History UnwinnableByDesign / VideoGames

* In the indie platformer game ''[[https://archive.org/details/7_Minutes_game Seven Minutes]]'' (not the [[SimilarlyNamedWorks similarly named]] [=RPGMaker=] horror game ''VideoGame/SevenMinutes''), the ''entire game'' is a trap. The only way to win is to do nothing for seven minutes. [[PressStartToGameOver Leaving the first room makes the game unwinnable]] and leads to a NightmareFuel ending: "[[https://youtu.be/pulUACg6cxw?t=360 You were too eager to know what was out there; but sometimes, there is nothing out there. There is nothing. NOTHING.]]"

** A game with two opponents both at difficulty 10 is intended to be unwinnable. Anything that lets you win such a game without massive cheese or exploits is considered a bug or imbalance and to be patched; if the difficulty scaling bugs out and spawns a million ships, as long as it doesn't happen on lower difficulties it's a feature and will remain. The devs have stated that 10/10 is meant to only be honestly beatable by someone who sinks as much time into the game as pro VideoGame/StarcraftII players put in; since nobody does, the level should be unwinnable.

** ''VideoGame/ClockTowerTheFirstFear'' has two such possible states that get you stuck in a permanent loop of {{Game Over}}s, ironically triggered by the game's otherwise very merciful "continue in the room you died in" mechanic. Thankfully they both rely on fairly unlikely circumstances:

** ''[[VideoGame/ClockTower Clock Tower 2]]'' features several unwinnable scenarios, most of which involve talking to a particular character in the wrong form. Two particularly cruel instances involve situations that the game doesn't properly warn you about:

* ''Franchise/{{RoboCop}}'' on Platform/{{Commodore 64}} has a GameBreakingBug that turns level 4 into a big glitchy mess, so the programmers put a time limit on level 3 that's too narrow to beat legitimately so no-one could get that far. Though it is possible to complete level 3 within the time limit by glitching through a wall.

** Similarly, in some online Pokémon battle simulators like ''[[Website/{{Smogon}} Pokemon Showdown!]]'' you can select a Random Battle, which, as above, gives you a random team and sends you up against a player with their own random team. It's ''slightly'' better than the Stadium version in that you can be at least certain that every Pokémon will be EV-trained and have competitively viable movesets. The levels are also tweaked to try and make it more fair--most Legendaries will be around level 70, while under-evolved Pokémon are generally in the 80s or 90s. This is very little comfort when the Random Number God hands you a team filled with useless Pokémon like Caterpie, or ones that have strategies that rely on other Pokémon you don't have (i.e. a sun sweeper like Venusaur always relies on someone else to set up the sun) or a team that shares a weakness. Meanwhile, your opponent may have three Uber-Legendaries that'll destroy you faster than you can forfeit. For extra punishment, you can choose to be ranked for this.

** Getting to Mega Satan usually requires the two key pieces, which can only be gotten from angel rooms. It's entirely possible that the game will just screw you over and only give you devil rooms, as there's no way to guarantee an angel room. ''Afterbirth'' reworked this so you can also get the key pieces from sacrifice rooms. While it's still possible that the game won't give you enough angel rooms and sacrifice rooms combined, it's much less likely. [[OneHitPointWonder Characters who can't get HP]] still have to rely on getting angel rooms though, as they can't use [[BloodMagic sacrifice rooms]].

** If the player beats a max-difficulty AI without resorting to massive cheese (in the sequel, on a game made which disables cheesy options outright), they're expected to file a bug report telling the developer how they did it and offering suggestions on how to improve the AI to fix the vulnerability. This AI arms race is behind quite a lot of the game's ArtificialBrilliance even at lower difficulties.
** A game with two opponents both at difficulty 10 is intended to be unwinnable. Anything that lets you win such a game without massive cheese or exploits is considered a bug or imbalance and will be patched; if the difficulty scaling bug out and spawns a million ships, as long as it doesn't happen on lower difficulties it's a feature and will remain. The devs have stated that 10/10 is meant to only be honestly beatable by someone who sinks as much time into the game as pro VideoGame/StarcraftII players put in; since nobody does, the level should be unwinnable.

* The UsefulNotes/ZXSpectrum port of ''[[VideoGame/{{Gladiator}} Great Gurianos]]'' used up so much memory that there was no room to include the ending. Dave Perry was forced to [[http://www.worldofspectrum.org/forums/showthread.php?t=5103 make the final boss undefeatable]].

* In the UsefulNotes/AmstradCPC game ''Heroes Of Karn'', if you wander too far south, a guard comes by and puts you in prison. The way out requires bribing the guard with money taken from a barrow-wight beforehand. If you don't have the money, you have to restart the game.

* ''Franchise/{{RoboCop}}'' on UsefulNotes/{{Commodore 64}} has a GameBreakingBug that turns level 4 into a big glitchy mess, so the programmers put a time limit on level 3 that's too narrow to beat legitimately so no-one could get that far. Though it is possible to complete level 3 within the time limit by glitching through a wall.

** ''[[VideoGame/ClockTower Clock Tower 2]]'' (Ghost Head in Japan) features several unwinnable scenarios, most of which involve talking to a particular character in the wrong form. Two particularly cruel instances involve situations that the game doesn't properly warn you about:

* Due to the story variations in the ending to the ''VideoGame/{{Dishonored}}'' DLC ''The Knife of Dunwall'' you can't complete certain challenges if you were aiming for a High Chaos game. On High Chaos, [[spoiler: [[TheMole Billie Lurk]] doesn't pull a HeelFaceTurn]] and instead the final conversation leads into an immediate BossBattle, but [[spoiler: Billie]] begins the fight by being alerted as any other guard in the area. As a result, the Ghost Run and StealthRun challenges for that level, and the entire game if you were trying, is instantly voided.

** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemMysteryOfTheEmblem'':

*** That same chapter also has another item [[spoiler: that is required to obtain in order to and get the final two missions and the good ending]], that involves collecting all of the [[MacGuffin twelve Star Orb Fragments]]. Missing even ''one'' of the fragments denies you the chance to finish the whole story. And about half of them can easily be missed if you do not know exactly what to do beforehand.

** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade'', you need to acquire and keep eight special, powerful weapons intact ''and'' keep a certain character alive [[spoiler: in order to proceed to the final three missions and the good ending]]. Six of these eight weapons are acquired in extra chapters, but accessing them can be impossible unless you know what exactly needs to be done to get to them ([[spoiler:for example, to access one of the extra chapters, you have to keep a fairly powerful enemy unit ''alive''; he won't join you even if you talk to him, but he will deal considerable damage if he gets close.]]). And, like all the other games, you cannot replay a completed chapter.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Omori}}'', the main quest of the game, "Basil" [[spoiler: is purposely unwinnable as by the final day, it's replaced by a different quest. This is because Basil is slowly being forgotten by everyone.]]

** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemMysteryOfTheEmblem'', there is a later mission where you are supposed to meet with an NPC to receive an item that allows its holder to negate the PlotArmor of the second story's [[DiscOneFinalBoss penultimate boss]] and ultimately kill him, however, it is possible to complete that chapter without ever talking to this NPC, and the game will continue as if you had done so regardless. This will later bite you HARD when you finally get to the game's penultimate boss and you quickly realize that without that item in a unit's inventory, it is impossible to even ''attack'' the boss, let alone kill, and there's no way to replay a completed mission outside starting the ''entire campaign over''.

** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThracia776'', there are several chapters that require you to use a key (or a lockpick owned by a thief) to progress in the mission. Should the thieves be too tired to participate in the mission (or [[{{Permadeath}} too dead]] for that matter) and/or you do not have any keys/lockpicks, you will not be able to finish that chapter (and by consequence, the rest of the game). In fact, you can encounter this situation as early as the third chapter if you did not do the Chapter 2 Gaiden mission (to recruit a thief that comes with a Lockpick) and unwittingly kill the only enemy that has a Door Key in Chapter 3.
*** Additionally, from chapter 8 onward in that same game, you are always required to select a minimum number of units in order to begin the chapter; should enough of your units either be exhausted, captured, and of course [[{{Permadeath}} dead]] at that time, it is possible to actually lack the required numbers to start the chapter, let alone try to complete it.

* The ''Film/DirtyHarry'' game for the NES has a completely normal-looking room which [[DeadEndRoom you cannot exit after you enter it]], forcing you to reset the system. It's not a bug -- the door is replaced with graffiti saying "HA HA HA". WordOfGod says that this was done entirely deliberately to [[TrollingCreator pull a prank on the player]].

* The ''Videogame/{{Atelier}}'' series is a set of [=JRPGs=] that focus around not only levels and grinding, but the major objectives of these games is to craft specific items prior to a deadline. Often to complete these missions in the best way, you not only have to craft these items, but craft them in particular ways with particular bonus ingredients, and you often have to spend your time focusing on other aspects of the game to maximize certain aspects. You also likely have to get your side characters leveled and max their affections so you can complete their side objectives, and doing all of this takes varying amounts of time that subtract from your total until the mission has to be completed. Needless to say, it can be almost impossible to know this until it's too late, and spending too many days collecting resources can mean you have absolutely screwed yourself out of the golden ending or even ''winning at all'' if you accidentally bypassed a major aspect of the mechanics.

* Done in-universe in ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou''. [[spoiler:At the beginning of week 3, Kitanji takes all of the other Players as Neku's entry fee for the Reaper's Game. No Players means no partners means no way to fight the Noise (in gameplay, it translates to your pins being disabled) means bye-bye Neku. [[SpannerInTheWorks Then cue Beat.]]]]

* Both ''VideoGame/{{Shenmue}}'' games have a time limit that automatically locks the player into the BadEnding if they haven't reached the final mission by a certain date. However, the time limit is so generous that most players would have to deliberately fail just to see it.

** In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIDaggerfall Daggerfall]]'', almost every quest is timed and gives you the option to reject it, including much of the main questline. Break the main quest chain in this fashion at any point - which is possible as soon as the very first step after leaving the intro dungeon - and it becomes permanently unwinnable. The first step in the main quest will give you a second chance if you miss it, adding another month to the time limit, but only once.

* The programmers for the Amiga 500 port of ''VideoGame/DennisTheMenace'' ran out of time and didn't put in the final boss or the ending, so they just put an impossible jump in the final stage. All the other Amiga ports are finished.

* ''VideoGame/{{Kingdom}}: New Lands'' has a finite number of resources, which may make it impossible to complete the task of getting off that island and moving onto the next one. Sometime around the 25th day, the forests will wither up and die, and water will run out. This means that you can no longer collect gold by hunting rabbits and deer, or from farming (the farmers themselves eventually throw away their tools and become jobless peasants again.) At this point, there's only one way you can collect gold, which is to pay a single gold coin to the Merchant and have him send off for supplies, which will give you gold upon the start of the next day that he's returned to your camp. However, if you clear out the trees next to the merchant's camp, it'll disappear along with the cleared out woods surrounding it, making it impossible to earn any more coin at that point.

** ''VideoGame/WingCommander III: Heart Of The Tiger'' has a [[ItsAWonderfulFailure losing campaign path depending on your performance on previous missions where you fight against an endless wave of Kilrathi until you either quit the game or die]]. It is possible to outlast the "endless" wave of Kilrathi and destroy all the guns on the dreadnought, at which point you can [[DeathOfAThousandCuts shoot the dreadnought until it explodes]], but then game leaves you floating in space until you eject and you see the losing cutscene anyway. The only option to avoid this is either play the game again from the beginning or load a previous savestate prior to you failing that mission that caused you to be placed upon the failing endpath.

** ''VideoGame/WingCommander III: Heart Of The Tiger'' has a campaign path depending on your performance on previous missions where you fight against an endless wave of Kilrathi until you either quit the game or die. It is possible to outlast the "endless" wave of Kilrathi and destroy all the guns on the mothership, at which point you can shoot the mother ship forever with no results. At that point, quitting is the only option.

** There's a boss in ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink'' that can only be damaged by using the Reflect spell to bounce his magic spells back at him. If you reached him without obtaining Reflect, you cannot win. Luckily, dying puts you in the room before the boss room so you're free to leave the temple and find the spell.