Most Unusual and/or Creative Deaths in Video Games

[avatar! | 1,811]

In the "highest death count" thread --

https://www.videogamesage.com/forums/topic/13983-highest-death-count/

Someone noted that in Spelunky you can be killed by the shopkeeper -- which is arguably a somewhat "unusual death" -- we don't typically expect shopkeepers to kill the player!

This made me wonder, what are truly "unusual" and/or creative ways to die in video games? In many if not most games typical deaths include: running into enemies/getting attacked, falling, drowning, etc. However, some games really have creative/unusual ways to die which can be fun... or interesting at least. I should clarify, I'm not looking for something like "this happened, then this, and finally I fell of the side of the mountain" ...I'm looking for something you really just did not expect

I'll start --

In The Bard's Tale IV, which is a great but absolutely challenging RPG, in order to complete a quest you need to drink a special brew of alcohol. The bard in your party (if you have one) can drink it, get drunk, but be fine. Any other character it's instant death! I thought that was hilarious and well done.

[Ankos | 439]

Wait a few minutes (no inputs) in Sonic CD and Sonic jumps off screen

[Ankos | 439]

Oh, also in Spelunky there is the Kali Altar. Place a stunned (or dead) enemy/npc on it and it will disappear, awarding you Kali points. Gain enough points and Kali will award you an item (or health if you have a really high amount of points). The thing is, if you land on the altar stunned, then you will disappear (counting as a loss). You'll still get points, not that you'll have any use for them. You can also break the altars and Kali will try various ways to get you killed indirectly

[nrslam | 475]

[jonebone | 1,307]

 

Sierra point and click games of the 80s were famous for it.  I just googled a top 10 and that was number 1.

https://www.thegamer.com/sierra-adventure-games-funniest-deaths/

One I remember vividly is in LSL1.  If you try to sleep with the hooker and don't use a condom, you die. 

[Sumez | 2,951]

[avatar! | 1,811]

4 hours ago, Sumez said:

Isn't this the end screen for the arcade once you die? You have 10 seconds or so to add another quarter, so I don't think that's really a "death" per se

[TDIRunner | 2,737]

This isn't an interesting death as much as an interesting game over, but in Metal Gear Solid 3, you can end the game by killing Ocelot and creating a time paradox.  

Of course one of my favorite kills of all time is touching Midas' hand in the original Tomb Raider (Anniversary as well).  

 

 

Edited November 20, 2023 by TDIRunner

[TDIRunner | 2,737]

17 hours ago, nrslam said:

 

The only death worse than that.

 

[cj_robot | 542]

6 hours ago, jonebone said:

One I remember vividly is in LSL1.  If you try to sleep with the hooker and don't use a condom, you die. 

Also in that game, you can die right at the beginning by simply flushing the toilet in the bar you start at.

[FireHazard51 | 2,043]

I'll just leave this here....

 

[The Count | 527]

The Punisher for PS2/Xbox is full of fun ways to kill baddies.

 

[DefaultGen | 5,405]

1 hour ago, TDIRunner said:

This isn't an interesting death as much as an interesting game over, but in Metal Gear Solid 3, you can end the game by killing Ocelot and creating a time paradox.  

Of course one of my favorite kills of all time is touching Midas' hand in the original Tomb Raider (Anniversary as well).  

 

 

So wait, I haven't played Tomb Raider in like 25 years (jeez), but Lara's motivation in most of the early games is hunting down some powerful artifact. She found a hand that turns anything into gold halfway through her first adventure and... what she just keeps looking for some other artifact? You have to turn lead into gold for a puzzle even, so she knows it works.

What powerful artifact is better than this Lara? The most powerful artifact of all is the US Dollar. This temple should be the end of the Tomb Raider series.

[TDIRunner | 2,737]

41 minutes ago, DefaultGen said:

So wait, I haven't played Tomb Raider in like 25 years (jeez), but Lara's motivation in most of the early games is hunting down some powerful artifact. She found a hand that turns anything into gold halfway through her first adventure and... what she just keeps looking for some other artifact? You have to turn lead into gold for a puzzle even, so she knows it works.

What powerful artifact is better than this Lara? The most powerful artifact of all is the US Dollar. This temple should be the end of the Tomb Raider series.

She was already rich, so something that turns lead into gold was meaningless for her.  In the original game, she specifically states that she only does it "for the sport."  So her motivation is the hunt itself, not the actual item.  

Spoiler

Later in the game of course, the motivation changes into saving the world from Natla and the army of Atlantis.  

 

[DefaultGen | 5,405]

9 minutes ago, TDIRunner said:

She was already rich, so something that turns lead into gold was meaningless for her.  In the original game, she specifically states that she only does it "for the sport."  So her motivation is the hunt itself, not the actual item.  

  Reveal hidden contents

Later in the game of course, the motivation changes into saving the world from Natla and the army of Atlantis.  

 

Man, so the Tomb Raider series is about a American billionaire heiress stealing cultural artifacts from South America, Europe, and Africa for fun? What is she, the British Empire?

[TDIRunner | 2,737]

3 minutes ago, DefaultGen said:

Man, so the Tomb Raider series is about a American billionaire heiress stealing cultural artifacts from South America, Europe, and Africa for fun? What is she, the British Empire?

She's British.  

 

Edited November 20, 2023 by TDIRunner

[avatar! | 1,811]

11 minutes ago, DefaultGen said:

Man, so the Tomb Raider series is about a American billionaire heiress stealing cultural artifacts from South America, Europe, and Africa for fun? What is she, the British Empire?

To be fair, we could argue the same thing for Indiana Jones... although he's American and Lara is British

[DefaultGen | 5,405]

15 minutes ago, TDIRunner said:

She's British. 

Man the whole series is a commentary on colonialism and I was too young to realize

Edited November 20, 2023 by DefaultGen

[avatar! | 1,811]

15 minutes ago, DefaultGen said:

Man the whole series is a commentary on colonialism and I was too young to realize

The first games in the series were just mean to be fun. Back in the 90s, they also did something that was far more unusual than today - they had a strong, confident, female lead. The new games in the franchise, and I've played them all, definitely tackle such ideas, although arguably not well --

'Shadow of the Tomb Raider' Tries, but Fails, to Tackle Its Own Colonialism

https://www.vice.com/en/article/d3jgeq/shadow-of-the-tomb-raider-review-tries-but-fails-to-tackle-its-own-colonialism

And while an after-credits sequence tries quickly to quell Lara’s more destructive impulses and instruct against the violence of colonialism, anything it manages is far too little, and much too late. No matter how much Lara changes in the course of this adventure, she's still an instrument of hegemony. This world remains a constructed fantasy, one designed specifically for her.

Tomb Raider is and will always be Lara Croft’s playground. And as uninteresting and fundamentally regressive as Lara’s tale is, that’s the only story that this franchise can tell.

Yeah, but that's not necessarily a "bad thing". It's a fantasy world, at least that's how I've always looked at it. I personally felt that the last three games in the Tomb Raider franchise were taking things too seriously. But, that's my personal opinion. I know that looting of artifacts is actually a real issue that needs to be addressed by museums etc across the world, especially British museums. Still, is it wrong to just have fun, kill "bad guys", and save the world as Lara Croft?

[DefaultGen | 5,405]

2 minutes ago, avatar! said:

Still, is it wrong to just have fun, kill "bad guys", and save the world as Lara Croft?

I mostly remember killing animals, including ones previously thought to be extinct I'm an environmental monster too.

[koifish | 556]

10 hours ago, jonebone said:

 

Sierra point and click games of the 80s were famous for it.  I just googled a top 10 and that was number 1.

https://www.thegamer.com/sierra-adventure-games-funniest-deaths/

One I remember vividly is in LSL1.  If you try to sleep with the hooker and don't use a condom, you die. 

So, so many bizarre things could kill you in these games. Roberta Williams has a weird idea of fun, I think.

[DefaultGen | 5,405]

On topic, Might & Magic III has a totally unnecessary character aging system. Some crystal(s?) in the last dungeon will age your party, probably without you realizing it until it's too late, eventually causing everyone to die of old age. Softlocked my first playthough of the game due to this.

[avatar! | 1,811]

8 minutes ago, DefaultGen said:

On topic, Might & Magic III has a totally unnecessary character aging system. Some crystal(s?) in the last dungeon will age your party, probably without you realizing it until it's too late, eventually causing everyone to die of old age. Softlocked my first playthough of the game due to this.

Ah yeah, I remember that! I think ghosts could also age you. Also, speaking of MMIII -- which is a fabulous, fabulous game -- your characters needed to sleep. Well, you could cast a spell on them to invigorate them. I remember doing this over and over... until at one point, my party members all just died

Guess even video game characters need good quality sleep!

[GPX | 1,369]

Mortal Kombat probably has some of the most creative deaths with the fatalities. Ripping out spines, slicing bodies in half vertically or horizontally, body implosions. Just to list a few ways to die.

[koifish | 556]

1 minute ago, DefaultGen said:

On topic, Might & Magic III has a totally unnecessary character aging system. Some crystal(s?) in the last dungeon will age your party, probably without you realizing it until it's too late, eventually causing everyone to die of old age. Softlocked my first playthough of the game due to this.

I think aging is a good design in games but not necessarily when it's not that obvious. Still, they got you pretty good, right? It's perhaps more permissable when the party is expendable, like in wizardry games. That reminds me, IIRC there are enemies in the wizardry series that can decrease your intelligence stat, and if your character hits 0 intelligence then they die immediately.