If you play plenty of games, it’s easy to fall into a rut. You get comfortable with just about every genre, and all the decisions you make start to feel predictable and safe. That’s why it’s enjoyable to break your pace and try out some games that truly test risk vs. reward.
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There are a lot of different ways that games can challenge you to balance your options and really think about whether you can justify the potential of a big reward for the high risk of downfall. Thanks to how many different ways this manifests in gaming, there are plenty of options, but which are the best?
8
Bravely Default
To Brave Or To Default?
- Released
-
February 7, 2014
- Developer(s)
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Silicon Studio
Bravely Default is a fantastic JRPG for many reasons, but one of the most impactful is the standout Brave and Default system that it pioneered. While turn-based combat can occasionally get stale, Bravely Default turns this preconception on its head by giving you the option to Brave or Default with each party member every turn.
By Defaulting, your character defends and saves a turn, and by Braving, they attack. This allows you to either consistently attack, or instead save up your moves so you can let them all out in one turn. It works incredibly well and intertwines with the other combat systems perfectly, making for a unique risk vs. reward system.
7
Inscryption
Play Your Cards Right
- Released
-
October 19, 2021
- Developer(s)
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Daniel Mullins Games
A genre that commonly takes advantage of risk vs. reward scenarios is rogue-likes, and one of the best examples of this is Inscryption. This deck-building rogue-like is the perfect way to get into this subgenre, especially if you’re willing to expect the unexpected.
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The simple card game is introduced quickly and is easy to learn, based on the core mechanic of sacrificing weaker cards to summon stronger ones. Putting all your eggs in one basket is understandably risky but can pay off big time, and the ways this mechanic develops throughout the game will keep you searching for new strategies.
6
Kid Icarus Uprising
Test The Scales
Kid Icarus: Uprising
- Released
-
March 23, 2012
- Developer(s)
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Sora Ltd.
- Publisher(s)
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Nintendo
The main gameplay of on-rail shooting and on-ground third-person exploring isn’t inherently risk vs. reward gameplay, but the unique difficulty system implemented for each chapter of the game heavily relies on just how much you are willing to bet.
When you start every level, you can pour more in-game currency into the level for a tougher challenge and exponentially better rewards throughout. Of course, if you die during the level, you lose it all. Uprising is already a fantastic game, but this tough system gives it a massive amount of replayability.
5
Sifu
Hand To Hand
- Released
-
February 8, 2022
- Developer(s)
-
Sloclap
- Publisher(s)
-
Sloclap
While Sifu is occasionally billed as a rogue-lite, it instead feels more like an action-management crossover, a genre-blend that is understandably uncommon. As you work through its five extensive levels, your character will inevitably fall in battle, but has the chance to be revived with the hindrance of older age.
Older age makes you more fragile, but you hit harder. However, once you get too old, you’ll have to start again. Choosing which way to maneuver through each of the levels to get the best rewards but remain as young as possible will keep you thinking and offer multiple methods of completing the challenging action title.
4
Death Stranding
Don’t Topple
- Released
-
November 8, 2019
While it’s sometimes tricky to fit Death Stranding into any category, thanks to just how enigmatic the title is, the best description is a delivery-survival game. You’ll have to manage getting tricky (and almost always heavy) cargo to its destination while overcoming the environment, any enemies in your way, and just how much you can carry at once.
Making your way through the scenery is often beautiful, and as you get further in, more options will be at your disposal to match the tougher terrain. However, no matter how far you get, there’s never an easy road, and you’ll always need to risk your resources to get to where you need to.
3
Jusant
Gonna Make That Jump?
- Platform(s)
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PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC
- Released
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October 30, 2023
- Developer(s)
-
DON’T NOD
- Publisher(s)
-
DON’T NOD
Depending on who you ask (and how afraid of heights they are), Jusant could be qualified as a cozy game thanks to its relaxing atmosphere and chill style. But at its core, this game is about climbing, and to conquer every cliff, you’ll need to have expert judgment on how you can get up.
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Besides just telling you to “go up” more, of course.
The climbing mechanics are solid but also quite simple, and you’ll unlock almost every tool at your disposal in the game’s first chapter. As you progress up the mountain, you’ll learn new ways to harness your equipment to get further up, but one wrong move can send you plummeting down and needing to redo the last few minutes of gameplay.
2
Dredge
Late Night Fishing
- Released
-
March 31, 2023
- Developer(s)
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Black Salt Games
Fishing games aren’t exactly seen as the most intense, but Dredge shifts genre conventions by adding horror and survival elements. On your journey around the mysterious isles, you’ll not only need to catch a wide variety of fish to make a profit but also manage to get between the game’s various settlements both alive and sane.
The longer you spend out at night, the more your protagonist’s mental capacity will wane, and it doesn’t help that this is when the most terrifying underwater creatures come out to play, but also the most valuable ones.
1
Road 96
Constantly At Crossroads
- Released
-
August 16, 2021
- Developer(s)
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DigixArt
- Publisher(s)
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Plug In Digital
A rogue-like like no other, Road 96 shoves you into a dystopian re-imagining of the USA on the cusp of a monumental election in a political environment that isn’t too kind to rebellious teenagers. This has led to an exodus of adolescents attempting to flee the northern border, and with every run, you get the chance to attempt to escape again with a new teen.
The character you play isn’t the star, though; instead, it’s the cast of travelers you’ll repeatedly run into and learn more about as you try to survive the trip to the border. Needing to manage your energy and money, the choices you make about how and where you travel up to the border will always have consequences, often fatal.
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