History VideoGameCrueltyPotential / RolePlayingGame

** It's entirely possible to kill [[spoiler:Chief Druid Halsin]] at the goblin camp, for no other reason than you thought it would be funny teaching the goblin children the ''right'' kind of stones to throw at the poor, caged bear.

** Also from ''Dead Money'', you can trick Christine (who has developed claustrophobia from being lobotomized within an Auto-doc) into taking the elevator and sending her to a cramped room. With the Terrifying Presence perk, you can outright ''force'' her to do so.
** ''Lonesome Road'' has a bunch. Whenever ED-E plays his recordings for you, you have the option to tell him that you don't give a damn about his problems, that he is only a tool for you, insult Whitley (who is basically his father), and threaten to kill him. There is no punishment for this. At the end of the DLC, you can [[spoiler:nuke the Legion and NCR]].

** For more teddy bear fun times, there's a child slave at the Legion encampment who also asks for help getting her bear back. You can tear Sergeant Teddy in half in front of her.

** You can help a bunch of cultists and marauding goblins massacre a caravan of tiefling refugees, [[HarmToMinors including small children]]. You can also engage in ColdBloodedTorture of a captive prisoner described in lavish detail.

* ''VideoGame/SmallFavors'': If the party manages to steal a Fairy's Fairy Wand, instead especially when you learn you could buy it from a merchant soon after FairyBattles appear, there's a special message for detailing how much the fairy has been hurt, unlike with other thefts, which were on non-sapient monsters:
--> You rip the Fairy Wand out of its hands. Its lip begins to wobble and its eyes shimmer with tears. All it wanted was to do was be friendly and help you and you stole its one and only possession.\\
The fairy flies off into the forest, sobbing violently. It will never get over this. It'll go home to its little fairy family and sink into depression. Maybe it'll lash out at them, or develop an alcohol problem.\\
As the years pass the inconsolable fairy will become the community's greatest tragedy. This deep scar will forever taint human-fairy relationships, leading to centuries of conflict, oppression, and fantasy racism.\\
In the crumbling ruins of a distant fairy dystopia, historians will examine the account of That One Guy Who Stole A Fairy Wand and sadly shake their heads. Why? Why did they do it? They could've prevented this.\\
...[pause]but hey, you got a Fairy Wand! Sweet!\\

*** The mechanic of hitting Pokémon with fruit to annoy and stun them returns.
*** There's a spot in the seafloor level where you can stun Alomamola with a fruit long enough for a Frillish to carry it away presumably to eat it.
*** You can throw fruit to a Squirtle and a Wingull will knock it into a whirlpool.
*** Several times exist where you can lure bird Pokémon into zooming in to scoop up Magikarp or Finneon.
*** Bonk Trubbish at the lab and it’ll use poison gas on the Eevee in front of it.
*** You can splash water on Sudowoodo in the same level, and it really doesn’t like that.
*** Bonk Pancham or Bulbasaur in the forest level to make Drampa mad.
*** You can lure a couple of different Pokémon into punching other Pokémon and then the punched Pokémon will retaliate against the puncher.

*** In ''[[UpdatedRerelease Golden]]'', however, there is Valentine's Day. [[spoiler:All of your girlfriends will invite you out. You can only spend time with one (or reject them all). However, your four party member girlfriends still give you chocolate, but it's very obvious that they can tell something's up.]]
*** You can still get away with it on Valentine's, [[spoiler:if you only date ''one'' of the original date options, and then Golden's new addition Marie. Marie's Valentine's scene takes place at a different time to the others, so you don't have to turn anyone down and you still get away with it]]. For added fun, [[spoiler:max Margaret's Social Link and she'll kiss you]].

** There's one Legion quest that involves blowing up the NCR's monorail into New Vegas, then framing an innocent soldier so the Legion DoubleAgent can continue to operate in secret. One of the methods of killing the soldier, after planting evidence in his room? - distracting him with talk of a great prank you've cooked up, as you [[GallowsHumor pull the pin out of one of his grenades]].

** ''Lonesome Road'' has a bunch. Whenever ED-E plays his recordings for you, you have the option to tell him that you don't give a damn about his problems, that he is only a tool for you, insult Whitley (who is basically his father), and threaten to kill him. There is no punishment for this. At the end of the DLC you can [[spoiler:nuke the Legion and NCR]]

** In ''The After Years'', you have to [[spoiler: return the Eidolons to their senses]] in order to use them. However, you won't get their Bestiary entries if you do that. To obtain them you have to kill them (the only exceptions are [[spoiler:Ifrit and Titan]], which are obligatory to recruit and you'll have their entries as well). Also, you can kill [[spoiler:Asura and Leviathan]], but you'll get their entries even if you don't. HOWEVER! Spare both of them and you won't get [[spoiler:Bahamut]]'s entry. This is what you can call a dilemma.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' features a sequence where you can save Cid by catching fish. Fail the fishing minigame, and he dies. However, many players fail the minigame on purpose - partly because of this trope, partly because it's an annoying minigame, and partly because Cid's death is generally considered to be one of the most tragic moments of the franchise.

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyCrystalChroniclesTheCrystalBearers'' you have the ability to manipulate gravity. You use this power to toss monsters into one another and make impossible jumps. You can also use it to toss random civilians around. Some of them drop money when thrown. ''Old ladies are the most likely to drop Gil''. It's like they ''want'' you to abuse your powers.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'': The wonderful Thunder Plains, which are constantly plagued by thunder and lightning. You can take shelter near very tall pillars designed to divert the lightning, jump out of the way of a strike with good timing, or -- if you're feeling particularly sadistic -- let Tidus get struck by lightning. over and over again. For as long as you want. (Unfortunately, this feature was removed in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX2''.)

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'': There is only one enemy in the game that will not attack you on sight: A [[TechnicalPacifist Garif]] hunter, who is walking around on the plains near his hometown, hunting animals for food. You have to kill him to [[OneHundredPercentCompletion fill out your bestiary.]] Multiple times. He also stands no chance against your party of mighty god slayers.

** Soldiers wander around Luxerion, and you can fight them just like any monster, though you have to enrage them by attacking multiple times ... they don't come back after you defeat them, at any point, unlike their contemporaries in Yusnaan.

** Some of the dialogue options for the Traveler can be quite cruel. A prime example of this is at the end of Childe's story quest where, after using his [[OneWingedAngel Foul Legacy Transformation]] to effortlessly defeat a horde of Ruin Guards in a CurbStompBattle, is left limp from the strain, and one of the options you can choose the Traveler to say is to [[KickThemWhileTheyAreDown off Childe right there]] simply because he's a Fatui Harbinger. It only takes family talk to convince them out of it, given Childe's own protective feelings towards his younger brother Teucer, but the malice is there for the player to choose at their own discretion.
* ''VideoGame/{{GLITCHED}}'': Rather than choosing to save Gus when he gets hit with the glitch, you can opt to leave him to his fate. [[spoiler: [[VideoGameCrueltyPunishment Your save file will get corrupted as well if you do this and trying to continue the game from that save will result in a black screen with random sprites floating down the screen.]] [[ButThouMust Better start a new game and save Gus!]]]]

** In the prologue you encounter a guy who's apparently wounded and asks if you think he's going to die. Answer "no", and he realizes he's not actually hurt. Answer "yes", and ''he dies''.

** Ignore those oddly-placed trees in Kolima Junction. Actually, [[ForcedTransformation those trees were people]], and because of your neglect an innocent girl just got ''washed away downstream to an unknown fate''.

** ''Dark Dawn'' also has two locations where you can see seemingly-inaccessible Mercury Djinn. The trick as it turns out is ''hitting them with Fireballs'' so they dive in the water to cool off, and then you either drain the water or find a local fisherman to get the Djinni for you (by ''catching it on a fishhook'').

*** It's worth noting however that most of the Lucky Animals are actually happy for you if you can manage to kick them.

* In ''VideoGame/JadeEmpire'', many of the Closed Fist options are downright cruel, especially the final choice of [[spoiler:poisoning the Water Dragon's body with blood from your rebelling companions. The scene is actually a TearJerker, as the Water Dragon sadly looks on while you pour the blood into the machine. You then cruelly take her power.]]

* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'', should one of your dream eater allies get KO'd (And you usually have to try to get this to happen, since they're generally MadeOfIron), a timer will start ticking down, and if it expires before you revive it, the dream eater will fade away, and leave behind a dream piece. The dream pieces left behind in this fashion can be ones that aren't currently available through other means, meaning you can potentially create some new types of dream eaters much earlier then normal by repeatedly sacrificing other ones (Namely, the ones generated by AR cards, which are easily replaced).

** Then there is the whole Sandral-Matale feud, which, depending on how you played it could have [[EarnYourHappyEnding a happy ending]], or, you can let every NPC involved in it kill each other. The latter option becomes an amazing example of ComedicSociopathy
** Outside the Sith Academy on Korriban, you will see a student, Mekel, making a bunch of hopefuls stand at attention for days, with the promise that the last one left can enter the Academy. Needless to say, Mekel is just doing this for shits and giggles. You CAN convince some of them of the truth. But it is SO much fun to [[ManipulativeBastard convince one of the poor saps that he has, in fact, won, and that his last challenge is to attack the guard by the gate]]. Goodbye. Zaalbar, despite his Light alignment, finds this amusing. [[EvilTastesGood Evil really DOES taste good]].

** The final test of the Sith Academy of Korriban would leave the player character alone with the academy master, Uthar, and his assistant, Yuthura. If you suck up to Yuthura enough over the course of the academy's initial tests, she asks for your help in betraying her master during the final test. With him dead, the two of you will share power at the academy. You can accept, and then go rat her out to Uthar, who rewards you by advancing you further through the academy tests and gives you poison to plant on Yuthura, so that she will be weakened during the final tests. The fun part is going back to Yuthura, showing her the poison and telling her what happened. She will chide you for endangering the plan, but give you some poison of her own to use on the headmaster. The ''really'' fun part is going ahead and using the poison on both of them, leaving them to come to the slow and horrible realization during the final test that they've been ''triple'' crossed. Then you kill them. It's even better to first [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech lecture them about how their betrayal-happy ways made them way too easy to fool.]]

** The front for The Exchange on Citadel Station has only one guard. He won't let you in if you haven't got to the right point in the story, but you can still kill him. If you leave the area and come back you'll find he's been replace, and you can kill ''him'' too. Coming back a third time you'll find there's no replacement and you have to use the intercom.
** You can find a trapped Mandalorian on Dxun, his blaster rifle is broken and he's trapped on a hill along with remote explosives and surrounded by huge hungry creatures. You can help him, or just blow him up with his own explosives.

** A subplot on Noveria involves a CorruptCorporateExecutive even by the standards of the planet, an Internal Affairs agent investigating him, and a CoolOldGuy turian with incriminating evidence against the executive. You could give the evidence to the agent and convince the turian to testify... or you could sell the turian the evidence, then tell the executive about the agent, who then calls her into his office to fire him, and they both kill each other. With Shepard calmly standing right outside waiting for them to finish.

** One of your squadmates, Samara, is an Asari justicar who will ask for your help in tracking down a dangerous fugitive [[spoiler:who also happens to be her daughter.]] If you feel that said fugitive doesn't deserve to die for their crimes, then [[spoiler:if your paragon or renegade score is high enough, you can choose to kill Samara instead, and the fugitive takes her place on your team.]]

-->'''Mercenary''': I've got nothing more to say to you. (Renegade Interrupt prompt) If you t-\\

'''Mercenary''': '''AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!'''\\
'''Shepard''': How about "goodbye"?

** Some players take advantage of AnyoneCanDie to kill off characters, despite it obviously being detrimental to do so. If you intentionally choose not to upgrade the Normandy or do any of your crew's side-missions, it is possible to kill ''everyone'' in the final mission - including Shepherd him/herself.

** Properly understanding the mechanics of the Suicide Mission allows you to get various squad-mates killed in a variety of ways. The most pointless being [[spoiler: those lost if you didn't properly upgrade the ''Normandy'', or if you chose the wrong biotic specialist for the Long Walk.]]

** That situation where [[spoiler:Shepard can heartlessly gun down Samara's daughter]]? That's only possible if you [[spoiler:''allow'' Samara to commit suicide in front of you, which she flat-outs says she only does to ''ensure her daughter's survival'', thus making Samara's death pointless]] There is absolutely no reason to do this except to be pointlessly cruel.

* Exploring in ''VideoGame/MightAndMagic 2'' you can stumble across a peaceful goblin village... and choose to attack. It was filled with standard goblins, but as many as the game could handle, and with the right spells you could kill them with ease, ''essentially committing genocide''.

** ''VideoGame/DarkMessiah'' has the standard "personal" methods of killing things: cutting them up with blades, bludgeoning them with staves, shooting them with arrows, setting them on fire/electrocuting/blowing them up/freezing them solid with spells, stabbing them in the back... and that's before you start exercising the game's specifically designed capacity for creative killings. Almost every single object may be hurled as a weapon (by hand or with the telekinesis spell), that freeze spell can make charging enemies slip and slide... off the cliff, charm spells will make them attack each other, and there are a disturbing number of spiked walls that seem to serve no other purpose aside from being something convenient for kicking enemies into as a change of pace from kicking them off ledges or into bonfires or fireplaces. Of course, [[spoiler:since you play the spawn of a demonlord and the game forces you to choose between which of the two love interests you want to kill]] this is only to be expected.

* In ''Might and Magic 7'', it's quite easy to bait a pack of monsters into a town and watch them slaughter the helpless peasants. Not only that, but in the tutorial mission you get ''rewarded'' for doing this. Normally, you have to buy a lute for 500 gold and you can accept a magic wand in exchange for performing a later favor for the mercenary guild. Get the [=NPCs=] who offer these two things killed by monsters and you can loot the items from their corpses.

** The game allows you to attack and kill any machine lifeform you encounter, even if they're not hostile (though killing certain plot-critical ones, or killing too many [=NPCs=] in Pascal's village, will trigger a NonStandardGameOver.) The Amusement Park in particular is easy game for this. The entire place is crawling with machine lifeforms, but aside from some enemies on the roller coaster and the stage boss, all of them are more interested in celebrating and having fun than attacking the player. Meanwhile 9S constantly urges 2B to go on the attack because he doesn't trust them, and if you set 9S' companion AI to be more aggressive he'll do it for you.
** There are a number of other NonStandardGameOver endings that are reached by abandoning certain missions and characters at certain points, including [[spoiler: 9S abandoning his mission to provide backup for 2B at the start of the game, refusing to come to the aid of Pascal's village when it comes under attack, and leaving an injured 9S to die in the Copied City.]] You ''[[CrueltyIsTheOnlyOption have]]'' to do all of them if you want the achievement for getting every ending.
** 9S can equip a chip that causes hacked robots to scream in agony as they explode. It has no practical use, and only exists to make the player feel like an evil bastard. [[spoiler: It also fits oddly well with 9S' SanitySlippage and increasing hatred and nihilism over the course of the game.]]

* ''VideoGame/TheOuterWorlds'': First things first, you can kill ''everybody'', including allies. But an evil Unplanned Variable is really encouraged to be more creatively monstrous in their villainy. Actively sabotage the Halcyon colonies so they'll descend into anarchy and starvation! Sell out the kindhearted scientist [[UngratefulBastard who saved your life]] for a quick buck! [[DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans Reforge the criminally incompetent Board into a genuinely evil and fascistic dictatorship]]! Emotionally abuse your crew members! Turn communities against each other! Trick a snobby woman into being beaten to death by robots! Murder Parvati's girlfriend or Ellie's parents ''right in front of them'' and then browbeat them for objecting! The sky is the limit.
* In the ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' games, there's the Whacka, an absolutely adorable little guy and a member of an endangered species. If you hit him with your hammer, you get the Whacka's Bump, which is a fantastic healing item. Go back and do it enough times, and you'll eventually have ''killed the last Whacka.''

** Try talking to him after you've hit him a few times. With each whack, he gets steadily more incoherent and confused...So even if you don't outright kill the poor thing, you've probably [[FateWorseThanDeath given him irreversible brain damage.]] Is HundredPercentCompletion really worth the cost of your soul? Especially since you don't actually ''get anything for it?''
** In ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'' you can push your partners into water or even spikes; and the best part is that they don't lose any HP from it, unlike when Mario falls into them.

** ''VideoGame/Persona2'''s initial protagonist, Tatsuya Suou, is canonically kind of an asshole. Play the game right, and he becomes a nicer person for his experiences. That said, you can also play it wrong. Want to slap your kindest party member while she's having a trauma-induced panic attack? You can do that. Want to cheat on two of the dateable party members with the third? Yeah, you can do that too. Want to kill ''[[spoiler:the headmaster of your school'']]? Totally allowable. Most of the cruel options will instantly lock you out of some of the best Personae in the game, but those last two have no in-game consequences at all. Killing [[spoiler:the headmaster]] does tweak the plot slightly, but not seriously, and it can be argued that [[spoiler:he was dead anyway and the other option would have resurrected him. That said, you still confirm his death]].

*** Not only can you date all five eligible females at approximately the same time, [[CrueltyIsTheOnlyOption you *have to* if you want to max out all the social links.]] (''Persona 4'' allows you to advance social links with female characters via platonic friendship, 3 doesn't.) There's one scene that [[WhatTheHellHero calls the player on it,]] but there are no actual negative consequences so long as one is careful about timing meetups with the various girls.

*** ''Persona 3'' also includes an aversion, in that, if you act like a total dick to your Social Link members, you can get punished by "reversing" a Social Link, preventing it from advancing (though this isn't permanent.) If you're too cruel to them, you can also break the link permanently.

*** You can still get away with it on Valentine's, [[spoiler:if you only date ''one'' of the original date options, and then Golden's new addition Marie. Marie's Valentine's scene takes place at a different time to the others, so you don't have to turn anyone down and you still get away with it.]] For added fun, [[spoiler:max Margaret's Social Link and she'll kiss you.]]
*** You can also wait until the last possible day to save the kidnapping victims. Your party members will ''not be happy''. Do it to Yukiko, for instance, and Chie will become extremely worried about her. The worst is the last victim, who is generally described as VideoGameCaringPotential incarnate. Wait until the last day to save her, then tell a party member that you don't feel like going into the TV to save her. They are ''horrified'' and ask you what the hell is wrong with you. This is especially damning because it's counterproductive - party members will have much less time free to Social Link with you if someone is still in the TV, which makes maxing their Links harder, which can prevent you from getting their Ultimate and Tier 3 Personae later on, as well as locking you out of some amazing Personae for yourself. The only reason to do this is to be a jackass.
*** [[spoiler:You can kill Nametame. Doing so gets you the BadEnding, but you can totally murder an innocent man in cold blood.]] You can also spare him... [[spoiler:then betray him and everyone else by siding with the killer, getting you an even worse ending and causing Nametame to be jailed for crimes he never committed.]]
*** ''VideoGame/Persona4 Golden'' also adds a new ending. Once you discover who the killer is, you have the option to [[spoiler:protect him and destroy the last piece of evidence linking him to the crime. To put it into perspective- The true murderer [[KarmaHoudini gets away completely scot-free]], an innocent man gets sent to prison, two women's murders remain forever unsolved, and everything that investigation team has suffered and endured together over the past year has been rendered [[AllForNothing completely and utterly pointless]], because of you.]]

*** It continues the tradition by letting you date nine girls at once, four of whom are party members (plus one more in the ''[[UpdatedRerelease Royal]]'' version). What makes it really cruel is how you get to this point. You act like a charming, gentle hero, who comes in to rescue them from the worst things in their lives and let them be free from people who are making their existences miserable, only to reveal yourself to be just as much of a dick as the people who hurt them. Two of the worst are the formerly-suicidal girl who you help through her debilitating social anxiety and the girl whose father tried to force her into an abusive arranged marriage, but they're all pretty horrific. [[spoiler:This time, though, you do ''not'' get away with it scot-free...]]

* ''VideoGame/PillarsOfEternity'' lets you indulge in an astounding amount of evil and offers delightful variety as well. Betray friends for a quick buck, set the Crucible Knights on the path to becoming brutal fascists, [[LoopholeAbuse exploit loopholes to murder people lawfully]], help the local mob take over Defiance Bay, make a deal with a kid for info than break your promise to him (or better yet, ''[[WouldHurtAChild beat it out of him]]''), insult and belittle your party members at every opportunity, let a warehouse manager be murdered by gangsters, bind people’s souls to objects or places and condemn them to AFateWorseThanDeath, and many more.

** The sheer amount of time you can devote to ruining your companions’s lives is almost disturbing. The most notable examples are probably destroying Kana’s idealism and sending him home a broken disgrace (there’s literally no reason to do this other than shits and giggles) and [[spoiler:driving Aloth to suicide by kicking him out of the party after he admits he’s part of the Leaden Key.]]
** The quest “Blood Legacy” deserves special mention for [[MoralEventHorizon the sheer horribleness of an evil Watcher’s actions in it]]; not only can you sacrifice one of your party members to [[GodOfEvil Skaen]] [[EvilIsPetty for a freaking stat bonus]], but you can also help MindRape a pregnant teenager (who’s also a rape victim by the by) to turn her into ManchurianAgent as part of a cult’s deranged plot to destroy her family.

** Instate a brutal imperialist regime, enforce a long held and horrifying caste system, help pirates plunder the seas and plunge Deadfire into anarchy... Just picking which faction to side with can result in shocking evil if you make the right (or wrong) choices.

** During the "Beast Of Winter" quest, you can escape from Rymrgand by ''throwing [[FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire Ydwin]] under the bus and trading her for your freedom''. This one's so nasty the rest of your party flips the hell out of you do this, one the few times they all unanimously object to something you do. Ydwin herself is crushed by her friend betraying her and [[DisappointedInYou bitterly says she's disappointed in you]]. You can also try this on [[TheWoobie Vatnir]], which is just as awful and gets similar reactions from your party.

** Generation 2 and its remakes
*** In VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver and its [[VideoGame/PokemonHeartGoldAndSoulSilver remakes]], a random NonPlayerCharacter in Cianwood City says that your rival scared him into giving away a rare Pokémon. He then gives you another, a Shuckle, to keep safe. You're free to do whatever you want with his Pokémon, use it in battle, breed it, even release it. To add to it, if you talk to him again later in the game, he'll say that he thinks it's OK for him to have his Pokémon again, but if you don't give it back, he'll tell you that what you're doing is basically stealing, making you no better than your rival. However, [[SubvertedTrope he will let you keep it if it has high friendship/happiness]].

** Generation 4
*** One technique that crosses with EliteTweak involves abusing a side effect of the ability Compound Eyes as of the fourth-generation games - it increases the likelihood of wild {{Mons}} carrying a held item. Nearly everything with the ability is a SquishyWizard or GlassCannon, plus very few things with the ability are all that good at using Thief or Covet [[VideoGameStealing (in order to steal said items)]]. The solution? Knock out the Compound Eyes user, and have the second in the lineup something that can use Thief or Covet well (and if it has Frisk to tell you what the wild Pokemon are carrying, all the better). Given how much time the poor Bug is going to be spent knocked out, it becomes a great candidate to use Frustration, as described above.

** Generation 5
*** VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite of Pokémon introduced Audino, a pseudo-replacement for Chansey. They're these adorable little pink, rabbity critters that can be encountered in nearly every patch of grass in the game under the right conditions[[note]]Rustling grass[[/note]]. They also have an insanely high experience yield, and can use [[HealingShiv Heal Pulse]] to restore your HP, [[http://chary9.deviantart.com/art/Exp-training-Pokemon-200912545 so you can use them for grinding.]]
** Generation 6

** Generation 7

** Generation 8
*** As with other ''Pokémon'' games, ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'' allows you to revive fossils. Unfortunately, Dr. [[MeaningfulName Cara Liss]] is a paleontologist in the Victorian vein, and the fossils she revives at your request are nightmarish mish-mashes of two species, three out of four of which have an existence comprised primarily of pain and suffering purely from the BodyHorror that is their very being. Just obtaining a [[GameBreaker Dracovish]], for instance, counts as horrific cruelty, given that it involves creating something that ''can't swim but can only breathe water''. Ultimately subverted considering that you're not the one who revives them and that they seem to be able to stay outside the Poké Ball without any problem...and possibly the only reason they can live is that they have a trainer to take care of them. On a side note, the anime further subverts this as Dracovish is shown to be able to both swim and breathe outside water.

*** You can splash water on Sudowoodo in the same level and it really doesn’t like that.

* In ''VideoGame/SoulNomadAndTheWorldEaters'', the game allows, and sometimes even encourages, you to do things to the various {{Non Player Character}}s in towns and villages, such as stealing from them, beating them up, kicking them in the face, or forcibly conscripting them into your army. This is all ''menu-based'', meaning the game ''is basically suggesting to kick people for no good reason''. And let's not get into [[spoiler:the Demon path,]] which basically calls you a wuss for all that.

* ''VideoGame/{{Trapt}}'', a game which consists of setting a complex series of traps to kill enemies. Said traps are rather cruel, especially 'Dark Illusions', environmental traps which require a bit of set-up, which can, for example send someone through the clockwork of a music box, complete with bone crunching sounds.

** If you're just skewering them on wall spikes, you'll get very few points or XP. No, you should have them skewered on wall spikes [[RubeGoldbergHatesYourGuts then drop their bodies onto launchers which throw them across the room into the jaws of bear traps in which they are hit by giant swinging axes and knocked screaming into human-sized incinerators]]. Ahem. In case you're worried about the "young girls" bit, it's ok -- [[DoubleStandard you're a girl, too]].

** If you're really set on playing the game as an evil bastard, one of the ''required quests'' becomes to [[spoiler:slaughter the entire population of a small, quiet out-of-the-way village.]] One of the endings you can get even involves [[spoiler:you and the BigBad killing every living thing on the planet.]]
*** Admittedly [[spoiler:in game the BigBad is correct in his belief that [[WellIntentionedExtremist the afterlife is more pleasant]] than life, going by a conversation with a resurrected Virgil.]]
** One of the better tricks is to pick-pocket some boots onto the king which makes him pass out, then rig an explosive trap on the throne and steal back the boots, The king eventually picks himself back up and sits back down on his throne...

** If you register, you can up your army until they are super powerful...and cheerfully wipe out the majority of the towns if you so desire, and even the super powerful guards cannot stop you. You can also set the days far in advance and not bother killing off the plagues of monsters. Townies will die if you do this. Having her husband killed by monsters makes the blacksmith lady very sad.

** If you're responsible for others as part of maintaining your stronghold, you can screw up your duties in ways that cause a body count. Most of the time, this also costs you your job...unless you're a priest in the [[ReligionOfEvil temple of Talos]], which actually encourages this kind of behavior, and in cahoots with a DirtyCop.
* In ''[[VideoGame/TheCaligulaEffect The Caligula Effect: Overdose]]'', you can [[spoiler:join the Ostinato Musicians and help them defeat the Go-Home Club (the group where you are president that only want to return to their reality)]]. [[spoiler:You can also get close to the Go-Home Club's members and then do the ultimate betrayal at the end of the game, by ultimately siding with Thorn and destroying the world, all the while beating up the people that called you friend...and showing no remorse]]. And to unlock the bonus mode, you have to do it (along with unlocking the Golden Ending).

* In ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSinII'' the player gains the ability to commune with the dead [[SoulPower through Source magic]]. This comes with the ability to ''[[DeaderThanDead consume the dead]]'' to replenish your ManaMeter, and every single [[UnfinishedBusiness lost soul seeking your aid]] that you come across comes with the option to [[VampiricDraining devour them on the spot]]. An especially cruel example would be to devour the souls of your ally Gareth's parents while he's in the middle of his RoaringRampageOfRevenge over their deaths.

'''Alistair:''' Does the word "insane" mean anything to you?

*** You can convince the werewolves to slaughter a clan of Dalish elves. When confronted about this you can give a number of reasons, like "Werewolves make for a better army"" or "You guys started it". Or you can simply say "[[ForTheEvulz So? This way sounds like more fun]]."
*** Insulting or messing with your companions, like calling Morrigan a heartless shrew whenever you feel like it or mocking Alistair while he is grieving. There is an insane amount of options, and this can get really messed up if you are in a romance with them. You can dump someone whenever you want, sometimes by adding a stinging remark like "I'm just sick of you." or "[[FoeCooties Morrigan]] was [[SexGoddess better in bed]]." You can also reject someone after they confess their feelings for you in many cruel ways. Leliana's romance arc in particular allows you to cheat on her and then deny it. When she confronts you, you can be understanding and apologetic... or just brush her off, bluntly tell her you don't care, ''laugh in her face'', or straight-up insult her.

'''Warden:''' Be a man, [[spoiler:Alistair.]] For once.

*** One of your companions, Fenris, is an escaped slave on the run from his [[BloodMagic blood mage]] master. When his master inevitably catches up with him, you can help Fenris fight him off... or you can ''hand him over,'' saying you don't need him any more, leaving Fenris so gutted by your betrayal that he leaves with the slaver without a fight. [[SkewedPriorities For a whole five sovereigns]]. It's even worse if you're romancing Fenris and Danarius makes note of his former slave's "skills"; the betrayal is so much worse when you know what Danarius is going to do to him.
*** Forcing ''one'' companion into slavery wasn't enough for you? If you have high enough friendship (or rivalry) with Isabela, [[ChangedMyMindKid she'll make her way back to Kirkwall, head through a burning city under siege and a crapton of Qunari soldiers, and beat up the Arishok's guards to personally hand the relic over to save Hawke, her friends, and all of Kirkwall]]. The Arishok then demands that the thief be handed over along with the relic, to face punishment--and Hawke can comply. Even the ''Arishok'' seems briefly taken aback.

*** The Inquisitor's judgments can display shades of this, particularly in the case of players with the human noble background who can confiscate all of [[spoiler: Mistress Poulin's]] earnings to enrich their own family's wealth. They can also sentence Movran the Under to gibbeting for [[DisproportionateRetribution throwing a goat at Skyhold]].

** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIX'': You can constantly recruit members and then ditching them away for good to retain and sell their gear. Even though you don't strip their equipment off first, parting with members does that automatically. Selling their basic equipments is a good way to earn a bit of extra money... if you don't feel bad about ditching your new friends, that is.

*** While galloping on the world map, you don't need to run into every single enemy and knock them off like bowling pins... but gosh darn it if it isn't so satisfying to blow away several beasties in a row!
*** The UpdatedRerelease adds romance options, and if you choose Serena she'll make the PlayerCharacter his favorite stew during the ending. You have the option to tell her you don't like it and reject her offer to try again, [[YouBastard causing her to cry a little before apologetically cuddling with you]].
** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestBuilders2'': In the explorer's islands you can befriend farm animals to bring them into your farm... or you can murder them in cold blood and they won't even fight back. And the easiest way to do this? Befriend them first so they don't try to run away. You obtain chicken legs, beef and lamb meat this way, and if you intend to complete your recipe list, you'll need to do this as there's at least one recipe that requires each of these ingredients.

* Normally, killing anyone within Gran Soren in ''VideoGame/DragonsDogma'' would have you be arrested. [[spoiler:This rule does not apply after Duke Edmun branded you as a traitor. You can now [[ThenLetMeBeEvil be the traitor they deserved]] and kill everyone [[DisproportionateRetribution for crossing with the Arisen]] without feeling guilty or getting jailed.]]

*** Spell-making gives ample opportunities to indulge in this trope. Create, for example, a spell which will paralyze an enemy for an extremely long duration and pair it with a 1-point of damage per second spell. You can then sit and watch as your enemy is slowly burned/electrocuted/poisoned/drained of life as they are helplessly frozen in place.

*** To add to the [[HilarityEnsues hilarity]], drop some weapons on the ground (whatever kind you want) ''then'' cast the Frenzy spell. All affected [=NPCs=] will run over, ''pick up a weapon'' (if they don't already have one) ''and then'' go bat-shit on the closest person, friend or foe. Made even more hilarious on the PC version where there is actually a spell (added through a mod) that can both give and revoke essential status to '''''any''''' NPC. Yes, it is as [[HilarityEnsues hilarious]] as it sounds having a literally unkillable begger armed with with an enchanted Daedric longsword go on a murderous rampage. And the Grey Fox wants to help them too...

*** Create a weak, but long-duration Destruction spell, say, 3 HP/Sec fire damage for 120 seconds. To the [=NPCs=], that's a full hour of being on fire. Be sure to call this spell "Hell".
*** In the ''Shivering Isles'' expansion, part of the main quest requires you to reactivate a dungeon used to "greet" newcomers to the Isles. After you reactivate it, you see a group of adventurers come into the dungeon and enter 3 rooms. In each of these rooms, you get to hit one of two buttons to decide on the adventurers' fates. One of the buttons will brutally get them killed, while the other drives them insane.

*** If you hack Hand-to-hand and adjust it to a disgustingly high level… and taunt someone into attacking, you can knock them out for three days straight. Three days later… they get up, remember that you insulted their mother, and then come after you again. You can knock them out again, and continue for as long as you want.
*** In a similar way to the hand to hand example above, custom fatigue draining spells can be added to zero weight items, which when reverse pickpocketed into the inventory of essential characters leave them paralyzed and [[AndIMustScream unable to die]].

*** ''Skyrim'' also has randomly activated finishers, all of which are quite brutal, the most prominent of which is cutting off a person's head. In order to get the player to take care of spouses and followers none of them are coded as unkillable. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPrfo8uO_Gs Some players realized the implications.]]
*** [[TheScrappy Annoying NPC]] won't stop preaching? Hide behind him, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuLBwIclUTc whip a Fury spell at his annoying ass]] and let the rest of the town... take care of him.

*** Those Civil War quests are boring? Well, you can remind the people at Bethesda what medieval warfare is supposed to be like, and spice up your walkthrough with a little sack, pillage and burn. Right after a camp commander orders you to attack a fort, don't go there immediately, but rather take your most crime-friendly companion (or better, install a multiple companions mod and gather a whole squad of Bloody Mummers) and harass the hold in which your target fort is. Hack everyone you meet on the road to bloody bits, plunder Khajiiti caravans, raid shops and warehouses in cities and towns, and kill many guards. Lather, rinse, repeat until you take everything not bolted down and slaughter anyone who resists (accruing an astronomical bounty), THEN head to the fort and capture it. The Jarl of the hold will change, and your bounty will be cleared. Repeat with the next fort. Don't forget to install a driveable wagon mod; you'll need the wagon for all that loot.

*** ''Hearthfire'' adds a comparatively minor one: You can end up with steward, spouse, housecarl and 2 kids for your house. Building enough beds for all of them (aside from the children, who can only move into houses with beds for them) is optional.

* ''VideoGame/EpicBattleFantasy4'' allows you to steal stuff from villages. Considering three out of four (four out of five? There's also [=NoLegs=].) of your party are crazy thieves, this isn't surprising... except you can steal from the first village while you have only one character, the one who doesn't steal stuff.

** Best level-up ever, or worst, uses this very mechanic in the first town. While the town proper does not permit weapons or even the mechanics behind them to work, it also makes the people unkillable. Thus, as soon as you enter the town for the first time, you can gain a huge in-game advantage through something referred to as the "Ike Turner Strategy." Step one: seduce a woman in that town (the men fight back, and can interrupt the chain). Step two: have her follow you to the adjacent area of docks, which is still part of the city so weapons are not permitted, but combat targeting and throwing punches are thanks to the boxing event. Step three: corner your immortal girlfriend in the warehouse via clever placement of crates, target her, and start swinging. Step five: pass the time. Change the TV to a movie, (maybe J-Lo's "Enough" to reduce karmic backlash) while holding the remote and tapping the attack button. In less than the two hours it would take to finish the movie, the physical XP earned (most notably from the CHAIN of successful hits) will be enough to MAX physical stats on a starting character. The only penalty is a similarly-maxxed out evil meter, fixable if you care to do so by killing bandits or just donating money to charity. The countless stories of spousal abuse buy-offs makes this a particularly ghoulish commentary within the game...

* ''VideoGame/FableII'' takes this kind of thinking man's violence to new heights. The game has a semirealistic economy that functions as a result of how people are feeling. In short, rampage through town to sink the economy, buy up all the property and jack the rent up to sink it lower and make money faster, and then buy goods off your abused tenants at a hilariously low price.

** The best thing about killing your wives for a legendary weapon had to be the good points you got from doing it. Marrying a girl gives you 100 good points, x renown, and x money as dowry. Having a child with said girl gives you 50 good points. Sacrificing your wife for power gives you 100 evil points(-100 good points) and a small amount of corruption points plus money and with enough sacrifices the legendary weapon. You have a net gain of 50 good points for marrying, impregnating and then murdering a random girl.
*** As well, you can also sell people into slavery, rob stores, extort civilians for money, abuse spouses and your dog, carry out assassinations for quick cash and help drive at least one person to commit suicide.

** You can force a conman, at gunpoint, to dig-up a grave where he has buried loot. Half-way through he sheepishly removes a booby-trapped landmine and hands it to you. A popular choice is to wait until he's finished digging, and...

** A mother living in the outskirts of Vault City asks you to enter the city and rescue her husband from being enslaved. If playing as a [[AllAbusersAreMale male]] you have the option to [[SexualExtortion pressure her for sex in exchange]], and she'll go close the curtain so their young son doesn't hear what comes next.
** In Modoc, you can persuade mayor Jo into [[{{Fingore}} cutting off his finger]] as a way of settling a deal. You can, of course, change your mind about taking part in the deal afterwards. "Now, take your finger and saute it in a light garlic sauce. Very tasty dish!" The guy in question doesn't react well to your prank and, after bandaging his hand, [[ShotgunsAreJustBetter attacks you.]]
** Broken Hills, leading a midget down a well, and then leaving them down there with the... things.
** Just helping the anti-mutant group in Broken Hills condemns their settlement and all its occupants. Turns out the humans can't survive so well on their own...

** You can destroy the nuclear reactor in a peaceful ghoul settlement, destroying the lives of dozens of peaceful mutants and poisoning the water of a nearby city forcing them to become refugees.

*** One must be careful with pickpockets and explosives. The pickpocketing children immediately try to fence anything they steal to nearby merchants, and explosive timers don't count down while in merchant inventories. The game, however, does remember the timer's state---buying the explosives back from the merchant will lead to [[VideoGameCrueltyPunishment a bit of a surprise.]]

** Seducing a hillbilly son or daughter results in a shotgun marriage, unless you're a smooth talker. This hillbilly husband/wife will be entirely useless, and cannot be removed from the party. You can get a quickie divorce in New Reno...or you can sell them into slavery instead for a quick buck. You can also rent them out to a porn studio as a "fluffer" for three bottlecaps, or feed them into a hacked organ extractor (it can remove ''bowels'') but this isn't quite so cruel. Then you can go back to Grisham and tell him that his son/daughter disappeared if you had a divorce or sold him/her to slavery. A heart attack will kill him.
** Selling party members to slavers not enough for you? Join the slavers yourself and help enslave tribal savages. The fact that you're a tribal yourself won't bother boss Metzger, though the other tribals will be.... less than happy about your new career.

*** In the first game you actually ''can'' murder every single living thing in the game, including the usually-invincible Overseer if you finish the game with a low enough KarmaMeter.
** There are special ways you could sneakily assassinate the heads of the crime families in New Reno - some rather sadistic. To whit: re-arm Bishop's safe with explosives, then change the combination. Give one of the youngest Wright kids a loaded gun, which results in him shooting his own dad. Give Big Jesus Mordino any kind of chem, even a Nuka-Cola, and watch him suffer a heart attack. Steal Mr Salvatore's oxygen tank, then enjoy the floating text as he slowly, so slowly, chokes to death.

** Some of the death animations when killing foes were pure {{Squee}} as well. How about turning the foe's insides into bloody gibbage with burst fire, blowing a football-sized hole in their gut with a single bullet, slicing them apart with laser, melting them into a puddle of goo with plasma, or crisp them with electricity - turn 'em into a neat pile of ash. And, of course, the flamer... set 'em on fire, watch them run around in flames before collapsing.
*** There is a character trait in the game that does absolutely nothing other than always causing the bloodiest animation to play when an enemy is killed (otherwise it only happens on a critical hit). You can only choose two traits during character creation, and all the others have far more useful effects. The fact that the devs assumed that at least ''some'' players would intentionally sacrifice stat increases just to see gibs flying ought to tell you all you need to know about ''Fallout 2'''s Cruelty Potential.

** In a later mission, the leader of a [[spoiler:"Matrix"-style simulation of]] 1950's Americana has gone nuts and begun torturing the other residents. The player is given the choice to help torture them or mercy-kill them.

** In early versions of the game, you could actually, with the help of a perk called "Mr. Sandman," ''slit the throats of sleeping children.'' And they'd live, due to being unkillable. This bug even led to a method of gaining infinite XP, until it was patched out. Children are now unkillable even with this perk...unless you use the mod above.

*** Worst of all, there's the Child at Heart perk, which makes children trust you more easily. If you ''don't'' want to be a horrid villain, this makes it easier to protect children, but if you do, it makes kidnapping children for slavers easier...

** You can do the tutorial just beating the ever-living crap out of everyone. The funniest bit? After getting the BB gun the Kid keeps shooting daddy, who passes out just when the celebratory picture is taken.
** There is ''an achievement for sticking a live grenade in someone's pocket'' and the game keeps track of how many times you do it with the "Pants Exploded" stat.
** You can use the fast travel system for some extreme sadism. Get the Experimental MIRV (a nuclear catapult that fires 8 mini nukes shotgun style), go to the center of Megaton and fire straight up. Fast travel to Megaton and you'll be right outside the town. Wait a few seconds and walk in. The only living thing in that area is you.

** And then there's Moira Brown in Megaton. She gives you a quest to help write a Wasteland Survival Guide, but if you want you can tell her that it's a stupid idea and a waste of time, causing her to change from ThePollyanna to TheEeyore. You're even rewarded for doing this -- not only do you get a special "Dream Crusher" perk that lowers the enemy's chances of landing Critical Hits, but Moira's Repair skill will go up and she'll permanently sell goods to you at a 30% discount. And if destroying Moira's life-long dream still isn't enough for you, you can ''completely'' ruin her life by nuking Megaton. She'll survive but become a ghoul, and you can tell her in [[BrutalHonesty the most dickish way possible]], which practically sends the poor woman over the DespairEventHorizon.

** One of the quests involves a woman who wants to run away from her family, but needs caps. You can typically talk her out of it, but she'll kill her mother if you choose to stay out of it. She has a MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment and you could further twist the knife by ''congratulating'' her.

** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestBuilders2'': In the explorer's islands you can befriend farm animals to bring them into your farm... or you can murder them in cold blood and they won't even fight back. And the easiest way to do this? Befriend them first so they don't try to run away. You obtain chicken legs, beef and lamb meat this way, and if you intend to complete your recipe list you'll need to do this as there's at least once recipe that requires each of these ingredients.

*** A long duration "Drain Life" spell allows for this. Cast it on multiple victims and you have a self sustaining means of continuous health regen while in a dungeon. This would mean that you are being sustained by the continuous suffering of your foes. Add a continuous health regenerating effect, and it's possible your enemies will survive this torture, so that you can do this over and over again. You can make this last in-game months, or years. Add soul trap, and death will only change their fate from agony to bondage within a soul gem. [[GodOfEvil Molag Bal]] would be proud.

*** If you hack Hand-to-hand and adjust it to a disgustingly high level... and taunt someone into attacking, you can knock them out for three days straight. Three days later....they get up, remember that you insulted their mother and then come after you again. You can knock them out again, and continue for as long as you want.

*** Those Civil War quests are boring? Well, you can remind the people at Bethesda what medieval warfare is supposed to be like, and spice up your walkthrough with a little sack, pillage and burn/ Right after a camp commander orders you to attack a fort, don't go there immediately, but rather take your most crime-friendly companion (or better, install a multiple companions mod and gather a whole squad of Bloody Mummers) and harass the hold in which your target fort is. Hack everyone you meet on the road to bloody bits, plunder Khajiiti caravans, raid shops and warehouses in cities and towns, and kill many guards. Lather, rinse, repeat until you take everything not bolted down and slaughter anyone who resists (accruing an astronomical bounty), THEN head to the fort and capture it. The Jarl of the hold will change, and your bounty will be cleared. Repeat with the next fort. Don't forget to install a driveable wagon mod; you'll need the wagon for all that loot.

* ''VideoGame/EvilIslands'': At one point in Suslanger you're required to sneak into city choke full of guards and ordinary city folk. Normally killing non-aggressive NPC's such as deer, rabbits or workers yields very low rewards. Here, however, townsfolk drop amounts of gold that can make you reconsider going on a city-wide killer spree... that is, if you don't get caught.

*** The move Frustration becomes more effective the more your Mon hates you. [[DeconstructedTrope Taken to unfunny levels]] in ''VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2'' with Ghetsis' Hydreigon, who has that move, at really high power too...

*** During the Redcliffe arc, you can kill Connor (a child) instead of going into his dream and freeing him from the demon possessing him. If you're a mage and want to be even crueler, you can enter Connor's dream -- possibly killing his mother to do so -- and instead let the demon off scot-free for a reward. What do you get in return? Either additional magic, RelationshipValues, or [[OptionalSexualEncounter sex]]. ''You can sell a child's soul for sex with a [[HornyDevils demon]]''.

** The ''Nuka-World'' DLC, however, takes the cake. For the first time in the series, the player can become a [[AlwaysChaoticEvil Raider boss]] and [[MoralEventHorizon terrorize the Wasteland]]. You can take over settlements for your {{Mooks}} by threatening settlers off of their land, dooming them (and maybe even their children) to [[WalkingTheEarth wander the wastes]] in search of a new home and possibly being devoured by [[NuclearNasty mutants]], or simply killing them all. You can also use radio transmitters to intimidate settlements close to your Raider camps into supplying them with food and supplies, and kill them off even if they agree. [[invoked]]Preston Garvey will [[WhatTheHellHero call the player out on this]] and refuse to follow them any further, but will still recognize them as the General of the Minutemen for plot reasons (even if you've murdered hundreds of Minutemen defending the settlements you took over by force in the process).

*** Tired of that annoying "Essential NPC" flag? There are so many {{Game Mod}}s to remove that. A popular [[SelfImposedChallenge goal]] after the story is over is to use this mod to make it possible to [[KillEmAll hunt down and slaughter the entire population]]. One. By. One.

** Then there is the whole Sandral-Matale feud, which, depending on how you played it could have [[EarnYourHappyEnding a happy ending]], or, you can let every NPC involved in it [[KillEmAll kill each other]]. The latter option becomes an amazing example of ComedicSociopathy

** Resetting the game after the Pacifist Route. The monsters are freed and the barrier is broken. The monster race look forward to an uncertain but hopeful future as friends of the humans above ground, and everyone is happy. But there's only one small problem: '''You'''. And no, not the PlayerCharacter, ''[[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou you]]''. You hold the power to reset the world, and take away the happiness you brought everyone. And you can then play a [[KillEmAll Genocide Route]], and no-one will know that the nameless child wandering through the Underground slaughtering them all was, once upon a time, their best friend. And, by everyone, we really mean it. Not even the PlayerCharacter will remember. The only people who will remember are you, possibly [[spoiler:Sans]], and if you did a Genocide Run ''before'' a True Pacifist Run, [[spoiler:the Fallen Child]].

** Ignore those oddly-placed trees in Kolima Junction. Actually, [[BalefulPolymorph those trees were people]], and because of your neglect an innocent girl just got ''washed away downstream to an unknown fate''.

*** Is an NPC given invulnerability owing to their "essential" status? No problem. Just flog them repeatedly, so you can train up your weaponry skills. Taken UpToEleven with Ancano or Elenwen; in the College in Winterhold, it's possible to beat him to within an inch of his life with ''nobody'' interjecting, and your followers will help you regardless of morality level, with the latter you can Fus Ro Dah her off a cliff so she has a painfully high fall. She'll still survive, but it's something.

*** Speaking of Soul Trap, the Dawnguard DLC reveals that all the human enemies whose souls you trapped in gems to enchant your weapons are sent to the Soul Cairn, a hellish landscape in which souls are eternally tormented and fleeing undead horrors serving the Cairn's enigmatic rulers. However, some players won't care and will continue condemning people to this [[AndIMustScream horrible fate]], possibly even their own friends and former spouses.

** You run into that Skaen cult again and they once again offer for you to sacrifice a party member to him, only this time your motivation is ''[[UpToEleven even more petty]]''; you don't even get a permanent bonus, just a single use item. On that note, one the party members in this game is Maia Rua, the sister of Kana from the first game. If you sacrificed Kana to Skaen the first time, [[KickTheDog you can tell her what you did straight to her face, describing her brother's death in nauseating detail]]. Even worse, her duties force her to work with you anyways; she hatefully spits that as soon as Eothas is dealt with, she's coming for ''you''.

** If you're just skewering them on wall spikes, you'll get very few points or XP. No, you should have them skewered on wall spikes [[RubeGoldbergHatesYourGuts then drop their bodies onto launchers which throw them across the room into the jaws of bear traps in which they are hit by giant swinging axes and knocked screaming into human-sized incinerators]]. Ahem. This game turns this trope UpToEleven, essentially. In case you're worried about the "young girls" bit, it's ok -- [[DoubleStandard you're a girl, too]].

** The ''Nuka-World'' DLC, however, takes the cake. For the first time in the series, the player can become a [[AlwaysChaoticEvil Raider boss]] and [[MoralEventHorizon terrorize the Wasteland]]. You can take over settlements for your {{Mooks}} by threatening settlers off of their land, dooming them (and maybe even their children) to [[WalkingTheEarth wander the wastes]] in search of a new home and possibly being devoured by [[NuclearNasty mutants]], or simply killing them all. You can also use radio transmitters to intimidate settlements close to your Raider camps into supplying them with food and supplies, and kill them off even if they agree. [[invoked]][[LawfulGood Preston Garvey]] will [[WhatTheHellHero call the player out on this]] and refuse to follow them any further, but will still recognize them as the General of the Minutemen for plot reasons (even if you've murdered hundreds of Minutemen defending the settlements you took over by force in the process).

** The ''Wasteland Workshop'' DLC allows you to construct gladiator arenas and force {{Non Player Character}}s to fight for your amusement. You can also catch dangerous wasteland creatures and stick them in the arenas. So you can give an NPC you don't like a few scraps of cloth for armor and a rolling pin as a weapon and force them to fight against a [[DemonicSpider Savage Deathclaw]] until you get bored.
** The ''Nuka-World'' DLC, however, takes the cake. For the first time in the series, the player can become a [[AlwaysChaoticEvil Raider boss]] and [[MoralEventHorizon terrorize the Wasteland]]. You can take over settlements for your {{Mooks}} by threatening settlers off of their land, dooming them (and maybe even their children) to [[WalkingTheEarth wander the wastes]] in search of a new home and possibly being devoured by [[NuclearNasty mutants]], or simply killing them all. You can also use radio transmitters to intimidate settlements close to your Raider camps into supplying them with food and supplies, and kill them off even if they agree. [[LawfulGood Preston Garvey]] will [[WhatTheHellHero call the player out on this]] and refuse to follow them any further, but will still recognize them as the General of the Minutemen for plot reasons (even if you've murdered hundreds of Minutemen defending the settlements you took over by force in the process).

** Boone wants you to find whoever sold his wife to slavers so that he could kill them. You can do detective work and find out who the real culprit is, or you can have Boone assassinate anyone you feel like deserves getting a bullet in the face, and just hope that your speech skill is high enough to keep him from going after you next.

** It's quite possible threaten a child, [=MacCready=], with horrible torment so he hands over the secret of his friend's food source.

** You can can use the fast travel system for some extreme sadism. Get the Experimental MIRV (a nuclear catapult that fires 8 mini nukes shotgun style), go to the center of Megaton and fire straight up. Fast travel to Megaton and you'll be right outside the town. Wait a few seconds and walk in. The only living thing in that area is you.

** In Modoc, you can persuade mayor Jo into cutting off his finger as a way of settling a deal. You can, of course, change your mind about taking part in the deal afterwards. "Now, take your finger and saute it in a light garlic sauce. Very tasty dish!" The guy in question doesn't react well to your prank and, after bandaging his hand, [[ShotgunsAreJustBetter attacks you.]]

* The "[=SnowGrave=]/Weird" Route is ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'''s answer to the Genocide run from ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' and to many people, makes you act even ''crueler''. To wit, there is a part in the game where the player is split up from Ralsei and Susie and has to partner with Noelle, a ShrinkingViolet and ChildhoodFriend of Kris. Noelle had previously talked about how she wanted to get stronger and the player can take advantage of this by {{Gaslighting}} her into attacking all of the monsters in the Cyber World, freezing and killing them. Noelle is clearly upset by this, but as she's forced to keep going, she slowly enters into a puppet like state where she will basically kill on demand. Even worse? Since Kris is confirmed to be separate from the player, they are forced to put their friend in that state and it's implied they are just as disturbed and upset about it as Noelle is.
** [[dylans On top of that, You can also beat everyone up including those that meant no harm to you (Jigsaw Joe)causing that, in some cases, people dislike you or don't get to go to the castle town]]