History Main / MercyRewarded

* ''{{Galaga}} '88'' has periodic bonus stages where sets of enemy ships flew by in preset formations without attacking. A large "perfect bonus" could be earned by hitting all the ships in the stage, but one could much more easily earn a "secret bonus" worth the same value as the perfect bonus simply by not firing at all during the stage.
* In ''Utawarerumono'', it's technically not a merciful choice the player actually has: after the player manages to beat Mutikapa, the godlike tiger who's been killing villagers, her cub is left alive. Hakuoro automatically decides to spare the cub despite others pointing out that the cub might grow up to be another Mutikapa. Ultimately this provides a huge benefit to Hakuoro: the cub does in fact grow up to resemble Mutikapa in appearance, but it's ''loyal to Aruruw'' and therefore the player now has a defensive tank in the party due to Aruruw's desire to help "Daddy!" It even helps scare off Benawi's woptar army in the first battle in which you can control it, lowering all their defenses and making the battle winnable.

* In ''VideoGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', you gain ExperiencePoints for resolving encounters, no matter how you accomplish this. If the goal is stopping the dragon from flattening a nearby town, it doesn't matter if you do this by killing the dragon, bribing the dragon, or tricking the dragon into going someplace else, you should get the same XP. Naturally, this varies considerably from one DungeonMaster to another, but the concept is there. This doesn't apply to other kinds of reward, of course, since a dead dragon is far easier to get treasure from than a live one.

* This is invoked in the second Monster Girl Quest game. [[spoiler: After reducing Alice to 0 hp, you must "wait" or "Guard" for two turns to talk her out of being a DeathSeeker to get the true ending. If you use any hostile action, she dies, and you find yourself being raped for all eternity by Illias and then have to "retry" and fight Alice again.]]

* In ''Roleplay/RubyQuest'', players sparing [[spoiler: Stitches]] ([[OffTheRails the possibility of which came about]] [[CuttingTheKnot because they decided that]] [[SequenceBreaking 'logical progression of puzzles' was for chumps who didn't have crowbars]]) and indulging in a moment of VideoGameCaringPotential [[spoiler: motivated Stitches to come back at the end and tackle [[ImplacableMan Ace]], saving Tom from having to stay behind to prevent Ace from getting out of the Metal Glen.]] On a less gameplay-related note, sparing [[spoiler: Jay]] made their [[EarnYourHappyEnding hard-earned happy ending]] that much sweeter, since [[spoiler: it meant that three patients got out of the Metal Glen instead of just two]].

* In VideoGame/StarTrekBridgeCommander, you at one point encounter a Kessok ship with its shields down and weapons offline, obviously trying to signal its desire for a parley. You can easily kill it by blasting it while its defenses are still down, but if you instead hail it it will join you in the final mission, and this causes the Kessok ships in the final stage of the mission to ignore you.

** ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' tries be more ambiguous on the issue in one quest on Illium. Sparing a begging mercenary recruit will come back to haunt you when it's revealed the recruit was an unrepentant PsychoForHire who joined the mercenaries after murdering an innocent[[AssholeVictim (ish)]] volus merchant and now walks free. Then again, you can give the evidence of her crime to the police, which can still be considered a better option than murdering her before the PlayerCharacter even knew she was evil.

* The ''VirtuaCop'' series rewards disarming enemies (rather than hitting them directly) with a "Justice Shot" bonus.

* In ''RedSteel'', sparing your enemies in the sword battles will give you more allies in the final level. Of course, you're still free to mow down all the guys with guns with no penalty whatsoever. It also gets you the good end if you do this in the final sword battle, but your opponent will not yield unless you break his sword, unlike all of the other enemies.

* Inverted in ''BatenKaitos Origins''; killing the QuirkyMinibossSquad in the cutscenes after you defeat them gets you good equipment. However, for HundredPercentCompletion, you need to both kill them (for the items) ''and'' spare them (to see bonus scenes in the final CollapsingLair sequence). Naturally, this requires you to play through the game at least twice via NewGamePlus.

* ''{{Mercenaries}}: Playground of Destruction'' had this for the top-level bosses and minibosses, the Deck of 52. You could capture a card and drag his/her happy ass to an extraction point (hopefully the chopper doesn't get blown up on its way in) for the full bounty, or you could just level the place and snap a photo of the corpse for half. And for the sadistically antisocial, you could capture a card, load him/her in the chopper, get the full bounty..and then blow the chopper up for just the standard friendly-fire penalties.

* ''SplinterCell'' games (at least the later ones) deduct points for every enemy Sam kills, all of them if its a civilian or ally. However, this does not apply for individuals you are specifically told to kill. In Chaos Theory, it is entirely possible to go through the entire game without killing anyone who is not marked for death by the objectives...and Sam meets some people that are really asking for it.

* In ''QueensBlade: Spiral Chaos'', if you fully break [[CuteMonsterGirl Monster Girl]]'s armor with TheOneGuy instead of killing her, she'll join your army. Sadly, you can capture only one monster of each type.

* The ''[[PoliceQuest SWAT]]'' series does this, however it still rewards you for breaking police procedure if you can knock out hostile criminals instead of opening fire. A bit of a JustifiedTrope in that minimal loss of life is part of their goals.
** SWAT 3 and 4 docked you points for killing, but SWAT 2 would suspend officers for ''killing terrorists who had their guns drawn''. Also, you had to deal with certain terrorists non-lethally to get the best ending.

* Played with in ''Videogame/{{Undertale}}''. Sparing enemies will get you gold but no EXP. However, [spoiler: [It's revealed that EXP stands for [[KarmaMeter "Execution Points"]]]], and a full PacifistRun is the only way to [[spoiler: get the best ending]], not to mention that [[spoiler: the game is going to [[YouBastard do its best to make you feel terrible about yourself]] if you kill anything]].

* Played with in ''Videogame/{{Undertale}}''. Sparing enemies will get you gold but no experience points. (It ''is'' possible to get a portion of the normal exp by attacking and then sparing enemies, though.)
** And from a story perspective, a pacifist run -- especially sparing [[spoiler:[[BossBattle Toriel]]]] -- will get you a more positive ending.

* If you're running a good-aligned party in ''VideoGame/MightAndMagic VII'', one of your mandatory quests is to do a pacifist run of a fairly difficult dungeon called the Walls of Mist. You fail it if you so much as damage an enemy, though you can try again. (Evil parties have a quest that takes them here too, but are free to kill anything they like).

* Minor one in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', as the team travel along the train tracks of Corel, a certain section of the tracks has a chirping sound. Cloud can travel up the slope to find a bird's nest with two treasure chests. If you choose not to attack the bird and give up the treasure, and either Aerith or Tifa is in the team, it can up their ''RelationshipValues'' for the Golden Saucer Date sequence.

* In ''QuestForGloryII'', the hero may be awarded with the title of Paladin at the end of the game if he avoids performing certain unmerciful actions, such as trying to slay his opponent after disarming him during the trial to join the Eternal Order of Fighters, or acting similarly in a situation that arises near the end of the game while confronting the villainous henchman Khaveen.

* In ''SummonNight: Swordcraft Story'' you can defeat human enemies by either beating them up or breaking their weapon. If you can manage the latter you'll learn the technique to [[MegaManning make an exact replica]] of their weapon for your own use.

* If you're running a good-aligned party in ''MightandMagic VII'', one of your mandatory quests is to do a pacifist run of a fairly difficult dungeon called the Walls of Mist. You fail it if you so much as damage an enemy, though you can try again. (Evil parties have a quest that takes them here too, but are free to kill anything they like).

* In the Bakumatsu chapter of ''LiveALive'', you are given four path options - Kill as necessary, Kill Everyone Ever Forever (not really that extreme, but you end up leaving nothing but bloodstains in your wake), Kill Everyone (but spare the women), and Kill No One. The latter two get your rewards, in the form of an Inrou (Medicine Box) from the women living in the castle if you've killed no women, and Yoshiyuki, Prisoner's sword (which is MARKEDLY stronger than any weapon you can acquire in the chapter) as your equipped weapon for the final chapter.

Often coincides with VideogameCaringPotential, for when your own troops inspire affection rather than the desire to use them as [[RedShirtArmy C-4 strapped lemmings.]]

** The original ''Medieval: Total War'' had a somewhat less altruistic reward for not executing captured enemy soldiers, since this allowed you to ransom them back to the original owner for a fair chunk of cash. Of course, this meant that you would have to face them on the field again at some point, so it was often a good idea to [[VideogameCrueltyPotential put a few to the sword]] during the battle...

* ''AlphaProtocol'' gives you specific perks for sparing enemies and using nonlethal weaponry. Of course, you also get perks for [[VideogameCrueltyPotential mercilessly slaughtering everyone in your path.]] You can also form alliances with characters you spare, most of which will pay off in the ending.

Can often be an aspect of the KarmaMeter and VideogameCaringPotential. Contrast VideoGameCrueltyPotential, though the "reward" in that case is usually simply one's own personal amusement or gratification, as well as VideoGameCrueltyPunishment, where you are punished for unnecessary violence.

Can often be an aspect of the KarmaMeter and VideogameCaringPotential. Contrast VideogameCrueltyPotential, though the "reward" in that case is usually simply one's own personal amusement or gratification, as well as VideogameCrueltyPunishment, where you are punished for unnecessary violence.

* Inverted in ''InfiniteSpace''. [[spoiler:Letting a minor villain live will cause an innocent girl to die [[CruelAndUnusualDeath horribly]].]]

* Both ''KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' and ''Franchise/MassEffect'' award KarmaMeter points for getting out of certain situations without combat. There's also an achievement in ''Mass Effect 1'' for defusing seemingly unwinnable situations with your Charm or Intimidate skill. In one particular twist, doing so will avoid losing a party member.

* Several mission-relevant [=NPC=]s in ''TheOldRepublic'' will send the player gifts of money, equipment, or consumables in gratitude for being spared. Of course, in quite a few of these cases a different character will send you a reward for killing them...