History PlayerPunch / TurnBasedStrategy

*** The gameplay also creates a very, ''very'', painful one: solely choosing a path will determine whether some characters on one or another side '''will be KilledOffForReal''' or not during the story. The Birthright/Hoshido path is reallycruel ([[spoiler: Felicia's sister Flora double-crosses the group and then is DrivenToSuicide out of guilt, Elise pulls an HeroicSacrifice to stop the Avatar and Xander from fighting to the death, Xander himself is a boss and can't be saved either, Xander's subordinates Pieri and Laslow must also be fought to death and [[DimensionalTraveler Laswald's VERY spoileriffic origins]] make this ''even crueler'']]), but the [[spoiler: Conquest/Nohr]] side isn't without its punches either: [[spoiler: Sakura is a skippable boss but fighting her is a heartbreaking option, Ryoma will commit {{Seppuku}} to save the Avatar from a SadisticChoice (of having to kill him or be killed) and the final boss is ''Takumi'', who dies regretting he never got to know the Avatar better, and not before his very sympathetic subordinates Oboro and Hinata are also almost surely killed.]] Also? [[spoiler: Azura dies at the end of both routes. This can be especially painful if the male Avatar married her.]]

** The recently released in Japan (as of June 2015) ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'' is just as brutal in this regard, if not even worse. There are two paths to choose, Birthright (Hoshido kingdom) or Conquest (Nohr kingdom); choosing one of these pits the PlayerCharacter against one of their two families, and both of them love the Avatar in their own ways. [[spoiler: Might be somewhat alleviated in the DLC Third Path, with the PlayerCharacter [[TakeAThirdOption choosing NEITHER side]] and running away, which forces ''both'' sides to look for him or her...]]
*** The gameplay also creates a very, ''very'', painful one: solely choosing a path will determine whether some characters on one or another side '''will be KilledOffForReal''' or not during the story. [[note]](Unless one follows very specific instructions to subvert this)[[/note]]. The [[spoiler: Birthright/Hoshido]] path seems to be specially cruel ([[spoiler: Felicia's sister Flora double-crosses the group and then is DrivenToSuicide out of guilt, Elise pulls an HeroicSacrifice to stop the Avatar and Xander from fighting to the death, Xander himself is a boss and is the only Nohr sibling that can't be saved ''under any circumstances'', Xander's subordinates Pieri and Laswald must also be fought to death and [[DimensionalTraveler Laswald's VERY spoileriffic origins]] make this ''even crueler'']]), but the [[spoiler: Conquest/Nohr]] side isn't without its punches either: [[spoiler: Ryoma will commit {{Seppuku}} to save the Avatar from a SadisticChoice (of having to kill him or be killed) and the final boss is ''Takumi'', who dies regretting he never got to know the Avatar better.]] Also? [[spoiler: Azura dies at the end of both routes. This can be especially painful if your male Avatar married her.]]
*** Not even the third path is completely exempt from this. While the majority of the characters that died on Birthright or Conquest will live in Revelation, there are still a handful of [[PlotlineDeath unavoidable deaths]]. The most egregious example is [[spoiler: Scarlet]], ''who is still completely marriageable'' despite [[spoiler: her]] death (which happens [[GuestStarPartyMember not too long]] after you even get [[spoiler: her]]).

*** Eliwood's father, Marquess Pherae's death was a huge punch. For almost ten chapters, Eliwod has been searching for him while untrue rumors fly that Elbert is working with the bad guys. Eliwood and co. finally find him near death on Dread Isle. Enter BigBad Nergal, who kills Elbert to open the Dragon's Gate. The game presents a heartrending still of Eliwood holding his dying father in his arms and weeping.

** It's revealed she survived being StuffedIntoAFridge and was working at a hospital... just in time for Driscoll to kidnap her and turn her into a ''CPU Chip!'' She is re-kidnapped in the fifth mission, but not revealed as dead until ''much'' later. You use this chip to kill Driscoll. He turns ''himself'' into a Giant Killer Cyborg. You kill him ''again''.

* ''[[VideoGame/OgreBattle Tactics Ogre, The Knight of Lodis]]'' has one hidden in the canon DownerEnding. Turns out that having your best friend and love interest killed/sacrifice themselves does nothing for your [[WideEyedIdealist Wide Eyed Idealism]]. The character you've been playing turns out to, as a result of ''your'' choices, become one of the main antagonists of the sequel. There's a reason why the 2nd best ending is generally preferred (Hero lives, love interest lives, both walk off into the sunset and out of the history books).

* ''TacticsOgre'' gives several of these... you learn that many bosses you fought throughout the game are architects, philosophers, twins, mothers-to-be, or were just fighting to get money to pay for their sick daughter's medicine. Matsuno ''really'' hammers in the point that war brings in a lot of people who don't want to be there... and does so even ''more'' effectively than ''FinalFantasyTactics''.

* ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsMX''. Reenacting the Vibrato battle in RahXephon. '''You are in control throughout.'''

** The mission where you recruit Ikari is this. Commander Shields has been tasked by the Alliance with escorting a cargo ship, and in a pre-battle Cutscene Ikari tries to convince you to ignore the cargo and bail out, focusing on getting rid of PACT ships. If you refuse her offer, she will turn against you and join the offensive on the Cargo, only to discover it's actually full of innocent civilians, among which are children, and give up on her goal. If you accept her offer, you flee the planet and eventually meet up with the cargo ship once again, and she has a similar scene as the other path...except the ship is damaged beyond hope, and she gets a view of desperate children through the window before it falls apart.

** The mission where you recruit Ikari is this. Commander Shields has been tasked by the Federation with escorting a cargo ship, and in a pre-battle Cutscene Ikari tries to convince you to ignore the cargo and bail out, focusing on getting rid of PACT ships. If you refuse her offer, she will turn against you and join the offensive on the Cargo, only to discover it's actually full of innocent civilians, among which are children, and give up on her goal. If you accept her offer, you flee the planet and eventually meet up with the cargo ship once again, and she has a similar scene as the other path...except the ship is damaged beyond hope, and she gets a view of desperate children through the window before it falls apart.
** Later in the game, Shields is kidnapped and tortured by BrattyHalfPint pirate leader Colette, who shows you the environmental damage caused by the Federation and the state of misery millions of people have to live in, and he briefly chats with a young, miserable girl. When later a Federation squad comes in to rescue him, a firefight starts and the girl gets caught in the crossfire, giving you an eyeful of her body bloodied and pumped full of bullets. Not only unlike the previous example you cannot avoid this, but this gives Shields a strong case of HeroicBSOD (And the girl eventually [[JumpScare pops up]] in his nightmares)

* The mission where you recruit Ikari is this. Commander Shields has been tasked by the Federation with escorting a cargo ship, and in a pre-battle Cutscene Ikari tries to convince you to ignore the cargo and bail out, focusing on getting rid of PACT ships. If you refuse her offer, she will turn against you and join the offensive on the Cargo, only to discover it's actually full of innocent civilians, among which are children, and give up on her goal. If you accept her offer, you flee the planet and eventually meet up with the cargo ship once again, and she has a similar scene as the other path...except the ship is damaged beyond hope, and she gets a view of desperate children through the window before it falls apart.

*** The gameplay also creates a very, ''very'', painful one: solely choosing a path will determine whether some characters on one or another side '''will be KilledOffForReal''' or not during the story. [[note]](Unless one follows very specific instructions to subvert this)[[/note]]. The [[spoiler: Birthright/Hoshido]] path seems to be specially cruel ([[spoiler: Felicia's sister Flora double-crosses the group and then is DrivenToSuicide out of guilt, Elise pulls an HeroicSacrifice to stop the Avatar and Xander from fighting to the death, Xander himself is a boss and is the only Nohr sibling that can't be saved ''under any circumstances'', Xander's subordinates Pieri and Laswald must also be fought to death and [[DimensionalTraveler Laswald's VERY spoileriffic origins]] make this ''even crueler'']]), but the [[spoiler: Conquest/Nohr]] side isn't without its punches either (like [[spoiler: the possibility of having Sakura ''[[CruelAndUnusualdeath torn apart alive by Faceless]]'']]).
*** The Nohr route isn't much better. [[spoiler: Ryoma will commit {{Seppuku}} to save the Avatar from a SadisticChoice (of having to kill him or be killed) and the final boss is ''Takumi'', who dies regretting he never got to know the Avatar better.]] Also? [[spoiler: Azura dies at the end of both routes. This can be especially painful if your male Avatar married her.]]

*** The gameplay also creates a very, ''very'', painful one: solely choosing a path will determine whether some characters on one or another side '''will be KilledOffForReal''' or not during the story. [[note]](Unless one follows very specific instructions to subvert this)[[/note]]. The [[spoiler: Birthright/Hoshido]] path seems to be specially cruel ([[spoiler: Felicia's sister Flora double-crosses the group and then is DrivenToSuicide out of guilt, Elise pulls an HeroicSacrifice to stop the Avatar and Xander from fighting to the death, Xander himself is a boss and is the only Nohr sibling that can't be saved ''under any circumstances'', Xander's subordinates Pieri and Laswald must also be fought to death and [[DimensionalTraveler Laswald's VERY spoileriffic origins]] make this ''even crueler'']]), but the [[spoiler: Conquest/Nohr]] side isn't without its punches either (like [[spoiler: the possibility of having ''[[CruelAndUnusualdeath torn apart alive by Faceless]]'']]).

** The recently released in Japan (as of June 2015) ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'' is just as brutal in this regard, if not even worse. There are two paths to choose, Birthright (Hoshido kingdom) or Conquest (Nohr kingdom); choosing one of these pits the PlayerCharacter against one of their two families, and both of them love the Avatar in their own ways.
*** The gameplay also creates a very, ''very'', painful one: choosing one path will determine whether some characters on one or another side '''will be KilledOffForReal''' or not during the story. One of the most heartbreaking examples is [[spoiler: [[KilltheCutie Elise's death]] in Chapter 26 of the Birthright/Hoshido route]], which is made even worse by [[spoiler: her dying while she tries to help the Avatar ''and'' at the hands of her eldest brother Xander, who [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone is clearly horrified]] when this happens...]]

** The recently released in Japan (as of June 2015) ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'' is just as brutal in this regard, if not even worse. There are two paths to choose, Birthright (Hoshido kingdom) or Conquest (Nohr kingdom); choosing one of these pits the PlayerCharacter against one of their two families, and both of them love the Avatar in their own ways. And to make it worse, one path choice can determine whether some characters ''die or not'', one of the most heartbreaking examples being [[spoiler: Elise's death in Chapter 26 of the Hoshido route, while trying to protect the Avatar ''and'' at the hands of her eldest brother Xander, who [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone is clearly horrified]] when this happens..]]

*** Later, you meet [[spoiler:Lucina, Chrom's KidFromTheFuture who went back in time to prevent his death in the first place. At one point, she considers going as far as ''killing'' the Avatar to prevent them from becoming the BiggerBad.]] Except it's possible for the Avatar to become [[spoiler:her husband or mother, and yes, [[TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything The Dev Team Thought Of Everything]], this changes the scene and makes it ''even more painful!'']]

*** [[WhamEpisode Chapter 9]] consists of clearing a courtyard of enemies so that [[spoiler: Emmeryn]] can be safely extracted by air. However, at the very last minute, [[spoiler: Aversa summons a veritable army of risen archers that promptly [[OneHitKO insta-kills]] the Pegasus Knights that were supposed to do the extraction, rendering your efforts up to that point utterly pointless. Worse, Emmeryn is forced to sacrifice herself to keep Chrom from surrendering the Fire Emblem for her life.]] The next chapter does nothing to uplift the mood.

* ''VideoGame/{{Wasteland 2}}'' starts off with one. As you head south from the Ranger Citadel on your first mission, you simultaneously receive two distress calls: the nearby community of Highpool has [[LootPillageAndBurn come under siege from raiders]], and the Ag Centre research facility comes under attack when the local fauna mutates and infectious spore pods [[ZombieApocalypse begin turning the researchers]]. You happen to be the only Ranger squad in the area. [[SadisticChoice Yep, you can probably see where this is going]]. As you go through the process of saving one, you get occasional radio transmissions of the other place, where things become increasingly panicked and the situation is very obviously rapidly deteriorating. Arguably the worse one is choosing Highpool; while the Mayor of Highpool goes down cursing the Rangers for [[NeverLiveItDown once again]] [[MemeticMutation screwing over]] the town, Kathy the head researcher at Ag Centre is not as composed or accepting of her impending fate, flat terrified and desperately pleading with Vargas to send ''anybody'' to save them. The one you didn't choose, you find in ruins with [[EverybodysDeadDave everybody dead]].

* ''VideoGame/TheBannerSaga'' is built on this. The majority of the cast can be killed off in various ([[SenselessSacrifice usually pointless]]) ways depending on the player's choices, and there is at least one occasion where the player has to choose which main character(s) live and die. One of the worst ones is [[spoiler:Onef's betrayal. If Egil is alive, Onef kills him, and there's a brief moment where it seems he kills Oddleif as well]].

* {{XCOM}}, in any of its incarnations, is entirely built on this. Being able to rename and customize them can lead to the player becoming attached to them as they progress in level; however, it doesn't matter how advanced or strong your soldiers are, the risk of them dying in the blink of an eye because an alien outmaneuvered you or got a lucky shot is always present. Having one of your troops die unceremoniously after having taken them on a dozen missions and making them look like your friends is a common scenario players bring up to mention the emotional investment one gets to their troops. Its latest incarnation features a memorial wall to your base which lists your fallen soldiers...complete with the Last Post playing in the background, reminding you of your failure to get them home alive.

* {{XCOM}}, in any of its incarnations, is entirely built on this. Being able to rename and customize them can lead to the player becoming attached to them as they progress in level; however, it doesn't matter how advanced or strong your soldiers are, the risk of them dying in the blink of an eye because an alien outmaneuvered you or got a lucky shot is always present. Having one of your troops die unceremoniously after having taken them on a dozen missions and making them look like your friends is a common scenario players bring up to mention the emotional investment one gets to their troops.
Its latest incarnation features a memorial wall to your base which lists your fallen soldiers...complete with the Last Post playing in the background, reminding you of your failure to get them home alive.

* {{XCOM}}, in any of its incarnations, is entirely built on this. Being able to rename and customize them can lead to the player becoming attached to them as they progress in level; however, it doesn't matter how advanced or strong your soldiers are, the risk of them dying in the blink of an eye because an alien outmaneuvered you or got a lucky shot is always present. Having one of your troops die unceremoniously after having taken them on a dozen missions and making them look like your friends is a common scenario players bring up to mention the emotional investment one gets to their troops.

*** Later, you meet [[spoiler:Lucina, Chrom's KidFromTheFuture who went back in time to prevent his death in the first place. At one point, she considers going as far as ''killing'' the Avatar to prevent them becoming the BiggerBad.]] Except it's possible for the Avatar to become [[spoiler:her husband or mother, and yes, [[TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything The Dev Team Thought Of Everything]], this changes the scene and makes it ''even more painful!'']]

*** Pilika is Player Punch fuel. This five year old is easily the most tragic character in the game. She not only has her village burned and her parents killed by Luca Blight, she is almost killed by him as well. This event renders her mute for most of the game. She is apart from her dear friend and caretaker Jowy (who she rescued early in the game) for much of the game and it made her feel lonely. In the end, a TearJerker scene shows Jowy telling Pilika that when he leaves, it's good bye forever.

** An entire country is [[CosmicRetcon erased from existence]], and you can't bring it back at the end of the game, even. Nobody outside the 108 stars remembers it was ever there. And that son-of-a-bitch Valfred somehow [[LackOfEmpathy can't understand why people are horrified by his crime]], he's ''that'' self-centered. At that point, even the revelation of his motives]] doesn't earn him sympathy -- you'll be quite ''glad'' to crush his dream in penance for what he and his allies have done.

** What about Myrhh in ''The Sacred Stones''? You can force her to kill her own freakin' father, Morva! And none of the main characters (except for Ephraim -- and only if you're playing his route) will ever know until after the battle! [[YouBastard Nice job.]]

*** Actually, Linus ''does'' attack her. And it obviously doesn't make things better.
** Lyon is a [[NiceGuy very kind man]] who legitimately cares about his people. Granted, he envies his friend Ephraim, but just how much he was driven by that envy is debatable. He tries to bring his father back from the dead, and ends up possessed by [[BigBad the Demon King]], who then uses his new vessel to start the war that drives the plot. You have to kill him, regardless of which route you play. If you play Eirika's route, it becomes clear that he loves Eirika, and [[DyingDeclarationOfLove he finally gets up the courage to tell her just as he's about to die]].
** In your first playthrough of ''FireEmblem: Radiant Dawn'', you have no choice but to [[spoiler:kill the king you spent almost all of part one searching for and then trying to get up onto the throne, because according to his research it's the only way to break the Blood Pact he was tricked into signing. But guess what? ''It doesn't work''. So basically, you were forced to kill the poor man for nothing.]] Thankfully, your second playthrough onward lets you TakeAThirdOption.

** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' may just have the crowner of them all. When you first start the game, you get to create your own customisable [[AudienceSurrogate Avatar]], who joins [[TheHero Chrom]] on his adventures. What's the first thing you see your Avatar do in the story right after creating them? [[spoiler: Getting [[GrandTheftMe possessed]] by the BiggerBad and ''[[TheHeroDies killing Chrom!]]'']] The game then [[HowWeGotHere flashes back to when Chrom and the Avatar first meet]], with you, the player, already knowing how it all ends. And worse, if your Avatar is female, [[spoiler: they can ''marry'' Chrom and have his children, making the inevitable moment even ''more'' painful!]]

* ''VideoGame/JaggedAlliance'', in the spirit of Xcom, has permadeath for the player's team. If you get one killed, heroically or not, their friends and/or lover who saw it happen will have a response.

** This game is '''made''' of this trope. Algus crossing the Moral Event Horizon is just the first. Then you learn that Ovelia, who Ramza has just stormed an execution site and then a castle for, has decided to take the Shrine Knight's offer. Then Ramza's sister gets kidnapped. Then you learn that [[TheWoobie Rafa]] hates Barinten not just because he killed her village, but because he raped her, which Ramza discovered right after finding out that [[StormingTheCastle killing all those guards]] was useless, because his sister is already gone. It doesn't get any better when Ramza finds out that his sister has actually been taken to '''Hell itself''', and that if he wants to follow to stop the apocalypse it's going to be a one way trip. The worst part is that you know Ramza's struggles are ultimately for nothing, since [[MagnificentBastard Delita Hyral]] is going to wind up king while Ramza's deeds are going to go completely unrewarded. At best, Ramza fades into obscurity at the end of the game. At best.

** When put in conjunction with other Ivalice games, this game has a very different kind of player punch. ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance'' gives us a different kind of Ivalice, where strange races abound and everything is magical, it's a false world, but one that bases itself on something magnificent. In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'', we are properly introduced to the world of Ivalice past, a heartbreakingly beautiful place of airships and magic woods, with several interesting races and its own unique society. We can't help but fall in love with the Moogle Mechanics, Magical Viera, and Brutish Bangaa who populate every corner of this magical world. ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsA2'' takes this further by dropping dramatics with a much lighter tale than ''[=FFXII=]'', about a boy going into a book and having an adventure. We even get to play our old favorite races and some more! Then you go back to the first FF Tactics, which chronologically, [[ForegoneConclusion takes place after all of this...]] All of the other races, all of the airships, everything is gone. By VagrantStory, Humes can't even remember magic anymore. Talk about a CrapsackWorld.

** Another quest is to rescue some miners tapped in a cave-in and menaced by undead monsters. When you get to the mine, all you find are spirits and zombies... and then a note from the miner who gave you the quest saying that they were already gone and those zombies you killed ''were'' the miners. Who you did a kindness because you released them from their tormented state.

* {{XCOM}}, in any of its incarnations is entirely built on this. Being able to rename and customize them can lead to the player becoming attached to them as they progress in level, however, it doesn't matter how advanced or strong your soldiers are, the risk of them dying in the blink of an eye because an alien outmaneuvered you or got a lucky shot is always present. Having one of your troops die unceremoniously after having taken them on a dozen missions and making them look like your friends is a common scenario players bring up to mention the emotional investment one gets to their troops.

*** Ninian's death. Especially if you maxed out her support level with Eliwood. That one is such a punch that it needs some expansion. To start: One of your party members is the MysteriousWaif dancer Ninian, a ProperLady who dances for the group, whom the young Lord Eliwood seems to grow very fond of... Later on, however, she is taken away by the BigBad Nergal, having offered herself as a hostage to protect her brother Nils, forcing Eliwood and the others to find a weapon to defeat Nergal, namely the titular weapon, Durandal. But just after claiming the weapon, a dragon appears. Eliwood easily takes it down, but then he learns from Nergal himself... that the dragon he fatally wounded... was really Ninian. This is pretty painful on its own, but if you've gotten their A-Support conversation, that makes it even ''worse''... Imagine killing the person you love and not knowing it until it's too late, and not only does she not blame you, but she's glad that she didn't harm you while in her dragon state. [[spoiler:Fortunately, she is revived by one of the legendary heroes, although if paired she will still die young]].

** The remake for the Wii gives another in the form of Carona's backstory: what's the one thing they could do to make Marona's childhood even worse? ''Take away Ash'', leaving her completely vulnerable to the raw hatred of the world, then have her ''lose'' to Sulphur, then be enslaved by a ''dark god'' who holds her entire world hostage and forces her to travel to alternate Ivoires and kill, betray, and enslave other Marona's.

* Marona in ''PhantomBrave'' is a sweet, kind-hearted young girl who gets AllOfTheOtherReindeer reactions by the very people she tries to help to the point that, to quote one editor, he "has never actually wanted to commit genocide on a fictional world before."

* ''VideoGame/ArcTheLad 2'' has quite a few player punches: First, when Elc has to kill Mariel, his first love interest, ''right below the playground where they played together as children''. Then there is the fact that Arc finally found his father, after literally YEARS spent looking for him, going into exile while being framed as a terrorist, and he dies 4 minutes after that. Finding his father was the reason he started his quest. Then you can add the utterly screwed up backstories of most playable characters, and finally the events before the last boss: the characters have destroyed bit by bit the Romalian War Machine, freed most if not all of their puppet states, and have conquered its capital. Cue the king of Romalia breaking the seal of the BigBad: it turns out that the key of the final key BigBad seal was that a human being had to ''willingly'' choose to free him. Cue the king snapping because his kingdom is collapsing under his feet and pushing the red button. The BigBad then proceeds to kill the King of Romalia (no big deal), kills Arc's girlfriend, and unleashes the apocalypse over the world. Then you see a sadistic scene of the cities explored by the heroes being flooded, burned down, while most of the world population dies: not only were all the good deeds of Arc, Elc & co for nothing, but you are at the end of the game. No opportunity to fix anything, and if this was not enough, Arc commits a heroic sacrifice after the last battle. Really, do not be fooled by the anime and 16-bit era graphics: this game's story is a cross over between Rwanda and WWII.