History VideoGameCrueltyPotential / StealthBasedGame

** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'' allows the player to kill caged chickens and guinea pigs.

** You get a lot of chances to fuck with the guards in ''Metal Gear Solid 3''. For instance, first, kill a poison dart frog and collect its meat. After that, blow up one of the guards' food caches. When they start complaining of hunger, toss them the meat of the poison dart frog you killed and watch what happens...

** Other methods in ''Blood Money'': Rigged pyrotechnic display + Tank filled with oh-so-cooling water. And [[EverythingsEvenWorseWithSharks a shark]].

** You can expel your rivals by framing them for things like taking lewd photos and cheating on tests. You can also go out of your way to sabotage your rival's relationships with Senpai, resulting in him rejecting their confession.

** You can expel your rivals by framing them for things like taking [[PantyShot lewd photos]] and cheating on tests. You can also go out of your way to sabotage your rival's relationships with Senpai, resulting in him rejecting their confession.

* In the ''VideoGame/{{Hitman}}'' franchise, you play a gun for hire, and 47 can indeed be a heartless bastard at times, but you can make him ''much'' more so if you want:
** ''VideoGame/HitmanBloodMoney'' pretty much depends on this trope. To avoid unwanted attention, the player must [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident kill the target with accidents]]. The easiest is sedating them and flinging their sleeping form over the nearest ledge. Of course, civilians can go over the ledge as well. If a bullet hits someone in the stomach but doesn't prove immediately fatal, the victim crumples to the ground and rocks back and forth before succumbing to the wound. Highlighting the brutality of the kill, the victim spends the next few seconds howling and moaning in pain.
** Also in ''Blood Money'', a particularly satisfying example from the mission "A New Life" involves using lighter fluid on a grill and waiting for the wife of your target to start it and go up like a Roman candle. And by doing so, you orphan two kids (since you need to kill their dad in that mission), all this happening on the younger one's birthday.
** Other methods in ''Blood Money'': Rigged pyrotechnic display + Tank filled with oh-so-cooling water. And [[EverythingsEvenWorseWithSharks a shark]].
** There is no way around doing some level of this to Lenny Dexter in ''VideoGame/HitmanAbsolution'', from tomahawking him to smashing his head open with a bong to marching him over to a carriage of explosive crates and blowing him skyward. Even if you decide to leave without killing him, because there are no nearby cell towers and the fact that you dispatched all of his friends prior, chances are he will die painfully from starvation, thirst, heat stroke, and/or buzzard attack. Honestly, the most humane way to kill him is a nonsilenced pistol to the head. Or you can get him run over [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment by an ice cream truck]].
** ''VideoGame/Hitman2016'' allows for more cruelty than ever. Poison a random civilian's drink and then [[CampingACrapper follow them into the restroom to drown them in the toilet]], butcher innocent vacation-goers with an axe, blow up unsuspecting bystanders with explosives hidden inside a rubber duck, sabotage payphones to cause [=NPCs=] to die via electrocution, or just equip yourself with a sniper rifle and pick off as many people as you can. The improved NPC dialogue makes your massacres even more horrific, as [=NPCs=] whimper and panic at the sight of the dead bodies of your victims, or react in complete shock as you smash the skull of their friend in front of their eyes.
*** The same game has two practice levels. Throw an actor off a two-story ledge and your companion voice will remark on how the actor will be bruised the next day.
*** In the Marrakesh level with the highest [=NPCs=] in all the levels, the body count can be driven into the 800s if the player feels so inclined. It gets even more disturbing as the crowds just stand there like lambs to the slaughter...
* The ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' series allows for cruelty to both people and animals:
** The invisibility-inducing stealth camouflage that appears in every game allows the player to abuse [=NPCs=] with near impunity.
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' (and ''The Twin Snakes'') allows players to shoot mice and ravens, which, if done repeatedly, causes Naomi and Campbell to chastise the player via codec.
*** Shooting seagulls in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' elicits a similar response from Rose.
** You can also hurt Meryl for no reason, though she will slap you hard enough to knock you on your ass. You can even outright kill her as she asks you why you would do such a thing, though this gets you a NonStandardGameOver.
*** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' requires the player to hunt and kill animals for food in order to survive. However, it's also possible to use live captured creatures as weapons; for example, throwing live venomous snakes at people — a combination of both cruelty to humans and animals which is often lethal to one of them.
*** Speaking of cruelty to humans and animals, while the game doesn't let Snake engage in [[ImAHumanitarian cannibalism]], you can feed dead bodies to vultures, then eat the vultures. [[DevelopersForesight/MetalGear Do this before facing The Sorrow and you'll get to hear ghost guards exclaiming "You ate me!"]]
** ''VideoGame/MetalGear2SolidSnake'' had something similar: Apparently, Snake could actually kill the NPC war-orphaned children if the player decides this. Note that these weren't even Enemy [=NPCs=], but just defenseless children whose only action is to talk. The only punishment is [[HostageSpiritLink losing health]], which is pretty lenient compared to being docked off a rank in the first ''Metal Gear'', having it grant you a severely low rank in future games (and in the case of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker'', lowering your clearance rank after completing a mission), and also making some battles even more difficult than usual (case in point, The Sorrow battle in ''Metal Gear Solid 3'').
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'' allows the player to kill caged chickens and guinea pigs.
** You get a lot of chances to fuck with the guards in ''Metal Gear Solid 3''. For instance, first, kill a poison dart frog and collect its meat. After that, blow up one of the guards' food caches. When they start complaining of hunger, toss them the meat of the poison dart frog you killed and watch what happens...
*** Even before that, in ''[=MGS2=]'', they introduced disablement of enemy limbs, as well as radios. Shoot a guard's radio to short it out, then run up and hold him up. Proceed to shoot any combination of his arms and legs, and he'll stand there quaking in fear, the affected limb(s) bloody and limp. You can cripple up to three limbs; all four finally kills the victim.
*** Overt guard and scientist abuse is possible when dressed in the Major Raikov disguise. Victims can be physically attacked and fail to fight back, instead cowering before and apologizing to their "commanding officer." This is [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] before you get a chance to do it by a radio conversation with EVA where, to Snake's disbelief, she tells you that you can punch anyone in the face because Raikov is "[[BadBoss just that kind of guy]]".
** Raikov's entire role in the game is to facilitate this. You are asked to knock him out and take him to a specific locker to steal his clothes, but he has all sorts of hilarious responses programmed into him for players who fancied a bit of violence against a [[TheScrappy Raiden]]-lookalike. For instance, his borderline-CloudCuckooLander personality means that he is always ravenous and will eat anything you feed him, which occasionally causes stomach trouble, making him run to the bathroom (and if you knock on the door a few times, he'll let you in). You can drag him around in his underwear, and whether you kill him or just knock him out has no effect on the plot at all.
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'' opens up all sorts of possibilities with its free-cutting mechanic. As long as you don't cut off an enemy's head or hit their repair units, it's possible to [[AnArmAndALeg cut off their limbs]] and keep them alive (and get bonus points for it). You can cut off a mook's arms and legs and reduce them to helplessly writhing towards you, blood spurting from their wounds.
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'' forbids you from using lethal weapons when roaming Mother Base, obviously so you don't go on a killing spree and hamstring the Diamond Dogs by killing staff. But there's no rule against using non-lethal guns, the RocketPunch, or CQC to make the lives of your loyal soldiers hell. Some will even thank you for it. Oh and if you do get creative and drop them off the side of Mother Base to their deaths, [[VideoGameCrueltyPunishment you get a]] NonStandardGameOver. On the plus side, you can tranq Ocelot when you see him around the base.
** Emma in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' is terrified of bugs and she will refuse to board the elevator until you repel said bugs with the coolant spray. If you feel like being a dick, you can shoot a tranquilizer at Emma or punch her/bash her with your Nikita missile launcher to knock her unconscious and drag her through the bugs.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}: The Dark Project'' and ''Thief: The Metal Age'', you can potentially kill every single last person on almost any level. Granted, you can't be playing on the higher difficulty settings (as those make killing innocents, or on the highest difficulty setting, killing ''anyone'', a "mission fail" condition. Also, some levels are pure stealth missions and auto-fail if you kill anyone on any difficulty setting). Since your character is relatively physically weak, you're encouraged to use ambushes and sniping. Still, you can render entire sections of The City devoid of human life.
** Or, you can knock people unconscious with your blackjack or gas arrows, then drag the unconscious {{NPC}} to the nearest body of water and throw them in. Not only will they drown, you will actually ''get to hear them choking and gasping frantically for breath'' as they expire.
** On some levels, you can throw their unconscious bodies into ''lava!''
*** There's a lot of lava in the ''The Dark Project'' mission "The Lost City." And in ''Thief Gold'', there's wizards from the Mage's Guild running around down there. And the designers didn't add a 'Don't Kill Anyone' condition for the updated mission. Have fun!
* ''VideoGame/MarkOfTheNinja'': Lure enemies into painful traps. Poison them and watch them kill themselves after a psychotic delusion where they'll also kill their allies. Taunt and terrorize a guard, then murder him, leave him hanging from a chain, lure another pair of guards into the area, throw some flesh-eating beetles at the corpse, watch them shine their light on the body, scream in panic, guard in back kills guard in front, you taunt the surviving guard then pop out in front and murder him while he screams in terror. It's all purely optional; you can have a total body count of 3 for the entire game if you so choose, although many of the more imaginative ways to kill the enemies unlock various achievements and terrorizing and distracting enemies before killing them gives you bonus points.
** The Special Edition DLC adds the ability to kill enemies with a special kind of mushroom that also infects their corpses, perioidically making a loud noise to lure in other enemies and exploding to poison them as well if they come too close to investigate.
* Shoot to wound in ''VideoGame/SniperElite'' and then shoot (preferably to wound) anybody who comes to help him. He'll die within a few minutes without any treatment. You can practice your grenade skills, run away and shoot him again for bonus sniper points, or just watch.
** The sequels encourage headshots and particularly spectacular long-range kills by showing you in x-ray vision what happens to the mook's internal organs when a rifle bullet blasts through them, replete with suitable cracking and squelching sounds.
** The series has gained notoriety as a [[GroinAttack crotch-shooting]] paradise, complete with visceral x-ray footage of the bullet hitting the mark.
* ''VideoGame/SplinterCell: Conviction'' requires you to [[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique outright torture certain people for information]], from simply slamming them into things to forcing their face against a burning-hot grill.

* The goal of ''VideoGame/YandereSimulator'' is to secure the affections of your senpai by eliminating the romantic competition by any means necessary. While you don't ''have'' to be violent or cruel (the Matchmaking elimination method, where you ensure the girl isn't a rival by setting her up with another boy, is a prominent example), a lot of methods require killing or just ruining students' lives. A list:
** You can, of course, just kill your rivals — who, for the most part, are kind and friendly girls. Two of them are very close to Senpai, and you can kill at least one of them (Osana Najimi, Senpai's childhood friend) by having her graphically choke to death right in front of Senpai. Of course, [[VideoGameCrueltyPunishment don't expect to get the best ending after you do that too often]].
** You can learn about the rival's dark secret and use that to ruin their lives, lure them to a place where you can fake their suicide, [[ArsonMurderAndLifesaving or befriend them]]. And even befriending can require hurting others — Kokona Haruka (the current test rival)'s befriending route requires you to kidnap and hold another student (Musume Ronshaku) for ransom, permanently breaking her and causing her personality to change to Loner.
** If you damage a student's reputation enough, they'll become targeted for bullying. A clique of five girls will deface their desk with messages telling them to kill themselves, and point and laugh as their AlphaBitch claps chalk erasers over the victim's head. The student will also have more withdrawn animations and will eat lunch alone up on the roof instead of at their normal hangouts. If their reputation goes too low, they'll stop attending school because the bullying was too bad, and if it goes even further down, they'll [[DrivenToSuicide kill themselves]] to escape the harassment.
** You can expel your rivals by framing them for things like taking [[PantyShot lewd photos]] and cheating on tests. You can also go out of your way to sabotage your rival's relationships with Senpai, resulting in him rejecting their confession.
** You can kidnap someone and torture them over several days until their mind is completely destroyed, then bring them to school and set them on your rival in MurderSuicide fashion.
** You can throw a bucket of gasoline at someone, then flick a match at them. A ''[[KillItWithFire lit]]'' [[ManOnFire match]].
** Two teased Rival-Specific Elimination methods for Osana include tying a weight to her hair when she's sunbathing and shoving her into the pool to drown, and sneaking up on her and [[TurbineBlender feeding her pigtails into a fan]], causing her to be graphically decapitated as her head is ''ground away''.

* This is the point of ''VideoGame/UntitledGooseGame'', where you're encouraged to be a "horrible goose" and terrorize the residents of a village. You do this by stealing their food, playing keepaway with the things they need, startling them with loud honks, and just being a {{Troll}} in general. There's a reason it's been compared to ''Hitman''.