9 Video Games That Punish You For 100%

5. You’re Bad And Should Feel Bad - Braid

Most people know by now that Jonathon Blow’s 2008 puzzler Braid is not a game designed to make you feel like a hero.

It’s a game designed to trick you into thinking you’re the hero before you realise you’re actually the villain. But of course you won’t get to that point until the very end. With some insanely precise platforming and puzzling know-how you may be able to collect all of the hidden stars in the game granting you 100% completion and an alternate ending. And if you think there’s a chance this is going to make you feel better about the game’s regular downer ending you are very, very mistaken.

Whether you think protagonist Tim is simply stalking the Princess, or the game is a metaphor for the creation of the atomic bomb, or the ending is a commentary on obsession leading to destruction and an overall judgement of you for even playing, it’s not particularly heroic.

The alternate ending lets you unlock a finished constellation of a woman in chains and when you touch the princess she explodes so… yay? Good platforming? I don’t know.