#old point'n'click games; you could use an item early on and that meant you physically couldn't complete the game and had to restart

[asouthfacingfridge]

That trope of the hero thinking they made a daring escape and claimed a happy ending, but in actuality it was a hallucination/simulation? I can’t remember ever seeing it in a video game

So.. part way through the game, maybe near the end, you trigger a hallucinagen dart, or jack into a simulation, whatever. There’s a skillcheck. If you pass, you avoid the dart/get out of the simulation. If you fail? The game continues, and you’re oblivious to anything being wrong. You defeat the villain, save everyone, the good ending. Then as the ending cutscene plays, with your character celebrating their victory, it fades out to them still jacked into the simulation, drooling and doomed, or on the ground, with the dart still in them, dark creatures approaching to feast.

Let the player think they’ve got the good ending, then fuck ‘em over right at the e nd

#games don't have enough hidden screwjobs anymore #old point'n'click games; you could use an item early on and that meant you physically couldn't complete the game and had to restart