History TheHeroDies / VideoGames

** Those who have played ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' will know [[DoomedByCanon how things will end]] for Zack in the prequel game ''VideoGame/CrisisCore''. [[spoiler: That this was ''not'' the case in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'' was a huge shock.]]

* ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'' can end this way, with V either taking the easy way out by shooting themself in the head, dying during a solo assault on Arasaka Tower, or relinquishing their body to Johnny Silverhand while their consciousness is transferred to cyberspace.

** The ending of ''VideoGame/FarCry2'' has the mercenary under your control team up with the Jackal to save a group of refugees from being slaugtered by the UFLL and the APR. One of them has to blow up a mountain pass (along with themself in the process) to cover their escape, while the other has to deliver diamonds to the border guards as a bribe to let the refugees through and commit suicide after the exchange. Which one of these tasks you end up going through with is up to you.

** In one possible ending of ''VideoGame/FarCry3'', Jason kills his friends in order to complete his initiation into the Rakyat. Citra rewards him with sex, but drives a knife into him as soon as he impregnates her while assuring that his offspring will grow up to be formidable warriors like himself.

* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilVillage'': Ethan Winters has technically been dead since Jack Baker's AccidentalMurder the prologue of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil7Biohazard'', where he was ressurected by the Mold. He dies for good at the end of 'Village'' when he starts calcifying and [[HeroicSacrifice decides to stay behind in the village to detonate a bomb to destroy the Megamycete]], content with the knowledge that his wife and daughter are safe.

* ''VideoGame/{{Infernax}}'': Happens in both the endings of the Good and Redemption paths after the battle with Belphegor. While the ending of the former shows that the villagers are building a memorial statue of Alcedor in his honor for his HeroicSacrifice, the ending of the latter shows that the angels and demons are waging war over Alcedor's soul, before the angels triumph and [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence carry him away into the heavens above]]. This kinda sorta also happens in the Evil path ending, [[AndThenJohnWasAZombie but it also doesn't]] (in two-player mode, Cervul succumbs to his wounds alongside him even in the Evil path).

** Discussed in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' -- according to Varric, "it's not a good story unless the hero dies". While there's no ending where the player character dies, the person Varric was actually talking to can die by your hand if you choose. [[spoiler: However, depending on your choices in the third game, your PlayerCharacter in the second game will meet their end. In a way, Varric's words become prophetic.]]

** Discussed in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' -- according to Varric, "it's not a good story unless the hero dies". While there's no ending where the player character dies, the person Varric was actually talking to can die by your hand if you choose.

* ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'':

** As quoted above, the bad/real ending ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddysSisterLocation'' has the protagonist being killed and used as GenuineHumanHide by a combination of the animatronics called Ennard. However, an update to the game added an addendum to it: the robot eventually leaves the corpse, which then ''[[BackFromTheDead rises up on its own.]]''

* ''VideoGame/{{Infernax}}'': Happens in both the endings of the Good and Redemption paths after the battle with Belphegor. While the ending of the former shows that the villagers are building a memorial statue of Alcedor in his honor for his HeroicSacrifice, the ending of the latter shows that the angels and demons are waging war over Alcedor's soul, before the angels triumph and [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence carry him away into the heavens above]]. This kinda sorta also happens in the Evil path ending, [[AndThenJohnWasAZombie but it also doesn't]].

** At the end of ''VideoGame/FarCry3'', Jason ends up dying in the ending where he kills his friends in order to complete his initiation into the Rakyat. Citra rewards him with sex, but drives a knife into him as soon as he impregnates her while assuring that his offspring will grow up to be formidable warriors like himself.

* Walker dies in two of the four endings of ''VideoGame/SpecOpsTheLine''. Depending on the interpretation of the game, he may have died during the InMediasRes helicopter fight at the beginning.

* ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'':
** In ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty4ModernWarfare'', [[RocksFallEveryoneDies a nuclear explosion kills the American protagonist and his entire squad]], [[ShootTheShaggyDog as well as rendering their accomplishments moot]].
** ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyModernWarfare2'' is a doozy. Of the four heroes you control, two die, not to mention another character you control for all of five minutes. That's ''three'' out of five player characters dead by game's end, not to mention multiple NPC squadmates, but that's more AnyoneCanDie. Later into the sequel, the last playable character in ''[=MW2=]'' also dies. Read further.
** ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyModernWarfare3'': John "Soap" [=MacTavish=], previously hailed by fans as the hero of the previous games, dies during an assassination attempt (although he was only playable in one mission throughout). Yuri, one of the playable characters, meets his end in the final mission.

* The ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer'' series actually does this a fair amount. For GDI, one of your operation commanders, Carter, eventually is seen with beginning Tiberium poisoning, but is killed by a Nod obelisk in his gunboat. [=McNeil=], the GDI commander in ''[[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianSun Tiberian Sun]]'' ends up 'killing' Kane, but in the following expansion, ''Firestorm'', he is killed right before the first mission when an ion storm downs his command ship (though if the Tiberium Wars novelization is canon, he wasn't on board when it happened). GDI also loses everyone on board the ''Philadelphia'' (space borne command center) in the opening stages of ''[[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberiumWars Tiberium Wars]]''. If Nod is your faction, they lose both the first and second wars, with Kane being reportedly 'killed' each time. Slavik of Tiberian Sun dies right before ''C&C3: Kane's Wrath'' starts. And in ''[[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianTwilight C&C4]]'', the player character themselves dies in the ending, no matter which side you choose to play as. Subverted with Kane in this case though, as he [[AscendToAHigherPlaneofExistence completes his plan for Ascension]] and leaves Earth through a Scrin portal.

* Possibly the epilogue of ''VideoGame/SyphonFilterLogansShadow''. Since the series has apparently been terminated, we may never know.

** The very beginning of ''[[VideoGame/LegacyOfKainSoulReaver Soul Reaver]]'' has Raziel being thrown into the lake of the dead by Kain as punishment for [[{{Envy}} surpassing Kain in evolution]]. After a thousand years, Raziel ends up being [[BackFromTheDead resurrected]] by [[EldritchAbomination the Elder God]].

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* In ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'', [[HeroicMime mute hero]] Crono is literally ''reduced to ash'' halfway through the game at the hands of Lavos, the EldritchAbomination that our plucky heroes are out to stop. This was a '''huge''' shock at the time game was released, as it was generally accepted that, in games, TheHero couldn't die until they completed their mission. Given that the game was all about TimeTravel, there was a way to bring him back. It's completely optional, however, and you don't need to do so to beat the game.

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[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_20230409_094406_samsung_internet.jpg]]]]

[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/DustAnElysianTail https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/3cb75c18_2374_4337_8635_9f99e5b43a8b.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Goodbye... Dust."'']]