History Main / HollywoodSilencer

** The Russian [=OTs-38=] Stechkin revolver uses the aformentioned SP-4 subsonic cartridges, which have the bullets completely seated in the casing, creating a seal that eliminates any gases or flames coming out of the cylinder gap. Uniquely, the cylinder swings out to the right, and has a vertical pivot instead of a crane similar to conventional revolvers, presumably to improve gas seal.

** The Russian OTs-38 Stechkin revolver uses the aformentioned SP-4 subsonic cartridges, which have the bullets completely seated in the casing, creating a seal that eliminates any gases or flames coming out of the cylinder gap. Uniquely, the cylinder swings out to the right, and has a vertical pivot instead of a crane similar to conventional revolvers, presumably to improve gas seal.

* Downplayed in ''VideoGame/GhostRecon'' in which suppressed weapons have realistic sounds but are inaudible from more than a few feet away. However, one of the silenced guns, the [=MP5=], sounds like hair scissors.

* Partially averted in ''VideoGame/GhostRecon'' in which suppressed weapons have realistic sounds but are inaudible from more than a few feet away. However, one of the silenced guns, the [=MP5=], sounds like hair scissors.

* Played straight in ''VideoGame/{{Unturned}}''. Zombies won't bat an eye at a silenced gun's report, although the same can't be said of players if you're shooting a gun with the makeshift muffler, as the report is muffled to as lout as a loud 'plack' (proper suppressors lower the report to "footstep on concrete" levels). As an aside, they decrease bullet damage, and if the durability of any kind of suppressor reaches 0, it stops working completely.

* One of the few designs that has enough features to be fairly called "silent" is the .45 ACP British [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeLisle_carbine DeLisle Carbine]] of WWII, which featured a bolt-action and a barrel that was basically a single huge suppressor. The heavy, subsonic .45 ACP round was a good choice for a suppressed caliber, and the only sounds produced by firing would be the miniscule *click* of the trigger dropping the hammer, followed by whatever sound the bullet made hitting the target. If a fast follow-up shot was not necessary, the bolt-action could be slowly and carefully operated in such a way that it produced no real noise. Unfortunately, the trade off was in practical usefulness; the [=DeLisle=] was great for eliminating lone sentries (if you were close enough to attempt a headshot), but silently dropping a guy within eye or earshot of his friends would ensure you'd only get off one round before his buddies raised the alarm, and the [=DeLisle=] was definitely not a weapon you'd want to be carrying once anybody started shooting back at you.

* The semi-automatic pistols in ''VideoGame/TombRaider2013'' and ''VideoGame/RiseOfTheTombRaider'' both have silencer upgrades that sound very similar to how they do in real-life, though the sound effect is of course still much quieter than a real suppressed gunshot (even moreso here, as Lara's pistol is a Colt .45 1911, a very loud gun).

* An episode of ''Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'' had an aversion of this trope as a plot point. The victim was killed with a gun fired through a potato (with the intent of silencing it), which Goren noted wouldn't work. When the same MO shows up later, the fact that the killer didn't realise it didn't work the first time (along with the fact he panicked and killed the victim even though she couldn't call for help) proves that they were deaf.

* Averted in an episode of ''Manga/DetectiveConan'' where, when confronted by Conan under the stands, the episode's culprit knows that a silencer does not completely mask a gun's noise, but he's in a crowded stadium where everyone around is watching a football match so he can still shoot without attracting unwanted attention.

* Averted in, of all games, ''VideoGame/Left4Dead2'' where one of the starting weapons you can find is a MAC-10 with an attached suppressor. It still sounds pretty loud, but at the same time regular infected will take a while longer to realize you're firing at them with it. But what's the point of stealth in a game that is basically a run and gun against hordes of zombies?

* The most important thing is not silencing the weapon to a ''fwip'', but changing the noise [[TheCoconutEffect to resemble less closely the sound of actual gunfire]]. Once the supersonic ''crack'' is dispensed with by using subsonic ammo, a suppressor's primary benefit is in making it harder to identify or locate the noise it does produce. In a noisy urban environment, cars and heavy trucks running around, people talking or shouting, TV sets adding to the noise, a muted "pop" could go unnoticed as long as witnesses can mentally dismiss it as some common, incidental noise: somebody dropping an object, a door closing, etc.
* Ever since the 2019 Virginia Beach shooting, which was committed by a disgruntled city employee using a suppressed .45 handgun, news outlets have been incorrectly reporting that a suppressed gunshot is "as loud as a nail gun". In reality, it is about 125 decibels, slightly louder than thunder.
* For most people, the main point is not "silencing" the shot at all, but rather reducing it to a volume less likely to induce deafening, particularly when firing in tight quarters (indeed, one of the early reasons for the US Army's interest in them was to keep trainee soldiers [[https://armourersbench.com/2018/11/11/springfield-m1903-with-a-maxim-silencer from flinching when they fired their rifles for the very first time]]).

* This trope may have sent some people to prison since there have been cases of killers convicted by trace evidence of improvised silencers they wrongly assumed they needed -- [[JustForFun/TelevisionIsTryingToKillUs possibly by exposure to too many movies]]. Real hitmen do not often use silencers, as they affect accuracy and are just one more item to be disposed of after the deed that can be potentially traced back to them.

* Some specials operations forces still use crossbows in limited roles because they are almost totally silent. Of course, they have all the problems that one would expect of a silent weapon: low power and low rate of fire. They compensate somewhat for the former by having ammunition with sharpened points, which improves penetration, thus also making them more effective against typical kevlar-weave {{bulletproof vest}}s.

* The Heckler & Koch [=MP5SD=] submachine gun has been the gold standard for Western made suppressed weapons since the 1980s. It uses a highly effective internal suppressor system that reduces the report of the normally-supersonic 9mm round to virtually nothing while also slowing it down (via a series of expansion chambers) to subsonic levels; unfortunately, it's also fully-automatic, and thus produces a distinctive "chattering" noise akin to a typewriter that reinforces the idea that you can't make a truly silent automatic weapon. The rubber wipe system also means you can't use anything other than full-power 9mm in it (subsonic loads to work with a detachable suppressor on another weapon won't produce enough force to cycle the bolt). Lastly, it's less accurate, less powerful and shorter ranged than the normal [=MP5=].

'''Gun Shop Owner:''' ''(huge device that's much larger than the gun itself)'' And this is for shooting down police helicopters.\\

* It is entirely possible to create a truly "silent" weapon, but the major performance tradeoffs required tend to make them rare in RealLife. Requirements include: a purpose-built integrally-suppressed design[[note]]Screw-on "muzzle cans" either aren't efficient enough, or are too fragile for more than a handful of shots[[/note]], lower-powered subsonic ammo[[note]]Supersonic bullets produce the "crack" of a mini sonic boom[[/note]], and a single-shot or bolt-action[[note]]Automatics produce noise as the bolt forcefully clacks back and forth[[/note]]. This leaves the sound of the bullet striking the target as the only audible product. What you tend to end up with is a cumbersome, low-powered, short-ranged rifle with a very low rate of fire: real (as the examples below indicate), but [[CripplingOverspecialization of limited usefulness]] and [[BoringButPractical not exactly Hollywood material]]. Most people who have a need to lower their weapon's sound signature these days typically straddle a line between "totally silent but slow and short-ranged" and "totally noisy but powerful and long ranged".

** The H&K SMG program to upgrade the [=MP5=] in the 80s was meant to work together with a suppressor as well. It wasn't a dedicated, integral one but rather one that screwed onto the barrel. To aid its effectiveness both prototypes had either a nozzle or a selector-type switch to modify the gas system and choose how much of the gas went into propelling the bullet; if you needed silent shooting, you turned down the gas, and if you needed longer range you turned it back up. How effective the suppressors were on the actual weapons is unknown.

** In ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare 2'', three weapons do appear on the radar in multiplayer even with a suppressor (the M9, [=MG4=], and M240). However, this is due to either a glitch or the programmers missing the issue (other similar issues exist, such as the Desert Eagle's sights not lining up correctly, or the F2000's unique Red Dot Sight not being shut down by an {{EMP}}), not an intended feature.

** In ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyModernWarfare2019'' you can even screw ''oil filters'' onto the end of a gun, which diminishes the noise enough to not arouse any suspicion just as well as an actual suppressor. Oil filters [[RealityIsUnrealistic can actually work as improvised suppressors]], but as with the effectiveness of regular ones the game wildly exaggerates their abilities - even if they will fit onto the threading of your gun's barrel, they're not designed to take that kind of pressure and will blow out after a handful of shots, plus their sheer size means that they completely block the ironsights.

* ''Manga/GunsmithCats''

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]
* Subverted and discussed in the ''VideoGame/HeroesOfTheStorm'' fanfic ''FanFic/HeroesOfTheDesk''. Nova does ''not'' have a silencer for her weapon, Hollywood-style or realistic. Even if she did, she notes it would still be pretty obvious so she needs some [[ToiletHumor auditory cover]] (ItMakesSenseInContext).
* In ''FanFic/ASadStory'', Uncle Vernon uses one on his ''shotgun''. [[AluminiumChristmasTrees These actually exist]], but they serve only to reduce the report of the weapon just enough to eliminate the need for hearing protection; it's clearly audible and identifiable as a gunshot from at least a hundred yards away.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'':

** Taken to parodying lengths with the DICE-only weapons in ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield 3}}''. One of them is a .44 Magnum – a revolver, mind – with a silencer that actually works.

* In ''VideoGame/MaxPayne 3'' Max improvises a silencer out of a plastic water bottle. Somehow, this ''works'', making it a particularly egregious example even by Hollywood firearm standards.

* Zig-zagged in ''Videogame/PlanetSide 2''. Silencers, for the most part, simply change the noise of a gun to something less distinct along with the added benefit of silenced weapons not showing up as blips on the EnemyDetectingRadar. However, some guns lose almost all of their noise - the Terran Republic's [[FunWithAcronyms TRAP-M1]] scout rifle is almost totally silent when fired, except for clicking of the burst fire mechanism.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Postal}} 2'' you could grab cats, shove the end of the shotgun or assault rifle [[AssShove up their ass]], and shoot the gun with the characteristic "fwip" silenced noise, accompanied with a progressively-higher-pitched meow from the cat until it eventually flies off the end of the barrel and dies after nine shots. Do remember that nothing in that game is supposed to be taken seriously. This was also done in the Postal movie. [[MemeticMutation The cat was fine too]].

** Even more ridiculous (and awesome) is shooting someone through a metal grated floor from below. Nazi's apparently cannot see through the floor so you can end up killing one guard right next to another and they will not call for reinforcements right away (until they investigate the body).

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* Played with, given that one of the options in some ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' SpaceMarine armies is to turn a boltgun into a sniper equivalent partly by extending the barrel and stock but mostly by the dint of using special "Stalker" ammunition which is gas propelled rather than the standard rocket propelled rounds, and has a "solidified mercury slug" to punch through the target rather than having a mass-reactive warhead tip. The gun modifications make the gun capable of longer ranges, but the switch in ammunition to one that doesn't ignite a rocket engine behind the bullet just after firing is what silences the gun.

Basically, silencers control the discharge of gases that occur when a bullet is fired, which produce much of the sound. It's the RuleOfCool: the smooth assassin can make his hit, then melt into the night with nary a sound.

* The Heckler & Koch [=MP5SD=] submachine gun has been the gold standard for Western made suppressed weapons since the 1980s. It uses a highly effective internal suppressor system that reduces the report of the normally-supersonic 9mm round to virtually nothing while also slowing it down (via a series of internal rubber "wipes") to subsonic levels; unfortunately, it's also fully-automatic, and thus produces a distinctive "chattering" noise akin to a typewriter that reinforces the idea that you can't make a truly silent automatic weapon. The rubber wipe system also means you can't use anything other than full-power 9mm in it (subsonic loads to work with a detachable suppressor on another weapon won't produce enough force to cycle the bolt), and the whole system needs to be sent back to the factory for refurbishment every 500 rounds. Lastly, it's less accurate, less powerful and shorter ranged than the normal [=MP5=].

* The Heckler & Koch [=MP5SD=] submachine gun has been the gold standard for Western made suppressed weapons since the 1980s. It uses a highly effective internal suppressor system that reduces the report of the normally-supersonic 9mm round to virtually nothing while also slowing it down (via a series of internal rubber "wipes") to subsonic levels; unfortunately, it's also fully-automatic, and thus produces a distinctive "chattering" noise akin to a typewriter that reinforces the idea that you can't make a truly silent automatic weapon. The rubber wipe system also means you can't use anything other than full-power 9mm in it, and the whole system needs to be sent back to the factory for refurbishment every 500 rounds. Lastly, it's less accurate, less powerful and shorter ranged than the normal [=MP5=].

* The now rather famous VSS Vintorez sniper rifle (and its fully-automatic siblings the AS Val and SR-3 Vikhr) uses other special purpose cartridges, the 9x39mm SP-5 and SP-6 (AP). The rifle has a highly effective integral suppressor similar in concept to the [=MP5SD=]. Combined with low-velocity rounds using a heavy steel-core bullet, it is both capable of penetrating military-grade body armor and is silent enough to make its operation the loudest part of the report. But, owing to the semi-automatic action, it is ''still'' not "Hollywood Silent", and gives a report similar to a BB gun as well as a metallic ''clank'' as the bolt moves forward and back. Its subsonic and suppressed nature also gives it a lower effective range than other dedicated sniper weapons, at only about 400 meters (barely further than the effective range for a regular assault rifle), meaning it's used for counter-insurgency operations in urban areas, where getting to take a shot from further than a city block or two is a rare occurrence.

* The Beretta [=XM9=] was an attempt at recreating the idea behind the Mk 22 "Hush Puppy" from UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar, e.g. a custom pistol with a purpose-built suppressor and a slide-locking mechanism. [[WebVideo/ForgottenWeapons Ian McCollum]] looks at one [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQPsf_wDbmU here]]. The suppressor together with the slide-lock is demonstrated to have been highly effective at what it does, reducing the noise almost to the stereotypical "fwip" for at least the first few shots, and as Ian notes, the slide-locking mechanism technically made it more reliable with that suppressor than it would have been otherwise,[[note]]Most handguns, especially in the modern day, have a mechanism involving a moving barrel, whether simply back-and-forth like the Beretta or even tilting upwards to unlock as on just about everything else - a large and heavy suppressor on the muzzle end can and will interfere with that movement, often jamming the gun and requiring the user to manually cycle it. The [=XM9=] sidestepped that problem by locking the slide entirely.[[/note]] but it also made it cumbersome in any use case beyond having a single sentry or guard dog to take care of from a couple meters, and it relied on several rubber wipes in the suppressor which the first bullet would punch a hole through, later ones gradually widening that hole and ultimately hindering its effectiveness to the point that the wipes would need to be replaced after only 25 shots. Which wasn't an issue for it's intended purpose, [[RangedEmergencyWeapon which was to act as an survival weapon for downed Air Force pilots.]] If they needed more than 25 shots, a broken silencer was the least of their concerns.

* Averted in ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'' for the Sega Genesis, the silencer only gives the benefit of not setting off the alarms when you fire your weapons inside corporate offices. Every NPC will still hear you firing your gun regardless of being equipped with a silencer or not.
* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'':
** ''VideoGame/Halo3ODST'' features the [=M7S=] and the [=M6C/SOCOM=], a sound suppressed sub-machine gun and pistol (respectively). They do not sound realistic and Bungie attests that they simply followed the RuleOfCool, seen in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRFfYoLm-QA this video]]. While the actual gun noises are just TheCoconutEffect, the enemies' reactions to the firing of a silenced weapon are realistic. Especially on Legendary, the enemies are still very likely to notice you even if you one-shot a Grunt in a secluded area with a silenced weapon. Funnily enough, the Behind-The-Scenes video released before ''ODST'' revealed they actually made the guns sound ''louder'' than usual before release.
** ''VideoGame/Halo5Guardians'' allows you to add a silencer to your basic loadout weapons in Warzone; they do muffle the sound of gunfire somewhat, but their main gameplay benefit is reducing your visibility on enemy motion trackers when firing.
* Played straight in ''VideoGame/BattlefieldBadCompany 2'' – the two silenced semi-auto sniper rifles are completely silent, even if an enemy player is right next to you, and you fire past them, they can't tell where it is coming from until you hit them. The silencers on the submachine guns are fwippy, too. The gunshot sounds in that game are generally pretty accurate with echo and resonance, too.
** Taken to parodying lengths with the DICE-only weapons in ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield 3}}''. One of them is a .44 Magnum – a revolver, mind – with a silencer that actually works.
* ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonor'' plays realistic takes on this one on-and-off: the first game has the silencer reducing the sound to a rather realistic muffled bang, whereas ''[[VideoGame/MedalOfHonorAlliedAssault Allied Assault]]'' has a silenced pistol where almost all the sound comes from manually working the slide after each shot. Either way, shooting it will cause Nazis within a short distance to notice.

* Zig-zagged with Roblox's ''Phantom Forces''. The sounds vary depending on the weapon, with small caliber guns like the TEC-9 and G18 having almost inaudible 'pfh', to the 5.56 family having more distinctive 'ti' sounds, and snipers having average 'thmph' sounds, with the M107 being quiet enough to hear the gun action cycling. It's distictive feature, however, is the fact that different suppressors have different "masking ranges" on the radar. Other players outside the range won't detect the weapon firing at all on the radar, but the radars for enemies inside will locate the general position of the source of gunfire via circular pings, without actually pinpointing the exact location of it nor update it in real time. Many weapons also feature unique suppressors for them (the Mac-10's Sionics Suppressor), and integrated suppressors for various weapons.
* The ''VideoGame/{{Metro 2033}}'' games feature a cousin of the Vintorez and Val, the VSK-94 silenced sniper rifle, known as the VSV in-game. ''2033'' also has the option to buy suppressed versions of most standard weapons, and these behave more or less realistically: they don't outright give away the character's presence the way an unsuppressed weapon would, but nearby foes will notice the noise and start actively looking for its source if they were previously idle or patrolling. They also ([[TruthInTelevision realistically]]) increase the accuracy of the guns they're attached to in exchange for less powerful shots. ''VideoGame/MetroLastLight'' keeps those mechanics, but make the silencer an attachment instead of classifying a gun with one in its own market tier. Even shotguns can be suppressed, with a brutal power tradeoff for the lower noise and tighter spread.
* While the silenced pistol in ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRenegade'' has a Hollywood-style "fwip" sound, it does not prevent enemies from noticing you[[note]]any enemies who do ignore your silenced pistol in this game [[ArtificialStupidity would ignore any other weapon of yours too]][[/note]]. Rather jarring, considering [[AllThereInTheManual the gun is described as having specialized ammunition for stealth purposes]].
* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' plays this trope straight with one exception—the Anti-Materiel Rifle variant added in the Gun Runners Arsenal DLC can be suppressed (essentially) but not silenced. Since, after all, it is a .50-caliber sniper rifle which is referred to as a cannon by more than one NPC. The effect is distance-based, as in firing it in someone's ear is quite different from firing it at the limit of the draw distance.
** Oddly enough, some of the silenced guns actually ''sound'' completely accurate, but [=NPC=]s will still ignore the rather loud sounding shot.
** It also averts this in one other case: a Varmint Rifle with the suppressor modification will be ignored by enemies other than the one you shoot (if he survives or you miss by a small enough margin), but the unique Ratslayer variant, which comes with the same modification, will alert enemies near your target. This is technically a bug, although it does make sense anyway – the Ratslayer is coded to [[LudicrousGibs remove body parts with killing shots]] (the Varmint Rifle is not, since it was originally coded to use the tiny and weak .22 LR ammo, and nobody changed the gibbing rules for it when it was upchambered to 5.56), which would naturally be louder and more suspicious than someone just dropping normally. Then again, the larger-caliber sniper rifle can also accept a suppressor, will also lop off body parts with killing shots, but is still ignored by enemies near your target.
* ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird'' includes suppressors as an upgrade for some of its weapons, which make it harder for unaware enemies to tell where you're shooting from. Likely in reference to ''Red Faction'' above (sharing the same developer), the suppressors actually make the weapons they attach to ''more'' accurate and powerful, without any explanation.
* The tutorial voice-over in ''VideoGame/NoOneLivesForever'' says that "silence is a relative term when it comes to guns". The silencer still makes guns pretty damn quiet for stealth purposes.
* ''VideoGame/CounterStrike'' downplays this. Silenced guns make the fwip sound, but are still very loud. Silencers are only used to mask the direction from where the gun was fired.
* Some video games, likely due to not enough attention paid, actually invert this – ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'', for instance, features an integrally suppressed [=MP5=] which neither sounds like or is treated as though it is suppressed[[note]]Its first-person model is suppressed, at least - the third-person model is not.[[/note]].
* Averted in, of all games, ''VideoGame/Left4Dead2'' where one of the starting weapons you can find is a MAC-10 with an attached suppressor. It still sounds pretty loud, but at the same time regular infected will take a while longer to realize you're firing at them with it. But what's the point of stealth in a game that is basically a run and gun against hordes of zombies?
* Subverted in ''VideoGame/{{Crysis}}'', where enemies can tell when you're shooting with silenced weapons but will have a harder time locating you. The tradeoff is that the bullets have ''massive'' damage falloff, to the point where soldiers will become more or less invulnerable against silenced rounds past a certain distance.
* Played straight in ''Crysis 2'' where a silencer can reduce the sound of a large pistol to a tiny click. Enemies are still alerted by this sound, though; the main benefit comes from not breaking out of stealth mode. Amusingly, the silencer works just as well when placed at the end of the shotgun.
* ''VideoGame/SniperEliteV2'' features the Welrod pistol, with its integral suppressor, which makes the classic "cat sneeze" sound when fired. Enemies ''do'' hear you miss them, though. This is a little more acceptable than most examples – the real Welrod was designed to be as quiet as possible, and is about as "silent" as guns get (which, understand, is still not very silent at all).
* The "Citadel" DLC for ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' adds a heavy pistol that features an integrated suppressor. How the M-11 silences itself is somewhat of a mystery considering that guns in ''Franchise/MassEffect'' don't use chemical explosives (real suppressors work by allowing propellant gases to expand differently), but accelerate rounds with gravity fields instead.
* ''VideoGame/TheSaboteur'' plays this very straight with two weapons in the game. A silenced pistol that resembles a Walther PPK, and a "Viper" submachine gun that has a built in silencer. Both weapons can be used for absolute stealth as long as no Nazi sees you firing it. Bodies dropping do cause panic and soldiers to investigate the area, but after they conclude they can't find anyone nearby, they resume normal operations and you can use the same tactic again to very useful effect. Civilians never react. Even if you are killing civilians... with loud guns! Though Nazis will react to both if they see/hear it.
** Even more ridiculous (and awesome) is shooting someone through a metal grated floor from below. Nazi's apparently cannot see through the floor so you can end up killing one guard right next to another and they will not call for reinforcements right away (until they investigate the body).

* ''VideoGame/ArcanumOfSteamworksAndMagickObscura'' did it realistically. There is exactly one silenced firearm in the game and it is soundless, but that firearm is a custom-made, purpose-built gun with an integrated silencer.
* Zig-zagged in ''Videogame/PlanetSide 2''. Silencers, for the most part, simply change the noise of a gun to something less distinct along with the added benefit of silenced weapons not showing up as blips on the EnemyDetectingRadar. However, some guns lose almost all of their noise - the Terran Republic's [[FunWithAcronyms TRAP-M1]] scout rifle is almost totally silent when fired, except for clicking of the burst fire mechanism.

* Played straighter than a light beam in ''VideoGame/SoldierOfFortune II: Double Helix'', almost to the point of exaggeration. The silenced US SOCOM pistol fires more quietly than a falling cloth, enemies die completely silently, and even if they're not hit fatally, they don't react at all to being shot, nor does anyone else.
* ''VideoGame/CounterSpy'' plays this straight with the Diplomatic Pistol. So long as guards don't see their friends dying, the target doesn't survive the shot and nobody can see you, consider yourself completely hidden.
* In ''VideoGame/MaxPayne 3'' Max improvises a silencer out of a plastic water bottle. Somehow, this ''works'', making it a particularly egregious example even by Hollywood firearm standards.
* Partly averted in ''VideoGame/BreachAndClear'', where you can attach suppressors to your rifles. They sound more like firecrackers than like guns, although it takes a little longer for enemies in other rooms to react to your shots (though not to the normal sounds from your enemies shooting back).
* ''VideoGame/PAYDAY2'' plays this perfectly straight out of necessity. Originally, the game had a proper system for this, where AI would notice and respond to gunshots even from a silenced weapon if you were within a set distance from them. This eventually had to be patched to the usual setup where nobody noticed silenced gunfire right next to them because [[TwoDSpace the engine couldn't determine vertical distances]] for the silent rules - even in circumstances where nobody would be hearing ''anything'' from that room due to how the building itself was set up (say, one or two floors below, with thick walls and the only door facing a different direction), so long as you were within the correct distance as far as a top-down map would be concerned, they'd still react as if you'd fired your gun directly next to their ear. Other aspects are played somewhat realistically, with most suppressors having negative effects to some combination of the weapon's power and accuracy (likely due to the subsonic nature of the ammo, whether it starts that way or the suppressor slows it down) as well as the concealability due to attaching a long and thick cylinder to the end of the barrel; however, these can also be negated with a pair of skills that give bonuses to suppressed weapons, "The Professional" making them more stable and accurate and "Specialized Killing" giving them a damage boost, making suppressors the straight-up best choice to attach to just about any weapon for a player that has both skills.

* Done both ways in ''VideoGame/ReturnToCastleWolfenstein''. The Sten submachinegun appears to fit this trope, but as noted in the real life section below, the suppressed versions of this gun [[RealityIsUnrealistic really were that quiet]] (although the game makes the usual "''fft''" noise rather than hearing the bolt clattering). On the other hand, played straight with the high powered "Snooper" sniper rifle: it couldn't be that silent while remaining effective at long range due to the subsonic ammunition.

* Adding a suppressor to a firearm in ''VideoGame/Fallout4'' turns the sound of a gunshot into a little "Ptchoo." This happens even if the weapon has a vented barrel modification, which would allow the supersonic gasses to exit the barrel before getting to the suppressor.

* Zig-Zagged in the ''WebAnimation/MadnessCombat'' series. In the first few episodes and first game, it's played straight, it's averted for a while, played straight again, played straight and averted at the same time in one episode, and [[ExaggeratedTrope taken to extremes]] in the second game.

* [[CaptainPatriotic Liberty]] in ''Literature/{{Curveball}}'' lives in a penthouse apartment, so his attackers obviously need Hollywood silencers on their weapons in order to avoid alerting the neighbors.

* Inexplicably, ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' played this trope straight and then averted it in the same episode. A silenced pistol is so quiet that nobody even notices anything until blood starts spreading on Stephanie's dress. Later, [[spoiler:Diane Simmons]] is about to kill [[spoiler:Lois]] (with an unsilenced weapon), you hear a bang, [[spoiler:Diane]] drops dead, and [[spoiler:Stewie]] is seen with a smoking sniper rifle, which clearly has a silencer. Interestingly, the guns work [[RuleOfDrama exactly as they need to for each scene to work.]]
** The played straight example can be argued. The silenced pistol was fired at the same time that Brian popped the cork on a champagne bottle, and given that every pistol that ever shows up in this series is drawn exactly the same, there's no telling what kind of bullet it fired or if it was even supersonic. So it is possible that the gunshot was either covered up by or mistaken for the pop of the cork.