History CastingAShadow / VideoGames

* ''Franchise/BlazBlue'': The elemental affinity of the main protagonist, Ragna the Bloodedge, is the Azure Grimoire, which allows him to wreath his limbs in pieces of the [[EldritchAbomination Black Beast]], creating masses of darkness that cause concussive damage as well as [[YourSoulIsMine drain souls]] to recover health. This is also the case for Hazama, who is a living Grimoire, as most of his non-chain snake attacks seem to be surrounded with dark energy. Yuuki Terumi has the same abilities as Hazama, and Susano'o utilizes dark energy as well. Beyond this, there are also Kagura Mutsuki, who can generate shadowy fire and electricity, and Hibiki Kohaku, who can extend his shadow, create clones from shadow, and vanish into a fog of shadowy ravens.

* Being one of the elemental Blade types in ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'', the player can resonate with Dark-type blades, just like with any other. The most prominent examples include [[{{Yandere}} Azami]] (a ruthless marionette/cyborg-like woman with a MagicEye and a [[{{BFG}} huge gun]]), [[KnightErrant Perceval]] (a former assassin with a desire to punish evildoers with his [[KatanasAreJustBetter katana]] and a [[ThouShaltNotKill no-kill policy]]), [[TheJinx Kasandra]] (a sweet girl who seems to be unaware of the misfortune that seems to follow her around, and [[DropTheHammer wields a gigantic hammer]]) and [[{{Goth}} Vale]] (a spear-wielding teenager with an appreciation for the occult).

* ''Franchise/BlazBlue'': The elemental affinity of the main protagonist, Ragna the Bloodedge, is the Azure Grimoire, which allows him to wreath his limbs in pieces of the [[EldritchAbomination Black Beast]], allowing him to create masses of darkness that cause concussive damage as well as [[YourSoulIsMine drain souls]] to recover health. This is also the case for Hazama, who is a living Grimoire, as most of his non-chain snake attacks seem to be surrounded with dark energy. Yuuki Terumi has the same abilities as Hazama, and Susano'o utilizes dark energy as well. Beyond this, there are also Kagura Mutsuki, who can generate shadowy fire and electricity, and Hibiki Kohaku, who can extend his shadow, create clones from shadow, and vanish into a fog of shadowy ravens.

* ''Franchise/BlazBlue'': The elemental affinity of the main protagonist, Ragna the Bloodedge, is darkness. This is also the case for Hazama (and Yuuki Terumi by extension), as most of his non-chain snake attacks seem to be surrounded with dark energy. Beyond this, there are also Kagura Mutsuki, who can generate shadowy fire and electricity, and Hibiki Kohaku, who can extend his shadow, create clones from shadow, and vanish into a fog of shadowy ravens.

** Although some Dark-type attacks, such as Dark Pulse and Night Daze, also utilize direct manipulation of shadows or darkness, the type ''itself'' is more based in [[CombatPragmatist trickery and pragmatism]] than anything else. On the other hand, so-called "{{Holy Hand Grenade}}s"[[note]]Which prior to Gen VI were all Fighting Type[[/note]] are super-effective against Dark-types but are ineffective against Ghost-types and don't have a different impact on corrupted Pokémon than other attacks do. The effectiveness is better expressed by the Japanese name for the Dark type, literally "[[DarkIsEvil Evil]]" or "[[PoisonIsEvil Scum]]" type.

** ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter2004'': There's a unique elemental attribute called Dragon which, similar to Fire, Water and Thunder[[note]]Ice wasn't present until the second generation[[/note]], can be inflicted by some of the hunter's weapons onto monsters that are particularly weak against it; Dragon is effective against the likes of Rathian, Rathalos (not anymore in games past the second generation), and most notably Elder Dragons. This element manifests like a dark energy colored red and black (though the icon representing it is colored dark purple), and is known to weaken the victim's power attack (the exact way it does so varies depending on the game, though in the earlier games as well as ''Portable 3rd'' it simply deals extra damage). Interestingly, in the very first game only two monsters are known to have this same dark energy: Lao-Shan Lung and Fatalis. And the former only has it stored in its body and doesn't use it in combat, so it's more of an InformedAbility in its case (this also applies to its Ashen subspecies, introduced in ''Monster Hunter G'').

*** Deviljho is an enormous Brute Wyvern that looks similar to a ''Tyrannosaurus Rex''. When it gets angry, its blood begins boiling (which is reflected in several parts of its skin glowing red) and proceeds to expel a wide Dragon-elemental breath that reduces the victim's attack affinity, which leads to a lower chance of giving critical damage (or even the side effect of inflicting ''less'' damage of their attacks had no affinity to begin with); from ''3 Ultimate'' onwards, this breath nullifies elemental powers instead, as do all other Dragonblight-inflicting attacks. ''3 Ultimate'' itself also introduces Savage Deviljho, a variant that is permanently enraged and can expel its breath anytime, but ''also'' has an additional rage mode that makes the breath stronger and wider.
*** ''Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate'' introduces Stygian Zinogre, a subspecies of Zinogre which trades the ShockAndAwe attributes of its cousin for Dragon-powered dark energy, thanks to its diet of Dracophage bugs. The energy balls it throws from its chest double as a HomingProjectile, hovering for a couple seconds before aiming at the hunter(s). A unique trait is that Strygian Zinogre is actually ''immune'' to the negative effects of the Dragon element, unlike the majority of monsters (including Deviljho and ''Elder Dragons'') that have it but are also paradoxically weak against it.

*** Malzeno, the flagship monster of the ''Sunbreak'' expansion, is an Elder Dragon that has control of the Qurio to use them in order to steal the life force of its victims. But it can also inflict damage by either exhaling draconic energy or shooting beams imbued with it, and can also use it in conjunction with the guidance of the Quiro to perform extremely fast motion similar to teleportation. A post-release update added Primordial Malzeno, a variant whose dragon attacks, upon reaching a SuperMode known as Bloodlust, are ''much'' stronger and include new moves like a spread of several projectiles that is followed by a explosion so powerful that ''the monster itself'' ends up briefly knocked down in the floor.

** Although some Dark-type attacks, such as Dark Pulse and Night Daze, also utilize direct manipulation of shadows or darkness, the type ''itself'' is more based in [[CombatPragmatist trickery and pragmatism]] than anything else. On the other hand, {{Holy Hand Grenade}}s[[note]]Which prior to Gen VI were all Fighting Type[[/note]] are super-effective against Dark-types but are ineffective against Ghost-types and don't have a different impact on corrupted Pokémon than other attacks do. The effectiveness is better expressed by the Japanese name for the Dark type: "[[DarkIsEvil Evil or Scum]]".

* Darkness is shown in multiple forms in ''{{VideoGame/Skylanders}}''. In the first game, much like in the aforementioned ''Legend of Spyro'' series, Cynder can turn into shadows, but she uses it to summon ghostly allies to do her bidding, as she is of the [[{{Necromancy}} Undead element]]. Indeed, in the first three games, darkness is more associated with the Undead element, as Hex's {{Catchphrase}} is "Fear the Dark!" and has other quotes relating to darkness, though Trap Shadow of the [[FunctionalMagic Magic element]] uses shadows to infuse his claws with them for more damage and hide in them to sneak around opponents. Come the fourth game, though, darkness became its own element along with [[LightEmUp light]]. The Dark element, additionally, is associated with [[UnrealisticBlackHole black holes]] to contrast with the Light element being associated with [[StarPower stars]]. Additionally, it is more clearly shown that the element of a character has no effect on their personality, as not only are there [[DarkIsNotEvil Skylanders of the Dark element]], but there are also [[LightIsNotGood villains of the Light element]].

*** Canas from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade'', the current trope image, seems to have been deliberately designed to subvert the typical personality attributes by being a genuinely good person who studies elder magic out of passion to the "dark" arts rather than wishing harm to others.

* ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'': The elemental affinity of the main protagonist, Ragna the Bloodedge, is darkness. This is also the case for Hazama (and Yuuki Terumi by extension), as most of his non-chain snake attacks seem to be surrounded with dark energy. Beyond this, there are also Kagura Mutsuki, who can generate shadowy fire and electricity, and Hibiki Kohaku, who can extend his shadow, create clones from shadow, and vanish into a fog of shadowy ravens.

** The "Zam" family of spells was introduced in ''[[VideoGame/DragonQuestMonsters Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker]]'' and eventually made its way to the main series in ''IX''. It manifests in the form of dark lightning and appears to be a counterpart to the "Zap" family of spells usually only learnable by the main heroes of the series.

* Being one of the elemental Blade types in ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'', the player can resonate with Dark-type blades, just like with any other. The most prominent examples include [[{{Yandere}} Azami]] (a ruthless marionette/cyborg-like woman with a MagicEye and a [[{{BFG}} huge gun]]), [[KnightErrant Perceval]] (a former assassin with a desire to punish evildoers with his [[KatanasAreJustBetter katana]] and a [[ThouShaltNotKill no-kill policy]]), [[TheJinx Kasandra]] (a sweet girl who seems to be unaware of the misfortune that seems to follow her around, and [[DropTheHammer wields a gigantic hammer]]) and [[{{Goth}} Vale]] (a [[BladeOnAStick spear-wielding]] teenager with an appreciation for the occult).

*** Malzeno, the flagship monster of the ''Sunbreak'' expansion, is an Elder Dragon that has control of the Qurio to use them in order to steal the life force of its victims. But it can also inflict damage by either exhaling draconic energy or shooting beams imbued with it, and can also use it in conjunction with the guidance of the Quiro to perform extremely fast motion similar to teleportation.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'': Midna, a DeadpanSnarker.

* Darkness is shown in multiple forms in ''{{VideoGame/Skylanders}}''. In the first game, much like in the aforementioned ''Legend of Spyro'' series, Cynder can turn into shadows, but she uses it to summon ghostly allies to do her bidding, as she is of the [[{{Necromancy}} Undead element]]. Indeed, in the first three games, darkness is more associated with the Undead element, as Hex's {{Catchphrase}} is "Fear the Dark!" and has other quotes relating to darkness, though Trap Shadow of the [[FunctionalMagic Magic element]] uses shadows to infuse his claws with them for more damage and hide in them to sneak around opponents.
** Come the fourth game, though, darkness became its own element along with [[LightEmUp light]]. The Dark element, additionally, is associated with [[UnrealisticBlackHole black holes]] to contrast with the Light element being associated with [[StarPower stars]]. Additionally, it is more clearly shown that the element of a character has no effect on their personality, as not only are there [[DarkIsNotEvil Skylanders of the Dark element]], but there are also [[LightIsNotGood villains of the Light element]].

* Tir and Ted, the known holders of the Soul Eater Rune in ''VideoGame/{{Suikoden}}'', as well as the people who possess its child runes, the aptly named Darkness Runes. While heroes, they tend to be broody types, since the Soul Eater is guaranteed to bring tragedy to one's life.
** As well as the "Rune of Punishment" in ''VideoGame/SuikodenIV'' and it's child rune, the "Condemnation Rune", in ''VideoGame/SuikodenV''.
* Count Bleck in ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'', who has the Chaos Heart. Doubles as PowerOfTheVoid.