Games
Discover facts about games. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Games
Fans kept repairing Bloodlines long after its studio closed
Vampire: The Masquerade—Bloodlines launched in 2004 with problems that its community continued tackling through unofficial patches. Wesp5 and other…
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Elite Dangerous built a galaxy too big to finish exploring
Its roughly 400 billion star systems combine astronomical information with procedural generation, rather than hand-built locations for every star. The scale…
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PowerWash Simulator sends your cleaning business to Mars
Its Mars Rover bonus job trades an ordinary driveway or vehicle for a dusty scientific machine on another planet. The task remains recognizably the same: work…
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The game where you shower with your dad
In this pixelated game, you match a child to the correct father in a communal shower.
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Genshin Impact requires tens of gigabytes on mobile
Its mobile install can take tens of gigabytes, so making room for an update may mean clearing photos or deleting other apps.
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Why video game heroes still need keys for wooden doors
A locked door can be a pacing device rather than a believable engineering obstacle. Requiring a key sends the player through another area, encounter, or story…
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A locked arena door is a game designer controlling the fight
Sealing the exits keeps the player inside a space built for one encounter. Designers can place cover, hazards, and enemies knowing you cannot simply retreat…
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Why ancient ruins in games never run out of fire
Lit sconces make ruins easier to navigate and more cinematic than pitch-black caves—even if no one has been there for thousands of years.
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Why climbing down a ladder is so dangerous in games
Lining up with a ladder can require precise positioning; miss the rungs and your character may fall. In some games, getting down safely is trickier than…
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Underwater environments always feel incredibly clunky
Underwater levels often slow movement and limit attacks, turning a fast-moving action hero into a clumsy swimmer. Players may have to hunt for air bubbles…
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Sweden once opened an embassy in Second Life
Sweden opened an official virtual embassy in Second Life to promote its culture. Visitors could explore a modeled diplomatic office and read brochures about…
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Leading a global resistance while completely silent
Characters may confess their fears or describe tragedies, while the protagonist answers with a nod—or no response at all.
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Why Minecraft's creator sold it to Microsoft
An update to Minecraft’s user agreement sparked backlash, and Markus “Notch” Persson was hit with angry messages on Twitter. He publicly asked whether anyone…
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Mobsters dial rotary phones fast to land dates
In the game, mobsters have to dial a rotary phone quickly to land a date—a comic break from the family-honor drama.
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Why games make you mash buttons during cutscenes
Button prompts interrupt the cutscene and make you react instead of just watch; miss one, and your character might plummet off a cliff.
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How matching colorful sweets became a billion-dollar business
A simple app about swapping brightly colored treats became a billion-dollar business, even as traditional gamers focused on graphic fidelity.
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Watching unskippable cinematics is a rite of passage
After a boss fight, you may have to sit through the same three-minute villain monologue on every retry—until you can recite it better than the voice actors.
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Some mobile games make upgrades take 21 days
Some mobile base-building games make players wait 21 real days for an upgrade, such as a virtual town hall. Players can pay to speed it up.
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Fruit Ninja turned slicing a watermelon into a hit
Players swiped across the screen to slice flying fruit, but hitting a bomb could ruin a run.
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The oddly lucrative business of vacuuming slimes
Players vacuum up bouncing slimes and feed them carrots; the slimes then produce valuable crystals.
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The bizarre search that became an expensive movie
One of the era’s most expensive entertainment projects followed a teenage boy asking strangers in a Japanese port town where to find sailors.
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When a game disc was just a download ticket
Some games still require large downloads or updates, so buying a physical disc doesn’t always mean everything you need to play is on it.
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Skyrim's guards have a pastry joke ready for the Dragonborn
A guard can dismiss you with a crack about someone stealing your sweetroll. The line belongs to a running Elder Scrolls joke about an absurdly minor theft. In…
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Why your expensive game weapon becomes useless
A weapon sold as a powerful early-game upgrade can be outclassed minutes later by a rusty one dropped by a basic enemy.
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