10 Games That Punish You For Ignoring The Story

Game developers obviously want you to experience the story they've created, which is why they may not take kindly to those who abuse the skip button or decide that anything else is more engaging than the plot they've put their blood, sweat, and tears into.

Out-of-bounds areas, unskippable cutscenes, and player teleportation are all common techniques of putting unruly players back in their place, but some games go a step further and straight up punish you for ignoring their story.

Whether you're skipping through dialogue or ignoring progressing the story, these kinds of games hide a special (and nasty) surprise for you in the form of secret bad endings, instant deaths, and even softlocking you out of completing the story you've been so keen on avoiding.

Taking your time to explore or mess around can have fatal consequences for your playthrough in these games, so you best stay on your guard and make sure to pay attention to the main storyline as much as possible.

Otherwise, you might fall victim to the following punishments and never want to press the skip button again.

Shenmue is a 1999 action adventure game about a young martial artist named Ryo seeking revenge for the death of his father.

At least in theory. In reality, you spend 90% of the game doing anything but trying to find your father's killer.

Because Shenmue features so many different minigames and side activities, it's really easy to forget about Ryo's actual goal and get lost in the world of arcade games, collectible gachas, and side jobs, so you can spend even more money on useless but fun distractions.

However, as much fun as it can be to do anything but the main mission, you might want to get back to it at some point, because if you don't, the game will remind you of it by straight up killing you!

Yes, if you ignore the story for too long, the game will eventually trigger a special bad ending where the main villain returns to Ryo's hometown and kills him before he can step out of the house.

Was it because he was trying to tie loose ends? Or because he got jealous of your Gachas collection?

Maybe if you bothered to look for him, you'd actually find out.