History Main / TheWarSequence

* In ''VideoGame/XWingAlliance'' the player's Y-Wing is inadvertently dumped out of hyperspace in an Imperial exercise area, where no less than four ''Imperial II''-class Star Destroyers are conducting exercises. It is possible for a decent, patient player to wipe out their TIE Fighter squadrons and destroy all four Star Destroyers (by blowing off their shield generators, ion cannoning them into dormancy and lasering them at leisure).

[[caption-width-right:350: [[MultiMookMelee And you get to fight each and every last one of them]].[[note]] Except not the two Behemoths, thanks to hardware limitations, but you do still get to kill an even 1000 of the mooks.[[/note]]]]

*** The prelude to the Arbiter's Grounds dungeon is a one-man assault against an army occupying fortified positions. There's also a horseback fight against an infinite number of boar-riding moblins and finally you go sniper-style to take out the moblin home base.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}'', the War events are straight-out examples of this: Alex temporarily teams up with either the soldiers or the Infected. Both sides get a limited number of combatants and you have to wipe out the other side before they wipe out yours. And yes, unintentional friendly fire is a VERY real possibility and DOES count against your side (I'm looking at you, notorious [[WhipItGood Whipfist]]-users). And to make it even crazier, it doesn't matter how much of your side remains at the end, only how fast you did it.

** ''[[VideoGame/Hitman2SilentAssassin Hitman 2]]'' ends with 47 taking on several dozen bodyguards, with every weapon in the game at his disposal. After 19 levels of sneaking around and only firing the occasional shot, the CatharsisFactor is ''enormous''.

* Most ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' games have at least one chapter towards the end of the game consisting of a ''huge'' map with tons of enemies (and often lots of reinforcements), with the enemy commander being a ClimaxBoss. The map itself tends to be fairly open in terrain and the enemy force often contains lots of mounted units. Examples of this kind of chapter include "Camus the Sable" in [[VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragonAndTheBladeOfLight the first game]], "The Last Decisive Battle" in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemMysteryOfTheEmblem Mystery of the Emblem]]'', "Across the River" in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemThracia776 Thracia 776]]'', "The Binding Blade" in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade Binding Blade]]'', "Cog of Destiny" and "Victory or Death" in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade Blazing Blade]]'', "Blood and Sand" in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones The Sacred Stones]]'', "Clash!" in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance Path of Radiance]]'', "The Conqueror" in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening Awakening]]'', "Light Scatters" in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemFates Fates: Birthright]]'', every chapter from 22 onwards in ''Fates: Conquest'', and "Black Flames" in ''Fates: Revelation''.

* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' had two smaller sequences, before the finale:

** The BigBadassBattleSequence at the end of the game consists of fighting on four battlefields, alongside Ferelden's army, while being able to call in troops from the allies you have chosen (via horn signal), taking a break [[AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent to command the rest]] of your companions, who are [[HoldTheLine holding the line]] to prevent enemy reinforcements from flanking you. After [[StormingTheCastle assaulting your way into]], then fighting through TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon, [[JustForPun Fort Drakon]], you fight the FinalBoss, with many of the Non-Player-Characters you've met helping you in a display of AuthorityEqualsAsskicking.
*** Notably, during this final battle most of the darkspawn you face are much weaker than normal, going down in just one or two hits. This allows the game to throw far more at you than you would normally be capable of facing.

* After 15 years of gaming, many a ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' mod has either this or [[DroughtLevelOfDoom really scarce ammo]]; some more extreme cases have the player(s) fighting multiple boss monsters at once.

[[folder: Puzzle Games]]

[[folder: Role-Playing Games]]

[[folder: Tower Defense]]

* ''Videogame/TeamFortress2'' has this as a gamemode: [[HordeMode Mann vs. Machine]] pits a team of 6 against several waves of MechaMooks. The weakest of the robots are on (almost) equal terms with the player character, and that's not taking into account the various gigantic robots thrown into the mix. Luckily, the players can upgrade their weapons' attributes, so they can be the [[OneManArmy one man armies]] the game requires them to be

* ''VideoGame/PizzaTower'' has the [[ShapedLikeItself aptly named]] War level, where [[TheHero Peppino]] gets ahold of a [[ShotgunsAreJustBetter pump action shotgun]] and [[TheLancer Gustavo]] assists with a rocket launcher firing [[AnimalCompanion Brick]] at enemies. Uniquely among the other levels, War is a very tight RaceAgainstTheClock from picking up the shotgun all the way to the end, going from trench warfare in a battlefield under bombardment to a laboratory filled with [[EvilKnockoff weird Peppino clones]].

* ''VideoGame/TheLordOfTheRingsTheReturnOfTheKing'' has the Battle of Pelennor Fields. As Aragorn, Legolas or Gimli, the first part's objective is to join the Rohirrim and Dunedain in fighting and killing a full hundred enemies among orcs, uruk-hai and easterling humans. Soon after, the easterling Mumak war elephants shows up, and you're tasked to defend Merry and Eowyn from them, single-handedly destroying their armor and scoring the killing shots; there's also the small matter of the Witch-King himself swooping in to attack them. From here you have to handle the Mumakil approaching from either edge of the field, the groundlings that will do their best to hinder you, and also kill the Nazgul's mount. [[MomentOfAwesome It's as thrilling as it sounds]].

** One such sequence—precisely, the last one before the FinalBoss of ''The Second Encounter''—even had the sky darken and then rain fire and brimstone for the entire sequence.
** "The Guardian of Time" from ''BFE''. Over ''seventeen hundred enemies''. Followed by a final boss fight.
* ''Videogame/TeamFortress2'' has this as a gamemode: Mann vs. Machine pits a team of 6 against several waves of MechaMooks. The weakest of the robots are on (almost) equal terms with the player character, and that's not taking into account the various gigantic robots thrown into the mix. Luckily, the players can upgrade their weapons' attributes, so they can be the [[OneManArmy one man armies]] the game requires them to be

* Chapters 1 and 5 in ''VideoGame/{{Drakengard}}''.
** Same for ''Drakengard 2'', of course. Also, it should be noted that unlike most, it doesn't look at all impressive; the ''Drakengard'' games sadly have a terrible draw distance, so you have to be close to the enemy soldiers to see them at all.
* In the ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors'' series, [[strike: practically]] every stage matches the trope. At lower difficulty levels, the computer-controlled allied generals will be quite capable of eliminating any opposing generals you don't get to first, however, at higher difficulty levels, they CantCatchUp. At the highest difficulty levels, this can even lead to being a rather ''LITERAL'' OneManArmy, especially in the earlier games, if you played as your side's commanding officer, and there was no way to lose besides your character or the CO's death. If you could not achieve immediate and significant momentum for your side by killing generals and cutting off reinforcements, your side would be reduced to you alone in mere minutes, no matter how well you held off the thousands of opposing soldiers.

* ''VideoGame/TheLordOfTheRingsTheReturnOfTheKing'' has the Battle of Pelennor Fields. Play as Aragorn, Legolas or Gimli as you charge headfirst into over a hundred enemies at a time battling Rohirrim. Soon after the level begins, the Mumakil (elephants) and The Witch King swoop in to kill Eowyn and Merry, and you need to kill both. Oh, did I mention, the entire time The Fellowship Fanfare is blasting in the background...tell this troper that isn't epic.

* The PC port of ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry4'' introduces the [[IdiosyncraticDifficultyLevels "Legendary Dark Knight"]] difficulty, which basically turns (almost) every non-boss enemy encounter into one of these.

[[caption-width-right:350: [[MultiMookMelee And you get to fight each and every last one of them.]][[note]] Except not the two Behemoths, thanks to hardware limitations, but you do still get to kill an even 1000 of the mooks[[/note]]]]

* ''VideoGame/EldenRing'' inverts this: the battle against General Radahn, if you choose to fight him, gives you the chance to summon no fewer than seven {{Assist Character}}s to help slay him, in a game that usually only gives you one per boss fight. And even then, Radahn is so huge and powerful none of your allies last longer than a few seconds against him... which is why their summon signs ''respawn''. His fight therefore requires a strategy of accompanying waves of [=NPCs=] into battle against him, retreating when they get picked off, then summoning them back in to repeat the process until either you or he dies.

** Things get truly out of hand in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'', at the end of Part 3, when almost every important character in the game (including a good number of peace-lovers) clash with each other amongst a huge army of Mooks. What's more, this is a ''[[KillEmAll rout map]]'' so you're being expected to wipe out almost all 100+ enemies to win. [[spoiler:Then the increasingly ominous death counter hits 80, and a sudden plot twist immedeately cuts the battle short.]]

** Likewise, ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'' has the Public Assembly battle at the end of the first level. In addition to the seemingly endless hordes of Majini, the Executioner is stalking you with a humongous axe.

** One might argue that ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'' as a whole was full of this, with many areas featuring groups of enemies that inexplicably appear out of thin air the moment fog of war covers an area.
** ''VideoGame/IcewindDale'', far more so than ''Baldur's Gate''. Justified, since it was far less talking and far more fighting in the first place.

* A lot of ''VideoGame/MechWarrior'' missions can feel like this, as you are expected to overcome extremely high odds on a regular basis. For the genuine feel of the War Sequence, though, you can't beat latter half of ''VideoGame/MechWarrior 4 Mercenaries'', where the player, no matter their factional alignment, is thrown into battle with all manner of enemies--by that point you are expected to be piloting an AceCustom 'Mech of your own and shredding lesser opponents en route to taking out the big boys. The final missions on Tharkad or New Canton can definitely be quite the battle. Often you'll be outnumbered at least 5-to-1, and even worse if you start including vehicles and aircraft into that mix. Even with the supplemental lancemates the game lets you hire and outfit to bring with you, they're still a challenge, but they are ''glorious.''

** The infamous Nuts.wad takes the trope UpToEleven and beyond, having the player square off against over 10,000 enemies. The real kicker is that, while most of the above examples split up their fights into segments, ''Nuts'' has you fighting the vast majority of these enemies ''at the same time, in one giant room.''

* Most ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' games have at least one chapter towards the end of the game consisting of a ''huge'' map with tons of enemies (and often lots of reinforcements), with the enemy commander being a ClimaxBoss. The map itself tends to be fairly open in terrain and the enemy force often contains lots of mounted units. Examples of this kind of chapter include "Camus the Sable" in [[VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragonAndTheBladeOfLight the first game]], "The Last Decisive Battle" in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemMysteryOfTheEmblem Mystery of the Emblem]]'', "Across the River" in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemThracia776 Thracia 776]]'', "The Binding Blade" in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade Binding Blade]]'', "Cog of Destiny" and "Victory or Death" in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade Blazing Blade]]'', "Blood and Sand" in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones The Sacred Stones]]'', "Clash!" in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance Path of Radiance]]'', "The Conqueror" in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening Awakening]]'', "Light Scatters" in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemFates Fates: Birthright]]'', [[UpToEleven every chapter from 22 onwards]] in ''Fates: Conquest'', and "Black Flames" in ''Fates: Revelation''.

* The PC port of ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry 4'' introduces the [[IdiosyncraticDifficultyLevels "Legendary Dark Knight"]] difficulty, which basically turns (almost) every non-boss enemy encounter into one of these.

* ''[[VideoGame/LEGOAdaptationGame LegoStarWars II]]'' has one part where you must fend off a legion of stormtroopers on the Death Star. The first game has the Geonosis Arena battle.
** Not to mention "Defense Of Kashyyyk," where you have to fight your way across a beach where a buttload of clone troopers and battle droids are doing their best impression of D-Day.

** The official Doom games have a couple slaughter maps as well, the most infamous being ''[[VideoGame/FinalDoom Final Doom's]] "Go 2 It", a secret stage with 200+ enemies, including 19 enemy-reviving Arch-Viles and 13 Cyberdemons.