Unlike cheats in multiplayer games, cheats in singleplayer games aren’t always malicious. In fact, they can be an extremely useful tool to break the game and test the limits of how over-the-top it can be.

Cheats have been around video games ever since players wanted to win, regardless of fairness. Whether it’s invulnerability, infinite resources, or the ability to ignore walls, cheats give players every advantage they need for a relatively easy playthrough.

Sometimes, playing the game normally just doesn’t cut it anymore, and using cheats might open up some interesting opportunities for players who want to experiment with the game’s engine, or stress test just how many sweet rolls you can spawn in one instance before the game crashes.

10 Minecraft

Thrive, Not Just Survive

The main appeal of Minecraft is that the possibilities are endless, and you can play it however you want for as long as you want. As one of the best-selling games of all time, Minecraft is perfect for any player.

While most players enjoy survival mode because it provides a natural progression in building their world, harvesting resources and organizing your inventory can be quite a hassle in Minecraft.

That’s where creative mode and console commands come in. While it’s not frowned upon, many players who feel committed to survival mode might feel cheap about switching game modes or easily receiving that one extra diamond to craft their enchantment table.

With creative mode, players can have anything they need. They can become invulnerable (except when falling into the void) and fly at incredible speeds. Creative mode is perfect for anybody who just wants to relax and build to their heart’s content without worrying about resource management.

9 Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Manipulate The Stock Market

When the world seemed to grind to a halt in 2020, people turned to Animal Crossing: New Horizons in droves, trying to find a semblance of normalcy and structure through their virtual island and villagers. While Animal Crossing can be a relaxing game, many players took to finding exploits to upgrade their island at a much faster pace.

Time Traveling has become a staple of forbidden Animal Crossing magic. Since the game runs on the Switch’s internal clock, players can change that in their console’s setting to rewind or fast-forward through time to whatever date they wish.

By time traveling, players can skip through time to restock on resources, speed up construction, and even manipulate the turnip stock trade. Many Animal Crossing players have become filthy rich through this dark magic.

8 Pokémon

Destroy A Bug Trainer With Six Rayquazas

There has been a long history of exploits and cheats in the Pokémon franchise’s long list of games. I fondly remember a time before emulators, when people used GameShark and Action Replay for their cheats. Some of my best Pokémon childhood memories involved cheating and ROM hacks of Pokémon Emerald, Diamond and Pearl.

GameShark and Action Replay were physical devices that you had to insert into your Game Boy or NDS, which are loaded up with preset cheat codes to toggle for your game, allowing you to completely break the game with infinite rare candies, increased shiny spawn rates, and even instant access to legendary Pokémon.

Playing Pokémon with cheats wasn’t looked down upon when you were a kid (save for the occasional purist). Instead, it would elevate your status, as most other kids would look on with awe as you stomp on the Elite Four with a full team of six level 100 Arceus.

7 Doom Eternal

Demonic Guts And Infernal Confetti

Like its predecessor and the overall boomer shooter lineage, Doom Eternal features built-in cheats in the form of collectibles and secrets. These cheats can be used to experiment with playstyles, find missed secrets in already-completed missions, or just mess around in the sandbox.

Some cheats can be found throughout the main game, and they range from infinite lives to fully upgrading your gear. Cheats in Doom Eternal can also be activated at any point during gameplay to help players complete challenges much more easily.

Others can also make the game sillier, as cheats like Party Mode turn Demons into confetti when gibbed, or QuakeCon Mode, where a disembodied audience cheers based on your in-game performance.

6 The Sims 4

Play God

Even though The Sims games are meant to be a fun way to simulate life, nobody wants to slog through the nitty-gritty parts of living. Of course, people are just going to find cheats to breeze through their gameplay. and The Sims 4 is no exception to that, as we all know that Sims players love playing god.

By turning on cheats via CTRL+Shift+C, you can type in your desired cheat codes and set your Sim to run the way you want it to. Veteran Sims players will recognize cheat codes like rosebud or motherlode, or even use bb. codes to cheat in build mode.

Cheating in The Sims is practically a staple, and nobody’s going to judge you for getting ahead in your simulated life.

5 The Orange Box

Console Commands Are Everything

This is a three-in-one (or four depending on how you look at it), as the Orange Box games all run on the same engine and have extremely similar cheat codes. Most notably, games like Team Fortress 2 and Half-Life 2 are much more fun when you cheat, as you can play with infinite ammo or become unkillable.

In the case of TF2, we don’t condone cheating or hacking on normal servers, but when a server operator gives players permission to use cheat codes on a modded server, then things can get a little crazy.

If you hop onto a server that permits cheats, you’ll find other players who are perma-Ubered, dealing unlimited crits, or just zooming around the map like they’re speedsters. Many players use these servers to goof around or farm kills with their Strange weapons in a low-pressure environment.

Garry’s Mod can also be considered one big cheat, as you can manipulate the game’s world however you want, whenever you want, giving players infinite possibilities in creating mods and maps such as the most notable game modes, Trouble In Terrorist Town and Prop Hunt.

4 Saints Row Series

Become An Avatar Of Destruction

If there’s one video game series whose unapologetically wackiness can be enhanced even further by cheat codes, then it’s the Saints Row series.

These cheats range from infinite money, triggering high-octane police chases, or even changing the time of day at your pleasure. You can even add weapons and vehicles to your arsenal, becoming a being of utter destruction.

Cheats in Saints Row games are built-in, as they can be most commonly accessed via the in-game cellphone app and can be activated at any point during the game. However, activating cheats in-game instantly disables achievements, so good luck getting your 100% fairly.

3 Borderlands 2

It’s Raining Legendaries!

Borderlands 2 is one of the most beloved looter shooters. With millions of potential in RNG-based loot drops, players can sink a ton of their time into Borderlands 2 just to find the perfect gun. But after you’ve played for a certain amount of time, sometimes people just want an exact roll, or they want to artificially pump a few more levels into their gear.

While there are several in-game cheeses for players to reduce time grinding levels and earn more money, Gibbed’s Save Editor can help players who’ve already spent hundreds of hours on this game get the guns they’re tired of farming for.

With this mod, players who can’t be bothered to do the tedious grinding can use it to not just craft the perfect gear with max levels but also mash different combinations to create an impossible gun stronger than any of the base weapons, like a Conference Call shotgun that shoots an endless stream of Torgue projectiles like the Infinity pistol.

Mods like Save Editor help you mess around with the game’s code and turn you into a god that will shred through Borderlands‘ toughest bosses.

Sworn To (Never) Carry Your Burdens

Don’t be surprised to see The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim on this list. The modding community has singlehandedly kept this game alive for over a decade, and thanks to console commands, players can easily manipulate the game however they want without the hassle of playing through the main story.

The most useful cheats include (but not limited to) modifying carry weight to prevent over-encumbrance, granting a specified amount of XP points (to put skill points into your hundredth stealth archer build), and spawning anything near you.

Using cheats with Nexus Mods can provide a fresh experience for new and veteran players alike in an old yet beloved game like Skyrim. These commands also apply to other open-world Bethesda games like Fallout 4 or Oblivion.

1 Grand Theft Auto 5

The Ultimate Sandbox

The GTA series has always been closely tied with cheat codes. Every city in a major Grand Theft Auto game is the perfect playground to wreak havoc and blow things up, and GTA V‘s Los Santos is no exception.

By inputting specific phone numbers in the in-game cellphone, players can trigger certain effects, spawn vehicles, and give classic cheats like god mode and infinite ammo. Singleplayer cheat codes are perfect for anybody looking to cause some over-the-top five-star destruction.

On a little controversial note, cheats are also quite common in the GTA Online community. OG GTA Online players will remember a time when hackers would run around servers and give out copious amounts of money to the point where Rockstar had to reset everybody’s saving.

I will admit to receiving hundreds of millions in GTA Online from a hacker one random day years ago, immediately spending it on all the luxury items I could find, and still having millions more to spare. If it weren’t for those money hacks, I would probably still be robbing gas stations and living in squalor.