Wildest Examples Of Plot Armor In Video Games

For many video game characters, the threat of death lends some tension to the events of a story. While it is often assumed that the main character must survive to the end of the game, this is not always the case, and the character’s vulnerability drives the events forward. What a character does to escape an untimely demise might help their characterization, or if they fail, open up questions for the other characters and storylines in the game.

Sometimes, however, these stakes are thrown out the window to drive the plot forward, regardless of how the circumstances fit within the established world. Whether it’s a soldier surviving a fall from orbit or a hero being brought back to life to finish a boss fight, these moments often trade sense for spectacle. Here are the wildest examples where coherence took a backseat to the needs of the narrative.

There are HEAVY SPOILERS for the following games: Mass Effect 3, Heavy Rain, The Last of Us Part 2, Halo (franchise), Xenoblade Chronicles, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, and the Yakuza franchise, as well as MINOR SPOILERS for Tomb Raider (2013) and the God of War Franchise. Skip any sections that you don't want spoiled.

Scott Shelby—Heavy Rain

Can’t Die Before the Big Reveal

In Heavy Rain, players take part in the investigation to find the Origami Killer and save the main character Ethan’s son, Shaun. Throughout the game, players will control four protagonists: Ethan Mars, Norman Jayden, Madison Paige, and Scott Shelby. While both Jayden and Madison can die before the game’s finale, neither Ethan nor Scott can perish in the lead-up to the final chapter (despite its status as a pioneering game for player choice), which leads to some very awkward encounters.

The game utilizes quick-time events to add a timed element to the action, aiming to keep tension high in every scene. While this does work in many cases, such as characters not discovering the killer or not getting to Shaun in time, it flops spectacularly when playing as Scott, since none of the QTEs, failed or succeeded, matter to any events in the game. As Scott is actually the Origami Killer himself, he must be present at the end of the game to ensure a confrontation with the other cast members.

Scott gets beaten up, slashed with a broken bottle, shot with dozens of rounds, and trapped inside a sinking car in a lake—none of it matters. The game cannot continue without his survival, and so survive he must.

Master Chief—Halo Franchise

Luck Stat Set to Maximum

Master Chief has survived some pretty extreme circumstances and performed miraculous feats throughout his adventures in the Halo series. Some of his success can certainly be attributed to his skills and powerful armor—he is a super soldier, after all—but other events leave us scratching our heads.

Some classic examples of his survivability include surviving a fall from space with only a heat shield, reviving and recovering quickly after being frozen in space, surviving a nuclear explosion, and a multitude of other seemingly “lucky” happenstances going his way. This “luck” is often mentioned in Halo material as something the Master Chief is known for, but the application is questionable.

Master Chief alone can penetrate Sangheili Personal Energy Shields in only 3 AR rounds, survive and escape the consequences of risky, near-impossible ship maneuvers, and can even prevent significant damage to allied spaceships and vehicles—all just by being the MC! The series’ constant and consistent handwaving of these events as the Master Chief’s inherent “luck” falls flat, but he keeps on moving, regardless.

Ellie—The Last of Us Part 2

Revenge is a Powerful Motivator and, Conveniently, Also a Shield

While The Last of Us established a world where anyone can be snuffed out in an instant—a lesson Joel learned the hard way—Ellie frequently survives encounters that would seem insurmountable for an ostensibly normal human person, especially in The Last of Us Part 2. From point-blank explosions and massive falls to escaping the clutches of the WLF and Seraphites while outnumbered twenty-to-one, Ellie is able to find a way through the day toward her final confrontation in the finale.

Whether it is through intervention at the last moment by a nearby friend or just plain stupidity on the part of her foes, Ellie gets out of her situations with ease. For example, when Ellie is captured and tied up, Abby’s gang also gets their hands on Dina, Ellie’s partner. While the WLF soldier does have a gun, he opts to walk over slowly to the grounded Dina to try to strangle her, leaving Ellie free to escape and kill him.

These absurd moments feel a bit sloppy in the broader context of what the game is doing with its storytelling. In a world that is meant to feel dangerous, and with a story meant to impart messages relating to grief and survival, Ellie’s invincibility undermines what the rest of the game is trying to build.

Kiryu—Yakuza Series

None Can Slay the Dragon

The legendary Dragon of Dojima, Kazuma Kiryu, possesses a level of plot armor that transcends that of a mere yakuza, becoming an almost mythical figure within the world. Throughout the Yakuza series, he survives multiple stabbings, point-blank gunshots, and even being caught in massive explosions, often walking them off after a quick fade-to-black or a visit to a local doctor. His toughness is so extreme that he fought off an entire cadre of armed Tojo Clan members single-handedly, coming out the other side with barely a scratch.

Kiryu has survived being shot multiple times in the chest at the end of games, as well, with the most notable being in Yakuza 2 and Yakuza 6, only to reappear in the sequels fully recovered and ready to tussle. Even when there are attempts to retire him through terminal illness or final sacrifices, Kiryu manages to find his way back into the story or the party.

William 'BJ' Blazkowicz—Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus

The Miracles of Medicine Know No Bounds

William Joseph "BJ" Blazkowicz, known to the Nazis as "Terror-Billy," is the primary protagonist of the Wolfenstein franchise and a seemingly unkillable force of nature. This is best demonstrated the moment Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus begins, as he survives the point-blank grenade blast and a nuclear explosion from the end of the previous game. Despite being physically compromised due to injury and surgery, BJ still possesses the strength and stamina to slaughter dozens of soldiers when they arrive to kidnap him and his wife.

The most absurd example of his unkillable status occurs during his public execution, where he is actually decapitated by Frau Engel. This is no problem for the likes of BJ, as his head is caught and kept fresh by his allies, then successfully grafted onto a bio-engineered Nazi super-soldier body. Thankfully, this new body is more than capable of punching Nazis, and BJ continues his crusade against the fascist foes.

Nathan Drake—Uncharted 3

Who Needs Water

In the Uncharted series, Nathan Drake is both a professional treasure hunter and, quite possibly, the luckiest regular guy alive. This luck is so pervasive that the developers have even suggested his health bar is actually a luck meter that represents how many near-misses he can take before a bullet finally finds its mark. He regularly survives falls, collapsing buildings, and being tossed around like a ragdoll in brawls against men twice his size, emerging with little more than a few scratches and a witty one-liner.

In Uncharted 3, his luck is further tested during the cargo plane sequence, where he is sucked out of an aircraft at thousands of feet, dangles from a cargo net in mid-air, and survives the ride down as the plane crashes in the distance. After the landing, he wanders the Rub' al Khali desert for days without food or water, yet somehow retains the stamina to engage in shootouts and a horseback raid immediately following his ordeal.

Lara Croft—Tomb Raider (2013)

Seemingly Impervious to Impact

2013’s Tomb Raider reboot sees a young and inexperienced Lara Croft being transformed into an unkillable, murderous maniac through a series of physical traumas and events that would be lethal to any ordinary human. Her grit is established within the first few minutes of the game when, after surviving a violent shipwreck, she is captured, suspended upside down, and falls several feet, only to be impaled through the abdomen by a rusted rebar spike.

Lara simply moves on and proceeds as normal, climbing, running, and jumping her way through this initial cavern before cauterizing the wound. Her feats only get more impressive from there. Throughout the three games in the reboot series, she survives multiple plane and helicopter crashes, falls from high cliffs, and even gets away from encounters with jaguars.

Kai Leng—Mass Effect 3

A Rival Who Can’t Be Beaten

Kai Leng is a former N7 marine turned cybernetic assassin for Cerberus, serving as the Illusive Man’s cold-blooded right hand throughout Mass Effect 3. Set up as a foil to Commander Shepard, he is perhaps best known for possessing some of the thickest plot armor in the trilogy, often surviving encounters through narrative intervention rather than combat prowess or ingenuity.

During the Citadel coup, he manages to defeat a terminally ill Thane Krios primarily because your squad stands idly. When Leng runs off to escape, your team conveniently forgets how to aim, allowing Leng to hitch a ride on a skycar.

The most egregious example occurs on Thessia, where Leng’s invincibility is hard-coded into the mission. Even if you completely drain his shield bar in seconds using a tech burst, the game forces a cutscene where he wins by calling in gunship support to collapse the temple floor. He walks away with the Prothean VI, unscathed by the party’s floundering attempts to stop him.

Kratos—God of War Series

The Underworld is a Nice Vacation Spot

For the God of War series, nobody has a harder time dying than its main character, Kratos. Throughout the original Greek trilogy, he was killed and cast into the Underworld multiple times, only to stubbornly fight his way back to the land of the living every single time. Whether he’s being impaled by the massive Blade of Olympus or falling from the literal peaks of the heavens, Kratos will not rest until his vengeance is complete.

In the Norse saga, this continues most notably in his fight with Thor in God of War Ragnarök. During this early game duel, Thor actually kills Kratos, only to immediately resuscitate him with a lightning strike from Mjolnir. Much of what Kratos is able to achieve is excusable due to his godly resilience, but if he can just come back from the dead whenever he feels like it, there really aren’t any stakes to the action.

Fiora—Xenoblade Chronicles

Just a Flesh Wound

Fiora is the childhood friend of Shulk from Colony 9, whose role in Xenoblade Chronicles is largely relegated to love interest and plot device. Early in the story, she is seemingly killed during a Mechon invasion, her body brutally mangled and taken by the enemy. This incident serves as the primary catalyst for the game’s story by spurring Shulk on to a quest for revenge.

However, it is later revealed that her soul was preserved and integrated into a mechanical body, and she has been forced to pilot Face Nemesis. Despite sustaining injuries that were explicitly depicted as fatal, she becomes a recurring character until finally rejoining the party as a cyborg.

Once she returns, Fiora’s body is stated as weakening, with her systems being compromised and unstable. However, she manages to participate in god-tier battles against cosmic entities despite her failing frame. In the end, Fiora regains her Homs body without any consequence and returns to Shulk’s side. Thankfully, Xenoblade Chronicles remains one of the best open-world RPGs on the Nintendo Switch despite all of this.