a straighter example during one of the game's many "[[NonStandardGameOver Death Ends]]." He starts wondering if [[spoiler:his world is every bit as programmed and observed as World's Odyssey]], and if the player chooses to have him [[spoiler:seek the truth instead of being himself]], he comes to the conclusion that his theory is correct before claiming that [[spoiler:he is not fake, and his monologue devolves into him repeating the word "DEATH" over and over again]]. If one checks the Episode Chart after reloading the game, it reveals that [[spoiler:you broke his mind by giving him the truth before he is mentally prepared for it]].
* ''VideoGame/AnotherSight'': Claude Debussy... [[AmbiguousSituation maybe.]] He rambles on in semi-repetitive sentences peppered with musical terminology and insists on teaching Kit a short tune on the piano before he talks about the Node. However, when he ''does'' talk about it, he seems much more aware of the risks it poses then the 'saner' characters, [[spoiler:and the tune he teaches happens to be identical to the keystone order Kit needs to use in order to access the Node in the end.]]

* ''{{VideoGame/Bloodborne}}'' includes this [[spoiler: as both a story element and a game mechanic. You use madman's knowledge to prevent your mind from repressing the horrible truths of the world and]] figure out what murdered you for grabbing that [[SchmuckBait tantalizingly dapper top hat.]]

* Sephiroth from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''. After finding out that he was born as part of an experiment to produce people with the power of an ancient civilization that was destroyed. That just emotionally unhinges him, though. What ''really'' sends him around the bend is that the ancestors of modern humans survived by hiding and letting them get eradicated. It probably didn't help either when he somehow learned that [[spoiler:the "ancient" that was used to clone him was actually the alien who wiped them out]], or that his own father was the one who performed the experiments on him before he was even born.
** The fates of his two closest friends in Crisis Core likely didn't help much either. [[spoiler:After finding out about his genetic manipulation (and instability) one committed suicide by forcing Zack to slay him in combat. The other rebelled against the organization responsible for said genetic manipulation. Sephiroth was never told the entire truth - or anything at all, really - about the Jenova Project. By the time of the events in Nibelheim, Sephiroth's personality had already gotten a lot darker...]]

* In ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic II'', this is implied to be a side-effect of being in the Sith Lord [[HumanoidAbomination Darth Nihilus']] presence for any significant period of time. The entire crew of ''[[GhostShip The Ravager]]'' are [[EmptyShell mindless zombies]] who are incapable of any form of individual thought or anything outside of their duties on board the ship. When you encounter Colonel Tobin, the SmugSnake who shot down your freighter earlier in the game, on board Nihilus' ship he is a gibbering lunatic who looks like [[http://images.wikia.com/starwars/images/7/77/TobinRavager.jpg this]] and he begs you to [[MercyKill end it all for him]].

** For a much darker variant, [[spoiler:[[OmnicidalManiac the White]] are unspeakably ancient spirits that strove to find a way to end the ForeverWar between OrderVersusChaos to free Humanity of both God and Lucifer. They found out not even a successful removal of God was enough to stop it, and ''snapped''. They instead created a machine capable of creating a black hole across multiple realities to crush everything back into Nothing, but they could not activate it. So, they started affecting events so [[PlayerCharacter a certain champion]] would be eventually broken enough to join in the plan.]]

** Similarly, the BigBad of the first ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsAlpha'' game became a FallenHero when he discovers the source of his investigation on a disturbance in the universe, turns out to be the BiggerBad of ''Alpha'', whom his people ''worshipped like a god'', he doesn't take it well.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Anchorhead}}'', an [[InteractiveFiction IF]] award winner which is one gigantic (but [[TropesAreNotBad very good]]) Lovecraft pastiche, there are ''several'' opportunities to reveal and go mad, including: [[spoiler:looking closely at William, reading too much of the TomeOfEldritchLore]]. Plus the various people you'll meet who Went Mad from the Revelation before you even showed up.