History SealedEvilInACan / VideoGames

** ''Vengeance'' has the [[AnthropomorphicPersonification Winter Queen, the Winter incarnate]]. With her army of ice and stone elementals, she wanted to understand the world into eternal coldness and night, but was sealed by Stormcloud Sorcerers whose temple you visit in first game. Years later, she's freed by the cannon fire from Vez'nan's campaign, forcing him to take action.
** From the same game, [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Dragon King]]. A Water Dragon who wanted power and proclaimed himself a God of the sea, he was sealed by his own into a golden statue. After Vez'nan takes over Linirea, few who managed to flee stumble upon the statue and free the Dragon King in hopes of retaking Linirea with his help.

** In ''Frontiers'' we have [[spoiler: [[EldritchAbomination Umbra, the God of shadows]]. It has been sealed a long time ago by people of Hammerhold, who put it in a crystal forged with Hammer of Ages and strengthened by magic. Lord Malagar, the BigBad of the game and Vez'nan's most loyal follower, seeks to free the thing to gain it's power in an effort to bring an end to Linirea as revenge. [[spoiler: He succeeds, but the thing kills him not too long after being freed and becomes the FinalBoss]]]].

* 'Throughout its history, ''VideoGame/KingdomRush'' had many examples of these, with varying levels of danger:

** In ''Frontiers'' we have [[spoiler: [[EldritchAbomination Umbra, the God of shadows]]. It has been sealed a long time ago by people of Hammerhold, who put it in a crystal forged with Hammer of Ages and strengthened by magic. Lord Malagar, the BigBad of the game and Vez'nan's most loyal follower, seeks to free the thing to gain it's power in an effort to bring an end to Linirea as revenge. [[spoiler: He succeeds, but the thing kills him not too long after being freed and becomes the FinalBoss]].

* ''Throughout its history, ''VideoGame/KingdomRush'' had many examples of these, with varying levels of danger:

* The Relic of Moirai in ''VideoGame/{{Contra}}: Shattered Soldier'', which is revealed to be [[spoiler:the mysterious force that the alien attackers in the previous ''Contra'' games were trying to recover the whole time, after it was taken and hidden away by the Triumvirate, according to Lance Bean]].

** In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', Hawke can fight several powerful demons that were sealed away in and around Kirkwall. The "Legacy" [[DownloadableContent DLC]] revolves around the Hawke family's connection to an ancient Sealed Evil In A Can -- [[spoiler:Corypheus, one of the original Tevinter Magisters who brought the Darkspawn Taint to Thedas]] -- whose subconscious efforts to free itself have brought danger to Hawke's doorstep. There's also ANOTHER uber-monster sealed right outside the prison housing him, but that one's an optional BonusBoss.

* ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar'', the original one, has an absolutely beautiful example. An ancient demon imprisoned in a stone manipulates Orks into attacking human cities on the planet. Space Marines come to the rescue and do what space marines do best -- spill ungodly amounts of Orkish and human blood -- just so at the end, the demon can reveal that [[spoiler:the entire planet had previously been converted into a blood altar for releasing him]]. Bonus points: most characters wanting to use demon or its power for their own end up badly.

** In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', Hawke can fight several powerful demons that were sealed away in and around Kirkwall. The "Legacy" {{DLC}} revolves around the Hawke family's connection to an ancient Sealed Evil In A Can -- [[spoiler:Corypheus, one of the original Tevinter Magisters who brought the Darkspawn Taint to Thedas]] -- whose subconscious efforts to free itself have brought danger to Hawke's doorstep. There's also ANOTHER uber-monster sealed right outside the prison housing him, but that one's an optional BonusBoss.

* ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'':

* In ''VideoGame/DeadSpace'', the Marker seals the infection that turns corpses into horrific alien monsters ([[spoiler:it was actually a manmade knockoff of the real marker]]). Anyways, the Marker-Worshipping [[strike: Scientologists]] ''[[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything Unitologists]]'' discover the Marker in the midst of mining Aegis VII and move it off its pedestal. Bad things occur.
** Even worse, later games indicate that [[spoiler: the Markers cause the infection that turns corpses into horrific monsters while doing a number on the sanity of those with higher education in engineering and biology compelling the affected to eventually make more Markers and worse corpse monsters respectively. The Pedestal itself was the can, with the Marker being and its signal being the Evil.]]

* The Relic of Moirai in ''VideoGame/ContraShatteredSoldier'', which is revealed to be [[spoiler: the mysterious force that the alien attackers in the previous ''VideoGame/{{Contra}}'' video games were trying to recover the whole time, after it was taken and hidden away by the Triumvirate, according to Lance Bean.]]

* In ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'', after the [=DataKrash=] disaster nearly destroyed the Internet in the [[TabletopGame/{{Cyberpunk}} early 2020s]], multiple [=AIs=] being developed by the United States military were freed and [[AIIsACrapshoot mutated into autonomous and hostile entities]]. In response, the British policing organization known as Netwatch developed [[HunterOfHisOwnKind another AI known as the Blackwall to quarantine them]] as they constantly probe it for weaknesses. On the rare occasions the "rogue" [=AIs=] do break out they wreak havoc on the real world for reasons only discernable to themselves.

* In ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'', after the [=DataKrash=] disaster nearly destroyed the Internet in the [[TabletopGame/{{Cyberpunk}} early 2020s]], multiple AIs being developed by the United States military were freed and [[AIIsACrapshoot mutated into autonomous and hostile entities]]. In response, the British policing organization known as Netwatch developed [[HunterOfHisOwnKind another AI known as the Blackwall to quarantine them]] as they constantly probe it for weaknesses. On the rare occasions the "rogue" AIs do break out they wreak havoc on the real world for reasons only discernable to themselves.

* Parodied in ''VideoGame/MakaiKingdom'' as Zetta seals himself in a book after he destroys his own netherworld. HilarityEnsues as he tries to get his body back.

** In the Expansion Pack, the BonusBoss is the avatar of a very powerful demon lord. You are asked to reseal him in his prison as he's about to break free. Alternatively, you can fight him in an epic battle. However, if you win and kill him, it only means he is freed back to his own plane.

* ''VideoGame/{{Blazblue}}'': The Black Beast. [[spoiler:[[TheHero Ragna]] is the can. [[DiscOneFinalBoss Nu-13]] is the can opener.]]

*** [[BigBad Alduin]], a colossal black [[OurDragonsAreDifferent dragon]] who it is said will "[[BeastOfTheApocalypse eat the world]]" at the end of the current cycle of time, was sealed away thousands of years in the past. When Alduin, his dragons, and the [[ReligionOfEvil Dragon Cult]] that worshiped them came to rule early mankind, mankind prayed to the [[OurGodsAreDifferent Divines]] for aid. Their prayers were answered when they were taught to use the [[MakeMeWannaShout Thu'um]], the draconic LanguageOfMagic. Three ancient [[HornyVikings Nord]] heroes set off to defeat Alduin using this ability, but he proved too powerful. As a last ditch effort, the heroes used the power of an [[TomeOfEldritchLore Elder Scroll]] to cast Alduin adrift outside of the stream of time. A prophecy describes the events that must transpire before he would end up back in linear time again, and [[ArcWelding it just so happens those events happened in the previous four games]]. Naturally, Alduin returns to kickstart the plot of the game.

* ''VideoGame/{{Shivers}}'' has the Ixupi, ancient soul-sucking {{Mayincatec}} demons who were sealed into pots with talismans. Millennia later, an itinerant archaeologist digs them up and puts them in a museum. Then two kids sneak in the museum and break them open.

** By the end of ''[[VideoGame/SonicStorybookSeries Sonic and the Secret Rings]]'', [[spoiler:Sonic does this to contain Erazor Djinn, using his own magic lamp against him]].
** In ''VideoGame/SonicFrontiers'', the game’s big bad and the GreaterScopeVillain of the entire franchise [[spoiler:The End]], It's an EldritchAbomination that it has been sealed on the island archipelago by the Ancients with the help of the Chaos Emeralds. However, it breaks free when Sonic is tricked into setting The End loose.

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance'' uses the trope, with the characters believing that Lehran's Medallion contains an evil god that flooded the entire world save Tellius. So at the end, not only do the heroes fight Ashnard in order to liberate Crimea, but also to prevent him from unleashing a dark god. [[spoiler:However, the true nature of the relic is revealed in the sequel ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'', and the heroes are the ones who free Yune, the Goddess of Chaos, rather then letting the negative energies of war do it. As it turns out, Yune was actually a SealedGoodInACan, one half of a benevolent goddes who just happened to mess up (the Great Flood); in fact, the BigBad is Ashera, the goddess everyone had been praying to throughout both games, who is what remains after the goddess [[IceQueen purged her emotions]] (forming Yune) to avoid another Great Flood.]]

** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'', the GodOfEvil Demise was sealed by the goddess Hylia. His servant Ghirahim, [[spoiler:who is actually Demise's sword]], seeks to free him [[spoiler:and succeeds. In the end, Link seals away Demise again within the newly forged Master Sword.]]
** In ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriors'', the legendary hero separated the evil force -Ganondorf- into four pieces, sealed one in the temple of the Master Sword, and sent the other three into the depths of space-time.

* In ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' games, Ganon is often a sealed evil. Link must either re-seal him or stop him from fully unsealing himself or his power. The first time he is actually sealed away takes place at the end of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime''.
** So is Vaati, the baddie from the ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaFourSwords'' games. In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheMinishCap'', he starts wrecking havoc as a sorcerer and is sealed for the first time at the end of the game.
** Vaati also broke the seal on the monsters in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheMinishCap'' by destroying the Picori Sword at the beginning of the game.

* In ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion'', major ghosts that Luigi encountered were once imprisoned inside portraits, but were released by King Boo once E. Gadd captured Boolossus. Eventually, they are recaptured by Luigi and put back in their portraits, including King Boo himself... although in [[VideoGame/SuperMario64DS the next game]] he has apparently been released to fight Mario. He is killed this time and the next time he is fought (in this case by [[VideoGame/SuperPrincessPeach Peach]]).

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance'' uses the trope, with the characters believing that Lehran's Medallion contains an evil god that flooded the entire world save Tellius. So at the end, not only do the heroes fight Ashnard in order to liberate Crimea, but also to prevent him from unleashing a dark god. [[spoiler:However, the true nature of the relic is revealed in the sequel ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'', and the heroes are the ones who free Yune, the Goddess of Chaos, rather then letting the negative energies of war do it. As it turns out, Yune was actually a SealedGoodInACan who just happened to mess up (the Great Flood); in fact, the BigBad is Ashera, the goddess everyone had been praying to throughout both games, who [[IceQueen purged her emotions]] (forming Yune) to avoid another Great Flood.]]
** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar'' wins the "strangest method of resurrecting" award, with two half siblings being [[AliensMadeThemDoIt brainwashed in order to breed a vessel]] for the dark god they are descended from.

** ''VideoGame/Mother3'': When his mech runs out of power, [[spoiler: Pokey/Porky retreats into his Absolutely Safe Capsule -- which can't be opened from the inside or outside. Not quite SEIAC, as this capsule cannot possibly be opened, damaged or otherwise altered by any earthly or divine means]].

** SatanicArchetype Giratina was imprisoned in the [[VoidBetweenTheWorlds Distortion World]] millennia ago for [[[[VideoGame/PokemonLegendsArceus being a rampaging monster]]. [[DarkIsNotEvil He's chilled out since then, though.]] [[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Except for that one time.]]

** SatanicArchetype Giratina was imprisoned in the [[VoidBetweenTheWorlds Distortion World]] millennia ago for being a rampaging monster. [[DarkIsNotEvil He's chilled out since then, though.]] [[VideoGame/PokemonLegendsArceus Except for that one time.]]

** In [[VideoGame/SonicFrontiers]], the game’s big bad and the GreaterScopeVillain of the entire franchise [[spoiler:The End]], It's an EldritchAbomination that it has been sealed on the island archipelago by the Ancients with the help of the Chaos Emeralds. However, it breaks free when Sonic is tricked into setting The End loose.