20 Video Games That Secretly Reward You For Failure
Mistakes in miracles!
Video games condition players to strive for their very best because that’s how you get the best rewards. You do everything you can to get the highest score, defeat every boss, and complete the game flawlessly, as this is often the only way to make yourself even stronger in this maddening cycle of perfectionism.
However, did you know that not every game holds its player base to such high standards? Instead of forcing you to succeed to get what you want, they give you a reward for failure.
There are actually plenty of video games out there that feature secret bonuses and items for those who don’t manage to do well. Whether it’s a consolation prize or an actual reward for discovering a hidden event triggered by your loss, the following titles don’t hold your defeat against you and will even give you something in return for it.
A failed skill check might give you a better result than success, and dying might end up with you getting a nifty reward you wouldn’t be able to obtain otherwise.
Don’t feel guilty about failing in these games. They’re secretly waiting with a reward for those who can’t overcome their challenges.
20. Defender's Medal For Death - XCOM
XCOM is a turn-based strategy that wants to be a battle against alien invaders, but in reality it is a struggle with the game's unfair RNG.
An XCOM player needs to get used to three things: their 90% accuracy shots missing, the enemy's 30% shots hitting critically, and the combination of the previous two resulting in your squad's sudden death.
Losing a soldier can sting, but you secretly want to doom at least one person on your team to this fate, as this is how you get one of the most useful medals in the game.
Introduced in XCOM: Enemy Within, medals are unique upgrades that soldiers can wear that you unlock by completing special challenges.
The Defender's Medal is both the easiest and the hardest upgrade like this to unlock, as it simply requires one of your soldiers to die from a critical wound (the hard part here is the mental anguish of watching the aliens obliterate your character).
As a reward for failing to watch over your soldiers, you get the Defender's Medal, which helps you to prevent similar tragedies from happening by either healing an additional 2 HP whenever the wearer is healed or preventing them from panicking when one of their teammates dies.