History BreakTheCutie / VideoGames

** [[PluckyGirl Clementine]], who is normally WiseBeyondHerYears and seems to cope with the ZombieApocalypse rather admirably, has a breakdown after [[spoiler:Kenny kills Larry in the meat-locker]].

* ''VisualNovel/GSenjouNoMaou'':
** Kyousuke does this to Tsubaki and Mizuha in their respective bad ends.
** Usami’s backstory.

%%
%%
%%
%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks!
%%
%%
%%
%%
%%
%%

* Atoli of ''VideoGame/DotHackGU'' She's already depressed and suicidal in real life due to being bullied and rejected by her "friends" and parents, despite her happy and perky online facade, and then [[spoiler: Sakaki mind rapes her with false guilt and infects her with AIDA, causing her to snap, and forcing Haseo to beat the crap out of her to save her. Then, he has to slap her and give her a harsh wake-up call back to reality.]] It did her good in the long haul, but still.
* Komaru Naegi of ''VideoGame/DanganronpaAnotherEpisodeUltraDespairGirls'' is portrayed as a cute, bubbly girl throughout the whole game, despite the fact that everything around her is ''[[CrapsackWorld basically going to hell.]]'' However, despite her cheeriness, she has her moments where she is utterly broken. In the first chapter, [[spoiler:she witnesses Yuuta Asahina get blown up before her very eyes trying to escape Towa City. This causes her to go into a HeroicBSOD in which Fukawa yells at her to snap out of it]], and in the third chapter, [[spoiler:she actually gets molested by a machine, and has to wait some time for Genocide Jack to come save her!]] That's not even the worst of it, though. There are plenty of small examples throughout the whole game, but the biggest example is the endgame, where [[spoiler:Monaca reveals to Komaru that she killed her parents. Assuming Komaru saw the torture equipment in the room where Monaca would kill adults, she could notice worse implications than just them being dead. This causes her to fly into a rage, even screaming at Fukawa, who at that point the two considered each other to be best friends. She even almost destroys a controller that kills every single child in Towa City once broken, had it not been for Fukawa grabbing the controller from her. She then proceeds to suffer another HeroicBSOD throughout the rest of the scene, only snapping out of it when Fukawa slaps her across the face after pulling her away from the rogue Big Bang Monokuma.]]
** In a way, despite the Soldiers of Hope doing what they've done to everyone, they have stories that can be [[AlasPoorVillain real tear-jerkers.]] I mean, they're just kids, after all!
*** Masaru Daimon [[spoiler:was beaten by his alcoholic father, and forced to actually steal from stores just to supply for his abusive father.]]
*** Jataro Kemuri [[spoiler:has been neglected and mentally abused to the point where, despite him being absolutely beautiful, he believes he's ugly enough to melt someone's face.]]
*** Kotoko Utsugi [[spoiler:was pimped out by her mother before she turned ten. Yes, you read that right.]]
*** Nagisa Shingetsu [[spoiler:was forced to partake in an experiment that would enhance his intelligence, making him smarter than the average child. This results in various types of abuse, including physical harm, as well as him having to be forced to stay up for three nights in a row. Three.]]
*** Monaca [[spoiler:has several reasons to be broken (being the bastard daughter of a rich CEO and having a disgusting lolicon brother) but she defies this-- she practically worships Junko and her philosophy, so all of that, plus her friend's backstories and goals, are all a funny game to her.]]
* [[{{Pacifist}} Tikal]] from ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure''.

* ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'': The Phone Guy sounds so adorable and happy when he's talking about his admiration for the animatronics. He honestly just wants Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria to be a fun place for everyone. [[spoiler: Some time later, he witnesses the [[NoodleIncident Bite of '87]], the murder of five children (or is framed for the murder), and the scrapping of his beloved characters. Not only that, but he ends up getting killed by the animatronics.]]

* This may sound like a rather odd example, given his role and the system, but [[spoiler: Psaro]] of ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIV'' surely qualifies, right? He's a humanoid demon with a lovely elf girlfriend named Rose, and generally a FriendToAllLivingThings, despite his heritage. Well, one day some enterprising merchants got a hold of Rose, based on rumors that her tears formed into valuable rubies, and being the profit-seeking humans they were, they took her into the middle of a field and brutally beat her. Needless to say, [[spoiler:Psaro]] isn't very happy about this, finding himself so overcome with grief that he kills the merchants. He responds by founding Rosehill Village, which is a tiny settlement around a huge tower he builds to keep Rose safe. It's at this point that [[spoiler: Psaro]] begins considering killing off all of humankind, but Rose begs him to give humanity a chance to peacefully coexist, so he resists the urge. A fellow demon, Radimvice/Aamon, has Rose captured and killed to further his own fiendish plots, namely taking control of all monsters. Radimvice/Aamon is able to prey on [[spoiler: Psaro]]'s trust of all monsters and claim that it was the humans that captured and killed Rose. This manipulation ends up sending [[spoiler: Psaro]] so deep into despair that [[spoiler: he usurps Estark's position as King of the Underworld, becomes the BigBad of the game, and ultimately harnesses the very power of evolution to become a huge green version of Estark that provides the UrExample of the SequentialBoss]], all to take revenge against the humans that had wronged him so. Even with all this, he's not quite an OmnicidalManiac, since he still values the lives of everything else...you know, just not humans. (The [=DS=] and [=PS1=] version adds a 6th chapter in which [[spoiler:Psaro recovers from his defeat and does a HeelFaceTurn by saying that he can make up for his mistakes and take revenge with the party on Aamon. [[FixFic But only AFTER they resurrect Rose and make her calm him down.]]]])

* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' does this to several characters, most notably Roxas. Roxas is a curious case in that he's broken multiple times in a relatively short timespan. He's established as a normal kid who just has fun hanging out with his friends during summer until the Keyblade enters his life.[[spoiler: But soon he starts realizing that everything around him, including the people and his friends were actually fake illusions created by a computer and this virtual city was actually a prison to keep him imprisoned for the time being till his death. From there, things go south further even more till it revealed that he was the [[TomatoInTheMirror fake one]] who was never supposed to exist. By this time, he was a broken wreck. In the final day of the week, he gets disposed of in a FateWorseThanDeath as his supposed best friend comes to finish him off. Later on, it gets worse as it turns out that his so-called friends chose somebody else's well-being above his revival resulting in his chance to escape his fate to be lost. Then ''358/2 Days'' came out showing his past, and it turns out Roxas spent his entire life as the Organization's UnwittingPawn, and among the very few people that seemed to care about him, Larxene got killed in Castle Oblivion, Xion was tasked to kill him and was actually slow-poisoning him and finally Axel, his only other friend realized that only one among Roxas and Xion could survive, and Xion being the more likely candidate, chose her over Roxas after failing to save both. In fact, even these so-called friends frequently insulted and abused him. By the end of the year, after realizing the truth being the organization as well as Xion and how they were using him as a disposable tool only to betray him at the end, breaks whatever was left of him by that point. He eventually faces both of his best friends individually in battle as they try to kill him. Eventually, he gets captured and beaten into a coma, after which he is placed in a machine that puts his consciousness in the fake city for a week, which is already known about. In fact, the first few days of this blissfully ignorant week where he had his memories erased and replaced with fake memories from Namine was the probably happiest time in his life, in which he finally gets to experience a normal life.]]
** Xion herself counts as well. She's [[spoiler:an artificial construct made of Sora's memories, an unnatural existence ''even'' by nobody's standards]], was never seen as true member of Organisation XIII, and most notably, [[spoiler:her original purpose is to sap energy from Roxas, meaning only her or her best friend can live]]. To say she doesn't take this well when she learns about all of that is an understatement. Oh, and the reason she attacked [[spoiler:Roxas? She hoped he will [[SuicideByCop kill]] [[DrivenToSuicide her]], so Sora's memories can be reconstructed. Which he does, with her being [[RetGone forgotten]] by everyone, though as ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance KH3D]]'' out, there ''are'' some memories of her inside Sora's heart.]]

* In ''[[VideoGame/AthenaAwakeningFromTheOrdinaryLife Athena: Awakening from the Ordinary Life]]'', Athena Asamiya of ''VideoGame/PsychoSoldier''[=/=]''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters'' fame becomes TheProtagonist... and is ''brutally'' put through the grinder. In this particular continuity, she's a quiet CuteBookworm who's just starting to discover her powers -- and from then on she has to fight dinosaurs, keep her friends from finding out who she is, pick up the pieces of her self-worth, [[spoiler: fight against a massive GovernmentConspiracy]], [[spoiler: watching one of said friends being shot down by soldiers]], [[spoiler: being unable to save another friend's life at the end]], etc.

* In ''[[VideoGame/AthenaAwakeningFromTheOrdinaryLife Athena: Awakening from the Ordinary Life]]'', Athena Asamiya of ''VideoGame/PsychoSoldier''[=/=]''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters'' fame becomes TheProtagonist... and is ''brutally'' put through the grinder. In this particular continuity she's a quiet CuteBookworm who's just starting to discover her powers -- and from then on she has to fight dinosaurs, keep her friends from finding out who she is, pick up the pieces of her self-worth, [[spoiler: fight against a massive GovernmentConspiracy]], [[spoiler: watching one of said friends being shot down by soldiers]], [[spoiler: being unable to save another friend's life at the end]], etc.

** Aerie's background story in the first place: A sweet, innocent little winged girl is living happily with her parents in a wondrous city. She loves to fly, but one time she sees a group of humans being attacked by slavers on the ground. Her taught fear of earthborne creatures overcome by her empathy, she swoops down to rescue a fleeing child. However, she is shot down, captured, caged, sold into a circus, kept on display, and held in such a small space she has no room to move. Her precious wings become infected and are crudely chopped off to save her life, leaving her crippled both emotionally and physically, having lost her home, sense of identity and ability to fly.

** Finally, much later on into the game, we learn of a phantom ship with ghosts calling out to Lyude. When the group goes to visit said phantom ship, it's filled with the ghosts of Lyude's old friends and fellow Imperial solders. They constantly put the blame on Lyude, accusing him of betraying Alfard and leaving his former family and friends to die. The ghost of his former commander terribly chews him out. The ghosts of his older brother and sister very much start the breaking of Lyude, saying he was always hated by them and unworthy of their attention.

** On the male end of the spectrum, there is Carl Clover, who witnessed his sister being turned into a machine by his father, and was scarred for life.

** To top it off, in the Chronophantasma Arcade End, [[spoiler:she found out from Rachel, that in her insistence to save Arakune has finally tipped off Kokonoe completely that she went from 'refuse to help', into 'declare her an enemy that needs to die', yep her mentor finally considered her a complete lost cause... oh and her involvement in NOL was instead ushering a doomsday scenario planned by Relius himself, and possibly, Lotte Carmine, the subject she's trying to save, was trying to further that plan instead. Said involvement includes confronting Bang Shishigami, a friend of hers, who ends up having his prized possession taken away by Relius, and it turns out to be the doomsday device he's looking. On that multitude of realization that she screwed up so badly, being manipulated to destroy many that she loved, is it any wonder that this woman broke down crying?]]

** Tomoya, who is raised by a neglectful, abusive father after his mother's passing, has to give up his childhood dream of becoming a basketball player due to an injury, finds hope when he falls in love with the lovely Nagisa, and then [[spoiler: has to watch as she dies in childbirth.]] [[HopeSpot Things get better for a while]] as he raises his daughter Ushio, but then it all comes crashing down again when, to top it all off, [[spoiler: she dies from the very same illness that claimed her mother. Of course, the last two deaths are eventually subverted with the help of parallel universes, time travel and some light orbs, but it's heartbreaking for the poor guy nonetheless.]]
** Sweet little Kotomi had few friends as a child, but she was eventually left quite literally alone [[spoiler: after her parents' deaths in a plain crash and her only friend [[ForgottenChildhoodFriend Tomoya]] abandoning her out of [[WhatTheHellHero petty embarrassment.]] ]] She seems okay in the present, but then [[FreakOut loses it]] in a moment of panic when it seems as though her friend Ryou has been hurt in a bus crash, triggering bad memories. [[spoiler: ThePowerOfFriendship eventually helps her find her feet again.]]

** [[spoiler:Getting a bad ending in the game ends with you beating up and then choking Simon's mental projection of himself to death with your bare hands, complete with struggles and pained gagging sounds, leading to his real life suicide.]]

* Isaac Clarke, the protagonist of ''VideoGame/DeadSpace''. Granted, he is not a cute anime girl with big eyes and bright hair, but still, he is your average 40-year-old guy trying to earn his salary and get some news about her former girlfriend on a supposedly routine repair job, [[spoiler: and he gets stuck facing off against horribly mutated undead creatures, some of whom ''he knew'', the people who try to help him stop the necromorphs being brutally murdered, he gets betrayed by one of his own teammates and at the end it's revealed his girlfriend ''killed herself before he arrived'' and he's been driven insane by a fake ArtifactOfDoom. When he finally gets a break from all the massacres and bloodshed, he seems to be coming to terms with the loss of his girlfriend... then he is apparently attacked by her. Luckily for him, according to the creators of the game, he is still alive.]]

** [[spoiler: Colonel Mirror in Zero Saga. To wit: as a child Yamato wished to become an invincible hero who could beat up bullies. What that ends up doing is placing all the heroic traits Yamato had into Stryker Zero, and his child self who originally made the wish ends up in the body of Colonel Mirror, who was created as a villain with a heart condition that will soon kill him. So he seeks help from the Stryker manga's original creator, but because he's a villain, his creator rejects him as a villainous monster who ''should'' die, and as soon as possible. Then his heart condition gets worse and starts interfering with what morals he does have, and he ends up killing Daniel for no particular reason. Then he meets Yamato's mother and mistakes her for his own mother, but by this point he's become a grotesque monster. Then because the Memory Collector told the Balborans that the only way to restore everything back to normal is to kill Mirror, Yamato's mother is told to bring Mirror outside school but that lets the Balborans attack him all at once, so he thinks his mother deliberately set him up to be hurt by others and he has no loved ones in the world. That's what finally "breaks" him and he becomes a manchild who repeatedly screams about how badly he wanted to be a hero but was reduced to this instead.]]

** Ayato [[spoiler: was forced by Cordelia to be the best and be better than Beatrix’s children (Shuu and Reiji). She forced him to study and instead of praising his efforts she would constantly berate him. Due to this he ended up believing that he must always be the best at everything, becoming a selfish jerkass.]]

** Subaru, [[spoiler: revealed to be a ChildByRape. Karl took Subaru’s mother Christa, forced her to become his bride, raped her and made her have a child, Subaru. A mentally broken Christa often asked Subaru many times to kill her and even gave him a silver knife, which can kill vampires. Subaru, however, never could bring himself to kill his own mother and watching her being frecuently abused and raped by Karl. The trauma was bad enough, and he became violent as a result.]]
** Shuu, [[spoiler:an ExtremeDoormat since childhood, one day befriended a human boy named Edgar. They became best friends, but Reiji, who disapproved of his brother being friends with an human, burned the whole village Edgar lived in, leaving Shuu traumatized and feeling useless upon not doing anything to save Edgar. The nail in the coffin was Reiji twisting his mind by constantly telling him that because of his failure, he is not apt to be the family head.]]

** As if that isn't bad enough, her [[spoiler:former mentor]] comes after her again in an effort to cut off all loose ends, absolutely certain (and absolutely wrong) that Leliana is working towards revenge. This little side quest is all it takes to completely shatter the life that Leliana had pieced together for herself and send her back into her old ways, unless you convince her not to.
*** There's also a good chance (and outright implication) that she was [[RapeIsASpecialKindofEvil gang-raped]] as part of the torture she went through. Break the cutie indeed....
** There's also Alistair, an insufferably wise-cracking smartass who, overall, is a pretty decent and pure-hearted guy. At some point he learned that he has an older sister and asks the Warden if they can visit her. [[spoiler:It does not go well. And nothing you say to him eases the pain of rejection he feels. You can use the opportunity to harden his naive idealism into a more realistic view, for some changes to the ending pertaining to him.]]

* This may sound like a rather odd example, given his role and the system, but [[spoiler: Psaro]] of ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIV'' surely qualifies, right? He's a humanoid demon with a lovely elf girlfriend named Rose, and generally a FriendToAllLivingThings, despite his heritage. Well, one day some enterprising merchants got a hold of Rose, based on rumors that her tears formed into valuable rubies, and being the profit-seeking humans they were, they took her into the middle of a field and brutally beat her. Needless to say, [[spoiler:Psaro]] isn't very happy about this, finding himself so overcome with grief that he kills the merchants. He responds by founding Rosehill Village, which is a tiny settlement around a huge tower he builds to keep Rose safe. It's at this point that [[spoiler: Psaro]] begins considering killing off all of humankind, but Rose begs him to give humanity a change to peacefully coexist, so he resists the urge. A fellow demon, Radimvice/Aamon, has Rose captured and killed to further his own fiendish plots, namely taking control of all monsters. Radimvice/Aamon is able to prey on [[spoiler: Psaro]]'s trust of all monsters and claim that it was the humans that captured and killed Rose. This manipulation ends up sending [[spoiler: Psaro]] so deep into despair that [[spoiler: he usurps Estark's position as King of the Underworld, becomes the BigBad of the game, and ultimately harnesses the very power of evolution to become a huge green version of Estark that provides the UrExample of the SequentialBoss]], all to take revenge against the humans that had wronged him so. Even with all this, he's not quite an OmnicidalManiac, since he still values the lives of everything else...you know, just not humans. (The [=DS=] and [=PS1=] version adds a 6th chapter in which [[spoiler:Psaro recovers from his defeat and does a HeelFaceTurn by saying that he can make up for his mistakes and take revenge with the party on Aamon. [[FixFic But only AFTER they resurrect Rose and make her calm him down.]]]])

* The [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Final Fantasy VII Compilation]] seems to be one long telling of how they broke the character Cloud, glued him back wrong, broke him again, then fixed him for real. [[TheWoobie Sort of]]. Specifically, [[spoiler:this included being blamed for an accident that injured his childhood crush Tifa, which results in him being forbidden from seeing her, failing at the only dream he ever had (joining SOLDIER), watching his mother die (oh, and knowing she was killed by his idol, aka Sephiroth), watching his other idol -- Zack -- get shanked by Seph, getting shanked himself, being experimented on for four years straight, and all of this culminates with watching his beloved Zack get gunned down after being dragged across the country by him for a year because the experimentation had left him nearly comatose. [[FromBadToWorse Then it gets worse]]. Unable to cope with all that has happened in the past, he recreates his memories so Zack never existed (well, he thinks he's Zack, but same thing). And then ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' happens (in which we see him actually break and go comatose again). After the game Cloud settles down with Tifa, only to contract the incurable disease Geo-Stigma, which leads you down a slow and painful death.]] Towards the end of ''[[Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren Advent Children]]'' his troubles are finally solved, however.
** Don't forget about Zack too. Sure he was already a SOLDIER that fought and killed, but he was still an adorable one that would help other lower ranked SOLDIERS and unimportant Shinra staff. In fact getting recommended for first class rank was enough to make him act sort-of-childish. Then the mission to Wutai happens where Angeal disappears, then he has to see that same person, who he idolized, kill his own mother, then he has to see Angeal's hometown get blown up. Then comes the part where [[spoiler: He has to kill him]] making the tough SOLDIER, who was promoted to first rank at that point cry. It's sort of heart-breaking to see the normally cheery person turn into a strict role model in the scene that follows.

*** Averted with CheerfulChild Nino. Having a [[EvilMatriarch manipulative, evil woman]] like Sonia as a mother would be enough to drive a little girl over the edge, but things find a way to go downhill from there. [[spoiler:First, her mother orders her killed in order to make a scapegoat for an assassination plot. After a narrow save by her best friend (and possible love interest through supports), she later confronts Sonia, only to learn that Sonia actually ''murdered her birth family'' when she was a baby, and would have killed her as well if it wasn't for orders from the BigBad. Then, she has to witness the murder of one of her adopted brothers, one which she tried her best to prevent. After watching the Black Fang fall apart, if you keep her around for the final boss, she has to fight ''the animated corpses'' of said adopted family: not only her brothers, but her ''father'' as well.]] Yet in spite of it all, [[PluckyGirl Nino presses on and, despite having her small breakdowns, never fully gives into despair]].

** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'': [[TheWoobie Pelleas.]] [[spoiler: Shy orphan boy who made a deal to become a spirit charmer? Check. Being though of as the lost prince of Daein? Check. Having his life suck BALLS since then, due to his ArchnemesisDad and his already broken [[MyBelovedSmother smother]] of a mother? Check. Being tricked into making a [[DealWithTheDevil blood pact]] to help his country, only to have things go ''even wronger'' than they were? Check. Ultimately asking Micaiah or Tauroneo to kill him so the pact will go away, [[SenselessSacrifice only to see that it's useless]]? Check.]] It takes a LOT [[spoiler: (re: more than one playthrough)]] to even get the chance to try rebuilding this cutie's heart.

*** Some of the parents are/were pretty broken, too. It's all but stated that [[spoiler: Henry [[NotGoodWithPeople wasn't exactly stable to begin with]], but the death of his OnlyFriend sent him in a huge RoaringRampageOfRevenge ''[[CreepyChild when he was less than 12 years old]]'', and the BoardingSchoolOfHorrors (Western version)/OrphanageOfFear (original Japanese) that he was sent to did ''not'' help matters.]] Then we have [[spoiler: [[ReligiousBruiser Libra]], who was thought of being under DemonicPossession and then was abandoned by his parents and shunned by everyone]]. Also, [[spoiler: [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Nowi]] was captured and made a trick-performing slave before running away and joining up with the Shepherds, and is quite aware of [[WhoWantsToLiveForever how she will outlive almost everyone she loves]] [[ObfuscatingStupidity despite acting like a little girl]] to cope.]] And there's [[spoiler: [[BrokenAce Cordelia]], who not only suffers of UnrequitedLove but has a TREMENDOUS SurvivorsGuilt after her unit members die for her sake.]] And then [[spoiler: Chrom and Lissa]] get '''horribly''' broken when [[spoiler: Emmeryn, their beloved eldest sister, goes through a HeroicSuicide to stop the Plegian/Ylissean war…]]

* Gwen from ''VideoGame/GuildWars'', you first meet her at the beginning of the first campaign ''Prophecies'' as a cute, cheerful and lovely little girl, soon after her (and yours too) [[DoomedHometown hometown is destroyed]] by the Charr and Gwen's fate is unknown, until years pass and you meet her again as a young woman in the expansion pack ''Eye of the North'', it is revealed that she was brutally tortured and enslaved by the Charr and she bitterly harbors hatred and the desire for revenge against them.

** In ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}'', Cortana is near the end of her life due to her becoming increasingly rampant, and becomes increasingly melancholy about it. All the while, her sanity and self-control are visibly slipping, and she's clearly distraught about the fact that she's having trouble doing what used to be relatively simple tasks for her. Making it worse, she clearly doesn't want the Chief to worry about her, having realized that he might not be able to keep his promise to keep her safe this time around.

* [[VideoGame/JakAndDaxter Jak]] starts off as a [[BadassAdorable cute]], but [[CuteMute silent]], boy who spends his childhood days going on adventures with his best friend [[WeaselMascot Daxter]]. But then, after finding a mysterious portal following [[VideoGame/JakAndDaxterThePrecursorLegacy Daxter's transformation into an ottsel, and having to take down a corrupted sibling duo]], they wind up far into the future, where Jak is captured and [[ElectricTorture tortured with Dark Eco]] [[FateWorseThanDeath for two years]]. By the events of the [[VideoGame/JakIIRenegade second game]], Jak loses his cutie status and [[TookALevelInBadass becomes a badass rebel seeking revenge]].

* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' does this to several characters, most notably Roxas. Roxas is a curious case in that he's broken multiple times in a relatively short timespan. He's established as a normal kid who just has fun hanging out with his friends during summer until the Keyblade enters his life.[[spoiler: But soon he starts realizing that everything around him, including the people and his friends were actually fake illusions created by a computer and this virtual city was actually a prison to keep him imprisoned for the time being till his death. From there, things go south further even more till it revealed that he was the [[TomatoInTheMirror fake one]] who was never supposed to exist. By this time, he was a broken wreck. In the final day of the week, he gets disposed in a FateWorseThanDeath as his supposed best friend comes to finish him off. Later on, it gets worse as it turns out that his so-called friends chose somebody else's well-being above his revival resulting his chance to escape his fate to be lost. Then ''358/2 Days'' came out showing his past, and it turns out Roxas spent his entire life as the Organization's UnwittingPawn, and among the very few people that seemed to care about him, Larxene got killed in Castle Oblivion, Xion was tasked to kill him and was actually slow-poisoning him and finally Axel, his only other friend realized that only one among Roxas and Xion could survive, and Xion being the more likely candidate, chose her over Roxas after failing to save both. In fact, even these so-called friends frequently insulted and abused him. By the end of the year, after realizing the truth being the organization as well as Xion and how they were using him as a disposable tool only to betray him at the end, breaks whatever was left of him by that point. He eventually faces both of his best friends individually in battle as they try to kill him. Eventually he gets captured and beaten into a coma, after which he is placed in a machine that puts his consciousness in the fake city for a week, which is already known about. In fact, the first few days of this blissfully ignorant week where he had his memories erased and replaced with fake memories from Namine was the probably happiest time in his life, in which he finally gets to experience a normal life.]]

* ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters'' gives us [[spoiler: Kula Diamond.]] A little girl raised as an test subject for a good part of her life [[spoiler: by the NESTS cartel]], in KOF 2000 she realises how terrible the group is, and decides to [[spoiler: fight back and destroy the Zero Cannon, saving the Earth.]] After that, she [[spoiler: plummets to Earth and is saved by RobotGirl Candy... who is destroyed so Kula can live.]] Her end has her [[spoiler:cradling Candy's robot head, which murmurs "friend... my friend..."]] From then on, however, she starts getting better.

** A variation of this in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' involves breaking a large group of lovable characters called the Gorons. A peaceful, friendly group, they just want to live in peace and harvest their crops, but are content to welcome outsiders as well. However, when Ganondorf shows up and demands they turn over their spiritual stone, they refuse to do it and he punishes them by sealing off their primary food source. Later in the game, when Ganondorf takes over, he has several Gorons locked up in cages in the Fire Temple, and is going to feed them to a dragon as a warning to those who might oppose him. Once you get to the Fire Temple, you see the Gorons trembling in their cells, evidently terrified, begging for mercy, and not being given any. This is arguably the most likely candidate for MoralEventHorizon on Ganondorf's part in the entire game. And then you get to march in there, save each and every one of them, and smash the dragon's head in with a shiny new hammer.

* This is the major plot point of [[VideoGame/LuigisMansion Luigi's Mansion]]. Luigi was just going to visit the mansion with his brother, but was actually a set-up by King Boo to get rid of Mario forever. With the help of Elvin Gadd, Luigi has to save Mario equipped with a ghost-sucking vaccuum cleaner, while dealing with ghosts he's scared to wits over all over the mansion.

** Yeoman Kelly Chambers is probably the minor character for which Cutie is the most appropriate. In the third game you can find her again and she refuses to set foot on the Normandy due to [=PTSD=] following her ordeal at the hands of the Collectors from the second game in which [[spoiler:she comes ''this close'' to being liquified alive]], but she still manages helping refugees who had it as bad as her. [[spoiler:And in this case, [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential you can proceed to Break the Cutie further]], leading to her [[DrivenToSuicide killing herself]].]]

** And of course the biggest example in the whole series, is Naked Snake aka. Big Boss. Started out as a rather naive rookie soldier and a NiceGuy in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'', then losing his eye [[spoiler:for a woman who ended up betraying him]] and being forced to kill his old mentor [[spoiler:who was never a traitor all along but ended up being used and discarded by the US Government]] turned him into a bitter, angry shell of a man who despises politicians and set in his mind a dream of a nation that was constantly at war and would never discard or use soldiers in the way [[spoiler:his old country used The Boss.]]
* [[TheWoobie Poor Lucas]] from ''VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}''. [[spoiler: His mother dies, his twin brother Claus disappears and believed to be dead, and his father suffers from DeusAngstMachina going off everyday to look for his missing son ignoring the one he has left in the process. All of this within a few days game time.]]
** [[spoiler: After the three-year time skip, things don't improve for the poor kid. If anything, it gets worse. His father still goes out searching, the beloved [[DoomedHometown village]] slowly changes into a more modern town before being abandoned completely, it is revealed that everything he knows has been an elaborate lie to prevent another Armageddon, and that game's final BigBad? His missing twin brother, now a BrainwashedAndCrazy cyborg.]]

** ''VideoGame/NierAutomata'' is surprisingly tame to characters during the main path for a ''Creator/TaroYoko'' game, but makes their life and demise living and dying hell once you start to dwell into the territory of [[MultipleEndings alternative endings]]. Pascal, the friendly robot [[spoiler: whose machine village is wiped out by Logic Virus and the children ''commit mass suicide'' because they cannot bear the fear he taught them to, and who commits suicide should you [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential ignore his pleads to reset his memory or kill him]]]], and 9S [[spoiler: which is basically so much under onslaught of bad things since the last two chapters of Route B until the end he basically turns into a [[SociopathicHero variant]] of ''[[Videogame/{{Drakengard}} Caim]]'' by then]] really stand out.

* Yukari Takeba and Mitsuru Kirijo in ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}''. Mitsuru falls into HeroicBSOD after [[spoiler:Chairman Ikutsuki murders her father right before her eyes]]. Yukari herself falls into deep depression [[spoiler: when she learns that her much adored DisappearedDad had a hand in creasting the Shadows... and that's ''before'' she loses it upon the death of the MC and almost has a FaceHeelTurn in ''The Answer''.]]

** For instance, in Episode 2, [[spoiler: she is refused a reward for her monster hunting job because someone who openly admitted to being a professional job thief (who didn't really DO anything) pointed out to the client that she was possessed. Without proof.]] Yeah, [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer people don't like her]].

** [[ButtMonkey Fred]] [[spoiler: used to be one of the asylum orderlies and, from the looks of things, quite the NiceGuy, who one fine day tried to cheer up a withdrawn patient by challenging him to his favorite board game. He was beaten repeatedly and developed a dominating SplitPersonality in the form of his ancestor UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte, trying to knock him into shape for being a "loser". [[AndIMustScream And he's completely aware of and horrified by his problem, but can't do anything about it, since Napoleon takes over any time he tries to help himself]]. When you find him, Dr. Loboto has appointed the patient who beat him at his own game as a fake orderly who stands off the the side mocking him from a distance as he watches him play the game against himself]].

* Oichi in ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara'', in her story mode (she didn't break in other stories). Starting out as an introverted woman with casual dark powers, she got a very sadistic son of a bitch for a brother that is UsefulNotes/OdaNobunaga, who tried to kill her, and then her husband [[{{Tsundere}} Azai]] [[LoveFreak Nagamasa]] [[TakingTheBullet takes a deadly shot from Nobunaga meant for her]]. And then he forcefully drafts her into his army and makes her do many killings in his name, careless if she feels really guilty on the mass murdering. [[BewareTheNiceOnes And she finally snaps, taken over with her evil side]] and kills her brother and his subordinates, all with a twisted EvilLaugh. She finally returns to her gentle self and cries over her atrocity, but even fate wants to ''break'' her. So, the ceiling in the temple where she killed her brother finally falls on her and the whole temple is completely consumed with fire, killing her.
* Lili from ''Senko no Ronde'' is such a case. Apparently having been given to a laboratory by her family prior to the events of the game she still acts rather cute at first. She's shy, very insecure and easily scared... until she battles Ernula and it triggers something within her, causing a 180° turn in her personality and transforming her into an insane, blood-thirsty killing machine obsessed with beautifully destroying everything she can. As she gains an utterly evil look and an insane laughter she first starts by just beating up foes until she eventually resorts to even attacking her own comrades to satisfy her urge to destroy. She returns back to normal though when [[spoiler: Mika defeats her in combat and she dies]].

* Sergeant Lugo in ''Videogame/SpecOpsTheLine''. Lugo starts off as a fairly lighthearted comedic character, but quickly becomes more and more disturbed as the story progresses. When the player unknowingly orders Lugo to use [[spoiler: [[KillItWithFire white]] [[BodyHorror phosphorus]] on a refugee camp]], Lugo goes through a HeroicBSOD. The player really gets a sense of how far his mind is gone when he [[spoiler:without flinching kills an unarmed man by shooting him point blank, a few seconds after having a casual conversation with him about radio tech]].

** ''VideoGame/SuikodenII'': Pilika. ''Dear God'', poor Pilika. She is only a bubbly five-year-old girl, and is a gut-wrenching example of how war can destroy a young life. First, her hometown, Toto, is destroyed and her parents are killed, making her one of the few survivors. Jowy, who was previously saved by her and who deeply cares about her, decided then to take her under his wing and to become her uncle. Alas, the protagonists are attacked by Luca Blight's army at Viktor's fort, and his mercenaries are overwhelmed, prompting Luca to invade the fort himself, where he stumbles upon a very frightened Pilika. He then proceeds to effortlessly kill Polk, a young mercenary, in front of her. Riou and Jowy try to stop him, but are easily beaten by Luca, who is about ''to [[{{Sadist}} gleefully and sadistically]] cut Pilika in half'', while [[AintTooProudtoBeg a panicked Jowy is shouting desperately at him to stop]]. They are only saved by the timely and rather rash actions of Viktor who more or less blow up the fort. Following these events, Pilika's portrait is altered for the rest of the game, replacing her previous happy expression by a deeply sorrowful one, and the events traumatized her so much that she became mute. She is then forced to flee to Muse along Riou, Jowy and Nanami, but Muse itself became the target of Luca's armies, and, worse, [[spoiler:Jowy decided to turn traitor by killing himself the mayor of Muse, Anabelle, and opening the gate for the enemies, in order to get close to Luca and eventually usurp him as King of Highland]]. Pilika is then left alone with Riou and Nanami, away from her new parental figure. She briefly meets him again at Greenhill, but they are separated. It is not until the [[spoiler:death of Luca Blight]] that she is able to reunite with Jowy, during a peace treaty conference... [[spoiler:In which Jowy was about to kill Riou and Teresa in order to force the states of Dunan to surrender. In fact, the only reason his attempt failed was because Shu, Flik and Viktor correctly guessed what was going to happen, and organized a rescue party. Pilika was brought along only to serve as a human shield and emotional bargain against Jowy, who could not bring himself to kill his former best friends in front of her]]. At that point, after months of war and deep silence, she recovers her voice. However... [[spoiler:She is once again separated from Jowy following the fall of L'Renouille, and sent to Harmonia along with Julia under new identities in order to begin a new life. It is not revealed if she meet him again in the future, and if she managed to really recover from the events of her traumatising childhood]].
** ''VideoGame/SuikodenV'': While the Godwins fail to break Lymsleia, the same can't be said of [[GenkiGirl Miakis]], given that [[spoiler: she's forced to watch as the Godwins use Lymsleia under threat of being stripped of her guardianship of her. When Lym refuses mourn her parents deaths (to deny the Godwins the satisfaction of seeing her cry), Miakis does so in her stead. She's eventually removed as Lym's guardian anyway, following her coronation and denied access to her; which causes Miakis to become increasingly despondent. Gizel finally orders her to aid Alenia in Doraat's defense; a calculated move to isolate Lymsleia from all support, aware Miakis would likely switch alliances and join Frey's army. But not before buying Alenia time to escape, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxuufS4-5kc resulting in this.]]]] [[TearJerker And we all cry with Miakis.]]
* Latooni Subota from ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars Original Generation'' is a pre-broken cutie who was traumatized in the School, a Federation institute that turns children into pilots. [[spoiler:Everyone in the Latooni class except for her died. She was constantly experimented on by Adler Koch and Agilla Setme. Finally, she was forced to undergo an intense experiment that caused her to suffer a kind of androphobia where she could barely talk]]. Over the course of the game she gets better, and starts making a full recovery. After the Divine Crusaders are defeated she becomes TheWoobie.
** In term of being broken, it looks like Latooni has been topped by Setsuko Ohara of Z, it starts off with her mentor and boyfriend as a team at first but as soon as Asakim the evil alternative Masaki shows up. Things go downhill for her, her team gets killed, evil Masaki takes a special moment to physically abuse her a bit and presumably traumatize her with showing her dead comrades remains and she is only subjected to more abuse later on, even having to fight her seiyu's idol Kira Yamato a few times. To make things worse, she ''can't'' get back at Not-Masaki by killing him, because that's exactly what he wanted, killing him will give him satisfaction and ends her in defeat, so she either has to admit defeat by killing him, or let him live... and break her even further.

* ''VideoGame/TalesOfLegendia'' has pretty much every character get broken at some point in the game. [[spoiler: Sans Grune]]. Most of this was done in the past, but the character quests quest shows Moses having to say goodbye to his lovely pet Giet, Will's DeathByOriginStory wife and his attempts to bond with his daughter, Chloe [[DidNotGetTheGirl Did Not Get the Boy]]... and that's just the second half. The first half details Shirley getting the worst of it. [[spoiler: An IllGirl who is constantly kidnapped and has to be TheMessiah for Nerifes -- something she does not want nor is ready for. She watches her biological sister die right in front of her (herself having been broken way before.) and then is forced to watch Fenimore take the sword for her, and Fenimore's identical twin blames ''her'' for it. She was pretty much pushed beyond the DespairEventHorizon when Nerifes started controlling her, but is snapped out by Senel in the end.]] Someone really ''really'' hated Shirley.

* Elly, of ''VideoGame/XenoGears'' fame, just can't get a break in the last hours of the first disc. On top of her [[spoiler: parents getting killed, shortly followed by her entire civilization getting torn apart until there's ''nothing left,'' she then finds out that her boyfriend, Fei, has a SplitPersonality that manifests itself as a destructive madman -- the same destructive madman, moreover, that just destroyed her civilization ''single-handedly,'' and has been known to destroy entire continents because he was bored.]] Yeah, something tells us that Elly won't be remembering that day very fondly....

* Akira Nishikiyama of ''VideoGame/{{Yakuza}}'', now that he's been much more [[CharacterDevelopment developed]] by the [[VideoGame/Yakuza0 prequel]] and the [[VideoGame/Yakuza1 first game's]] remake. Despite trying so hard to be noticed by the higher ups and advance through the ranks of the {{yakuza}}, he's continually overshadowed by his best friend, Kiryu. Their childhood crush also favors Kiryu. Despite this, he and Kiryu are extremely close, and he's devastated when Kiryu [[TakingTheHeat takes the blame]] for Nishiki's own murder of their boss and goes to prison for a decade in his place. Ironically, though Kiryu's absence allows him to advance, everyone respects Kiryu more for his supposed 'crime' and view Nishiki as a spineless nobody, to the point where his own men out and out bully him. Then his sister dies after he's taken advantage of financially by a doctor who promised he could save her. By that point, it's no wonder he snaps.
** Subverted by Haruka. Over the series and before the age of 18, Haruka has been orphaned, kidnapped, beaten and seen pretty much every single aspect of the dark side of the human psyche in some form. While she has taken some damage, she has never let her traumas break her, but remains genuinely kind, cheerful and relentlessly optimistic.

** This has already happened to [[spoiler:Mr. Aishi. He was the reason why Ryoba went around killing people (no number is specified other than one confirmed death), was kidnapped, was implied to have been sexually assaulted by his captor and eventually developed StockholmSyndrome. When you play one of the later Basement Tapes, you can hear the empty tone in his voice, signifying that he has been broken by his wife.]]

** In a way, despite the Soldiers of Hope doing what they've done to everyone, they have stories that can be [[AlasPoorVillain real tear jerkers.]] I mean, they're just kids, after all!

** Don't forget about Zack too. Sure he was already a SOLDIER that fought and killed, but he was still an adorkable one that would help other lower ranked SOLDIERS and unimportant Shinra staff. In fact getting recommended for first class rank was enough to make him act sort-of-childish. Then the mission to Wutai happens where Angeal disappears, then he has to see that same person, who he idolized, kill his own mother, then he has to see Angeal's hometown get blown up. Then comes the part where [[spoiler: He has to kill him]] making the tough SOLDIER, who was promoted to first rank at that point cry. It's sort of heart-breaking to see the normally cheery person turn into a strict role model in the scene that follows.

* [[spoiler: Izebel]] from ''VideoGame/TearsToTiara2''. She was a very beautiful and talented soldier and bureaucrat. Very serious, by-the-book, adorkable, and kind (well at least to people not of her own generation). She loves Hadrubal, is his secretary, is guardian and a CoolBigSis to his son Hamil. Then she betrays Hasdrubal, takes his burnt corpse to TheEmpire to replace him as Governor General of Hispania, becomes probably the most hated person in the province, and fights Hamil when he grows up. [[spoiler: And the whole thing was on Hasdrubal's orders before he took his own life due to political machinations far out of both of their control. All the while she has to pretend to be loyal to TheEmpire while helping LaResistance behind the scenes, without even LaResistance knowing they're being helped. All for a cause that she herself didn't really believe in. But she continues to follow Hasdrubal's last orders because she loves him that much.]]

* The whole point of the [[VideoGame/TombRaider2013 2013 reboot]] of ''Franchise/TombRaider'' is to allow the player to experience Lara's evolution from {{Adorkable}} {{Everyman}} college grad into bad-ass AdventurerArchaeologist. She never quite loses the adorkableness with her giddy enthusiasm for the tombs and relics she uncovers, but good GOD is the poor girl put through the wringer as she struggles to survive being stranded on an island filled with psychotic and brutal cultists [[spoiler: and an enraged immortal queen [[AndIMustScream trapped in her decaying body]] unleashing the furious storms that are trapping everyone there]]. Lara spends a significant part of the game terrified out of her mind, with her ability to move crippled by a [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice severe wound in her side]] that's reopened several times over the course of the story, [[spoiler: watches three friends sacrifice themselves for her]] on top of all the other horrors she's forced to witness, [[SurvivorGuilt blames herself for getting everyone trapped in the first place]], has multiple {{Hope Spot}}s of escape dashed only to blame herself ''again'' for the deaths of their would-be rescuers, and is forced to contend with the [[DirtyBusiness horrible things she has to do to survive]]. [[IronWoobie She manages to soldier through it all]], but comes out of the game a battered and bleeding [[ThousandYardStare psychological wreck]].

* ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'': The Phone Guy sounds so adorable and happy when he's talking about his admiration for the animatronics. He honestly just wants Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria to be a fun place for everyone. [[spoiler: Some time later, he witnesses the [[NoodleIncident Bite of '87]], the murder of five children (or is framed for the murder), and the scrapping of his beloved characters. Not only that, but he ends up getting killed by the animatronics. Although there is some speculation that he might actually be the murderer...]]

* Ezio Auditore in ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedII'' watched helplessly as his father and two brothers were executed as part of a conspiracy, and spent the next twenty years hunting down those responsible. It's painful to watch his transformation from the carefree, wise-cracking son of a banker into a revenge-driven assassin, and he only barely manages to avoid becoming just like his enemies. The execution scene is especially heartrending, because as soon as Ezio shouts "I'll kill you!", you know there is no going back to the way things were before.
** Also, [[spoiler:his girlfriend Cristina]] was shown to be killed in Assassins Creed Brotherhood in one of the flash-back missions.
** Speaking of AC, Connor (or Ratonhnhaké:ton, if you'd prefer) of ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIII'' deserves a mention. We first play him as an adorable 9-year-old kid, who then gets attacked by armed colonists and has to watch his mother slowly die trapped in a burning building. Like Ezio, he spends most of the game trying to track down those responsible and get revenge. The fact that he's just so {{Adorkable}} and such a genuinley good person only makes it worse.

** Don't forget about Zack too. Sure he was already a SOLDIER that fought and killed, but he was still and adorkable one that would help other lower ranked SOLDIERS and unimportant Shinra staff. In fact getting recommended for first class rank was enough to make him act sort-of-childish. Then the mission to Wutai happens where Angeal disappears, then he has to see that same person, who he idolized, kill his own mother, then he has to see Angeal's hometown get blown up. Then comes the part where [[spoiler: He has to kill him]] making the tough SOLDIER, who was promoted to first rank at that point cry. It's sort of heart-breaking to see the normally cheery person turn into a strict role model in the scene that follows.

** Ventus starts as an {{Adorkable}}, cheerful little boy who "views every day as a new discovery". [[spoiler: By the end of Birth by Sleep, he's nothing but an EmptyShell, and he was a DeathSeeker for a brief period of time before that.]]

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' has Princess Zelda. Having a more {{Adorkable}} portrayal this time around, [[spoiler:her encouraging mother's death and her father's stern demands that she unlock her RoyaltySuperPower for the upcoming fight against Calamity Ganon means that she is not allowed to be the scholar she really wants to be. Then, when Ganon returns, he possesses the mechanisms originally designed to defeat him and devastates the kingdom, all of which Zelda was unable to prevent due to the lack of said power. Cue CryIntoChest scene with Link.]] A less extreme example is Paya, a shy ShrinkingViolet [[TheIngenue Ingenue]] with a crush on Link [[WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove that she doesn't fully understand]], who is devastated when the important Sheikah heirloom she and her ancestors have been guarding for 10,000 years for Link's eventual use gets stolen under her watch; once Link retrieves it and uses it for its intended purpose, though, she gets over it quickly.

** Tali, the {{Adorkable}} quarian squadmate who tags along with you through the entire series, [[spoiler:goes through this if you side with the geth over the quarians or peace between the races. [[DrivenToSuicide It doesn't last long.]]]]
* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'': Oh, Otacon. Otacon, Otacon, Otacon. He's an {{Adorkable}} nerd-boy who loves all things nerdy and Japanese, is enthusiastic about his work, and genuinely believes in people. [[spoiler: Also, he's a statutory rape victim, his father committed suicide, he's inadvertently responsible for the creation of one of the deadliest weapons mankind has ever known, his crush was shot, his long-lost sister was killed, his ''other'' crush was killed, and his HeterosexualLifePartner, the ''only person who's ever stuck by him,'' is doomed to die of old age at forty-five.]] This series might as well be called ''Metal Gear Horrible Things Happen to Hal Emmerich.'' It's to the point where the ten years of happiness he gets [[spoiler: with Snake]] between ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2'' and ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'' feels almost like a slap in the face--"We're giving you a break from your horrible life. Enjoy it while it lasts, 'cause it's not going to last long!"

* Poor Guybrush Threepwood. He starts off as {{Adorkable}} and happy-go-lucky in ''VideoGame/TalesOfMonkeyIsland'', but then [[spoiler:he sees his wife Elaine seemingly willing to trust a human [=LeChuck=] over Guybrush's objections.]] As if that wasn't bad enough, [[spoiler:he ends up getting his hand cut off by Morgan [=LeFlay=]; breaks down in grief after failing to protect her from being fatally stabbed by [=LeChuck=]; gets stabbed in the back (and [[InTheBack in the chest]]) twice (or maybe three times if you count the Voodoo Lady); and suffers a HeroicBSOD when it looks like Elaine has done a complete FaceHeelTurn to leave him for [=LeChuck=]. It all ends with one [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown terribly brutal beatdown]] from [=LeChuck=] that leaves zombie Guybrush in such physical agony he can't even joke anymore. [[TheWoobie The poor dear]] really just needed a hug at the end.]]

** The ''VideoGame/NierAutomata'' is surprisingly tame to characters during the main path for a ''Creator/TaroYoko'' game, but makes their life and demise living and dying hell once you start to dwell into the territory of [[MultipleEndings alternative endings]]. Pascal, the friendly robot [[spoiler: whose machine village is wiped out by Logic Virus and the children ''commit mass suicide'' because they cannot bear the fear he taught them to, and who commits suicide should you [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential ignore his pleads to reset his memory or kill him]]]], and 9S [[spoiler: which is basically so much under onslaught of bad things since the last two chapters of Route B until the end he basically turns into a [[SociopathicHero variant]] of ''[[Videogame/{{Drakengard}} Caim]]'' by then]] really stand out.

* Komaru Naegi of ''VideoGame/AbsoluteDespairGirls'': Dangan Ronpa Another Episode is portrayed as a cute, bubbly girl throughout the whole game, despite the fact that everything around her is ''[[CrapsackWorld basically going to hell.]]'' However, despite her cheeriness, she has her moments where she is utterly broken. In the first chapter, [[spoiler:she witnesses Yuuta Asahina get blown up before her very eyes trying to escape Towa City. This causes her to go into a HeroicBSOD in which Fukawa yells at her to snap out of it]], and in the third chapter, [[spoiler:she actually gets molested by a machine, and has to wait some time for Genocider Syo to come save her!]] That's not even the worst of it, though. There are plenty of small examples throughout the whole game, but the biggest example is the endgame, where [[spoiler:Monaka reveals to Komaru that she killed her parents. Assuming Komaru saw the torture equipment in the room where Monaka would kill adults, she could notice worse implications than just them being dead. This causes her to fly into a rage, even screaming at Fukawa, who at that point the two considered eachother to be best friends. She even almost destroys a controller that kills every single child in Towa City once broken, had it not been for Fukawa grabbing the controller from her. She then proceeds to suffer another HeroicBSOD throughout the rest of the scene, only snapping out of it when Fukawa slaps her across the face after pulling her away from the rogue Big Bang Monokuma.]]

*** Monaka [[spoiler:has several reasons to be broken (being the bastard daughter of a rich CEO and having a disgusting lolicon brother) but she defies this-- she practically worships Junko and her philosophy, so all of that, plus her friend's backstories and goals, are all a funny game to her.]]

* The ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'' games are full, full of this trope:

** Averted with CheerfulChild Nino from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade''. Having a [[EvilMatriarch manipulative, evil woman]] like Sonia as a mother would be enough to drive a little girl over the edge, but things find a way to go downhill from there. [[spoiler:First, her mother orders her killed in order to make a scapegoat for an assassination plot. After a narrow save by her best friend (and possible love interest through supports), she later confronts Sonia, only to learn that Sonia actually ''murdered her birth family'' when she was a baby, and would have killed her as well if it wasn't for orders from the BigBad. Then, she has to witness the murder of one of her adopted brothers, one which she tried her best to prevent. After watching the Black Fang fall apart, if you keep her around for the final boss, she has to fight ''the animated corpses'' of said adopted family: not only her brothers, but her ''father'' as well.]] Yet in spite of it all, [[PluckyGirl Nino presses on and, despite having her small breakdowns, never fully gives into despair]].
** [[MysteriousWaif Ninian and Nils]], also from ''Fire Emblem: Blazing Sword'', are no slouches in this either. [[spoiler: Children of a human druid and a female dragon who disappeared during the Scouring? Check. Had to pass through the Gate when Dad went missing too? Check. Missed home so much they jumped at the call when they were invoked, only to be trapped by the Black Fang whose leader is hinted to be ''their now-amnesiac and power-hungry father''? Check. Had to run away for years, with the Black Fang on their heels? Check. Recaptured, befriended Eliwood's DisappearedDad only to be partially guilty of his death? Check. Ninian falling for Eliwood but being unable to tell him because of her heritage? Check. Ninian being forced by Nergal to return to her dragon form, only to be slain by Eliwood? Check... and Nils' HeroicBSOD that comes soon after.]]
** Also averted with Lucius. Being orphaned at a young age, teased all his life for his feminine appearance, ''and'' mistreated by a teacher shaped him into... one of the most faithful and reverent characters in the entire ''game''. [[spoiler: When he meets the now-reformed killer of his father and he breaks down crying and begging for Lucius' forgiveness... he does.]]
** [[VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn]] [[TheWoobie Pelleas.]] [[spoiler: Shy orphan boy who made a deal to become a spirit charmer? Check. Being though of as the lost prince of Daein? Check. Having his life suck BALLS since then, due to his ArchnemesisDad and his already broken [[MyBelovedSmother smother]] of a mother? Check. Being tricked into making a [[DealWithTheDevil blood pact]] to help his country, only to have things go ''even wronger'' than they were? Check. Ultimately asking Micaiah or Tauroneo to kill him so the pact will go away, [[SenselessSacrifice only to see that it's useless]]? Check.]] It takes a LOT [[spoiler: (re: more than one playthrough)]] to even get the chance to try rebuilding this cutie's heart.
** All of the future children in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' can qualify. [[spoiler: Their parents are all dead with the possible exception of Lissa, their world's been overtaken by a dark god and his unholy minions and the present world they've time-traveled to runs the risk of the same thing happening unless they can destroy the dark god.]] That's not even going into the troubled relationships some of these kids have with their parents, especially Noire's with Tharja and Severa's with Cordelia. [[spoiler: Or Laurent actually landing ''three years in the past before the others did'', [[GoMadFromTheIsolation which almost drove him into insanity]].]]. [[IronWoobie And yet they manage to press on]].
** Some of the parents are/were pretty broken, too. It's all but stated that [[spoiler: Henry [[NotGoodWithPeople wasn't exactly stable to begin with]], but the death of his OnlyFriend sent him in a huge RoaringRampageOfRevenge ''[[CreepyChild when he was less than 12 years old]]'', and the BoardingSchoolOfHorrors (Western version)/OrphanageOfFear (original Japanese) that he was sent to did ''not'' help matters.]] Then we have [[spoiler: [[ReligiousBruiser Libra]], who was thought of being under DemonicPossession and then was abandoned by his parents and shunned by everyone]]. Also, [[spoiler: [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Nowi]] was captured and made a trick-performing slave before running away and joining up with the Shepherds, and is quite aware of [[WhoWantsToLiveForever how she will outlive almost everyone she loves]] [[ObfuscatingStupidity despite acting like a little girl]] to cope.]] And there's [[spoiler: [[BrokenAce Cordelia]], who not only suffers of UnrequitedLove but has a TREMENDOUS SurvivorsGuilt after her unit members die for her sake.]] And then [[spoiler: Chrom and Lissa]] get '''horribly''' broken when [[spoiler: Emmeryn, their beloved eldest sister, goes through a HeroicSuicide to stop the Plegian/Ylissean war…]]
** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'' is about a WarriorPrince or LadyOfWar having to choose between [[ChildOfTwoWorlds one Royal Family or another]], and the family that isn't chosen will be ''completely'' shattered through the war. If the PlayerCharacter chooses Nohr, then [[spoiler: his/her eldest Hoshidan brother will have to commit a HeroicSuicide to save him/her; the youngest Hoshidan brother will lose himself to ThePowerOfHate, end up subjected to DemonicPossession, and become the path's FinalBoss; the two sisters will survive, but not before they witness the horrible war and become sad and depressed, though they eventually get better]]. If the player chooses Hoshido, then [[spoiler: the eldest Nohrian sister will cross the DespairEventHorizon and go {{Yandere}} until she's defeated and ultimately survives, the youngest Nohrian sister will die TakingTheBullet for the PC to protect him/her from their eldest Nohrian brother, said eldest Nohrian brother will ''also'' go through the DespairEventHorizon and then let himself get killed, and the youngest Nohrian brother will live through [[CharacterDevelopment and become stronger as a result]], but not before also fighting the armies and almost dying. (Plus, the sister of one of the PlayerCharacter's retainers will be forced to fight the group and later will commit suicide.)]] Basically, '''no matter what path the player chooses, someone will be broken'''. [[spoiler: The closest to an exception is the GoldenPath, but even '''then''' a CoolBigSis figure will be murdered by one of the Avatar's closest persons (under DemonicPossession, to be fair) and the reunited armies will have to fight their ways through some people ''very'' dear to them,. who have [[CameBackWrong been forcibly revived by the]] BigBad.]]

** Genis Sage from ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia''. Where to even start? Perhaps with the FantasticRacism against his race everywhere you go, including people wishing all half-elves would die... in the starting village, in the first couple hours of the game, to his face (if you have him set as the display character) or to the face of one of his few friends. It only gets worse from there: [[spoiler: racism against half-elves just gets worse and worse as you proceed through the game, including Genis and his sister Raine being sentenced to death simply for being the half-elves in your party of criminals, there's a village where racism against half-elves is so bad that even the racists passing through are uncomfortable and a boy in the armor shop flat-out says they're not allowed to sell to half-elves,]] all of which contributes to him getting more and more bitter about humans as the game progresses. With racism aside, [[spoiler: Genis considers himself a murderer for the death of one of his few friends, which also caused him and the main character to be banished from their home; he falls in love with a girl who clearly thinks of him as a child;]] and the first half-elf friend he makes is actually [[spoiler: THE VILLAIN OF THE GAME IN DISGUISE.]] Someone really, really hated this poor kid.

* Almost every, single, girl in ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'' gets broken, reassembled by [[{{Troll}} Hazama]] to his wishes and then possibly broken again [[ForTheEvulz for fun and profit]], with the only exception being [[TooDumbToFool Taokaka]] who gets physically broken, unlike the others who were subject to MindRape.

* In ''VideoGame/NieR'', Gideon from the Junk Heap is broken badly during the TimeSkip by the death of his brother [[spoiler:that he unwittingly caused.]] In the same game, [[spoiler:Emil]] very nearly breaks after [[spoiler:he is transformed into a skeletal robot after his FusionDance with his sister]] but Nier, Kainé, and Weiss' unwavering friendship keeps him aloft.

* Misuzu from ''VisualNovel/{{AIR}}'' arguably qualifies, since a lot of time and effort is put into presenting her as a sweet, lovable, although somewhat peculiar girl -- only to [[spoiler: have her suffer enormous pain in the last few episodes and die in the arms of her adoptive mother, her aunt Haruko. Her final moments are still [[TearJerker gruesomely beautiful]], though]].

** Litchi went for two tiers. The reveal that the corruption was getting to her in a quick succession that she could effortlessly beat down Tager shocks her, but on the reveal that Kokonoe just plain refused to help her drove her further to the deep end, now knowing that the only one she could think of to help just plain refused her and left her to slowly wither and die. And then, the rest is taken care of by Hazama. [[spoiler:Her rant towards Rachel after signing up to NOL shows just how broken she is and is trying the best to keep herself together with just no one to help... and Rachel's response and reprimanding, practically saying what the HateDumb perceive about her that she's just plain obsessed and selfish, ''did not help'' at all...]]

* ''KingdomHearts'' does this to several characters, most notably Roxas. Roxas is a curious case in that he's broken multiple times in a relatively short timespan. He's established as a normal kid who just has fun hanging out with his friends during summer until the Keyblade enters his life.[[spoiler: But soon he starts realizing that everything around him, including the people and his friends were actually fake illusions created by a computer and this virtual city was actually a prison to keep him imprisoned for the time being till his death. From there, things go south further even more till it revealed that he was the [[TomatoInTheMirror fake one]] who was never supposed to exist. By this time, he was a broken wreck. In the final day of the week, he gets disposed in a FateWorseThanDeath as his supposed best friend comes to finish him off. Later on, it gets worse as it turns out that his so-called friends chose somebody else's well-being above his revival resulting his chance to escape his fate to be lost. Then ''358/2 Days'' came out showing his past, and it turns out Roxas spent his entire life as the Organization's UnwittingPawn, and among the very few people that seemed to care about him, Larxene got killed in Castle Oblivion, Xion was tasked to kill him and was actually slow-poisoning him and finally Axel, his only other friend realized that only one among Roxas and Xion could survive, and Xion being the more likely candidate, chose her over Roxas after failing to save both. In fact, even these so-called friends frequently insulted and abused him. By the end of the year, after realizing the truth being the organization as well as Xion and how they were using him as a disposable tool only to betray him at the end, breaks whatever was left of him by that point. He eventually faces both of his best friends individually in battle as they try to kill him. Eventually he gets captured and beaten into a coma, after which he is placed in a machine that puts his consciousness in the fake city for a week, which is already known about. In fact, the first few days of this blissfully ignorant week where he had his memories erased and replaced with fake memories from Namine was the probably happiest time in his life, in which he finally gets to experience a normal life.]]

** In ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'', [[spoiler: Sora winds up in a coma following the destruction of his heart after a lengthy torture by Young Xehanort. While he does get saved by Riku, the trailers for [[{{VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII}} the next game]] imply that he may have lost his cutie status]].

* This happens to Sera, the cute and innocent MysteriousWaif of ''[[ShinMegamiTensei Digital Devil Saga]]''. [[spoiler:Whilst undergoing a series of experiments designed to exploit her psychic powers to talk to "God", she slowly falls in love with the lead scientist. When she simultaneously discovers that he was actually a MagnificentBastard using her for his own ends ''and'' witnesses the murder of the only person who genuinely ''did'' care for her]], her resulting emotional backlash causes TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.

** [[VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn Pelleas.]] [[TheWoobie Holy SHIT, Pelleas.]] [[spoiler: Shy orphan boy who made a deal to become a spirit charmer? Check. Being though of as the lost prince of Daein? Check. Having his life suck BALLS since then, due to his ArchnemesisDad and his already broken [[MyBelovedSmother smother]] of a mother? Check. Being tricked into making a [[DealWithTheDevil blood pact]] to help his country, only to have things go ''even wronger'' than they were? Check. Ultimately asking Micaiah or Tauroneo to kill him so the pact will go away, [[SenselessSacrifice only to see that it's useless]]? Check.]] It takes a LOT [[spoiler: (re: more than one playthrough)]] to even get the chance to try rebuilding this cutie's heart.

** ''VideoGame/SuikodenII'': Pilika. ''Dear God'', poor Pilika. She is only a bubbly five-year-old girl, and is a gut-wrenching example of how war can destroy a young life. First, her hometown, Toto, is destroyed and her parents are killed, making her one of the few survivors. Jowy, who was previously saved by her and who deeply cares about her, decided then to take her under his wing and to become her uncle. Alas, the protagonists are attacked by Luca Blight's army at Viktor's fort, and his mercenaries are overwhelmed, prompting Luca to invade the fort himself, where he stumbles upon a very frightened Pilika. He then proceeds to effortlessly kill Polk, a young mercenary, in front of her. Riou and Jowy try to stop him, but are easily beaten by Luca, who is about ''to [[{{Sadist}} gleefully and sadistically]] cut Pilika in half'', while [[Ain'tTooProudtoBeg a panicked Jowy is shouting desperately at him to stop]]. They are only saved by the timely and rather rash actions of Viktor who more or less blow up the fort. Following these events, Pilika's portrait is altered for the rest of the game, replacing her previous happy expression by a deeply sorrowful one, and the events traumatized her so much that she became mute. She is then forced to flee to Muse along Riou, Jowy and Nanami, but Muse itself became the target of Luca's armies, and, worse, [[spoiler:Jowy decided to turn traitor by killing himself the mayor of Muse, Anabelle, and opening the gate for the enemies, in order to get close to Luca and eventually usurp him as King of Highland]]. Pilika is then left alone with Riou and Nanami, away from her new parental figure. She briefly meets him again at Greenhill, but they are separated. It is not until the [[spoiler:death of Luca Blight]] that she is able to reunite with Jowy, during a peace treaty conference... [[spoiler:In which Jowy was about to kill Riou and Teresa in order to force the states of Dunan to surrender. In fact, the only reason his attempt failed was because Shu, Flik and Viktor correctly guessed what was going to happen, and organized a rescue party. Pilika was brought along only to serve as a human shield and emotional bargain against Jowy, who could not bring himself to kill his former best friends in front of her]]. At that point, after months of war and deep silence, she recovers her voice. However... [[spoiler:She is once again separated from Jowy following the fall of L'Renouille, and sent to Harmonia along with Julia under new identities in order to begin a new life. It is not revealed if she meet him again in the future, and if she managed to really recover from the events of her traumatising childhood]].