What happened to cheat codes?

[davis.anthony]

I was thinking this when installing GTA3, my brother and I had so much fun when the game released spawning a tank and going on a rampage.

And then I remembered that so many games back then had cheat codes and modern games don't.

I imagine some were there for fun and some were there to help QC testing.

Does anyone know why we don't get them these days?

 

[orangpelupa]

MTX, DLC, booster pack

 

[Riddlewire]

Achievements happened.
You can't have both at the same time.
Otherwise, you'd be able to cheat your way to the achievements (or trophies).

 

[davis.anthony]

Achievements happened.
You can't have both at the same time.
Otherwise, you'd be able to cheat your way to the achievements (or trophies).

Not really.

They just tell the game to not allow achievement unlocks when cheat codes are active.

 

[digitalwanderer]

Because devs prefer selling cheats now over having free codes for them.


One of the biggest reasons I prefer PC over consoles, cheat engine and trainers ftw!

 

[AlphaWolf]

Because devs prefer selling cheats now over having free codes for them.


One of the biggest reasons I prefer PC over consoles, cheat engine and trainers ftw!

Up up down down left right left right a b start.

 

[digitalwanderer]

Never forget the Konami code!

 

[Riddlewire]

Not really.

They just tell the game to not allow achievement unlocks when cheat codes are active.

Do you know of any game like this?
I don't. But I'd be interested to see one.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Do you know of any game like this?
I don't. But I'd be interested to see one.

Slay the Spire comes to mind as a game I recently played. Custom play modes where you can play a level with various settings don't allow Achievements or leaderboards.

 

[Nesh]

Slay the Spire comes to mind as a game I recently played. Custom play modes where you can play a level with various settings don't allow Achievements or leaderboards.

This is an exception though right?

Cheat codes were an interesting feature. They either made a game super fun or they spoiled the fun.
But there was something interesting about games back then. You played games just to have fun. The achievements give you a reward sensation, but this is can often be an annoying trap.
Playing a game and organically achieving something feels nice. But a lot of times we are caught up in an achievement hunting, doing time consuming painful choirs and challenges that otherwise we wouldnt have pursued since we dont necessarily find them fun. And it is something also tied to the aspect of social media, which is showing to others our achievement or comparing outselves with others.
Designing achievements properly requires skill and shouldnt feel tiresome. But most of the time they do feel tiresome. Some of them are simply mental torture and a lot of them dont make much sense either.

Cheat codes were many times unlocking features that were simply created to enjoy a game outside of it's normal boundaries. Sometimes they were just a joke. Some games unlocked these features by doing certain tasks instead by using cheat codes. For example MGS1 gave you a bandana for infinite ammo and a stealth camouflage if you finished the game in certain ways. It also gave you a tuxedo like James Bond. It gave you an incentive for replayability. Other games had costumes and infinite weapons in cheat codes. The Uncharted series gave us some of that by unlocking donut drake and other things by collecting treasures during gameplay. Which is an evolution from the Jak games.

Some old games gave you extra gameplay features or in the case of racing games weird vehicles through cheat codes. The point of cheat codes was having fun and experimenting with the game differently after experiencing the game as it should. Achievements/trophies often make games unfun even if we feel momentarily rewarded.

 

[davis.anthony]

The anti-gravity in Tony Hawk was especially awesome!

 

[snc]

In some games like for example lou2 you get "cheats" after you finished game (infinity ammo, one shot kill etc) and I think its best solution. Remember using codes in games back in time always ended getting bored realy fast.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

In some games like for example lou2 you get "cheats" after you finished game (infinity ammo, one shot kill etc) and I think its best solution. Remember using codes is games back in time always ended getting bored realy fast.

I like this approach as well, although even without earning in-game 'credits' to 'spend' on 'cheats', The Last of Us 2 has so many accessibility options it's basically cheat-mode enabled from the opening. You can set the intelligence, aggressiveness and perception of enemies, the prevalence of items, the relative player/enemy damage and things like infinite bullet-time when aiming which makes missing almost impossible.

 

[davis.anthony]

I like this approach as well, although even without earning in-game 'credits' to 'spend' on 'cheats', The Last of Us 2 has so many accessibility options it's basically cheat-mode enabled from the opening. You can set the intelligence, aggressiveness and perception of enemies, the prevalence of items, the relative player/enemy damage and things like infinite bullet-time when aiming which makes missing almost impossible.

TLOU2 needs a 'big head' mode.