10 Video Games That Owned Themselves

Though Terry Pratchett's phenomenal Discworld series, at least in its earliest form before evolving into full on social satire, was written to lampoon the conventions and clichés of the fantasy genre, its point 'n' click adaptations - the third, Humphrey Bogart-infused Discworld Noir excepted - stuck rigidly to the tired tropes and often hair-pulling logic of adventure games, and then some.

The first Discworld takes use-custard-pie-on-yeti puzzles to their most frustrating conclusion. At one point, full-bearded protagonist Rincewind must incriminate a donkey to fashion a mustache. And that's a simplified version.

Perhaps this is parody; the game, after all, is acutely self-aware, punctuated by one fourth-wall breaking exchange in the fourth act. After schlepping back and forth across the Disc to accomplish the most trivial of tasks, Rincewind, now in need of a magical sword, meets a magical dwarven swordsmith. The pointy-hatted hero is gobsmacked when the smith says he'll tune up his sword right away, asking incredulously, "Aren't you going to tell me you won't do the task until I find some obscure item from somewhere?"

Eventually, the pair agree there's a natural order to uphold, and the 'wizzard' (sic) must nab some elderberry wine.

Even the author himself, crackling with his typically dry wit, mocked the game's arcane insanity, telling his own fan community, "To get the walkthrough, you have to take the sponge from Nanny Ogg's pantry and stick it in the ear of the troll with the tutu, then take the lumps and put them in the pouch with the zombie's razor."