10 Video Games That Killed The Main Character Early

5. Madoka Tsukimori - Fatal Frame: Mask Of The Lunar Eclipse

The fourth entry into the popular survival horror franchise begins with a prologue chapter where players control Madoka Tsukimori, who gets a solid 20 minutes to explore the creepy abandoned sanitorium Rougetsu Hall before being attacked and killed by a horde of ghosts.

For the rest of the game, the player controls Madoka's friend Ruka Minazuki, who travels to Rougetsu Hall in search of her missing pal.

But in a neat twist, our original protagonist ultimately becomes an antagonist, as Madoka actually ends up attacking the player several times throughout the game, forcing them to fend her off.

Granted, it's smart never to expect the first player character in a Fatal Frame game to stick around for the entirety, but even so, this was an especially harsh dispatch for a character we'd just started to get to grips with.