History Main / TreacherousCheckpoint

** The [[spoiler: True Lab]] contains a familiar-looking save point which, when examined, transforms into a [[ChestMonster shape-shifting Amalgamate]].

* ''VideoGame/HollowKnight'' has a bench in the Distant Village within Deepnest. The first time the player encounters it, there are strange figures loitering around welcoming them to rest in this friendly place. The instant The Knight sits it gets immobilized by sticky webbing, and the suspicious bystanders close in. The SneakySpider[=s=] doff their disguises and leave the Player Character AllWebbedUp with the rest of their prey. Fortunately The Knight can escape easily, and this capture is the only way to access Herrah the Beast's lair, so StupidityIsTheOnlyOption (or The Knight is simply a HorribleJudgeOfCharacter).

* ''VideoGame/{{Poacher}}'' has rooms in which Derek jumps through a small hole to save the game. At the beginning of the Abyss there is a save room that Derek is required to use but, instead of emerging from the hole, he continues falling down a chasm to the bottom of the Abyss.
* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' [[DiscussedTrope discusses]] and [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructs]] what it means to "save" in a videogame. By the end it is hard to regard any save point as unconditionally good. A few are especially tricky though:

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'' the last Save Point is guarded by a boss that only reveals himself when you first try to use the save point.

* ''VideoGame/HollowKnight'' has a bench in the Distant Village within Deepnest. The first time the player encounters it, there are strange figures loitering around welcoming them to rest in this definitely-safe place. The instant The Knight sits on the bench it is immobilized by sticky webbing. The suspicious bystanders (who are as predatory as the other [[SpidersAreScary inhabitants of Deepnest]]) converge, and moments later the Player Character is AllWebbedUp with the rest of their prey. However The Knight is no mere bug and can escape easily. Indeed this capture is the only way to access Herrah the Beast's lair, so StupidityIsTheOnlyOption (or The Knight is simply a HorribleJudgeOfCharacter).

Compare PoisonMushroom and ChestMonster, in which hazards and monsters are disguised as desirable items. This trope can overlap but does not need to. And a treacherous Check Point can feel much crueler than treacherous loot because, unless the game uses a JustifiedSavePoint, it's not the ''characters'' within the game who are being deceived by it: it's the ''player'' who is being betrayed.

For more on the paranoia-inducing nature of the subversion, compare InterfaceScrew and TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou. The player naturally expects a game to challenge them with difficulty, even surprise. However it is usually assumed that saving the game is merely a [[EnforcedTrope necessity of the medium]]. Thus it is assumed that the SavePoint is in some sense ''outside'' the reality of the game and therefore ''off-limits'' for challenge. The game can rudely shock a player by revealing that it is not.

This only applies when Checkpoint Treachery is intentionally used [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools as a tool]] to challenge the player. When a game's checkpoint system makes it UnwinnableByMistake, it's a GameBreakingBug.

* ''VideoGame/HollowKnight'' has a bench in the Distant Village within Deepnest. The first time the player encounters it, there are strange figures loitering around welcoming them to rest in this safe place. The instant The Knight sits on the bench it is immobilized by sticky webbing. The suspicious bystanders converge.

You've fallen victim to a Treacherous Checkpoint, a subversion of the oft-encountered CheckPoint or SavePoint. It could be considered the opposite of a HealingCheckpoint (a Harming Checkpoint). It applies whenever the Check Point, which is usually always helpful to the player, becomes undesirable and better-avoided.

* ''VideoGame/Minecraft'': Beds could be considered checkpoints, as they allow you to reset your spawn point and bypass dangerous events. Trying to use one in The Nether or The End, though, makes it [[MadeOfExplodium instantly explode]].

** Subverted in ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'': If you have the DLC installed, some Bonfires explode in your face when you try activating them, sending you flying across the room and releasing what seems at first to be an unholy monstrosity. The subversion comes when you realize that fiery explosion didn't hurt you and the "monster" is actually a talkative NPC who leaves and lets you use the Bonfire normally after a CrypticConversation.

This only applies when Checkpoint Treachery is intentionally used [[TropesAreTools as a tool]] to challenge the player. When a game's checkpoint system makes it UnwinnableByMistake, it's a GameBreakingBug.

* ''VideoGame/{{VVVVVV}}'' turns checkpoints into an obstacle for any player seeking that LastLousyPoint. Collecting one Shiny Trinket [[DeathIsTheOnlyOption requires dying]] and re-spawning at another checkpoint on the same screen; pulling off this move means going around the long way while fastidiously ''avoiding'' checkpoints.

This is rare, and for good reason. In the middle of a dungeon full of MalevolentArchitecture and EverythingTryingToKillYou the SavePoint may be, metaphorically, the player's only friend. A symbolic betrayal by this last friend may drive an already-aggravated player to RageQuit. But if used carefully, this can throw some ParanoiaFuel on an already-smoldering pyre: in a well-designed game a player expects the place where the game is ''saved'' to be, well, ''safe''. When the game betrays this expectation it hammers in the dread that ''nowhere'' is safe.

For more on the paranoia-inducing nature of the subversion, compare InterfaceScrew and TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou. The player naturally expects a game to challenge them with danger, [[NintendoHard brutal difficulty]], even surprise. However it is usually assumed that saving the game is merely a necessity of the medium. Thus it is assumed that the SavePoint is in some sense ''outside'' the reality of the game and therefore ''off-limits'' for challenge. The game can rudely shock a player by revealing that it is not.

** In ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsI'', [[spoiler:the very last bonfire is actually the First Flame: by "activating" it, you Link the Fire, which is the ending where your character burns themselves to cinders in order to prolong the Age of Fire for a few more centuries]].

** Thankfully, the entire series never plays this fully straight, though it hasn't stopped some sadistic--err, ''creative'' fans from discussing the possibility of [[ChestMonster Bonfire Mimics]], even coming up with fanart for them. The developers from Creator/FromSoftware even [[WordOfGod went on record]] to say [[EvenEvilHasStandards they think that would be too mean.]]

** Thankfully, the entire series never plays this fully straight. Doesn't stop some sadistic torture-porn level fanart being circulated, though...

** In Magus's castle, falling through a trap door in one room will land you in a large cavern with four apparent save points, one in each of the four cardinal directions. One ''is'' a save point, a second is actually a teleporter that will take you to the room you fell from, and the other two [[ChestMonster trigger battles with multiple fake save points]]. These switch around every time you fall into the room[[labelnote:Hint]]The two fake save points are always opposite each other, and the real save point is always opposite the teleporter[[/labelnote]].

* ''VideoGame/Poacher'' has rooms in which Derek jumps through a small hole to save the game. At the beginning of the Abyss there is a save room that Derek is required to use but, instead of emerging from the hole, he continues falling down a chasm to the bottom of the Abyss.

* ''VideoGame/{{VVVVVV}}'' turns checkpoints into an obstacle for any player seeking that LastLousyPoint. Collecting one Shiny Trinket [[DeathIsTheOnlyOption requires dying]] and re-spawning at another checkpoint on the same screen; pulling off this move means going around the long way while fastidiously ''avoiding'' checkpoints.
* The last save point of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'' is guarded by a boss that only reveals himself when you first try to use the save point.

* ''VideoGame/IWannaBeTheGuy'' has a save point that will attempt to kill you.

* ''VideoGame/{{VVVVVV}}'' turns checkpoints into an obstacle for any player seeking that LastLousyPoint. Collecting one Shiny Trinket [[DeathIsTheOnlyOption requires dying]] and re-spawning at another checkpoint on the same screen; pulling off this move means going around the long way while fastidiously ''avoiding'' checkpoints.