History Main / GrimyWater

* A rare TV show example, ''{{MXC}}'', the comically re-dubbed version of ''Takeshi's Castle'', often features a disgusting brown water that many contestants fall into in the various challenges. The water is given a new, more [[{{Squick}} disgusting]] name, every time it appears.

[[caption-width-right:320:You ''really'' shouldn't swim in that water.]]

** ''Underworld'' has glowing blue water in its final levels. Instant death if you so much as ''touch'' it.

* ''{{Quake}}'' has both toxic waste and lava(which still [[LavaIsRedHotWater behaves like water]]), as well as clear (and murky, but harmless) water.

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[[AC:MMORPGs]]

** ''[[CastlevaniaSimonsQuest Simon's Quest]]'' also has purple poisonous swamps.

* ''Lego Batman'': there is regular water with is quite swimmable and of course grimy water with will kill you instantly. the bad water is actually green toxic waste and is accessible when you have unlocked certain characters that are immune to the toxins.

** ''[=TR3=]'' had an annoying and possibly NightmareFuel variant, ''quicksand'' Lara sank very quickly unless it was a desginated shallow spot, once submerged your breath meter went down ''very'' quickly, and the kicker? ''Lara was unable to climb out of the stuff.''

* The ''[[HalfLife Half-Life]]'' series has health-point-draining scummy green radioactive contaminated water. It is your [[PoweredArmor HEV Suit]] that lets you survive contant as long as you get out fast. Radioactive waste is sometimes replaced with identical-looking biowaste. The difference is that while radioactive stuff triggers the Geiger counter and it does damage while you stand in it, biowaste has no audio warning and continues damaging for a while even after you leave it (and this damage is substracted directly from your health, ignoring all armor). And of course there are the respective trefoil/biohazard signs on your HUD while you are being damaged. There is also an inversion -- the healing puddles of goo on Xen.

** [[{{JustifiedTrope}} Justified]] in that the water has actually been poisoned in both the locations where it can inflict the condition onto you - in Factions, Shiro has Afflicted the Undercity sewers, and in Prophecies, the Undead have.

* Whenever you encounter water that's an odd colour in the ''{{Banjo Kazooie}}'' series, there's often something living in it, namely piranhas in the first game and Dragundas in ''Tooie''. The picture above comes from ''Banjo Tooie'', in the Quagmire industrial area. Strangely, it seems the only reason why the polluted goo is dangerous is because of the Dragundas who live in it, not because it's toxic.

*** It returns in ''SuperMarioGalaxy2'', along with new purple goo that's so toxic the slighest contact makes Mario ''dissolve.''

* In PS3 game ''{{Demons Souls}}'', the second stage of [[ThatOneLevel The Valley of Defilement]] is covered with this. Not only is the player unable to dodge when walking through it, but extended exposure causes ''poison''.

** The swampland level in ''FinalFantasyCrystalChronicles'' - Conall Curach - has also got noticably murky water that causes damage when you stand in it.

* Likewise, in ''{{Grand Theft Auto Vice City}}'', the water is crystal clear and appears clean and safe, however attempting a swim will still kill you. Though it's never explicitly stated why, inspection of the Lifeguard Booths on the beach reveal a sign reading "Warning: Rip Tides", implying that strong rip currents are at fault.

* A rare TV show example, ''MXC'', the comically re-dubbed version of ''Takeshi's Castle'', often features a disgusting brown water that many contestants fall into in the various challenges. The water is given a new, more [[{{Squick}} disgusting]] name, every time it appears.

Often involved in RiseToTheChallenge levels, as well as BubblegloopSwamp ones. The classic term, back before ''{{Quake}}'' introduced swimming, was "hurt floor," since these areas were effectively just floors that dealt damage.

* In the {{MMORPG}} ''[[LordOfTheRings Lord Of The Rings Online]]'', up in the frozen lands of Fornost, going into the water instantly causes death, perhaps due to freezing. You can enter other water just fine, it is just the water in the arctic type area that is deadly. In the same game, Angmar has bright green water that is instantly fatal.
* Occurs in all the ''{{Metroid}}'' games.
** In ''Metroid 1/Zero Mission'' and ''Super Metroid'', the "water" in Brinstar was highly acidic and would damage you until you got out. The Varia upgrade removed the hazard.
** In ''Super Metroid'', there is no suit which protects you from acid. The ''Gravity'' Suit prevents you taking damage from Norfair's lava, but the acid is still a problem. In ''Zero Mission'', the acid in Brinstar becomes safe to travel through with the Varia Suit, the lava in Norfair is safe with the Gravity Suit, and the acid in Tourian is ''never'' safe.
** Justified in the first two ''{{Metroid Prime}}s'': In the first, [[spoiler:one of the first bosses was filling the water with toxins, and when it was defeated the water stopped causing damage]]. In the second the water was in Dark Aether, where pretty much [[EverythingTryingToKillYou everything is lethal]].
** ''Metroid II'' didn't even make a pretense of calling the fluid on [=SR388=] water; it was acidic, toxic and generally lethal. The only way to remove the hazard was to drain the stuff.
** In Fusion, Sector 4 AQA featured electrified water, which would cause continual damage if you fell in. Draining the water removed the hazard.
* ''[[KingsQuestVI King's Quest VI]]'' has a section with instant death water - entirely justified given the fact that it's in the Land of the Dead, and said death water is the water from the River Styx. ''[[KingsQuestMaskOfEternity King's Quest: Mask of Eternity]]'' also has instant death water in the Dimension of Death, along with harmful pools of blood in the same Dimension, plus toxic water from the Swamp (some of which is covering a small pond in Daventry).
* The ''[[HalfLife Half-Life]]'' series has health-point-draining scummy green radioactive contaminated water. It is your [[PoweredArmor HEV Suit]] that lets you survive contant as long as you get out fast. Radioactive waste is sometimes replaced with identical-looking biowaste. The difference is that while radioactive stuff triggers the Geiger counter and it does damage while you stand in it, biowaste has no audio warning and continues damaging for a while even after you leave it (and this damage is substracted directly from your health, ignoring all armor). And of course there are the respective trefoil/biohazard signs on your HUD while you are being damaged. There is also an inversion -- the healing puddles of goo on Xen.
* ''{{Portal}}'' has grimy Instant Death Water. It seems to be electrified.
** Considering that you are warned from submerging your portal gun, the chances are that it's the thing that electrifies you when you fall in the stuff. Especially since you can wade in ankle deep just fine.
* Whenever you encounter water that's an odd colour in the ''{{Banjo Kazooie}}'' series, there's often something living in it, namely piranhas in the first game and Dragundas in ''Tooie''. The picture above comes from ''Banjo Tooie'', in the Quagmire industrial area. Strangely, it seems the only reason why the polluted goo is dangerous is because of the Dragundas who live in it, not because it's toxic.
** [[ShiftingSandLand Gobi Desert]] includes untouchable sand, dangerous not because it would suck you in but because it includes irritable [[SandIsWater sand eels]]
*** Seems like a favorite trick of the programmers at Rare; they did that in the ''DonkeyKongCountry'' series as well.
** Rusty Bucket Bay has a variation: Banio can swim in the polluted water, but the oxygen meter depletes even while swimming on the surface and twice as quickly underwater.
*** Speaking of Rusty Bucket Bay, there is a small area on land that is full of glowing green waste and toxic barrels. Contact with the waste is not instant death but it damages instead. Similar technicolor goop is found in Grunty Industries in ''Tooie''; maybe that's where all the toxic waste came from.
** The freezing water in Click Clock Wood winter uses the same mechanic as the oily water in Rusty Bucket Bay. The water in [[SlippySlideyIceWorld Freezeezy Peak]] just mocks you while it drains your health
** [[BigBoosHaunt Mad Monster Mansion]] includes what could best be described as a pool full of ''haunted water'' (the game does not explain why the purplish liquid harms you). Oddly, you are protected from this damage if you're an adorable pumpkin
*** That is because harmful terrain doesn't affect you if you are transformed. Usually justified in that the form you take isn't bothered by the terrain (e.g. crocodile-form not bothered by piranhas). The hidden Washine Machine transformation is immune to all such terrain, since the Transformed flag is set.
** Even otherwise clean seawater is a hazard to poor Banjo. Swimming in the sea in Treasure Trove Cove attracts the attention of an enormous frickin' shark that seems to be stalking you.
** Notable exception: Swimming in the waste water in Clanker's Cavern (or even [[WombLevel inside Clanker]]) is no more hazardous than 'normal' water.
* ''DonkeyKongCountry 3'' puts a twist on the formula with toxic water with no effect other than the player's directional pad is reversed, so you must press left to swim right.
* ''TheLegendOfZelda: Majora's Mask'' (although after you beat the boss, it becomes unpolluted)

** Also in ''Oracle Of Ages''.
* Averted in ''CityOfHeroes'', the neon-green water in the sewers doesn't do anything to you no matter how much time you spend wading in it. [[WaterIsAir Nor does it slow you down.]]
* Occurs quite a bit in various [[SuperMarioBros Mario]] games:
** ''SuperMarioSunshine'' has Noki Bay, where the otherwise crystal-clear water is horribly polluted from an eel in ''desperate'' need of a dentist. Only the surface is harmful, and since several of the levels there give you a suit that lets you stay underwater longer, it's actually ''safer'' to just swim under the water when you have to go in.
** ''SuperMarioGalaxy'' had a level or two where the water or some other substance was so toxic that falling into it resulted in instant death as the player watched Mario stick his hand out and garble under the muck before drowning.
*** It returns in ''SuperMarioGalaxy2'', along with new purple goo that's so toxic the slighest contact makes Mario ''dissolve.''
**** That's Dark Matter, which was also in the first game.
** And then, in ''SuperMario64'', the second Ice world you come to has two types of water, both harmful: one is swimmable, but because of the freeziness of it, it slowly drains your life rather than [[GameBreaker help you to replenish it]]. The other is cold enough to act exactly like lava and forms the backdrop of a boss battle.
** In ''NewSuperMarioBros.'', World 4 has purplish, toxic water that is fatal upon contact, regardless of Mario's current form.
*** This was probably inspired by the many infamous PlatformHell Mario hacks (especially ''Kaizo Mario World''), where grayish-purple "death water" was ever-present.
** ''Super Mario World'' had boiling-hot ''chocolate''.
* In ''RatchetAndClank'' games, clear water is safe to swim in. Murky water always contains Lombax-eating fish.
** In the first game, an obstacle course level had pools of clear water with those very fish. You usually had to drain the water and kill the fish, then fill it back up or they would eat you. Also, freezing cold water will instantly freeze Ratchet to death, and the poor furry guy can't swim in mud or poison goo, he simply sinks.
*** Pleasantly, the clear water pools at least had ''visible'' fish.
*** Strangely enough, Ratchet is capable of jumping out of the opaque goo in almost every level of the first and second games in the series, but will drown if he falls back in three times. In ''Up Your Arsenal'', it kills him instantly.
*** Exploited in the Gemlik Base level of the first game, where in the section where you walk on the left side of the room, the rising orange stuff will cause Ratchet to fall off of the path.
**** Attempted again in the Obani Draco level of ''Up Your Arsenal''. Instead of causing him to fall off, it simply caused him to somehow enter his sinking animation despite not being in the goo before respawning.

** ''Simon's Quest'' also has purple poisonous swamps.
* The ''{{Rayman}}'' series does this as well. However, in those games, it seems as if the only thing that separates "swimmable" water from the "piranha-infested" kind is the presence of a sign...
** Starting with ''Revolution'', you could see fish jumping out. But only near walkable regions, so they could drop on your head and bite you.

* ''[[DukeNukem Duke Nukem 3D]]'' has puddles of radioactive waste that can be made walkable with a pair of special boots. Most of it isn't deep enough to be submerged, let alone swim. Strangely, if Duke dives into pools of waste that are deep enough, he loses oxygen (as if he is in water) instead of health.
* The ''SpyroTheDragon'' series, at least the Insomniac-produced ones, occasionally had this. One level in the second game had green water that you could walk on while using the invincibility power-up.
** No, that was lava. The level 'Spooky Swamp' in Year of the Dragon had water that Spyro could swim in, but it was full of piranhas that would kill Spyro unless he got out really really quickly.
** ''Year of the Dragon'' and ''A Hero's Tail'' each had a level in where you had to use the invincibility to swim in acid.

* A rare RTS example occurs in ''TotalAnnihilation''. One tileset features acidic water that damages any units which try to slog through it. Sadly, this isn't enough of a deterrent for the [[ArtificialStupidity AI]]...
* ''{{Quake}}'' has both toxic waste and lava(which still [[LavaIsRedHotWater behaves like water]]), as well as clear (and murky, but harmless) water.
* All the water in ''{{Fallout}} 3'' is irradiated, save for a very few places. You can still swim and drink from it, but will need to deal with the ensuing radiation poisoning afterwards. Quite subverted since drinking the (irradiated) water from rivers and toilets actually heals you as much as a dozen stimpacks, but also gives you radioactive poisoning.
** Fallout Tactics is much worse, the water are obviously irradiated and glows with ominous sickly green glow.
* Ink serves this purpose in ''{{de Blob}}''. It makes sense in context - well, it makes about as much sense as the rest of the game, anyway.
* A rare TV show example, ''MXC'', the comically re-dubbed version of ''Takeshi's Castle'', often features a disgusting brown water that many contestants fall into in the various challenges. The water is given a new, more [[{{Squick}} disgusting]] name, every time it appears.

** [=TR2=] had green in one level and red in another. The red water was meant to be ''lava'', despite it being... well, red water. Made worse by the fact that a) when you fell in it, you stood up and ''then'' keeled over and b) the very next level had proper instant burst-into-flames lava straight from the original TR.
** [=TR3=] had an annoying and possibly NightmareFuel variant, ''quicksand'' Lara sank very quickly unless it was a desginated shallow spot, once submerged your breath meter went down ''very'' quickly, and the kicker? ''Lara was unable to climb out of the stuff.''
** Also in [=TR3=], falling into regular water on a vehicle resulted in it ''[[MadeOfExplodium exploding]]''.

* BahamutLagoon has "poison swamps". They can be turned into regular swamps by casting healing magic on them.
* Similarly, swampland in ''FinalFantasyTactics'' is harmful, and any units that finish their turn while standing in the water will be Poisoned (treading water and climbing out onto solid ground has no ill effects.)
** The swampland level in ''FinalFantasyCrystalChronicles'' - Conall Curach - has also got noticably murky water that causes damage when you stand in it.
* Lego StarWars II: In a Tatooine level in Episode IV: A New Hope, there is an area dotted with moisture vaporators that has deadly pools of water. A vaporator next to it, when activated, can suck the area dry and provide a walkable surface.
* Lego Batman: there is regular water with is quite swimmable and of course grimy water with will kill you instantly. the bad water is actually green toxic waste and is accessible when you have unlocked certain characters that are immune to the toxins.
* You can freely swim in even the grimiest water in the JakAndDaxter games, making them an aversion...unless you go too far out, in which case a shark, laser-cannon drone, or tentacle will kill you. Well, except in ''Jak X'', but since you spend that entire game driving...
** Played absolutely dead straight with the Dark Eco pools, however, which kill you stone dead.
*** Dark Eco isn't even water, but more of a liquid GreenRocks.
* No mention of the "Mega Mack" from the ''SonicTheHedgehog'' series? While it doesn't kill you on impact, it ''does'' cut the time you can remain in it before you drown in half.
* This is the whole {{macguffin}} plot of the SNES rpg, Lagoon.

* In ''{{Scarface}}: The World Is Yours'', when you go swimming in the ocean there's a fair chance that sharks will attack you.
* ''[[{{GuildWars}} Guild Wars]]'', where some water (mostly in Kryta, and then more often in ''Factions''' Undercity) inflicts poison on you. Walking in actual ''sewer'' water (which is a dull bronze color), strangely, usually has no effect.
** [[{{JustifiedTrope}} Justified]] in that the water has actually been poisoned in both the locations where it can inflict the condition onto you - in Factions, Shiro has Afflicted the Undercity sewers, and in Prophecies, the Undead have.
* In PS3 game ''{{Demons Souls}}'', the second stage of [[ThatOneLevel The Valley of Defilement]] is covered with this. Not only is the player unable to dodge when walking through it, but extended exposure causes ''poison''.
** The third stage of The Valley Of Defilement also has ''[[ItGotWorse plague]]'' swamps. [[BeyondTheImpossible They wanted to give players something to hate more than the poison swamps]], it would seem.
* In ''{{Grand Theft Auto III}}'', the water surrounding the city is extremely polluted, to the point where it takes on a thick slimy dark texture, and a very dark blue color. The reason for this is supposedly a industrial pollutants mixed with a massive oil-spill, thus creating water so grimy, [[SuperDrowningSkills it's fatal to anyone who tries to swim in it]].
* Likewise, in ''{{Grand Theft Auto Vice City}}'', the water is crystal clear and appears clean and safe, however attempting a swim will still kill you. Though it's never explicitly stated why, inspection of the Lifeguard Booths on the beach reveal a sign reading "Warning: Rip Tides", implying that strong rip currents are at fault.

* In ''DragonQuestVIII'', there are a few areas (such as a segment in the Black Citadel) where the player can walk through what appears to be purple water. Doing so slowly damages the entire party.
* The Blood Priest in {{Wasteland}} is found in the middle of a lake of blood. The water doesn't hurt you (if you can swim)...but the fish do.

* ''[[SuperMarioBros Super Mario Sunshine]]''.

** And then, in ''SuperMario64'', the second Ice world you come to has swimmable water, but because of the freeziness of it, it slowly drains your life, rather than [[GameBreaker help you to replenish it]].
** And yet another type of water in ''Super Mario 64'' (and one level of ''Super Mario Galaxy'') had extremely cold water which acted exactly like lava, again in said second ice world.
** In ''New Super Bros.'', World 4 has purplish, toxic water that is fatal upon contact, regardless of Mario's current form.

*** The original ''Super Mario World'' had boiling-hot ''chocolate''.

* While [[SicklyGreenGlow green nukage]] and [[LavaIsBoilingKoolAid lava]] are always harmful in ''{{Doom}}'' and the [[WaterIsBlue extremely blue water]] is always harmless, whether or not brown slime and blood are damaging varies [[DependingOnTheWriter depending on the whim of the level designer]]. Every so often a custom wad designer will be a ''really'' big asshole and make even the blue water dangerous, due to being radioactive coolant water for a reactor, electrified, or freezing cold.

* ''KingsQuest'' VI has a section with instant death water - entirely justified given the fact that it's in the Land of the Dead, and said death water is the water from the River Styx. ''King's Quest VIII''' also has instant death water in the Dimension of Death, along with harmful pools of blood in the same Dimension, plus toxic water from the Swamp (some of which is covering a small pond in Daventry).

* The Land of the Dead in ''King's Quest VI'' contains the River Styx, which kills you instantly upon touching it. The Dimension of Death in ''King's Quest VIII'' works similarly.

* ''{{Portal}}'' has grimy Instant Death Water. It seems to be electrified.

It's a good way to make a video game character avoid pits of liquid without invoking SuperDrowningSkills or going as far as {{Lava Pit}}s. Usually appears in games with [[CoolClearWater regular "swimmable" water]] as well. Sometimes it is possible to clear up the grimy water to make it swimmable, and some [=3D=] games have just the surface cause injury (implied to be something floating in it.)

Often involved in RiseToTheChallenge levels, as well as BubblegloopSwamp ones. The classic term, back before ''Quake'' introduced swimming, was "hurt floor," since these areas were effectively just floors that dealt damage.

* In the {{MMORPG}} ''LordOfTheRings Online'', up in the frozen lands of Fornost, going into the water instantly causes death, perhaps due to freezing. You can enter other water just fine, it's just the water in the arctic type area that is deadly.
** In the same game, Angmar has bright green water that is instantly fatal.
* Occurred in ''every single entry'' in the ''{{Metroid}}'' series.

*** In ''Super Metroid'', there is no suit which protects you from acid. The ''Gravity'' Suit prevents you taking damage from Norfair's lava, but the acid is still a problem. In ''Zero Mission'', the acid in Brinstar becomes safe to travel through with the Varia Suit, the lava in Norfair is safe with the Gravity Suit, and the acid in Tourian is ''never'' safe.

** Metroid II didn't even make a pretense of calling the fluid on [=SR388=] water; it was acidic, toxic and generally lethal. The only way to remove the hazard was to drain the stuff.

* Also appears in ''HalfLife'', ''Half Life 2'' and ''{{Portal}}''. ''{{Portal}}'' has the Instant Death Water version, whereas the ''HalfLife'' games feature health-point-draining radioactive waste instead. Differences are justified though. In ''Portal'' you're wearing an ordinary jumpsuit (with springheels, but that only helps fall damage). In the ''HalfLife'' series, you're wearing the [[PoweredArmor HEV Suit]].
** There's also the inversion - the healing puddles on Xen.
** Another interesting variation in ''HalfLife'' was the flooded room where faulty wiring electrified the water. Turning off the current solved that problem, but getting to the switch was a mild PlatformHell due to the lack of space.
** Radioactive waste is sometimes replaced with identical-looking biowaste. The difference is that while radioactive stuff triggers the Geiger counter and it does damage while you stand in it, biowaste has no audio warning and continues damaging for a while even after you leave it (and this damage is substracted directly from your health, ignoring all armor). And of course there are the respective trefoil/biohazard signs on your HUD while you are being damaged.
* Whenever you encounter water that's an odd colour in the ''{{Banjo Kazooie}}'' series, there's often something living in it, namely piranhas in the first game and Dragundas in ''Tooie''.
** The picture above comes from ''Banjo Tooie'', in the Quagmire industrial area. Strangely, it seems the only reason why the polluted goo is dangerous is because of the Dragundas who live in it, not because it's toxic.

[[BanjoKazooie http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/goop.png]]
[[caption-width:320:You ''really'' shouldn't swim in that water.]]
-->'''Durandal:''' ''"Yes, that brownish purple goop is disgusting. Yes, it smells strange. Yes, its a part of the pfhor biology. No, I'm not telling you what it is. I'd never get you to leave your current location if I did. Hold your nose and jump in..."''\\
-- From Marathon: Rubicon

-->''Stop falling in the '''death water'''!'' \\

* ''{{Quake}}'' has both toxic waste and lava, as well as clear (and murky, but harmless) water.

* ''{{Quake}}'' has both toxic waste and lava, as well as clear water.

** Another interesting variation in ''HalfLife'' was the flooded room where faulty wiring electrified the water. Turning off the current solved that problem, but getting to the switch was a mild PlatformHell due to the lack of space.

* All the water in ''{{Fallout}} 3'' is irradiated, save for a very few places. You can still swim and drink from it, but will need to deal with the ensuing radiation poisoning afterwards.

** The third stage of The Valley Of Defilement also has ''[[BeyondTheImpossible plague]]'' swamps. They wanted to give players something to hate more than the poison swamps, it would seem.