10 Video Games That Messed With The Player

2. Metal Gear Solid

BioShock Andrew Ryan
Konami

It wouldn’t be a list about messing with players without mentioning a Kojima game. There are many instances in this PS1 masterpiece of the famous auteur having a bit of a laugh at your expense; from Psycho Mantis reading the contents of your memory card, to various other 4th wall breaking comments made by characters in the original Metal Gear Solid.

Arguably the most famous example was the solution to opening the cargo bay doors, whereby Campbell would ask Solid Snake to contact a number found on the back of the CD case. Many players at the time didn’t realise that he meant the actual physical case that the game came in, and were frantically searching items in their inventory to no avail.

Turns out the physical case had a screenshot of the digits on the back, and it remains one of the most ingenious examples of a game giving its audience the run around. It probably caused some problems for those that were pirating the game as well, another bonus troll from Kojima.

 
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Matt has been gaming since he was young, and enjoys exploring obscure indie games in between the latest AAA releases. The train sequence from Uncharted 2 still blows his mind.