History Main / PacifistRun

* One enterprising [[Website/YouTube YouTuber]] attempted a pacifist-slash-MinimalistRun in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioOdyssey'' wherein he collected as many moons as possible and completed the story while making only the Cap-tures required to complete the game (of which there are 15[[note]]The power line to get from the Cap Kingdom to the Cascade Kingdom, the Chain Chomp for the first moon, Madame Broode's Chain Chompykins 3 times, the Sherm to beat Robo-Wiggler, the power line to get to the Ruined Kingdom dragon boss, the six power lines to get to various areas of Bowser's Kingdom, a Pokio to scale the large wall in Bowser's Kingdom, and Bowser himself to escape the moon[[/note]], and the number of moons he got without requiring Cap-tures is 450).
* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioMaker2'': In this game where players can craft their own levels, some have created these runs. In the ''VideoGame/SuperMario3DWorld''-theme board, they seal off the path to the goal post or axe with a locked warp box. This will only activate when the player reaches it with a key. The builder then puts a key inside every single killable enemy in the board, from little goombas to piranha plants, and so on. The death of any enemy, sometimes even by neutral hazards, will give the player the key the enemy had, resulting in the player being warped away from the goal post to probable death.

!!Examples where a game recignizes pacifist runs:

!!Examples:

* ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'' has the Pacifist and Fanatical Pacifist ethos. The first level locks you into liberation wars and defensive wars (You can only wage war to make your war-goal planets into a new nation that follows your ethos, stop atrocities like purges, humiliate the target empire, or to defend yourself). Fanatical Pacifists can only wage defensive wars, which means someone must declare war on them; they can't be the aggressor for ''any'' reason. [[LoopholeAbuse That said]], pacifist empires can insult other empires the same as everyone else, so even though they can't declare war themselves, nothing's stopping them from riling up their target empire until it declares war on them.

The inverse of this is the [[KillEmAll Genocide Run]], in which the player's task is to kill everything that moves. This is only possible if enemies are limited in number and don't {{respawn|ingEnemies}}, hardly meaningful if fighting every enemy is a practical or absolute requirement, and rarely acknowledged in games that meet both of these requirements.

** Two of the original game's achievements are awarded for relying on stealth instead of violence: Invisible Man (earned by completing "Frontline" without killing any [[ThoseWackyNazis Fourth Reich]] or [[DirtyCommunists Red Line]] soldiers) and "Merciful" (infiltrate "Black Station" without killing any of the Reich soldiers stationed in there[[note]]in [[UpdatedReRelease Redux]], knockouts aren't allowed either[[/note]] or raising an alarm). Notably, there's ''another'' achievement ("Hedge-Hopper") for doing [[KillEmAll the exact opposite]] in "Frontline", so you'll have to master both styles of play if you're going for OneHundredPercentCompletion. Avoiding killing human opponents also gives you hidden [[KarmaMeter moral points]], which counts towards the hidden/good ending.

* ''VideoGame/{{Everhood}}'': In the second half of the game, you can refuse to kill anyone, leading to a different ending.

** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2'', since you only kill (in-story) two of the bosses, no real difference is made whether you stamina-kill them or not (only that a stamina-kill doesn't show up on your score as a real kill). Interestingly, not-killing Fatman, one of the story-killed bosses, results in him passing out at the end of his dying speech instead of dying. When Ocelot remarks on Fatman's death later on, the line is the same, but the implication is that Ocelot killed him rather than you, which provides a neat clue as to Ocelot's [[DoubleReverseQuadrupleAgent real alignment]].
** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'', you can avoid killing the bosses. They have non-lethal hit bars, and you get a [[MercyRewarded special bonus]] for defeating a boss with non-lethal force, but if they were [[PlotlineDeath supposed to die]], they commit suicide in the following cutscene. However, there is one exception: [[spoiler:Even if you defeat The Boss nonlethally, the game still forces you to kill her.]] Alternately, even using lethal force against bosses who survive the encounter either way ([[spoiler:Ocelot and Volgin]]) [[DevelopersForesight doesn't count as a kill]], allowing you to "kill" them and still perform a pacifist run (you just don't get their camouflage this way).
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'' is the first game in the series to let you do a true no-kills run, not even story kills. The game even allows you to take out all of the bosses using non-lethal means. Unlike the other games, it actually affects the cutscene afterward. The difference is really subtle, leading to many players thinking Kojima was lying when he said you could save them.

** The end-of-mission rankings in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidV'' award more points for incapacitating enemy troops than for killing them. You can take over enemy outposts simply with stealth takedowns, just as you would if you went in guns blazing. A full game playthrough without any kills is impossible because there are a few mandatory objectives that necessitate killing, such as destroying occupied armored vehicles or [[spoiler:killing soldiers with infectious parasites [[ShootTheDog before they spread and cause a global plague]]]].

* In the Bakumatsu chapter of ''VideoGame/LiveALive,'' Oboro keeps a running mental tally of how many people he's killed (only humans; ghosts, demons, and machines don't count towards this total) over the course of the chapter. Somewhat overlapping with the StealthRun, finishing the chapter with zero kills (which requires a good number of [[GuideDangIt counterintuitive steps]]) nets you his [[InfinityPlusOneSword Infinity Plus 0.5 Sword]] for use in the final chapter. It's possible to get an equivalent weapon by beating a rather difficult BonusBoss.

** Only two characters ''have'' to be fought in order to complete the original ''VideoGame/DeusEx''; neither have to be killed and both can be circumvented. The first can be injured to the point that she'll retreat and open the door she guards[[note]]The game acts as if you killed the first character even if you circumvent her, due to the game's intent of railroading you into killing. However, given the nature of the game, one could always claim that she was killed by someone else for her failure and/or knowing too much after you escaped and were being framed for the killing.[[/note]], and the second can be knocked unconscious and is also quite willing to blow himself up for you due to poor AI. The rest can be stunned or [[SkippableBoss circumvented]] in various fashions. The game encourages pacifism in the first level by having characters react positively to you if you don't slaughter everything in sight, but after that, there's no longer any explicit encouragement, and it's strictly a matter of pride (although you ''will'' get bitched out for slaughtering civilians). Two of the endings, however, require the death of the BigBad. One ending is explicit, as the [[spoiler: player presses a button that causes him to blow up quite violently]] where as the other he dies as a result of the player [[spoiler: blowing up the final level. The third ending might have him die, but the game never states his fate.]]

** ''VideoGame/DeusExInvisibleWar'' picks this up, as even plot-critical deaths are optional. The benefits manifest differently depending on which faction wants them dead and how their death affects gameplay (keeping one person alive grants access to a weapon you won't seriously need till the end), but ultimately there are no required kills. A hidden bonus is that the wrap party has a lot more patrons the fewer people you kill.
** ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'', like its predecessors, can be played in a pacifist manner, by circumventing enemies or knocking them out with gas grenades, tasers, tranquilizers, and fists, except for a handful of forced boss battles. Unlike the first two games though, the bosses can't be circumvented so you have to fight and kill them (even in the UpdatedReRelease you can't actually prevent their deaths due to conventions). There is an achievement for doing a pacifist run (excepting the boss battles). Storyline-wise, it makes sense, because the bosses are absolutely insane and have very much crossed the MoralEventHorizon. Though, technically, you only kill two of them (the first and last ones kill themselves in the cutscenes following their defeats). The Director's Cut went one step further, making the pacifist fighting methods a little easier to use in the boss fights. The base game itself encourages the pacifist run by giving bonus EXP for non-lethal takedowns.

** Sometimes enforced in ''Double Agent'', where you're free to kill or spare the enemy, but killing them will lower the NSA's trust in you which, if it's low to begin with, might be something you can't afford. [[spoiler:The Wii, [=GameCube=], [=PS2=] and Xbox versions forcibly avert this in the final mission where you're forced to kill certain JBA members where no matter what you do to them counts as a kill. Even grabbing and using the knockout button triggers his stab move instead.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Wasteland3}}'': The "Battle of Steeltown" DLC has a "Perfect Pacifist" achievement for not killing any of the striking workers or members of the revolutionary "ghost gang" (instead subjecting them to NonLethalKo), though you are expected to kill the cruel foreman who is the cause of the strike in the first place.

** In a story now lost to the archives, someone once won a game of Civ 3 without building a single military unit. (In Civ 3, cities can't defend themselves, so there wasn't anything stopping his neighbours marching in and conquering everything with a single warrior if they wanted to.) It was a diplomatic victory, if you're wondering.

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'': Since you can't actually beat the game without winning at least a few fights, you have to go the Technical Pacifist approach by inflicting indirect damage through actively administering status effects or entry hazards. For extra challenge, you can limit yourself completely to moves that only buff and lower stats, meaning the opponent does all the work of knocking itself out by running out of moves and struggling to death, or inflict a status condition on themselves via using Pokémon with the Poison Point or Flame Body abilities, which give the opponent a 30% chance of being poisoned or burned (respectively) if they make contact with the target.[[note]]Due to opponents not having PP and abilities not yet existing, this approach is impossible in the Gen I games.[[/note]]

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'': Since you can't actually beat the game without winning at least a few fights, you have to go the Technical Pacifist approach by inflicting indirect damage through actively administering status effects or entry hazards. For extra challenge, you can limit yourself completely to moves that only buff and lower stats, meaning the opponent does all the work of knocking itself out by running out of moves and struggling to death, or inflict a status condition on themselves via using Pokémon with the Poison Point or Flame Body abilities, which give the opponent a 30% chance of being poisoned or burned (respectively) if they make contact with the target.

* While a genuine Pacifist Run of ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' isn't possible since you have to beat at least ''some'' trainers, TechnicalPacifist Runs where you restrict yourself to status conditions instead of direct damage [[https://youtu.be/-QXvc2PN1H8 have been done]].

* ''[[ExtrapowerStarResistance EXTRAPOWER Star Resistance]]'': The game throws tons of enemies on you with the expectation that you're going to make them all explode in waves of fireballs and/or green viscera. But for especially determined and patient players, you can pull off a no- or low-kills run to achieve the Holy Warrior rank. Easiest to perform as Valhalla, who gets a giant shield and the ability to prevent all damage for a limited time. A ChallengeRun as increasing health is tied to number of kills, in the thousands, so you'd be completing difficult end game gauntlets and final bosses with 3 hits at most. 4 if you grab the secret at the end of Stage 5.

In games that give you a choice between using lethal or non-lethal force in order to overcome enemies, [[UselessUsefulNonCombatAbilities the former method is usually the most convenient]]. Some gamers [[SelfImposedChallenge like to play through such games]] while avoiding any killings that are not absolutely required, even if there is no real reward for doing so.

[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/{{Cuphead}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cuphead_2017_10_09_01_20_45_103_9.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Sometimes the best way to beat {{Satan}} is to act better than he would.]]

** Official Fifth Edition adventure ''TabletopGame:TheWildBeyondTheWitchlight'' gives every combat encounter an option to avoid combat, usually in form of a small FetchQuest the party may already even completed without realizing. [[GuideDangIt It is really easy for the party to already have used the desired item beforehand, thus screwing themselves over into the violent option]].

** Official Fifth Edition adventure ''Wild Beyond the Witchlight'' gives every combat encounter an option to avoid combat, usually in form of a small FetchQuest the party may already even completed without realizing. [[GuideDangIt It is really easy for the party to already have used the desired item beforehand, thus screwing themselves over into the violent option]].

* ''Film/FreeGuy'': [[DoggedNiceGuy Blue Shirt Guy]] levels up this way, and he ends up going viral in the player community because he's the first person to attempt to play the game in a non violent, heroic way.