#well technically it's multiple characters but for blacklisting purposes

[blogquantumreality]

I GOT A HORIZON ZERO DAWN FAN ART AT ANIREVO YAAAAS. X-D

[scripturiends]

law school episode 9 musings

warning: very very long post ahead. i have a lot of thoughts.

hey folks — how we feeling about episode 9?

given that there are so many plotlines in the show, i’m afraid i won’t be able to extend my analysis of the episode as far as i would like, but there are three characters who stood out to me the most last night that i’d like to talk about for now:

kang dan

there’s a lot that we got to uncover about her thanks to professor yang’s trial. if i’m piecing it all together right, the basic summary of what led to her disappearance goes like this:

she was a volunteer for assemblyman ko’s campaign, but upon discovering that he was spreading fake news about his opposition, dan reported him to the authorities (i’m guessing not just the police but also the media) and became a whistleblower. assemblyman ko tried to buy her off with money, but she refused, so he attacked her where she’s most vulnerable instead — by using her family.

i’m not completely sure about this (please feel free to correct me!) but it’s either byeol is (1) the twins’ half-sister, or (2) their stepsister? it’s so hard to tell, especially since korean terms can get lost in translation in the process (i watch on netflix, if that helps). but anyway, sol and dan’s mom married someone who was abusing her, and in exchange for dan’s silence (and her fleeing), the husband signs a contract that he would stop hurting his wife.

so that’s the backbone of dan’s story. however, this still doesn’t answer a lot of things, like where seo byungju or lee manho fits into the equation, the whereabouts of their mom’s ex-husband, or why dan was sent into boston in the first place.

i usually don’t like theorizing, but i do have one: there is an ivy league school located just outside of boston — harvard. (it’s technically in cambridge but you know, i’m taking liberties here.) professor yang said in passing one episode that he thought he saw dan when he went to the school for a seminar or a talk or something. could it be that assemblyman ko offered her an education at a top school in exchange for her silence? it could explain why she gave it up all so easily. what if she took that topnotch education as a chance to prepare, so that when she came back, she had much stronger leverage to take assemblyman ko down, given the knowledge and network of connections she’ll have earned in that school?

the theory’s plausible but i might be overestimating assemblyman ko’s kindness — unless he’s insanely desperate, he might not give a damn about dan’s education. it actually benefits him more if she stayed uninformed, but still. let me know what you think about it.

yoo seungjae

in this episode, we learned a little bit more about how yoo seungjae was able to hack into the professors’ laptops, and they also confirmed some of our previous speculations about him: that his wife yujeong was an ob gyn, and so was he, and that they were trying for a baby. unfortunately, i find it all to be a bit lacking in substance. i was hoping we could get down to the nitty-gritty of why he did what he did.

i say this for one important reason: i don’t know about you guys, but i would never make such a stupid mistake in undergrad, let alone in law school. seungjae has gone to med school, so we know that he knows the repercussions of his actions. why would he go to such lengths? sure, he found an opening, he was tempted, and he took it. but he didn’t just do it once, he did it multiple times, and those offenses add up (hacking, stealing exam papers, and cheating). surely he must know that something like this can ruin careers even before they even start, and not only would he get kicked out of the school, he would also get blacklisted from the industry once he implicates himself. so we understand why he’s so hesitant to testify (especially now that his wife is pregnant).

but why did he do that in the first place? we could say he’s insecure about his skills, but he’s survived med school. how much harder could law school be for him? i just don’t think that the payoff is worth the risk. what must be so important for yoo seungjae to do all of this for? what does he get in return if he successfully pulls it off and gets straight As during his entire time in law school? who is he doing for?

i hope it runs deeper than just wanting a ‘good future’ for him and his wife and their baby or something — because he could just as easily do that as a doctor. there must be another reason he went into law.

still, though, and this is just a personal opinion, even if i did find out his entire backstory, there’s no way i could ever defend him. we see in the show how his guilt builds up (from observing how kang sol A studies so well, to his conversation with jeon yeseul in the hospital), but at this point there is no more excusing what he did. not that i ever condoned it in the first place.

we’re still in the dark about a lot of things regarding yoo seungjae. hopefully by the next episode, we get something. but until then, he is still a shady, shady man to me.

kang sol B

her screen time in this episode was short, but i still wanted to highlight her because she is pretty much a ticking time bomb.

she’s in a tight spot right now because even if she testifies about having seen the sugar packet, the prosecutor will just twist the argument by saying she colluded with a murderer just to cover up her plagiarism.

and now, seo jiho needs her help, probably for something related to his case with prosecutor jin. in exchange, she puts pressure on him to ‘confirm’ that she didn’t plagiarize in middle school, since they were schoolmates and rivals.

there may be more to this plagiarism issue than meets the eye. who knows, we might find out later on that she actually didn’t plagiarize? but given what i know now, i have no reason to believe that she didn’t. i don’t blame her specifically for that, seeing as she has to pay for the consequences for something that her awful mom forced her to do. but now that the mess has been made, i want to see how she cleans it up.

kang sol B is a very elusive character to me. the scary thing about her is that she’s on no one’s side but her own. and that’s why i think she’s a ticking time bomb.

~

bonus: han joonhwi

so that’s all i have for the serious stuff. as a bonus, i’d like to talk about han joonhwi and his four (4) children jeon yeseul, seo jiho, kang byeol, and min bokgi.

one of my friends brought up how it’s so funny how he’s somehow just at the right place at the right time all the time. this happened when he ran into kang sol A when she was looking for yeseul (i still think they were on the phone with each other beforehand but this is just my shipper self talking — truthfully, if the focus was shifted towards that phone call without divulging who it was, i have a feeling it might be more important later on), and when seo jiho confronted prosecutor jin. adding his elevator conversation with kang sol B, i think it just solidified what we already know: han joonhwi is a very compassionate person. but he doesn’t sacrifice his own personality just to appease them — he recognizes that these individuals have agency, and he’s just giving them the little push they need to make them realize what they need to do.

i also felt the need to bring up kang byeol. the show does such a good job of ensuring that all the solhwi scenes that we get, no matter how indulgent and “fanservice-y” they might seem, actually have a deeper purpose. again, i could go on and on about what each solhwi scene has actually contributed to the development of the plot, which is exactly why i love them so much! because all of their scenes are so meaningful. but anyway, it’s nice to see han joonhwi care so much for his, ehem, future sister-in-law.

and for min bokgi — this scene was so short, but i absolutely loved it so much (i tend to pay attention to the throwaway scenes): min bokgi is going off about how yoo seungjae is acting weird, and he says to joonhwi, “hyung, you should call him.” and joonhwi responds with, “sure. eat your food.” it’s such a fatherly thing to do and it’s such a great contrast to bokgi’s dynamic with sol A, with whom he’s so loud and vibrant, moods that both match their personalities, but with joonhwi, who is more subdued, he’s like a little kid in need of rescue from an older brother, or even a dad. ah, i love it so much. min bokgi is such an underrated character. i wish he had more screen time. (if he doesn’t get a central ep, well, you guys know where i’m going with this, right? it means i’ll give it to him myself.)

~

so that’s it for now! i’m sorry i went on rambling again, but if there’s anything noteworthy in this post that you think is worth discussing, please do tell! if there’s anything that you found thought-provoking in the episode that i didn’t get to touch up on, let me know as well!

i personally don’t make any theories about the overarching plot myself, seeing as by the time the new episode comes out, we get fed information that renders the theory useless. still, that doesn’t mean we should stop coming up with our own ideas. sometimes, the theories are more interesting than the canon itself.

[solarheiress]

Why I’m starting to not want to watch the new Miraculous episode

So this turned out way longer than i hoped despite all the stuff I skipped so to save lives and to save people who use different tags then me, there are so major ml spoilers down below so I’m gonna do this!

I’ll start this off by saying I’m not really a fan of either Luka or Kagami, like, in general. I don’t really like love triangles (especially ones that seem unecessary/ones that only really serve one character), and Miraculous was bad enough with the love square which thanks to those two has now evolved into a weird 3 dimensional shape that I don’t want to think about. (Also I get kinda annoyed when characters- male or female- are introduced with their only purpose as being the love interest, which is how it’s felt thus far) I also in general am not a fan of their actual characters. No deep analysis, putting aside any involvement in the relationships and all that and just looking at them, I don’t really like them. To be fair, we don’t know much about them so that could change. I like certain things about them, and I think I like Luka a bit more, but to explain why would take a really long post and I’m trying to make a point.

In terms of how they relate to everyone else, I really am not a fan of Kagami. I do actually have a reason, it’s a long one so I’ll try to sum it up briefly. Basically, it’s mostly because, well, I mean, she’s like Marinette. Way too much like Marinette. Luka is kinda laid back and he’s pretty kind, and looks kind of like chat actually, in terms of their hairstyle and as far as I can tell, that’s it (so far).

Honestly it’s more of a disservice to Kagami’s character than anything. She looks like Marinette, colour scheme and all, and (in my interpretation of her at least) she’s pretty straightforward, in a way ladybug tries to be without compromising her identity. Now this is where things get a little.... tense, so bear with me.

I’ve seen a lot of different interpretations of the episode and they seem to fall into distinct categories. Aka, “Kagami is a bitch” or “Kagami is right about everything stfu” and this is where I don’t want watch. I really don’t want to know. I don’t want to interpret. Don’t get me wrong I know everything that happened thanks to tumblr users inability to tag, but it’s all very biased descriptions of the same events. Truthfully, I think everyone focused on the wrong character, but I can address that later, let’s talk about Kagami.

Keep in mind this is based on the multiple interpretations I’ve seen, not on the actual episode (usually not the way I do things but I got annoyed so here we are).

Basically, Kagami delivered two very good pieces of advice. Very bluntly. And I don’t think that was a good idea. I don’t think they should have both come from her (especially considering one of those lines was to Marinette, but that’s who kagami is). It’s totally in line with her character, and her direct attitude. So to all people claiming she was acting ooc, that term applies only to fan fiction, where an author has misinterpreted another authors work. This does not apply to content produced by the original creator. She is acting just as she should be, the issue is that you’ve built a persona off very limited character information and this episode does not line up with your head canon.

So, this episode definitely presents the idea that Kagami is direct, even in situations when it is inappropriate for her to do so (such as addressing someone she doesn’t know very well). She is also very assured in her own deductive abilities and her own assumptions. It’s good and bad, she’s confident, but your strengths can also be your weaknesses at times. This is what we call character development.

The main issue I have with this whole scenario is that every interpretation I’ve seen mentioned something similar. Something that is neither surprising or disappointing. Someone else acted completely in character in this episode, and that would be Adrien. The fan’s favourite son. Honestly, the entire conflict with Kagami, and whether or not people like her should really be directed at that boy. I don’t give a damn about whether or not Kagami is good, or bad, what bothers me is that Kagami has a lot of traits similar to Marinette. If we compare Adrien to Luka, they’re both nice and friendly. Marinette is drawn to both of them, by that similar kindness. On the other hand, Kagami looks like Marinette, and thus, looks like Ladybug. She acts similarly to ladybug in someways, and similar to Marinette in others. My main concern is the playing out of a trope I’ve seen too many times. A main character (usually male) falls head over heels to someone who is startlingly familiar to the endgame love interest(ELI). But in reality, the whole time, they’re projecting their feelings for the ELI onto this convenient eerily similar side character, and leaves them broken hearted for the ELI. The side character is left under developed, under appreciated, and despised by the fans for “nearly breaking up a perfect couple” and Yada yada.

So, basically, is Adrien projecting his feelings for Ladybug onto Kagami or does he actually like her. Is he unintentionally using her as someone to bear an emotional burden with him? Even when he was technically there with her in the first place, was she really his focus? He switched from being rejected by ladybug to giving Kagami a flower so quickly, is he trying to get back at ladybug? Is he even aware of what he’s doing? Is any of this healthy?

No one is asking any of these questions. Everyone’s just yelling about Kagami.

I know if I watch the episode myself, I’ll land in one of four categories. Either, A, Omg Kagami was a bitch, B, lord Kagami was amazing and right, or C, yikes I was right yikes yikes yikes or D WTF this episode is so much more than the drama surrounding Kagami what is wrong with everyone

And honestly, I don’t want my brain to be there, so much so that on top of not watching I’m literally considering blacklisting Kagami tags for a few days so I won’t see any more arguing or complaining. (Also, just Kagami, not anyone else, because no ones talking about literally anything else).

(Also side note, I’ve gotten close to, like, ZERO info on Luka aside from a few parts where you couldn’t miss him, like when he was trying to help Marinette up. Idk if he’s actually mostly in the background or just being majorly under appreciated, but it took me FOREVER to figure out how he even ended up with them all in the first place, which is a yikes)

[sea-bea]

I said I was gonna probably talk abt Deltarune, I’m talking abt Deltarune

ALSO. THERE WILL BE SPOILERS FOR THE END OF THE GAME. LOTS AND LOTS OF SPOILERS

theres a whole lot to unpack from the ending, and I have a few headcannons in mind. I’m also going to focus on Kris, Frisk, Chara, Asriel, and Ralsei and the connections between them. It’s a lot of word barf too, so be warned.

(also I haven’t seen any theories from the deltarune fandom, this is all what I got from deltarune. I’ve kept it blacklisted bc I’m not going to have it tainted like undertale was.)

as we know, this universe is one where monsters never went underground. and as we know, everyone (keep this in mind) from the previous game is alive but living very similar, but different lives. And then there’s us. Kris. A new character presumably not from the last game Here’s what I think so far:

Chara was most definitely the voice talking to us in the beginning. They have the same kind of speech patterns and the same kind of thinking. “Its kill or be killed” “You can’t choose who you are in this world.” Both Chara and the voice have a very pessimistic view of the world, mostly about how people are naturally very cruel and will hurt you any chance they get. (and honestly, considering Kris’ life in the upper world, it would make sense that they too would have the same thought process).

As for the end, what happened in the end scene has happened before, multiple times before. It wasn’t because Kris went to the dark world. The birdcage they (or Chara) throws their soul in the cage is significantly damaged and the cage shakes with the force of it. It would explain why Kris always wakes up late for school, because they go out and do, whatever it is they do at night, and their body gets very tired. The ending scene also suggests that Kris isn’t pulling their soul out willingly, or even getting out of bed willingly. And since that’s supposed to be Kris’ soul, that means their soul isn’t in their body anymore, which suggests something else. 

also, I think the “incident”, whatever it was, that tore the family apart and outcasted Asgore has something do with Kris’ specifically. The first time there was an incident in the family it was when the Chara and Asriel fusion died, and the second time Asgore killed a bunch of kids. It doesn’t seem like Asgore killed some kids because he’s not in jail or anything, but it was definitely something that upset both Tori and Asgore significantly, so it might have had to do with the kids. That was also the turning point for both Asriel and Chara to become flowey and murder child so this universe’s kids must have changed significantly too.

Remember how I said everyone is living similar yet very different lives? In the last game, we played two characters: Frisk in pacifist and Chara in fight, but Kris is new, presumably one of them. Initially it seems like Kris is in Frisk’s place If Asriel is cannonly around the same age as Chara and is in college, I’d pit him around his early 20’s, maybe still 18. Considering the school looks like it was made for younger students and there are already stereotypes in the school (Susie, obviously) I’d pit Kris somewhere in middleschool, in sixth grade at the very least and eighth or ninth grade at the very most. Probably 12, or 13? 15 at most (which was around the age Frisk probably was when they fell). So they’d be more than four years apart, and that's a conservative estimate.

At the same time though, both Chara and Kris (other than share the same sweater) also share a personality as the weird kid that doesn’t talk that much. They naturally do very weird things that frighten other people, but they seem like pranks at worst. And they’re also naturally very aloof and don’t talk a lot and likes to keep to themselves (but will make an exception for Asriel). What Kris does with Asriel is also similar to what Chara did with him (Asriel’s final form was referenced by one of the characters, where they say that Chara and Asriel were too busy focusing on the wings). Then again, Frisk doesn't talk a lot either.

But then it came down to the name. I was originally confused why Kris had such a normal name, but if Ralsei is just a rewording of the name “Asriel” and is supposed to represent a version of Asriel, then “Kris” may be “Frisk” without the “F” (it also may be a stretch but I think there is no F because you probably shouldn't fight. Either that, or putting an F in that name is kinda hard to do). Thats what I initially thought that was. But If you pronounce Chara the same way you pronounce the first part of the word “Character”, then the name sounds like “Kara.” Add the K of Kara and the ris from “Frisk” and you get “Kris”. Not only that, but the regular spelling of Kris is Chris, “Ch” from Chara, “ris" from Frisk, and the “Ch” is disguised as a K from Frisk (also to make it more gender neutral, I think)

So maybe Kris isn’t just Chara or isn’t just Frisk, they’re both, a mixture of the two angels that fell down to free the monsters from the underground. But then why is the Chara part of them so prevalent here? 

I think that’s because Chara’s possessing Kris. Since characters like Chara can break the fourth wall and don’t follow the laws of reality, as well as know of alternate universes and endings, Chara could have crossed from the Undertale Universe into the Deltarune Universe, and then influenced their “Chara” side more.

Here’s what I think happened: An incident occurred where Kris and Asriel were put in danger that almost killed them. They lived, obviously, but Kris became very vulnerable. Because Kris was very vulnerable at the time and is also the version of Chara here, it was easy for Chara to possess them.

It may be very easy for Kris to be possessed frequently. When we first meet sans and he greets you, you have the opportunity to say “good to see you again” or something like that, to which sans replies that he’s never met you before. Either Kris was joking around or that was actually Chara saying hi to him. Plus the phase “It’s only you.” when you look in the mirror is a bit....ominous, and can imply there can be another person there sometimes.

Kris isn’t possessed all the time though, they still wake up late, and it’s implied they still have control of themselves sometimes —when you visit Rudy, there’s a card on the table that “you” have never seen before, even though you wrote it.  And Chara has to store the soul in the birdcage frequently, implying that Kris can fight them, to some degree.

So if Chara has been here the whole time, and has been possessing Kris frequently, what exactly are they doing? Honestly, I really don’t know. As Undyne says, the town is really boring. Of course, considering the shit that went down at the end of the game, that's probably going to change. Still though, I have no idea what they were doing before the whole “dark world” business.

I’m not going to go into much detail into Ralsei but I do want to point out one thing that stood out to me. He seems like a pretty cut n dry character, and his purpose as Asriel’s reverse is pretty obvious. He is the dark opposite of Asriel, he’s the dark prince living in the castle, while everyone in his universe is alive except for him, all of his subjects are gone and he’s the only one left. His name is literally a respelling of the world Asriel, plus he’s a goat. A goat. 

But if there’s one thing that concerned me the most was how insistent he was on making sure you “acted” instead of “fought”. what stood out to me the most was when he was talking about the consequences of fighting, he said something alone the lines of “You may not like the outcome/ending you get.” Which makes me wonder what exactly happened to him and his entire kingdom. And since he’s technically a version of Asriel (who is still Flowey in the undertale universe), maybe he knows about the old resets from the Undertale universe. 

The other theory is he went through his own fight route which honestly sounds pretty intense. Really intense. Considering that flowey too did many routes, especially fight routes, the idea that Ralsei here could have done a kill route too can be very possible. also, the way Ralsei tells Kris to act sounds less like “dont do this because I saw someone else do it”, and more like “don’t do this because I did it and now I live with the consequences”. 

finally, to tobias fox

im not forgiving you for what you’ve done to mettaton

that is all

[diversegaminglists]

Torture Warnings

Discussion of many torture methods, mentions of rape, gang-rape, sexual assault and various other nasty things. I used as broad a definition of what constitutes torture as possible.

As with all lists suggestions and corrections encouraged.

Explicit on screen Torture:

The Age of Decadence - Uses crucifixion as a method of execution.

American McGee’s Alice - Multiple instances of on screen torture.

Assassin’s Creed Franchise - Interrogation usually involves punching people until they talk.

Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood - Caterina Sforza is captured and beaten by the Borgia so badly that she cannot walk and must be carried to her rescue.

Batman Arkham Series - Dangling interrogation.

Battlefield 4 - Protagonist and partner are electroshocked.

Bayonetta - A key game mechanic, not avoidable.

Beyond Good and Evil - Double HH is rescued from an alien electrical torture machine.

Bioshock Infinite - Multiple scenes involving Elizabeth being tortured.

Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea - The protagonist is subjected to an attempted lobotomy as an interrogation technique.

Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth - The protagonist is electroshock tortured by the FBI and an early level involves killing a person kept alive by electro torture.

Call of Duty: Black Ops - Electroshock torture, torturing people with glass shards, and Russian Roulette.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 - Torture of a captive and the protagonist has his legs shot off and the wounds stepped on.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare - A character is beaten and executed.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 - A warlord is threatened with a toxin grenade and offered a gas mask if he talks.

Clock Tower 3 - In a cutscene a man and his elderly mother are pushed into an acid vat by one of the murderers you fight.

Cold War: On Your Own Behind the Iron Curtain - Protagonist can interrogate people by dangling them over a fatal drop, Batman style.

Curse of Monkey Island - The protagonist gets tarred and feathered (at least once) but as the tar in question isn’t actually hot this is more of embarrassment for comedy that torture, mentioned for completeness’ sale because I’m a pedant.

The Darkness - The protagonist is tortured and forced to watch someone die.

The Darkness 2 - Torture and crucifixion.

Dead Space 2 - Isaac must perform eye surgery on himself, not technically torture but probably still qualifies.

Dragon Age 2 - Hawke can have a miner tortured to death and killed.

Deadly Premonition - Multiple murder victims tortured to death.

Dishonoured - You can use torture against a man in a brothel (who is obviously expecting an S&M session) to extract information.

Dishonoured 2 - A lobotomy is used as a non-lethal alternative to assassination.

Dragon Age: Origins - Multiple scenes, most notable in Arl Howe’s dungeon and the Broodmother backstory section of the Deep Roads.

Dungeon Keeper Franchise - Torture is a game mechanic.

Fallout: New Vegas - Interrogation of a Legion prisoner by the protagonist, you can use speech skills rather than physically hurting him though.

Far Cry 3 - Multiple instances of torture.

Far Cry 4 - The villain tortures a character to death with electro shocks.

Final Fantasy VIII - Squall is electroshocked.

Final Fantasy XIII - Multiple instances of magical torture.

Freedom Planet - The bad-guy electroshocks one of the the protagonists to make another character talk.

Game of Thrones (Telltale) - Ramsey Bolton tortures and kills a character on screen.

God of War Franchise - Multiple torture QTEs performed on enemies as well as non-combatants.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - The protagonist ties someone to the hood of his car and goes driving.

Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballard of Gay Tony - Batman style dangling interrogation.

Grand Theft Auto V - The protagonist Trevor tortures someone with the player’s choice of method.

Homefront: The Revolution - The protagonist and two partners are tortured, only the protagonist survives.

Kane and Lynch 2 - Opens with the protagonists being tortured. A female character is disembowelled and implied to have been raped.

killer7 - Russian Roulette

Kingdom Hearts 2 - Goofy is electroshock tortured during one of the Tron levels.

The Last of Us - Joel tortures two men to find Ellie.

Lego Pirates of the Caribbean - Shows characters in stocks/pillories (to replace the scenes of hanged corpses from the original movies).

Heavy Rain - Multiple scenes of sexualised violence, police brutality, and torture. Some is avoidable with the use of a walkthrough.

Mass Effect Franchise - Many Renegade interrupts count as torture.

Mass Effect 2 - Shephard encounters someone being tortured in the Prison ship and can intervene. During Thane’s loyalty mission you can torture someone for information.

Mass Effect 2: Lair of the Shadow Broker - The premise of the DLC is to rescue a character from constant torture.

Max Payne 3 - A man is killed by necklacing (having a tyre put on his neck and set alight).

Metal Gear Solid 1 and 2 - The protagonists are captured and tortured once per game, not skippable. Failing the torture scene (by submitting instead of resisting) in MGS 1 will kill off the character Meryl, resulting in a different ending.

Metal Gear Solis 3: Snake Eater - Multiple instances of torture towards NPCs and once towards the protagonist, but the torture scenes in this game are always skippable cutscenes.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots - The B&B Corps are all victims of horrible torture.

Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops: Peace Walker - Big Boss is tortured.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain - The protagonist tortures Huey Emmerich and builds his army via kidnapping and indoctrination.

Metro: Last Light - The protagonist is interrogated, threatened, and dosed with truth serum.

Mortal Kombat - Some of the infamous fatality moves can be considered torture.

Outlast - Some of the protagonist’s fingers are cut off. Unskippable.

Outlast: Whistleblower - The protagonist watches another character be tortured and castrated before being murdered. After which they are also tied up and almost castrated themselves by a spinning blade before being rescued.

PAYDAY: The Heist - A character must be interrogated by various methods to give up access codes.

Phantasmagoria - A character is force fed until she dies.

Psychonauts - On screen lobotomies, though they are cartoonish and involves sneezing out the brain, still pretty nightmarish.

The Punisher - A gameplay mechanic enables the character to torture any of the bad guys for information.

Ratchet and Clank Franchise - Multiple instances of electroshock torture.

Red Dead Redemption - The lasso can be used to drag people on the ground from a horse.

Red Steel 2 - The game opens with the main character being dragged from a motorbike.

Return to Castle Wolfenstein - A character is tortured to death.

Saints Row 2 - After one of their lieutenants is dragged to death the protagonist tortures a character as part of revenge. Johnny Gat buries someone alive as part of his own revenge.

Sam & Max: Freelance Police - Police brutality by Flint Paper.

Shadow Hearts - Alice is threatened by electroshock torture, can be avoided by the right dialogue options.

Shadow Hearts: Covenant - Electroshock torture.

Sid Mier’s Alpha Centauri - When you seize the final base of your last enemy you see their leader being electroshocked, also happens to your own character if you lose the game.

Silent Hill 4: The Room - Multiple deaths by torture.

Silent Hill: Homecoming - Multiple torture sequences/QTE.

The Sims Medieval - Stocks/a pillory are used as a punishment. The Interrogation chair also counts.

Sleeping Dogs - The protagonist is tortured after one of his friends is tortured to death.

The Sopranos - Torture is a game mechanic but has penalties.

Spec Ops: The Line - Multiple instances of torture.

Spiderman - Dangling interrogation.

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory - Multiple instances of torture.

Splinter Cell: Conviction - Protagonist interrogates people.

Splinter Cell: Blacklist - A character has their fingers and eventually their entire hand cut off during torture.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - The protagonist and two party members are captured and tortured. The protagonist can try to protect themselves or their love interest by giving up information but they will be tortured afterwards regardless. One character is left behind when the others escape and they are tortured until they break and fall to the dark side. Not skippable.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Many imperial faction and Sith class quests feature torture in some way.

Stronghold Franchise - Criminals are punished with torture by the player.

Tales of Destiny - The party are forced to comply by electroshock collars during a portion of the game.

Thief: The Dark Project & Thief Gold - The protagonist has his eye ripped out in a cutscene.

TimeSplitters: Future Perfect - The player can kill restrained mutants with a robotic torture device. Avoidable.

Welcome to the Game - The purpose of the game is to find a video of someone being tortured to death on the “deep web”.

Wet - The protagonist is electroshocked.

The White Chamber - The protagonist is electroshocked.

Wolfenstein: Old Blood - The protagonist is captured and tortured with electric shocks and railroad spikes.

Wolfenstein: The New Order - A Nazi Officer is threatened with and then killed with a chainsaw.

World of Warcraft - Death Knight quests involve torturing people to death.

Xenosaga Episode 1: Der Wille zur Macht - An android who looks like a 12 year-old girl is “mind raped” in front of the rest of the party.

Xenosaga Episode 3: Also Sprach Zarathustra - Shion is tortured.

Not explicitly on screen/Text or sound only/Implied Torture:

Ace Attorney Franchise - Franziska whips a lot of people as a punishment, played for comedy as she is a teenage girl.

American McGee’s Alice - Many children NPCs who have clearly been lobotomised or otherwise experimented on.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent - Audio logs of torture.

Baldur’s Gate 2: Shadows of Amn - The game opens with the protagonist and their party being captured and tortured, which not everyone survives. There are also several torture chambers in dungeons and hidden in a serial killer’s home. Played for comedy in the Thieves’ Guild.

Bioshock 1 - Torture audio log.

Bioshock Infinite - If Slate survives he will be later found lobotomised and can be mercy killed.

Blackguards - The protagonist is tortured near the beginning of the game while nothing explicit is shown on screen, you can hear the voice actor crying out in pain.

Borderlands 2 - Multiple audio logs of torture and happens to Mordecai’s pet Bloodwing off screen.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - Off screen torture, you only see the aftermath.

Clive Barker’s Undying - A torture chamber hidden next to someone’s bedroom.

The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena - Implied torture used as punishment called “going to visit the Dentist”.

The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion - Features a secret torture chamber where a character tortures Argonians to death.

The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim - Many torture chambers in dungeons and prisons.

Higurashi: When They Cry - Fingernail ripping punishment.

Homeworld - An enemy is captured after a genocide and does not survive interrogation.

Liberal Crime Squad - A game mechanic in this freeware text game.

Life is Strange - Implied fate of a murder victim.

Mass Effect 1 - A colonist Shepard may encounter Talitha who has been tortured as well as enslaved since she was a child.

Metal Gear Solid Ground Zeroes - Audio Tapes of torture scenes including gang rape.

Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge - one puzzle involves you and a companion being dangled over acid, take too long to escape and the game fades to black before giving you another chance.

NeverWinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer - A hidden torture chamber in the Red Wizard Academy.

Psychonauts -  The existence of the old geodesic psycho-isolation chambers imping solitary confinement for “troubled” psychic kids.

Red Faction: Guerrilla - A character is tortured for information and revenge while the protagonist drives, so can be heard as audio only.

Resident Evil 2 - A hidden torture chamber used by the Police Chief.

Sid Mier’s Alpha Centauri - Constructions like the Punishment Sphere and actions like Nerve Stapling in the game.

Spycraft: the Great Game - Torture can be used on a female spy in this text adventure.

Thief Gold - A torture chamber can be found with written logs about it use.

Thief 2: The Metal Age - A homeless person is reduced to rust by the villain’s invention during a meeting you overhear through a door. A torture chamber can also be found hidden in a mansion.

Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines: A serial killer tortures people to death, but you only deal with aftermath, rescuing one of his victims after killing him. The blood bank also gets its blood from kidnapped victims.

The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt - Triss is tortured by having her fingernails ripped out in the room next to Geralt, you don’t see it happening but you hear her screaming and see her bloody hands afterwards.

X-COM UFO Defence and XCOM: Enemy Unknown - Torture of the alien enemies takes place off screen.

Yandere Simulator - The protagonist can torture people in her basement but nothing is actually show in detail.

Torture as Backstory:

American McGee’s Alice - In the manual Alice attacks two orderlies after they force feed her.

Bioshock Franchise - The Big Daddies and Little Sisters backstory.

Dragon Age 2 - Fenris’ backstory.

Dragon Age: Inquisition - Dorian’s father attempts what amounts to “gay conversion therapy” via blood magic.

F.E.A.R Franchise - Alma’s backstory.

Mass Effect 2 - Subject Zero/Jack’s back story.

Overwatch - Widowmaker’s backstory involves torture as part of her indoctrination, but does not appear in game.

Skullgirls - Painwheel and Peacock’s backstories involve torture.

Star Wars: Knights of Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords - Atton Rand’s backstory.

Yandere Simulator - The protagonist was conceived via Stockholm Syndrome after her mother kidnapped her father.

Unsorted - Needs More Research:

The Cat Lady

Crusader Kings Franchise

Dangan Ronpa

Emperor: Battle for Dune

Fate/Stay Night

Grand Theft Auto III

Hatoful Boyfriend

Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors

Shenmue Franchise

Tyranny

Virtue’s Last Reward