10 Video Games That Blew Your Mind (Without You Realising)

9. Surgeon Simulator

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Bossa Studios

While every first-generation Let's Play star focused on the intentionally wonky controls and memetic humor, the truth is that there's laughs lurking in every pore of this game, and in places you'd never suspect.

When you're at your desk in the game, you may notice a phone. This phone can be dialled to access some specific gags, but...what if you called your OWN phone number? Surely that wouldn't actually do anything, right?

Yeah, no... it actually calls your phone, and plays a pre-recorded message for you, it's amazing!

When you pick up the phone it starts playing a series of noises that is, in reality, part of a convoluted ARG that results in you unlocking a hidden level in the game! This was accomplished by the devs attaching a dial-out server to the game that lets it actually connect to phone signals.

As phone tech improves with every passing year, it's anyone's guess how long this mind-blowing detail will actually work properly, so download a copy of the game if you haven't already and experience it while you can.

Contributor
Contributor

John Tibbetts is a novelist in theory, a Whatculture contributor in practice, and a nerd all around who loves talking about movies, TV, anime, and video games more than he loves breathing. Which might be a problem in the long term, but eh, who can think that far ahead?