History RunOrDie / VideoGames

* ''[[VideoGame/FirstEncounterAssaultRecon F.3.A.R]]'' features the appropriately named multiplayer mode [[PrecisionFStrike "Fucking Run"]], in which you must... well... run to escape a supernatural Wall of Death and reach safe zones. Fans and critics alike praised the mode for being downright ''intense''.

** ''VideoGame/TalesOfDestiny'': In the UsefulNotes/{{P|layStation2}}S2 remake, if you run around in one place with all your party members set to Auto for grinding purposes, bonus boss and ''Tales Of Destiny 2'' antagonist Barbatos Goetia will eventually show up and exclaim that he's giving you the choice to run away or die. He's not kidding, since even if you ''do'' somehow manage to get his HP to zero, he'll just keep on fighting.

** ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} III'': In the second level of the Blood Elf campaign, you start with several barely-defended bases on the mainland that are immediately attacked by vastly more numerous and fully-upgraded undead forces.

* ''VideoGame/PizzaTower'': In the last phase against [[spoiler:[[MirrorBoss Fake Peppino]]]], the floor breaks apart and Peppino has to run down a long tunnel while escaping from the boss who's now a giant crawling head with their mouth gaping open.

* At the end of the prologue in ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'', the beginning-level PlayerCharacter and their mid-level mentor Gorion are ambushed by the BigBad Sarevok and some minions. Gorion stays to fight while telling the PlayerCharacter to flee, which they do. He kills or disables the others and holds off Sarevok for a while, but hasn't really got a chance. When you actually fight Sarevok at the end of the game, at least he's got only about two to two and a half times your levels...

* ''VideoGame/ClockTower2'': When you hear [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSMKSrnJtIo this]], you run for dear life until you find either a place to hide or a means to drive him away.

* ''VideoGame/PersonaQShadowOfTheLabyrinth'':
** The game has your advisors freak out the first time they spot an FOE and beg you to run if you get caught. They aren't being overly cautious - you need to be at levels appropriate for midway through the next ''labyrinth'' before an FOE becomes less of a struggle.
** There's a special story example in the Old Doll, a special FOE which appears in the Evil Spirit Club. There are a few enemies which chase the party, but only the Old Doll will do it across multiple rooms. [[OhCrap And it's faster than you.]] Faced with it chasing them, the party have no choice but to run like hell and try to find a way to trap it. [[spoiler:You actually ''have'' to get into a fight with it in order to trap it, as in order to lure it into the trap you have to let it get close enough that it ''will'' catch up. Unless you're on a New Game+, you can't kill it - you have to escape from the battle and ''keep running''.]]

* After the planetary shield drops in ''F.A.K.K.[[superscript:2]]'', tough new enemies appear and Julie straight up declares that fighting them with her current weapons is futile. They technically can be killed, but it requires the better part of your current arsenal's ammo cap to down even one, so it's pretty awesome when [[SoLastSeason your shiny new toys later in the game can grind them to hamburger]].

** In ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion'', the SA-X is ridiculously overpowered compared to Samus, being comparable to your power level at the end of ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'' [[note]]it came from the X within [[JustifiedTrope Samus' infected Power Suit components]][[/note]] and Samus being gimped by her new weakness to cold and a suit that doesn't protect her much. Your friendly AI commander actually gives you this instruction in as many words. As you progress through the game, you go from hiding, to running from, to preventing from following, and finally fighting at the very end of the game.

* ''VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}''. The Chimera Factory. The [[OneHitKill Ultimate Chimera.]] If it touches you or any member of your party, that's it. No HopelessBossFight, just a cutscene where the Chimera chomps down and the screen quickly turns red before you get to the Game Over screen. [[spoiler:It shows up again on the bathroom floor of the Empire Porky Building, just to give you a JumpScare.]]

* The first two ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' games have Clefts. If examined, you'll be warned that sometimes there's no shame in running, as they have so much defense that you can potentially find yourself incapable of harming them at all without the right items or moves ready. The truest example of this would be the "Invincible" Tubba Blubba from the first game, as if you battle him prior to finding out his weakness, you'll be completely incapable of harming him, thus making escape your only option.
** The Iron Clefts in Chapter 3 of the second game have infinite defense, meaning they're invulnerable to anything except being bashed against each other. You have to run, then come back with Yoshi to defeat them.
** Doopliss from Chapter 4 of the second game becomes invincible after stealing Mario's body. You encounter him three times- once when returning to Twilight Town, again when leaving Twilight Town and once again when you return to Twiligh Town- but will be forced to run from him the first two times.
%%** There's one fight in the second game you can't win, though losing that one instead of running away doesn't result in Game Over anyway.
* In ''VideoGame/Persona3'', as you explore [[EvilTowerOfOminousness Tartarus]], if you linger too long on any given floor, TheGrimReaper will show up. He can be fought, but it's a very, very bad idea. One of Elizabeth's last Requests is to kill him; it's doable by that point, but unless you know how to cheat the system, you're still likely to die a few (dozen) times.
** The same thing happens in ''VideoGame/Persona4 Golden'', but somewhat differently: if you open 20 chests in a single dungeon run (without going back to the entrance), then you'll hear the chains rattling. From that point on, any chest ''may'' contain the Reaper as a {{Superboss}}, but the game is nice enough to warn you prior to opening the chest that it seems like a ''really'' bad idea. If you're foolish enough to open the chest without being ready, then you should probably run away. Or die.

* ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' has "ZERO", a robot that pursues Amy Rose and her avian companion "Birdie" throughout her stages. With the exception of their final encounter as a boss, "ZERO" cannot be defeated: hitting it with Amy's hammer will knock it over, but it will eventually get back up; and it will keep getting up more quickly the more it is hit until it becomes impervious to Amy's hammer strikes. The only way to survive an encounter with "ZERO" is to high-tail it to the end of the stage.
* ''VideoGame/SonicFrontiers'' has the [[OurTitansAreDifferent Titans]]. Sonic's attempt to fight the first one head-on became a CurbStompBattle, since he can only defeat them in his SuperMode. So when the other Titans attack him while stripped of the Chaos Emeralds, he resorts to escaping before they can kill him.

* ''VideoGame/SpongeBobSquarePantsCreatureFromTheKrustyKrab'' adapts this style of gameplay for the "Super-Sized Patty" stages, where Plankton has to run through Bikini Bottom or get crushed to death by the titular patty chasing him down. ItMakesSenseInContext. He can slow it down using [[CrazyPrepared his]] FreezeRay (or [[InsistentTerminology "Dispiculator"]] as he calls it), but this buys him a second at most before the patty breaks free.

** In one of the third round of missions in ''[[VideoGame/DarkForcesSaga Jedi Academy]]'', a mutated rancor appears and you have to run away from it through the entire level (while fighting dozens of dark Jedi) until you can achieve an environmental kill. In an earlier level, you have to help prisoners escape from a rancor pit, usually by leading the rancor away from their group while they Run Or Die.

* ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII'': In the second level of the Blood Elf campaign, you start with several barely-defended bases on the mainland that are immediately attacked by vastly more numerous and fully-upgraded undead forces.
* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'':
** In the dungeon Halls of Reflection, after beating a couple preliminary bosses the final "boss" consists of running from the Lich King until help arrives. Unlike most examples, escaping requires defeating waves of enemies so that the Alliance or Horde leader you're accompanying (Jaina Proudmore for the Alliance, Sylvanas Windrunner for the Horde) can break down the ice barriers barring your way.
** At the end of the starting zone for ''Warlords of Draenor'', Grommash Hellscream sends the entire Iron Horde after you and your allies. The only option left is to run for the docks at max speed before the rest of the army arrives.

* Anyone who's played the ''VideoGame/EtrianOdyssey'' games long enough to encounter a [[BeefGate FOE]] (which [[NintendoHard isn't very long]]) will tell you that unless you're massively overleveled for the floor you're on, you ''run the hell away'' from them. One particular case in ''Heroes of Lagaard'' is [[BonusBoss Salamox]], who's nest you need to steal a MacGuffin from for a mission early on in the game. The chancellor, as well as the game itself, warn you that if you try to fight past it, you will die. [[CurbStompBattle They aren't kidding.]]

* Averted in ''VideoGame/GoldenSunTheLostAge'' with the Serpent bossfight. It can be fought as soon as you enter its lair, but it regenerates 200 HP per turn (there's only one other boss who regenerates that much, the horrifying Dullahan BonusBoss). Going through the dungeon to shine light onto it weakens it until it eventually regenerates a much more reasonable 30 HP.

* In ''VideoGame/{{OFF}}'', a few turns into your first fight with Enoch, the Batter will warn you that he's too huge, and urge you to flee. [[spoiler:When you do run, he begins chasing you down the hallway from his office, and the process is repeated if he catches you.]] Defeating him is technically possible, but he has 99999 HP (over eight times as much as [[BonusBoss Sugar]]) and higher Defense and Spirit than anything/anyone else in the game other than [[spoiler:Hugo]] and the Ballmen, but [[spoiler:Hugo]] doesn't attack you, and [[spoiler: you don't fight the Ballmen as the Batter.]] You get no experience/credits/items for attempting to fight him, and the game continues as though you fled.

* ''VideoGame/Pikmin2'' features the [[MurderWater Waterwraith]] in one dungeon, which cannot be killed except with a Pikmin variety that cannot be brought in and can only be created at the last floor. Once it drops down, you haul ass to the exit.

** The same thing happens in ''VideoGame/Persona4 Golden'', but somewhat differently: if you open 20 chests in a single dungeon run (without going back to the entrance), then you'll hear the chains rattling. From that point on, any chest ''may'' contain the Reaper as a BonusBoss, but the game is nice enough to warn you prior to opening the chest that it seems like a ''really'' bad idea. If you're foolish enough to open the chest without being ready, then you should probably run away. Or die.

* ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'': The Warden is a BossInMookClothing that spawns in the Deep Dark if a player activates a Sculk Shrieker too many times. It hits ''incredibly'' hard with its basic attack, [[DamageSpongeBoss has more health]] than the Ender Dragon and Wither ''combined'', and if it's angry towards the player can chase them down incredibly quickly while bypassing most obstacles that give other mobs pause. Should the player try to hide from its wrath, it also has a ranged attack in the form of a wall-piercing sonicboom that [[UnblockableAttack can't be blocked by shields or terrain]] and [[ArmorPiercingAttack bypasses all armor]]. The Warden is blind but can hear and smell the player, it can be distracted with thrown objects, and if it cannot detect the player for a while it will despawn, making distraction and sneaking away the only practical course of action against it. If the player somehow manages to kill it, it [[StrongEnemiesLowRewards drops a paltry 5 exp and a Sculk Catalyst]] (which isn't too rare around the Deep Dark). To drive the point home, The Warden doesn't even count towards the Monsters Hunted achievement, which requires killing every other Hostile Mob type in the game.

* ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'': The Warden is a BossInMookClothing that spawns in the Deep Dark if a player activates a Sculk Shrieker too many times. It hits ''incredibly'' hard with its basic attack, [[DamageSpongeBoss has more health]] than the Ender Dragon and Wither ''combined'', and if it's angry towards the player can chase them down incredibly quickly while bypassing most obstacles that give other mobs pause. Should the player try to hide from its wrath, it also has a ranged attack in the form of a wall-piercing sonicboom that [[UnblockableAttack can't be blocked by shields or terrain]] and [[ArmorPiercingAttack bypasses all armor]]. If the player somehow manages to kill it, it [[StrongEnemiesLowRewards drops a paltry 5 exp and a Sculk Catalyst]] (which isn't too rare around the Deep Dark). The Warden is blind but can hear and smell the player, it can be distracted with thrown objects, and if it cannot detect the player for a while it will despawn, making distraction and sneaking away the only practical course of action against it.

** In the dungeon Halls of Reflection, after beating a couple preliminary bosses the final "boss" consists of running from the Lich King until help arrives. Unlike most examples, escaping requires defeating enemies so that your companion(Jaina for the Alliance, Sylvanas for the Horde) can break down the ice barriers barring your way.)
** At the end of the starting zone for ''Warlords of Draenor'', [[AdaptationalVillainy Grommash]] [[BigBad Hellscream]] sends the entire Iron Horde after you and your allies. The only option left is to run for the docks at max speed before the rest of the army arrives.

* ''VideoGame/BendyAndTheInkMachine'': You have to run away from Ink Bendy whenever he comes to the scene. In Chapter 1, you're safe because he's behind something that is boarded up (though considering his strength and teleportation abilities, it's unclear why he doesn't chase you). You still have to run away because the entire studio is being flooded, which is possibly Bendy's doing anyway. In Chapter 2, Sammy Lawrence summons him. As you're trying to escape, he shows up in a jump scare by using a pool of ink to teleport directly in front of you. In Chapter 3, he will teleport around the levels you're [[FetchQuest doing Twisted Alice's errands]] on and you need to hide. Even if you manage to unlock the tommy gun, there's no damage it can deal him. In Chapter 4, Ink Bendy doesn't come after you, but a fight between him and the Projectionist shows what happens to ''strong'' characters who don't run or hide from "Bendy."

* ''VideoGame/HotlineMiami'': In a game where the player is used to killing everyone on each floor before moving on to the next batch of enemies, the Part 3 mission "Crackdown" is eventually interrupted by a SWATTeam whose members can only be stunned. The objective then becomes to sneak out past them while they're distracted.

* ''VideoGame/BendyAndTheInkMachine'': You had better run away from "Bendy." In Chapter 1, you're safe because he's behind something that is boarded up (though considering his strength and his teleportation abilities, it's unclear why he doesn't chase you). You still have to run away because the entire studio is being flooded, which is possibly Bendy's doing anyway. In Chapter 2, Sammy Lawrence summons him. [[spoiler: As you're trying to escape, he shows up in a jump scare by using a pool of ink to teleport directly in front of you]]. In Chapter 3, he will teleport around the levels you're [[FetchQuest doing "Alice's" errands]] on and you need to hide. Even if you manage to unlock the tommy gun, there's no damage it can deal him. In Chapter 4, he doesn't come after you, but a fight between him and the Projectionist shows what happens to ''strong'' characters who don't run or hide from "Bendy."

* ''VideoGame/HotlineMiami'': In the game where the player is used to killing everyone on a floor before moving onto the next batch of TheMafiya, some missions are eventually interrupted by heavily armed S.W.A.T teams each wearing a BulletproofVest. The objective then becomes to sneak out past them while they are distracted.