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Controllable helplessness

Other (objects, etc.) concept

Player can control the protagonist even in seemingly hopeless or helpless situation, regardless if the player can actually improve the situation.

113
games
32
platforms
Quake 4 (Windows)
Quake 4
WIN 2005-10-18
Robot Odyssey I: Escape from Robotropolis (Apple II E)
Robot Odyssey I: Escape from Robotropolis
IIE 1984-12
Another World (Windows)
Another World
WIN 2006-04-14
Another World (Macintosh OS Classic)
Another World
MAC 1992
Half-Life 2: Episode Two (PlayStation 3)
Half-Life 2: Episode Two
PS3 2007-10-10
The Secret of Monkey Island (Amiga OCS)
The Secret of Monkey Island
OCS 1990
Duke Nukem Forever (Windows)
Duke Nukem Forever
WIN 2011-06-10
The Darkness II (Windows)
The Darkness II
WIN 2012-02-10
Prey (Xbox 360)
Prey
X360 2006-07-10
Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood (Windows)
Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood
WIN 2009-06-30
Out of this World (Apple IIGS)
Out of this World
IIGS 1992
King's Quest I (Linux)
King's Quest I
LIN 2001-08
The protagonist is usually tied up, locked up or seriously injured (broken bones and that kind of stuff) during these sequences.

These may simply be part of certain death sequences.

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Games by year

838587899193959799010305070911131517 123690

The first Controllable helplessness video game was released in 1983.

2K Games, LucasArts and Activision published most of these games.

Related site

Exact trope at TV Tropes

Platforms

Windows 28
Linux 13
X360 12
Mac OS X 11
PS3 7
MS-DOS 5
Mac OS Classic 5
Amiga 3
Apple II E 2
C64 2
SNES 2
NES 2
PS2 2
Xbox 1
Atari 5200 1
FM Towns 1
Mega-CD 1
Atari 400/800 1
VIC-20 1
Atari ST 1
GP2X 1
3DO 1
Jaguar 1
Apple IIGS 1
Switch 1
Tandy Coco 1
PS4 1
Atari 2600 1
Pandora 1
Mega Drive 1

Most common companies

2K Games8
LucasArts8
Activision8
Interplay6
The Learning Company5
Sierra4
Deep Silver4
EA Partners4
Nicalis4
Lexicon Entertainment4
Lucasfilm Games3
CBS Electronics3
Activision Blizzard3
Valve3
Take-Two Interactive2