History GuideDangIt / FirstPersonShooter

* ''VideoGame/Metro2033'', being NintendoHard, has several cases of this.
** You obtain the 'good' ending by listening to conversations, lingering in hallucination sequences and so forth...the problem is that the only indication you've achieved anything with these actions is a brief, unexplained flash on the screen and a whisper. The Redux version eventually added a pause screen hint that tells you vaguely about it, but of course you can't cycle through them and their random selection from a large pool of messages means you may not see it more than once, if at all.
** The armor system. Every pouch, helmet, magazine or armor plate subtracts a certain amount of damage dealt by a projectile that hits them. This is never explained to the player in the non-''Redux'' version, which led to mass confusion and complaints on release that enemies are literal bullet sponges, while all it takes is a single bullet to the neck and/or head
** You never actually need to buy any guns you see in shops, because you can always find the same gun, or a better version in some cases, for free hidden on the levels if you know where to look.
** The Library is a level where you need to spend a lot of time of the surface. Hope you brought plenty of filters!
** Many people play through the original game not realizing you can buy special armour to increase either your defense or stealth, as the vendors for them are rather difficult to find.
** You can buy filters at precisely two places in the game, both of them early (Riga and Market.) This can leave a new player expecting that every civilized station afterward will sell filters, and might only buy a few to save rounds, counting on being able to buy more later when they have more currency to burn. The Armory will be a nasty surprise for a player who is down to their last few filters, if they have any at all after the surface trek to get there.
** The way the original game handles filters and the gas mask in general isn't explicitly stated anywhere unless you decide to look it up online (which seems to be the only way to find out.) When you buy or find filters, the number next to the gas mask in the lower left corner of the screen pops up and says "+##", with the "##" being whatever amount of breathing time the filters added, not the actual amount of filters you bought. An astute player may be able to notice this when they buy filters from Riga or Market Station because the number will increase by ~10 even when you buy just one filter (the filters you buy in the stations are supposedly of "higher" quality and so add more breathing time than ones found on the surface, which will add 3 or 4 if you get lucky). That being said, it's easy to see that the filter system doesn't work intuitively. One would assume you buy filters, which get added to the total in the corner of the screen, and the watch tells you how much time your filter has left. Instead, in actuality, the number in the corner is how many total minutes you have to breath with the gas mask on, the watch tells you how many minutes your current filter has left, and the amount of filters you have on you seems to be infinite until you get down to the last 5 minutes, at which point it will no longer allow you to change filters. Also, the game doesn't tell you how to change filters anywhere. There are three ways: tap the gas mask button, take the mask on and off (which automatically adds a new filter), or just wait until your current filter is completely wasted and then Artyom will automatically replace it. Another untold issue with the filter system is that it seems to cap out at around 40 total minutes or so, and the game won't let you pick up surface filters until you have less than 10 total minutes left.
** Also, as far as the gas mask itself goes, the game won't allow you to pick up a new replacement gas mask from the ground unless it is in better condition than the one you're wearing, which is not something readily observable when looking at the world model of the gas masks.
** Much of this was simplified in the ''Redux'' vesion: pressing the gas mask key puts it on and the timer audibly starts with some clicking showing the minute hand moving a few minutes around the watch face. Pressing the key again wipes the mask, while holding it down removes the mask entirely. Every time the timer has one minute remaining, count on a message telling you to press the filter-swap-key showing up. Unfortunately, the maximum time seems to be reduced (20 minutes in Survival mode and 30 in Spartan mode) and you can't pick up filters until the amount to be added does not put you over the maximum. The issue with the world model showing damage was also changed to show different grades of wear, and if a better example than what is currently worn is found, it can be easier to tell from the amount of cracks in the faceplate.

* ''[[VideoGame/Metro2033]]'', being NintendoHard, has several cases of this.

*** After doing all that, the vault finally opens and the group can move inside, where they find... nothing. It's then revealed that the Dentist has brought Locke and the dying Bain with him in an attempt to seize the vault for himself, and he asks the group to walk out of the vault. [[NonStandardGameOver Do that, and you'll fail to get the secret]]. You ''have'' to shoot Bain from the entrance of the vault, then use the Mayan Gold and place it in specific spots in the vault. Do that, and you'll finally unlock a bounty of goods, including four Legendary Masks, a "secret ending" cinematic (which shows [[spoiler:the crew living it up while Bain (who has apparently regenerated into the U.S. President) gives a speech in front of the White House]]), a text crawl wrapping up many of the overarching plot threads found throughout the game and its DLC, and a Theater Mode to watch all of the videos released for the game.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Payday 2}}'', Big Oil Day 2 is practically impossible without reading a FAQ first. Your target is a machine in a basement full of similar machines, and you have to determine which one is the working fusion engine based on information on some chalkboards, computer monitors, and very small notepads. If your texture settings were too low, the information would have been unreadable ([[AuthorsSavingThrow until they patched it so that mission-critical information would not be affected by graphics settings]]). TrialAndErrorGameplay usually doesn't work - there are a dozen possibilities, you move at a snail's pace while carrying them, you can only try one at a time, your stealth is broken as soon as your helicopter arrives if you haven't already gone loud, said helicopter lands at a private runway (read: open field with little to no cover), and you can't escape until you hand over the right engine.
** It also doesn't help that the computer monitor that displays some information you need can be destroyed by gunfire or grenade explosions, which means you're shit out of luck if it happens and you didn't figure out the solution yet.

** Unlocking the secret ending in the game is utterly bonkers in what the player has to do, involving deciphering secret messages and getting 20 specific achievements (randomly selected ''per player'' and can be re-randomized), then completing a puzzle in a specific heist.
*** Further adding to the complexity of the process needed to get the secret ending is the fact that one of the randomly selected achievements the player will need to get may be OVERDRILL.

* ''VideoGame/{{STALKER}}'' ''Call of Pripyat'' has the "tools" you need to find in order to be able to upgrade your weapons and armor. Gear has 3 tiers of unlockable upgrades, and there are 2 main technicians in the game who can upgrade your gear, which means that there are 6 of these tool sets available in the game. For each technician, you need to find tools for basic work, tools for fine work, and calibration tools. The game tells you at the start that these exist, but it doesn't tell you ANYTHING about their location. Even if you were to come across them, they don't look like anything out of the ordinary, and can easily be mistaken as just some some random metallic rubbish lying around, like an old tin of tuna or similar. Seeing as ''Call of Pripyat'' takes place in 3 separate (very large and open) environments, each having many well detailed areas and buildings to explore, finding these tools becomes highly unlikely without using a guide. Considering these tools are essential in upgrading your weapons and armor, which are extremely important in a game like ''S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'' where character upgrades are near-nonexistent, this can cause players a lot of grief as they end up stuck with under-powered equipment against enemies..
* ''VideoGame/SystemShock'' has an annoying one with one of the revitalization chambers. The activation switches are typically located right next to the chamber, but for some reason Research's is in an obscure corner on the other side of the level's very, very large (non-linear) map behind a door that can only be unlocked by destroying a significant number of security cameras. Most players simply assume that the switch just disappeared due to a glitch and never find it.
* Near the end of ''VideoGame/PathwaysIntoDarkness'', there's a [[TheMaze teleporter maze]], where all the rooms look exactly the same, square with a teleporter on each wall. There is nothing in the frickin' game that remotely hints at the path. Many other Guide Dang Its were also present, including the bomb code if you don't have the manual, the [[LockedInAFreezer suffocation room]]; hint:[[spoiler:use an item that speeds up time]], the gauntlet of [[InvincibleMinorMinion invincible green Oozes]] (a soldier who died from snakebite hints that they avoided him while devouring his teammates), the Violet Crystal(which is at the center of the randomly-generated Labyrinth), and opening the exit door, for which you needed to take the health-draining ArtifactOfDoom out of its box.
* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'':
** Even the official ''VideoGame/{{Halo 3}}'' strategy guide won't tell you how to get the Skulls (at the behest of Creator/{{Bungie}}). While most of the Skulls are just inconvenient to track down, the IWHBYD Skull requires jumping through glowing rings in an order that plays the ''Halo'' theme, which is hinted at ''nowhere'' in the game, and then going back to [[spoiler:the body of Truth]]. It was actually first found out by some tech-savvy person ''by cracking open the game code''.
** The IWHBYD skull in ''VideoGame/{{Halo 2}}'' is even more of a Guide Dang It to get. You have to trigger exactly [[ArcNumber seven]] checkpoints before reaching its spawn location, which require a fair amount of {{roof hopping}}, some of the checkpoints are [[LuckBasedMission luck-based]], and the spawning of the skull itself has an element of luck as well.
** The above examples, and more, are probably why they made all Skulls available from the beginning in ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}''. However, it turned out that players, despite all their past frustrations, did enjoy hunting for them, and Skulls went back to being hidden collectables in ''VideoGame/Halo5Guardians''.
* {{Game Mod}}s can sometimes suffer from this. One example is ''Eternal VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' [=MAP20=]: Silures, a puzzle level, which has a spectacular Guide Dang It moment near the end: To open the path leading to the exit, [[spoiler:you must activate a specific tree like a switch, with no indication that this is even possible]].
** ''Eternal Doom'' is generally infamous for obscure puzzles which require you to open invisible secret doors or press very hard-to-see switches to finish the level.
** This is also true of the otherwise-excellent ''Alien Vendetta''. On the ''first map'', no less. You need to figure out to press one of the torches to complete the level.
** ''Memento Mori'' [=MAP14=] has a puzzle near the end where you need to press a switch to open a door, then run trough it before it closes. The problem--the switch is so far from the door that it's almost impossible to pull off this feat. Turns out, the switch is moved closer to the door if you step into a small, unassuming niche in a cave near the beginning of the map. There's absolutely nothing that indicates this.
** In a more general way, any custom level which requires the player to use [[GoodBadBugs straferunning or wallrunning]]. Someone who isn't a seasoned player [[NoobBridge may not even know about these techniques, or not know how to use them]].

* In ''VideoGame/{{Doom}} 3'', there are two special storage cabinets sent from a company called "Martian Buddy" that contain free stuff for personnel, and the codes to them are nowhere in the game. To find the code, ''you actually have to go to the website www.martianbuddy.com'' [[note]]As of 2012, www.martianbuddy.com isn't even online any more outside of the Website/WaybackMachine. Luckily the code is still available in FAQ's.[[/note]]. One of these allows you to obtain the chaingun early, big help for clearing out the DemonicSpiders at the end of Alpha Labs Sector 2 on higher difficulty levels.
* ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime'''s Artifact of Spirit. The game tells you to seek the unseen entrance at the top of a certain room. The entrance you want is actually two or three platforms down in the room, hidden behind a completely normal square of wall. However, at the top is a Morph Ball tunnel that leads to a Power Bomb expansion. Combined with the misleading hint, this makes the hidden door way too hard to find. Just to add to that, the X-Ray Visor (which is what most people will think of when they hear 'unseen entrance') doesn't work well for seeing the hidden door.
* The mining cannon in ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime3Corruption'', which alternated between a mining laser and a vacuum beam while Space Pirates dropped in and tried to kill you. The cutscene did show the laser alternating between two modes (where the only difference that could be seen was between green and purple beams, big deal), but how was anyone supposed to know to [[spoiler:wait for the beam to switch over to "purple mode" (the vacuum) before killing the last Space Pirate?]]
* The ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'' series had some obscure secrets, but in the original, if you wanted to get the Flamethrower at an early level, you had to walk into a random corner of a maze to activate an invisible, soundless trigger to lower an elevator, sprint back to the starting point, fall down the shaft, grab the flamethrower and sprint back to the elevator before it reset. Failure to do so will trap you in the hole, with a terminal that says nothing more than 'And here you are, stuck in a hole. We could have done a lot together!'.
** One of the most ridiculously difficult secrets of all time was the Deprivation Chamber, where you had to open an unmarked secret door, jump down a shaft,perform an amazingly complex [[RocketJump Grenade Jumping]] maneuver to get up the shaft to a teleporter, and find your way through a completely-unhinted-at teleporter maze to find a secret terminal message.
* ''VideoGame/GoldenEye1997'' falls under this in the Egyptian level. One of your objectives is to retrieve the Golden Gun. However, if you try approaching it directly, bullet proof glass seals it and indestructible gun turrets appear and tear you to shreds. The solution? You're supposed to walk across the floor in a certain path in order to get the gun without setting off the trap. The kicker? ''There is nothing in the game that even remotely hints at the solution''! Even if you were to do the All Guns cheat and complete the other objective, you still need to go and collect the Golden Gun.
* Getting access to many of the secret areas from ''VideoGame/{{Painkiller}}'' is a Guide Dang It moment. Requiring taking a LeapOfFaith or exploiting the jump physics to reach otherwise unreachable areas, with the game not giving you any hints about where and when to do either to reach a secret area. Most times its better to leave well enough alone except to [[HundredPercentCompletion unlock the final difficulty]] requires earning [[PowerUp collectible card powerups]] for meeting specific requirements when completing a level. Some levels require either finding all secret areas, or looting the contents of said secret areas to meet the card requirements.
** To provide an example: One of the later levels in the game, ''City on Water'', specifically requires you to find all its secrets to get the card powerup, and the level itself has some of the most devious secrets in the entire game, including [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsN7_C6C-VQ rolling a specific barrel down to the starting point to reveal a jump pad and using it to jump up to the top of a tower]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huMUVtk-IH4 jumping over the water and doing a full turn to get inside a small alcove]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMY4oUsima8 and abusing jump physics to hop over the rooftops]].

* ''[[VideoGame/DarkForcesSaga Star Wars: Jedi Knight]]''s ''II'' and ''III'' are almost always this--levels are huge and insanely complex, with inexperienced players inevitably doomed to suffer hours of running around in circles before finding out that a tiny button hidden behind a broken window or an inconspicuous console needs to be interacted with in order to continue.
** There was one particular puzzle in ''VideoGame/JediKnightIIJediOutcast'' where you had to power down a fatal force-field in a room to use a transit system, however the only way to find the power switch for the force field was to stand on a random balcony and look down, a pipe comes out of the wall at random intervals so if you look down at the wrong time you can't see it, once the pipe comes out you needed to jump on it, enter the wall and destroy the power source for the force-field.
** In ''VideoGame/JediKnightJediAcademy'', you get to put points at the beginning of every non-mandatory mission into whatever force powers you like. Among those is Force Protect, which helps against physical damage sources, but again, it's entirely optional... until the mandatory mission on Vjun, where you land on a planet with acid rain draining your health in the open constantly. The best part is, though, that you can't just restart the level and pick shield at the beginning -- as mentioned, Vjun is mandatory, whereas only non-mandatory missions give you points. So your choices are replaying the entire previous mission, or suffer through the (rather extensive) Vjun level. Oh, the game also auto-saves ''after'' picking a force power, so you'll have to load a savegame from even earlier. Didn't save there? Time to replay ''two'' missions.
* The first two ''VideoGame/{{Turok}}'' games had a strong tendency towards this sort of thing, since the keys required to access later levels were often hidden ridiculously well. The Chronosceptre fragment on the third level of the original is a case in point; after a very difficult jumping section, the player has to climb down a series of platforms that don't appear to go anywhere and make a jump to an area they can barely see.
* ''VideoGame/QuakeII'' has many secrets hidden behind nondescript walls that must be shot, with no hints whatsoever. A bane to those looking for the LastLousyPoint and OneHundredPercentCompletion.
** The ExpansionPack ''Ground Zero'' is even worse: some secrets cannot be discovered the usual way (shooting switches), but they also need careful fire[[note]]The first secret of the first level ("Lower Mines") requires you to blow up an ore unit only after it reached its destination, so if you shoot it earlier, you're out of luck. Also the first secret of the "Maintenance Hangar" level, just after you surfaced, requires you to not to shoot a barrel close to a computer in order to be able to unlock it, so if you did, you're also out of luck.[[/note]] or the old [[TrialAndErrorGameplay "trial and error"]][[note]]After you completed every mission in the "Waste Disposal" level, you'll reach the "Maintenance Hangar" level for the last time, entering in a zone with a [[EverythingTryingToKillYou deadly]] conveyor belt where you must shoot a hidden button in order for a powerup (granted, [[NighInvulnerability a VERY powerful and useful powerup]]) to fall into one of the containers which you'll never know, so you have to try every opened container at least once, and be careful once you get it to not to be encased by it. Oh, and the containers themselves? They have HollywoodAcid, so you also need an Environment Suit, which thankfully you get at the start of the area.[[/note]].

* ''VideoGame/DeusExInvisibleWar''. The special weapons. Most are in out of the way areas you wouldn't otherwise think about, including a sewer, the bedroom of an apartment dweller, under some junk in an antique store, and a utility hallway. The worst though, is the [[spoiler: Hellfire Boltcaster]], which is hidden in a small room only accessible by jumping over to a small ledge in an area you don't have much inclination to be in anyway (it frigging off one faction to the point of sending assassins if you complete the objective there.)
* ''VideoGame/DeusExMankindDivided'':
** Marchenko's killswitch. You have two opportunities to get this item (which helps during the final boss battle if you're going the lethal route), but both of them are so well-hidden that you will not find them unless you have OCD-like tendencies of thoroughly examining every item and room you come across. The first is hidden in the G.A.R.M. facility -- and in a first for this game (and likely the series), the only way to access it is to ''crouch-jump on top of'' a set of lockers, look down and press a hidden button wedged between the lockers and wall, which opens a compartment in one of the lockers that has a switch. The second is found in the final level itself -- in a box hidden under a table. Up to this point, the game has never given an indication that there were items hidden ''in'' boxes, and the player is never led to believe otherwise. The second killswitch doesn't even show up on Smart Vision due to being inside another object, either.
** Getting the "best" outcome for the Dvali EnemyCivilWar. Getting Otar and the rest of the Dvali operatives to remain civil when you visit the old Prague Theater in the third act not only requires you to have done all of the optional objectives that Otar gave you earlier in the game, but also knock out or kill Radich Nikoladze during the second visit to Prague, despite nothing in the story telling you to do so besides a couple of vague emails talking about Radich and Otar's relationship. Not only that, but completing the objectives in the opportune fashion ''requires'' you to use lethal methods (and thus break a non-lethal run). If you choose to let Louis Gallois escape (via faking his death and assuming a new identity) instead of killing him and his bodyguards outright, Otar and the rest of the soldiers will still be hostile when you arrive at the theater. This is despite him telling you earlier on that you've completed his favor if you do all the requisite tasks.
** The "Golden Rookery" achievement requires you to carry an oversized gold-plated pigeon from Ivan Berk's apartment right near the start location in Golem City to a hidden area within ARC Territory. Aside from the fact that Berk's apartment isn't even immediately noticeable from the ground (you have to climb several floors to get to it -- the map doesn't help matters), the final destination requires that you've invested in the "Punch Through Walls" aug. And that's not even getting started on the bugs that can cause the penguin to disappear if you stray too far from it, especially within the Throat.
* Either a Guide Dang It or a fond memory, the loot in ''VideoGame/ThiefTheDarkProject'' and its sequel could be fiendishly hard to find. For example, in the first mission of the second game, there are three coins hidden on a trompe l'oeil ledge in a stairway. You can't see the ledge moving up the stairway, and unless you have ninja eyes, you won't glimpse it coming down either, since the staircase is dark. The only way to get them is to move halfway up, stop midway, and turn around. First mission of ''VideoGame/ThiefIITheMetalAge'' has a particularly enraging secret (wedding rings) as well
* ''VideoGame/HalfLife2: Episode Two'' gives us the Hunter. It is ''very'' resilient to damage from most types of weapons, but has a crippling weakness to stuff launched by your gravity gun. The game never even hints at this, which is rather jarring considering how good Valve normally is at guiding the player towards these kind of discoveries; possibly, they assumed the player would just naturally try to fight it with the Gravity Gun [[WreakingHavok for the sake of trying to fight it with the Gravity Gun]]. It doesn't help that the finale of the game requires you to kill them in droves during a BossRush.
** Fortunately, they're ''also'' highly susceptible to [[CarFu being run down by your car]].

* In ''VideoGame/{{Payday 2}}'', Big Oil Day 2 is practically impossible without reading a FAQ first. Your target is a machine in a basement full of similar machines, and you have to determine which one is the working fusion engine based on information on some chalkboards, computer monitors, and very small notepads. If your texture settings were too low, the information would have been unreadable ([[AuthorsSavingThrow until they patched it so that mission-critical information would not be affected by graphics settings]]). TrialAndErrorGameplay usually doesn't work - there are a dozen possibilities, you move at a snail's pace while carrying them, you can only try one at a time, your stealth is broken as soon as your helicopter arrives if you haven't already gone loud, said helicopter lands at a private runway (read: open field with little to no cover), and you can't escape until you hand over the right engine.
** It also doesn't help that the computer monitor that displays some information you need can be destroyed by gunfire or grenade explosions, which means you're shit out of luck if it happens and you didn't figure out the solution yet.
** The steps to unlocking the OVERDRILL achievement are just as convoluted and troublesome as they were in the original game, with precise positioning of all 4 players, and the activation of specific floor tiles being required.
** Unlocking the secret ending in the game is utterly bonkers in what the player has to do, involving deciphering secret messages and getting 20 specific achievements (randomly selected ''per player'' and can be re-randomized), then completing a puzzle in a specific heist.
*** Further adding to the complexity of the process needed to get the secret ending is the fact that one of the randomly selected achievements the player will need to get may be OVERDRILL.
* In ''Videogame/EYEDivineCybermancy'', the penultimate level when you side with [[spoiler: your Mentor]] has you searching a [[SpacePirate Looter]] hideout for a wise and powerful Secrata member, Akmal. [[BlindIdiotTranslation Dubious translations]] make the puzzle-based level extremely obnoxious - for example, a Looter tells you to shoot a "switch" to lower the water in a reservoir. Said "switch" is actually a metal cap on a pipe (in an extremely dark area) and must be shot ''twice''. [[RamblingOldManMonologue Akmal's incoherent ramblings]] almost make it worth the frustration.
* ''VideoGame/{{Bulletstorm}}'' is a game that revolves entirely around killing enemies in various creative ways. There's an in-game list of instructions for most of these "skillshots," but there's also a list of "secret" ones containing no instructions whatsoever. Some are ActionCommands, and most of the rest you wind up doing naturally (if accidentally) by being as innovative as possible with your kills, but a few of them require effort on your part, and it's up to you to figure out what you need to do. Even the instructions for the non-secret skillshots can be pretty vague, leaving you to fill in the blanks.
* ''VideoGame/{{Destiny}}'' has the Vault of Glass raid. Intentionally made obscure, the raid has a number of new game mechanics not found anywhere else, mostly revolving around the Relic, which is used (among other things) to remove a boss' invincibility and stop a boss from instantly wiping the party with an ability not seen in the game proper. As if that wasn't enough, there are moments where it [[UnexpectedGameplayChange shifts gears and stops being a straightforward shooter]], changing into a platformer and [[StealthBasedMission a stealth segment]]. The first group to ever beat the raid took a full, 6 man team 10 hours and 1,605 deaths to complete.
* ''VideoGame/NosferatuTheWrathOfMalachi'': You can actually carry multiple revolvers, flintlock pistols and muskets. This means you can, for example, carry 4 muskets and fire them all in rapid succession one after another, instead of reloading after one shot in the middle of combat. The game doesn't inform about this mechanic in any way whatsoever. The only clue you have is a tiny number next to weapon icon in the weapon selection screen, which can easily be mistaken for ammo count. Players unaware of this will be confused by their firearms mysteriously emptied or refilled after being selected.
* In ''VideoGame/HalfLife'''s level "Questionable Ethics", you are stuck inside a lab, and the only way out is by getting a scientist to open a door for you to leave the building. You find several interruptors of different kinds, many soldiers and aliens, and there are some scientists in a door you cannot open. The trick is to activate all the interruptors that provide energy to the superlaser, and then use a metal box to block the protection sheet's descent, thus making the superlaser impact on the wall and making it explode, which opens the way to the scientists' room. The only hint you get is about not blocking the sheet.
* ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield 4}}'':
** The final paid expansion, ''Final Stand', required players to complete a series of unapparent challenges to unlock a secret "Phantom" compound bow. The requirements for the Phantom challenge tree weren't even available to view unless the player had a Premium account, logged into Battlelog and keyed in a set of passcodes in a secret password screen. From there, the player had to team up with three others (who had also completed these challenges) and equip their Phantom camouflage and one of the four secret Phantom dog tags found throughout the new maps. Then the players had to go to the Hangar 21 map and work in unison to activate an elevator that would take them to a secret room, where they were required to enter a long alphanumeric code (written in Morse Code in fragments throughout the four Final Stand maps) in order to access and unlock the bow. It's telling that this method was later [[{{Nerf}} nerfed]] so that players could get the Phantom bow in seconds instead of hours.
** The unlockable EasterEgg[=/=]BraggingRightsReward "DICE L.A." camouflage just might be the most extreme example of this trope in the first-person genre, as it requires [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuuzmOXL1bc a ridiculous amount of time to complete and access]] (not helped by the fact that you can't skip the most time-intensive section, unlike most other examples), and makes the aforementioned Phantom weapon discovery look like a walk in the park. A summary:
*** There is a skull symbol in Dragon Valley that is placed near a set of lanterns that produce Morse Code when stood near for several seconds. This also requires the player to be in unranked servers, where they'll see that certain lanterns are lit while others aren't.
*** There are also seven hidden buttons that are [[PixelHunt deviously placed]] in very difficult spots throughout certain maps. One of these is hidden in a tree that must be destroyed. Pressing these buttons changes the lanterns that are lit. What follows is a complicated process of figuring out which switches activate what lanterns, and the end goal is to ensure that all lanterns are lit up. Even better, every combination is specific to each player's account, and there is no way to skip this step.
*** Once all the lanterns are activated, a keypad spawns adjacent to the skull symbol in Dragon Valley. Pressing any number on the keypad causes the nearby lantern to type out another Morse code message, which has cryptic clues that direct the player to go to Graveyard Shift (a nighttime map). Once the player goes there and gets to a specific place (the North Woods, at the edge of the map by a rock), they'll hear a strange noise. This noise is actually a slowed-down song taken from the ''Battlefield Friends'' webseries, and when two of the words in the song are given numeric values for each letter and multiplied, it produces a long code that can be entered into the aforementioned keypad.
*** Once that's done, this causes another coded message to appear, which (when translated) prompts the player to go into a large Conquest game on Dragon Valley and find another keypad at the north-western water tower, where they must enter another unique code after waiting for two minutes in real-time. This finally unlocks the DICE L.A. camo for use after the match is complete.
* In ''VideoGame/NaziZombies'' plot EasterEggs bleed this trope. You need to do an absolutely ''ridiculous'' amount of shit to do to activate them. From finding parts, to getting something out of the Mystery Box, to killing zombies ''on a specific stretch of floor in a certain area''. Before ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsIII'' added cutscenes before levels, it was damn near impossible to learn more about the lore.
* The trope is so prevalent throughout ''VideoGame/BloodwingsPumpkinheadsRevenge'' that it would take less time to list self-explanatory things. The reason is quite unique even among [[AdventureGame another genre it heavily borrows elements from]]: ''the game simply doesn't provide you with any sort of even vaguely useful information''. It doesn't even give you a clear objective; the only thing before the game proper is an intro consisting of an old lady giving the warning: "Beware. You are entering the world of Pumpkinhead."\\
The manual is only a little help, as it explains basic gameplay a bit, tells you about the Tatanik Crystals and pictures (which you need to get items), mostly insults you, and doesn't describe any of the items. As a result, with the manual, you'll probably end up blindly experimenting with items in the hope that one of them does something useful, as [[WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment Spoony]] did during his [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6-B3Ywi6Os review]]; this may or may not include {{Rage Quit}}ting after your entire inventory is confiscated because you took unspecified stolen property. May whatever deity you worship help you if your copy didn't come with the manual; because the game itself explains nothing, you can't know about items or Tantanik Crystals or that you're meant to drag them onto the pictures, and you'll likely be wandering around the level in a futile search for an exit until the weird white skeleton demons kill you.\\
When you inevitably give up, search the internet for any sort of help, and find [[https://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/564489-bloodwings-pumpkinheads-revenge/faqs/58487 the walkthrough]] '''''that only became available after Spoony's first review''''', you'll find that the item functions and the steps you should have taken are [[MoonLogicPuzzle bizarre at best]] and the game should never have expected you to work it out on your own. Sure, {{Adventure Game}}s can be [[GuideDangIt/{{Adventure}} rather cryptic at times]], but at least important information is given in-game.
* ''VideoGame/EscapeFromTarkov'', being the hardcore shooter as advertised pulls no punches with this trope, especially since the in-game maps do not mark important extraction zones or even specific landmarks. Looting can also be challenging to some if they don't know where to look or even ''what'' can be looted (e.g. one type of green wooden ammo crate vs the static stacks of similar green wooden crates, etc.). Finding keys to certain areas or questline objectives ''will'' be frustrating to newbies and veterans alike, especially since most of these key spawns are still at the mercy of the random number generator.
* ''VideoGame/AlienTrilogy'' was loaded with secrets which no normal player would find. Between many levels there were "ammunition dump" stages which could only be accessed by achieving above a certain percentage of the previous level's objective. There were hidden rooms which could only opened if you did things like shoot random walls (causing a wall to open somewhere for some reason), blow up random walls (which uses precious explosives) or walk over specific spots. Many of these rooms were not near their triggers (though you did get a door opening message) and many were timed with very strict timers and some wouldn't open twice meaning you had to know where they are beforehand. Many enemies were actually inside walls and would only come out if you made a hole (by for example blowing up a locker) or finding an broken air vent cover and drawing them to the hole from where they are. (You can hear them through walls, that's your only clue though.)
** The ability to blow up lockers is in itself a Guide Dang It! because most lockers are not breakable and it's not properly explained by the mission briefings. While many mission items and enemies are found in them it's possible to find enough of each item/enemy on those levels without breaking any lockers to be able to progress to the next level meaning it's possible to finish the entire game without realising you can break some lockers. This in turn will lock you out of many ammunition dump stages due to not achieving a high enough mission complete percentage.

* ''VideoGame/AlienTrilogy'' was loaded with secrets which no normal player would find. Between many levels there were "ammunition dump" stages which could only be accessed by achieving above a certain percentage of the previous level's objective. There were hidden rooms which could only opened if you did things like shoot random walls, blow up random walls (which uses precious explosives) or walk over specific spots. Many of these rooms were not near their triggers (though you did get a door opening message) and many were timed with very strict timers and some wouldn't open twice meaning you had to know where they are beforehand. Many enemies were actually inside walls and would only come out if you made a hole (by for example blowing up a locker) and drawing them to the hole from where they are. (You can hear them through walls, that's your only clue though.) The ability to blow up lockers is in itself a Guide Dang It! because it's not properly explained by the mission briefings.

* ''VideoGame/QuakeII'' has many secrets hidden behind nondescript walls that must be shot, with no hints whatsoever. A bane to those looking for the LastLousyPoint.

* ''VideoGame/{{STALKER}}'' Call of Pripyat (COP) demonstrates this trope with the "tools" you need to find in order to be able to upgrade your weapons and armor. Gear has 3 tiers of unlockable upgrades, and there are 2 main technicians in the game who can upgrade your gear, which means that there are 6 of these tool sets available in the game. For each technician, you need to find tools for basic work, tools for fine work, and calibration tools. The game tells you at the start that these exist, but it doesn't tell you ANYTHING about their location. Even if you were to come across them, they don't look like anything out of the ordinary, and can EASILY be mistaken as just some some random metallic rubbish lying around, like an old tin of tuna or similar. Seeing as COP takes place in 3 separate, large, open environments, which each have multiple well detailed areas and buildings to enter, many of which are filled with garbage due to being abandoned and rotting, finding these tools becomes highly unlikely without using a guide. Considering these tools are essential in upgrading your weapons and armor, which are extremely important in a game like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. where character upgrades exist in almost no other way, this can cause players a lot of grief, as they end up using under-powered equipment against difficult enemies.

* In ''VideoGame/NaziZombies'' plot EasterEggs bleed this trope. You need to do an absolutely ''ridiculous'' amount of shit to do to activate them. From finding parts, to getting something out of the Mystery Box, to killing zombies ''on a specific stretch of floor in a certain area''. Before ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps3'' added cutscenes before levels, it was damn near impossible to learn more about the lore.

* The first two ''VideoGame/BioShock'' games had a hyperspace arsenal for weapons, but ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'' only let you carry two different guns. ''BioShockInfinite/BurialAtSea'' went back to having multiple guns, but displayed them on a weapons wheel that was opened by holding 'F', while scrolling merely switched between the two you were using, so most players believed they had two guns when they actually had several. As you cannot pick up a weapon you already have, many players thought there was a bug where they could not pick up a weapon they had dropped.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Payday 2}}'', the last day of the Big Oil mission is practically impossible without reading a FAQ first. You reach a basement full of similar machines, and you have to determine which one is a working fusion engine based on what's scribbled on some chalkboards, computer monitors, and very small notepads in the room. And if your texture settings were too low, the information would have been unreadable ([[AuthorsSavingThrow until they patched it so that mission-critical information would not be affected by graphics settings]]). TrialAndErrorGameplay usually doesn't work - there are dozens of possibilities, you move at a snail's pace while carrying them, you can only try one at a time, huge numbers of enemies come at you in an area with little cover if you didn't do a perfect stealth run, and the game won't let you finish the mission until you find the right one, even though other missions allow for incomplete successes.
** It also doesn't help that the computer monitor that displays the information you need can be destroyed by gunfire or grenade explosions, which means you're shit out of luck if it happens and you didn't figure out the solution yet.

* ''VideoGame/{{Doom}} II'' has map 19, "The Citadel". In order to find a necessary key, you have to open a specific discolored wall in a generic corridor. Yep, you need to find a well-hidden secret area to finish the level. This game isn't quite so bad as most though because unlike most later [=FPS=] games, it includes a map (possible thanks to the 2D level design), which shows doors, and can be upgraded with a powerup to show unexplored areas as well.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Payday 2}}'', the last day of the Big Oil mission is practically impossible without reading a FAQ first. You reach a basement full of similar machines, and you have to determine which one is a working fusion engine based on what's scribbled on some chalkboards, computer monitors, and very small notepads in the room. And if your texture settings were too low, the information would have been unreadable ([[AuthorSavingThrow until they patched it so that mission-critical information would not be affected by graphics settings]]). TrialAndErrorGameplay usually doesn't work - there are dozens of possibilities, you move at a snail's pace while carrying them, you can only try one at a time, huge numbers of enemies come at you in an area with little cover if you didn't do a perfect stealth run, and the game won't let you finish the mission until you find the right one, even though other missions allow for incomplete successes.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Payday 2}}'', the last day of the Big Oil mission is practically impossible without reading a FAQ first. You reach a basement full of similar machines, and you have to determine which one is a working fusion engine based on what's scribbled on some chalkboards, computer monitors, and very small notepads in the room. And if your texture settings are too low, they're unreadable. TrialAndErrorGameplay usually doesn't work - there are dozens of possibilities, you move at a snail's pace while carrying them, you can only try one at a time, huge numbers of enemies come at you in an area with little cover if you didn't do a perfect stealth run, and the game won't let you finish the mission until you find the right one, even though other missions allow for incomplete successes.

* ''VideoGame/SystemShock'' has an annoying one with one of the revitalization chambers. The activation switches are typically located right next to the chamber, but for some reason Research's is in an obscure corner on the other side of the level's very, very large (non-linear) map behind a door that can only be unlocked by by destroying a significant number of security cameras. Most players simply assume that the switch just disappeared due to a glitch and never find it.

* ''VideoGame/{{STALKER}}'' Call of Pripyat (COP) demonstrates this trope with the "tools" you need to find in order to be able to upgrade your weapons and armor. Gear has 3 tiers of unlockable upgrades, and there are 2 main technicians in the game who can upgrade your gear, which means that there are 6 of these tool sets available in the game. For each technician, you need to find tools for basic work, tools for fine work, and calibration tools. The game tells you at the start that these exist, but it doesn't tell you ANYTHING about their location. Even if you were to come across them, they don't look like anything out of the ordinary, and can EASILY be mistaken as just some some random metallic rubbish lying around, like an old tin of tuna or similar. Considering COP takes place in 3 separate, large, open environments, which each have multiple well detailed areas and buildings to enter, many of which are filled with garbage due to being abandoned and rotting, finding these tools becomes highly unlikely without using a guide. Considering these tools are essential in upgrading your weapons and armor, which are extremely important in a game like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. where character upgrades exist in almost no other way, this can cause players a lot of grief, as they end up using under-powered equipment against difficult enemies.

* ''VideoGame/{{STALKER}}'' Call of Pripyat (COP) demonstrates this trope with the "tools" you need to find in order to be able to upgrade your weapons and armor. Gear has 3 tiers of unlockable upgrades, and there are 2 main technicians in the game who can upgrade your gear, which means that there are 6 of these tool sets available in the game. For each technician, you need to find tools for basic work, tools for fine work, and calibration tools. The game tells you at the start that these exist, but it doesn't tell you ANYTHING about their location. Even if you were to come across them, they don't look like anything out of the ordinary, and can EASILY be mistaken as just some some random metallic rubbish lying around, like an old tin of tuna or similar. Considering COP takes place in 3 separate, large, open environments, which each have multiple well detailed areas and buildings to enter, many of which are filled with garbage due to being abandoned and rotting, finding these tools becomes nigh impossible without using a guide. Considering these tools are essential in upgrading your weapons and armor, which are extremely important in a game like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. where character upgrades exist in almost no other way, this can cause players a lot of grief, as they end up using under-powered equipment against difficult enemies.

* ''VideoGame/{{STALKER}}'' Call of Pripyat (COP) demonstrates this trope with the "tools" you need to find in order to be able to upgrade your weapons and armor. Gear has 3 tiers of unlockable upgrades, and there are 2 main technicians in the game who can upgrade your gear, which means that there are 6 of these tool sets available in the game. For each technician, you need to find tools for basic work, tools for fine work, and calibration tools. The game tells you at the start that these exist, but it doesn't tell you ANYTHING about their location. Even if you were to come across them, they don't look like anything out of the ordinary, and can EASILY be mistaken as just some some random metallic rubbish lying around, like an old tin of tuna or similar. Considering COP takes place in 3 separate, large, open environments, which each have multiple well detailed areas and buildings to enter, many of which are filled with garbage due to being abandoned and rotting, finding these tools becomes nigh impossible without using a guide. Even if you do manage to get lucky and find some of these tools, you can't unlock one tier ahead of the other, so you need to find the earlier tool kit anyway if you want to use what you've already found. Considering these tools are essential in upgrading your weapons and armor, which are extremely important in a game like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. where character upgrades exist in almost no other way, this can cause players a lot of grief, as they end up using under-powered equipment against difficult enemies.

* ''VideoGame/{{STALKER}}'' Call of Pripyat (COP) demonstrates this trope with the "tools" you need to find in order to be able to upgrade your weapons and armor. Gear has 3 tiers of unlockable upgrades, and there are 2 main technicians in the game who can upgrade your gear, which means that there are 6 of these tool sets available in the game. For each technician, you need to find a calibration kit, tools for basic work, and tools for fine work. The game tells you at the start that these exist, but it doesn't tell you ANYTHING about their location. Even if you were to come across them, they don't look like anything out of the ordinary, and can EASILY be mistaken as just some some random metallic rubbish lying around, like an old tin of tuna or similar. Considering COP takes place in 3 separate, large, open environments, which each have multiple well detailed areas and buildings to enter, many of which are filled with garbage due to being abandoned and rotting, finding these tools becomes nigh impossible without using a guide. Considering these tools are essential in upgrading your weapons and armor, which are extremely important in a game like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. where character upgrades exist in almost no other way, this can cause players a lot of grief, as they end up using under-powered equipment against difficult enemies.

* ''VideoGame/{{STALKER}}'' Call of Pripyat (COP) demonstrates this trope with the "tools" you need to find in order to be able to upgrade your weapons and armor. Gear has 3 tiers of unlockable upgrades, and there are 2 main technicians in the game who can upgrade your gear, which means that there are 6 of these tool sets available in the game. For each technician, you need to find a calibration kit, tools for basic work, and tools for fine work. The game tells you at the start that these exist, but it doesn't tell you ANYTHING about their location. Even if you were to come across them, they don't look like anything out of the ordinary, and can EASILY be mistaken as just some some random metallic rubbish lying around, like an old tin of tuna or similar. Considering COP takes place in 3 separate, large, open environments, which each have multiple well detailed areas and buildings to enter, many of which are filled with garbage due to being abandoned and rotting, finding these tools becomes nigh impossible without using a guide. Considering these tools are essential in upgrading your weapons and armor, which are extremely important in a game like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. where character upgrades exist in no other way, this can cause players a lot of grief, as they end up using under-powered equipment against difficult enemies.

* ''VideoGame/{{STALKER}}'' Call of Pripyat (COP) demonstrates this trope with the "tools" you need to find in order to be able to upgrade your weapons and armor. Gear has 3 tiers of unlockable upgrades, and there are 2 main technicians in the game who can upgrade your gear, which means that there are 6 of these tool sets available in the game. For each technician, you need to find a calibration kit, tools for basic work, and tools for fine work. The game tells you are the start that these exist, but it doesn't tell you ANYTHING about their location. Even if you were to come across them, they don't look like anything out of the ordinary, and can EASILY be mistaken as just some some random metallic rubbish lying around, like an old tin of tuna or similar. Considering COP takes place in 3 separate, large, open environments, which each have multiple well detailed areas and buildings to enter, many of which are filled with garbage due to being abandoned and rotting, finding these tools becomes nigh impossible without using a guide. Considering these tools are essential in upgrading your weapons and armor, which are extremely important in a game like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. where character upgrades exist in no other way, this can cause players a lot of grief, as they end up using under-powered equipment against difficult enemies.

* ''VideoGame/S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'' Call of Pripyat (COP) demonstrates this trope with the "tools" you need to find in order to be able to upgrade your weapons and armor. Gear has 3 tiers of unlockable upgrades, and there are 2 main technicians in the game who can upgrade your gear, which means that there are 6 of these tool sets available in the game. For each technician, you need to find a calibration kit, tools for basic work, and tools for fine work. The game tells you are the start that these exist, but it doesn't tell you ANYTHING about their location. Even if you were to come across them, they don't look like anything out of the ordinary, and can EASILY be mistaken as just some some random metallic rubbish lying around, like an old tin of tuna or similar. Considering COP takes place in 3 separate, large, open environments, which each have multiple well detailed areas and buildings to enter, many of which are filled with garbage due to being abandoned and rotting, finding these tools becomes nigh impossible without using a guide. Considering these tools are essential in upgrading your weapons and armor, which are extremely important in a game like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. where character upgrades exist in no other way, this can cause players a lot of grief, as they end up using under-powered equipment against difficult enemies.

* ''VideoGame/STALKER'' Call of Pripyat (COP) demonstrates this trope with the "tools" you need to find in order to be able to upgrade your weapons and armor. Gear has 3 tiers of unlockable upgrades, and there are 2 main technicians in the game who can upgrade your gear, which means that there are 6 of these tool sets available in the game. For each technician, you need to find a calibration kit, tools for basic work, and tools for fine work. The game tells you are the start that these exist, but it doesn't tell you ANYTHING about their location. Even if you were to come across them, they don't look like anything out of the ordinary, and can EASILY be mistaken as just some some random metallic rubbish lying around, like an old tin of tuna or similar. Considering COP takes place in 3 separate, large, open environments, which each have multiple well detailed areas and buildings to enter, many of which are filled with garbage due to being abandoned and rotting, finding these tools becomes nigh impossible without using a guide. Considering these tools are essential in upgrading your weapons and armor, which are extremely important in a game like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. where character upgrades exist in no other way, this can cause players a lot of grief, as they end up using under-powered equipment against difficult enemies.

When you inevitably give up, search the internet for any sort of help, and find [[https://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/564489-bloodwings-pumpkinheads-revenge/faqs/58487 the walkthrough]] '''''that only became available after Spoony's first review''''', you'll find that the item functions and the steps you should have taken are [[MoonLogicPuzzle bizarre at best]] and the game should never have expected you to work it out on your own. Sure, {{Adventure Game}}s can be [[GuideDangIt/AdventureGames rather cryptic at times]], but at least important information is given in-game.