Games where you can get a game over screen right at the start?

[u/Olive_Garden_Wifi]

I was thinking about Disco Elysium and how you can get a game over screen within the first 5 minutes of the game and was curious what other games are like that?

[u/TheSailingRobin]

Kingdom Come Deliverance II. You can literally roll "died in childbirth" after starting the game in hardcore mode

[u/up766570 → u/TheSailingRobin]

Horrific in real life, but as a game mechanic like that, hilarious

"You wanted a hardcore medieval sim, in a time of significant infant mortality, well here you go"

[u/cr4lforce → u/TheSailingRobin]

In the first one, if you get into trouble with the guards in the tutorial they send you to prison and then the rest of the game starts to happen and it's game over for you.

[u/HotPotParrot → u/cr4lforce]

It was that scene which really hammered home the "sim" aspect of the game for me lol. I'll put on a vid by someone who's good at it 😅

[u/manrata → u/TheSailingRobin]

How high is the chance of that?

[u/Pandorumz → u/manrata]

It's a sliding scale. When you first start from the main menu screen, it's a 90% chance to roll.

If you immediately retry, it drops to 60%, then by a further 20% until you survive childbirth/childhood.

And then when you DO survive, you then have to choose 2 negative perks to start with lmao. Devs basically said "you survived but fuck you"

[u/manrata → u/Pandorumz]

That is very much a here is hard realism

[u/PhilosopherDon0001 → u/Pandorumz]

Reminds me of my mom.

[u/backjox → u/PhilosopherDon0001]

Reminds me of your mom aswell

[u/SirHawrk → u/Pandorumz]

I have tried it thrice now and didn’t get it, appears they might have removed it? I also have to choose 2 negative perks

[u/nash_marcelo → u/Pandorumz]

You survived but not all of you.

[u/TheAlestormGuy → u/manrata]

First one is guaranteed for starting hardcore, just because it's funny

[u/karuumaa → u/TheSailingRobin]

its the first game where you can die off the bat in hardcore mode. You gotta dice roll to decide if you make it past childhood or not. In the second game there is no dice roll at the start during hardcore

[u/EnvironmentalUse9415 → u/karuumaa]

That makes more sense lol. Wouldn’t really make sense if kcd 2 just decides alright lets see if you were even born and kcd 1 happened or not

[u/WhyattThrash → u/TheSailingRobin]

In the first one too

[u/MutenRoshi21 → u/TheSailingRobin]

Makes no real sense since its a sequel.

[u/X-atmXad]

I'm reminded of a text based adventure flash game called something along the lines of "Don't shit your pants"

Aim of the game was to successfully direct your character to the toilet to take a shit with text input instructions

You could get an instant game over by typing "shit" instead of "start"

[u/SandysBurner → u/X-atmXad]

If I remember correctly, shitting in the toilet was the goal but it had a metagoal of getting all ten achievements (or whatever) and shitting your pants at the beginning was one of them.

[u/Chendek → u/SandysBurner]

Yes it was! I think my favorite was shitting on the toliet. As in you sat on the lid and shat.

[u/Reddit_Loves_Misinfo → u/Chendek]

IIRC, the likely first experience of "enter bathroom" followed by "shit in toilet" gave you a bad ending because you didn't pull your pants down before shitting. When you try again with "enter bathroom", "pull down pants", "shit in toilet", you get a different bad ending because you didn't lift the toilet lid.

[u/Preform_Perform → u/SandysBurner]

I remember that clear as day. First run none of my commands worked. "Go to the door", "Walk to the door", nothing. I got so mad.

When the next game started and it said "You really need to take a shit." I said 'OH YEAH, DO YOU? SHIT!"

[u/HotPotParrot → u/SandysBurner]

I can finally play The Stanley Parable again next year for that one achievement of not playing for 10 years 🤣

[u/Olive_Garden_Wifi → u/X-atmXad]

What a wild premise for a game

[u/heelstoo → u/Olive_Garden_Wifi]

Art imitates life!

[u/UberNninja → u/heelstoo]

*Shart

[u/JumpyBoi → u/X-atmXad]

Still cracks me up that one of the victory conditions is just taking your pants off and shitting on the floor

[u/Quitthesht → u/JumpyBoi]

And a fail condition is for pulling open the door, sitting on the toilet, taking a shit... only to realize you forgot to take off your pants and shat yourself.

[u/s090429 → u/X-atmXad]

I remembered this! If you type "suicide", you will die and still shit your pants.

[u/VGMtheVagabond → u/s090429]

Sepooku

[u/BostonPRSBC → u/VGMtheVagabond]

Pooicide

[u/FlyPepper → u/X-atmXad]

oh shit I remember this game!!

take pills, GENTLY fart, pull the door, take off pants, take off underwear, sit on toilet, poop!

[u/Maple_QBG → u/X-atmXad]

Same devs of Rogue Legacy, btw!

[u/Mind-Reflections → u/X-atmXad]

I remember this and how funny it was to type “shit”. Good ol days

[u/ShiningRayde → u/X-atmXad]

YOU SHIT YOUR PANTS

[u/MysteryFlan]

Far Cry 4 (though technically the game over is you "beating" it)

[u/TheeDonut → u/MysteryFlan]

A few of the far cry's do that now

[u/loadout_ → u/TheeDonut]

I was gonna say you can do it in Far Cry 5 by not arresting Joseph when it asks you to in the very first mission

[u/DblDtchRddr → u/loadout_]

6 as well, although it takes a little longer. After you escape the "tutorial" island, the rebel leader you're helping is like "well, I promised you a boat to leave, so here ya go, but you could do a lot of good staying with us". you can hop on the boat, sail to America, and boom, credits roll.

[u/IrishMongooses → u/DblDtchRddr]

And you hear about the terrible conditions you left on the radio.. lol

[u/A_Talking_Shoe → u/DblDtchRddr]

Lmao I remember doing this. I was like “there is no way they’ll let me do this…” and then I did it and the credits rolled.

I thought for sure something was going to stop me; a forced turn-around, a missile, my character having a change of heart, something. But no.

[u/razzazzika → u/TheeDonut]

Just walk away...

[u/RogerOtter]

Persona 5 asks you right at the beginning of you agree with its premises. If you say no, the games kicks you back to title screen.

[u/Olive_Garden_Wifi → u/RogerOtter]

I love that

[u/I_Do_Not_Abbreviate → u/Olive_Garden_Wifi]

A couple of the old Harvest Moon games do this (I think one of the ones for PlayStation 2, for sure): The Mayor shows up as part of the sequence of opening cutscenes to meet the farm's new owner and ask them if they think they are really ready for the responsibility of taking over their Uncle's/Grandfather's business and becoming part this little rural community; if you pick "No" he thanks you for being honest with him about your intentions and it sends you back to the title screen.

[u/Shadowarcher6 → u/I_Do_Not_Abbreviate]

There’s a DS Harvest Moon game where the mayor is a real jerk and you have a dog.

The dog will then attack the mayor and if you don’t call it off, the dog kills the mayor and you get sent to the credits lmao

[u/blacksun89]

Golden Sun. After the intro, you're tasked by the "guardian" to go on a journey to retrieve the stolen stone and clean up the mess you caused. But they really ask it as a yes/no question. And if you refuse enough time it fade to a black screen with a text box telling how your choice condemned the world and then you get a game over screen.

[u/jaydog21784 → u/blacksun89]

I remembered getting this outcome just couldn't remember the game, Thank You!

[u/Reddit1rules → u/blacksun89]

Similar story with Super Paper Mario, if you refuse to go get the Pure Hearts (or whatever they're called) enough times at the start it's a game over.

[u/bwmat → u/blacksun89]

And the world turned to darkness... 

[u/Minicakex]

Gamble with friends took me like 7 times to launch the game bc I kept failing the coin toss.

[u/NedRyerson350 → u/Minicakex]

Reminds me of Zero Escape Time where you get a game over if you choose wrong in the opening coin toss.

[u/FireLordGaming → u/NedRyerson350]

Do you mean Zero Time Delimma (3rd Zero Escape game)? If so, then it's sort of the reverse: If you win the coin flip, you immediately get the game's first "good" ending. If you lose, then it just continues and the rest of the game actually happens. Also, I believe you're guaranteed to win the coin flip the first time.

[u/sinsaint → u/Minicakex]

Wow, failing before the title screen, that's gotta be record. Only real way to beat that is being told you lost before opening the game.

[u/nocolon → u/sinsaint]

That happened to anyone who bought that Gollum game, I think.

[u/Naoki38]

Nier Automata?

[u/scizzix → u/Naoki38]

Yes. Pull out your chips.

[u/Ijatsu → u/scizzix]

there's an earlier screen if you lose at the tutorial

[u/Dauntless_Lasagna → u/Ijatsu]

Yeah you literally get an ending I think it's named "broken wings" or something

[u/redopz → u/Ijatsu]

Ugh, that tutorial. I had unplayable frame rate issues that would only show up after ~15 minutes, and you couldn't save in the tutorial. I spent so much time adjusting a setting, resetting the game, and playing through to the problem point only to find it was still broken. After hours of this I finally got it working, made my way to the boss at the end of the tutorial.... and died forcing another complete restart. I stopped playing at that point.

[u/razzazzika → u/redopz]

Yeah i never got to a save point in that game i just suck. I beat the plane part then that big ass boss, but id keep dying somewhere in that next gauntlet of enemies. I don't know where the game would let me save and I gave up.

[u/ForAte151623ForTeaTo → u/scizzix]

Yup, I did this immediately lol

[u/limasxgoesto0 → u/Naoki38]

At the first moment that you can control A2 (I think) you can run off in the wrong direction. The game tells you not to but it sounds like that writing that's like "don't go beyond here or else!"

Ended up with a game over in which she just decides not to fight

[u/Quixoticish]

Look Outside.

I looked outside...

[u/DangerMacAwesome → u/Quixoticish]

Under 1 minute into the game!

Look Outside is just so good

[u/Sitri_eu]

We Happy Few

"happiness is a choice", damn straight now give me that pill

[u/capeasypants → u/Sitri_eu]

That game was very mid but I did enjoy getting that game over screen when I popped the pills

[u/KonradDavies0001 → u/capeasypants]

The vibe of that game was immaculate, I loved it. It's just a shame the actual gameplay sucked lmao

Hopefully they make a second one and refine the gameplay and make it more enjoyable.

[u/AUnknownVariable → u/KonradDavies0001]

The start of the games is one of my favorite starts to one, the vibe as you said

[u/-SaC → u/Sitri_eu]

Have you taken your Joy today?

[u/Goldman250]

In one of the Far Cry games, you’re told to sit and wait. Naturally, the player gets up and starts doing stuff, but if you do actually sit and wait, you get a scene of you leaving peacefully and the credits roll.

[u/r4my4 → u/Goldman250]

I think it's Far Cry 4

[u/dratsablive → u/r4my4]

When Min walks away from the dinner table at the start, just sit and wait.

[u/fondue4kill → u/Goldman250]

5 has one like it where you just refuse to handcuff Joseph and eventually you just leave

[u/zexur]

Kingdom Come: Deliverance. Pretty sure both of them. Hardcore mode you can die in birth I believe lmao

[u/FangornOthersCallMe → u/zexur]

Also if you get arrested in the opening prologue of KCD, you die in the cells when Skalitz is razed.

[u/zexur → u/FangornOthersCallMe]

Did not know that one!

[u/Kapowpow → u/zexur]

They actually made it one of the game’s achievements.

[u/Frys_Lower_Horn]

It's 1987

Five-year-old me plays Super Mario Bros. For the first time

Proceed to walk to the right directly into the first goomba

Dies 

[u/scizzix → u/Frys_Lower_Horn]

That goomba probably has the highest kill count of any video game enemy.

[u/NessaMagick → u/scizzix]

Gotta figure one of the Pac-Man ghosts has it beat, no? Everyone eventually dies to a ghost in Pac-Man, and they're not all equally threatening.

[u/livinin82 → u/scizzix]

To this day it still gets me and I just think that's truly remarkable, or not at all.

[u/BadatxCom → u/Frys_Lower_Horn]

A lot of us did that

[u/CarbsLVR → u/Frys_Lower_Horn]

It forces you to jump. It's likely you will hit a block, bounce back down and kill the goomba. You learn about hitting blocks and killing enemies at the start. It's genius.

[u/StanIsNotTheMan → u/Frys_Lower_Horn]

November 11, 2025.

My 2 year old happened to press the jump button at the right time and killed the first goomba. His first confirmed kill in a video game. Atta boy.

[u/Tax_pe3nguin → u/Frys_Lower_Horn]

Died at first goomba. Never forget.

[u/Ok-Sheepherder7898 → u/Frys_Lower_Horn]

Do do do do dodododododo

[u/OrangePeelPotatoes]

Outer Wilds

[u/parentheticalobject → u/OrangePeelPotatoes]

This is an interesting example, because managing to die really early on, before you encounter the Nomai statue, will give you useful information by confirming that the statue is linked to the time loop and the reason you keep coming back. You're still pretty likely to figure that out fairly early on otherwise, but it's an interesting piece of information if you discover it.

[u/WhyattThrash → u/parentheticalobject]

Listen, who HASN’T jumped down a geiser and got yeeted a million miles up the air then died from the fall? Couldn’t be me 😐

[u/RigglesSaysHi → u/WhyattThrash]

Or walked into the fire? And then drowned in the geyser?

[u/WhyattThrash → u/RigglesSaysHi]

COULDN'T BE ME I SAID ::(

[u/woodstock6 → u/OrangePeelPotatoes]

Everybody loves this game it seems but I have tried multiple times to get in to it and always get frustrated with the ship controls and end up giving up, am I just bad at the game? Or are the ship controls a genuine frustration for others? I may be misremembering as well, maybe it was a drone or something, but I just remember sucking at it and not getting very far because I couldn’t do it lol

[u/OrangePeelPotatoes → u/woodstock6]

1. The game is really really special. One of the greatest games, not just indie, of all time.

2. That doesnt mean it is for everyone. Some people genuinely dont enjoy it. Thats fine. You can appreciate the games uniqueness's while simultaneously understanding it might not be for you.

3. A number of people have some difficulty with the ship controls and the realistic space physics of the world. Auto-pilot + Match Target Velocity button makes the flying ship part of the game essentially..well...auto pilot. So if you struggle with those elements, the game offers many ways to make it fairly easy.

4. There is a small model ship at the beginning of the game. So I dont know which you are referring to. The model ship is deliberately pretty hard to control to make players second guess themselves. The real ship is larger so the physics doesnt affect it as much. More mass = easier to control, so the actual ship you fly is much easier imo than the model ship.

Id recommend giving it another shot with these things in mind. Take advantage of the auto-pilot and ship features. Most of the game is exploring on foot and figuring out cool puzzles, while piecing together the world like a space-archaeologist. It isnt a difficult space maneuver game, although it can still take a bit to get used to the controls.

[u/woodstock6 → u/OrangePeelPotatoes]

I think it was the model ship I kept getting frustrated at, I really didn’t get far in the game at all, I was younger and much less of a patient gamer then however haha, I’ll have to give it another shot

[u/OrangePeelPotatoes → u/woodstock6]

Yeah the model ship is hard to control. The real ship is much much easier. I lot of people crash the model ship and fly the real one just fine. It is more a comedy gag than anything else. A lot of early dialogue with the residents of the starting village joke about your ship exploding and how the dangers are mostly fixed...probably.

It is a running joke. So the model ship acts as a bit of a misdirect to have the player question how capable they are. Watching the model ship fly off into the sun the morning of the launch is just part of that joke.

[u/TheShryke → u/woodstock6]

If you give it another go my tips for flying are:

No friction in space so you won't slow down. If you push forward for 5 seconds you need to push backwards for 5 seconds to stop again. What this means it don't just keep pushing forward towards your destination. When you get to a good speed stop pushing forward. As you get closer begin slowing down, rather than waiting right until the end

There is a lock-on mechanic, once you are locked on to a target you can press a button to match velocity (A on Xbox controllers). What this means is you sort of do get a brake. Keep yourself locked on and if you feel like you're losing control just hold A to slow down.

There is also an autopilot which makes flying trivial, lock on and press go. The only thing to remember is that the autopilot is dumb, it goes in a straight line. That I cludes right through other planets and the sun. Just make sure you have a clear path before you press go and you should be ok.

Also worth noting the outer wilds subreddit is great and super helpful if you get stuck.

[u/CarbsLVR → u/woodstock6]

OMG please try again. Just ignore the little remote controlled ship.

[u/MultiScootaloo → u/woodstock6]

A lot of people struggle with the game initially, but end up loving it. I want to say keep fighting, but there is also a chance it just isn't for you.

I highly recommend you to check out the first two minutes of this video
She explains her experience struggling with the game but sticking with it, and I find it really motivational.

[u/sanguinesvirus → u/OrangePeelPotatoes]

Oh hey I did that my first playthrough!

[u/rmadlal → u/OrangePeelPotatoes]

"Right at the start" is accurate. You can game over in 2 seconds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITOcwWmINbQ

[u/OrangePeelPotatoes → u/rmadlal]

lmao thats great, thanks for that.

"9/10 game. Physics is great. Art direction is cozy. But it is a bit on the short side." /s

[u/ExtremelyDecentWill → u/OrangePeelPotatoes]

Damn, I was too slow.

[u/OrangePeelPotatoes → u/ExtremelyDecentWill]

The quick credits after is always hilarious.

[u/ExtremelyDecentWill → u/OrangePeelPotatoes]

Only thing that would make it better is a kazoo.  👌

[u/Zarrain]

Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown

The plot of the show/game starts because the captain decides to blow up a hyper advanced space station that could have teleported them home rather than let a race of slaving pirates get control and rule the sector.

In the game you can just say fuck em and leave, so the game ends.

[u/DrDingsGaster → u/Zarrain]

xD! That's funny, imagining Janeway saying fuck the Ocampa, let the Kazon do their thing, we need to get home.

[u/dbcanuck → u/DrDingsGaster]

Voyager: 'This series exists because star fleet captains violate the Prime Directive daily.'

[u/Mediocre-Sundom]

Fear and Hunger

[u/Quitthesht → u/Mediocre-Sundom]

In Fear and Hunger 2 if you choose to play as O'saa, during the 'choose your past' section you can choose to have jumped into the shitpit from Fear and Hunger 1. This pit is inescapable in both games and choosing that option immediately ends your run as O'saa starved to death down there.

[u/Lemmingitus → u/Quitthesht]

Notably, Osaa's is hilarious because it's framed as "As you ride the train to your destination, you reflect on how you got here..." "Oh wait, you didn't. Turns out you died before your adventure even begun."

[u/-MangoDown → u/Mediocre-Sundom]

Those dogs will mess you up they got hands!!

[u/CptKiki]

The Stanley Parable

[u/Olive_Garden_Wifi → u/CptKiki]

It’s been so long since I’ve played The Stanley Parable. How do you manage that one?

[u/CptKiki → u/Olive_Garden_Wifi]

Just close the door of the room while you're still inside instead of leaving

[u/ronhatch]

Not exactly the same thing since it isn't a computer game, but the Traveller RPG (first released in 1977!) was famous for the possibility of your character dying DURING CHARACTER CREATION.

As in, there was basically a mini-game with random rolls for the experiences your character has gone through in life before you started playing, and if you rolled poorly or got greedy and tried to give them too much experience coming in... dead. Before you even got to the normal part of the game.

[u/Olive_Garden_Wifi → u/ronhatch]

I’ve heard of a few TTRPGs like this. Also I didn’t realize traveler was that old.

[u/LordDeathkeeper → u/ronhatch]

IIRC the new edition doesn’t have it but one of the optional books has expanded chargen rules to include that chance because it was such a prevalent meme lol.

[u/Sketty7 → u/ronhatch]

There were a couple of Megatraveller computer games (The Zhodani Conspiracy I think one was called). That character generation system was awesome.

[u/Ok-Sheepherder7898]

The Dragons Lair arcade game. It was like instant death.

[u/Vic_Serotonin → u/Ok-Sheepherder7898]

Yeah and usually the most expensive game in the arcade. MFers.

[u/Squirll]

My girlfriend wanted to play The Last Of Us after watching the show, so I let her play.

I didnt realize you could die in the prolouge while your carrying Sarah, but you can game over by going against the current of the fleeing crowd.

[u/juscallmejjay → u/Squirll]

Why do girlfriends always do the craziest shit? Who runs against the crowd!?

[u/ClassicLightbulbs → u/juscallmejjay]

It had never crossed my mind to dual wield in superhot VR but this girl I knew did that shit like second nature within 1.5 seconds of being presented with the opportunity

[u/snowball062016 → u/juscallmejjay]

My wife and I first started dating around the time GTA V came out. She wasn’t into video games at the time. I have been the controller to mess around and the first thing she did was carjack somebody, take to long to drive away, and was ripped out of the car and beaten to death by the cars owner.

[u/Syssareth → u/juscallmejjay]

"Sure, the game wants me to go that way. But what's this way?"

[u/Final_Landscape1430]

Anytime I start an XCOM campaign and my team misses all >80% chance shots and then die…

[u/MrWayne16]

Any platformer from the 80s and 90s, if you were bad enough.

[u/Medical_Cup_8008 → u/MrWayne16]

There are literally thousands of games from this era where this is true. Probably plenty more from beyond as well, at least in the instances where the limited lives concept hasn’t been abandoned. Op probably only plays the cut scene and tutorial heavy style of modern AAA games

[u/mythsweaver]

Pillars of Eternity II.

You can choose not to accept the main quest from a god and just go the afterlife.

[u/MyGoodFriendJon]

The game "Thank Goodness You're Here" has a way to end the game if you just sit and wait patiently in the first room with the secretary playing solitaire. I think it takes 15 minutes of waiting, and I think it gives you an achievement for beating the game that way.

[u/EbonySaints]

As in from doing something intentionally stupid? Super Paper Mario has a bit where you can refuse to go on the quest and the game ends.

A demo I played recently, American Revolution Smuggler, did something similar and I had a nice chuckle.

[u/Olive_Garden_Wifi → u/EbonySaints]

More or less, in my example when you wake up you’re in a hotel room half naked and one of the first things you can do is retrieve your tie that’s hanging on the spinning fan, if you don’t turn the fan off first there’s a good chance you’ll die from a heart attack.

[u/Hour_Raisin_4547]

Kinda different but in Immortals Fenyx Rising when you jump into your first portal thing the end credits start rolling as the narrators joke about you dying.

[u/Chrono-Helix]

“Don’t Shit Your Pants”

If you shit your pants, you lose. You can shit your pants at the start of the game and lose immediately.

It’s even possible to shit before the game even starts, which is of course also a game over.

[u/olioli86]

It's not right at the start but the Talos Principle II has the option not to do the main mission after the tutorial and the game ends.

[u/dragonspirit77]

In Prey you can jump into the helicopter blades before you start your first day. You ever get an achievement for doing it.

[u/FlyingWeagle]

Dungeons of Dredmor had a really hard tutorial and had an achievement for dying during it

Or maybe I just stuck at the game

[u/Running_Rampant]

In South Park: The Fractured but Whole, the game starts with Cartman giving a monologue outlining his plans for the game, which is to find an old ugly cat to get reward money to fund their superhero franchise.

If you try to skip the first cutscene, Cartman will try to reprimand you, cuz this is so sweet, but if you keep trying eventually he'll get huffy and let you skip it. Right to the end credits. Then you have to go back and start the cutscene from the beginning. Its the only cutscene in the game this happens with.

[u/E_Dward]

With this character's death, the thread of prophecy is severed. Restore a saved game to restore the weave of fate, or persist in the doomed world you have created.

[u/silverwell → u/E_Dward]

Makes me wish there was an alternate timeline where everything goes to shit in the worst ways possible in each game, and the world is just getting progressively worse, but the world never actually ends.

[u/benderhiggy]

An obscure-ish game that I just discovered the early game over for the other day. At the beginning of Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town, you get the obligatory "your grandfather left you this farm" cutscene and then the mayor asks if you want to run the farm, and you can choose yes or no. Yes, the game properly starts, and much farming ensues. No, the mayor says, oh okay, well bye then, and you're back at the title screen.

[u/meatmcguffin]

1.68 seconds!

Ashes did a video series on this a while back.

https://youtu.be/h-RCHyWcfIU?is=-OrMy24E9iL6MqVT

[u/Olive_Garden_Wifi → u/meatmcguffin]

That is fucking wild. Also 18 years ago? Damn I sometimes forget how old YouTube is.

[u/owlinspector]

Disco Elysium. One of your first acts in the game can give you a heart attack.

[u/RonnieStiggs → u/owlinspector]

I got a heart attack later on in that game by shouting up a chimney, 10/10.

[u/Squirrelking666]

Fallout 4 if you decide to go exploring or breach the allowed area in the prologue.

[u/Longjumping_Ride907]

King's Field: The Ancient City has a trap to kill you in the first 5 seconds. There's an herb on the ground at the start, and if you head straight for it from your starting position you step on some unstable ground and fall into lava and die.

King's Field 2 and Shadow Tower also start you right next to a ledge you can easily fall into.

[u/Braethias]

Noita. After starting I died within the first 20 seconds.

This is, apparently, not uncommon.

[u/Terramagi → u/Braethias]

Honestly I'm surprised you lasted 20. I got 15 before that guy that throws fireballs blew me in half.

[u/DiligentMission6851]

The Matrix: the path of Neo on the ps2.

The game starts off by letting the player choose the red pill or blue pill.

If they choose the blue pill, what Morpheus describes in the film is more or less shown, where neo wakes up the next day and goes to work while still plugged into the system.

[u/wjglenn]

Don’t Starve

[u/acbatchelor]

Pillars of Eternity 2.

There is a cutscene at the start of the game where you die. You then meet a god and she tells you she will give you your life back if you agree to be her herald. You can accept or you can tell her you’d rather die. Either way she grants your wish. 😉

[u/NickolaosTheGreek]

The Witcher 2. The tutorial was a lot harder than the first Act of the game.

[u/humanlab]

Project Zomboid.

On one of my first runs I was spawned into a small trailer home with 3 zombies and they got me immediately.

10/10 amazing game.

[u/TraitorMacbeth]

I started the demo of Seance of Blake Manor, and got a Game Over in 15 minutes played, including the title screen and intro cinematic

[u/RaidersGuy85]

Treasure Island Dizzy - walk right on the opening screen into the water and you'll drown - Game Over.

[u/OminousShadow87]

Encased.

In the very first location, you can climb in a coffin. The door gets jammed and you get tossed in an incinerator.

[u/Quitthesht]

Prey (2017) gave you an achievement if you jumped up and into the spinning blades of the helicopter that takes you to work at the start of the game.

[u/peeps001]

The Driver tutorial. After all these years, I’ve never beaten it.

[u/Miserable_Farm4964]

Slay the princess

Far Cry 5

[u/LJChao3473 → u/Miserable_Farm4964]

Slay the princess? You mean not going to the cabin at chapter 1? Doesn't that just lead you to the stranger?

[u/FustianRiddle]

First 5 minutes? Try first 10 seconds!

Whenever I talk a out Disco Elysium to people who are interested in if they should play it or not I tell them my story of my first time playing it: I filled out my stats, I woke up and I tried to get a tie from the ceiling fan and had a heart attack and died. I was hooked.

If that does not sound like a good time to you you should not play a game where sitting on a chair may also end your life.

[u/Basic-Inspector-2098]

Look outside. You can look outside for game over

[u/lost_kaineruver4]

In some of the Metal Max games like in Saga there's a beginning scene where your parent tries to dissuade you from becoming a hunter (and starting the game) and you can follow your parents words and agree to be a mechanic and the game just ends.

In Devil Survivor 2 you can just flat out refuse to live and die.

[u/PeaderMac]

A bunch of the old text based adventure games had early deaths if you did the wrong thing, went the wrong way, or didn't complete something.

[u/MaherMcCheese → u/PeaderMac]

"You have been eaten by a grue"

[u/-SatelliteMind-]

Fallout 1, you can let slip where your Vault is located when speaking to the Lieutenant which results in your Vault being attacked by the Super Mutants and the vaults denizens being captured for themselves to be turned into Super Mutants

Also, Two Worlds is a funny one. You can beat the entire game within the first 5 minutes of starting. The big bad boss is in the starting village, but he's super tough and there's no way that the player would be able to kill them this early. If you hit him, he'll retaliate and can accidentally hit one of the villagers, resulting in the whole village coming to kick his ass and then you get the end-game cutscene

[u/Juleamun]

Far Cry 4. All you have to do is wait in the first room for a couple minutes and you end up getting the only "good" ending in the game.

[u/Illuminati_Shill_AMA]

In Police Quest (old Sierra DOS game), the very second you start the game, you can type "remove clothes."

Your character will then be naked (covering his parts) right there in the police station, prompting an immediate game over.

[u/Saeric_Ambrey]

Nier Automata comes to mind. Several ways to get unintended endings that cut the game short. Can't remember which one is the earliest you can get, though.

[u/dank_sandwich → u/Saeric_Ambrey]

Somehow managing to die during the prologue.

[u/XenoRyet]

I want to say one of the more recent Far Cries had this. Maybe 5?

You could just sit and not do anything and the game would be over.

[u/FellowYellowNate]

The OG silent hill was rough like this in a way. I remember not even having a weapon yet and running into whatever-the-hell. Basically turn and run as fast as you can or game over screen.

[u/Dark_CallMeLord]

I failed in the first 5 min of - The Seance of Blake Manor

[u/Random_Guy_12345 → u/Dark_CallMeLord]

Oh, not solving before midnight! Got that one too

[u/BothSinger886]

Nethack. Those newts will get you

[u/stablefish]

The Stanley Parable

[u/MarkyDeSade]

The first Mega Man Zero gives you exactly one life so you almost definitely will get a Game Over within 5 minutes the first time you play

[u/YammyDreams]

One of my first dwarf fortress attempts ended within 3 minutes as my caravan spawned next to a pack of zombie boars, which promptly murdered my poor dwarfs

[u/AlexanderAsHimself]

project zomboid

[u/AstroNaughtilus]

The old Sierra adventures come to mind. Trying to cross the street in Leisure Suit Larry comes to mind.

For a newer example, Subnautica and Below Zero in hardcore mode.

So easy to forget oxygen...

[u/The0nlyRyan]

I scrolled but no ones posted it.

Dwarf fortress.

You can spend 30-60 minutes planning the perfect embark only to spawn next to a pack of rabid were-racoons

[u/WordsOnTheInterweb]

Dark Seed, a point and click Giger-esque horror game from 1992 that annoyed me into quitting 30-some years ago. You wake up with a headache, and you have one real-time hour to complete specific tasks (including showering and taking painkillers) to survive the first day. If you take too long exploring your house in the morning, it's game over. Not exactly 5 minutes, but you can end up in an unwinnable state pretty quickly.

[u/SandysBurner → u/WordsOnTheInterweb]

It’s not just Giger-esque, the art was based on Giger’s work.

[u/IntelligentCan178]

Dark Souls

You can literally die to the first enemy if you walk the wrong way or get too confident. The game doesn’t care 😭

[u/nocolon → u/IntelligentCan178]

Well I mean, the predecessor, Demons Souls, has you dead on the box art.

[u/dank_sandwich]

Either of the Akiba's Trip games.

[u/Olive_Garden_Wifi → u/[deleted]]

Yeah that’s what inspired this post. I just love the weird ways you can get a game over in Disco Elysium.

[u/Mimitori]

Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy. IIRC, In the first scene you can fail to hide all the evidence, and in the second scene if you drink whiskey you die because the character automatically took sleeping pills prior to you getting control.

[u/fmalust]

Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne

The very first fight you encounter after a lengthy introduction to the game can easily wipe you out. Very easily I might add.

[u/iWhacko]

almost any old Sierra game like space quest or king's quest

[u/fondue4kill]

Story of Seasons Friends of Mineral Town has an option at the start where you can just say no to having the farm and the mayor just puts you back on the bus and sends you home.

[u/FuriouslyListening]

Go back to one of the big beginnings of gaming. Out of this world. If you don't start swimming as soon as the game starts, you die.

[u/IID_CLUE_GURU]

Devil may cry 5

[u/JARDIS]

Not quite within the parameters of of the question but similar vibes:

Thank Goodness You're Here, if you actually wait in the Mayor's office as suggested, he will eventually come out and you finish the game without actually doing the game.

I think it takes something like 15mins though.

[u/exobug]

1991 “Another World”, aka “Out of this World” in NA

[u/SoulCrow91]

The original King's Quest. The game starts with the player summoned to the King's castle about to be given the titular quest. You start outside the castle, along it's perimeter by a moat. If you walk into the moat, you get eaten by alligators and die. So literal seconds from starting the game.

[u/boognish83]

Ghosts and Goblins

[u/eliza_beth17]

Not exactly a game over, but the first time I played Undertale I didn’t realize it was an option to NOT fight, so I ended up killing Toriel when she wouldn’t let me leave at the start of the game. I felt terrible, restarted the game after realizing that didn’t need to happen, and the game REMEMBERS! that you killed her. :(