History TheFaceless / VideoGames

* This is ''the'' ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' look, extending to the covers, which - in order to encourage designing the character you want to play - show [[VideoGame/DarkSoulsI the Chosen Undead]] in the all-concealing Elite Knight set, [[VideoGame/DarkSoulsII the Bearer of the Curse]] in the even ''more'' all-concealing Faraam Set, and [[spoiler:either the Soul of Cinder or]] [[VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII the Unkindled One]] in the similarly anonymising Firelink Set. A complete list of enemies, NPC's and bosses who wear face-concealing helmets would pretty much be an entire wiki unto itself, and even a list of ''significant'' characters would take up a decent whack of this page. Of course, there's nothing actually ''preventing'' your character from running around in, say, the filthy rags of a random hollow, or [[BellyDancer the Desert Pyromancer set]], but that's not the same thing as it being a good idea, and there will still be a ton of people running around with their faces hidden under bulky helmets.

** 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. So far, the oldest we have seen him with an unobstructed view of his face is in ''ComicBook/HaloCollateralDamage'', set 27 years before the original trilogy from when he was 14. [[https://www.halopedia.org/images/9/96/HCD_-_John117vsYao.jpg Those augmentations weren't kind to him]].

* King from ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'', a MaskedLuchador. In the intro of the first game he is shown donning his mask with his head offscreen.

** Starting in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'', it's become a tradition to hide most of a dwarf's face in shadow, save their eyes and a luxurious beard, should they appear in the game. The sole exception is Lucca - while she holds true to this in ''Final Fantasy IV'', she reveals her face in ''Final Fantasy IV: The After Years''. She's also the sole dwarf who never has a beard.

* The first two protagonists of the ''VideoGame/BioShock'' series, [[HeroicMime who never speak either]]. While Jack, the protagonist of [[VideoGame/BioShock1 the first game]], is never seen directly, if you pay attention in certain parts of the game, you can see photos showing his face, some with good quality, others with him obscured or blurry. The second is a Big Daddy, who is The Faceless by definition.
* Taokaka and the rest of the Kaka clan from ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'' wear [[InTheHood hooded jackets]] that show nothing of their face except glowing eyes -- red, for Taokaka -- and a mouth full of sharp fangs. They probably look like normal catpeople under the hoods, though. Probably.
* [=Zer0=] and Krieg from ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}'', though you can see at least part of Krieg's face.

* The shop clerk in 9-Volt's stage in ''VideoGame/WarioWareSmoothMoves'' is only seen from the mouth down. His eyes and nose are never seen. However, he is mentioned in the credits to be then-Nintendo president Creator/SatoruIwata, so that might give you enough of an idea.

* The shop clerk in 9-Volt's stage in ''[[VideoGame/WarioWare Wario Ware: Smooth Moves]]'' is only seen from the mouth down. His eyes and nose are never seen. However, he is mentioned in the credits to be then-Nintendo president Creator/SatoruIwata, so that might give you enough of an idea.

* There is one notable racing game exception to this, though. ''VideoGame/MidnightClub: Los Angeles'' has a player character with a face, but [[NoNameGiven remains nameless, oddly enough...]]

** For all of the first game, [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Admiral Hackett]] is only heard but not seen, in the opening and final battle cutscenes and as {{Mission Control}} for for sidequests. He doesn't appear until the ''Arrival'' DLC of Mass Effect 2, then becoming one of the major players in Mass Effect 3.

* The Shy Guys from the ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' series. They all wear masks, and the trope is played straight even through ''VideoGame/MarioPowerTennis'', where the Shy Guy's mask comes off during a cutscene. Luigi is the only one who sees its face, and all we get is his ReactionShot. This is also played straight in ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion'' where, AGAIN, Luigi is the only one who sees them sans masks... but all you see is two yellow eyes in a dark void, meaning that they still count, specially since it's implied that they aren't "real" ghosts, but creations of Vincent Van Gore.

* the titular ''VideoGame/{{Haydee}}'' is [[MsFanservice very scantily-clad]] and [[GagBoobs buxom]] [[RobotGirl cyborg woman]]. The robot-half of Haydee gives her a featureless face-mask helmet thing. Although we do get to see her face under the mask by the sequel.

--->''"I'm the Black Mage, but I bet you knew that\\

* The Shy Guys from the ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' series. They all wear masks, and the trope is played straight even through Mario Power Tennis, where the Shy Guy's mask comes off during a cutscene. Luigi is the only one who sees its face, and all we get is his ReactionShot. This is also played straight in Luigi's Mansion where, AGAIN, Luigi is the only one who sees them sans masks... but all you see is two yellow eyes in a dark void, meaning that they still count, specially since it's implied that they aren't "real" ghosts, but creations of Vincent Van Gore.

* The shop clerk in 9-Volt's stage in ''[[VideoGame/WarioWare Wario Ware: Smooth Moves]]'' is only seen from the mouth down. His eyes and nose are never seen. However, he is mentioned in the credits to be then-Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, so that might give you enough of an idea.

* [[BigGood The Council Spokesman]] in ''VideoGame/XcomEnemyUnknown'' is always shown with a light behind them, casting a [[FaceShroudedInShadow shadow on his face]]. His only features visible are that he is a bald, sharp-dressed man.

* In ''VideoGame/{{LOOM}}'', viewing the face of a member of the perpetually hooded Weavers' Guild is said to be fatal (note that [[ByTheLightsOfTheirEyes their eyes are still visible]] within the darkness of their hood, as in many cartoons). This seems close to being revealed, [[TheUnreveal only to skip to a brief scene happening outside the room in medium and easy mode, and being obscured by a flash of light in hard mode.]] The witness screams and is never seen again. The "riddle" that Bobbin tells to the man who wants to see under his hood: "If what you fear is [[NothingIsScarier Nothing]], then you'd better not touch me."
* Rina Tennouji from ''VideoGame/LoveLiveSchoolIdolFestivalAllStars'' hides her face with her "Rina-chan Board", which is a notebook with a cutely-drawn face on it that tells everyone what she's feeling. When she performs in concerts, Rina wears an LED mask instead that syncs up with her facial expressions underneath. At any other point when she is not using the Rina-chan Board, her face is concealed by convenient camera angles.
* Professor Granz Florian of ''VideoGame/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAsPortable: The Gears of Destiny'' was only shown once at the beginning, which shows him with his two daughters when they were kids. One of said daughters was happily waving her arms around, coincidentally covering his face with the stuffed toy she was carrying.
* ''All'' of the wizards in ''VideoGame/{{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.

** [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] by [[WrenchWench Tali]]. 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. In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', a male Shepard can romance Tali. During the love scene, Shepard removes the mask, but the player does not see her face. ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' 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]]. Tali {{lampshade|Hanging}}s this after playing poker with Shepard and members of the engineering crew: "And I thought ''I'' had a good poker face."
** In addition to quarians, the Mass Effect universe also gives us the volus, a race of beings from a very-high-pressure world with an ammonia atmosphere. In addition to not being able to breath without a mask, they would explode without a suit.

* [[BigGood The Council Spokesman]] in ''VideoGame/XComEnemyUnknown'' is always shown with a light behind them, casting a [[FaceShroudedInShadow shadow on his face]]. His only features visible are that he is a bald, sharp-dressed man.

* A few of the characters from ''VideoGame/KillingFloor'' wear gas masks, or otherwise face-obscuring fashion, the aforementioned [[VideoGame/TeamFortress2 Pyro]] even being one (technically two) of them. The most famous of these, however, is without a doubt the ever popular [[http://wiki.teamfortress.com/w/images/8/83/Imagemrfoster.png Mr. Foster]], whose gas mask was apparently impressive enough that the Pyro decided to get one [[http://tf2wiki.net/w/images/1/10/Mr_Fosters_Gasmask_and_Tie.png just like it]].

* Ethan Winters, the protagonist of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil7Biohazard'' and ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilVillage'', never has his face clearly seen. There are promotional images of him, but his face is always in shadow or obscured by something. This was likely to emphasize that these are the first ''Resident Evil'' games to not only be played from a first-person perspective, but to have an UnbrokenFirstPersonPerspective.