History Main / StoryDrivenInvulnerability

* In ''MedalOfHonor: Frontline'', Sturmgeist is invincible until the final level.

* From ''WingCommander II'' onwards, instead of dying, as in the first game and its [[ExpansionPack addons]], your wingmen can always eject... unless [[PlotlineDeath the plot requires that they die]].

* The BigBad of ''AgeOfMythology'' always seems to be just out of reach when seen, always appearing on top of cliffs, on the other side of jail doors, across deep chasms, etc, etc. This is even lampshaded.

* All of the Horsemen can be battled in RandomEncounters early on, but will run away when you get them to half their health. They cannot be killed untill you meet them in the pre-determined spot.

* Used in ''[=~Assassins Creed~=] II''. In a few of the secret tombs, you have to chase a lone guard through the tunnels, dodging traps and finding alternate routes throughout the environment as he desperately tries to evade you. The game disables your projectile weapons in these sections, and even if you get close enough to use your hidden blade the prompt to use it doesn't show up.

*** Actually, it's not entirely averted. One character is initially met from behind a pane of bulletproof glass. This seems to be a justification because the only weapon in the game capable of firing through walls (in its secondary mode) does only EMP damage, to which standard human NPCs are invulnerable. The only problem is that that prior to his departure from that area one of his special forces guards shows up. These guards are vulnerable to EMP damage, and the one behind the glass is no exception. These guards also dissolve into a poison gas when killed, which cause injury and eventual death to anyone in the vicinity. Use the wall-penetrating EMP blaster to kill the guard, and the aforementioned NPC will be perfectly fine while everyone else around him[[spoiler: , including his wife, if the player had rescued her, as the story did allow for her death previously and in fact will treat her death in that location as though it had occurred in first area where she is encountered,]] drops dead from the resulting gas cloud.

* Completely averted in ''TheElderScrolls Morrowind'', in which everyone can be killed. However, killing certain NPCs will render the game {{Unwinnable}}, which is entirely the point. ''Oblivion'' would make unkillable plot-specific NPCs, however.

* ''CallOfDuty 4'', the final mission. You're given an RPG and told to fire on a Ultranationalist helicopter, but it has story-driven invincibility, since it's scripted to wipe out your squad at the end of the level, and is only destroyed by the Russian Loyalists when they arrive(too late for most of you).

* Played straight and averted in the 1998 {{FPS}} {{SiN}}. The main antagonist of the first three levels, a thug named Mancini, is being pursued by player character John Blade through a bank, a construction site, a series of city blocks and finally a subway. At several points during this chase, he is seen quickly before running away (usually with a hostage in tow), but if you're quick enough, you can snipe or shoot him, which won't cause any damage whatsoever. Most notably, the first encounter with the mutated Mancini has a period of several seconds where he pauses before jumping back into the ceiling, allowing you to run up and blast him in the face at point-blank range with a machine gun (to no effect). In the second-last level, Elexis Sinclaire lures you into a trap when you attempt to walk into a room filled on two sides with bulletproof glass and a single entrance - it's possible to try a bank shot into the room just before you hit the trigger that drops the floor out from under you, but the entrance has an invisible wall.

* Variation of this in Time Crisis 4 when you're facing Jack Mathers (the second boss). At the start of each life bar, he'll mix it up with William Rush, during which he doesn't attack you at all. It's actually possible (and in fact pretty easy) to do the equivalent of a whole life bar's worth of damage in this time. However, you can only take off the green portion of the bar, about two thirds. The remainder doesn't turn green until he starts attacking you. Obviously this was done so all the action and dialogue between Mathers and Rush would be completed (and so there'd actually be some challenge to this battle, of course). This is true of the other bosses, but Mathers is the most blatant example. This also happened in Crisis Zone, but that was just so the bosses would live long enough to use all their attacks.

*** Actually not true. This troper has killed Freddy on the motorcycle before, but he takes a crapton of ammunition.

* Averted in MassEffect: During the first meeting with the council, Saren is present... as a hologram, and the instant the two of you are in the same location, you eagerly belt the crap out of each other.

* Averted in MassEffect: During the first meeting with the council, Saren is present... as a hologram

** Wrong. Using the R2 trick to cancel the RPG's recoil and reloading animation you can destroy said spoilered vehicle during that first rail section. Watch any speedrun of [=MGS3=] and you'll see that it's possible.

* Used in {{Assassins Creed II}}. In a few of the secret tombs, you have to chase a lone guard through the tunnels, dodging traps and finding alternate routes throughout the environment as he desperately tries to evade you. The game disables your projectile weapons in these sections, and even if you get close enough to use your hidden blade the prompt to use it doesn't show up.

* At the very end of the 2009 ''{{Wolfenstein}}'', after killing the final boss, you're teleported into a collapsing corridor where you have a clear shot at the Nazi Commander BigBad as he flees away from you towards the exit. You can actually pump several bullets into his back if you're quick enough, but he'll just keep running and quickly escapes.

* Completely averted in ''TheElderScrolls Morrowind'', in which everyone can be killed. However, killing one NPC will render the game {{Unwinnable}}, which is entirely the point. ''Oblivion'' would make unkillable plot-specific NPCs, however.