8 Dumbest Video Game Decisions With The BEST Rewards
Go against your gut and get BIG rewards.
The risk-reward dichotomy is at the very foundation of video game design - take a big risk, get a big reward.
But sometimes an act isn’t so much a risk as a straight-up stupid decision on the part of the player that, by any traditional metric, would result in sure disaster.
Yet video game developers absolutely love toying with players and soundly subverting their expectations, enough that those who pick up the idiot ball and run with it just might end up with a big, fat reward at the end.
In real life things certainly aren’t always “fair” - asinine behaviour is frequently rewarded - and so it follows that video games, as art created by human beings, sometimes reflect that.
And so, these 8 video game decisions all seemed primed to lead players to a Game Over or bad ending and nothing more, yet actually ended up gifting players an awesome surprise instead.
These can range from cute secrets to literally game-changing items, but each nevertheless served as an hilariously unearned treat after so recklessly endangering yourself and potentially others, too…
8. Let Meryl Die, Get Stealth Camo - Metal Gear Solid
Would it be a Hideo Kojima game without a game design decision that seems totally antithetical to conventional logic? And we love him for it, of course!
In the original Metal Gear Solid, there comes a point where Solid Snake is captured and forced to endure electroshock torture at the hands of Revolver Ocelot.
The player is tasked with button-mashing their way through the sequence, but if they fail, they don't get a Game Over screen - it's simply noted that they submitted to the torture.
Well, that and all the consequences it has for the rest of the game.
Y'see, submitting to the torture results in Meryl's death later on, which while since proven not remotely canonical, is still a massive bummer.
However, there's a huge incentive to let Meryl die given that submitting to the torture also unlocks the best, most useful, and straight-up most fun item in the entire game - the Stealth Camouflage.
At the end of the game, Otacon will give Snake camo which renders him invisible to most non-boss enemies for all future playthroughs. It's awesome, and also serves as a rather strange reward for... throwing in the towel and letting Meryl die.
Hell, if you actually resist the torture and make it through the sequence unscathed, the reward is comparatively pretty lousy - a Bandana which grants you infinite ammo. Oh, and Meryl surviving the whole ordeal, of course.
Nah, I'll take the camo thanks. Sorry, Mer.