History TheFaceless / VideoGames

** Inverted with Diglett and its evolution Dugtrio, however. We actually ''never'' see their bodies from the neck down, to the point where the trope "TheUnreveal" is common in situations that would show what their bodies look like, [[DevelopersForesight even if the developers have to think out of the box in order to do that]].

* ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies'' has the mysterious villain known as the phantom, an emotionless assassin who can perfectly disguise themselves as anyone. They have done this so many times that the phantom has actually forgotten who they really are, and in the end suffers a ShapeshifterIdentityCrisis.

* Shiki from ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'', with the exception of the prologue (when he was a child). Since the game is told from his perspective, this makes sense; he only shows up on-screen during unlocked images, but never with any detail above his mouth. This only holds true in the original VisualNovel (not the sequel games, anime, or manga).
** Many Visual Novels in general tend to do this, usually via BlindingBangs, Tsukihime was just following the trend. Apparently, they do this so that the player can imagine himself as the protagonist. However, the Nasuverse expanded and got more complex, Shiki needed to be a complete character and so he was given a face.

* Caster in ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'', played for an ambiguous and mysterious enemy. You can see her mouth, chin and lower cheeks, but most of her emotions have to be expressed through body language. When [[InTheHood the hood]] finally falls off, it's revealed that she's actually incredibly beautiful... too bad she just skewered and is bleeding to death, hm?

* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' - Master Chief's face, hidden behind a face mask and [[TheUnreveal clever camera work]], is a source of debate among fans. This was because, despite Chief having a voice and personality, Creator/{{Bungie}} wanted to keep an active FeaturelessProtagonist factor going. Their successors at Creator/ThreeFourThreeIndustries have kept this up too; at the end of ''VideoGame/Halo4'', the screen goes black just as the Chief's helmet is taken off, [[spoiler:though this is halfway averted in the Legendary ending, where you get a brief glimpse of the area around his eyes (though the eyes themselves are shadowed out)]]. In the novels, we do occasionally get a description of the Master Chief's face in the rare moments when he takes off his helmet: he's described as being deathly pale from spending so much time in his armor, and having brown hair and blue eyes.

* ''VideoGame/{{Halo}}'' - Master Chief's face, hidden behind a face mask and [[TheUnreveal clever camera work]], is a source of debate among fans. This was because, despite Chief having a voice and personality, Creator/{{Bungie}} wanted to keep an active FeaturelessProtagonist factor going. Their successors at Creator/ThreeFourThreeIndustries have kept this up too; at the end of ''VideoGame/Halo4'', the screen goes black just as the Chief's helmet is taken off, [[spoiler:though this is halfway averted in the Legendary ending, where you get a brief glimpse of the area around his eyes (though the eyes themselves are shadowed out)]]. In the novels, we do occasionally get a description of the Master Chief's face in the rare moments when he takes off his helmet: he's described as being deathly pale from spending so much time in his armor, and having brown hair and blue eyes.

* The face of Jacket from Hotline Miami has never been shown.

** ''Reach'' also has one NPC squad member, Emile,

* ''VideoGame/{{Halo}}'' - Master Chief's face, hidden behind a face mask and [[TheUnreveal clever camera work]], is a source of debate among fans. This was because, despite having a voice and "personality", they wanted to keep an active FeaturelessProtagonist factor going. At the end of ''VideoGame/Halo4'', the screen goes black just as the Chief's helmet is taken off: [[spoiler:however, this is halfway averted in the Legendary ending, where you get a brief glimpse of the area around his eyes (though the eyes themselves are shadowed out)]]. In the novels, we do occasionally get a description of the Master Chief's face in the rare moments when he takes off his helmet: he's described as being deathly pale from spending so much time in his armor, and having brown hair and blue eyes.

* ''VideoGame/{{Halo}}'' - Master Chief's face, hidden behind a face mask and [[TheUnreveal clever camera work]], is a source of debate among fans. This was because, despite having a voice, and "personality" they wanted to keep an active FeaturelessProtagonist factor going. In the novels, Master Chief does take off his helmet occasionally: he's described as being deathly pale from spending so much time in his armor, and having brown hair and blue eyes. ''VideoGame/Halo3ODST'' and ''VideoGame/HaloReach'' also have protagonists who never remove their helmets. Reach also has one NPC squad member, Emile, who never removes his helmet (which has a skull etched into the front of it) either, however, concept art does show his face [[spoiler:which reveals he's [[ScaryBlackMan black]]]].

** In the epilogue of ''Halo Reach'', the dying Noble Six removes his/her damaged helmet, but you still don't see his/her face.
** At the end of ''VideoGame/Halo4'', the screen goes black just as the Chief's helmet is taken off. [[spoiler:This is halfway averted in the Legendary ending, where you get a brief glimpse of the area around his eyes (though the eyes themselves are shadowed out).]]

** Darth Nihilus in the game ''Knights of the Old Republic II'', whose face is obscured and who speaks only in an incomprehensible series of tones. In a partial subversion of the trope, Nihilus is unmasked after his death, but his identity is not revealed to the player; depending on how the game is played, he is described either as "Just a man, nothing more", or something along the lines of "infinite darkness" before his body inexplicably disintegrates. The one who saw his body was his blind apprentice who "saw" things through the Force. However in an unusual example, [[allthereInTheManual concept art shows him as a dark-skinned human]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Halo}}'' - Master Chief's face, hidden behind a face mask and [[TheUnreveal clever camera work]], is a source of debate among fans. This was because, despite having a voice, and "personality" they wanted to keep an active FeaturelessProtagonist factor going. In the novels, Master Chief does take off his helmet occasionally: he's described as being deathly pale from spending so much time in his armor, and having brown hair and eyes. ''VideoGame/Halo3ODST'' and ''VideoGame/HaloReach'' also have protagonists who never remove their helmets. Reach also has one NPC squad member, Emile, who never removes his helmet (which has a skull etched into the front of it) either, however, concept art does show his face.

** Darth Nihilus in the game ''Knights of the Old Republic II'', whose face is obscured and who speaks only in an incomprehensible series of tones. In a partial subversion of the trope, Nihilus is unmasked after his death, but his identity is not revealed to the player; depending on how the game is played, he is described either as "Just a man, nothing more", or something along the lines of "infinite darkness" before his body inexplicably disintegrates. The one who saw his body was his blind apprentice who "saw" things through the Force.

* ''VideoGame/{{Halo}}'' - Master Chief's face, hidden behind a face mask and [[TheUnreveal clever camera work]], is a source of debate among fans. This was because, despite having a voice, and "personality" they wanted to keep an active FeaturelessProtagonist factor going. In the novels, Master Chief does take off his helmet occasionally: he's described as being deathly pale from spending so much time in his armor, and having brown hair and eyes. ''VideoGame/Halo3ODST'' and ''VideoGame/HaloReach'' also have protagonists who never remove their helmets. Reach also has one NPC squad member, Emile, who never removes his helmet (which has a skull etched into the front of it) either.

** At the end of ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}'', the screen goes black just as the Chief's helmet is taken off. [[spoiler:This is halfway averted in the Legendary ending, where you get a brief glimpse of the area around his eyes (though the eyes themselves are shadowed out).]]

** Many Visual Novels in general tend to do this, usually via {{blinding bangs}}, Tsukihime was just following the trend. Apparently, they do this so that the player can imagine himself as the protagonist. However, the Nasuverse expanded and got more complex, Shiki needed to be a complete character and so he was given a face.

** In ''VideoGame/Halo5Guardians'', this is used to contrast Blue Team and Fireteam Osiris; the former never show their faces, representing how fully they've embraced being Spartans since childhood, while the latter are often seen without helmets during cutscenes, representing how they're adult volunteers who can at least remember having a life before they were Spartans.

* The player character of ''VideoGame/PokemonStadium'' has his eyes hidden by a hat similar to Red's hat and Ash's original hat. Oddly enough, he is the only faceless protagonist in the series.

* The men in suits are only shown neck down in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyYFrgPHgcw this trailer]] for [[GreatGianaSisters Giana's return.]]

** Inverted with Diglett and its evolution Dugtrio, however. We actually ''never'' see their bodies from the neck down, to the point where the trope "TheUnreveal" is common in situations that would show what their bodies look like, [[TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything even if the developers have to think out of the box in order to do that]].

* The first two protagonists of the ''Franchise/BioShock'' series, [[HeroicMime who never speak either]]. The second is a Big Daddy, who is The Faceless by definition.

* The Pyro from ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'', to the point where even the [[AmbiguousGender gender is ambiguous]]. In fact, we're not even sure that the Pyro is a human being. Or any organic lifeform, for that matter.

* Illegal street racing games seem to thrive on this trope. ''[[VideoGame/NeedForSpeed Need For Speed Pro Street]]'' even goes so far as to make the player character wear a full-face helmet.

** There is one exception to this, though. ''MidnightClub: Los Angeles'' has a player character with a face, but [[NoNameGiven remains nameless, oddly enough...]]
** In a funny subversion, in ''Most Wanted (2005)'', a generic driver model is used in every car, even the cars on the Blacklist.

* ''EagleEyeMysteries'': The player becomes this via first person perspective.

* In the N64 platformer game, ''RocketRobotOnWheels'', Dr. Gavin's face is never seen.

* In ''Fable II'', the Wraiths are examples of this trope. These are floating spirits who summon ghostly children to attack you. They also mock you with revelations about your past and mistakes you have made.

* [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] by [[WrenchWench Tali]] in ''Franchise/MassEffect''. Her species has spent the last 300 years on completely sterile ships, so their immune systems are practically nonexistant. Anyone leaving the fleet is forced to wear full-body armored environment suits, otherwise they'll die of airborne infection in days. [[spoiler:In the second game, a male Shepard can romance Tali. During the love scene, Shepard removes the mask, and gets a good look at her face. However, the scene is shot from behind Tali, so the player does not see her face.]]

** The third game ultimately revealed quarians to be [[spoiler:facially RubberForeheadAliens whose most inhuman facial features were the glowing yellow eyes and a few unusual skin patterns]]. This was shown not by taking off Tali's mask on camera and leaving the camera on her, but by having her leave a photograph in Shepard's cabin [[spoiler:upon saving the quarians during the Rannoch arc]], which was a photoshop of a stock image, and in the Extended Cut, a brief slideshow picture of a maskless quarian [[spoiler:assuming you brought about geth/quarian peace and chose the Synthesis ending]].

* ''All'' of the wizards in ''{{Magicka}}'', including [=NPCs=] and the BigBad, have their faces permanently hidden in the darkness of their hoods, with the exception of Vlad ([[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial who is not a vampire]]). In fact, every set of robes you can get for your wizards has the same hood, resulting in the same face-hiding. Strangely, they're all still surprisingly expressive.
* The ''MortalKombat'' series has a few examples, most notably the various ninjas, though a couple of them have appeared unmasked, and Kabal. In Kabal's case, it's because his face was scarred in an attack by Shao Kahn's death squads that requires him to constantly wear a mask that doubles as a respirator. One of his fatalities does involve him removing the mask, causing his opponent to literally die of fright upon seeing his uncovered face. A pre-scarring Kabal appeared without a mask in Shaolin Monks, but it doesn't really count since that game is not canon to the main series. He has a slightly different face in ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9''. The new canonical story mode reveals that he has pale, almost grayish skin and dark hair with piercing light green eyes. This all naturally goes out the window when he is once again nearly burned to death, reverting him to the familiar scarred, burned complexion.

* Agent XYZ from ''TonicTrouble'' is permanently hidden [[NewspaperThinDisguise behind a newspaper]].

** Mandalore, in the same game series, is a subversion of the trope; as Canderous Ordo, the character is a member of the party in the first game and makes no effort to conceal his name or face. By the time the player meets him in the second game, however, his entire body is concealed by a suit of armor that he refuses to remove and he does not acknowledge his real name, since by the point Mandalore isn't a person so much as [[YouCannotKillAnIdea an idea.]] Hence the faceless-ness and refusal to acknowledge his name.