Video games, in essence, are designed to entertain you from start to finish. However, that doesn't mean 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 reached too high a level in the game or the item is simply mediocre from the start. However, sometimes it's a different story, and that story is you being the butt of a prank. If you've ever picked up one of these items, you might have been better off not bothering. However, the development team that created them certainly had a lot of 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 pick. Compared to other axes in the game, it is formidable in terms of power, but has a considerable disadvantage: there is a chance that it will backfire and deal damage to your character instead of your opponent. You can mitigate this risk with decent luck status, but it's still a roll of the dice to determine whether you'll inflict pain on yourself or someone else. If you like high-risk betting, it's fun, but if you're cautious, you might do well to avoid it.
2. Magic Armor – The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Not every video game object that makes fun of you does so in a humorous way. Sometimes an item may seem to have a lot of use, but it turns out to be disappointing once used. Twilight Princess offers many weapons, tools and equipment, including Magic Armor. This armor protects your health with a magic barrier, but it slowly drains your magic gauge and your wallet during combat. Yes, this armor runs on rubies. It consumes two rubies per second and takes ten more when you are hit by an attack that would otherwise have cost a quarter of a heart. You might be happy that your rubies are preserved instead of your hit points, but you may find yourself helpless when you run out of rubies or magic, making your defense almost non-existent.
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 providing the ability to cure oneself of paralysis. However, there is a catch: you cannot use enchanted items that have a usage cost when you are already paralyzed. So the belt that is 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 weapons and items on this list, its stats are well above average. However, the prank here is more specific and hilarious, because this is Borderlands, after all. In addition to special effects like increased critical damage by 150 % 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 of dropping it. This is a great troll, as this weapon is so powerful that it keeps you nearly invincible through health regeneration. However, you are more vulnerable when reloading, and on top of the tactical disadvantage of losing your weapon in the middle of a serious fight, that must be rather inconvenient.
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. This is the case of the Invisibility Suit from Ghost Recon Wildlands, which makes your character almost invisible. However, given that it's a third-person game, that's not much of an advantage. You will remain as visible as usual to enemies once they spot you. It will just take them a little longer to realize it. This suit appears to offer complete stealth, but it will lead you to a semi-invisible death rather quickly.
6. The Sphere of Invisibility – Doom
Since we're talking about invisibility not working as intended, let's talk about Doom's Invisibility Sphere. This sphere, also called Blur Sphere or Blur Artifact in the game's manuals, helps you by making enemy shots less accurate. This seems useful except when fighting enemies that fire projectiles, as you'll have a much harder time predicting their trajectory. Although the goal is to make enemies less likely to hit you, they will likely be more likely to succeed because their shots will go in all directions. It probably wasn't an intentional prank, but you'll feel cheated when you realize the object that's supposed to help you is doing the exact opposite.
7. The Soiled Pants – Grim Dawn
The 2016 action RPG game Grim Dawn gives you plenty of options for playing and gearing up, but not all loot is created equal, especially in an action RPG. The name of the next item, the Soiled Pants, might have clued you in as to the developers' intention to tease you. These pants are classified as epic leg armor, and they indeed have a special ability. While not the most dignified of abilities, the Soiled Pants have the following description: “The previous owner seems to have left a little surprise in the seat of these pants.” They give you the ability to throw feces, which, well, you can guess. Although most players think 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 fun.
8. The Sword of Dawn – Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is full of weapons and equipment to help you take down enemies, but some items won't help you at all. We focus on one such item, the Sword of Dawn, also known as the Sword of Twilight. This particular weapon looks great, as you can find it early in the Inverted Castle. However, once you find out what she actually does, disappointment sets in. This sword doesn't do much damage, but its special attack can randomly summon Warriors of Dawn to help you. Unfortunately, these allies do almost no damage and are mostly there for show. You'll probably die admiring your small army, hoping 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-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 look quite promising. After all, these are speed boots, right? Well, that's a list of video game objects that make fun of you, so by number two you're already skeptical, right? This skepticism would be justified, as these boots allow you to significantly increase your speed, but they also have a blind spell at 100 %. So you will be very fast, but with no way of knowing where you are going. Boots of Blinding Speed, you understand? You can use the mini-map to guide you, hover slightly above the ground, or use a spell or magic resistance item to enhance the usefulness of these delicate shoes. Otherwise, you can just accept the joke and put on less problematic shoes.
10. The Pendant – Dark Souls
You've probably already heard of the Dark Souls Pendant. You were probably excited to pick it up, because 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 to having created this object to tease players. It's hard to give first place to anything other than this pendant.
