Video games, at their core, are designed to entertain you from start to finish. However, that doesn't mean that developers can't have some fun at your expense along the way. No matter the genre, franchise, or quality of the game, it's not always guaranteed that every ability, item, or piece of gear you pick up will necessarily be useful. This is often because you've leveled up too far in the game, or the item has simply been mediocre from the start. However, sometimes it's a different story, and that story is you being pranked. If you've already picked up one of these items, you might have been better off not bothering. However, the development team that created them certainly had some fun at your expense.
1. The Devil’s Ax – Fire Emblem Series
The Devil's Axe, originally introduced in Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, is a high-risk, but potentially high-reward choice. Compared to other axes in the game, it's formidable in terms of power, but it has one significant drawback: there's a chance it could backfire and deal damage to your character instead of your opponent. You can mitigate this risk with a decent Luck stat, but it's still a roll of the dice to determine whether you'll inflict pain on yourself or someone else. If you're into high-risk gambles, it's fun, but if you're cautious, you might want to avoid it.
2. The Magic Armor – The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Not all video game items that poke fun at you do so in a humorous way. Sometimes an item may seem like it has a lot of utility, but it turns out to be disappointing once you use it. Twilight Princess offers many weapons, tools, and gear, including the Magic Armor. This armor protects your health with a magical barrier, but it slowly drains your magic meter and your wallet during combat. Yes, this armor runs on rubies. It consumes two rubies per second and takes an additional ten when you are hit by an attack that would have otherwise cost a quarter of a heart. You may be happy that your rubies are being preserved instead of your health, but you may find yourself helpless when you run out of rubies or magic, rendering your defenses almost nonexistent.
3. The Belt of Free Action – The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind
Paralysis is a major problem in many video games, as not being able to dodge, attack, or move is extremely frustrating. Morrowind's Belt of Free Action claims to solve this problem by granting the ability to cure yourself of paralysis. However, there's a catch: you can't use enchanted items that have a use cost while you're already paralyzed. So the belt that's supposed to cure paralysis becomes useless when you need it most. In other words, your belt is pretty useless, unless you're a fan of the red and gold design.
4. The Crit – Borderlands 3
This weapon is actually fantastic. Unlike some of the weapons and items on this list, its stats are well above average. However, the prank here is more specific and hilarious, since this is Borderlands, after all. In addition to special effects like 150 % increased critical damage and 8 % regeneration of all damage dealt, this impressive submachine gun has another fun aspect: it's slippery when wet. In other words, every time you reload, you have a 5 % chance to drop it. This is a great troll, since this weapon is so powerful that it keeps you nearly invincible thanks to health regeneration. However, you are more vulnerable while reloading, and on top of the tactical inconvenience of losing your weapon in the middle of a serious fight, it must be pretty annoying.
5. The Invisibility Suit – Ghost Recon Wildlands
Invisibility is a double-edged sword in video games. Enemies may not be able to see you, but you may not be able to see your own character on screen. Such is the case with Ghost Recon Wildlands' Invisibility Suit, which makes your character nearly invisible. However, given that this is a third-person game, this isn't really an advantage. You'll remain as visible to enemies as usual once they spot you. It just takes them a little longer to notice. This suit seems like it offers total stealth, but it will lead you to a semi-invisible death rather quickly.
6. The Sphere of Invisibility – Doom
Since we're on the subject of invisibility not working as intended, let's talk about Doom's Invisibility Sphere. This sphere, also called the Blur Sphere or Blur Artifact in the game's manuals, helps you by making enemy shots less accurate. This seems useful, except when you're fighting enemies that shoot projectiles, as you'll have a much harder time predicting their trajectory. While the goal is to make enemies less likely to hit you, they'll likely be more likely to succeed since their shots will be going all over the place. This probably wasn't an intentional prank, but you'll feel cheated when you realize that the item that's supposed to help you does the exact opposite.
7. The Soiled Pants – Grim Dawn
The 2016 action RPG Grim Dawn gives you plenty of options to play and gear up with, but not all loot is created equal, especially in an action RPG. The name of the next item, the Defiled Pants, might have tipped you off as to the developers' intent to tease you. These pants are classified as epic leg armor, and they do indeed have a special ability. While not the most worthy of abilities, the Defiled Pants do carry the following description: "The previous owner seems to have left a little surprise in the seat of these pants." They grant you the ability to throw feces, which, well, you can guess. While most players assume that these are just humorous items for the developers to have fun with, some dedicated players have actually created characters based on them, which is pretty amusing.
8. Sword of Dawn – Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is full of weapons and gear to help you take down enemies, but some items won't do you any good. We're focusing on one such item, the Sword of Dawn, also known as the Sword of Dusk. This particular weapon seems great, as you can find it early on in the Upside Down Castle. However, once you find out what it actually does, it's a bit disappointing. This sword doesn't do much damage, but its special attack can randomly summon Warriors of Dawn to help you out. Unfortunately, these allies do next to no damage and are mostly just for show. You'll likely die admiring your small army, hoping that they'll defend you against the game's toughest enemies. However, you might be able to appreciate the game's innovative side during the end-of-game screen.
9. The Boots of Blinding Speed – The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind
It would have been easy to fill this list with examples from the Elder Scrolls and Borderlands series, but we tried to limit ourselves. However, the Boots of Blinding Speed seem pretty promising. After all, they are boots of speed, right? Well, this is a list of video game items that mock you, so at number two, you're already skeptical, right? Your skepticism would be justified, since these boots give you a huge speed boost, but they also have a 100 % blinding spell. So you'll be really fast, but with no way of knowing where you're going. Boots of Blinding Speed, get it? You can use the minimap to guide you, float slightly above the ground, or use a magic resistance spell or item to improve the usefulness of these tricky shoes. Alternatively, you can just accept the joke and put on less problematic footwear.
10. The Pendant – Dark Souls
You've probably heard of the Dark Souls Pendant. You were probably excited to pick it up, as every little item and piece of equipment counts in your fight against waking nightmares. However, this pendant is an exception. Its description even says that the item has no effect, but how is that possible, you thought? You searched desperately, in vain, because this pendant actually has no effect. You can exchange it for multiplayer currency with Snuggly, but that's it. Director Hidetaka Miyazaki even admitted that he created this item to tease players. It's hard to give first place to anything other than this pendant.
