History Main / RewardingVandalism

* The ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' series is filled with candles and torches ready to be whipped. [[note]] The American manual for ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaIIIDraculasCurse'' explained that Trevor Belmont, one of the first Belmonts to fight Dracula, made a deal with a benevolent spirit called the Poltergeist King so that he would hide beneficial items and equipment throughout Dracula's castle. Note that the Poltergeist King is never mentioned in the original Japanese manual, as he was strictly a creation of the game's American localization and no other game in the series contains any reference to him. [[/note]]

* In ''VideoGame/AirfixDogfighter'', you are free to smash every single breakable thing in the house to bits, and there are always some collectibles hidden in them.

* ''VideoGame/AstralChain''... is a subversion. It is indeed possible to smash items in civilian areas or crime scenes, but in doing so, one of your allies will [[WhatTheHellPlayer call you out]] and some of your Duty Points will be docked. A small amount, but you have to remember that you're playing as an arm of the police force.
* A ''Bard's Tale'' has a barrel merchant who pays you one silver for every barrel you break besides his. The catch is that [[spoiler:The town he's in, the very first one, is completely destroyed by undead about 3/4s of the way through the game. By the time most people think to go back and collect on the obscene amount of money, it's usually too late. Of course, by that time you never need to worry about money anyway, whether or not you have the Treasure Hunter talent.]]
* ''Videogame/BatmanArkhamAsylum'' and [[Videogame/BatmanArkhamSeries its sequels]] averts destruction of objects, as Batman isn't known for arbitrary property damage, yet still offers the chance to break through walls, windows, ceilings, and floors for takedowns, not to mention how collecting Riddler trophies will require the destruction of walls, grates and security terminals.

* Most of the battlefields in ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy'' have elements that can be destroyed in the heat of battle ranging from statues to walls to roofs to whole cliffsides. Certain items can only be obtained by actively destroying the surrounding environment.
* ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' games since III has pots, drawers, dressers, etc. in people's houses and dungeons containing items and money. Nobody seems to mind you breaking into their houses opening their drawers if anything value inside. With the "nose for treasure" ability, you can find how many treasures left unopened. In IX, items can appear again in the same pots and drawers previously searched if you wait for a while.
* Zigzagged in ''VideoGame/{{Drakensang}}'': the first game played this trope straight, with breakable barrels, crates, and jars containing useful materials and sometimes even gold. In the second game, useful stuff is mostly found inside normal chests and barrels, with gold available only in large chests. Breakable containers are usually filled with trash, though the jars in certain ruins will have ancient coins (worth a lot) inside.

* Christmas involves unwrapping presents in boxes, right? Well, when ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'' had its 2008 YouMeanXmas event, they decided to let the players get such action by... er, beating up giant crates until they exploded, sometimes dropping sweets or event items.

* The online mode of VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV features "Criminal Damage", a periodic free-mode event to earn in-game prize money for players who cause the most expensive damage in the space of 5 minutes. In many missions, [[DieChairDie smashing]] or [[StuffBlowingUp blowing]] up the target is pretty much the objective. Other than that, running down lamp posts, traffic lights and plate glass doesn't attract police attention. Smashing or blowing up cars does, though.

* ''[[VideoGame/HalfLife1 Half-Life]]'' uses this straightforwardly - any objects you need to maneuver around Black Mesa's ElaborateUndergroundBase are indestructible, so smash away! The sequel, however, occasionally forces you to use destructible items to move forward, so you need to be more careful where and how you swing your crowbar.

* The ''VideoGame/HarryPotter'' games involve, peripherally to the story, smashing up vases, cauldrons, suits of armor, and so on, for a cascade of Bertie Bott's beans, cauldron cakes, pumpkins. The ''[[VideoGame/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix Order of the Phoenix]]'' game is weird about this - [[InvertedTrope it rewards you for tidying up Hogwarts]], but you also get to [[TyrantTakesTheHelm rebel against]] [[Characters/HarryPotter Umbridge]] by vandalizing the school.
** Vandalism is actually required in the final boss fight of ''[[VideoGame/HarryPotter Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone]]''. Harry has to cast magic spells at the decorative pillars in the room to make them fall on Voldemort.

* ''VideoGame/JakAndDaxter'': [[VideoGame/JakAndDaxterThePrecursorLegacy the first game]] rewards you with health for randomly smashing barrels and crates everywhere. [[VideoGame/JakIIRenegade The second game]] has health and ammo in specific Krimzon Guard crates, and in [[VideoGame/Jak3Wastelander the third]], breaking pots reveal hidden Precursor orbs and Metal Head skull gems.

* A Flash web game called ''Minotaur China Shop'' has you playing as a minotaur, staffing a shop in a mall that sells glass- and earthenware to various other mythological creatures. Normally, knocking over display items on the shelves on the way to getting them for the customers takes money away from your score. But [[CrossesTheLineTwice break enough things, and the store gets to collect on its insurance policy]], netting even more money than just filling orders. Though, once you reach that point, you have to fend off mall security, sent in to stop your rampage...

* ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'' has an achievement for dislodging a certain amount (20?) of Aperture Science Surveillance Cameras from the walls.

* Most visitable locations in the ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClank'' games are just full of stuff that releases bolts (the game's currency) when destroyed. From light fixtures to innocent cars flying by. The games often even have an item whose sole purpose is to allow the player to smash every object in sight with one GroundPound. You can occasionally earn Skill Points by breaking everything in a specific area.

* ''VideoGame/{{Rampage}}'', the granddaddy of all RewardingVandalism games. Punch out windows, steal the valuables inside, and eat innocent bystanders, all while mutated into a giant lizard or ape = win.

* ''VideoGame/RedFactionGuerrilla''. And how. In addition to providing salvage, the closest thing the game has to money, destroying certain buildings or objects can raise morale or lower EDF control -- both essential to success. Additionally, since nearly ''everything'' short of the actual terrain is destructible, it's also rewarded in [[StealthPun less concrete]] ways, such as being able to knock down a wall for an ambush or quick escape or break fences or pipes to find alternate entrance to a secure area.
* In VideoGame/ResidentEvilTheUmbrellaChronicles and VideoGame/ResidentEvilTheDarksideChronicles, you need to shoot stuff in order to reveal and grab files. In Umbrella Chronicles, "Items Destroyed" even goes towards your end-of-level score; the better your score, the more stars you earn to upgrade your weapons with.

* ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird'' has Mayhem and [[TankGoodness Tank Mayhem]] missions whose purpose is to destroy as much as possible to reach a property damage value goal. Mayhem missions are on foot with temporarily infinitely-stocked explosive weapons, the tank version is the same thing with a tank. If you happen to have a tank handy, you can turn one into the other. ''VideoGame/SaintsRow4'' brings in [[MiniMecha Mech]] [[PoweredArmor Suit]] Mayhem which lets you wreck shit inside your robot/power armor/mech, UFO Mayhem which lets you wreck shit in a Zin Void, and [[MindOverMatter TK]] Mayhem which lets you throw shit with your mind to wreck shit. In the non-vehicle Mayhem missions you ''can'' use the whirlwind upgrade to [[SuperSpeed Super Sprint]] but it's a lot easier [[PowerUpLetDown without it]] as you can just as easily use explosives while not being hit by the cars you sucked up behind you that are now suddenly flying in your direction.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Shantae}}'' series: Break pots to find the Gem currency, or HitPoints / {{Mana}} restoratives. The games are: ''VideoGame/Shantae2002'', ''VideoGame/ShantaeRiskysRevenge'', ''VideoGame/ShantaeAndThePiratesCurse'', ''VideoGame/ShantaeHalfGenieHero'', ''VideoGame/ShantaeAndTheSevenSirens''.

* VideoGame/SlyCooper can get health and cash from smashing up random bits of furniture and other objects.

* ''VideoGame/SouthParkTheStickOfTruth'': lots of environmental objects are breakable in most areas and will usually give a bit of ShopFodder. Because objects repair after you leave the area, you can return to break everything all over again, effectively giving you an unlimited source of cash if you're patient. Money, however, is pretty easy to come by already.
* Smashing blocks is common business in ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' universe. You're often times rewarded with coins from blocks that are ? blocks, just unmarked and made to look like bricks. Now if only real life worked this way...[[note]]The English manual for [[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1 the first game]] gave a reasonable explanation: Bowser turned most of the Mushroom Kingdom citizens into ? blocks. The powerups hidden within these blocks were actually gifts to help Mario stop their tormentor and turn everyone back. Like the ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' example above, this explanation never appeared anywhere else, and ? blocks were shown to be common fixtures of that world.[[/note]]

* In ''VideoGame/UnleashTheLight'', you can break pots to get items and money. One Jade [[YouBastard seemingly calls you out for it]], [[BaitAndSwitchComment but she actually likes it]] because to her, breaking pots is breaking the monotonous way of living in Pyrope's World. She even encourages you to break 50 pots as a {{Sidequest}}.

* ''[[VideoGame/Warcraft Warcraft III]]'': Only some crates and terrain elements are destructible, the important goods are presumably kept in the invulnerable boxes. On one level, vandalism is a good strategy: skeletons are hiding in crates, destroying the crates one by one allows you to take them out more easily rather than falling into an ambush.

* ''VideoGame/ZombiesAteMyNeighbors'' grants you a "Massive Destruction" bonus if you blow holes in enough stuff pre stage.

* Somewhat justified in the game adaptations of ''VideoGame/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. After all, if Buffy is in quick need of a [[WoodenStake vamp-dusting stake]], what quicker way to improvise one than by smashing a nearby box or barrel for the wood?

* In ''VideoGame/BattleGaregga'', bombing allows you to destroy tons of background objects including but not limited to train tracks, bridges, water towers, enemy spawners, and [[GameplayAndStorySegregation houses of the oppressed villagers you're supposed to be fighting for]], all of which harbor [[EveryTenThousandPoints score medals needed to get extra lives]] and powerups. This applies just as well to its three sequels ''Armed Police Batrider'', ''Battle Bakraid'', and ''Ibara''.

* In ''VideoGame/UnleashTheLight'', you can break pots to get items and money. One Jade [[YouBastard seemingly calls you out for it]], [[BaitAndSwitch but she actually likes it]] because to her, breaking pots is breaking the monotonous way of living in Pyrope's World. She even encourages you to break 50 pots as a {{Sidequest}}.

* Smashing blocks is common business in ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' universe. You're often times rewarded with coins from blocks that are ? blocks, just unmarked and made to look like bricks. Now if only real life worked this way...[[note]]The English manual for [[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros the first game]] gave a reasonable explanation: Bowser turned most of the Mushroom Kingdom citizens into ? blocks. The powerups hidden within these blocks were actually gifts to help Mario stop their tormentor and turn everyone back. Like the ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' example above, this explanation never appeared anywhere else, and ? blocks were shown to be common fixtures of that world.[[/note]]

* ''VideoGame/LittleBigAdventure'': Averted. In both games, you just have to stop and jump in front of objects - trash cans, wardrobes, bushes, etc - to get money, energy points or vital itens. And if you'll return to a scenery after a while, same objects will give you stuff again.

* In the VideoGame/MetalSlug games, destroying background objects will usually yield useful items such as weapons or grenades.

* [[''VideoGame/Portal1 Portal]]'' has an achievement for dislodging a certain amount (20?) of Aperture Science Surveillance Cameras from the walls.