10 Video Games That Punish You For Cheating

These games put you through the wringer for cheating.

By Jack Pooley /

Generally speaking, there's nothing wrong with cheating in single-player games - once you own a game, you're morally free to play it however you like, even if the developers themselves might not actually agree.

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As a result, devs will sometimes include traps and tricks in their games to punish cheating players, as if to offer a digital finger-wag and not-so-jokingly tell the player they don't really approve of what they're doing.

That's certainly the case with these 10 video games, each of which found ways to punish, humiliate, and even torture players for cheating. 

Given that many of these games naturally feature cheat codes included by the developers themselves, the resulting punishments do feel like a bit of a cruel trick.

Some are evidently more tongue-in-cheek than others, then - some serve as a genuine indication that the devs would prefer you to play the game the "proper" way, while others are a more cutesy wink at those seeking out a shortcut.

Either way, in extreme cases, these punishments were harsh enough that they made the very notion of cheating not really seem entirely worth it, for shame...

10. The "Nude Code" Makes Lara Explode - Tomb Raider II

Shortly after the original Tomb Raider was released, rumour spread in playgrounds and gaming magazines the world over that the game had a secret nude cheat which allowed players to strip Lara Croft of her entire wardrobe.

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But as it turned out, the first game had no such cheat, and developers Core Design weren't exactly thrilled at the prospect of folk thinking they'd put something so lascivious into their action-adventure game.

And so, for Tomb Raider II, the developer put a "nude cheat" into the game which was actually anything but. 

If scuttlebutt can be believed - and it definitely can - Core Design themselves circulated the cheat code to gaming magazines en masse, only for the apparent nude code to actually cause Lara to spontaneously explode in mid-air.

Players were surely just confused at first before the reality set in, that Core Design were actually bonking you on the head and sending you off to Horny Jail. 

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