Retrievable Projectiles

Overview

This mechanic allows the player to have virtually infinite ammo in some cases. Often games which feature this concept allow the player to retrieve ammo from walls, enemy corpses, and any other objects that were hit by the players' projectiles. This isn't considered to be exactly like infinite ammo though because the player is limited on his ammunition. For example, if the player empties his bow he will have to move from his cover/position to find the retrievable projectiles to recover his supplies. In addition, some games have retrievable projectiles but only under certain circumstances like not hitting a damageable target or break the arrow while hitting an hardened surface. For example, in Deus Ex the player can only retrieve arrows from missed shots. In thief the arrows can only be retrieved if the arrows have hit some soft surface like wooden surfaces to be retrieved, while in Turok we can retrieve any fired arrow as long as the said arrow is accessible.
Retrievable projectiles covers arrows, bolts, shurikens, throwing knives, even sometimes scythes and machetes when the player can throw them.