History PlayerPunch / TurnBasedStrategy

* What happens to Karen in the first ''VideoGame/FrontMission'' will make you want to kill Driscoll, revive him, then kill him again. Thankfully, the game actually lets you do that.

*** Speaking of Gilbert, you will get a ''massive'' punch on the final map if you ''didn't'' recruit Annette, as they will be fought on the final map ''together''. If you kill her first, the game will [[DevelopersForesight acknowledge this]] and Gilbert will [[DespairEventHorizon break his AI pattern and charge literally]] [[{{Determinator}} through the burning city to avenge her death]]. Think killing Gilbert first is any better? Nope, Annettte will do the exact same thing as her father if he's killed before her.

* Attempted to invoke it in ''VideoGame/SuikodenIII'', but it unfortunately failed. Hugo's best friend Lulu ([[GenderBlenderName he's male, incidentally]]) dies at the end of the first ([[TheRashomon and second]]) chapter. It's supposed to be sad, and indeed Hugo is wracked with grief. However, since Lulu himself is [[TheScrappy whiny, irritating, not that bright, and pretty much useless in a fight]], the player is generally something other than sad to see him go -- though, in some cases, since the average player is quite fond of Hugo, his own grief can serve as player punch material on its own. And if not Hugo's grief, then that of Lulu's mother when you tell her she's just lost the last of her children to the war.

*** Speaking of Gilbert, you will get a ''massive'' punch on the final map if you ''didn't'' recruit Annette, as they will be fought on the final map ''together''. If you kill her first, the game will [[DevelopersForesight acknowledge this]] and Gilbert will [[DespairEventHorizon break his AI pattern and charge literally]] [[{{Determinator}} through the burning city to avenge her death]].

*** On top of this, Crimson Flower allows you to recruit Felix and Annette... and [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential you can make them fight their own]] ''fathers''. Sure enough, if [[SelfInducedOrphan you make them do this,]] the game ''will'' in fact acknowledge this.
*** Speaking of Gilbert, you will get a ''massive'' punch on the final map if ''didn't'' recruit Annette as they will be fought on the final map ''together''. If you kill her first, the game will [[DevelopersForesight acknowledge this]] and Gilbert will [[DespairEventHorizon break his AI pattern and charge literally]] [[{{Determinator}} through the burning city to avenge her death]].

*** If Bernadetta is not recruited in Azure Moon or Verdant Wind, she will [[spoiler: literally have the ground erupt in flames under her feet]] provided you didn't [[spoiler: run up and kill her first before Edelgard can light the trap]]. This is an absolutely ''horrible'' way to die.

* ''VideoGame/{{Sunrider}}''
** The mission where you recruit Ikari. 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.
** Later in the game, Shields is kidnapped and tortured by BrattyHalfPint pirate leader Colette, who shows you the environmental damage caused by the Alliance 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 final battle of Chapter 2 seems to be going well, with Shields receiving enough backup from the Federation to take on the enemy capital ship...and then the Sunrider gets hit by said ship's WaveMotionGun, tearing it apart and disabling all but one of its weapons. Ava, Shield's childhood friend and second in command, has to go to a wrecked sector of the ship to fire and destroy the Legion once and for all, in doing so loses an arm, and only manages to pull the lever with a final jolt of effort.
* [[spoiler:Captain Brenner's]] HeroicSacrifice in ''[[VideoGame/NintendoWars Advance Wars Days of Ruin]]'', especially after how close he and Will become. In his final scene you have him on the radio and he expresses ''joy'' about the impending nuclear blast, just because it reminds him of the sun.
-->[[spoiler:'''Brenner:''']] Look at that... it's beautiful... it's like... the... sun...
* Marona in ''VideoGame/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."
** This is shown most powerfully in the first episode where, after eliminating demons from near a village, a small child offers Marona a candy...and then its mother snatches the child away and basically shouts "What were you doing to my child, you evil little ''monster''?" And this is said in a tone so fearful and full of hate not even people in horror movies performing Heroic Sacrifices would use it. To a ''thirteen year-old '''orphan'''.''
** 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 Maronas.
* The ''VideoGame/{{Suikoden}}'' series raises this to an art form; the back of the boxes promise death, war, and betrayal, after all. In the [[VideoGame/SuikodenI first game in the series]], Gremio, the Heroic Mime's [[BattleButler axe-wielding nanny]] sacrifices himself to save the party. The player gets to listen to Gremio's last words as he's devoured by flesh-eating fungus. This scene led to more than a few tears from the series' fans. It's happened many times since, and longtime fans are wary of liking a character ''too'' much, since they tend to up and die or switch sides at a dramatic moment.
** Oh by the way, on Gremio's killer, Millich? You have to forgive him for the kill or you get barred from the best ending. As if giving you another indirect punch for requiring you not to take righteous vengeance.
*** In [[WorthyOpponent Millich's defence]], he ''was'' BrainwashedAndCrazy at the time and can't really be held justifiably accountable for his actions. That, of course, arguably makes it worse -- in most games, the person who does something like this ''is'' an unlikable {{Jerkass}} and deserves to die (case in point being [[TheCaligula Luca Blight]]). Sometimes, you can praise the depth and [[MoralityKitchenSink moral complexity of a story]] whilst simultaneously ''cursing'' it for not giving you a free escape clause where the heroes are pure and good and the villains are clean-cut evil.
** The first Suikoden also features the Heroic Mime's older friend Pahn fighting a duel against the protagonist's father. The first time you play the game and if you haven't been using a guide, you probably opted not to use Pahn when he came back through the FaceHeelRevolvingDoor. By that point, he's pretty far under-levelled, his weapons need a massive investment of funds to get up to par, and his Boar Rune kinda sucks anyway. Plus, by this point, his awesome teamup attack with Gremio is obviously gone. It's actually a '''three for one''' player beatdown. The first is when Pahn dies to hold off General Teo. The second is when you read a guide and realize that ''you could have saved him.'' The third comes when you realize that ''you needed him alive to bring Gremio back''. Ouch, Konami. Ouch.
** ''VideoGame/SuikodenII'' has several Player Punches. During one of the last missions of the game, your sister Nanami is struck by an arrow from one of the guards of the treacherous leader of Rockaxe (who were trying to kill both the hero and Jowy while they were fighting). What makes this scene more of a Player Punch was Nanami's major role in supporting the hero, and after she is struck, she tells the hero how happy she was to be his sister. Whether she [[PlotlineDeath dies for real]] or [[HesJustHiding survives but leaves the war]] is up to whether the player recruited the 108 Stars of Destiny or not.
*** Whether Nanami survives or dies also depends on two other factors, strangely enough. One, the player needs to be fast about a dialogue selection that occurs (though which option is selected doesn't matter). Two, Nanami needs to have a defense of 121 or greater to survive the blow (in order to trip up players who already know what's going to happen and unequip her armor to keep it from being [[PermanentlyMissableContent lost]]). Decent armor is a must.
*** 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.
** Attempted to invoke it in ''VideoGame/SuikodenIII'', but it unfortunately failed. Hugo's best friend Lulu ([[GenderBlenderName he's male, incidentally]]) dies at the end of the first ([[TheRashomon and second]]) chapter. It's supposed to be sad, and indeed Hugo is wracked with grief. However, since Lulu himself is [[TheScrappy whiny, irritating, not that bright, and pretty much useless in a fight]], the player is generally something other than sad to see him go -- though, in some cases, since the average player is quite fond of Hugo, his own grief can serve as player punch material on its own. And if not Hugo's grief, then that of Lulu's mother when you tell her she's just lost the last of her children to the war.
** ''VideoGame/SuikodenIV'' can be quite brutal at some points where there's a ButThouMust if the player gives the wrong answer. Not getting the 108 Stars of Destiny also can cause a bit of a DownerEnding.
** ''VideoGame/SuikodenV'' pulls this and all, repeatedly -- including once during the game's prologue when you're led to expect something nasty to happen to the happy status-quo anyway. The hero's family is so carefully set up and portrayed that of course the player will come to like them... and then the assassination attempt comes. And then it looks like they're actually going to pull through - the family evaded the sleeping poison by pre-empting it with an antidote before the meal, and then the Queen and her husband proceed to make mince-meat of the horde trying to kill them by sheer weight of numbers. Except the Sun Rune drives the queen beyond sanity again, and when someone says something to her, she snaps, rounds on them, and wipes them out as she had been doing to the assassins... only to discover too late that it's her husband in the energy sphere, and is only able to prevent it killing him long enough for him to tell her he loves her before being unceremoniously wiped out. Everything just goes wrong from there.
*** An optional PlayerPunch has Roy performing a HeroicSacrifice -- one that, through his death, sets the player firmly on the path for a [[DownerEnding bad ending]]. If the irony of his UnluckyChildhoodFriend Faylen screaming for him while [[AllLoveIsUnrequited his last thoughts are of Lyon]] doesn't get you, the ''harsher'' irony that his death seals Lyon's ''own'' death during the ending will.
** ''VideoGame/SuikodenTierkreis'' has its own fair share, such as when the player's forced to watch the brutal results of {{Cosmic Retcon}}s unfold. One of the worst, however, is learning that your friend Cougar suffered this, and not even his own people realized it; he'd been {{Ret Gone}}d at first.
** 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.
* The scene before the final battle in ''VideoGame/DisgaeaHourOfDarkness'' features Seraph Lamington "killing" the adorable LoveFreak Flonne by turning her into a flower. [[MultipleEndings She either]] [[DownerEnding stays dead]], [[BittersweetEnding is resurrected by Laharl's]] HeroicSacrifice (a PlayerPunch in and of itself), or is revived as a FallenAngel (which, despite how ominous it may sound, is a MegaHappyEnding. This is [[WidgetSeries Disgaea]], remember?)

* ''VideoGame/JaggedAlliance'', in the spirit of ''VideoGame/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.
* ''VideoGame/JeanneDArc'', being ''about'' Joan of Arc, naturally deals with the whole "burning at the stake" bit. Only, in this case, it's Jeanne's childhood friend and almost-sister Lianne who is captured and sold to the English, due to her [[BodyDouble having been made to impersonate the real Jeanne]] while the latter was [[NoOneCouldSurviveThat presumed dead]]. Made even worse in that you're set on a course to rescue this character, the enemy deliberately blocks your way (not to defeat you, but merely to slow you down) and you make it just instants ''after'' Lianne has been burned at the stake. A ''third'' PlayerPunch comes when Roger, who has been trying to save Lianne on his own (and almost succeeded, too) takes this personally against ''you'', and promptly pulls such a hard FaceHeelTurn he actually turns [[TheLegionsOfHell demonic]].
* Similarly, ''VideoGame/LaPucelle'' features a chapter where the party ends up a hundred years in the past and meets the girl Croix keeps seeing when he looks at Prier. The girl, unlike Prier, is sweet and kind, and a devoted follower of the goddess Poitireene... during a time when they're being ''persecuted''. On top of that, she happens to be Croix's ''fiancée''. Then the plot happens. She gets sold out by another villager jealous that she chose Croix over him, and your party has to race to stop an execution you already know is going to happen, since it was shown in a flashback (plus complications that make this a bit of a Scrappy Level). Unfortunately, YouCantFightFate, and to make things worse, the Croix from ''this'' time period also arrives too late. The shock of seeing his (pregnant) fiancée unjustly murdered (for a second time, in one case) triggers both Croix to merge and become the Dark Prince, the archenemy of [[MessianicArchetype the Maiden of Light]].
* ''VideoGame/TacticsOgreTheKnightOfLodis'' 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).
** When the original ''Tactics Ogre'' gets revealed, a new character, Ravness Loxaerion, a LadyOfWar, is introduced. However, when you had to make the decision to burn or spare Baramus... If you choose NOT to burn Baramus, then as a 'bonus' of Vice's FaceHeelTurn, he kills Ravness on the spot, made more painful if you have finished the game with the Law route first where she lived.
** ''VideoGame/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 ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics''.

* ''VideoGame/ArcTheLad II'' could be called Player Punch II: The Game.
** First, when Elc has to kill Mariel, his first love interest, ''right below the playground where they played together as children''. Even worse is the HopeSpot where she breaks free from her mind control, only for a bomb wired inside her to detonate and kill her anyway.
** 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 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 (a big deal), 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's 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.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' -- [[TheScrappy Algus]] was already an unlikable, classist jerk, but he seals the deal when he shoots Teta at the end of the first Chapter for no reason other than "her life has no meaning to me".
** This game is '''made''' of this trope. Algus crossing the MoralEventHorizon 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.
*** Somehow even "made of this trope" doesn't quite do Tactics justice. That character you like? S/he dies. Ramza and Alma might live, depending on interpretation. Aside from those two, of about 50 characters in the game, FIVE survive, and Delita is the only major one among them. The ending to the game is one of the nastier punches out there.
** 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 ''VideoGame/VagrantStory'', Humes can't even remember magic anymore. Talk about a CrapsackWorld.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsA2'' has a painful player punch for one mission where someone requests some zombie powder so that they can die and end their misery. Luso learns from the Witch of the Fens that taking the powder in large doses over time will not outright kill them, but will turn them into a zombie while they still retain their memories. Luso then learns from Ezel that the alternative to this is to make a draught where the user will lose memories instead. From there, you have to make the ultimate choice in the mission; do you do what the requester asked you to do or do you do the opposite and get him something different so he can still live? Doing either option still makes the mission completed, but the choice you make won't easily be forgotten.
** Another quest is to rescue some miners trapped 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.
* Although for the most part, ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' allows players to [[FixFic save characters from their demise in their original incarnation]], there are some that end up getting this treatment. For some examples:
** ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsMX''. Reenacting [[WhamEpisode the Vibrato battle]] in Anime/RahXephon. '''With the player in control throughout.''' Meaning, [[spoiler: the player controls Ayato as he fights Vibrato... and as he ''unknowingly kills Hiroko at the same time''.]]
** ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration Gaiden'': It looked like it was all going just like the OVA, Lamia is rescued by Kyosuke. All of the sudden, BAM, she's shot down and thought to be dead because of carelessness and the culprit, Juergen, showed no remorse at that, even if he was supposedly assimilated to the ODE System. With the prospect that since her storyline was over she might be KilledOffForReal, it's not hard to see players flying in rage and tossing Juergen's AntiVillain origins and qualities to hell as they raise their arms and cry BerserkerTears as they try to tear him a new one for Lamia's sake (and for being a ThatOneBoss). It took further into the game where it turns out she was safe, got manipulated by another force, and saved by surprise, and then another game years later where it turns out there's someone worse that Juergen is probably accepted back as an AntiVillain.
** ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsT'' recreates the entire final battle of the first season of ''Manga/MagicKnightRayearth'' where players [[spoiler:are forced to kill Zagato and Emeraude.]] And if players want the secret bonus of the stage, [[spoiler:Hikaru has to be the one to kill Zagato.]]
** ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsZ'' series was the first time that Bandai Namco started punching the players in the gut in the same case of ''T'' above. Namely, [[spoiler:there is no way to avert the death of [[Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann Kamina]] and [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam00 Neil Dylandy/1st Lockon Stratos]], two of the gut-wrenching mecha anime deaths at the 2000's. They looked as if subverting it when in ''Z2.2'', they let you prevent the death of [[Anime/CodeGeass Euphemia li Britannia]]... and then rendered the route as non-canon in the ''Z3'' duology.]]

* ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsMX''. Reenacting [[WhamEpisode the Vibrato battle]] in Anime/RahXephon. '''With the player in control throughout.''' Meaning, [[spoiler: the player controls Ayato as he fights Vibrato... and as he ''unknowingly kills Hiroko at the same time''.]]

*** On the same note, you can force Nino to kill Lloyd or Linus. Again, more of an example of VideoGameCrueltyPotential. The worst part is, they don't make any attempts to attack her on enemy phase, making them very easy to defeat and one of the easiest ways to level Nino fast. ...Am I going to hell for that?
*** Actually, Linus ''does'' attack her. And it obviously doesn't make things better.

* VideoGame/{{Sunrider}}

* ''Franchise/FireEmblem: Genealogy of the Holy War'' has an example that's particularly haunting. Halfway through the game, Sigurd's former ally Lord Arvis betrays him and orders his mages to slaughter nearly every playable character in Sigurd's army, at least a few of which the player must surely have developed attachment to at this point. Arvis also reveals that he has taken Sigurd's wife (who has been brainwashed) as his own before personally murdering Sigurd with the legendary Valflame spell. The rest of the game takes place 17 years later, starring the children of the slain protagonists.
** Quan and Ethlyn beforehand. They arrive with a contingent of Lance Knights to assist your army, and were (slowly) crossing the Yied Desert until a contingent of Thracian Dragon Knights appear at the rear. Armed with lances that are super-effective against mounted units and unfettered by movement penalties (which sand terrain does on ground units), they proceed to slaughter the entire army, culminating with Quan and Ethlin. Additionally, if Ethlyn dies first, the leader of the Dragon Knights holds her daughter hostage, forcing Quan to disarm himself so ''[[MoralEventHorizon they can kill him more easily]]''. Oh, this also happens ''in-game'', so you can send your flier down and [[NintendoHard try to rescue them]], but you'll end up [[{{Unwinnable}} breaking the game]].
** ''Blazing Sword'': When Leila was slaughtered on Ephidel's orders, '''her mutilated corpse was left out for you to find and Ephidel mocked you over it'''. Many a player has cried. Matthew's heartbreaking moodswings between being drastically, flat-out dead-depressed and acting optimistic and pretending that nothing was wrong, compounded with how he talked to her like she was there... that cued another tearfest.

*** Hector's death in ''Sword of Seals'' counts as one for anybody who played ''Blazing Sword'' first, especially since it was orchestrated by Zephiel, the once-kind-hearted-prince of Bern that you had to rescue in the prequel.

** 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.]]

** 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.
** Because of the excellent characterization, this can happen with just about any character death, depending on how much you care about your troops. Especially in ''Echoes'', where not only are death quotes fully voiced, but other members of your army will mourn the fallen character on the post-battle results screen. Mourning quotes from family members or love interests are particularly heart-rending.
** ''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]] 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/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, both of them love the Avatar in their own ways, and the Avatar feels ''terrible'' about fighting them.
*** 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 really cruel ([[spoiler:Felicia's sister Flora is forced to double-crosse the group and then is DrivenToSuicide out of guilt, Elise pulls a 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 Peri and Laslow are almost surely fought to death and [[DimensionalTraveler Laslow's VERY spoileriffic origins]] make this ''even crueler'']]), but the Conquest/Nohr side isn't without its punches either ([[spoiler:Sakura is a skippable boss but fighting her is a heartbreaking option ''plus'' she's imprisoned whether she's fought or not, 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: Both Lilith and Azura die, Lilith in the middle of the game, and Azura at the end of both routes. In Azura's case, it can be especially painful if the male Avatar married her.]]

** ''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!]]
*** 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, even though she doesn't like the idea.]] Except it's possible for the Avatar to become [[spoiler:her husband or mother]], and this changes the scene and makes it even more emotionally charged, for better or worse.

*** 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, even though she doesn't like the idea.]] Except it's possible for the Avatar to become [[spoiler:her husband or mother, and this changes the scene and makes it even more emotionally charged, for better or worse.

*** Whether Nanami survives or dies also depends on two other factors, strangely enough. One, the player needs to be fast about a dialogue selection that occurs (though which option is selected doesn't matter). Two, Nanami needs to have a defense of 121 or greater to survive the blow (in order to trip up GenreSavvy players who already know what's going to happen and unequip her armor to keep it from being [[PermanentlyMissableContent lost]]). Decent armor is a must.

* ''VideoGame/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 ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics''.

*** *Sigh* Again, there's no confirmation that all your allies died or not -- just because they weren't ''with'' Ramza and Alma doesn't mean they didn't just part ways after the final battle. It's still quite sad, though, that you have no idea... in the end, the one bright light is the revelation that Olan's descendant Arazlam Durai will reveal the truth and vindicate them as heroes, 400 years into the future.

** Because of the excellent characterization, this can happen with just about any character death, depending on how much you care about your troops.

*** 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 the player even gets [[spoiler: her]]).

*** 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, even when she REALLY doesn't like the idea.]] 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!'' (Or forced and {{glurge}}y for others, but YMMV)]]

** Quan and Ethlyn beforehand. They arrive with a contingent of Lance Knights to assist your army, and were (slowly) crossing the Yied Desert until a contingent of Thracian Dragon Knights appear at the rear. Armed with lances that are [[ForMassiveDamage super-effective against mounted units]] and unfettered by movement penalties (which sand terrain does on ground units), they proceed to slaughter the entire army, culminating with Quan and Ethlin. Additionally, if Ethlyn dies first, the leader of the Dragon Knights holds her daughter hostage, forcing Quan to disarm himself so ''[[MoralEventHorizon they can kill him more easily]]''. Oh, this also happens ''in-game'', so you can send your flier down and [[NintendoHard try to rescue them]], but you'll end up [[{{Unwinnable}} breaking the game]].

* The ''VideoGame/{{Suikoden}}'' series raises this to an art form; the back of the boxes promise death, war, and betrayal, after all. In the [[SuikodenI first game in the series]], Gremio, the Heroic Mime's [[BattleButler axe-wielding nanny]] sacrifices himself to save the party. The player gets to listen to Gremio's last words as he's devoured by flesh-eating fungus. This scene led to more than a few tears from the series' fans. It's happened many times since, and longtime fans are wary of liking a character ''too'' much, since they tend to up and die or switch sides at a dramatic moment.

** 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.

*** Whether Nanami survives or dies also depends on two other factors, strangely enough. One, the player needs to be fast about a dialogue selection that occurs (though which option is selected doesn't matter). Two, Nanami needs to have a defense of 121 or greater to survive the blow (in order to trip up GenreSavvy players who already know what's going to happen and unequip her armor to keep it from being LostForever). Decent armor is a must.

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

*** [[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 chooses to sacrifice herself to keep Chrom from surrendering the Fire Emblem for her life.]] The next chapter does nothing to uplift the mood. [[spoiler: It's even worse if you play her Spotpass map. She's alive, but can't remember anything or anyone and her solo ending says she ''never'' fully recovers.]]
** ''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, both of them love the Avatar in their own ways, and the Avatar feels ''terrible'' about fighting them.
*** 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 really cruel ([[spoiler:Felicia's sister Flora double-crosses the group and then is DrivenToSuicide out of guilt, Elise pulls a 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 Peri and Laslow must also be fought to death and [[DimensionalTraveler Laslow's VERY spoileriffic origins]] make this ''even crueler'']]), but the 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.]]

* ''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.

* {{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.

*** 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 really 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 can't be saved either, Xander's subordinates Peri and Laslow must also be fought to death and [[DimensionalTraveler Laslow's VERY spoileriffic origins]] make this ''even crueler'']]), but the 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.]]
*** 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 the player even gets [[spoiler: 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. The Birthright/Hoshido path is really 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 can't be saved either, Xander's subordinates Pieri and Laslow must also be fought to death and [[DimensionalTraveler Laslow's VERY spoileriffic origins]] make this ''even crueler'']]), but the 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 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 really 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 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 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.]]