History Main / PlayingPossum

* In the Future level of ''VideoGame/TimeCommando'', there are space-suited monkey things that will try to do this. Remember, [[EverythingFades it ain't dead if it don't fade!]]

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* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'': There are numerous old battlefields where the decayed husks of [[MechaMooks Guardians]] can be found and looted. Some of these Decayed Guardians are still alive and can still shoot at Link with their laser turrets. Even worse, sometimes fully intact Guardian Stalkers (distinguished by still having their legs) will be sitting among the Decayed Guardians waiting for Link to pass by before chasing him.
* In ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2'', opossums will try this, appropriately enough. Get too close to one and it will slump to the ground, complete with prompts to skin it or pick it up. If you try to do so, it will suddenly hiss, causing Arthur to step back, before it flees.
* ''VideoGame/HollowKnight'' gives us [[spoiler:Soul Master]], who goes down with a long and flashy death sequence, before collapsing and dropping your reward like most other bosses. You get as far as walking up to your new spell and watching half of the absorption animation before he pops out of it and breaks the arena floor for another round.
* ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSinII'': Undead player characters have the unique "Play Dead" skill, which pauses the {{Cooldown}} counters on their other skills but causes enemies to ignore them -- the ruse is easier to maintain when one has no vital signs at the best of times.
* ''VideoGame/SekiroShadowsDieTwice'' plays with this trope. When your health bar is depleted, you really are dead, but thanks to your ResurrectiveImmortality, you can revive back on the spot. Once an enemy sees that you've died, most non-bosses will turn back and return to their posts, giving you a chance to sneak up and land a BackStab on them. However, if you wait too long to revive yourself, you will stay dead and get booted back to the last checkpoint.
* In ''VideoGame/DetroitBecomeHuman'', this is one possible way for Kara and Alice to escape being killed by the U.S. military during the chapter "Crossroads".

* ''WebAnimation/NaturalHabitatShorts'': "RIPossum" not only shows a young possum playing dead (a skill he uses for [[ThePrankster pranks]], but also shows the same possum assuming his dad is just playing dead when he [[OfCorpseHesAlive actually IS dead]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePenguinsOfMadagascar'' episode "Smotherly Love", there is [[spoiler: a possum, who, well, plays the possum to beat Hans and free the penguins.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes''
** WesternAnimation/ElmerFudd does this in the cartoon "WesternAnimation/WabbitTwouble" to avoid being attacked by a bear and it works, then WesternAnimation/BugsBunny decides to have some fun by pretending to be the bear himself. A very similar scene also happened at the end of the cartoon "Hare Remover".
** The Bugs Bunny cartoon "The Fair-Haired Hare" and the ''[[WesternAnimation/SylvesterTheCatAndTweetyBird Sylvester and Tweety]]'' cartoon "Muzzle Tough" both share a joke where a character "wears" a bearskin rug and another character shoots it repeatedly thinking that it was playing possum for twenty years straight.
** Again presented in "Hare Brush" when Bugs-as-Elmer plays dead, the bear sniffs him, averts, then buries him in a hole (which is actually a cliff ledge, through which Bugs-as-Elmer plummets into a river).
* This is [[LargeHam Ozzie the opossum's]] schtick in ''WesternAnimation/OverTheHedge'' and he tries to get his daughter Heather to do the same.
* ''WesternAnimation/IceAgeTheMeltdown'': The opossum brothers Crash and Eddie, as well as their adopted mammoth sister Ellie, do this every time they notice a predator. Unfortunately for them, they're rarely wise about it; the first time they demonstrate it, it's against a vulture who is neither fooled nor picky about eating dead things. Another time, Ellie tries playing dead while [[PrehistoricMonster Cretaceous and Maelstrom]] are destroying the ice float she's standing on, to which Crash and Eddie have to get her to move because she'll drown if the two sea monsters don't decide to eat her anyway.

* WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated: [[TheMedic Rat]][[ShellShockedVeteran chet]] does this to [[BountyHunter Lockdown]] in "Thrill of the Hunt". Lockdown later responds in kind, saying he'll have to remember that one. Funnily enough, while Ratchet knows the name of the trope, he has no idea what it refers to.
--> '''Ratchet''': The humans call it "playing possum". Don't ask me what a possum is.
* The ''[[WesternAnimation/PixieDixieAndMrJinks Pixie and Dixie]]'' cartoon "Ghost With The Most" has Dixie playing possum when Jinks clobbers him with a fireplace shovel, making a very paranoid Jinks think he's killed Dixie.
* In episode 4 of ''WesternAnimation/{{Primal|2019}}'', after Fang is unable to climb up the rock spire where the [[BatOutOfHell Bats Out of Hell]] took Spear, she pretends to be dead so that the bats would carry her up onto the spire as well.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'': Nightbird, the female ninja robot, uses this tactic on Optimus Prime and the other Autobots after Prime hits her with what he says is a simple stun blast.

* ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'': [[DirtyCoward Argit]]'s species as the ability to drop their pulse to a near death-like state to fool attackers, to which Ben snarks "How else could a species that annoying survive that long". It helps that Argit actually looks kinda like a [[IntelligentGerbil humanoid opposum]] with [[SpikeShooter porcupine quills.]]
* On ''WesternAnimation/BigCityGreens'', Tilly pretends to die of boredom so she doesn't have to listen to her dad giving a self-reliance speech to Remy. Cricket joins her afterwards, claiming it's contagious.

* The ''WesternAnimation/DuckDodgers'' episode "Duck Deception" at one point has Dodgers being beat up by an [[KillerSpaceMonkey alien gorillia]] which he plays dead to avoid. The gorilla, looking concerned, puts him down gently... then beats him up some more.
* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'' play possum in "Aliver," a reality show where they've been competing against Princess Morbucks who cheats her way through the contests. Princess is so heartbrokenly contrite that her last trick had killed the girls that she confesses she cheated. [[NotQuiteDead Then the girls wake up.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda''. In ''Secrets of the Furious Five'', Po relates how Mantis [[AnAesop had to learn Patience]] after getting captured and being unable to escape until he played dead and tricked his captors into opening his cage to remove his body. Po of course treats this like an awesome kung fu technique instead of an obvious ploy.

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[[quoteright:195:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/playing_possum.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:195:[[http://www.deceptology.com/2013-10/7-ways-not-to-fake-your-own-death.html Cartoon by Avenar (H. Caldwell Tanner)]] ]]

* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure''
** In ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency Battle Tendency]]'', Joseph does this to evade notice from the Pillar Man Wamuu to head for a nearby mine cart.
** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Stardust Crusaders]]'': Jotaro plays dead in order to draw his opponent, DIO, within attacking range. As Jotaro currently has a bunch of knives in his body, he can't afford to take any more hits from DIO, so he waits until DIO is practically inches from him, having to stay silent while holding his breath and temporarily ''stopping his heart'' to make DIO come closer to deliver the blow to his head. During this, Jotaro points out the {{irony}} of the situation: his opponent [[spoiler:can stop time]], during which Jotaro has to put a lot of effort into moving, but now, he's putting all his effort into remaining as immobile as he can.
** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureGoldenWind Golden Wind]]'': In his battle with Cioccolata, Giorno lands a bullet straight into his head and Cioccolata drops dead. But Giorno immediately could tell he's faking it and [[TalkingIsAFreeAction takes the time]] to explain how he knows Cioccolata is pretending to be dead and how he'll approach to finish him off. Cioccolate quickly drops the act and tries to kill Mista, only for a stag beetle to burst out of him from the bullet that was shot by Gold Experience.
* Sakura from ''Anime/ZombieLandSaga'' resorts to playing dead (even though she's already a zombie) when the [[CubCuesProtectiveParent parent of a baby boar shows up]] in front of her. Needless to say, the boar reacted by eating her and separating her head from her body.
* [[spoiler:[[DualWielding Deed]]]] attempts this during the finale of ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikers'' so she can perform one last sneak attack on [[spoiler:[[TheGunslinger Teana]]]] ([[spoiler:it fails thanks to [[ImprobableAimingSkills Vice]]]]), though since she was struck by [[TheParalyzer stun rounds]], it's more accurate to say that she was playing unconscious instead of playing dead.

* ''Anime/SamuraiChamploo'': [[spoiler:Mugen against a Shaolin-trained swordsman at the end of "Lethal Lunacy". After pretending to be weakened by his opponent's chi attack, he waits for the swordsman to come close to strike the CoupDeGrace, only for Mugen to kill him with a knife built into the opposite end of his sheath.]]

* Lubbock from ''Manga/AkameGaKill'' plays it after an attack so his opponent thinks he killed him. But when he realizes that his opponent wants to murder a young woman, he gives up the play and attacks him.
* In ''Manga/FutureDiary'' the members of the temple of Tsubaki play this. But Yuno quickly realizes that it's just played.
* In ''Literature/GoblinSlayer'' a goblin shaman in the first episode pretends to have been killed in order to surprisingly attack the titular hero. But he already has enough experience to see through it quickly.
* The BigBad of ''Manga/EdensZero'' uses this to get a surprise attack on [[EvilOverlord Poseidon Nero]]. What really sells it is that [[spoiler:the BigBad, Ziggy, is a robot who [[LosingYourHead just got decapitated]], something not all robots are guaranteed to survive, and makes his move with his headless body right after Nero [[DecapitationPresentation shows off his "lifeless" head]].]]

* In ''Manga/MonsterMusume'', an orc terrorist guns down a special forces operative trying to sneak up on him, leaving her riddled with bullet holes and lying dead on the ground. Then the operative later gets up and shoots other terrorists with rubber bullets, revealing that she's a zombie, so she was already dead to begin with.

* In one ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' strip, while travelling through the countryside, Jon has a car game where he, Garfield, and Odie imitate animals they see. After seeing cows and pigs in a field, he cries "A possum!" as there's the "Thump!" of the car hitting something in the road, with next strip having Garfield and Odie on their backs with their limbs sticking up.
-->'''Jon:''' ''(Annoyed)'' Very funny.

* ''FanFic/AGrowingAffection'' has Kakashi pretend to be caught by a foe's mind control technique, so he can learn more about their combat and tactics.

* In ''Fanfic/PonyPOVSeries'', Princess Celestia beats Queen Chrysalis in a BeamOWar, unlike in canon. Chrysalis still wins their fight by pretending to be knocked out and then attacking Celestia when she drops her guard.
* In ''Fanfic/TheSecondTry'', [[spoiler:Kaji]] pretended to be dead after getting shot by a henchman to throw him off.
* Piccolo in ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'' tries this only for Vegeta to show up and ruin his plan.

* In ''Film/RamboIII'', Rambo shoots down a huge Russian gunship with a small bazooka, by playing dead until it approaches within point-blank range.
* The bad guys sometimes pull this trick as well. See ''Film/HotShotsPartDeux'' for a spoof of this.
* ''Film/PatientZero2018'': When some soldiers are identifying dead bodies in the crematorium, one of them is revealed to have been doing this when he gets up and attacks.
* In ''Film/ThePatriot,'' Col. Tavington does this at least once.
* Karl does this in ''Film/DieHard''. It goes rather poorly for him.
* In ''Film/FatalAttraction'', Creator/GlennClose appears to be dead -- but wakes up and attacks Creator/MichaelDouglas again.
* In the movie ''Film/RunawayJury'', [[spoiler: Marlee]] plays possum to stab a hitman's leg.
* Creator/LiamNeeson's character Bryan Mills in the movie ''Film/{{Taken}}'' does this in one scene. After Mills massacres all the bad guys in the kitchen, the men standing guard outside run in to find the cause of the commotion. They see a room filled with dead bodies. Suddenly Mills begins firing from underneath a corpse.

* Played straight in ''Film/EnemyAtTheGates'', with two characters both pretending to be dead in order to eliminate a German officer. On the other hand, the German soldiers were bayoneting corpses just in case.
* [[spoiler:BB]] uses this trick against [[spoiler:her mommy]] near the end of ''Film/KillBill Volume 2.''
* In ''Film/PlunkettAndMacleane'' [[spoiler: Plunkett]] uses this to lethal effect during the finale.
* In ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' [[spoiler: The Joker]] uses this to gain control of a gang.
* ''Film/{{Zombieland}}'' and its golden rule, the ''doubletap'', is key to avoiding this kind of situation with zombies.
* In ''Film/{{Shooter}},'' Bob Lee Swagger is badly wounded after being shot twice, but as a highly trained Marine Scout Sniper, he is far from disabled. He plays up his injuries so FBI Agent Memphis will get close to him, then quickly disarms him and steals his car.

* ''Film/{{The Thing|1982}}'':
** Most notably with Norris-Thing. It doesn't quite work out as planned, though. Instead of being treated like a dead body, Norris-Thing is shocked with a defibrillator and retaliates by [[WhosLaughingNow biting off Doc's Arms]] when he goes in for a second shock.
** It was more successful with the attack on Bennigs by what was assumed to be a completely dead and burned body.
* Fredrick Zoller in ''Film/InglouriousBasterds'' gets shot InTheBack by Shosanna and sinks to the floor lifelessly but when she comes closer to check up on him, he turns around and [[TakingYouWithMe shoots her as well before dying]].
* Film/JamesBond:
** ''Film/OnHerMajestysSecretService'': Tracy gets rid of a SPECTRE guard by throwing him down the staircase, apparently knocking him out, but when she tries to run down the staircase he jumps to his feet and attacks her again.
** ''Film/{{Octopussy}}'': Bond escapes Kamal Khan's palace by hiding himself in one of the body bags of [[HeKnowsTooMuch mooks Kamal had killed earlier]].
** ''Film/GoldenEye'': During their escape from the Cuban satellite facility, Natalya plays dead in an elevator to lure in a guard, allowing Bond to ambush him from the ceiling and take his weapons.
** In ''Film/CasinoRoyale2006'', Bond's first kill stops struggling a bit too quickly while being [[TheCanKickedHim drowned in a toilet]]. He also waits a bit too long to leap back up and makes a bit too much noise doing it, allowing Bond to retrieve his gun and kill him for real, leading to the BondGunBarrel, which segues into the opening titles and theme.
* At the end of ''Film/TheOdds'' (2019), [[spoiler: Enforcers enter the room shooting, and the player feigns having been shot to get the drop on one of them.]]
* In ''Film/{{P2}}'', Angela performs one of these after a game of chicken, allowing her to stab her kidnapper in the eye, grab his keys to uncuff herself, and then cuff him to the car door.

* ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture'':
** In ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII'', Marty fakes his death when Buford Tannen shoots him, wearing a make-shift bullet-proof vest -- foreshadowed in the [[Film/BackToTheFuturePartII second movie]] in the Creator/ClintEastwood scene on the TV in the hot-tub scene.
** Doc Brown does it in the [[Film/BackToTheFuture first movie]] -- at least in the new timeline.
* ''Film/{{Purgatory}}'': [[spoiler:Billy the Kid falls down with a dead bandit, closes his eyes, and slooooowly reloads his gun.]]
* In ''Film/ArmyOfDarkness'' a Deadite tries this tactic, but...
-->'''Ash:''' It's a trick. Get an axe.

* Nearly ten years into the war against the {{Kaiju}} in ''Film/PacificRim'', Kaiju have taken to doing this so that [[HumongousMecha Jaegers]] will drop their guard. After [[WakeUpCallBoss Knifehead]] does this to Gipsy Danger in the prologue, resulting in Raleigh's brother being killed, Raleigh decides to DoubleTap the next Kaiju he fights.
-->'''Raleigh:''' I think this guy's dead. But just in case, let's check for a pulse.\\
''[[[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!]]]''\\
'''Raleigh:''' [[BondOneLiner No pulse.]]
* ''Film/JurassicWorldFallenKingdom'': When the Indoraptor is [[spoiler:shot with a tranq dart by GreatWhiteHunter wannabe Wheatly, the dart [[ImmuneToDrugs actually has no effect]] but the hybrid pretends it worked and when he comes in to [[CreepySouvenir take one of its teeth]], the raptor messes with him for a bit before ripping his arm off]].
* ''Film/{{King Cobra|1999}}'': Seth lures in and kills one of the hunters tracking him by playing dead.
* Tigre uses this tactic in an attempt to get the drop on Jim at the start of ''Film/{{Tumbleweed}}''. Later, Jim, Murch, and the remains of the posse do this to lure the Yaqui into ambush range.
* ''Film/TheRunningMan'': After being knocked off his motorcycle, stalker Buzzsaw lays face down on the ground for quite a while while Ben Richards tries to help Laughlin, before Richards slowly walks over to him, leans down to check the body, only for Buzzsaw to rear up with chainsaw in hand and continue the fight, that would ultimately end up with the chainsaw between Buzzsaw's legs.
* ''Film/JeepersCreepers3'': Some of the Creeper's victims that he stored in the back of his truck manage to survive for a while by playing dead.
* ''Film/ThePianist'': During the razing of Warsaw, Szpilman finds himself with nowhere to hide when he hears a squad of Germans approaching. He lies down on the pavement and doesn't move so they will assume he is one of the many civilian corpses littering the streets, with success.
* In the climax of ''Film/ShangChiAndTheLegendOfTheTenRings'', [[spoiler:[[Film/IronMan3 Trevor Slattery]]]] is roped into participating in the final battle, but given he has zero combat training, he instead opts to play dead. Especially once the threat goes from normal human {{mooks}} to horrifying [[SoulEating soul-sucking monsters]], it seems to be the best move he could've made.
* ''Film/ComingHomeInTheDark'': After Mandrake thinks he's killed [[TheProtagonist Hoaggie]], he approaches Hoaggie's unmoving body, whereupon Hoaggie strikes him in the face with a rock, and proceeds to beat him with it.
* ''Film/TheProfessionals''. After Dolworth shoots [[ActionGirl Chiquita]], who used to be his former lover, he goes over to the dying woman to give her some water. While he's [[CradlingYourKill cradling her in his arms]], she puts her revolver under his chin and pulls the trigger, but [[ItWorksBetterWithBullets the gun is empty]]. Neither of them take this personally, with Chiquita just saying it's not her lucky day.
* ''Film/TheBalladOfBusterScruggs''. The Prospector in "All Gold Canyon" spends half the episode searching for the elusive vein of gold only to be suddenly shot InTheBack when he finds it. The claim jumper calmly rolls a cigarette as he watches the prospector, unmoving and bleeding out from his wound, but once he jumps into the hole to steal the gold, the prospector then begins to attack the man, dazing him with dirt, then steals his gun and kills him.

* This is used in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings: The Two Towers'', during the siege of Helm's Deep. After Aragorn and Éomer have run off a group of Uruk-hai, a dozen of them pretend to be dead and leap up on them when their backs are turned -- only to have [[BigDamnHeroes Gimli pop up and cleave off two of their heads]].
* In ''Literature/SkyJumpers'', Hope, Aaren, Brock, and Brenna do this in the bomb's breath to get the bandits who are after them to stop chasing them.
* In the novel Creator/RobertAHeinlein ''Literature/TimeEnoughForLove'', Lazarus Long, having lived for 2,000 years and fought in numerous wars, mentions that he knows to "waste" a bullet in any "corpses" he runs across during battle.

* Tsubodai comes up with such a plan in ''[[Literature/{{Conqueror}} Wolf of the Plains]]'' when the Mongols move to attack the Shizuan fort. Those with the hammers feign death and, when the Xi Xia soldiers come to loot their corpses, they jump up and attack the now-open fort with the rest of the Mongol army waiting just around the mountain.
* In Creator/DanAbnett's ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' Literature/GauntsGhosts novel ''Blood Pact'', when Maggs attacks Kolding, he goes down. Gaunt tries to stop Maggs, and Kolding reappears to clock Maggs from behind; he explains to Gaunt that he thought it wiser to stay down -- and that Maggs had clearly been hallucinating.
* [[spoiler: Harry]] in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows''. [[spoiler: He is apparently killed by Voldemort. It doesn't quite work. He ends up playing possum until he can slip away unnoticed, only to confront Voldemort again and come out on top.]]
* In Creator/BernardCornwell's ''[[Literature/{{Sharpe}} Sharpe's Triumph]]'', Sharpe survives Dodd's massacre, as the SoleSurvivor, in the opening by this method.

* In ''[[Literature/HonorHarrington On Basilisk Station]]'', Honor convinces the Havenite spaceship ''Sirius'' that ''Fearless'' (Honor's spaceship) is dead in the water, so it will come close to finish her with a barrage... only for her to avoid the barrage and bring out her grav lance, which leaves ''Sirius'' wide open for a devastating attack that destroys it.

* In the German book series ''Literature/ChronikDerUnsterblichen'' the hero gets ambushed. Together with some soldiers, he has to resist an attack by robbers. One of the soldiers pretends to have been killed in combat, but the hero says it will not do help him much because the robbers will later probably make sure that all who attacked them are really dead.

* ''Series/{{Primeval}}'' presents it with humour. Connor is supposed to watch out for an anaesthetized Raptor, but he asks if the Raptor is really stunned or if he just does not play it. Nick jokingly says that raptors are intelligent animals and that he should just be careful.
* ''Series/OneLifeToLive''. Blair leaves her husband Asa to die of a heart attack. When she returns home and prepares to play the grieving widow, she's terrified when he leaps up and grabs her arm (it was merely chest pain and he recovered after getting the pills she denied him).
* ''Series/CarnivalRow'': Vignette pretends she hanged herself in the holding cell to escape when the police open it. She then tries to flee but is caught.
* The fake hanging trick is also used in ''Series/TheProfessionals'' by a South African hitman in "Slush Fund". In this case he succeeds, killing the guard and [[SleepingDummy leaving his body in the cell]].
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}''. In "Nightshifter", Sam and Dean are hunting a shapeshifter who likes to KillAndReplace their victims. They find a corpse of a woman who is apparently alive in their custody, so they seize her and drag her off to confront her with the evidence. On seeing her own corpse she faints, whereupon the corpse comes to life as it's the shapeshifter playing dead.

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'': [[spoiler:Basilio takes advantage of Lucina's warning that Walhart killed him in her timeline to allow Walhart to ''nearly'' kill him and play dead]], which proves to be crucial in [[OutGambitted Out Gambitting]] [[YouCantFightFate Validar]] whose spies were no longer following "a dead man".
* ''VideoGame/{{Unreal}}'' and ''VideoGame/UnrealTournament'': In the earlier editions of the game, it caused the player to rather obviously fall over very slowly without bending any joints, leading to a "hinges in the feet" type of effect. Later games corrected this with the use of a ragdoll engine, though it returns in ''VideoGame/UnrealTournamentIII''.
* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'': Hunters' Feign Death move. Like similar moves in other [=MMOs=], it causes monsters to stop attacking the Hunter, thinking him dead, although it can fail.
** It also has its uses against other players, but since you're still attackable while you're "dead" and your pet will continue attacking them instead of disappearing like it does when you're ''really'' dead, it's unlikely to fool them for long. But even though smart players can see through it easily, the fact that it forces them to stop targeting you can nonetheless save your skin, as it'll interrupt any abilities that have a cast time and possibly get them to focus on somebody else in the vicinity instead.
** TruthInTelevision, as it turns out, ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' [[http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2007/12/boy-survives-mo/ saved the life of one kid.]]
%%* ''VideoGame/TenchuTheWrathOfHeaven'':
* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress'':
** ''VideoGame/TeamFortressClassic'': This is one of the powers of the Spy, either dropping silently pretending to be a corpse that's been there for a while or with a loud death cry. BeatingADeadPlayer ensues. Due to an oversight by the developers (the feigning Spy is "solid" while a dead body isn't), anyone can instantly recognize feigning Spy just by walking over him. What happens then is known as "Crowbar".
** ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'': The Dead Ringer drops a fake corpse when the Spy is damaged, and makes the Spy invisible. Can be very useful to get behind and backstab an enemy, if they don't hear the Dead Ringer's very loud decloaking noise.
* ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'':
** Some enemy soldiers, when wounded, will lay on the ground dying, but pull out a grenade or pistol and wait for the player to get close. It's also possible to do this in multiplayer, where if critically wounded your character can either pull out a pistol and try to take the enemy down with them (Last Stand), or drop a live grenade and blow themselves up (Martyrdom).
** ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyWorldAtWar'': The Japanese sometimes do this ''without'' being wounded first; at one point in the first mission, the player and his squad happen upon what appears to be a group of corpses. Within seconds, a flare shoots up, blinding everyone while the soldiers get up and surprise attack the unprepared Marines.
* ''VideoGame/TombRaiderAnniversary'': The final boss goes down and Lara slowly approaches with her guns drawn. The boss turns her head and then quickly leaps to Lara, grabbing her by the neck, and tossing her aside while taunting her with "I cannot die, you fool. Sooner or later, you'll run out of bullets!" This may be a lampshading of the fact that Lara ''never'' runs out of bullets (at least for her basic guns).
* ''Franchise/DeadSpace'' has necromorphs do it, but it falls flat in part because after the first time people are never ever trusting of a dead body.
** On the harder difficulty, however, the necromorphs will do it ''after you've shot them''. Remember kids: In this game, just because you shoot its head off and it falls down ''doesn't mean it's dead''.
** In the [[VideoGame/DeadSpace2 second]] and [[VideoGame/DeadSpace3 third]] games, any attempt by the necromorphs to do this falls flat, since when a necromorph dies, it drops an item. Did it just "die" without dropping anything? It's still alive, stomp it to death.

* Splicers start doing this regularly by the end of ''VideoGame/{{BioShock|1}}'', but it's certainly a scare the first time. "We tricked you, ''monster!"''
** This may trick your eyes, [[InterfaceSpoiler but not your interface]]: your targeting reticle will turn red when it aims at a seemingly dead corpse that is really a live splicer in ambush. Regular corpses have it keep its standard white color. Also, they'll still be holding their guns.

** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'': Snake is equipped with a fake death pill in case he gets outnumbered, which drops his vital functions down to almost nothing. When the coast is clear, he can bite down on the Revival Pill embedded in his tooth to get back into action.

* ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'': Bad Girl will drop at random and start crying, though there are times her hands are completely off her bat, which means she's open to a Travis Touchdown spanking. If she's got one hand on her bat, approaching her is a bad idea.
* ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter2004'': The monster Gypceros will feign death once he receives enough damage. If you fall for it and start carving him, he will flail around wildly, dealing huge damage if you're too close. You can tell if he's just pretending by checking your quest info or by throwing a paintball at it: if the dot in the map is pink, he's still alive, if it's grey he is really dead. You can also tell if he's the only monster to fight and the "quest complete" notice hasn't shown up yet. Players on capture quests can use this time to set up a trap for when he wakes back up, as he's low on health enough to be captured when he does this trick.
* ''Franchise/DragonAge'': The rogues have an ability called "feign death," which is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.
* ''VideoGame/TalesOf''
** Karol from ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia'' can do this with one of his skills in order to regain HP/TP and escape enemy notice after he's been knocked down. He's a bit cowardly, so it fits.
** Returns as a skill usable by multiple party members in ''VideoGame/TalesOfXillia'', cowardly or not.
* Riki from ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1'' can do this to make enemies leave him alone and become invincible for the duration. However, he's so durable that his HP will rarely get low enough to warrant its usage, and the minor heal and brief damage buff it provides upon its expiration aren't worth the amount of time he needs to be out of commission. It's not so much bad as it is simply outclassed by the other potential abilities he could be using instead, though.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Syndicate}}'' (2012), [[spoiler: Agents Ramon and Merit]] do this. When you approach them to do a CHIP-rip, they get back up and attack.

* In ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'', there are several times that zombies fake being dead to then try to jump you when you approach them. Fortunately, it is relatively easy to test it by shooting things at them with the Gravity Gun.
* In the Future level of ''VideoGame/TimeCommando'', there are space-suited monkey things that will try to do this. Remember, [[EverythingFades it ain't dead if it don't fade!]]
* In ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'', you get a phone call from your predecessor mentioning that if push comes to shove, playing dead can fool the animatronics into thinking you're an empty costume, saving you from getting stuffed into a metal-laden costume, though he doesn't think it the best idea. [[spoiler:In the event that you run out of power, though, playing possum could buy you enough time to make it to the end of your shift ... key word being "''could''". If it comes to this, don't move a single muscle, or Freddy will kill you.]]
** Contrary to what Phone Guy says though, [[spoiler:playing possum is practically the only way to survive 4/20 mode, because you will most likely run out of power near the end.]]
* Assassins in ''VideoGame/NuclearThrone'' will pull this trick to try and sneak up on the player, but have a subtle tell that sets them apart from actual corpses.
* ''VideoGame/SplinterCellConviction's'' co-op crosses this with last stand. After being shot Kestrel or Archer can go down, then lean up and start shooting. They've still been shot however and will bleed out without the other agent giving them some first aid.

* In ''VideoGame/RadiaSenkiReimeihen'', this takes the place of the escape command, where the entire party plays dead to trick enemies into leaving. Curiously, this can be used (and works best) before the battle has even begun, with the result that monsters leave your party untouched after the sight of them apparently gives everyone fatal heart attacks.

* A species of goat called the Tennessee Fainting Goat will do this when it is spooked (typically by a loud noise). The goat with fall over on it's side (or sometimes flat on it's back) with all four legs sticking out straight. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_3Utmj4RPU many videos]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09Gfo5B0z50 of fainting goats]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we9_CdNPuJg can be found]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TuyqX_Udb8 online]].

* WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated: [[TheMedic Rat]][[ShellShockedVeteran chet]] does this to [[BountyHunter Lockdown]] in "Thrill of the Hunt". Lockdown later responds in kind, saying he'll have to remember that one.

** In ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency Battle Tendency]]'', Joseph does this to evade notice from one of the Pillar Men to head for a nearby cart.
** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Stardust Crusaders]]'': Jotaro plays dead in order to draw his opponent, Dio Brando, within attacking range. As Jotaro currently has a bunch of knives in his body, he can't afford to take any more hits from Dio, so he waits until Dio is practically inches from him, having to stay silent while holding his breath and temporarily ''stopping his heart'' to make Dio come closer to deliver the blow to his head. During this, Jotaro points out the {{irony}} of the situation: his opponent [[spoiler:can stop time]], during which Jotaro has to put a lot of effort into moving, but now, he's putting all his effort into remaining as immobile as he can.

* Several of the immortals in ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'' do this when they realize the immediate threat they're facing won't leave right away. They have the ability to will their bodies not to reform back into a whole for an undisclosed amount of time, but it has been implied that a person can go for minutes in this apparently dead state.

** In ''Manga/BattleTendency'', Joseph does this to evade notice from one of the Pillar Men to head for a nearby cart.
** ''Manga/StardustCrusaders'': Jotaro plays dead in order to draw his opponent, Dio Brando, within attacking range. As Jotaro currently has a bunch of knives in his body, he can't afford to take any more hits from Dio, so he waits until Dio is practically inches from him, having to stay silent while holding his breath and temporarily ''stopping his heart'' to make Dio come closer to deliver the blow to his head. During this, Jotaro points out the {{irony}} of the situation: his opponent [[spoiler:can stop time]], during which Jotaro has to put a lot of effort into moving, but now, he's putting all his effort into remaining as immobile as he can.
** ''Manga/GoldenWind'': In his battle with Cioccolata, Giorno lands a bullet straight into his head and Cioccolata drops dead. But Giorno immediately could tell he's faking it and [[TalkingIsAFreeAction takes the time]] to explain how he knows Cioccolata is pretending to be dead and how he'll approach to finish him off. Cioccolate quickly drops the act and tries to kill Mista, only for a stag beetle to burst out of him from the bullet that was shot by Gold Experience.

* In ''LightNovel/GoblinSlayer'' a goblin shaman in the first episode pretends to have been killed in order to surprisingly attack the titular hero. But he already has enough experience to see through it quickly.

* ''LightNovel/RebuildWorld'':
** A ScaryScorpion type of monster, do this to ambush hunters. Akira has to have his VirtualSidekick Alpha highlight the living ones with his AugmentedReality vision to know which bodies are safe and which to attack.
** Since Alpha is InvisibleToNormals, one time when someone actually can see her, she makes a simulation of her body being killed and leaves it there (it is only an avatar after all), continuing to act as MissionControl. She uses this to distract Akira’s opponent at just the right moment with what looks like an attack from behind, allowing Akira to strike.
** Akira undertakes a TrainingThePeacefulVillagers task to turn Sheryl’s slum gang into a hunter gang with AR training, where Alpha provides her MissionControl assistance to Akira's opponents in mock battle. She orders them to play possum, making Akira move up to them and head shot them with simulated rounds to counter this.
** A certain villain trying to kill Akira, [[spoiler:the BackFromTheDead Zelmo]], being [[WhatTheHellAreYou terrified of Akira]] thinking he's doing this after he pulled a fantastical BladeBrake WallRun stunt and fell unconscious. BackingAwaySlowly, instead of trying to finish him, the villain goes [[ThereIsnoKillLikeOverkill to procure an attack aircraft instead.]]

* ''Franchise/TeamFortress'':

* This is actually recommended practice when encountering grizzly bears. Wild brown bears aren't generally interested in humans as a source of food, but they do tend to see us as a threat when we wander into their territory [[MamaBear especially if they have cubs]], so lying down and staying motionless and quiet can get them to leave you alone, if you have no other options. American black bears will just kill you if you try this, so the recommendation is always to run away, make noise, and fight as hard as you can, and always be sure of what kind of bear you are dealing with before playing dead. Either way, it's better to be prepared with something like bear spray when going into the woods than trying to rely on Playing Possum working, because the bear you run into might just be the bear who it doesn't work on.

* ''VideoGame/{{Expert}}'' have a mook enemy wearing green uniforms, who needs two shots to kill. When shot the first time they'll fall over like every other mook, only to suddenly sit up and shoot you In the Back with their sidearm. Though you could tell they're not dead since they don't drop an item.

* ''Series/BabylonFive'': Sheridan destroyed the Minbari warship ''Black Star'' by luring it into a Space Mine trap with a distress signal. While also signaling for the legitimate reason, he knew that (as per WordOfGod) the Minbari ship's response to the distress call will be in order to find and destroy the surviving ship, not to rescue the crew, and that they'd get there before any [=EarthForce=] assistance could arrive.

* A random, unnamed soldier does this in an episode of ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'', FakingTheDead in order to attempt to kill an alien. Most of the guards stationed at the entrance to a stockpile of United Kingdom nuclear weapons have all been slaughtered by the attacking alien, who has now crossed the entrance and is approaching the facility itself, when suddenly one of the soldiers lying on the ground bounds up, grabs his assault rifle and starts gunning right into the aliens back. It fails (damn forcefields), but still, badass.

* ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'': The monster Gypceros will feign death once he receives enough damage. If you fall for it and start carving him, he will flail around wildly, dealing huge damage if you're too close. You can tell if he's just pretending by checking your quest info or by throwing a paintball at it: if the dot in the map is pink, he's still alive, if it's grey he is really dead. You can also tell if he's the only monster to fight and the "quest complete" notice hasn't shown up yet. Players on capture quests can use this time to set up a trap for when he wakes back up, as he's low on health enough to be captured when he does this trick.

* ''WesternAnimation/KulipariAnArmyOfFrogs'': A village of possums have a RunningGag of playing dead whenever they get spooked which prompts someone to say "We know you're not dead". [[note]] While they do have the correct appearance for [[SeldomSeenSpecies Australian possums]], playing dead is something only the Virginia Opposum does.[[/note]]

* In ''Film/TheBalladOfBusterScruggs,'' The Prospector in "All Gold Canyon" pretends to be dead after being shot in the back by a man who had sneaked into his digging path to steal the gold. Once the skunk jumps into the hole to steal the gold, the Prospector then begins to attack the man, dazing him with dirt, then steals his gun and kills him.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' play possum in "Aliver," a reality show where they've been competing against Princess Morbucks who cheats her way through the contests. Princess is so heartbrokenly contrite that her last trick had killed the girls that she confesses she cheated. [[NotQuiteDead Then the girls wake up.]]

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'': Snake is equipped with a fake death pill in case he gets outnumbered, which drops his vital functions down to almost nothing. When the coast is clear, he can bite down on the Revival Pill embedded in his tooth to get back into action.