8 Video Game Secrets That Were A Waste Of Time

Riddler can keep his trophies.

batman arkham riddler trophies
Rocksteady

I honestly can't think of anything that winds me up more than video games rewarding my hard-earned time and effort with paltry and mediocre rewards.

In this era of Games As A Live Service models, this is, unfortunately, becoming a common theme, where your endless grind and daily challenge mastery nets you a color scheme change or apathetically tiny trinket.

However possibly even more aggravating is when a game hints at a secret or begs you to explore its world in the hopes of bagging something truly outstanding only to then hit you with a big old "sorry mate they were all out of Cornettos at the shop so I got you some washing up tablets instead".

The entries on this list are examples of just that, of players traveling far and wide, checking every corner for clues, piecing things together, then being made to look an utter chump at the end of things.

Ironically these are secrets that demand incredible amounts of time yet only instil in the player to never bother trying in the first bloody place. Not a great life lesson.

8. The Forbidden Fruit - Shadow Of The Colossus

batman arkham riddler trophies
Sony

For the most part when it comes to video game secrets, most of these hidden unlocks and rewards are just that, rewards for persevering and exploring every nook and cranny of the game world, however, it seems that when it came to programming in some off the beaten path content for Shadow Of The Colossus that nobody on the dev team got the memo, as here this secret actively hurts you.

I think it goes without saying but the world of SOTC is something unlike anything else, with its huge sweeping vistas and incredibly detailed environments creating a true sense of wonder, but also a sense of abject isolation. It's beautiful but also seemingly quite sad, that once there lay a huge and clearly advanced civilization that is now nothing but ruins.

And in your exploration, you may have begun to wonder whether one can climb all the way up to the temple near the bridge into the Forbidden Lands, and should you spend time collecting lizard tails and beating the Colossi, you'll be able to upgrade your stamina bar enough to make the arduous ascent to the top.

And what is your reward for reaching the summit? A Secret Garden filled with fruit! Now that might not seem like much but remember Fruit is used to upgrade your health so you might think that this is a gold mine that will allow you to rinse the rest of the Colossi on your list, however, there's just one catch.

The fruit is poisoned, and will actively drain your health.

Oh, Fumito Ueda you cheeky whippet, you got us good.

Contributor
Contributor

Jules Gill hasn't written a bio just yet, but if they had... it would appear here.