History GuideDangIt / PuzzleGames

* ''VideoGame/TheDig'' mostly suffers from {{pixel hunt}} problems, but has the occasional show-stopper. The worst is when you are expected to use a scepter that's no more than a half-meter in length with a light in the ceiling 10 meters above your head. Or that time when you ''and'' Maggie are both standing right next to a grate, but instead of dislodging it yourself, or asking Maggie to do it, you have to talk to Ludger ''about'' Maggie, and then ''he'll'' ask ''her'' to dislodge it. At other times, talking to a character, showing an item to a character, or trying to use two items together can have different effects depending on where you are, and (for example) Maggie won't be able to read the stone tablet unless you're standing on the right beach when you show it to her.
* Level 29 in ''VideoGame/HeartStar'' is a level where Heart must carry Star up a vertical hall of spikes, and vice versa. However, in order to move while carrying, you have to switch to the world of the carrier. This results in you having to use ''[[FakeDifficulty trial and error]]'' in order to cross. ''And the game never tells you about this.''
* Level 27 in ''Chromatron'' was a massive Guide Dang It moment, as any level further that used the same trick. Not exactly unfair, but a way too obtuse puzzle: there is the object called quantum tangler, and if you change the color of the beam on one side, the other side also changes color -- the opposite way. But no matter what you do, you cannot solve level 27 and a few others until you realise that reflecting a quantum-entangled beam BACK ONTO ITSELF causes very insane color changes. There's no indication in the game that you can do this, and the only similar thing was on level 17, where with a splitter it's pretty apparent.
* The entire ''VideoGame/{{Myst}}'' franchise is essentially a huge set of these. At a bare minimum, be prepared to take a lot of notes.

* ''VideoGame/{{Karoshi}} 2.0.'' This is mostly due to the game BreakingTheFourthWall, the kicker of which is level 48, on which to get an in-game CD player working, you had to ''[[spoiler:insert a music CD in your computer's CD drive.]]'' Who would've thought of ''that?''

* The tea system in ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheDiabolicalBox'': figuring out the correct combination of three teas out of eight (including repeats) is nearly impossible on the first try from the characters' usually incomplete instructions. Doing it on the first try is necessary because if you give the NPC a cup they don't like, they won't even want tea anymore for a while.

* The Switch Inferno level in ''[[VideoGame/SuperMonkeyBall Super Monkey Ball 2]]''. It is indeed a switch 'inferno', since there are many dozens of switches laid out on the floor, and there are no initial clues or indications for the correct switches that can reveal the goal. Press any of the wrong ones, and you get smacked by a fast-moving wall, possibly knocking you out of the course. [[TrialAndErrorGameplay Your only help]] is that when you hit a wrong switch, all the wrong switches will light up, so the correct ones can be easily determined for future reference.
* Freeware indie games are in no way exempt from this. VideoGame/{{Braid}} may be one example, but at least the Guide Dang Its weren't crucial to finishing the game. [[http://www.increpare.com/2009/02/opera-omnia/ Opera Omnia]] gives you a handful of them, one of which is understanding the mechanics (the butterfly effect in reverse), another is Chapter 18 (you have to use what is technically a bug to win).
* ''Scooby Doo: Showdown in Ghost Town'' requires you to open a bank vault door, but thanks to fixed camera angles you can't get a good look at the door. If you decide to use a clock on it, ''then'' you can see the writing indicating that it's a time-activated door, and the slot from which the previous clock was long since looted. Less than intuitive for a [[SchizoTech pseudo-Wild West setting]], and bad game design given that you probably used the clock after every other item failed.
* ''VideoGame/TraumaCenter''. How the heck can anyone know how to beat Death Awaits All without a guide? [[SwordOfPlotAdvancement For a good chunk of the game]], you have a DangerousForbiddenTechnique that will slow down time, once per level. However, in the last level, right before the boss unleashes a devestating instakill move, time slows down automatically. What most people don't get is that you have to use your power at this point AGAIN. This stops time completely.
** Using this ability at any other point in the level makes the level {{Unwinnable}}. This is not hinted at anywhere.
** There is a small way to figure it out in the DS version, though - if you made it to this point without using the Healing Touch, the marker on the bottom left (that you double-tap to ready the Touch) remains a star and visibly regenerates back to full. Stiles also mentions having to concentrate just a little more, as well. Then again, you're probably more focused on Savato and the 25-vital damage per shot.

* ''Alchemy'' is a small mobile game available on Android, in which you have to combine elements (starting with four basic ones - earth, fire, water and air) to get a wide variety of other elements, up to 360 in total. All well and good, but the game is absolutely impossible to complete without consulting some form of guide, because many of the combinations are either obscure enough or crazy enough that the average person is unlikely to have heard of them. For instance, to get "petroleum", one must combine kerogen with pressure. Which is factually true, but who would know offhand what kerogen was unless you saw it in a cheat sheet for this game and Googled it? And some of them don't make any intuitive sense - for example, water + earth = swamp. However mud = water + dust. Who, when they think of what goes into mud, thinks ''dust''?
* ''VideoGame/ChipsChallenge''. The first 30-50 levels can be beaten after solving puzzles and obstacles that rely on basic mechanics. Further levels, however, will resort to more advanced means, and some of them (like ''Perfect Match'' or ''Partial Post'', ''whose hint tiles aren't clear enough!'') will likely leave gamers stuck for a long time. Then, of course, there are the convoluted and mind-screwing mazes that will inevitably call for a step guide.
** The fan version, ''[=WebCC=]'', is ''[[UpToEleven even worse]]''. And not just because nobody's bothered to write a guide to help you figure it out.
* ''VideoGame/{{Antichamber}}'':
** Some puzzles have very obscure solutions.
** The various clickable images are usually prominently placed, so they're not hard to find. Figuring out where the ones you've missed are, however, is extremely difficult without a guide.

* ''VideoGame/TheWitness'':
** The mechanic of the [[spoiler:orange triangle symbol]] can be hard to ascertain as puzzles with those are at first only found in oft-obscure locations across the map. This becomes a problem later in (and when trying to open)...
** ...[[spoiler:the [[BrutalBonusLevel Underground Maze]]. The same mechanic allows the player to turn the fence at the beginning back on, with the solution to that problem being found within the Underground Maze.]]
** The game generally does a good job of giving you sufficient clues to the solution of any given puzzle, but there are definite exceptions. The puzzles in the jungle, for example, appear to have no visible cue, and that's because [[spoiler: they don't; they're the only puzzles in the game (with the exception of one in the Keep and the infamous Red Door puzzle) that rely on an AUDIO cue, specifically the chirping of birds in the background]].

** Similarly, entering the captain's room requires finding the code, which is found [[spoiler:in a sheet of paper in the maintenance station, again long after you've left behind said room.]]

* ''{{The Dig}}'' mostly suffers from {{pixel hunt}} problems, but has the occasional show-stopper. The worst is when you are expected to use a scepter that's no more than a half-meter in length with a light in the ceiling 10 meters above your head. Or that time when you ''and'' Maggie are both standing right next to a grate, but instead of dislodging it yourself, or asking Maggie to do it, you have to talk to Ludger ''about'' Maggie, and then ''he'll'' ask ''her'' to dislodge it. At other times, talking to a character, showing an item to a character, or trying to use two items together can have different effects depending on where you are, and (for example) Maggie won't be able to read the stone tablet unless you're standing on the right beach when you show it to her.

* [[The Dig]] mostly suffers from [[pixel hunt]] problems, but has the occasional show-stopper. The worst is when you are expected to use a scepter that's no more than a half-meter in length with a light in the ceiling 10 meters above your head. Or that time when you ''and'' Maggie are both standing right next to a grate, but instead of dislodging it yourself, or asking Maggie to do it, you have to talk to Ludger ''about'' Maggie, and then ''he'll'' ask ''her'' to dislodge it. At other times, talking to a character, showing an item to a character, or trying to use two items together can have different effects depending on where you are, and (for example) Maggie won't be able to read the stone tablet unless you're standing on the right beach when you show it to her.

* Alchemy is a small mobile game available on Android, in which you have to combine elements (starting with four basic ones - earth, fire, water and air) to get a wide variety of other elements, up to 360 in total. All well and good, but the game is absolutely impossible to complete without consulting some form of guide, because many of the combinations are either obscure enough or crazy enough that the average person is unlikely to have heard of them. For instance, to get "petroleum", one must combine kerogen with pressure. Which is, well, factually true, but who would know offhand what kerogen was unless you were like me, saw it in a cheat sheet for this game and Googled it? And some of them don't make any intuitive sense - for example, water + earth = swamp. However mud = water + dust. Who, when they think of what goes into mud, thinks ''dust''?

* ''VideoGame/TraumaCenter''. How the heck can anyone know how to beat Death Awaits All without a guide? [[SwordOfPlotAdvancement For a good chunk of the game]], you have a DangerousForbiddenTechnique that will slow down time, once per level. However, in the last level, right before the boss unleashes a devestating instakill move, time slows down automatically. What most people don't get is that you have to use your power at this point AGAIN. [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome This stops time completely.]]

** Similarly, entering the captain's room requires finding the code, which is found [[spoiler:in a sheat of paper in the maintenance station, again long after you've left behind said room.]]

*** Related to both of the above, neither mines nor turrets target the PlayerCharacter when they're standing on something equivalent in height to a stack of two hexahedrons, which can come as quite the surprise when one considers that turrets tend to be mounted much higher on their walls, yet are targetted by mines regardless. [[spoiler:It also means one can safely enter any turret's firing arc, as well as any mine's trigger area, by piggybacking on a hexahedron stacked on a patrolling mine.]]
*** Any active piece of equipment that's placed on a hexahedron and shot through the air with a fan continues to do its job no matter what. [[spoiler:That includes jammers that were previously told to jam something.]]

* ''VideoGame/TheTalosPrinciple'': Some stars are relatively straightforward, while others require some pretty outside the box solutions. Numerous ones require exploiting the design of two or more puzzles. Even when ''parts'' of the solution are obvious, actually getting everything in place is another story.
** The very first level's involves [[spoiler:walking into what looks to be a turret's firing radius; ignoring an area which seems like a small positioning challenge but is actually a red herring; skirting the turret's firing radius once again; and bringing a jammer you find near it halfway across the map, to a courtyard that can only be accessed by flipping a hidden switch with no indication it's there]].
** One of the stars requires you to use tools not available in the game itself, making this a rather explicit case of GuideDangIt. The solution requires you to [[spoiler:find out what a certain QR code is saying, as the game itself does not tell you; you'll have to use some external means for this, like a cellphone. After that you need to figure out that the numbers given in the text are ASCII codes, and to find out what those ASCII codes mean, again something the game itself doesn't tell you]].
** The [=A4=] star was enough of Guide Dang It that it was actually revised in a patch prior to the Gehenna DLC, making the solution slightly more obvious. Amusingly, this turned it into a Guide Dang It for players who had previously figured it out, as the original solution was rendered non-viable because the laser connectors needed to achieve it no longer align from puzzle area it used to connect from. [[spoiler:In the original, a laser connector was hidden in a tree outside the first puzzle area. The trick is to guide a red laser to the tree from the adjacent puzzle area, which then allows you to trigger the forcefield to get the star. In the revised version, the connector is now visible on a pillar but further away from the first puzzle area, so the only red connector in view is in the testing area at the far back]].

** The mechanic of the [[spoiler: orange triangle symbol]] can be hard to ascertain as puzzles with those are at first only found in oft-obscure locations across the map. This becomes a problem later in (and when trying to open)...

** It's pretty safe to say that a 100% completion of the game is effectively impossible without looking up walkthrough instructions. Many of the optional puzzles (such as environmental monolith patterns) are so deeply obscure and may require such actions and timing as to be essentially impossible for a single person to find out in any reasonable amount of time, no matter how dedicated.

* The tea system in ''ProfessorLaytonAndTheDiabolicalBox'': figuring out the correct combination of three teas out of eight (including repeats) is nearly impossible on the first try from the characters' usually incomplete instructions. Doing it on the first try is necessary because if you give the NPC a cup they don't like, they won't even want tea anymore for a while.

* TraumaCenter. How the heck can anyone know how to beat Death Awaits All without a guide? [[SwordOfPlotAdvancement For a good chunk of the game]], you have a DangerousForbiddenTechnique that will slow down time, once per level. However, in the last level, right before the boss unleashes a devestating instakill move, time slows down automatically. What most people don't get is that you have to use your power at this point AGAIN. [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome This stops time completely.]]

** Similarly, entering the captain's room requires finding the code, which is found [[spoiler:in a sheat of paper in the maintenance station, again long after you've left behind said room.]]
** The secret room in chamber F56 contains several puzzles that require knowledge of logic symbols, something not every player has. But the worst is by far the second-to last puzzlem which requires noticing a symbol next to the containers that is easily overlooked, and ''then'' correctly interpreting it (there's much discussion in forums on whether it represents the negation symbol, ¬, or the tautology symbol, 1).

* The Switch Inferno level in ''[[VideoGame/SuperMonkeyBall Super Monkey Ball 2]]''. It is indeed a switch 'inferno', since there are many dozens of switches laid out on the floor, and there are no clues or indications for the correct switch that will reveal the goal. Press any of the wrong ones, and you get smacked by a fast-moving wall, possibly knocking you out of the course.
** Actually, if you hit a wrong switch, all the wrong switches will light up, so the correct ones (there are more than one) can be easily determined for future reference.

** Far worse, however, are the [[spoiler: environmental puzzles]], entirely hidden [[spoiler: perspective-based puzzles that power the black obelisks]]; in short, it requires you to [[spoiler: line up the scenery in specific ways so that the telltale large starting circle and curved ending point of a path appear.]] Not only does the game never hint that they exist ([[spoiler:aside from a puzzle on the mountain shaped like the river below]]), but there are TONS of them and they require you to [[spoiler: trace symbols that appear only from certain perspectives, including paths on the ground, collections of flowers on the side of buildings]], and in one case, [[spoiler:an electric gate you have to line up WITH '''THE SUN''']]. And that's not even the worst one. At least one is [[spoiler:WITHIN A ''VIDEO'' in the cinema room]]. What's more, you have to [[spoiler:''go around the back of the projection screen and solve it through the refractional distortions created by the folds in the curtain'']]. In short, if something is [[spoiler:circular, or long and linear, it'll most likely be part of an environmental puzzle]].
** In fact, by the time one figures out that these even exist, they've already missed [[spoiler: completing the hidden puzzle that lines the electric fence, which opens the GoldenEnding. It is possible to turn the fence back on, avoiding LostForever status.]]

** The [=A4=] star was enough of Guide Dang It that it was actually revised in a patch prior to the Gehenna DLC, making the solution slightly more obvious. Amusingly, this turned it into a Guide Dang It for players who had previously figured it out, as the original solution was rendered non-viable because the laser connectors needed to achieve it no longer align from puzzle area it used to connect from. [[spoiler:In the original, a laser connector was hidden in a tree outside the first puzzle area. The trick is to guide a red laser to the tree from the adjacent puzzle area, which then allows you to trigger the forcefield to get the star. In the revised version, the connector is now visible on a pillar but further away from the first puzzle area, so the only red connector in view is in the testing area at the far back]].

** That said, the above puzzle can be solved simply because there are few enough possible sequences of moves that [[TrialAndErrorGameplay you can just try everything]]. Similar remarks apply to the infamous GuideDangIt on ''{{Repton}}'''s tenth level, "Octopus". One puzzle requires [[spoiler:stepping to the right from under a rock, then immediately pressing left so that you push it aside as it falls, preventing it trapping a diamond directly below]]. (Nothing up to this point hints that this manoeuvre is possible.) Many players did discover this by themselves just because nothing else could possibly be the solution.

** In fact, by the time one figures out that these even exist, they've already missed [[spoiler: completing the hidden puzzle that lines the electric fence, which opens the GoldenEnding. It is possible to turn the fence back on, avoiding LostForever status.]]

** The entirely hidden [[spoiler: perspective-based puzzles that power the black obelisks.]] In short, it requires you to [[spoiler: line up the scenery in specific ways so that the telltale large starting circle and curved ending point of a path appear.]]
** In fact, by the time one figures out that these even exist, they've already missed [[spoiler: completing the hidden puzzle that lines the electric fence, which opens the GoldenEnding. It is possible to turn the fence back on, avoiding LostForever status.]]

** Far worse, however, are the [[spoiler: environmental puzzles]]; not only does the game never hint that they exist ([[spoiler:aside from a puzzle on the mountain shaped like the river below]]), but there are TONS of them and they require you to [[spoiler: trace symbols that appear only from certain perspectives, including paths on the ground, collections of flowers on the side of buildings]], and in one case, [[spoiler:an electric gate you have to line up WITH '''THE SUN''']]. And that's not even the worst one. At least one is [[spoiler:WITHIN A ''VIDEO'' in the cinema room]]. What's more, you have to [[spoiler:''go around the back of the projection screen and solve it through the refractional distortions created by the folds in the curtain'']]. In short, if something is [[spoiler:circular, or long and linear, it'll most likely be part of an environmental puzzle]].

** Far worse, however, are the [[spoiler: giant landscape puzzles]]; not only does the game never hint that they exist, but there are TONS of them and they require you to [[spoiler: trace symbols that appear only from certain perspectives, including paths on the ground, collections of flowers on the side of buildings, and in one case, an electric gate you have to line up WITH '''THE SUN''']].

* ''VideoGame/TheWitness'' generally does a good job of giving you sufficient clues to the solution of any given puzzle, but there are definite exceptions. The puzzles in the jungle, for example, appear to have no visible cue, and that's because [[spoiler: they don't; they're the only puzzles in the game (with the exception of one in the Keep and the infamous Red Door puzzle) that rely on an AUDIO cue, specifically the chirping of birds in the background]]. Far worse, however, are the [[spoiler: giant landscape puzzles]]; not only does the game never hint that they exist, but there are TONS of them and they require you to [[spoiler: trace symbols that appear only from certain perspectives, including paths on the ground, collections of flowers on the side of buildings, and in one case, an electric gate you have to line up WITH '''THE SUN''']].

* ''VideoGame/TheWitness'' generally does a good job of giving you sufficient clues to the solution of any given puzzle, but there are definite exceptions. The puzzles in the jungle, for example, appear to have no visible cue, and that's because [[spoiler: they don't; they're the only puzzles in the game (with the exception of one in the Keep) that rely on an AUDIO cue, specifically the chirping of birds in the background]]. Far worse, however, are the [[spoiler: giant landscape puzzles]]; not only does the game never hint that they exist, but there are TONS of them and they require you to [[spoiler: trace symbols that appear only from certain perspectives, including paths on the ground, collections of flowers on the side of buildings, and in one case, an electric gate you have to line up WITH '''THE SUN''']].

** The ''TabletopGame/SettlersOfCatan'' knockoff you can find lying around. Unless you've memorized the cost of all buildable resources, let alone how the game works in the first place, it's terribly difficult to play since the game doesn't tell you ''anything'' about it.

** The various clickable images are usually prominently placed, so they're not hard to find. Figuring out where the ones you've missed are, however, is extremely difficult without a guide.

* ''Supaplex'', a perfectly logical BoulderDash clone... until you get to levels 59 and 60, and later on 100 and 108, and even on 91, but you can work around on that one. A corridor three tiles in height, which has three vertical rows of rocks one after the other and only the last rock can be pushed. No matter what you do, there doesn't seem a way to get past, because only one of the top rocks will fall. The solution? [[spoiler: Eat all the tiles near the first row of rocks, but eat the middle one last, then step away TO THE SIDE -- two rocks will fall as opposed to the usual one, which in turn will free the second top rock to roll off. The last rock can now be pushed.]] The only hint you were given is an in-game demo which does something similar on a completely different level and stuffs it up 30 seconds later. At this point, most people already know that the demo feature is pretty useless, so they miss it. Guide Dang It.

* ''VideoGame/{{Antichamber}}'': Some puzzles have very obscure solutions. Also, some abilities aren't well demonstrated (particularly those of the green gun).
** For instance [[spoiler: you are shown that you can "grow" more blocks with the green gun in the recess in the wall, but it takes a logical leap to figure out that you can do so by drawing an empty square ''anywhere'' you want - not just in the recessed areas.]]
** When a connected block structure loses a block from a middle of it, the smaller half of it will disappear. If the amount of blocks on either side of the structure is the same, all such sides will disappear. Sounds simple? Well, the game never actually tells you this, it just puts in two rooms where you're pretty much locked until you've somehow realised the pattern and used it to get enough blocks to solve the puzzle - which is a problem if you don't have any clue of why the blocks are disappearing but still somehow manage to complete the puzzle: you'll now be struggling among lots of puzzles that assume you've fully understood the pattern.

** When a connected block structure loses a block from a middle of it, the smaller half of it will disappear. If the amount of blocks on either side of the structure is the same, all such sides will disappear. Sounds simple? Well, the game never actually tells you this, it just puts in two rooms where you're pretty much locked until you've somehow realised the pattern and used it to get enough blocks to solve the puzzle - which is a problem if you don't have any clue of why the blocks are disappearing but still somehow manage to complete the puzzle: you'll now be struggling among lots of puzzles that assume you've fully understood the pattern.