And I Must Scream/Video Games: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

* There is a ''whole'' game dedicated to this theme, based on the [[Trope Namer]] Harlan Ellison novel ''I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream''. It's a classical graphic adventure game -- not that scary by the measures of our time, but back then it was [[Nightmare Fuel]], with loads of [[Mind Screw]] and [[Fridge Brilliance]] moments. And, yes, you can play it into such a state that you become what the quote on top of [[And I Must Scream|this page]] describes. [[Squick]].

* ''[[Dragon Quest V]]'' has a sequence in which the protagonist and his wife are turned into self-aware statues for the better part of a decade (primarily as an excuse for a [[Plot-Relevant Age-Up]] for the protagonist's children).

** Another case appears in ''[[Dragon Quest VIII]]'', where the townspeople of Trodain are immobilized via magical vines by [[Monster Clown|Dhoulmagus]]. Its clear to see that judging by the expressions on their faces that they are completely aware of what's going on... {{spoiler|they get better when the curse is broken after defeating [[Big Bad|Rhapthorne]], natch}}. Also, according to {{spoiler|[[Squishy Wizard|Jessica]], anyone being controlled by the [[Sealed Evil in a Can|staff]] must feel this way considering they are [[Brainwashed and Crazy|being controlled]] by [[Big Bad|Rhapthorne]]}}.

** The spoilered item only comes about because of a programming oversight they didn't catch until after it was released, {{spoiler|namely that the achievement for being a saint involves not killing Alexander at the end, despite the implications of this.}} Why they don't just fix this in a patch is beyond me.

** There's another instance in ''Bioshock 2'' that can be considered a good example of this - {{spoiler|when Lamb turns Sinclair into a Big Daddy, he [[Dying as Yourself|begs with the last ounce of humanity in him for death]]. The player can use the fully upgraded version of Hypnotize to have Sinclair aid them in killing the Splicers around and to follow them, but every moment not spent wailing on the poor bastard is more time for him to brokenly plead for death.}}

* Towards the end of ''[[Ghost Trick]]'', {{spoiler|Sissel, Lynne, Kamila, Missile's ghost, and Yomiel are left trapped in a submarine that's slowly sinking towards the bottom of the ocean. Kamila and Lynne will obviously die, but the other three will be left as ghosts to forever haunt the dark wreckage.}} Scary enough. {{spoiler|But in Ray's timeline, where Sissel never tried to help out Lynne, it still happened...except Yomiel was down there alone.}}

* In ''[[System Shock]] 2'' the hosts of annelids worms, who eventually turn into hybrids, are forced to go through this.

* According to the lore behind ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]'', this is what happens to Daedra when they are banished or killed. They can come back, but spending a few hundred years in such a state may explain why most Daedra are so keen on destroying that place where so many pesky Daedra-killing heroes come from.

** Strangely, this doesn't bother them at all. They are, after all, truly immortal, and being inconvenienced for a few hundred years when you've lived for tens or hundred of thousands and can expect to live for hundreds of thousands (or millions) more isn't a big deal, especially if you're not a creature which has to worry about 'sanity' and other tedious things. As for the coming back; perhaps it is just something to do.

*** In Honest Hearts, Joshua Graham, who was covered in pitch and set on fire, claims that every time he changes the bandages on his body he exposes his wounds to open air and goes through the feeling of being burned alive and due to being [[Immune to Drugs]] chems such as Stimpacks or Med-X (AKA morphine) are useless to him. Being [[The Atoner]], he believes that he deserves just this. They don't call him "The Burned Man" for nothing.

*** Lonesome Road introduces the Marked Men, Ghouls whose flesh have been stripped off by the harsh winds of The Divide, kept alive through [[The Power of Hate|pure rage and hatred]].

* [[Fate/stay night]]. Fate route. [[Nightmare Fuel|Under the church.]] Made worse by the fact that if you DON'T go there it's game over for you. Despite the protagonist actually saying that he feels a massive evil pressence from the church's basement and that he should leave. This feeling has saved his and Saber's life around 5 times before, but the game designers suddenly just expect you to go against it. And the reward is [[Body Horror]]. [[Sarcasm Mode|Joy.]]

** And then there's the Bad End where Caster turns Shirou into a living wand for projection magecraft. ''[[Nightmare Fuel|Yeesh.]]''

*** It's probably not so bad at the end of Defiance; the soul reaver (and presumably Raziel as well) were purified at the spirit forge. It was a curse for the imperfect soul reaver, but perhaps the purified one isn't a tortured existence.

** Plus, after it was realised that not even {{spoiler|having his heart ripped out}} would stop Kain, the Elder God tried to collapse the ruins of the Vampire Citadel on top of him, burying the vampire for all eternity. {{spoiler|Tried being the operative word.}}

** In the intro to ''Soul Reaver'', Raziel is executed by being cast into The Lake of the Dead. Water burns like acid for vampires, but the Lake's waters operate so slowly that the official sentence is to "burn forever." As such, Raziel spends several hundred, if not ''thousand'', years burning alive before finally dissolving and awakening in the Underworld.

* In ''[[Lost Souls MUD]]'', the ''sun'' is [[Sealed Evil in a Can|the elder god Hyperion]] sealed in a crystal sphere, with its light and heat produced by his [[Go Mad From the Isolation|relentless battering at his prison]].

* ''[[Tales of Symphonia]]'': {{spoiler|Anyone who's been sacrificed to an [[Human Resources|Exsphere or Cruxis Crystal]] suffers this fate, even if they retain their body to a degree, like [[The Woobie|Colette]] and [[Emotionless Girl|Presea]]. Most who do retain their ability to speak after becoming an Exsphere beg to be killed or have the Exsphere broken, even the [[Big Bad]]. Most of the time, [[The Hero]] Lloyd ends up shattering the thing and freeing the person's soul, but in the sequel, even though his ''own MOTHER'''s soul is trapped in ''HIS CRUXIS CRYSTAL'' and he knows this, he's still using it.}}

** He uses it because he has to. Since he's collecting Exspheres to destroy, he's going to have to fight people who have Exspheres and don't want to give them up. Without an Exsphere himself, he would be putting himself in a lot of danger fighting an opponent better equipped then him. In the sequel Sheena DOES say that eventually the original cast is going to have to give up their Exspheres, too. But for the moment, so long as other people have Exspheres, they need to keep them since they're the people governments trust to do things.

*** We know he'll last the full thousand years. {{spoiler|He acquired/tried to acquire two items. One let him burn mana for fiery power and the other gave him unlimited mana. He uses the former in your boss battle against him}}

* The point-and-click adventure game ''[[Uninvited (video game)|Uninvited]]'' had two endings where you become a member of the undead. Made especially creepy as it was nearly all text, narrated in second person and played dead-serious.

* Revealed in ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 4'', {{spoiler|Big Boss was held in suspended state by the Patriots, somewhat aware and somewhat not.}}

** And when he was released, {{spoiler|Solidus}} took up the job.

* [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds|Alma]] from ''[[First Encounter Assault Recon|F.E.A.R.]]'' was {{spoiler|sealed inside a psychically shielded chamber as an eight-year-old child and kept in an induced coma, and used to manufacture psychic [[Super Soldier|Super Soldiers]].}} However even while comatose, she remained fully aware of what was happening to her, right up to the point that she was killed. ''After'' death, [[Determinator|her mind remained intact and sealed inside the vault for another thirty years.]] It isn't difficult to understand that when she finally gets out, people ''die''.

* ''[[X-COM]] Terror From The Deep'' gives us the Bio-Drones, brains that have been attached to antigravity life-support units and then butchered into submission to the aliens. They ''can'' scream... but only to power their sonic weapon and kill others.

** ''[[Dune II|Dune 2000]]'' had something similar in the Ordos Campaign - at one briefing the Ordos Mentat warns that failure in any mission will result in permanent imprisonment in a "pain amplifier".

* ''[[Pokémon Mystery Dungeon]]'', with its Itemizer. You turn a Pokémon into an item, essentially sealing them away. It becomes [[Squick|even more disturbing]] when they get turned into, say, an Apple...

*** And in the [[Pokémon Special]] manga, they just become tiny and are kept inside the balls. They're fully conscious and can move, but don't seem to mind. Pikachu even walks inside the Poké Ball so that it rolls around like a hamster ball.

** {{spoiler|The planet's populace under Primal Dialga. With time stopped, and if you die, chances are you cannot die but remain in the pain of dying forever. In addition, the world is shrouded with darkness, so what little intelligent population left must be starving, but never dying.}}

* ''[[Diablo]]''. See, there are these things called soulstones, used to imprison the spirits of the main [[Big Bad|Big Bads]] of the game. But one of them, Baal, managed to shatter his. The biggest shard left wasn't powerful enough to hold him. A very powerful mage named Tal Rasha selflessly offers his powers to contain the demon in the soulstone. Guess what this entails? ''They strap his body to a giant stone tablet in an ancient tomb in the middle of a desert, shove the stone into his chest, and leave him to eternally battle a demon for his mind!'' {{spoiler|About halfway through the second game, the main evil party releases Baal from his body, with the side effect of killing Tal Rasha.}}

** In another example, an [http://diablo.wikia.com/wiki/Inarius immortal angel] made a stupid move to attack one of the main villains when not thoroughly prepared. Proceed to angel being captured by a pissed off [[Big Bad]]. They ''slowly'' ripped off his wings, and then put huge barbed hooks through his skin and stretched it out. After that, they trapped him in a chamber of mirrors, with his eyelids torn off. ''So that the only thing he can see for all eternity is his torn, bloated figure.''

** He suffers an even ''worse'' fate than that later. After Zero {{spoiler|defeated him for good, Weil, [[Body Horror|fused to the remains of]] [[Colony Drop|Ragnarok]], remains immortal, but now, he's completely immobile. He could've stayed that way forever if it weren't for an unlucky group of humans that ''just'' happen to find his remains, and he [[Demonic Possession|possesses one of them]], still intent on revenge on humanity.}} Try to guess who is responsible for everything that's happened in the ''[[Mega Man ZX]]'' series?

* Gremio's fate in ''[[Suikoden I]]'' - {{spoiler|if being eaten alive by flesh-eating spores isn't a classic case, I don't know what is}}.

* ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword]]'' loves this trope:

** The entire Lanayru desert is littered by the time-ravaged, rusted remains of the ''Ancient Robots'', a population of robots who used to thrive in the past, when the desert was a luscious forest filled of precious "Time Stones". It's implied they may be still active, reacting with a pitiful beep when you try to communicate with them. One of them, restored to life by a "Time Stone" (that "resets" his personal timeline to a point in the past) is shown as fully aware of being living on borrowed time.

** {{spoiler|The Big Bad himself, Demise, appears first as}} The Imprisoned, an inhuman monster, scattered and sealed in a mystical pillar since ancient times, unable even to restore his physical appearance for ages.

** {{spoiler|Zelda}} has to seal herself for several thousands of years, sleeping to direct her energies to the seal keeping The Imprisoned in, unable to wake up on her own.

** Meanwhile, the [[When Trees Attack|Sylvans]] of the Brecilian Forest are the disastrous results of a Fade spirit possessing a tree; deprived of sight and voice, most of them have reverted to slaughtering travellers in fits of insane jealousy.

** As well as the {{spoiler|Ancient Elven Arcane Warrior frozen in the phylactery for centuries in the Elven Ruins of the Brecilian Forest. When the player character finds him/her, he/she is practically insane except for the knowledge of the Arcane Warrior. You have the choice to free him/her or forever trap him/her in the state he/she is in.}}

** He's not very pleased about this, especially when he finds out this [[Laser-Guided Amnesia|caused Aran to forget him.]]

*** Well think about it: {{spoiler|Maha}} had to sit {{spoiler|in the polearm}} for hundreds of years. He can't speak to Aran over the distance and is possibly kept sane by the thoughts of Aran coming to save him. Cue Aran walking past him several times, not noticing him. When Aran finally sees {{spoiler|Maha}} again Aran's forgotten all about him.

** Also implied to happen to Ansem the Wise after the betrayal of his apprentices, when he was trapped in the realm of Darkness {{spoiler|1=and became DiZ.}}

*** {{spoiler|Special mention goes to Terra's fate; his Heart endured [[And I Must Scream]] by entering an unending [[Battle in the Center of the Mind]] with Master Xehanort, which has been going on for over ten years. His ''soul'', on the other hand, is trapped inside of his armor and marooned on a virtually inaccessible world, unable to focus on anything besides his hatred for Xehanort and his promise that he will, someday, set things right. It's little wonder that the Lingering Sentiment is a ''tad'' unbalanced when Sora accidentally encounters him, having a brief breakdown when Sora's presence reminds him of Xehanort and rampaging until Sora beats him to calm him down.}}

** Elizabeth Greene suffers an even worse fate. Once a perfectly ordinary teenage girl before she was made a test subject, she is ageless and possibly immortal, held captive for 40 years, subject to multiple experiments and treated as little more than a living petri dish (her head has been shaved for cranial surgery; her bodysuit has channels for nutrients, so she can't feed herself; and no one involved in her capture and containment seems to feel even the slightest pity for her). Needless to say, when Mercer unknowingly frees her from captivity, she's very happy. In fact, so happy that she goes on a biochemical rampage and covers the entire island of Manhattan in viruses that all work on a rural network, all connected to her. As you do.

*** Her child, PARIAH - who has been described as the end of things to come - was taken away from her, and is also presently held captive somewhere in the world in a location ''higher than top secret.'' Though held in military facilities and watched at all times with snipers, he seems an ordinary male toddler...and he's stayed one all the decades he's been in captivity.

* In ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro ni]]'', this is the consequence of a witch causing a Logic Error. The offending witch becomes trapped in the paradox until they can think of a way to resolve it -- or for all eternity, whichever comes first.

* In the [[Girls Love]] [[Visual Novel]] ''[[Akai Ito]]'', [[Our Vampires Are Different|Nozomi]] was trapped inside the [[Magic Mirror|Ryugetsu]] for... a long time. Even though in other characters' route she is always a villain, when you are in her route it's explained that she was a princess of some sort, and discarded her original body to obtain freedom from the deadly political game of her era. She then became a ghost that is [[Haunted Fetter|attached to the Ryugetsu]]. How did she accomplish this? By making deal with [[Big Bad|Nushi]], which, at that time, seemed sympathetic. When Nushi was defeated and [[Sealed Evil in a Can|sealed]] by the onikiri, she became trapped in the mirror. As she wondered why Nushi never come for her, [[And I Must Scream|her psyche crumbled]], and out of loneliness (and low self-esteem, she's really a messed-up person) she created another persona that act as her twin little sister. {{spoiler|But [[It Got Worse]]: That little sister, Mikage, was really a part of [[Our Souls Are Different|Nushi's shattered soul]], and manipulates her into manipulating the owner of the mirror to do atrocious things, all to free Nushi.}}

** It then gets worse. When {{spoiler|the Aesir can no longer do anything for her, they dump her at Hel's doorstep, where Hel infects her with the Nidhog virus which keeps her alive even though she keeps trying to kill herself through cutting}}

* ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]]'' gives us the mind prison. An almost-featureless open space in which undesirable minds are trapped, with no possibility of esacpe, nothing to see and very little to do. Supposedly they are reopened at a suitable time, but some are forgotten for ''millennia''...

* Should you choose to ally with the Kuei-jin in ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines]]'', {{spoiler|Ming Xiao will -after you defeat the Sheriff- chain you to the Sarcophagus and throw it in the ocean. Since vampires cannot drown and the blood will prevent decomposition, your best hope is to be eaten by sea creatures (good luck, you traitor).}}

* Centeol in ''[[Baldur's Gate]]'', a minor NPC found in Cloakwood, was once a beautiful sorceress, but has been transformed into a grotesque blobby thing that is unable to move from the centre of its nest, where it is fed and protected by giant spiders.

** However, unlike most examples, {{spoiler|he has someone else to experience it with. Even if he won't shut up.}}

* The Lord of the Dead in ''[[King's Quest]] 6'' was once a man, but while still alive he was enslaved to the throne of the Underworld. Unable to free himself or move anything more than his hand, he was forced to witness every horror and tragedy when the spirits of the dead made their way to him. His humanity seeped away as he grew numb to the horror and became something else entirely. And he will never be free of what has been done to him.

* The mysterious Hag from ''[[Thief]]: Deadly Shadows'' skins her victims both to take their form as a disguise and to extend her life. One of the cutscenes show the many faces on her body move and blink, suggesting they're still alive as she wears them.

* The are several such opportunities for an immortal protagonist of ''[[Planescape: Torment]]'' to "lose", despite being unkillable. If the character decides to {{spoiler|become the next Silent King}}, you arguably get a variant of this trope as you get stuck to the magical throne that comes with the job, unable to move until death claims you (which will be never). {{spoiler|Hargrimm and the rest of the Dead Nations will be keeping you company}}. The manual also states that The Nameless One can also be [[Buried Alive]] or eaten or in many other ways rendered incapable of moving or dying, making them potential examples that never happen.

** Another danger that is mentioned is being sent to a crematorium. It's unclear what would happen to him; either he'd be killed for good because he couldn't regenerate, or he would still be able to regenerate only to die again in horrible, burning agony. If the latter, then it would fit this trope.

** Also, if the Nameless One tells the Transcendent One that he no longer loses his memories upon death and will just come back to the Fortress of Regrets again should he be defeated, the Transcendent One angrily replies that he will keep him locked in a pocket dimension for all eternity to prevent this.

* [[Team Fortress 2]]: [[The Medic]] keeps a disembodied BLU spy head in his fridge along with his beer and monkey hearts. The spy in question is [http://youtu.be/36lSzUMBJnc far from happy about it].

'''Medic''': Later. }}

** [[Played for Laughs]] in that the spy's head seems more annoyed with his situation than horrified.

** In the Void, {{spoiler|Arronax}} was defeated by [[Big Bad]] {{spoiler|Kerghan}} and imprisoned for 2000 years in some kind of force field just wide enough for him to stand, speaking only ocasionally with {{spoiler|Kerghan}}. And the Void is the weird place where the only way to die is by violence. However, not only did it not affect {{spoiler|Arronax}}'s sanity, but, as he states, actually gave him time to think about his life and deeds, eventually leading to his [[Heel Face Turn]].

*** Interestingly, a spiritual snake-like creature which has been sustaining {{spoiler|Arronax}}'s magical prison suffered almost the same fate, being summoned from the other world and forced to roam the same room for all 2000 years, apparently able to communicate only with the owner of the control medaiilon (which was given to the undead). If you get the medallion in posession, it will say that this place hurts it, and plead for release.

* The previous {{spoiler|Steef guardian of the Grubbs}} in ''[[Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath]]''. {{spoiler|He had his body [[Personal Space Invader|taken over and used as a host by Sekto]], who then proceeded to hunt down other Steef and have their heads ''mounted on his wall''. Not only that, but Sekto also dammed the river and persecuted the Grubbs that that particular Steef used to protect. And it's implied that the Steef was concious the ''whole time''. To top it all off, Stranger kills him, only learning that he's a [[Last of His Kind|fellow Steef]] after Sekto has [[Villain Exit Stage Left|abandoned the body and escaped into the river]]. But at least the Steef [[Dying as Yourself|dies as himself]], and with the knowledge that the river is free.}}

* Thaddius in ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' zig-zags this. When you read up on Thaddius, you find out that Thaddius is made from the flesh of women and children, and their souls are stuck underneath that. By the way, you know that "Please noooo!" and "Help me! Save me!" cries you hear? That's Thaddius. When you run after these voices, Thaddius shouts, "You are too late, I must obey!". Zig-zagged the most because upon death, Thaddius says, "Thank...you."

* In Chapter 18 of ''[[Kid Icarus: Uprising]]'', {{spoiler|Pit's mind is trapped in a ring. He cannot move or communicate with anyone unless they are wearing the ring themselves. It takes a while for this to sink in, because Pit doesn't really realize how terrible it is until magus starts walking away from the ring. All Pit could do was beg for Magnus to wear the ring, but Magnus couldn't even hear him.}}

* Lechuck plans to do this to Guybrush in ''[[Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge]]'', burning his flesh of his body, leaving only his bones "still alive and very much in pain" which he'll make into a chair that screams when he sits on it. Luckily Guybrush escapes before this happens.

* In the standard ending of the [[Interactive Fiction]] game ''The Act of Misdirection'' you end up as a {{spoiler|sentient bust in a hat store}}. You are in this state for a few turns before the game ends with the implication that you will be like that forever. In these few turns you can try several actions including "shout" and "move" and the game will disturbingly remark on your inability to do them.

* One of the endings in the [[Cthulhu Mythos|Lovecraftian]] [[Interactive Fiction]] ''[[Anchorhead]]'' involves the protagonist being trapped in a dimension filled with nothing but "the necrotic folds of the womb of Nehilim".

 

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