Games
Discover facts about games. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Games
In the original Sims, a missing ladder could become a death trap
A swimming Sim needed a pool ladder to get out. Removing it could leave the character swimming until exhaustion, even with a reachable-looking edge nearby.…
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In RimWorld, kidneys can be worth more than mining
On the frontier, capturing pirates and removing their kidneys to sell to traders can be more profitable than farming or mining.
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Dishonored gives its rat plague a place in your combat strategy
A swarm can attack a guard and consume the body, turning the city's infestation into a weapon and a way to remove evidence. The mechanics connect two parts of…
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In this game, romance happens in dumpsters
The game’s characters can climb into commercial dumpsters to get romantic, surrounded by rotting garbage and flies.
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In The Sims, neglecting a baby gets it taken away
If players fail to feed a baby, a stern woman appears, takes the child away in a carrier, and the baby is gone for good.
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In Control, looking away from a fridge can kill you
If an agent assigned to watch the anomalous cooler blinks or looks away, it kills them.
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Kiryu's 'no killing' reputation became a fan joke
Yakuza's protagonist often shows restraint in dramatic story scenes, while gameplay lets him perform wildly violent attacks. Fans highlight that gap with the…
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Elizabeth aggressively hurls spare change at your face
During firefights, she tosses silver coins your way so you can buy more ammunition.
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Mount Massive asylum patients demand human fingers
One patient captures the player and uses rusty shears to amputate two fingers.
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Commander Shepard can punch a reporter on live TV
In Mass Effect, Shepard can punch an interviewer on live TV if the reporter presses with invasive political questions.
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Death Stranding makes the journey the delivery problem
Sam carries cargo across difficult terrain while managing balance, routes, and the condition of his load. Bridges and other shared structures can make later…
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Max Payne wore his writer's face
Sam Lake supplied the original game's script and the face of its troubled detective. Remedy's small team also recruited colleagues, friends and relatives as…
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Alan Wake makes you strip an enemy's shadow before shooting
The Taken are protected by darkness, which the flashlight burns away before ordinary weapons can finish the fight. Boosting the beam drains its battery…
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When Cloud Strife had to wear a dress
To get information from a seedy mansion, Cloud gathers a silk dress, a blonde wig, and premium perfume to charm his way inside, setting aside his brooding…
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A TV mascot with an existential crisis
The bear's cheerful cartoon exterior contrasts with frequent bouts of philosophical doubt: he wonders whether he really exists or is only a projection of…
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Stardew Valley lets you turn a secret errand into public humiliation
Mayor Lewis asks you to recover his purple shorts, which are in Marnie's bedroom. Returning them quietly completes the favor. Putting them in your fair…
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Stanley spends the game defying a narrator
He wanders through surreal routes, often choosing the wrong doors just to trigger the narrator’s sarcastic commentary.
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Tomb Raider II lets you lock the butler in a freezer
Winston follows Lara around Croft Manor slowly enough for players to lure him into the walk-in freezer and shut the door. A household character meant to make…
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Mad Max 2 built wasteland armor from sporting equipment
Costume designer Norma Moriceau mixed motorcycle wear, fetish gear, and sports protection. Max's outfit included football shoulder pads and a cricket pad;…
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Why Papers, Please is so emotionally brutal
The inspector must choose between helping refugees and earning enough to heat the home for their freezing family. Each passport check turns into a painful…
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Dante's demon-hunting life leaves room for strawberry sundaes
Devil May Cry's action hero has a conspicuously ordinary appetite: pizza and, especially in the animated series, strawberry sundaes. The contrast is part of…
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Portal makes you feel guilty about disposing of a box
The Companion Cube helps the player solve puzzles and carries a heart-shaped design, encouraging attachment to an otherwise ordinary game object. Then the…
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Fallout 3's vampires are trying to stop being cannibals
Vance teaches the Family to control their hunger by drinking blood instead of eating people. The vampire identity is his system of rules for a community of…
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Cyberpunk turns cheap food into something called Kibble
The setting's processed staple comes as nutrient-packed pellets, with ingredients such as plant and marine proteins. Its dog-food association is part of the…
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