Knowing when to fold 'em in Video Games.
- Art of Fighting 2: Geese learned a painful lesson, courtesy of Ryo Sakazaki, when they fought each other during the finals of the very first King of Fighters tournament. Ryo was out for revenge and handed Geese's ass to him on a silver platter. But just as he'd been about to deliver the coup de grace (i.e. the Haoh Shoko Ken), Geese chose to forfeit and hauled ass.
- This happens to two villains in Batman: Arkham Knight:
- A diary belonging to Calendar Man revealed he planned to strike on Halloween, going with his usual MO, but decided otherwise when the Scarecrow struck.
- Bane's fate after Batman: Arkham City: detoxed himself of the Titan, decided going round three with the Batman was stupid and went back home to Santa Prisca with the much easier goal of overthrowing its corrupt government.
- Battle for Wesnoth: In The Rise of Wesnoth, this is the lesson that Lady Jessene of the Wesfolk imparts to King Addroran when the orcs are attacking the humans of Green Isle. While King Addroran is confident that they can push them back, Jessene tells him that the right plan is to flee from the isle while they still can since the orcs are practically limitless. In fact, the Wesfolk tried to drive the orcs away back in their homeland, but they failed and had to flee in worse condition than if they fled earlier.
- The best ending in Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game sees protagonist Edward Pierce simply walk away from the whole thing. The plot to summon Cthulhu requires Pierce's conscious involvement, and this particular counter-ritual option is the only one to leave Pierce both alive and relatively sane.
- Conker's Bad Fur Day: When Conker decides to keep their (decidedly small) savings instead of giving it to them like agreed, the leader of the catfish tries to demand it back... until she sees the Dogfish is about to break loose. She wisely decides to just let Conker keep the money and make herself and her entourage scarce before there's too many casualties.
- Conviction (SRPG): If Grace, the boss of chapter 19A, is reduced to 1 HP, he will insist on fighting to the end, but one of his subordinates will force him to retreat for his own safety.
- Corruption of Laetitia: If the party is overleveled against a non-boss foe, that foe has a chance of running away. This effectively serves as Anti-Grinding to prevent them from getting overleveled for the next story boss, since foes won't give EXP if they flee.
- One of the more valuable lessons to learn in Darkest Dungeon is when to abandon a failing run and preserve your heroes for a later mission. They'll take some stress, but they'll survive, and if the run was going badly they were probably going to need some quality time in the temple or the tavern anyway.
- Darksiders: As War reaches the top of the Black Throne with the Armageddon Blade in hand to fight the Destroyer, he finds that Uriel and the Hellguard have beaten him to the punch and are fighting a losing battle against the Destroyer and the demons following him. Realizing that War stands a better chance, the angels get out of his way so that he can take over.
- Queen of Deltarune can handle fighting the Fun Gang on her own. When Berdley frees himself and joins them, she stops to do the math and comes to the conclusion that while Kris, Susie, and Ralsei are tolerable opponents, the addition of Berdley to their team tips things out of her favor. She pulls the Look Behind You bit on the Lightners and promptly bids a hasty retreat with a hilarious running animation the moment they turn to look.
- At the beginning of Dragon Age: Origins, the heroes make a battle plan where King Cailan will lure the Darkspawn into a trap, you and Alistair will light a signal fire, and Teryn Loghain will outflank the Darkspawn. However, when you actually light the fire, Loghain abandons you. It's heavily debated both in-universe and out whether this trope was legitimately in play (the front line was already breaking down and it was too late to save Cailan) or whether it was a Betrayal by Inaction.
- EXTRAPOWER: Attack of Darkforce: The recurring bosses always manage to escape the moment the momentum of battle turns against them. Usually this is when enough mooks have been defeated, especially the earlier fights where Co-Dragons Mensouma or Undata are impossible for the players to even scratch. Sometimes it's a Dual Boss, and the defeat of one will mean both run away. Even if you manage to beat them before their mooks or manage to beat both pairs of a Dual Boss in the same round, they'll slip through the player's clutches until the next time.
- Fallout: New Vegas has this as the central theme in the Dead Money expansion. Everyone has an obsession that drives them to the Sierra Madre, and only in letting go do they find relief.
- Christine's sole goal is to kill Elijah for what he did to her and The Brotherhood of Steel.
- Dean Domino has been trying to break into the Sierra Madre for over two centuries.
- Dog and God just want to control the body that both personalities inhabit.
- Elijah wants all the technology in the Sierra Madre Vault to rebuild and rule the wasteland. (You have the option of granting his wish — by permanently sealing him in the vault.)
- Even The Courier can run into this, as the Vault is filled with ammo, arms, armor, and gold ingots worth a fortune; but taking too much will slow you down so that you can barely move — while the timer on your explosive collar ticks down.Elijah: Getting in isn't the hard part...
Christine: ...it's letting go.
Dog: ...it's letting go.
God: ...it's letting go.
Dean Domino: ...it's letting go.
Elijah: ...it's letting go.
- Kefka in Final Fantasy VI is rarely willing to continue fighting through a single attack unless it behooves him to keep fighting, and when it's clear he can't win a fight he'll retreat with some childish threats. If not fighting at all is an option, he'll opt for that and instead rely on hiding behind henchmen or poisoning water supplies. Since he's actually not very powerful, unlike most major villains from the series, it's probably the only reason he survives long enough to become very powerful from abusing Magicite, Espers, and the Warring Triad. Once he has his God-tier power and has destroyed and conquered the world, he's naturally no longer willing to run and will fight to the bitter end.
- Final Fantasy VII Remake: In the mission "Malicious Goons", three of Don Corneo's mooks sic a Tonberry on the heroes. When they manage to kill it, they immediately surrender.
- One of the Non Standard Game Overs in Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator is the Bankruptcy ending, where Tutorial Unit essentially tells you this before you're fired and the game force-quits on you, clearing your save file of anything but any certificates you've earned, including the Certificate of Bankruptcy you earn for this very ending.Tutorial Unit: While we encourage entrepreneurs to follow their dreams, we also recognize a lost cause when we see one.
- This is the stated reason for Lord Brevon's absence in Freedom Planet 2: thanks to the beating he received in the first game, he decides that Avalice and the Kingdom Stone simply aren't worth risking another beating from Lilac and Carol when he already has an interstellar empire to rule.
- Granblue Fantasy: During the Silverwind Stretch arc, Io, Eugen and Rosetta are saved from an avalanche by Orchid while everyone else was caught in the avalanche and separated. With Orchid exhausted from the effort, soldiers quickly moving in to surround them, and the cold weather not getting better, Eugen decides the best course of action is to surrender.
- Invoked in Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- for Dizzy's Instant-Kill Attack: one of Dizzy's sentient wings, Necro, attempts to kill the opponent with a powerful blast. Dizzy manages to push Necro enough so the attack barely misses, but the resulting explosion and mushroom cloud behind the opponent causes them to give up. Instead of the screen reading "DESTROYED" like with other Instant-Kill Attacks, the screen reads "SURRENDERED".
- Gwent: The Witcher Card Game: An important skill is knowing when to stop playing cards and when to allow your opponent to win the current round so you have enough strength remaining to win the game. There are multiple cards that can get you an advantage should you lose the round:
- Ciri is not very impressive by herself, having 4 strength while taking up a large amount of precious deckbuilding provisions. However, should you lose the round in which you played her, she returns to your hand instead of going to the graveyard. 4 strength might not be much, but the value she poses as an additional card to play makes her ability powerful.
- It's also useful to try making your opponent fail to use this trope by deliberately baiting out more of their cards with cards that you can afford to use.
- In King of the Castle, if certain schemes fail, the nobles behind the plan decide to cut their losses and adopt a "Perhaps next time" philosophy.
- The Modernization scheme sees plans enacted by the Barons of the March to improve the training and equipment of the Kingdom's military, which they plan to use to seize the throne. But if they are unsuccessful, they decide to shelve their reforms for now, deciding that they can always use them if the opportunity presents itself later.
- The Prophecy scheme entails the Chiefs of the North holding up their claimant as the Lordrender, a great ruler who will topple an evil tyrant according to certain interpretations of old prophecies. If they are unable to achieve their goals, they decide perhaps the time wasn't right after all, and the Godspeakers decide to keep an eye out for signs that the prophecy might come true in the future.
- The Excommunication scheme revolves around the Grandees of the South gathering "evidence" to put the King on trial for heresy, thereby rendering them legally unable to hold the throne. If they cannot complete their objectives, their claimant and the Grandee leading the "investigation" share a bottle of the latter's best wine and hope that they will fare better in the future.
- The Conspiracy scheme involves the Patricians of the Coast inundating the Kingdom with debts and then bailing them out with a loan with astronomical interest rates. If the scheme doesn't pan out, they go back to collecting interest and hoarding wealth, waiting for the right moment to strike again.
- The Monopoly scheme entails the Patricians privatising the entire Kingdom by buying up land, roads, bridges, anything that can have a price put on it. But if they don't get past the third stage of the scheme, various Patricians file for bankruptcy and/or make notes in "secret ledgers", and they conclude that "the risk-reward calculus [isn't] favourable", vowing to try again one day.
- Showing that he is the kind of villain who actually learns from his mistakes, Archibald Ironfist of Heroes of Might and Magic and Might and Magic does not wait to be deposed a second time (he managed to rise to the throne of Deyja in the aftermath of the Restoration War) in Might & Magic VII: realizing that his Dragon with an Agenda (Kastore) seems liable to usurp power, Archibald uses the time of power he still has left to set up a place to evacuate to with his most loyal followers (under the guise of acquiring valuable resources, and with defences that would keep him safe ready to be re-activated). When Kastore makes his move, Archibald gets out and so can continue to scheme in safety, unlike the last time.
- AI opponents generally know when they're outmatched, and will not initiate battle against a hero with a superior army under most circumstances. If challenged, they will often fire off their strongest spell and retreat once they know they are outmatched (surrender, however, does not seem to be an option the AI players are able to use). The only exception to the first rule is when they are down to their last town, in which case they will be eliminated from the game unless they capture another within seven days.
- One mission in Hitman 3 sees Agent 47 being pursued by twelve enemy assassins. One of them is killed before the level starts, leaving 47 to take care of the other eleven. However, you only need to kill five of them due to this trope. After the fifth one drops, their handler, Jiao, realizes they are critically outmatched and orders the survivors to evacuate. It's a common Self-Imposed Challenge for players to try to pick off all eleven before they escape.
- Komato Assassins in Iji are the only non-robot enemies the player can "kill" without it getting added to their kill count, because instead of dying, Assassins just throw in the towel and teleport away.
- The Legend of Zelda:
- Gerudo warriors (the ones that fight with two swords) in both Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask will flee after Link defeats them.
- The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask: After Link deals enough damage, Skull Keeta decides to yield and begs for mercy.
- The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: King Bulblin eventually realizes that he can't beat Link. He explains he always fights for the strongest side (with the implication that Link is now that strongest side), before he hands Link a key and leaves. Particularly surprising, as Bulblin had been the definition of a Recurring Boss up until that point.
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: Mina and Mils, a brother/sister duo wandering Hyrule searching for treasure among the ruins of destroyed towns, are frequently found running into various monsters that they attempt to fight against until Link comes to the rescue. But even Mina admits that conducting a similar raid on Hyrule Castle would be suicidal because of all the Guardians roaming around it.
- In Live A Live, in the Final Chapter, Masaru will demand a fight out of the protagonist before he agrees to join... unless your protagonist is the cowboy Sundownnote . Masaru isn't stupid enough to pick a fight with an armed gunman, and concedes on the spot.
- In Mass Effect:
- Deconstructed in the backstory with General Williams, grandfather of squadmate Ashley Williams and commander of the Shanxi garrison during the First Contact War. The turians were bombing Shanxi back to the Stone Age, and General Williams ultimately realized that the battle was hopeless and surrendered to spare what was left of the civilians. Unfortunately for him, this led to him being completely disgraced as the only human commander to surrender territory to a hostile alien invasion force until the Reaper War; he just barely avoided treason charges, he was demoted and eventually drummed out of the military, his son's military career was completely destroyed (with the son in question never rising above the absolute bottom rank in the Alliance), and his granddaughter's career got off to a very rocky start before she fell in with Commander Shepard. The unfortunate lesson is that you might know when to fold 'em, and folding 'em might even be the correct decision, but that doesn't mean your peers won't see it as an act of cowardice and rake you over the coals accordingly.
- Quite a few instances where you avoid a fight via a Renegade or Paragon dialog choice are all about reminding the NPC of this trope, usually by reminding them of all the other people who were more dangerous than they are that you've already killed.
- From Mass Effect: Andromeda, a character in a minor quest gets by using an EMP to disable any passing vehicle that catches his fancy, before killing the owner and stripping the vehicle for parts. Then Ryder comes by. He disables the Nomad, then realises he's severely outmatched, calls Ryder up and gives them the parts needed to restore their car. If Ryder decides he can't be allowed to continue, he'll still try and attack them.
- Portal 2: GLaDOS decides that she is so sick of Chell that she doesn't want to kill her anymore, just get her out of her life. So she grants Chell her freedom in the hope that she never comes back.
- Poker Night at the Inventory:
- Parodied in the first game. When The Heavy is knocked out of the tournament, he will occasionally reference a well-known song from his homeland: "You must know when to hold on to your cards, and you must know when to burn them in fire. Because if you lose, you bring insufferable shame to Republic, and are sent to a work camp in forest."
- The sequel has Ash Williams, who doesn't believe in the "no-win" scenario, but does believe in the "probably-not-going-to-win" scenario, and will fold in such a scenario.
- QUESTER: So long as you've got one party member who's still clinging on to life, you can run away from any fight in the game, including Boss Battles. While running away costs some Purification Fuel, that's nowhere near as bad as the consequences of a Total Party Kill, so it's often better to book it than try to power through a skirmish that doesn't appear to be going your way.
- In Shin Megami Tensei IV, one option during demon conversations is simply to stop the conversation. Often times this will yield better results than allowing the conversation to drag on, which could result in thing such as the demon leaving without giving you what you wanted (e.g. Macca, an item, joining you) or getting a free turn, and this being Megami Tensei, enemies getting free turns is a very bad thing. That said, ending a conversation can also lead to those things happening anyway, and it's impossible to tell when is the best time to do so, making demon conversations, especially recruitment, largely a Luck-Based Mission.
- As Bentley of Sly Cooper puts it, "look, there's no shame in running from a fight. Keeps you alive!"
- In Spore, if you've captured all but one city in the civilization stage and don't take the last city right away, they'll usually just surrender.
- Spyro: Shadow Legacy: In Spyro's final fight with the Sorceror, the Sorceror uses the last of his power to escape when he realizes he's losing.
- Stellaris:
- Many of the more dark and fantastical events offer this as an option. When dealing with such insanities as a dimension of pure suffering, the terrible revelations that led to the extinction of a precursor race, or a black hole writing love bad poetry, there's inevitably an option to the tune of "destroy the data, cordon off the area, and Let Us Never Speak of This Again".
- In the mid-game one of the Marauder factions will unite under a Great Khan and become The Horde, bent on conquering the whole galaxy. Players generally accept that the best thing to do when this happens is to surrender immediately. The Great Khan's fleets are tremendously powerful for that point in the game, the resource penalties for becoming a Satrapy are fairly modest, and the Great Khan will inevitably die, causing his empire to collapse into multiple squabbling successor states that are individually much easier to tangle with. Not fighting the Khan keeps your own nation intact enough to take advantage when that happens.
- In Super Robot Wars 30, the Dreikruez can drop in on various fronts being overwhelmed by enemy forces. When Mitsuba requests that the fighters there retreat and let her team handle this, they agree, realizing they're outmatched and leave the fighting to them, though they return and promise to try and pick up the slack.
- The Fatal Flaw of the villain of Tales of Symphonia, being a deconstruction of the Determinator, is not knowing when to fold 'em. Mithos created the two world system all for the sake of reviving his dead sister, Martel. Despite his allies turning on him, secretly plotting behind his back or openly opposing him, Mithos still continues to sacrifice countless people and resources to bring Martel back. Even when he actually does revive Martel, all Mithos gets for his trouble is a "The Reason You Suck" Speech from Martel herself, expressing her disgust with his actions before she leaves for the afterlife. Protagonist Lloyd Irving, at least, knows when too far is too far, and wants to make sure everyone can live in peace.
- Rufus from Triangle Strategy knows when he's outmatched, and he'll flee rather than fight to the death. It's a bit interesting, as he's normally a Blood Knight who loves fighting... But Rufus is also Only in It for the Money, and he knows that he can't get paid if he (or the guy paying him) dies first.
- In Uncharted this is said by Sully, usually in reference to his old age, but more meaningfully to Nate about his often reckless adventures and need to prove himself.Sully: Guys like me gotta know when to walk away from the table.
- This becomes a major theme in Uncharted 4 due to everyone's self-destructive obsession with the treasure of Libertalia. At the climax, Nate and Nadine realize it's time to fold and get to escape with their lives. Sam has to be convinced by Nate, and leaves with a pocket full of gold coins. Rafe refuses to let go of his obsession, and gets a bag of treasure dropped on his head for his trouble.
- Knowing when to fold is an important part of Gwent in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt: since under most circumstances the players don't draw cards, it's important to when to concede one of the three rounds and hope for a better outcome in the next one, rather than throw all your cards at a situation and then get stomped in the proceeding rounds because your hand's run dry.
- In XCOM: Long War, unlike in vanilla XCOM: Enemy Unknown, not every mission is expected to be winnable; every now and then you will encounter missions that are just too tough and it's preferable to abort rather than risk a Total Party Kill or, possibly worse, a Pyrrhic Victory where you clear the mission but at the cost of wounded soldiers losing valuable Will and other stats. Fortunately, the new ability to retake countries back into the Council fold makes panic increase for doing so less punishing than in vanilla.
- In many video games based on the Yu-Gi-Oh! series, if you catch the CPU opponent in a Yata-Garasu lock
, they'll throw in the towel and spare you the bother of pecking them to death.
