10 Video Game Fates Worse Than Death (Commenter's Edition)
3. Assimilated By The Flood - Halo
By far the most iconic recurring enemy in the Halo franchise is the Flood, the parasites responsible for devouring and assimilating most sentient life in the galaxy.
Humans will typically be mutated rather than killed, the Flood latching onto their spinal column and triggering a drastic physical transformation.
Most humans will become the Combat Form Flood, which while still humanoid in appearance have severe alterations to their exterior flesh and internal organs.
The infected human is largely conscious of this as their organs are shifted around inside their bodies and they're submitted to the will of the collective.
To make matters worse, the Combat Form Flood are durable combatants, meaning victims can't even wish for a speedy demise on the battlefield.
Surely the most extreme example of this is Captain Keyes, who in the original game is discovered to have been absorbed into the gigantic Flood biomass known as the Proto-Gravemind, before Master Chief mercifully puts him out of his misery.