8 Video Game Mysteries Developers Had To Solve

Rockstar put San Andreas' Bigfoot mystery to bed.

Grand Theft Auto San Andreas
Rockstar

There’s nothing quite like the thrill of watching the gaming community solve a mystery or uncover a secret hidden deep within a video game.

But it freakin’ sucks when players just can’t figure it out, and so it falls to inpatient developers to put us out of our misery by straight-up doing the work for us.

Granted, in some cases the solution to these puzzles, Easter eggs, and digital enigmas are so bloody arcane that we never had a hope in hell of figuring them out anyway.

For others, the devs waited patiently for years, desperately hoping that, one day, a bright spark might finally stumble upon that hidden switch or secret button press.

But alas, it wasn’t to be, and so they had to come along and solve things for us like a disappointed parent who expected oh-so-much more of their child.

Yet for long-suffering players, it was simply a relief to have a nagging mystery finally shut down for good.

Above all else, it certainly makes you think about the many unresolved mysteries still waiting to be uncovered by increasingly impatient developers…

8. The Niobe Labs Puzzle - Destiny 2

Grand Theft Auto San Andreas
Bungie

In early 2019, Bungie released the Niobe Labs for Destiny 2 - the game's most complex puzzle up to that point, so tricky in fact that even the series' most die-hard fans couldn't figure out how the hell to solve it and unlock the fourth Black Armory forge, Bergusia.

The labs required players to solve a seven-part series of arcane ciphers while battling progressively tougher waves of enemies, but eventually fireteams found themselves desperately unable to progress any further.

With the challenge taking longer than expected, Bungie ended up voluntarily releasing Bergusia to the player-base, all while players continued plugging away at solving the labs in earnest.

After more than three days of failed efforts, however, Bungie finally revealed that the Niobe Labs were actually bugged, and that a gameplay element was accidentally removed which would've given players an indication of what to do next.

And so, the devs dropped an epic hint in their post, which in turn allowed players to finally beat the final section of the labs barely 30 minutes later.

All in all, it took 81 hours for a single fireteam to complete the Niobe Labs after they were released, but it would've been much sooner if Bungie hadn't done a major behind-the-scenes whoopsie.

Contributor
Contributor

Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.