History SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome / VideoGames

* ''VideoGame/{{Infernax}}'': As a ShoutOut to ''VideoGame/{{Castlevania}}'', there's [[InexplicablyPreservedDungeonMeat a piece of meat hidden inside a breakable wall in one of the locations that Alcedor must clear to progress]]. Should Alcedor eat that meat, instead of being healed like a ''Castlevania'' player might expect, they are treated to a special cutscene where he immediately proceeds to vomit as a result, even lampshading how ridiculously dumb it was to eat that meat.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'':

** There are also non-fatal ways this shows up, too. In the third ''Police Quest'', you can miss points if you fail to follow proper procedure when writing someone up for a ticket. You can also question witnesses, some of whom lie or are [[BeAsUnhelpfulAsPossible uncooperative with the cops]]. Many of them aren't even hiding anything, and have no real reason to lie; they just don't want to talk to the cops, simple as that.
** ''Police Quest II'' ends with a shoot-out in which Sonny shoots a suspect; as a result, the suspect dies. Sonny is immediately put on administrative leave for three days as the Internal Affairs division of the Lynton Police Department reviews if his actions were justifiable homicide. Thankfully it's deemed to be so, and they award Sonny by giving him a two week vacation with pay for taking down the bad guys.
** ''Police Quest III'' has Sonny notice that his wife isn't getting proper medical care on one of the machines in the hospital. Rather than fiddle with the dials himself, like many an adventure game would expect you to do, the correct solution is to bring it to the attention of the hospital staff who know how the machines work, and let ''them'' fix it.
** In ''SWAT 1'', using a flashbang on an elderly woman with a bad heart has her die immediately, instead of doing no damage like most other games. There's a reason flashbangs and the like are emphatically '''less'''-lethal weapons and not "non-lethal" ones - because there simply is no such thing as a non-lethal weapon.
** ''SWAT 2'' will suspend an officer for shooting a suspect as well, even if it was justified.

* ''VideoGame/NightInTheWoods'':
** A sidequest has Mae introduce Saleem, a bear violinist, and Sadie, a cat saxophonist, who start playing together. Mae expresses that the two will get married one day, but Saleem is already seeing someone else and Sadie says looking after her kid leaves her with no time for a relationship.
** A family doctor, who thinks simple psychotherapy is the answer to every mental disorder, turns out to be very ill-equipped to handle Mae's illness. Yes, there are numerous success stories, but antipsychotics tend to be more reliable for such severe cases. He should've referred her to a real psychiatrist at the very least.

* In ''VideoGame/MarvelsSpiderMan2''. Peter's [[WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld flimsy excuses and absences from school to go save the day]] were barely tolerated when he was a student. Now that he is a ''teacher'', and thus both morally and legally responsible for his students' safety, any absence of his is treated much more harshly, especially when he leaves during a supervillain attack. After having to leave to fight Sandman, Peter is promptly fired when he returns to the school.

* In ''VideoGame/MarvelsSpiderMan2''. Peter's [[WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld flimsy excuses and absences from school to go save the day]] were barely tolerated when he was a student. Now that he is a ''teacher'', any absence of his is treated much more harshly, especially when his leaving during a supervillain attack puts his students at risk. After having to leave to fight Sandman, Peter is promptly fired when he returns to the school.

** ''Police Quest II'' ends with a shoot-out in which Sonny shoots a suspect; as a result, the suspect dies. Sonny is immediately put on administrative leave for three days as the Internal Affairs division of the Lynton Police Department reviews if his actions were justifiable homicide. Thankfully it's deemed to be so, and they award Sonny by giving him a two week vacation with pay for taking down the bad guys... ''unless'' Sonny pulled the trigger first in the shootout. In that case, his actions were not in self-defense, and Sonny instead gets arrested for murder.

** ''SWAT 2'' would suspend an officer for shooting a suspect as well, even if it was justified.

** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'': Apparently, Salazar believes TalkingIsAFreeAction. Too bad for him that Leon does not. Both times that Salazar tries EvilGloating, Leon makes him pay for it, first by damaging his hearing with a bullet to a listening horn, and second by pinning Salazar's hand to a wall with a thrown knife.

--->'''Brighid:''' [[WhatTheHellHero Do you have any idea how much it costs to repair a water tower? It's a lot.]]

* There are some things that play this way in ''VideoGame/Jak3Wastelander'' after the events of [[VideoGame/JakIIRenegade the previous game]]:
** Killing a head of enemy faction does not make that faction go away instantly. ''Jak II'' ended with killing off Metal Head Leader, but come ''3'' the Metal Heads are still attacking the Haven city, whose protecting shield has been destroyed in the previous game, thus leaving it unprotected. Also, just because the former leader keeled over it doesn't mean a new leader won't take charge [[spoiler:as Errol did]].

* ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyModernWarfare3'', during the tank gunner section in "Goalpost". While the M1 Abrams Ia is a badass CoolTank, it's not a good idea to drive it and all 57 tons of its weight into a parking garage only rated for 30 tons. The crew [[OhCrap realizes]] this about half a second before their tank falls through two stories into the basement. They survive, thankfully, but the fall - and several of the other cars falling on it through the massive hole it made - messed up the systems of the tank enough that they're forced to continue on foot.

** In ''The Missing Link'' {{DLC}}, a [[PrivateMilitaryContractors Belltower]] commander makes mention that a number of their people that Jensen "peacefully" knocked unconscious by bashing them in the face with a metal fist are in comas.
** While infiltrating the Police station, Adam can convince an old colleague to give him security clearance so he can move around in the open. However, doing so will get the man fired for giving an unauthorized individual permission to enter restricted areas without consulting his superiors.

* One of the many endings available in ''VideoGame/DuckSeason'' revolves entirely around this trope. Upon discovering that he's being stalked by a menacing figure who knows where he lives - in a neighborhood recently struck by a spate of serial killings - the player character can respond by simply calling the police and telling them what they just saw. PoliceAreUseless is ''completely'' averted in this case, and they deal with the situation [[NoKillLikeOverkill decisively]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'': The first two games are two of a vanishingly small group of pieces of media that acknowledges that women are just as susceptible to {{Groin Attack}}s as men. A critical targeted attack at a female antagonist's groin get descriptions like "She takes it like a man. That is to say, it hurts."
* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'':
** The GloryHound trope is given this through the New California Republic. General Oliver wants a [[HollywoodTactics dramatic]] FinalBattle to conclusively end the Legion threat so as to increase his fame. The problems with this are the following: a final battle situation requires the enemy group's entire forces to commit to it and usually are the result of an event like a prolonged siege. Instead, due to the vast majority of the NCR's troops assigned to defend the Dam, the Legion's troops and spies have free rein to travel the Mojave without NCR checkpoints or patrols to catch them, with meager NCR forces defending other locations of interest. Indeed, if the Courier doesn't do anything to stop the Legion's actions beyond the Dam, the Legion will catch the NCR off-guard with a massive attack by the Fiends on Camp [=McCarran=], while the Great Khans pick off random NCR troops elsewhere in the region, the Strip will be hit by a terrorist attack arranged by the Legion, and while the Dam might face the Legion's heaviest troops, the lesser ones will simultaneously attack lightly or undefended targets like Camp Golf or Novac. The Second Battle of Hoover Dam is ultimately a {{Deconstruction}} of the "final, decisive battle" trope. It's just Hollywood-style bad tactics at its finest.
** Killing the leader of a faction in game often causes a DecapitatedArmy, such as with the Fiends or Kings, a tactic that is suggested by some characters for handling some of the factions such as them. The game defies this with the Legion though: You can walk up and kill Caesar, which various characters comment on and state that the Legion is doomed in the long term without his leadership. However, his death doesn't mean the Legion is over ''right now'', because the Legion is still too big of a force to simply keel over right away without him. Just killing the leader doesn't mean the army will automatically give up and surrender; if anything, it drives them to war more because now they have a personal reason to fight. The same is true for the NCR as well; killing the major leaders of the NCR is just killing the major players of the Mojave section of the NCR, meaning they'll simply pull back to California, where they have still a large army and people to rely on. If siding with Mr. House, he'll even mention that killing Caesar or Kimball isn't a good idea if the player suggests doing so, because they'll both simply become martyrs to their faction, especially President Kimball.
* ''VideoGame/Fallout4'': If the player sides with the Institute, they can become its new Director, and still have only minimal control over its operations. After all, Father gave you the position without consulting the other department heads, and you're some unknown actor who walked out of the wasteland, not a fellow scientist who worked their way through the ranks normally.
* ''VideoGame/FarCry4'': At the start of the game, Pagan Min asks you to wait for a bit as he takes care of some business. The game expects you to leave the table, discover De Pleur torturing the other guy captured with you, and ultimately start the plot, and someone used to normal video game logic would expect the game to [[ButThouMust pause forever until the player leaves]]. If you ''do'' wait for a bit (around fifteen minutes)... Min comes back and resolves the business he invited you for, which actually leads to an alternate ending of the game where everything is explained and you accomplish Ajay's goal in under an hour.
* ''VideoGame/FarCry5'': The game begins with the police approaching a cult to arrest its leader, Joseph Seed, for suspicious activities. The marshal wants to arrest Joseph, while the sheriff thinks they should leave so they can get the national guard to handle Joseph and the cult. The group detains Joseph, but the cult causes the helicopter to crash as it's taking off, and this convinces the cult to start their mission and start capturing civilians. [[spoiler:The only good ending is when the player refuses to arrest Joseph Seed; after hearing Joseph repeat a phrase from the helicopter ride, the sheriff wisely chooses to retreat because Joseph has a spy and obviously has a plan against them. In real life, the authorities have been told to never underestimate a criminal and have had it drilled into their heads that trying to use [[AppealToForce brute force]] is the dumbest decision you can make when you are outmatched and outnumbered.]]
* ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'':

* ''VideoGame/MarySkelterNightmares'':Jack's blood is able to purify the built-up Corruption of [[HalfHumanHybrid Blood Maidens]] and also pull them out of [[TheBerserker Blood Skelter]]; even before he joined the Blood Team, he would frequently cut himself and allow his best friend Alice to calm herself with his blood. The first time he receives medical attention, he is diagnosed as a chronic anemic and is portrayed as being physically frail and prone to falling unconscious.

* Early on in ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead: Season Two'', you meet and befriend a PostApocalypticDog. [[spoiler:Unlike most examples of this trope, it's a starving animal that has been living in the wilds with no human contact, and it has absolutely no sense of loyalty to its new-found human friend. When Clementine attempts to share a can of beans with it, the dog snatches the whole can and then attempts to maul Clementine when she picks it up. This is TruthInTelevision, as [[BerserkButton taking food away from a dog is a really good way to get bitten]], even in the case that the dog in question is not particularly hungry and thoroughly domesticated and friendly with most people.]]

* ''VideoGame/SpiderManPS4'': One of the collectibles you can find is a prototype of a Spider-Man plush toy. Peter reminisces about how the creator of the plushie offered him royalties to produce the line. While Spider-Man could capitalize on his likeness in ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse'', here it shows that he can't do so legally without revealing his SecretIdentity.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'': The first two games are two of a vanishingly small group of pieces of media that acknowledges that women are just as susceptible to {{Groin Attack}}s as men. A critical targeted attack at a female antagonist's groin get descriptions like "She takes it like a man. That is to say, it hurts like a motherfucker."

** The GloryHound trope is given this through the NCR. General Oliver wants a [[HollywoodTactics dramatic]] FinalBattle to conclusively end the Legion threat so as to increase his fame. The problems with this are the following: a final battle situation requires the enemy group's entire forces to commit to it and usually are the result of an event like a prolonged siege. Instead, due to the vast majority of the NCR's troops assigned to defend the Dam, the Legion's troops and spies have free rein to travel the Mojave without NCR checkpoints or patrols to catch them, with meager NCR forces defending other locations of interest. Indeed, if the Courier doesn't do anything to stop the Legion's actions beyond the Dam, the Legion will catch the NCR off-guard with a massive attack by the Fiends on Camp [=McCarran=], while the Great Khans pick off random NCR troops elsewhere in the region, the Strip will be hit by a terrorist attack arranged by the Legion, and while the Dam might face the Legion's heaviest troops, the lesser ones will simultaneously attack lightly or undefended targets like Camp Golf or Novac. The Second Battle of Hoover Dam is ultimately a {{Deconstruction}} of the "final, decisive battle" trope. It's just Hollywood-style bad tactics at its finest.

* ''VideoGame/{{Yakuza}}'':
** In one scene in ''VideoGame/Yakuza4'', a panty thief leaps from buildings to get away from his target and slips off the railing. Beginning to fall, he flings one of the bras he had stolen onto a nearby fire escape like a GrapplingHookPistol. It slides around it and stops his fall... for half a second since it had nothing to clip onto (and would have just ripped if it did), sending him crashing into the street below.
** In ''VideoGame/YakuzaLikeADragon'', when Ichiban is released from prison near the beginning of the game, the first thing he does is try to get his old punch perm back. Unfortunately, said perm is a highly complicated hairstyle that has been out of style for over 20 years, meaning most hairstylists have no idea how to do it. This includes the young hairstylist Ichiban visits, who completely botches the cut and gives Ichiban his now trademark wild hair.

* ''VideoGame/OuterWilds'': Your most important tool in the main game is your Nomai language translator, capable of instantly translating any texts you find. Unfortunately, it becomes completely useless in the DLC, since the language there belongs to a different alien race. It is, however, possible to go to Hal, your linguist friend, and ask them to add the unknown new language to the translator... which ends up not helping at all.
--> '''Hal:''' Stars above, you bet I can! Just give me... let's call it a hundred samples, some form of epigraphical codex, and six months, and I should have the vague gist of the sort of graphemes this new language is working with! Gosh, I can't wait to get started!

* ''VideoGame/Sly2BandOfThieves'': Sly and the gang's attempts to win Jean Bison's Lumberjack Games by sabotaging him are all for naught since the judges are in Jean's employ and he just threatens them into giving him a good score. [[spoiler:[[PaperThinDisguise Then when they incapacitate and disguise themselves]] as the judges in a last desperate attempt to win, Jean almost immediately realizes they're not the real judges (all of his judges are ducks, and they all suddenly change both height and fur/skin color) and knocks them all out.]]