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[Mista]

Never. I have non-lethal runs daily in my life, why would I want non-lethal runs in my video games too? Unless its called MGS, no game deserves me being an absolute top tier “from the shadows” player

 

[SCB3]

Only when it makes sense:

For Example, Batman doesn't kill so having him kill feels wrong

However, the one game that stands out for me choosing non lethal was Watch Dogs 2, that group killing people doesn't feel right and actually goes against the story, despite being able to use lethal force

 

[nikolino840]

I really enjoyed it in Dishonored. Each mission had a non lethal option for your hit contract which ended up being a fate worse than death for that character. It was usually harder to achieve as well making it much more satisfying.

I have killed all

Spoiler

but in the end...was all them the good guys?

 

[Yumi]

I have killed all

Spoiler

but in the end...was all them the good guys?

Probably not all of them haha. The military people dying didn't effect my choice as much as the state of the world changing. Like the plague spreading, rat infestations, and the hopelessness/dissappointment in the character dialogues.

 

[brian0057]

Ghost (no one knows you were even there) > Sandman (silently put everyone to sleep) > Panther (silently kill everyone) > Gears of War (full on assault)

 

[Bo_Hazem]

No, and I hate it with passion. That's why I hate Batman and other heroes with the "no kill" policy, it's just stupid to try and go non-lethal on people trying to kill the hero or someone else. Eye for an eye and all that.

Well, I see many fighting against execution in real life, even for serial killers. I don't know how the victims feel about it.

 

[Thicc Enigma]

I usually do non lethal runs after I initially beat the game. More about the challenge and less about violence. We're playing video games after all.

 

[Plague Doctor]

Depends how the games made.

If the game has 85 different lethal skills and weapons and then 3 non lethal means, the non lethal run is like a Youtube gimmick run. It's not fun and really I am not looking to pass the gimmick bar, You effectively ignore the majority of the combat functions of the game.

 

[Guardian's Light]

i often think about this topic, is it really satisfying to play the game without killing anybody? doesn't it bother you that you are very limited in terms of equipment and weapons?

talking to a boss to convince him/her/it not to fight you or skipping a boss fight altogether, missing out on story sections and outcomes. is it really worth it?

if you are not a non-lethal player, what will entice you to do a non-lethal run? achievements/trophies, some kind of rare op item?

for me it's really rare that i do a non-lethal run, the game must make a pretty good case for it, in the recent memory i really enjoyed dishonored, deus ex human revolution and phantom pain. these are the kind of games that almost feels wrong to kill people.

I Always avoid to kill when possible, I find much more fun to sneak around enemies or put them on sleep with tranquillizers, I played mgsv for 150-200h, and every other MG aside from og 1, without killing a single enemy, aside from obligatory Ones iirc

Only exception is tlou2, combat is so fun I killed every single human in the game, but no dogs, ever

 

[OceanicWaterHorse]

The endless deaths have turned my daughter away from Tomb Raider, which makes her sad as she loves to explore the environments and solve the puzzles. Uncharted is just as bad, and off putting.

 

[anthraticus]

Depends on the game and how much it supports different approaches like that.

 

[mekes]

I only mind it it works it's way into trophies/achievements. I dont like that. Pacifist runs are not my thing personally, I like to experiment openly. I would rather get a feel for all that's possible rather than focus solely on 1 of many gameplay systems in a game.

 

[Old Retro]

Kill everybody as long as it doesn't alert other hostiles because

 

[Plague Doctor]

Also, when the game has a complex combat mechanics (might be the best part of the the gameplay), unique executions scenes, and this is in addition to the 82 unique and often times balanced weapons...

I hate when they try to moralize to the player about violence and murder either with the narrative or the ending choices.

Like... okay, why did you spend so much development on fictional murder, developers? Why did non lethal not get as much development? Especially with unique death animation, they literally spent time programming torture porn.

Might want to check your moral high horse at the door.

Oh... then sometimes they have a PVP Multiplayer mode.... I just laugh that they want to moralize. Wait, what? Fictional murder bad?

 

[Umbral]

I choose other:

In MGS, yes. Love them and almost always play without killing.

 

[ClanOfNone]

I attempt stealth, but fuck it up more often then not, and every last motherfucker gotta die.
Nothing will turn me off a game quicker than forced stealth segments with instant failstates.

 

[Bartski]

Totally depends on how much the game design makes that an interesting option. I liked that in Dishonored 1. Some games seem to have more polished stealth mechanics at the expense of open combat, some have it the other way.

 

[Rest]

Never done one. Video game enemies are made to be destroyed.

 

[Elektro Demon]

Nah I kill everything that moves, most of the time.

 

[ZywyPL]

This is one of the reasons I play videogames, to shoot/blow stuff up, something you can't do in real life at least not without any repercussions. Avoiding combat is interesting in the first two or three encounters, but after that you start to wonder, why do I even play this game?

 

[Soodanim]

If you give me the choice, I'm going non-lethal every time. If I'm doing stealth, I'm doing it properly.

Order of choice:

1. No alerts, no kills
2. No alerts, all kills
   • Only when non-lethal isn't an option or as a fun run
3. Alerts, all kills
   • This is purely for fun runs to see how the other half lives

MGS is my most classic example of 1. I want to be a ghost in those games, and it conditioned me to default to this in other games that offer it. Dishonored is another example that was influenced by my MGS days.
Tenchu is my classic example of 2. It's either kill or or ghost, and the scores were often higher if you killed everyone while never being spotted. Again, it helped shape how I play stealth games.
Deus Ex is a great example of 3. This is when I go back after finishing the game, with unlocked items in MGS's case, and slaughter everything in either a loud or quiet way after I've done method 1.

Ghost (no one knows you were even there) > Sandman (silently put everyone to sleep) > Panther (silently kill everyone) > Gears of War (full on assault)

Perfect.

 

[Elcid]

I kill everything, no exceptions. I’ll never forget that mission in ASSASSINS CREED 2 where you’re supposed to stealth out of the pope’s residence. Instead I left a path of bodies and blood from the front to the escape zone. Sooner or later they stop spawning.

 

[CatLady]

Pacifist Run - TV Tropes

In games that give you a choice between using lethal or non-lethal force in order to overcome enemies, the former method is usually the most convenient. Some gamers like to play through such games while avoiding any killings that are not …

tvtropes.org

non-lethal? Ah hell no, good combat one of the best parts of gaming, bad combat mean go play a better game.

 

[CatLady]

In Deus-Ex Human Revolution and in Mankind Divided, I actually had more fun trying to figure out how to play as a pacifist than just jamming my arm-sticks through everyone's guts.

That's true. I eventually realized they had some clever ways to get around enemies and gave you XP and non lethal weapons for it. So what I did in subsequent playthroughs was first take the non-lethal route and then come back and kill them all. Double XP FTW. I never got the achievement for a non-lethal playthrough though.

The thing about those games is the combat was excellent especially on the hardest difficulty and the stealth was also outstanding. Damn this is making me think I really need to play them yet again. They're kind of like Halo, the gameplay is SO good you can play them a million times. Definitely not 1 and done games for me.