History Main / EscortGame

Expect loads and loads of ArtificialStupidity from your escortee, assuming it's a person. If lucky, the escortee will not get on youe way and, in fact, might even become a valuable ally in fighting the hordes of {{Mooks}} you'll inevitably meet, but don't hold your breath. Let anything happen to them, and it's either a NonStandardGameOver for you or a DownerEnding once the game is finished.

* The [[PlatformGame platformer]] ''Sleepwalker'' requires the player character, a dog named Ralph, to escort a sleepwalking boy around a series of improbable landscapes. For some reason, you have to avoid waking him up, [[FridgeLogic even though he'd probably be able to find his way back to safety if conscious]].
** This is probably due to the [[http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/13/health/13real.html myth]] that waking up a sleepwalker can cause him to have a heart attack.

* The ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'' mod ''Azure Sheep'' has you in the role of Barney the hapless security guard, in the first half of the mod searching for [[DistressedDamsel a female guard named Kate]], and in the second half (after [[ActionGirl she]] finds ''you''), escorting her to safety. She ''is'' armed with a Glock and [[ActionGirl can and will use it to defend herself]], but if she dies you lose. (Also, interestingly, she's smart enough to fall back out of the line of fire to reload.)

* Lucas Arts' ''Franchise/StarWars''-themed space combat sims do this just enough to make you really hate it. One of the ''VideoGame/TIEFighter'' [[ExpansionPack expansion packs]] had a mission where you had to escort Darth Vader's fighter. He would insist on joining in the combat, and could be given orders as any other member of your wing. However, actually giving him orders had very bad results as he didn't appreciate it. The most extreme case is probably the first ''VideoGame/RogueSquadron'' game, in which ''thirteen'' of the game's nineteen levels have you escorting, defending, or otherwise having to ensure the continued existence of something.

*** Made somewhat worse in the Cataclysm expansion - the dig site is now in ruins and sunk under water, and the mission now involves you having to escort the same person as he [[spoiler: ''LEADS YOU IN A CIRCLE AROUND THE RUINS UNTILL YOU GET BACK TO THE CAMPSITE.'']]

** There are several other quests in the game involving escorting the same notorious NPC. Which turn out to be [[JustifiedTrope Justified]], as the NPC in question, Sara Oakheart, [[spoiler: is in fact Amarthiel, Champion of Angmar, and she was trying to get [=PCs=] killed]]

Essentially, this is when the EscortMission is dialed UpToEleven. It may not be the premise of the game, but either way you're going to be spending most of your time escorting something or other.

** My personal favorite is the NPC escort quest a little earlier in that same zone. The NPC is taken captive by goblins, which after being freed, he informs you that he has to find his father's sword. This NPC will then rush into each and every goblin camp in the area, choosing to fight ''everything'' he sees - completely barehanded. Yes. He will run into goblin camps unarmed, and proceed to throw punches at them.

* In ''VideoGame/TimeSplittersFuturePerfect'', every level after the first has someone you have to keep alive. Whether it's an original character or a past/future version of yourself. They're generally capable defending themselves, the AI prefers to target you over them, and they have an invisible health bar which is restored after every cutscene. Should that health bar become visible, however, they become a whole less competent. Can someone say "fuck THE HOODED MAN - 2401 level"?

* ''VideoGame/PacMan 2: The New Adventures'' is an adventure game with a twist: ''you're not directly controlling the title character''. You only tell him what to do, but whether he follows your instructions is another story entirely.

* The survival horror game ''VideoGame/{{AMY}}'' {{invert|edTrope}}s this premise: your player character, Lana, is infected with a virus, and have to rely on the title character (a young autistic girl who develops PsychicPowers over the course of the game) for survival. While there are some puzzles that require Lana to send Amy off to do something, if the two of them get separated for too long, the virus begins to wreak havoc on Lana's body, turning her into a mutant and [[GameOver ending the game]].

-->--'''VideoGame/AnimalCrossingNewLeaf''', Fortune #36

* ''[[SuperMarioBros Mario and Wario]]'' where Mario has a bucket dropped onto his head by Wario, and as a result you had to help a fairy get Mario to his brother Luigi in order to get the bucket off his head.

* Lucas Arts' ''StarWars''-themed space combat sims do this just enough to make you really hate it. One of the ''VideoGame/TIEFighter'' [[ExpansionPack expansion packs]] had a mission where you had to escort Darth Vader's fighter. He would insist on joining in the combat, and could be given orders as any other member of your wing. However, actually giving him orders had very bad results as he didn't appreciate it. The most extreme case is probably the first ''VideoGame/RogueSquadron'' game, in which ''thirteen'' of the game's nineteen levels have you escorting, defending, or otherwise having to ensure the continued existence of something.

The Escort Game usually comes in two different variations: those where the player controls an in-game character, guiding and/or covering for their partner, and those where they just manipulate the environment, allowing the escortees to traverse it safely. The latter type was popularized by ''VideoGame/{{Lemmings}}''.

[[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant No, not]] ''[[HighClassCallGirl that]]'' kind of "escort". GetYourMindOutOfTheGutter.

[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin As you might expect]], EscortMission is the entire point of these games. It may not be the premise of the game, but either way you're going to be spending most of your time escorting something or other.

* ''VideoGame/TheLiarPrincessAndTheBlindPrince'' has a shapeshifting wolf (the eponymous liar princess) guiding a prince to a witch to heal his eye injury ([[MyGreatestFailure that the wolf was responsible for]]). Unlike most examples, he won't wander off when you aren't [[HandHolding holding his hand]] (unless you specifically tell him to for certain puzzles).

[[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant No, not]] ''[[HighClassCallGirl that]]'' kind of "escort".

[[IThoughtItMeant No, not]] ''[[HighClassCallGirl that]]'' kind of "escort".

* ''{{Transformice}}'' may look like an odd physics-based ''Lemmings'' knock-off, but all the mice are actually controlled by real players. Not that that makes it any easier to babysit them through the levels.

* The game adaptation of ''VideoGame/ThePhantomMenace'' seemed to have one of these every other level. Many's the time a game-over dialog will pop up saying "Queen Amidala/Jar Jar/Anakin/Padme/the T-14 Hyperdrive Has Been Killed".

* The game adaptation of ''ThePhantomMenace'' seemed to have one of these every other level. Many's the time a game-over dialog will pop up saying "Queen Amidala/Jar Jar/Anakin/Padme/the T-14 Hyperdrive Has Been Killed".

* Technically ''LocoRoco'' is an escort game since you control the planet instead of the character.

[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin As you might expect]], the escort is the entire point of these games. It may not be the premise of the game, but either way you're going to be spending most of your time escorting something or other.

* ''ChuChuRocket'', in which you must place arrows on the ground to lead mice to the exit while keeping them away from cats.