10 Incredibly Cheap Video Game Moves (That You Totally Used All The Time)

Learning to live with your mistakes is one the most important cobbles on the path to wisdom. Unfortunately, it's a lesson that doesn't feature on the curriculum of many gamers, particular those who attended the old school. As soon as it became both technically viable and economically sensible for save games to exist, players set about exploiting them in their usual horrible little way.

We've all done it. Had a slightly unfavourable outcome where you've used too much ammo, took too much damage, or picked the wrong option resulting in a love interest rejecting your advances/dying/causing the entire destruction of the universe? Just reload a save from a few seconds earlier and repeat until everything goes exactly as you want it. Because that's in the spirit of things, isn't it?

Heck, save-scumming is such an ingrained habit that developers expect it. Animal Crossing villagers will receive a stern lecture from Mr. Resetti should they try to quit without saving, whilst the action version of Indiana Jones: The Fate of Atlantis actively encouraged such behaviour. In the game's manual, it's mentioned that the roulette tables in Monte Carlo are rigged, and the only way to win is to beat the system. That is: learn the numbers, then reload and bet on them.

It might be a dirty trick, but there are risks. Every once in a while, an over-eager save-scummer will lock themselves into an unwinnable situation. Karma's an F6.