I was thinking about a few games where I have broken the tone or balance. Wondering what other people have done similar?
My two examples:
This War Of Mine. A moody, atmospheric game about survival and the toll of war. The city is randomly generated, but depending on what locations are available it is breakable. The most common way for me is a super market location with the event of a lone soldier preparing to attack a woman. If the player has a knife, backstabbing the soldier is an easy kill and nets an assault rifle as loot. An early game assault rifle opens a ton of possibilities when you learn how enemy AI works. AI enemies can be ambushed by making noise on the other side of a closed door, when the enemy is in their animation to open the door they are easy pickings. I have used this technique to single handed wipe out an entire military base which nets more food, weapons, and supplies than I’d ever need. My survivors end up living in a comfortable, fully upgraded house.
STALKER Shadow Of Chernobyl. This is a more messed up break. In the early game the player starts in a village of rookies, and down the road is a small military check point. I take the terrible starting pistol and shoot potshots at the military patrol to aggro them, and I lead them back to the rookie village. Once the military and rookies start fighting I go hide near Sidrovich’s bunker and go inside if somebody finds me (enemies don’t follow into the bunker). Eventually the military kill all the rookies but take casualties themselves and are wounded. I pick up a few guns and finish off the military survivors. Then make lots and lots of trips to Sidrovich to sell him dozens of assault rifles and armor sets.