Less-Lethal Weapons

Overview

Less lethal weapons, also referred as non lethal, can have various effects in games, when the games manages Stun effects, they can give choices to the player, be part of a challenge, or simply being the only option available to neutralize enemies.
This kind of weapons can be dedicated weapons such as Blunt weapons, Net guns or Tazers as well as usually lethal weapons, but with less lethal ammunitions like shotguns and grenade launchers.

Gameplay uses

In some games less lethal weapons can be lethal or simply reduces enemy mobility / aim. When the game have differences between the dead / knocked status. The whole thing takes an other dimension, like having moral choices, being weapon restricted (If the mission doesn't allow any enemy casualty) or having specific rewards if we defeat enemies with less lethal weapons instead of lethal ones.
The stealth aspect of less lethal weapons force sometimes players to hide more carefully enemy corpses to avoid the fact that the knocked / tied enemy can become again a threat against us. A few games allow some options with that like using our victim as a way to distract their comrades like in the game commandos.