History Main / StalkingMission

* ''VideoGame/{{Judgment}}'' features a bunch of tailing missions where Yagami has to follow a target, both as part of the story and optional [[{{Sidequest}} Side Cases]]. If you get too close, or don't stay out of view when the target is looking at you, their Caution Gauge will rise, but you can hide behind walls, signs, cars ect. to stay out of their sight. Thankfully, the longer ones tend to feature mid-checkpoints you can restart from if you fail, and there are upgrades to help you (such as making the Caution Gauge rise slower, or giving you more time to find your target again if you lose them)

** And one, optionally, in ''[[Videogame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker The Wind Waker]]'' (gets you an empty bottle).
*** You also get to hear Link [[CatScare meow like a kitty]] [[NobodyHereButUsBirds if you're not completely hidden]] when the target checks to see if she's being tailed, which is a reward in itself.

* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', Thane's loyalty mission has you stalking his [[spoiler:son]]'s target as he walks through the Citadel markets. Helpfully, you're on a catwalk above him rather than on the ground.
** No matter how obvious you try to be (surely they could have at least gotten you to put on disguises) however, you cannot spook the target, and nobody on the market floor will actively notice you... even if you're running around in evil-looking armour that is ''illegal in Citadel space''.

* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedI'' has pickpocketing and interrogation missions, which require going unnoticed beforehand.
** The [[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedII sequel]] has missions which require you to tail somebody to a certain location (usually a meeting of your targets) without being detected. Expect the game to throw countless [[GoddamnBats minstrels and men carrying crates]] in your way.
** Same goes for the bonus assassinations in the 1st one, which apparently happen at the same time as every drunk and looney in town decide to hang out in the streets.

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* ''VideoGame/EccoTheDolphin: Defender of the Future.'' ''Tides of Time'' had a deadly version after the final boss battle, where you had to let the Vortex Queen remove a few doors for you, and then squeeze ahead for the last stretch and get to the time machine before she did.

* ''VideoGame/EccoTheDolphin: Defender of the Future.'' ''Tides of Time'' had a deadly version after the final boss battle, where you had to let the Vortex Queen remove a few doors for you, and then squeeze ahead for the last stretch and get to the time portal before she did.

** During "The Stolen Heirloom" quest from ''[[Videogame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild Breath of the Wild]]'', Link must quietly follow several [=NPC=]s who are suspected of stealing the eponymous heirloom.

* This is one of the stalwart mission types of the ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' games, as nearly every game features at least one, usually complete with a "Spook-O-Meter." It gets ridiculous in later games how close you must be in order to pursue the target. In several missions it's possible to lose even though the enemy vehicle is still in clear view, leading to situations where you'll fail a mission because the vehicle "escaped" despite the fact you can either still see it, or it's on a one way street or a bridge and therefore nearly impossible to lose track of.
** ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'' requires the player to stay 2 car lengths away ''at all times'' (including stop lights), which is rather strange when the target doesn't seem to care about any other of the motorists encroaching on the supposed spook-radius. One mission subverts this however, as a phone call from Niko's cousin Roman (to go bowling, no less) alerts the target early, after which the mission devolves into a simple footchase followed by a shoot-out.
** ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIII'' did have a humorous way to subvert one case. The victim (stalkee?) is meant to be picked up by a taxi. You can easily grab a taxi yourself, and the victim will end up in your taxi. Then it's just a pleasant drive to the destination, followed by running him over once you get him there. It also has another one where you don't actually need to stalk the guy, just be close to the destination when he arrives, so you can take a shortcut and beat him there.
* ''VideoGame/LANoire'' features a couple of stalking missions, some by foot and some by car.
* The Neo-Tokyo level in ''VideoGame/TimeSplitters2''. To elaborate, Neo-Tokyo is one of those knife-edge ones where it's game over the moment you get spotted. Combine this with the fact you have to stay close enough to slip through a [[HardLight laser security gate]] before it closes -- but not so soon that you're spotted -- and you have [[ThatOneLevel one of the toughest missions in the series]]. Once you're ''past'' that point, however, it's a normal mission.
* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'' also had a variation where you had to track someone by their footprints. The second stalking mission was actually pretty good, because it gave a good reason for the target to be spooked, as well as a justification for being able to single him out easily. Also, it had several check points and you could go where you wanted instead of babysitting him all the time. Getting spotted by him is also not an instant game over or mission ender. If he does spot you, he may draw a pistol and attack you or otherwise run away, but neither of these is a big deal because for the former, his pistol is very weak and he isn't all that accurate, and for both cases, you can get out of his sight pretty easily, and once he loses track of you for a few minutes, he'll return to his normal route, allowing you to stalk him again. You also have to protect him from getting spotted by the PMC guards around the city, however he's pretty good about avoiding most of them on his own, meaning there's only a few guards you actually have to tranquilize or kill, and there's usually a good spot on the map for you to take them out from without being spotted by the guards '''or''' the mark. And, lastly, you don't even really need to keep the guy alive - if he dies for whatever reason (most likely by your hand, just to troll Otacon), all you have to do is take out the scanner again and find another guy to tail. All-in-all, it is a fairly well-done example.
** [[GoodBadBugs There's also a possible bug in the game that makes the section even easier.]] If you equip any [=FaceCamo=] other than the default or any of the Snakes, you can go through the entire level without having to worry about detection, as both the resistance member you have to follow as well as the PMC guards in the city will not pay much attention to you (even though they logically should) as long as you don't do anything suspicious to draw their attention, like equipping a weapon while in their field of vision. If you do alert them while wearing a [=FaceCamo=], you'll no longer be able to use that camo to sneak past them, but you can always equip another one to do so, as long as you don't do it in front of them. Alternatively, when the resistance member is disguising himself as a PMC guard, you can follow him normally, and any other PMC guards you come across, including a pair that patrol with him and vehicle patrols, ignore you entirely.
** And as a final alternative, if you know where you need to go, you can just go there and wait for a resistance member to catch up with you.
* ''VideoGame/SplinterCell'' has done this at least once, though on one occasion in ''Pandora Tomorrow'' your objective isn't so much avoiding being noticed by the person you're following as it is making sure nobody else she comes across notices you while she leads you to a specific point. [[spoiler: And then once you're where you need to be, your CO radios you and orders you to kill her.]] It also had a subverted example where you're ''supposed'' to follow someone while staying out of sight of everyone she comes across, [[spoiler: but shortly before any sort of stalking happens, one of the guards radios in that she's TheMole, and it instead turns into a defensive shootout as multiple armed guards come after her.]]
* ''VideoGame/SyphonFilter'' also does this often. One of the most irritating was ThatOneLevel late on in the first game, where the objective was to follow a scientist through a series of catacombs to reach the cell containing your partner. The obvious route was to follow him all the way, picking off the guards as he passed them, and then getting to the door, where he would happily stand around and not bother to open it. This was because of an oversight that made the game sometimes get into a situation where the scientist had noticed you but didn't fail the mission; the usual solution was to take an alternative route around, letting him out of your sight unpenalized and meeting up with him later on on his route.
* ''Smuggler's Run 2'' did this a few times.

%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * ''VideoGame/ShenmueII''.
* In one of the missions in ''VideoGame/SlyCooperThievesInTime'', the player has to follow undetected in The Grizz's footsteps and listen to the phonecalls he makes to his boss to gain vital information.
* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedI'' has pickpocketing and interrogation missions, which require going unnoticed beforehand.
** The [[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedII sequel]] has missions which require you to tail somebody to a certain location (usually a meeting of your targets) without being detected. Expect the game to throw countless [[GoddamnBats minstrels and men carrying crates]] in your way.
** Same goes for the bonus assassinations in the 1st one, which apparently happen at the same time as every drunk and looney in town decide to hang out in the streets.
* In ''VideoGame/ThiefTheDarkProject'', the targets can take more than one possible route. In ''VideoGame/ThiefIITheMetalAge'', it's very easy to fail as a result of forgetting just what your target ''is''. [[spoiler:It isn't a person.]]
* The ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'' quest "All By Myself" is a maddening example, as you have to keep your target from dying without him noticing you do it while he fights every damn monster he so much has seen an inch of, aggressive to him or not, ''while capped at level 10''. The usual approach is to [[DefiedTrope cheat]] -- have someone not on the quest, and thus not on his radar and not capped, run ahead of him and kill things.

* ''VideoGame/PursuitForce''
** One particularly egregious example requires the player to follow the bad guy's car. Not too bad, right? Well, for one thing, he's almost as fast as you, ''and'' invincible, ''and'' the worst driver ever, smashing into all sorts of obstacles without so much as a slight decrease in speed, whereas ''you'' have to ''avoid'' his path of destruction because ''your'' car is ''not'' invincible, and ''can'' explode before you reach your destination. And ''then'', once you ''reach'' your destination, you have exactly ''four'' seconds before he kills his target and you fail your mission, and what you have to do to prevent that is ambiguous ''at best''.
* A recurring event in ''VideoGame/FreshlyPickedTinglesRosyRupeeland'' has you following a boy through one of the areas.

* The otherwise excellent ''VideoGame/{{Anachronox}}'' has a very annoying one.
* ''VideoGame/EccoTheDolphin: Defender of the Future.'' ''Tides of Time'' had a deadly version after the final boss battle, where you had to let the Vortex Queen remove a few doors for you, and then squeeze ahead for the last stretch and get to the time portal before she did.
* ''VideoGame/Spyro2RiptosRage'' has one.
* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls''
** In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]''[='s=] ''Bloodmoon'' expansion, one of the East Empire Company quests at Raven Rock has you follow a suspected [[FantasyMetals Ebony]] thief into the mine. Once deep enough into the mine, you can confront him and he will confess.

* In ''VideoGame/WingCommander IV'', in one of the early missions, you are supposed to follow a pirate fighter back to its base, while staying far enough away to not be noticed. There is static in the commanding officer's transmission at the exact point that he gives the distance measurement unit.
* The ''VideoGame/IndianaJonesAndTheFateOfAtlantis'' AdventureGame had a number of these, but probably the funniest is in Egypt. You must follow a man through a crowded bazaar, zoomed out so far that everyone is represented by a single pixel. While it is technically possible to follow him by eye, the intended way to follow him is to get a fez and trick him into wearing it, which causes him to appear in the zoomed out shots as a bright red pixel.
* In ''{{VideoGame/Summoner}}'', Flece must reach Lord Yago without being seen by the palace guards. In the sequel, Sangaril must escape detection by the Daldyran guards, although she is allowed to kill them as long as she does it by slitting their throats from behind. In both cases, faliure results in returning to the start of the level rather than a non-standard game over.
* One [[SideQuest Mystery]] in ''VideoGame/MagiciansQuestMysteriousTimes'' tasks you with playing a game with an ogre. You must hunt the ogre down, but cannot be seen in the process. He moves after you find him, meaning you have to be on your toes just to ''find'' him.

* An optional ''VideoGame/BlackAndWhite'' mission requires you (as a ''God'') to sneakily follow someone down a mountain. The man repeatedly looks in awkward angles and losing him for a single second makes him disappear (despite the fact he's walking down a small mountain path with nowhere else to go).
** ''Black & White 2'' has a similar quest wherein a guy accuses you of impregnating his daughter. (Your evil conscience's reaction is hilarious.) You can either pay him off with wood, or track her to her ''actual'' lover's house. Thankfully it's much easier than in the previous game, to the point where you can keep one eye on the girl and do your job with the other eye.
* ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}'' inverts this. In one mission, you have to get a [[BossInMookClothing Leader Hunter]] to stalk ''you''. Too far and it will lose interest, too close and it will beat you to death. You also have to attack it occasionally to keep its attention. Several missions do play it somewhat straight, though. An earlier mission has you chase a Leader Hunter who just kidnapped your sister. It's a stalking mission because you have to keep up, but it doesn't actually matter if it can see you. You're better off if it doesn't, though, because it's invincible and will kill you for getting too close. The second to last mission has you stalk Col. Taggart's thermobaric tank. Again, him spotting you is bad not because you fail the mission, but because he's riding a ''[[{{BFG}} thermobaric tank]]''.
** Not so much 'stalk' as 'chase'. Taggart is panicking, and trying to break out of the city quarantine to save his own hide. If he escapes, it can ''only'' end badly for everybody in the city.

** No matter how obvious you try to be (surely they could have at least gotten you to put on maintenance worker disguises) however, you cannot spook the target, and nobody on the market floor will actively notice you... even if you're running around in evil-looking armour that is ''illegal in Citadel space''.
** A maintenance worker disguise wouldn't help much since the Citadel is maintained by the Keepers, which aren't at all humanoid.
* ''VideoGame/TrueCrimeStreetsOfLA'' and ''VideoGame/TrueCrimeNewYorkCity'' have stalking missions with its suspicion meter which triggers if you tail too close to their car.
* Mission 16 in ''VideoGame/{{Tenchu}} Z'', "Pursuit Of Echigoya" is one of these. On the good side, it's the only one in the game (there's 50 missions). On the bad side, it's by far the hardest to get a Ninja 5 ranking on, as you have to stealth kill every guard in the level, all the while keeping close to Echigoya, which sucks because it's the only level in the game with strict Ninja 5 conditions (in any other level you really have to try to get anything lower). And dear god does he take his time.
* ''[[VideoGame/LegacyOfKain Soul Reaver]]'' contains another example of the "you are the stalkee" inversion. In order to defeat Dumah, Raziel must lure him all the way from his lair to a room containing a mechanism that can be used to set him on fire. Get too big of a lead, and Dumah will lose interest and head back to his lair; allow him to get too close, and he'll smack the crap out of you. Also, Dumah is about five times Raziel's size.
* ''VideoGame/TheSaboteur'' has one of these.

* ''VideoGame/MafiaII'' has a couple, of course. The driving ones are fairly forgiving, especially thanks to the speed limiter toggle.

* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVI'' has a short one of these in Pescani/Pescado.
* ''VideoGame/TestDrive Unlimited 2'' has some missions where you are supposed to tail certain cars without being too far or too close.
* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2'', Roxas and Axel have to stalk Pete during one of their visits to Agrabah. Obnoxiously, not only do you have to stay out of Pete's sight (easy enough), but you also have to keep Pete in Roxas's sight -- ''Roxas's'', not yours. If your player model is positioned wrong, you can "lose sight of him" despite him being plainly on screen.
* Openly mocked in VideoGame/RetroCityRampage where the player has to regularly drink coffee in order to stay awake.
* Happens in ''VideoGame/FarCry3''. In the main story mission "Bad Side of Town", after being prompted in a hallucination, Jason must follow the stranger [[spoiler: Willis]] through the streets of Bad Town. He will stop periodically and glance behind him. If you lose sight of him (even if he hasn't moved!) for more than a few seconds, a twenty-second timer counts down to mission failure. Of course, [[spoiler: he's a CIA agent who already knew you were tailing him from the start.]]
* VideoGame/{{Judgment}} features a bunch of tailing missions where Yagami has to follow a target, both as part of the story and optional [[{{Sidequest}} Side Cases]]. If you get too close, or don't stay out of view when the target is looking at you, their Caution Gauge will rise, but you can hide behind walls, signs, cars ect. to stay out of their sight. Thankfully, the longer ones tend to feature mid-checkpoints you can restart from if you fail, and there are upgrades to help you (such as making the Caution Gauge rise slower, or giving you more time to find your target again if you lose them)

* ''VideoGame/SplinterCell'' has done this at least once, though on one occasion in ''[[VideoGame/SplinterCellPandoraTomorrow Pandora Tomorrow]]'' your objective isn't so much avoiding being noticed by the person you're following as it is making sure nobody else she comes across notices you while she leads you to a specific point. [[spoiler:And then once you're where you need to be, your CO radios you and orders you to kill her.]] It also had a subverted example where you're ''supposed'' to follow someone while staying out of sight of everyone she comes across, [[spoiler:but shortly before any sort of stalking happens, one of the guards radios in that she's TheMole, and it instead turns into a defensive shootout as multiple armed guards come after her.]]

%%* ''{{Shenmue}} II''.

See also EscortMission, which may also involve tailing an NPC but for different reasons, and StealthEscortMission when the target must remain unaware that he's in danger in the first place. A subtrope of StealthBasedMission; the difference is which person, or rather how many people, whose detection you need to avoid.

See also EscortMission, which may also involve tailing an NPC but for different reasons. A subtrope of StealthBasedMission; the difference is which person, or rather how many people, whose detection you need to avoid.

* The second half of ''Fallen Angel'' mission in ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps2''. This is justified, since you are supposed to record the conversations rather than just following the target. It comes just after a more traditional StealthBasedMission, as well, where you have to avoid an automated drone patrolling the streets that will instantly tear you and your squadmate to shreds if it spots you.

* This is one of the stalwart mission types of the ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' games, as nearly every game features at least one, usually complete with a "Spook-O-Meter."
** It gets ridiculous in later games how close you must be in order to pursue the target. In several missions it's possible to lose even though the enemy vehicle is still in clear view, leading to situations where you'll fail a mission because the vehicle "escaped" despite the fact you can either still see it, or it's on a one way street or a bridge and therefore nearly impossible to lose track of.
*** That's not the ridiculous part. The ridiculous part is how far away you have to stay to keep the guy from getting suspicious, which is about 2 freakin' car lengths. I don't know about you, but a car staying 2 car lengths behind me at all times (including stop lights) is a hell of a lot more suspicious than a car following at a normal distance. Curiously, the guy doesn't seem to mind other cars getting within the suspicious zone, which is pretty weird for someone who doesn't know that you're following them.
*** ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIII'' did have a humorous way to subvert one case. The victim (stalkee?) is meant to be picked up by a taxi. You can easily grab a taxi yourself, and the victim will end up in your taxi. Then it's just a pleasant drive to the destination, followed by running him over once you get him there. It also has another one where you don't actually need to stalk the guy, just be close to the destination when he arrives, so you can take a shortcut and beat him there.
** Played straight and subverted in ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV IV]]''. There are standard issue "follow the car!" levels, but there is one humorous occasion when [[AntiHero Niko]] follows a drug dealer for a few minutes... then his cousin Roman calls to go [[MemeticMutation BOWLING]]. Then it's a simple footchase followed by a shoot-out.

* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'' tried this when you had to follow someone to a meeting and then listen in on said meeting, but [[TheGuardsMustBeCrazy the AI was a little on the forgiving side]] in regards to the whole "don't let them know you're following them" thing. In fact, the fact that the mission briefing ''says'' not to make your presence known is really the only attention the game pays to the idea at all. In execution, you're completely free to wear your heaviest armor and illumination rings that glow bright enough to make you walking daylight incarnate, run in laps and circles around the target as he's walking toward his meeting, talk to him on the way (several times,) stand ''between'' him and the person he's talking to when the meeting starts, and more, all without penalty.
** In [[http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Paranoia another mission]], Glarthir, a paranoid Wood Elf, wants you to follow several [=NPCs=] around to see if they're doing anything, which one would assume they are. [[SubvertedTrope But they aren't.]] They barely know the guy, and if you do follow them around, you find them eating, sleeping, going to church, going to the bar -- basically, the same thing you'd find if you followed any other NPC. And since they're not actually doing anything, they don't much mind being followed around.
*** Of course, since Glarthir is a fairly obvious nutjob, the game also gives you the option to straight-up lie to him about having stalked anyone at all rather than waste your time following normal (unscripted) [=NPCs=] around.
** An unmarked sidequest in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'' has you tracking Morthal's self-appointed wizard protector into the swamp in the middle of the night. The way it works out is similar to the ''Oblivion'' cases. You might even end up saving him from the swamp's native creatures and he won't comment on your presence.

** ''VideoGame/DriverSanFrancisco'' features these. First being when they identify ex-mercenary Leila Sharon who shot the police convoy with the RPG in the intro and the mission ends when an early game BrokenBridge perceptible only to Tanner prevents him from continuing. A second time when they arrest Krug after the ammonia tanker hi-jacking but let him off on "tainted evidence" and bug his car with a microphone, knowing he would call back Jericho after getting out of prison. Jericho isn't having any of it and someone else calls up on a debt Krug owes, which leads you defending Krug from the mafia's gang before he calls Jericho again (thankfully this temporarily gets rid of the suspicion, as Krug's too busy worrying about his own life). This leads to Jericho blowing up Krug and his car both out of YouHaveFailedMe and being GenreSavvy, he knew they would release Krug to bug his car. The latter mission is interesting in that the dialogue between Krug and Jericho gets cut-off if you stray out of range. Falling out of range gives you ten seconds to catch up to your target like any other pursuit scenario in the game.

* Twice in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons]]''. The latter is especially frustrating since you have to avoid being spotted by TWO characters.

*** You also get to hear Link [[CatScare meow like a kitty]] if you're not completely hidden when the target checks to see if she's being tailed, which is a reward in itself.

* The Neo-Tokyo level in ''VideoGame/TimeSplitters 2''. To elaborate, Neo-Tokyo is one of those knife-edge ones where it's game over the moment you get spotted. Combine this with the fact you have to stay close enough to slip through a [[HardLight laser security gate]] before it closes -- but not so soon that you're spotted -- and you have [[ThatOneLevel one of the toughest missions in the series]]. Once you're ''past'' that point, however, it's a normal mission.

* ''VideoGame/SplinterCell'' has done this at least once, though on one occasion in ''Pandora Tomorrow'' your objective isn't so much avoiding being noticed by the person you're following as it is making sure nobody else she comes across notices you while she leads you to a specific point. [[spoiler:And then once you're where you need to be, your CO radios you and orders you to kill her.]] It also had a subverted example where you're ''supposed'' to follow someone while staying out of sight of everyone she comes across, [[spoiler:but shortly before any sort of stalking happens, one of the guards radios in that she's TheMole, and it instead turns into a defensive shootout as multiple armed guards come after her.]]

* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2'', Roxas and Axel have to stalk Pete during one of their visits to Agrabah.

See also EscortMission, which may also involve tailing an NPC but for different reasons.

*** III did have a humorous way to subvert it. The victim (stalkee?) is meant to be picked up by a taxi. You can easily grab a taxi yourself, and the victim will end up in your taxi. Then it's just a pleasant drive to the destination. Followed by running him over.
**** Three also has one where you don't actually need to stalk the guy, just be close to the destination when he arrives, so you can take a shortcut and beat him there.
**** Played straight and subverted in [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV IV]]. There are standard issue "follow the car!" levels, but there is one humorous occasion when [[AntiHero Niko]] follows a drug dealer for a few minutes... then his cousin Roman calls to go [[MemeticMutation BOWLING]]. Then it's a simple footchase followed by a shoot-out.

* ''MetalGearSolid4'' also had a variation where you had to track someone by their footprints. The second stalking mission was actually pretty good, because it gave a good reason for the target to be spooked, as well as a justification for being able to single him out easily. Also, it had several check points and you could go where you wanted instead of babysitting him all the time.
** Getting spotted by him is also not an instant game over or mission ender. If he does spot you, he may draw a pistol and attack you or otherwise run away, but neither of these is a big deal because for the former, his pistol is very weak and he isn't all that accurate, and for both cases, you can get out of his sight pretty easily, and once he loses track of you for a few minutes, he'll return to his normal route, allowing you to stalk him again. You also have to protect him from getting spotted by the PMC guards around the city, however he's pretty good about avoiding most of them on his own, meaning there's only a few guards you actually have to tranquilize or kill, and there's usually a good spot on the map for you to take them out from without being spotted by the guards '''or''' the mark. All-in-all, it is a fairly well-done example.

* ''VideoGame/SplinterCell'' has done this at least once, though on one occasion your objective isn't so much avoiding being noticed by the person you're following as it is making sure nobody else she comes across notices you while she leads you to a specific point. [[spoiler:And then once you're where you need to be, your CO radios you and orders you to kill her.]]

* ''PursuitForce''

* The second half of ''Fallen Angel'' mission in ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps2''. This is justified, since you are supposed to record the conversations rather than just following the target.
* The otherwise excellent ''VideoGame/Anachronox'' has a very annoying one.
* ''VideoGame/EccoTheDolphin: Defender of the Future.'' ''Tides of Time'' had a deadly version.

* Happens in ''Far Cry 3''. In the main story mission "Bad Side of Town", after being prompted in a hallucination, Jason must follow the stranger [[spoiler: Willis]] through the streets of Bad Town. He will stop periodically and glance behind him. If you lose sight of him (even if he hasn't moved!) for more than a few seconds, a 10 second timer counts down to mission failure. Of course, [[spoiler: he's a CIA agent who already knew you were tailing him from the start.]]

* The ''{{Driver}}'' series has a number of these. "Squeeze up! Hang back! You lost your target!"

* A recurring event in ''FreshlyPickedTinglesRosyRupeeland'' has you following a boy through one of the areas.

* In Summoner, Flece must reach Lord Yago without being seen by the palace guards. In the sequel, Sangaril must escape detection by the Daldyran guards, although she is allowed to kill them as long as she does it by slitting their throats from behind. In both cases, faliure results in returning to the start of the level rather than a non-standard game over.
* One [[SideQuest Mystery]] in ''MagiciansQuestMysteriousTimes'' tasks you with playing a game with an ogre. You must hunt the ogre down, but cannot be seen in the process. He moves after you find him, meaning you have to be on your toes just to ''find'' him.