Pacifism in games

[Alphons]

It always annoyed me (especially in RPGs) when the game expects you to mercilessly slaughter dozens upon dozens of humans without giving you any other option but to run away from them (looking at you Fallout 3 intro).

I've created this thread to find an answer to the question:
What games can be completed without killing?

Post your own propositions (preferably with some information).

Some restrictions regarding the topic:

1. Game must also give you the option to kill (so all VNs, puzzle games, etc. don't count)
2. Pacifist approach is only required when facing sentient humanoids (animals and undead can be killed, but it's nice if the game allows you option to avoid it)
3. It must be possible to finish the main part of the game (reach the ending) with pacifist approach, side quests and side objectives are not required

Edit: Finally updated the list. Added some games I've missed and added your mentions (I've also added a comment if I had one). I've propably missed something, will edit if needed.

Fallout

• you can finish the game without killing by convincing Master to abandon his plan and blowing up Mariposa base with the loud countdown allowing Supermutants and Children of the Cathedral to evacuate
• you can avoid enemies with Sneak
• you can avoid fights with Speech and random encounters with Outdoorsman

Fallout New Vegas

• you can finish the game without killing by convincing either Lanius or Oliver to not fight you
• you can avoid enemies with Sneak
• you can avoid fights via dialogue

Fallout Resurrection

• you can beat the game without killing by triggering an evacuation and freeing prisoners before blowing up Rebirth base
• you can avoid enemies with Sneak
• you can avoid fights with Speech checks and random encounters with Outdoorsman

Thief trilogy

• on higher difficulties game forbids you from killing civilians and/ or guards
• you can knock out humans, burricks, craymen and Trickster's monsters with blackjack, gas arrows or mines
• you can sneak by enemies

Deus Ex: Invisible War

• can be completed without killing if you side with Dentons
• you can knock out enemies with a baton, riot prod or tranquilizer bolts
• you can sneak by enemies

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

• can be completed without killing by knocking out final boss
• you can knock out enemies
• you can sneak by enemies

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

• medium calm spells combined with intimidation can be used to permamently turn any hostile humanoid (including Sleepers) into a friendly NPC
• calm humanoid and calm creature spells can be used to temporarily turn the remaining types of House Dagoth members, Corprus victims, animals and Daedra non- hostile
• you can sneak by enemies

ATOM RPG

• you can talk your way out of any fight against humans during the Main Quest
• you can talk your way out of any random encounter with humans or sneak away
• you can sneak away from any random encounter with animals

Age of Decadence

• you can reach the end of the game without any fights with some of the backgrounds (Merchant, Praetor and Thief)
• fights can be avoided with dialogue checks

SWAT 4

• non- lethal weapons can be used to force suspects to surrender
• lethal weapons can also be used to incacipate them

Metro Last Light Redux

• humans can be knocked out with fists
• you can avoid some enemies using stealth

Dishonored games

• games offer a special non-lethal, but more cruel approach to eliminating targets
• enemies can be knocked out or avoided with stealth

Vigilantes

• Game allows you to switch between non-lethal and lethal combat. Ending depends on number of your kills.

Streets of Rogue

• Game can be completed without kills by defeating mayor in elections, knocking him out or getting his hat
• Some characters have non-lethal takedowns- Doctor can use chloroform, Cop arrest and Slavemaster enslave. Other characters can use tranqulizer gun.
• Sneak is a viable option.
• Targets that need to be neutralized can be also threatened or asked to leave city.
• Quest items can be stolen or their owners can be threatened/ bribed.

Gunpoint

• Stealth is a viable option.
• Guards can be knocked out with fists, doors, power outlets or pushed from small heights.
• Guards can be threatened with a gun.
• Final boss can be knocked out.

Heat Signature

• Stealth is a viable option.
• Enemies can be knocked out with non-lethal weapons.
• Some jobs forbid you from killing.

Undertale Catacombs
Can be beat without killing.

Mirror's Edge games Lemming42
Can be done with no kills and no firearms used (though the protagonist kills someone in a cutscene towards the end of the first game). The no-kills method requires a lot of nonlethal unarmed combat though, so if you want combat-avoidant pacifism then it doesn't apply. It also starts to get pretty hilarious when you're on rooftops and have to fly-kick enemies away from ledges to prevent them from falling.

Postal 2 agentorange

Also expansion Paradise Lost. While Apocalypse Weekend forces you to kill a couple times, it still applies to my definition as you only need to kill animals and zombies.

Ijii Damned Registrations
Game is built around it, with a whole different playthrough available if you never start killing anyone, leading to one of the aliens befriending you and other events instead of the default 'Oh god the DEMON is tearing through our ranks.'

Uncharted Waters Damned Registrations
Lets you play as a merchant or cartographer or some other options that don't require any fighting. Although dueling and ship combat certainly do make things a lot easier.

Golden Treasure Damned Registrations
Lets you avoid killing anything besides the animals you need to eat to survive. You can even avoid most combat period by challenging other dragons to riddle contests and such, and eventually can even avoid needing to kill for food. Which is kind of amusing, given that it's apparently the highest law of dragonkind that they must hunt other creatures. Being a pacifist in this sort of game is more meaningful as well, since you're explicitly rewarded in many ways for killing and fighting, unlike the previous two examples where it's just another means of accomplishing some objective.

Metal Gear games grimace

Far Cry 4 Norfleet
I found out when my kid beat it by doing what it was told during the intro.

Clandestine Avonaeon
Is able to be completed as a pacifist, or even a ghost.

Invisible Inc. TripJack
Pacifism is mostly the way to go but killing can 1) save your bacon sometimes 2) become a legitimate and powerful strategy later on with the right agents/equipment and 3) be a potentially gamebreaking strategy at the beginning of the game if you take a certain starting agent

Realms of Arkania HD ERYFKRAD

Splinter Cell Child of Malkav

Watch Dogs 2 Lily "Miss July" Ferrari

The Outer Worlds Lily "Miss July" Ferrari

Arcanum Lily "Miss July" Ferrari
It's possible, but there're some tricky parts like the halfling after the bridge in Shrouded Hills. Most enemies can be avoided with gold or persuasion (aside from kites). While Tech has some interesting gadgets like flashbangs and tranqulizer rifle, I'd propably go with mage as Mind/ Phantasm spells seem more useful.

The Dark Mod Lily "Miss July" Ferrari

Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones

• Stealth is a viable option
• Fights can be avoided with dialogue
• Fights can be won without killing by using progressive escape
• You can avoid killing Mobsters at distillery by using dilluted poison

Honorable mentions (AKA games that can be almost entirely completed without killing or require an exploit to do it completely):

Kingdom Come: Deliverance
At the end of the game you need to kill Runt.

Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines
During the main quest you need to kill several humans.

Underrail
To progress the MQ you need to kill 3 Arena fighters.

Fallout 2
To finish the game you need to blow up the Oil Rig without giving the Enclave any chance to evacuate.

Fallout Nevada
You can't avoid killing the first boss, his goons and 3 bandits.

Deus Ex
To escape UNATCO you need to kill Anna Navarre or use an exploit to open the exit (what's rather interesting Gunther has special dialogue if you didn't kill her)

Deus Ex: Human Revolution
You need to kill 4 bosses to be able to progress.

Metro 2033 Redux
You have to kill several Nazis during the Trolley Combat.

Grand Theft Auto 4
Majority of enemies and targets can be left alive by shooting them in the legs and arms, but you still need to kill several people.

Assasin's Creed games
Enemies and majority of targets can be knocked out with fists.

Mark of the Ninja
To complete the game you have to kill 2 people.

SWAT 3
Theoretically game can be completed without killing any suspects, but you would have to leave your teammates behind as they alway shoot to kill (and are pretty good doing it). I gave up going Lone Wolf during the bank mission.

Payday 2
Almost every stealth mission can be ghosted/ guards and cops can be dominated. You could also cheese through loud heists by using hostage taker build (up to Overkill difficulty).

Crysis AW8
It works pretty well since you're equipped with a cloaking field and can carry two assault rifles fitted with sleep darts, even though the results can be quite goofy.
I gave up a few levels in though, when the game required me to clear an area of a lot of enemies to proceed. I may have been able to skip it by going to the level end early though, not sure if it was activated yet.

Daggerfall Lemming42
Has language and social skills which roll whenever sentient enemies approach to see if you can talk them down. I think it'd be virtually impossible to play as a linguistics expert and avoid combat for the whole game but it could theoretically be done.

Alpha Protocol Lemming42
Alpha Protocol allows for sneaking by enemies, using tranquilizer darts, or performing non-lethal takedowns. You don't have to kill anyone in the whole game as far as I know (bar one guy towards the end and whoever's aboard a helicopter that you have to shoot down), but the game doesn't really acknowledge it the majority of the time.
Apparently you can by bypass the helicopter by reloading a checkpoint, I don't remember if there's option to avoid that guy

Ultima Underworld: Stygian Abyss Unkillable Cat
You're only forced to kill Sir Roderick and Tyball to beat the game. Everyone/everything else can be spared, persuaded or circumvented. (You don't even have to free the princess!)

Fallout 3 Zombra
Only sentient humanoids you need to kill are Supermutants in Project Purity.

Eschalon: Book II Xeon
Has a challenge to do things as pacifist as possible, killing less than 20 people or something.

Gothic and Gothic 2 Lily "Miss July" Ferrari
You can avoid killing majority of humans. At the end of Gothic you'd have to kill Cor Kalom and his goons or cheese them to jump into lava.

 

[Catacombs]

Undertale can be beat by not killing anyone.

 

[DalekFlay]

Interesting stuff, thanks for posting the list. Only games I've done a total non-lethal playthrough of was the Thief and Dishonored games, I believe. Not my preferred playstyle but a neat challenge. I also did it in Deus Ex HR except for the bosses of course. Didn't the director's cut add options to beat the bosses non-lethally? Or was it only different lethal ways? The director's cut is a worse version in a ton of other ways though, sadly.

 

[Alphons]

Didn't the director's cut add options to beat the bosses non-lethally? Or was it only different lethal ways? The director's cut is a worse version in a ton of other ways though, sadly.

Yeah, they've added security hubs to boss levels where you can turn on turrets/ poisonous gas/ bots so you don't have to kill them personally.

Also I have to agree on the Director's Cut- most of my problems with it are bugs, but some of the flaws with it feel like concious design decisions.

 

[Citizen]

Do strategy games with sciense/culture victory option count?

 

[DalekFlay]

Also I have to agree on the Director's Cut- most of my problems with it are bugs, but some of the flaws with it feel like concious design decisions.

Yeah more bugs, plus whether you liked it or not drastically toning down the gold coloring made it look weird, and adding in The Missing Link and DLC weapons without a re-balance was silly.

 

[Alphons]

Do strategy games with sciense/culture victory option count?

I actually didn't think about them when creating my list, but yeah, they fit the criteria I set up.

 

[Citizen]

I actually didn't think about them when creating my list, but yeah, they fit the criteria I set up.

On the second thought, most of them feature roving "barbarian" units that you need to defend your cities from, and there's no real way to evade the battle with them if they initiate it

 

[AW8]

Interesting list. I tried playing Crysis pacifist-ish once, only killing the required targets. It works pretty well since you're equipped with a cloaking field and can carry two assault rifles fitted with sleep darts, even though the results can be quite goofy.
I gave up a few levels in though, when the game required me to clear an area of a lot of enemies to proceed. I may have been able to skip it by going to the level end early though, not sure if it was activated yet.

I also did it in Deus Ex HR except for the bosses of course. Didn't the director's cut add options to beat the bosses non-lethally? Or was it only different lethal ways? The director's cut is a worse version in a ton of other ways though, sadly.

I've only ever played the Director's Cut and have only heard good things about the changes, now I'm interested. What was made worse in that version?

 

[Lemming42]

Both Mirror's Edge games can be done with no kills and no firearms used (though the protagonist kills someone in a cutscene towards the end of the first game). The no-kills method requires a lot of nonlethal unarmed combat though, so if you want combat-avoidant pacifism then it doesn't apply. It also starts to get pretty hilarious when you're on rooftops and have to fly-kick enemies away from ledges to prevent them from falling.

Hitman is very obviously not a pacifist game, but it's a game about using stealth (both social stealth and literal sneaking) to minimise casualties. I think you can go through the whole Hitman series without ever killing or even KOing a single non-target, and Blood Money and the new games allow you to set people up to get themselves killed without you actually having to directly perform any violence.

Daggerfall has language and social skills which roll whenever sentient enemies approach to see if you can talk them down. I think it'd be virtually impossible to play as a linguistics expert and avoid combat for the whole game but it could theoretically be done.

Alpha Protocol allows for sneaking by enemies, using tranquilizer darts, or performing non-lethal takedowns. You don't have to kill anyone in the whole game as far as I know (bar one guy towards the end and whoever's aboard a helicopter that you have to shoot down), but the game doesn't really acknowledge it the majority of the time.

Also I'd like to use this thread to remind people that the funniest and most entertaining way to play Fallout 1 and 2 as a pacifist is not by using speech or sneak, but by making a 10 STR 1 INT unarmed expert and ending all fights by either knocking enemies unconscious with a head blow (you can even loot their inventory while they're down), or breaking their arms/legs/groin to the point where they demoralize and flee.

 

[agentorange]

Postal 2

There are a lot of FPS games in general that could potentially be played in a near pacifist style now that I think about it, so long as they are not the lock-you-in-an-arena type. Games like Doom 1, 2, Half-Life 1, only require killing a select few enemies.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Without the player killing anyone... Doom 1 and 2.

Yes, really.

Doom 1 can be completed by killing every boss monster via monster infighting. In the case of the Cyberdemon boss an engine exploit must be used that renders the Cyberdemon non-responsive so that a Lost Soul can chip away at him for half an eternity, but otherwise it's just a matter of baiting, dodging and waiting.

Doom 2 is obviously trickier, because the only way to kill the Icon of Sin via monster infighting is to use another engine exploit, namely to have the IoS spawn multiple Arch-Viles, then the player must jam themselves into the opening into the IoS's brain, and pray to RNGesus that enough Arch-Viles only then choose to target the player simultaneously (and not all the other demons) so that the resulting knockback and death explosion of the player will send the dying carcass flying into Romero's head, causing enough damage to destroy the IoS. While theoretically doable no one has managed to pull this off yet.

Honorable mention: Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss. You're only forced to kill Sir Roderick and Tyball to beat the game. Everyone/everything else can be spared, persuaded or circumvented. (You don't even have to free the princess!) UUW2 has a longer list of 'must-kill'-targets, so it doesn't even make it in as an honorable mention.

Anti-mentions: The Secret of Monkey Island 1 and 2. Getting yourself killed in games that skirt the issue of death is a challenge and a half, but in both games a scene plays out where Guybrush is imprisoned and will die if he doesn't get out in time. Just let the clock run out and you have one dead protagonist on your hands.

 

[Alphons]

Interesting list. I tried playing Crysis pacifist-ish once, only killing the required targets. It works pretty well since you're equipped with a cloaking field and can carry two assault rifles fitted with sleep darts, even though the results can be quite goofy.
I gave up a few levels in though, when the game required me to clear an area of a lot of enemies to proceed. I may have been able to skip it by going to the level end early though, not sure if it was activated yet.

I found a partial playthrough on Youtube and it doesn't seem possible to avoid killing exactly these guys, though you can avoid/ KO the rest.

I've only ever played the Director's Cut and have only heard good things about the changes, now I'm interested. What was made worse in that version?

Aside from not fixing old bugs and introducing new ones (enemies being able to see through some of the walls at Omega Ranch) adding Missing Link just before Singapore breaks the game's pacing and DLC weapons (IEDs and silenced rifle) break the early game.

Hitman is very obviously not a pacifist game, but it's a game about using stealth (both social stealth and literal sneaking) to minimise casualties. I think you can go through the whole Hitman series without ever killing or even KOing a single non-target, and Blood Money and the new games allow you to set people up to get themselves killed without you actually having to directly perform any violence.

I think it might be impossible to beat Codename 47 killing only targets (for example you can't get a bomb in Bucharest without killing Fritz Fuchs, who's non-target in C47).

I might add Death to Spies games, as assasination missions are actually a minority in them.

Postal 2

There are a lot of FPS games in general that could potentially be played in a near pacifist style now that I think about it, so long as they are not the lock-you-in-an-arena type. Games like Doom 1, 2, Half-Life 1, only require killing a select few enemies.

Yeah, I forgot about Postal 2 and Paradise Lost. Paradise was slightly easier for me thanks to that beanbag cannon.

I'm not entirely sure about Half Life- I remember soldiers setting up some ambushes where you have to kill them all to progress.

Thanks for the input everyone.

 

[Zombra]

I finished Fallout 3 only attacking two things directly: the cockroach at the beginning that you are forced by your dad to shoot with a bb gun, and one super mutant I shot a couple times to distract him from murdering a prisoner. (And I didn't have to do that to complete the game, I just wanted to save that guy more than keep perfect pacifism.)

I think I spent a lot of time with companions though, and they are hard to keep on a leash. I don't remember any time that I had to use my companions to kill people in order to progress. But there's a lot I don't remember about that game. In any case I did complete it with a "very pacifistic" methodology, even if it wasn't perfect.

 

[Catacombs]

In any case I did complete it with a "very pacifistic" methodology, even if it wasn't perfect.

What was the strategy?

 

[Zombra]

In any case I did complete it with a "very pacifistic" methodology, even if it wasn't perfect.

What was the strategy?

Lots of stealth and running away from/past things. I wouldn't recommend playing F3 as a pure stealth game unless you are weird like me, simply because there are better stealth games, but some areas were fascinating and very memorable when played this way. I particularly recall Germantown Police HQ (where I saved the hostage) as a fantastic experience. By contrast I don't remember my combat monster playthrough at all.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Pretty much all roguelikes allow for completely pacifist victories. Being permitted to kill non sentient things makes it not even terribly difficult in many cases. Although that said, in many cases these 'pacifist' characters have a guard dog following them around murderizing everything in sight. But there are still quite a few where you can stealth or sprint past all your enemies.

Iji is a fantastic (and free) platformer than isn't just beatable with a pacifist run, the game is built around it, with a whole different playthrough available if you never start killing anyone, leading to one of the aliens befriending you and other events instead of the default 'Oh god the DEMON is tearing through our ranks.'

Uncharted Waters, the old seafaring rpg series from KOEI, lets you play as a merchant or cartographer or some other options that don't require any fighting. Although dueling and ship combat certainly do make things a lot easier.

Golden Treasure, which I've been playing recently, lets you avoid killing anything besides the animals you need to eat to survive. You can even avoid most combat period by challenging other dragons to riddle contests and such, and eventually can even avoid needing to kill for food. Which is kind of amusing, given that it's apparently the highest law of dragonkind that they must hunt other creatures. Being a pacifist in this sort of game is more meaningful as well, since you're explicitly rewarded in many ways for killing and fighting, unlike the previous two examples where it's just another means of accomplishing some objective.

 

[Garbage]

Pacifism is for pussies, NPCs are just lines of code that exist to give you all their shit through threats or violence.

 

[Zombra]

Pacifism is for pussies, NPCs are just lines of code that exist to give you all their shit through threats or violence.

Threats and violence are for weak, insecure bullies desperate for a power fantasy; the shit you get for committing crimes is just lines of code. WAY TO GO TOUGH GUY

 

[Garbage]

Pacifism is for pussies, NPCs are just lines of code that exist to give you all their shit through threats or violence.

Threats and violence are for weak, insecure bullies desperate for a power fantasy; the shit you get for committing crimes is just lines of code. WAY TO GO TOUGH GUY

Say that to my +2 broadsword that I stole from some random fuck, peasant.

 

[grimace]

No mention of Metal Gear games? You asked for games and not specifically RPGs.

Pacifism and stealth espionage games are ideal.

Portal and Portal 2 too.

 

[Zombra]

No mention of Metal Gear games? You asked for games and not specifically RPGs.
Pacifism and stealth espionage games are ideal.
Portal and Portal 2 too.

You didn't read the OP carefully enough. To qualify for this discussion, a game must have have the option of violence in it. You can't do a "pacifist run" of Portal because hurting people isn't part of the game no matter how you play it.

 

[grimace]

No mention of Metal Gear games? You asked for games and not specifically RPGs.
Pacifism and stealth espionage games are ideal.
Portal and Portal 2 too.

You didn't read the OP carefully enough. To qualify for this discussion, a game must have have the option of violence in it. You can't do a "pacifist run" of Portal because hurting people isn't part of the game no matter how you play it.

What about self inflicted pain?

 

[Viata]

Pacifism is for pussies, NPCs are just lines of code that exist to give you all their shit through threats or violence.

Sadly, most rpgs make being the good guy the better option, as you get better rewards. I hate it so much.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Pacifism is for pussies, NPCs are just lines of code that exist to give you all their shit through threats or violence.

Sadly, most rpgs make being the good guy the better option, as you get better rewards. I hate it so much.

Nah, you're just missing the real bad guy option: do the quest for better rewards, then backstab for further profit. That pretty much always pays out the most.