Everything Trying to Kill You: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
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* ''[[Home Alone]] 2'' for the NES and SNES was ridiculous. Not only did every random stranger in the hotel try to get you, but so did vacuum cleaners, luggage, and mop buckets (both the moving mop and the inanimate bucket).
** The Infogrames staff must have played this game before coding ''[[Tintin]] in Tibet''. In the hotel level alone, you could get [[Collision Damage]] (and lose one of your four hit points) from waiters carrying a platter, maids vacuuming the floor, luggage carelessly knocked over by said maids, and little dogs that don't bite. Oh, and the timer too.
** But then, the entire premise of ''[[Home Alone]]'' was that Kevin made his house/hotel room into a place where
* The ''[[Jurassic Park]]'' game on the Sega Genesis. Cute little lizards who take half your health, climbing ropes who are vertical poison ivies, Pteronodon carrying you back to the top at the cost of half your health... Also goes with [[Nintendo Hard]].
* This page would be remiss without a mention of a Sega Genesis ''[[X-Men]]'' game whose first level started in [[Prehistoria|a jungle]]. And in this jungle, getting a lance thrown at you did damage, getting carried off by a [[Giant Flyer]] did damage... and ''having a dragonfly buzz past you'' did damage. The hell?
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== [[Adventure Game]] ==
* Sierra celebrated the way of character death, embraced it, became one with it. Many Sierra [[Adventure Game|adventure games]] would [[Trial and Error Gameplay|kill for making one seemingly innocuous false step]], and then [[Have a Nice Death|mock you for getting yourself killed]]. It became slowly more forgiving with time, replacing [[Unwinnable]] situations with instadeaths (which is a good thing, kind of) and eventually granting an "Oops" button or two.
** Take the second ''[[Laura Bow]]'' game. It would kill the title character by means of an automobile that appeared out of nowhere if she stepped off the pavement onto a seemingly empty road. You were apparently supposed to look at the road first to confirm that no cars were approaching, but the same would happen even if you did that and the game told you it was all clear. (It expected you to look ''both ways'' before crossing the road. Just looking once wasn't enough, in one of Sierra's more... pedantic puzzles. Luckily, you can get everywhere by taxi, and just skip the stupidity.) Another scene would kill you if you wandered into a dark passage without a light. Somehow, a woman in her early twenties would be swarmed and ''overpowered'' by quite ordinary ''bats''
** Not all that many games make players try to kill off their characters in every possible way, even fewer have them enjoy it. The latter include the farcical ''[[Space Quest]]'' and ''[[Leisure Suit Larry]]'' series, where even the narrator is basically a [[Deadpan Snarker]]. [http://tmd.alienharmony.com/rw/index.htm A fan website] has cataloged 67 distinct ways to die in ''Space Quest V'' alone. In ''Space Quest III'', trying to pick up a simple piece of metal scrap one room away from the start of the game would result in Roger cutting himself, severing an artery, and dying of blood loss within seconds. Total play time to first death in that situation? About 20 seconds.
** Even the slot machine can kill you. Get three skull-n-crossbones, and it turns you into dust with its built-in [[Disintegrator Ray]]. The slot machine ''is'' named "Slots O' Death"... you could rig the machine in the remake to beat it quickly, but in the original, [[Luck-Based Mission|save often and hope for the best]].
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** ''Nothing'' in ''[[Leisure Suit Larry]] 5'' can kill you. Nothing. Even if you try to electrocute yourself with a wall outlet. There is also exactly ''one'' [[Unwinnable]] situation in the game due to a bug.
* [[Lucas Arts]], the other major publisher of [[Adventure Game|adventure games]], was kinder and gentler than [[Sierra]], and its games were more cartoonish. Character death was possible in its more realistic games, but it would take blatantly stupid actions. In general, [[Lucas Arts]] believed that players should not be punished for experimenting with their games, seeing as most of the time puzzle solutions in adventure games in general had a tendency to be on the obscure side. This policy was adopted by [[Lucas Arts]] during the development of ''[[The Secret of Monkey Island]]'', but dying was still frequent in their earlier titles such as ''[[Maniac Mansion]]'' and ''[[Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders]]''.
** Death was rare but possible in the ''[[Full Throttle]]'' adventure game. Each time Ben was killed, the game would automatically backtrack to the point where the fatal mistake was made, allowing you to try it
*** Death only becomes possible in Full Throttle in the endgame, when it's made blatantly clear that you're in a life-or-death chase sequence.
** The ''[[Monkey Island]]'' games, for example, averted this trope. Nothing could kill its hero, Guybrush Threepwood ({{spoiler|well, [[Tales of Monkey Island|almost nothing]]}}), or even do permanent harm. Not even getting repeatedly punched sky-high by the [[Big Bad]].
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== [[First-Person Shooter]] ==
* While not exactly ''everything'' trying to kill you, all of the killable characters in the PC game ''Vivisector: Beast Inside''
** Similarly, ''[[Shadow the Hedgehog]]'' has both good and evil enemies, and they'll all attack Shadow regardless of his [[Karma Meter]] (except when they're busy fighting each other!)
** Another example of this sort of thing can be found in ''[[Far Cry]] 2''. Ostensibly you are a mercenary working for one side in a civil war in Africa. They try to [[Hand Wave]] it in game by claiming you're a disposable asset that nobody knows about. In reality even when working a mission for one side you will be attacked by both sides. Constantly.
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* The NES platform game ''[[Monster Party]]'' had some pretty out-there enemies. Disembodied legs stuck in the ground and walking pants are just two examples. Then there's the bosses, which include a giant bubble-spitting pitcher plant, a giant snake with Medusa hair that throws ''tsuchinoko'' (a type of semi-mythical snake famous in Japanese cryptozoology; [[Pokémon|Dunsparce]] is a Tsuchinoko) at you, and a ''giant fried shrimp'' which eventually morphs into an ''onion ring'', then a ''kebab''.
** Let's not forget the rock n' roll player who'd make you "Face the music!", The giant cat who threw killer kittens at you, drops of blood that'd mysteriously hurts you in Stage 2... on the other hand, there was also that dead spider that said "Sorry, I'm Dead" in Stage 1 and those zombie dancers who you'd beat only if you didn't attack them and watched them dance.
* ''[[Oddworld|Abe's Oddysee]]'' (sic) has about 5 friendly [[NPC
** No means of self-defense, that is, except for rocks, mines, grenades, and ''[[Made of Explodium|causing people to explode by singing at them]]''.
* The freeware game ''[[I Wanna Be the Guy]]'' uses this to and past the limit, featuring killer spikes, <s>apples</s> <s>giant cherries</s> ''Delicious Fruit'' that can also fall ''up'' and ''the moon'' as the most common killers in the game. Add to that ripped-off enemies from 8-bit games, several innocuous-looking objects suddenly dropping lethally on your character (including a star, thunderbolts, a glass of wine thrown by the ''Symphony of the Night'' Dracula ''during a cutscene'' and ''a killer pop-up''), a Tetris segment where you must avoid being squashed by the blocks, a floor of spikes that ''suddenly develops wheels and chases you'' and even a killer ''save point'' just before the final boss to get a hair-tearing frustration masterpiece.
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** Contrary to popular belief, not everything is trying to kill you. The air is relatively safe. Also, there are numerous squares of very benign ground. Everything else will kill you.
** Incidentally, at one point the only way to survive a certain jump is to [[Soft Water|land in a pool of water]]. Making it one of the rare games where the [[Super Drowning Skills|water DOESN'T kill you]] (particularly odd given that that would have been one of the deaths that made sense in real life if it had killed you).
** The [[Fan Sequel
* Nearly everything in the [[The Problem with Licensed Games|video game movie]] ''[[Warlock]]'' could harm you, including water dripping from the ceiling and ''otherwise harmless birds if they fly into you''. Even worse, there's one stationary hazard, a thorn vine trap, that will damage you ''even if you cheated and used a [[Game Shark|Game Genie]] to give your character unlimited life and/or gave you unlimited [[Mercy Invincibility]]''. Then again, you could also be killed with those cheats on through [[Super Drowning Skills]] and [[Convection, Schmonvection|staying immersed in lava]].
* ''Jumping Flash''. Killer mosquitoes, dragonflies, strange creatures with cannons for mouths that launch missiles, a diversity of frogs, giant mechanical scorpions... just about the only thing in the game that isn't trying to kill you are [[Space Whale|the air whales]].
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* The entire collection of bosses (and many enemies) in the ''[[Wario Land]]'' series. Last time you heard of a living cuckoo clock that tries to electrocute the character and use a grabbing claw, or a ghostly mouse riding an inflatable teddy bear being a boss and trying to kill you?
** The latest game takes it a bit further, with an evil race car driver, robo clown with flamethrower and frying pan riding duck chef as bosses.
* Believe it or not, the ''Barbie'' game for the SNES falls under this trope terribly. Any and everything that hits you takes away
** The ''Barbie'' game for the NES is even worse: pizzas, jellyfish (complete with creepy music), clothing, water spouts, kites, tennis balls, skates, soda...
* In the first ''[[Tomb Raider]]'', absolutely everything and everyone is out for Lara's blood. A few of the later games, however, had people and/or creatures that wouldn't attack her unless she attacked them first (examples: the warrior monks in the second game, and the monkeys and the gang members from certain levels of the third game). However, even if you attack just one of the monks in the second game, ''every single monk in the entire level'' will be trying to skewer you.
* ''Sunday Funday'' puts you up against plumbers, disco dancers, businessmen, joggers, big-headed women wearing pearl necklaces... All of them want you dead for the terrible crime of ''going to Sunday School''.
** This game was a 'Christianized' [[Retool]] of earlier title ''Menace Beach''. All they did was change the storyline ('rescue your girlfriend' is now 'get to Sunday School') and the sprites (from somewhat more acceptably threatening ninjas, evil clowns etc. to more innocuous
* Beautifully inverted in indie game ''[[Karoshi]]''. Absolutely nothing is trying to kill you, and some things will even prevent your death. Unfortunately, the point of the game is to die...
* In ''[[Jackie Chans Action Kung Fu]]'', besides encountering goons, you'll encounter and beat the life out of wide variety of enemies including, but not limited to tigers, crab under a rice bowl, river kappas, gameras, Surprise Fish and so on. Animated Buddha statue too!
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* All ''[[Kid Niki]]'' games, especially the third one which had flying banana peels, flowers which shoot at you, statues shaking their private parts at you, hairy plant legs and so on.
* ''[[Back to the Future: The Game|Back to The Future]] II and III''. Enemies include giant snails, fish, mutant frogs, birds, bouncing balls, dinosaurs, bullet-shooting clouds, pipe monsters, ghosts, walking trashcans and in certain areas, books, test tubes, teddy bears, heart symbols, graduation hats and screwdrivers. The list goes on.
* The NES ''[[Hook]]'' game has obviously pirates. However, besides these, you also have [[Giant Spider
* The SNES ''[[Home Improvement]]'' game had pretty interesting things attacking you ranging from ants and dinosaurs to mechs.
* In ''[[Donkey Kong Country Returns]]'', the [[Minecart Madness]] levels are bad enough, and the [[Rocket Ride]] levels crank this right on [[Up to Eleven]].
* ''[[A Nightmare on Elm Street]]'' video game had some strange enemies attacking you. When you're in the dreamworld, getting attacked by skeletons and spiders with a human head is [[Justified Trope|justified]]. However, it doesn't explain why in non-dream world [[Giant Spider
* This [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaCkpbbOVVM Let's Play] video of freeware game ''Syobon Action'' does a good job explicating this trope. On stage 2, the player is killed by an "invisible cloud". He was underground at the time.
** Word to the wise: Don't trust ''anything'' in this game, from the floor to the ceiling to message boxes to bonus items to ''clouds in the background!''
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== [[Roguelike]] ==
* ''[[Nethack]]'' and many other Roguelikes. Virtually anything in Nethack, animate or not, can either kill you outright or lead to your grisly death. Sinks and fountains can spew [[Goddamned Bats]], some magic items can strangle you when equipped, you can fall into a poison-spike pit with no warning, old food can rot and give you food poisoning, etc. Also, all the initially peaceful [[NPC
** Alphaman has various typically-tame woodland critters as enemies and children's cartoon characters as major bosses. (Gumby will kick your ass.)
** And then there's ''Slash'EM'', a ''[[Nethack]]'' variant that's even ''more'' deadly and unforgiving. One of the better examples from Slash'EM is the poison {{spoiler|cloak}}. Nethack players are used to dealing with deadly items already, so they know to look out for stuff like stumbling boots and amulets of strangulation. There's not a single dangerous {{spoiler|cloak}} in regular Nethack, and it has a 1/3 chance of instant death. ''And'' it does so even if it's not cursed, meaning you can't look out for a cursed one. You're not gonna see it coming.
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* Similar to the ''[[Dragon Quest VIII]]'' example, one of the bosses in the second ''[[Xenosaga]]'' game is called Cathedral. It is [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]].
* Similar to those two examples above, Hell House from ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]''. It's a small house... that sprouts a head, arms and legs and tries to crush Cloud and co. Oh, and it fires out [[Nuke'Em|nukes]] as an attack.
* So many [[RPG
* ''[[Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga]]'' has the killer soda creature called the Chuckolator, which is exactly what it sounds like. It has a shield and sword, and is healed by bad jokes. There's also a yo-yo wielding Hammer Bro species.
** ''[[Mario & Luigi: Partners In Time]]'' has the Piranha Planets, which are killer planets with astronaut piranha plants. And the Handfakes, killer hands made of tar holding pictures of an enemies that they attack Mario and Luigi with.
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* In the faux-videogame [[Web Comic]] ''[[Kid Radd]]'', the eponymous hero sprite is damaged by apples and bazookas (and by touching [[The Goomba|Bogey]]). And he's damaged ''the same amount'' by each one. This is ''a major plot point''.
* Parodied (of course) in ''[[Adventurers!]]!''. The party encounters an [http://adventurers.keenspot.com/d/0080.html Inanimate Chair] and somehow can't run away from it. An [http://adventurers.keenspot.com/d/0343.html encounter] with [[Dancing Pants|evil pants]] is [http://adventurers.keenspot.com/d/0344.html immediately followed] by one with a [[Rock Me, Asmodeus|demonic boombox]]. As Ardam says when [http://adventurers.keenspot.com/d/20030113.html facing down a killer coffin], "It really says something about our lives that this doesn't seem at all weird."
* Castle Heterodyne in ''[[Girl Genius]]'', which also counts as [[Malevolent Architecture]]. {{spoiler|Since it recognizes Agatha as its master, the central AI won't hurt her. Or people she explicitly and unambiguously ordered not to. Everything ''not'' under its control will still try to kill her, and
* ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]'' has Annie [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=875 joking] about various entities trying to end her story.
* ''[[Basic Instructions]]'' covered this trope in [http://basicinstructions.net/basic-instructions/2011/4/26/how-to-play-video-games-together-rerun.html this comic].
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== Web Original ==
* ''[[Felarya]]''. A land mostly inhabited by [[Cute Monster Girl
* The [[Binder of Shame]] describes Psycho Dave's gameworld thus:
{{quote|And for the record the most dark and brutal game world I had ever seen was a D&D campaign that Psycho Dave had run many years ago. For this game he had created a hybrid damage system that combined the standard D&D hit point system with the Arduin Grimoire critical hit chart and the infamous Rolemaster critical damage tables. And he used this table for any kind of injury whatsoever for players and NPCs alike. In doing so he created a desolate, blood soaked ruin of a world where carpenters died from complications of bruising their thumbs, people picking at hangnails had their flesh suddenly fall away from their bones in wet red strips and mothers in childbirth frequently detonated.}}
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* The Australian fierce snake (named for its home, the Fierce Desert, not for its temperament, which is actually non aggressive) is considered the most poisonous snake in the world.
* According to the [[Made of Explodium]] page, eucalyptus trees have a rather amusing tendency to, well, explode, given the proper stressors. Truly a gamer's continent.
** Eucalypts also produce dry, waxy leaves and loose bark that fuel the frequent and highly dangerous bushfires, and have a tendency to lose branches in high winds, or just after said fires. Add in the fact that eucalypt branches are often
* Also, falling gum tree limbs (known as [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|widowmakers]]) have caused serious property damage and deaths. And they ''fall with '''no''' warning''. Feel like taking a nap under a gum tree during a hot day? It might be the last thing you do...
* And that's just the stuff on land, they also have - apart from the sharks and saltwater crocodiles - blue ringed octopus, box jellyfish, cone snails, stingrays, etc.
** You know your country is scary when even the snails can kill. The aptly named Triton (not the car) is one of the few predators that will kill and eat [[wikipedia:Crown-of-thorns starfish|"crown of thorns"]] starfish
* That is one of the reasons why Steve Irwin was considered one of the best [[Real Life]] [[
** If Australia killed Steve Irwin, what chance do ''you'' have?
* Emus are basically really big ''[[Feathered Fiend|Velociraptor]]'' with a beak. Be glad that you do not meet their dietary needs. Cassowaries, too. They were actually used as the models for the ''Velociraptor'' in [[Jurassic Park]].
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* [http://www.cracked.com/article_16868_6-deadliest-creatures-that-can-fit-in-your-shoe.html This Cracked article] feels appropriate. No, it isn't all in Australia, but half of it is.
** [http://www.cracked.com/funny-163-australia/ Another Oz-related Cracked article.]
** Two thirds of the animals on [http://www.cracked.com/article_15853_6-cutest-animals-that-can-still-destroy-you.html this Cracked list] of [[Killer Rabbit
* Any child growing up in Australia learns (unless the parents are trying to kill the kid) a long list of things that can kill you, practically by heart. It's a long list, and just to make sure at least one state teaches it in primary schools.
** Is it "everything"? That's not that hard to memorize.
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*** [[Australian Rules Football|Especially the sports]].
** You also have to remember that pretty much any time Cracked mentions Australia, it must, and absolutely must, be restated that dingoes eat human babies.
* The plants can also kill you. The Stinging Tree is aptly named; all shrubs and trees of this genus have very fine hairs which will end up in your body if you walk too close (also, said hairs SHED, so too close is probably within a
* It is ironic when one considers that despite the high number of dangers Australia actually has a very low death rate from bites and stings, due to a combination of its people being well-educated about the dangers, advanced medical care being accessible to a majority of the population, and many of its potentially dangerous animals being unaggressive and/or restricted to remote areas where they rarely encounter people.
** [http://www.bobinoz.com/migration-advice/australias-killer-creatures-the-truth-about-deaths/ The stats] speak for themselves. The take-home lesson - no worries.
* In the surrounding areas of the A.C.T (Australian Capital Territory), there is a road to a lovely beach town in NSW (Batemans Bay) called the clyde. Along this road, there is a tourist attraction known as Pooh Bear's corner. Back in WWII, this fun little visiting spot (now filled with plush toys of its namesake) was filled with explosives. Back then, the Clyde was the only route in or out of Canberra and was meant to halt invading Japanese soldiers by either blowing them up or cutting off the road at an important point. So in Australia, even the most innocent of places could've killed you.
* Australia is not just an active killer, it's also passive-aggressive as all hell. There's been no crustal overturn in most of the continent since around the time of the first dinosaurs, so the soils tend overwhelmingly to be thin and nutrient-poor, and in many
* Just to prove the government has a sense of humour - snakes are protected species in most areas, it's illegal to kill them. Snakes do not reciprocate this policy. Fortunately for gardeners, the natural enemy of the snake, the shovel, is often close by.
* But, there is one subversion. Most native Australian [[Everything's Worse with Bees|bees]] either have no stingers or stingers too small to penetrate human skin. Australia has a most ironic sense of humor.
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*** Florida is basically the Australia of the US.
**** To be fair, any coastal state in the southeastern US contends with these, though there has yet to be any escaped constrictor snakes. To make up for this glaring lack of danger, many have mountain terrain that adds bears, wolves and cougars to the mix. It's always fun trying to explain to individuals unfamiliar with the fauna that yes, it is a good idea to keep a loaded weapon near the door when you live in secluded areas.
*
* Some of the most dangerous volcanoes haven't erupted in a long time. Heck some of them most people don't know are volcanoes! ex. Most people thought Pompeii was just a nice big mountain, back in the old days, well it made the most deadly eruption list, TWICE! Yellowstone doesn't even look like a volcano, but it's actually a supervolcano that one day is going to erupt, and cause worldwide crop failure. People round the world wouldn't even be able see the sun for at least months. The worst part? We don't even know when it will happen.
*** So, I'm right in assuming that, if it erupts, the consequences will be so dire that people will be ''wishing'' they were in the US when the thing goes?
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