
The purpose of harnesses, of course, is to protect your body. You tie a big piece of metal to your chest, then nothing can stab or shoot you there. But what happens when you want to take off the armor, and the armor… doesn’t agree?
A large number of game characters have become trapped, temporarily or permanently, in some form of armor or bodysuit. They may still be mobile, but their bodies – or even their souls – are completely confined to these metal sheaths. In general, it is not a very pleasant way of life. We feel for these examples.
10 Ghost People – Fallout: New Vegas
Before the Great War of the Fallout universe, workers at the Sierra Madre Casino and resort were accidentally exposed to a gas leak that would eventually form the caustic red cloud that covers the area. To protect them, they were given specially made hazmat suits and masks, but their shoddy construction would banish them to a fate worse than death.
As the cloud descended on the Sierra Madre, its caustic chemicals corroded the buckles of the hazmat suits, as wisps of it crept into the suits through the joints and mask. This resulted in the Ghost People, a race of mysterious, immortal mutants who are hermetically locked in their suits. Opening the suit forcefully, such as through mutilation, releases bags of pressurized gas, killing them instantly.
9 Big Daddies – BioShock Series
Originally, BioShock’s “Big Daddies” were just regular members of Rapture’s maintenance crew. Because Rapture was at the bottom of the ocean, maintenance crews needed heavy wetsuits to re-rivete Rapture’s windows or drill ocean rock. When the Little Sister program was launched, these suits were repurposed to create their faithful, lifelong protectors.
A protector-grade Big Daddy is created through a combination of severe splicing and invasive surgical procedures, all to physically graft the skin and organs of a suit’s occupant onto the suit’s inner liner. Why they chose to make this a permanent trial isn’t stated outright, but we can make an educated guess – since most of the Big Daddies were once convicts, their creators probably didn’t want them to chat with anyone about their heritage.
8 Quarians – Mass Effect Series
Technically, the Mass Effect series’ Quarian races are not “trapped” in their environmental suits, at least not in the literal sense. They can take off their costume whenever they want. It’s just that, due to their species’ naturally weak immune systems, it would almost immediately result in debilitating illness, followed by death.
Quarians can never take off their suits unless it’s for a… terribly good reason, such as a medical procedure. Even then, they must undergo a lengthy trial of vaccines and antibiotics to offset the risk of sudden viral death. But sooner or later, the suit always has to be put back on, even on a Quarian vessel. The spread of microorganisms through space is just too thorough.
7 Hakumen – BlazBlue Series
As the leader of the Six Heroes, Hakumen is a public icon – recognized, respected and feared just about all over the world. However, no one has ever seen Hakumen’s face under the steely white sheen of his armor. It turned out that’s because he doesn’t to have underneath a face.
Hakumen’s armor is an ancient artifact known as the Susanoo unit. To wear the Susanoo Unit, you must give up your physical body and bind your soul directly to it. Only a supernatural entity like Yuuki Terumi can come out of the armor and go as they please. A human soul like Hakumen’s is trapped there for life; the only way out is death.
6 Springtrap – Five nights at Freddy’s 3
In the lore of the Five Nights at Freddy’s series, inventor and serial killer William Afton murdered five children at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza and hid their bodies in the pizzeria’s animatronics. Many years later, after numerous encounters with the animatronics, possessed by the children’s vengeful ghosts, Afton returned to the pizzeria and tried to dismantle them.
However, Afton was cornered by the ghosts and tried to hide in the old Springlock Bonnie suit. It worked for a bit, but when the springs came off, he was crushed in the suit. Many years later, Afton’s corpse, still crushed in the suit, was recovered and used in the Fazbear Fright attraction, where it was maliciously revived as Springtrap.
5 Dingo Egret – Zone Of The Enders: The 2nd Runner
Zone of the enders the 2nd runner jehuti
When Dingo discovers the dilapidated Jehuty during a mining expedition, he has no choice but to claim it to defend himself against the BAHRAM army. After several lengthy encounters, he gets into a conflict with Nohman and Anubis, which he eventually loses.
After being shot multiple times in the back, Dingo was dragged back to Jehuty, where his body was integrated with the Orbital Frame’s life support systems. At this point, Dingo can no longer leave Jehuty or take off his pilot suit, as his systems are literally the only thing keeping him alive. Nor can he go against the orders of UNSF spy Ken Marinaris or she would end his remote livelihood.
4 Y-17 Trauma Override Harnesses – Fallout: New Vegas
If we had a nickel for every instance of armor-based body horror in Fallout: New Vegas, we’d have two nickels. Not much, but it’s weird that this happened twice. Of course, unlike the Ghost People and others, the Y-17 Trauma Override Harnesses that pollute the Big MT facility function exactly as they should.
The idea behind these special suits is that if a combatant wearing one were seriously injured, the suit would take over their motor functions and march them back to base for medical attention. Unfortunately someone forgot set a basis in the programming of the suits, causing them to wander aimlessly and shoot at people as their occupants slowly died. This is why Big MT is full of skeletons wearing spacesuits.
3 The Lingering Will – Kingdom Hearts Series
In the climax of Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep, Terra confronts Master Xehanort atop the highest mountain of the Keyblade Graveyard. Blinded with anger at Xehanort’s deception, Terra lets his heart overflow with darkness, giving Xehanort the perfect opportunity to send his own heart into Terra’s body to conquer it.
This seems to work perfectly at first, with Xehanort taking full control of Terra’s heart and body. However, he was missing one part: Terra’s mind. With his last ounce of spirit, Terra’s will animates his discarded Keyblade armor to oppose Xehanort, though unfortunately he would ultimately fail to regain his body. The armor remained in the graveyard for many years afterwards, quietly waiting for a chance to retaliate.
2 Rattle – Rattle: Jammed
In Ratchet: Deadlocked, Ratchet, Clank and their friend Al are kidnapped by Gleeman Vox to participate in the illegal gladiatorial game show DreadZone. When Ratchet wakes up in his confinement block, he’s already fully clothed in a set of DreadZone armor, including the program’s signature explosive obedience collar.
If Ratchet is able to take off his DreadZone armor separately from his explosive collar, he never will. More than likely, aside from the helmet, the armor is an essential part of the collar – meaning it had to stay on until Ratchet could defeat Vox and escape the show.
1 “Simon Jarett” – SOMA
In SOMA, everyday Simon Jarett undergoes an experimental brain scan to seek possible help with a medical problem. The scan is going well, and he’s probably moving on with his life. A lot, a lot years later, however, that scan of his mind comes to life as an entity of its own, with a huge hole in his memory.
Due to a computer malfunction, Simon’s old scan was downloaded into an AI-compatible deep-sea diving suit, giving him control over it as if it were his own body. The body in the suit isn’t even his; a woman died in it, and the automated systems synchronized its program with her brain. Technically, Simon can leave this suit by copying himself into another suit, but it’s up to chance whether he’s the one who notices this change or just stays where he is.
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