10 GENIUS Ways Video Games Hide Load Times
4. Door Animation - Resident Evil (1996)
A game as revolutionary as the original Resident Evil was always bound to have some hidden tricks up its metaphorical sleeve. And, as it turns out, the trick in question became so iconic that it persisted all throughout the series' early years - and their remakes!
The fixed-camera rooms of the mansion create a haunting inflexibility about the environment you're trapped in, and most of the time, the only way to get from one to the other is via a creaking old wooden door.
Interacting with these doors triggers a scripted animation in which the door is slowly pulled open to reveal a pure black expanse behind it, and as the camera goes through, you'll suddenly find yourself in the next room.
The sequence is meant to amp up the tension as you continue your exploration (some of the games even add in a jump scare or two here!), but what it secretly does is cover up the time needed for the game to load the next area.
So memorable was this section that Resident Evil's GameCube remake, which all but eliminates the loading times, deliberately replicates these doorway pauses to reinstate the original's drawn-out creepiness.