7 Games That Rewarded You for Failure

The basic formula for videogames is that you succeed and are rewarded. Some games choose to flip this script, however, and reward you when you fail, which is nice of them. Let’s consider and appreciate these seven videogames that rewarded you for failure. Enjoy, and subscribe for more videos like this from Outside Xbox!

---

Outside Xbox brings you daily videos about videogames, especially Xbox games. Join us for new gameplay, original list videos, previews and other things (ask us about the other things).

Thanks for watching and be excellent to each other in the comments.

#7things #outsidexbox #rewards

[thegamingbadger]

In Stardew Valley, at the Autumn Fair, you can participate in a game of strength, by pressing a button at the right time while a gauge fills up. You get gold by pressing when the gauge is the fullest, but also when it is completely empty, because the game-owner is “impressed by how weak you are”.

[PristianoPenaldoSUIIII]

Disco Elysium! One of the early rolls you can attempt is to try and slip away from the cafe manager when he brings up your bill. If you fail, you run away, do a 180 mid-air double middle finger at him, and catastrophically crash into an old lady in a wheelchair. The cafe manager feels bad and reduces the bill

[DigidesteinedSayian]

In Shin Megami Tensei IV, you unlock easy mode by dying twice. You come back to life because you're bribing Charon the riverman; since so many people died at once in the backstory, he's still processing them, so he'll let your death slide if it means less paperwork. The second time you die, his assistants let you use easy mode so you'll make less work for them.

[aliceg]

Kiryu absolutely no-selling getting smashed across the back of the head with a bottle is one of my favorite moments in the entire Yakuza series, so I'm beyond pleased that you chose to highlight it in this video. Thank you for that. :D

[zulubunsen]

The Temmie Armor in Undertale. While it's not rewarded as such, its initial eyewatering price of 9999 gold gets reduced if you die a lot, down to a minimum of 750 gold after 25 deaths. It does trivialize combat quite a lot though.

[wolftuxedo]

In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky, after you join Wigglytuff's Guild and you fail the first mission you get afterwards multiple times, Wigglytuff will give you a bunch of helpful items and tell you to keep trying your best.

[averyjoffe]

I'm really surprised Disco Elysium isn't on here -- the game where failing to run away gets you a hotel bill discount and failing to listen to the city gets you an entire bonus task complete with radio DJs and free blinky sneakers.

[franck]

I get it. There’s a huge risk of unbalancing the game, but in a single player context, keeping the game entertaining for both good and bad players can be better than fairness.

[ChristyTina]

There's a section in Okami, where you have to race Tobi, or Scrap as Issun calls him, a demon possessed sealing talisman.
One section of the race has Ammy jumping from platform to platform over a pit of spikes. If you fail, more platforms appear. Fail enough times and a full path appears.

[yeshua]

I was amazed when I failed a check in Disco Elysium to come up with a startup pitch that was doomed to fail and the game told me “Congratulations, you have failed at failing, which means you’ve succeeded?” and I instantly became a high net worth individual

[finnover]

Wait, if I successfully watch this video, does that mean I *don't* get a reward?

[natecunha]

The most frustrating thing about the Infinite Ammo bandana as a "reward" is that it doesn't even eliminate the need to reload, so in the few scenes in the game where it's actually useful to be shooting a lot you still have to pause every few seconds...

[frodobaggins]

I actually managed to get the H ending for Nier: Automata by accident because I thought going back through the amusement park was the correct way to go

[AmeenaWordweaver]

I never got it myself, but I understand that in the first Oddworld game, Abe's Oddysee, if you kill/fail to rescue pretty much all of your 99 fellow mudokons, you get the bad ending (of course) but in your next playthrough are rewarded by starting with infinite grenades.

[blockeontheleafeon]

I find these kinds of achievements cool. Especially if it's one of those "Die at the VERY end of a level" achievements that most people would miss because they're somewhat competent at the game. Great stuff.

[dallydaydream]

I absolutely refuse to shut up about the reward for being bad at Undertale: the Temmie Armour. Its initial price is 9999g, but the price goes down every time you get killed. I died so much in that game that I got it for its lowest price, 750g, and I take an absurd sort of pride in that.

-The amazing discount fills me with determination-

[djlamar]

I know of one game. "Henry Stickman collection". That game is all about references but the main thing about it is the failures. Seriously there are so many and they reward you for finding them by in game achievements and besides what happens to Henry is so funny that just seeing them is reward enough XD

[Elementroar]

Disco Elysium allows you to fail into new solutions. One standout for me was when I tried to run away from paying my room tab. I failed the dice roll so spectacularly that the bartender took pity on me cos my detective managed to run into a wall and possibly started crying while collapsed on the ground.

[MrZer]

In some of the early Yugioh games, you could unlock Mokuba as an opponent by losing a bunch of duels in a row. He’s supposed to be a pity reward as he is by far the worst AI in the game so you could farm rewards from him to do better against better duelists.

Also, in the Disgaea series, in most games there’s a boss where if you lose against them, it counts as an ending. It’s usually the recurring and goofy boss they have you fight a bunch in any given game

[azuredragoon]

I have to add Blasphemous here, if only because it gives you a chance to unlock the true ending of the game. One of the requirements of this true ending involves transforming a bead so you can unlock special arenas. In order to transform the bead, though, it must be equipped while you die. Die three times with the bead equipped, and then you're free to take part in the arenas that lead to your final penitence.