False Reassurances in Video Games.
- In Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Cesare assures Francesco Troche that he will not kill the latter, before getting Micheletto to kill the chump instead.
- Betrayal at Krondor, Gorath and Owyn need to rescue someone enslaved as a mine worker. Gorath's plan? Pretend to offer Owyn into slavery, get both grabbed as slaves, find the person they need to rescue, and then swim out through the underground river that runs through the mine. Where the air and water is tainted with sometimes lethal amounts of napalm gas. While Gorath supposedly knows of people who escaped in such a way, Owyn is, understandably, a bit skeptical.Owyn: No one has ever died doing this?
Gorath: I have met none that have. - In the opening sequence of Fan Remake Black Mesa, a promotional poster can be found in the Black Mesa facility proudly proclaiming "Safety! Our record speaks for itself!". Of course, anyone who's played the original game is likely all too familiar with Black Mesa's record in regards to safety.
- In Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel!, one of the announcements that can randomly play in the Hyperion Hub of Heroism is an attempt to reassure workers on Helios that the new full-body scanners are not taking unflattering nude photos of them. The pictures are very flattering, and the employees look great.
- In Conquests of the Longbow, The Sheriff of Nottingham asks Robin Hood, disguised as a monk, for a blessing. Robin answers: "May God give to you all that you deserve, and I hope that I live to see it."
- Day of the Tentacle: Just about to go back in time, Bernard asks Dr. Fred:Bernard: Have any people been hurt in this?
Dr. Fred: Of course not! This is the first time I've tried it with people! - Dragon Age: Origins: Played for Laughs.Alistair: Know this: All Grey Wardens can sense darkspawn. Whatever their cunning, I guarantee they won't take us by surprise. That's why I'm here.
Daveth: You see, ser knight? We might die, but we'll be warned about it first.
Ser Jory: That is... reassuring? - In The Elder Scrolls series' Action-Adventure spin-off game Redguard, the Sload Necromancer N'Gasta doesn't exactly lie to Cyrus about the state of his sister, but at the end of their conversation, Cyrus leaves with no clue that Iszara made a Deal with the Devil with N'Gasta, that her body remains preserved in his tower, or that N'Gasta gave her soul to Clavicus Vile. If Cyrus doesn't initially take the delivery quest from Kotaro, though, N'Gasta's "solemn oath to reveal the full sum of his wisdoms" doesn't amount to much.
- Terry Bogard of Fatal Fury fame begins his Signature Move, the Buster Wolf, by asking his target, "Are you okay?!" Let's just say that if you hear him say that, unless you block or dodge very quickly, you most certainly will not be OK.
- Fear Effect 2: Retro Helix has a scene at the beginning where a No Name Given Corrupt Corporate Executive essentially promises Deke, "Do this job for us, and we will cure your condition permanently." Deke has EINDS (think AIDS), and he has been doing assassinations for this guy in exchange for medication to improve his life span. Deke does the job, and the guy and his goons try to kill him off in a You Have Outlived Your Usefulness moment.
- While trekking through an optional dungeon in Final Fantasy XV, Prompto mentions that he's acrophobic during the climb along a slightly threatening walkway. Ignis responds with "Don't fear heights - fear falling!"
- Full Throttle features one of these in the opening sequence:Malcolm Corley: I know what your plan is, Ripburger. You're waiting for me to die so you can take over my company!
Adrian Ripburger: (Chuckling) Sir, that's horrible. I am not waiting for you to die! - In Jay's Journey, Puff literally Cannot Tell a Lie, so when Farinade asks him who he's traveling with, he says that he's traveling with a moron who isn't the guy that Farinade is looking for. Good thing Farinade doesn't think to ask if Puff is traveling with anyone else.
- In Mass Effect 3, EDI asks Talinote if her presence causes any concern:Tali: Not unless you go crazy and decide to overthrow the humans.
[Beat]
EDI: If I decide to overthrow the humans, you will be the first to know. - One of many quotable lines in Portal spouted by GLaDOS is "As part of a previously mentioned required test protocol, we can no longer lie to you. When the testing is over, you will be... missed."
- With Chell trapped on a platform slowly sliding into a large fire pit: "All Aperture technologies remain safely operational up to 4000 degrees Kelvin. Rest assured that there is absolutely no chance of a dangerous equipment malfunction prior to your victory candescence."
- This moment was foreshadowed when you were informed that once the testing is complete "you will be baked and then there will be cake!"
- Early on, GLaDOS informs you that she will stop enhancing the truth "in three, two, *static*". Since the countdown never finished, she's technically free of the promise.
- With Chell trapped on a platform slowly sliding into a large fire pit: "All Aperture technologies remain safely operational up to 4000 degrees Kelvin. Rest assured that there is absolutely no chance of a dangerous equipment malfunction prior to your victory candescence."
- In Portal 2, the Aperture Science Announcer says that, "Some emergency testing may require prolonged interaction with lethal military androids. Rest assured that all lethal military androids have been taught to read and provided with one copy of the Laws of Robotics. To share."
- Briefly pulled in Ratchet & Clank (2002) by Captain Qwark, who says that he won't kill Ratchet shortly before revealing that the nearby Blargian Snagglebeast will do it instead.
- In Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal, Dr. Nefarious' snarky butler Lawrence does this all the time. A sample exchange:Dr. Nefarious: To think, they called me insane, Lawrence. But we'll see who's insane when my pets have exterminated all life on this miserable planet!
Lawrence: That should clear things right up, sir.
- In Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal, Dr. Nefarious' snarky butler Lawrence does this all the time. A sample exchange:
- In Skylanders: Trap Team, the second time Kaos threatens the player during the final battle, he offers you the chance to surrender and let him destroy you and the Earth, telling you that if you do, it will be "merely horrible".
- Skullgirls sees this in Squigly's path in Story Mode. She meets Filia, and the two seem to get along... until Samson proceeds to insult Squigly and Leviathan in the crudest way he can manage. Squigly then apologizes for attacking Filia and promises, "We will only aim for the boor infesting you." Filia, not being an idiot, points out that, as Samson is her hair, they'll be hitting her in the head.
- In Silent Hill 3, the mysterious voice serving as the tour guide in the "haunted house" has plenty of these moments.Voice: (After a spike ceiling stopped just inches before killing you) "I'm so sorry. This place is just falling apart. The mechanism is broken, you see. It wasn't supposed to stop there, I assure you."
- At the end of Spec Ops: The Line, Colonel John Konrad assures Captain Martin Walker that "I'm as sane as you are, captain.". Shortly after, Konrad turns out to be a PTSD-induced hallucination Walker has been living with for most of the game.
- Shigeru Miyamoto once described an (at the time) unrevealed Super Mario Bros. game with the mysterious phrase "If an onlooker were to see the game, he'd probably think that Luigi is the main character". That game? Luigi's Mansion — he never said the onlooker would be wrong.
- If you lose to the Final Boss of a "neutral" run in Undertale, you hear Asgore telling you that this is all just a bad dream. Except it's actually Flowey, said final boss, disguising his voice, and he tells you in his real voice that "you're NEVER waking up!" Then he goes Laughing Mad and the game crashes.
- Uninvited featured a segment where you meet a lady dressed like Scarlett O'Hara, faced from behind. All to a chipper tune, and she said "Thank you for coming back to me, my love. You will be mine forever". Doesn't sound so horrid even for the Haunted House setting. If you grab her attention, then the chipper tune turns into Hell Is That Noise, you see her real face
◊, then she horribly kills you. - WarioWare: Penny's experiments are "guaranteed to be 100% Not-Entirely Lethal". Well, that's a relief...
- In World of Warcraft, the Culling of Stratholme dungeon has players accompany Arthas when, after learning that some of Stratholme's residents have been infected by the Plague of Undeath, he decides to purge the city. Arthas encounters some healthy citizens, who are relieved to see him. He then replies, "Yes, I'm glad I could get to you before the plague," before attacking with his hammer. Unfortunately for him, the citizens are Infinite Dragonflight members in disguise, and they try to kill him in order to alter history.
- In Xenoblade Chronicles 3, the Kevesi and Agnian colonies are incentivised to wage war with one another by the prospect of raising their respective rankings under their castles. The higher their rank, the better the supplies they receive, and their supervising Consuls extol that the soldiers would no longer need to fight in the war if they can achieve the top Gold colony rank. This is indeed true, in the sense that Gold-ranked colonies get slaughtered by the Consuls, to harvest the life energy accrued by their Flame Clocks. Of course, those soldiers would then be reborn and assigned to new colonies anyway, so this assurance would only apply to their current instances.
