I feel like this trope can be expanded to games that award increased rewards to increased challenge outside of an explicit difficulty setting. E.g. In Shovel Knight destroying a checkpoint rewards you with a big treasure payout in exchange for having a much longer corpse run if you die; or in Vermintide 2 sacrificing your healing item slot for Grimoire that lowers your team's maximum HP but improves the quality of the reward chest if you carry it to the level exit.
I feel like this trope can be expanded to games that award increased rewards to increased challenge outside of an explicit difficulty setting. E.g. In Shovel Knight destroying a checkpoint rewards you with a big treasure payout in exchange for having a much longer corpse run if you die; or in Vermintide 2 sacrificing your healing item slot for Grimoire that lowers your team's maximum HP but improves the quality of the reward chest if you carry it to the level exit.