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Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned
Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned (1999)
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The game is notable for two puzzles considered by fans and critics to separately be among the best and worst ever made for an adventure game.

The puzzle "Le Serpent Rouge" ("The Red Snake") involves decoding torn-up poem stanzas by hunting for information throughout the game and solving geometric mapping puzzles. This puzzle was widely praised for its overarching complexity and intriguing nature regardless of the player's interest in the real-life mysteries of Rennes-le-Château, a Southern French commune crucial to the game's plot that has been covered in various books and conspiracy theories. The poem was originally included in the "Secret Files of Henri Lobineau", a 1967 dossier about the fraternal organization Priory of Sion, and was modified to make the puzzle solvable. Lead designer Jane Jensen named it her favorite and most challenging puzzle, designing it around the game's fully controllable 3D camera.

Meanwhile, a puzzle designed by producer Steven Hill was disliked internally and meant to be replaced with a different puzzle by Jensen, but time constraints forced them to leave it in the game. It starts with Gabriel Knight learning that his friend Detective Mosely arrived in France the night before in a tour group and is scheduled to rent a motorcycle, so he goes to rent one himself. The nearsighted rental stand clerk requires a passport to confirm arrivals and reveals the only rides he has left are a bike saved for Mosely and a cheap scooter. To get the bike, Knight plans to disguise himself as Mosely by Spoiler:stealing his coat and passport, and hiding his long blonde hair in a hat to pose as Mosely's short brown hair, despite putting it in a visible ponytail. He then draws a mustache on Mosely's photo to obscure their facial differences, goes to a shed door, puts masking tape on a hole in it, sprays a nearby cat with water causing it to run past the tape and stick fur on it, and applies it to his face with some maple syrup from breakfast to make a fake mustache. The disguise inexplicably works and Knight gets the bike.

Moreso than Le Serpent Rouge was praised, the disguise puzzle was roundly criticized for its lack of hints, the impossibility of having Knight convincingly impersonate Mosely who looks nothing like him, and the cartoonish roundabout way of Spoiler:making the mustache clashing with the game's serious tone. Critics felt that while it was not the most difficult puzzle, the solution was too absurd for the average player to think it would work. The most scathing review came from future Valve writer Eric Wolpaw, who blamed Jensen for the poor design (it was not known at the time that she did not design it), and called the process of Spoiler:making the mustache "deranged", controversially declaring it was proof that adventure games "committed suicide". While Jensen disliked the puzzle, she thought it being the death of adventure games was "kinda overblown", and the "length of the sequence and the lack of hints" was what made it bad.
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Backstory/Lore, Complaint, Corporate Affairs, Development, Early Idea, General, Level Design, Misconception, Mistake, Politics, Real Life, Reference, Religion, Reviews
person MehDeletingLater calendar_month June 5, 2024
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Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned - Le Serpent Rouge poem and walkthrough:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7b47CJrnyc
https://sierrachest.com/index.php?a=games&id=39&title=gabriel-knight-3&fld=walkthrough&pid=101

Hunting Shadows: The Making of Gabriel Knight - Chapter 5:
https://web.archive.org/web/20200513021453/https://episodiccontentmag.com/2015/11/20/hunting-shadows-the-making-of-gabriel-knight-chapter-5-of-5/

Anastasia Salter - "Jane Jensen: Gabriel Knight, Adventure Games, Hidden Objects" (2017) - Influential Video Game Designers. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 978-1501327452. (Pages 58-60):
https://books.google.com/books?id=cPEkDgAAQBAJ

Jane Jensen Adventure Gamers interview:
https://web.archive.org/web/20190715214638/https://adventuregamers.com/articles/view/18170

Le Serpent Rouge real poem article:
https://www.renneslechateau.nl/2012/01/13/the-red-serpent/

Le Serpent Rouge puzzle miscellaneous Adventure Gamers acclaim:
https://web.archive.org/web/20210715000329/https://adventuregamers.com/articles/view/18643/page/page4/page7/page10/N100/page15
https://web.archive.org/web/20170428013712/http://www.adventuregamers.com/articles/view/17459
https://web.archive.org/web/20170311222718/http://www.adventuregamers.com/articles/view/18586

Computer Gaming World - Issue #179, June 1999 (Page 63 in magazine):
https://archive.org/details/Computer_Gaming_World_Issue_179/page/n66/mode/1up?q=serpent

The Games Machine - No. 6, March 2008 (Page 68 in magazine):
https://archive.org/details/the-games-machine-italia-speciali-06/page/n67/mode/1up?q=serpent

Detective Mosely tour group context just before the puzzle:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hjzZ0z4b5E

Disguise puzzle footage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hpcmJLrseI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xx3D9xb_sFg

Kotaku interview snippet:
https://web.archive.org/web/20200619041238/https://kotaku.com/how-we-survived-adventure-gamings-most-hair-tearingly-r-5903932

Computer Gaming World - Issue #189, April 2000 (Pages 74-75):
https://archive.org/details/Computer_Gaming_World_Issue_189

Old Man Murray (Eric Wolpaw) - Death of Adventure Games:
https://web.archive.org/web/20200405052244/http://www.oldmanmurray.com/features/79.html

Gamasutra interview mentioning impact of Old Man Murray blog post:
https://web.archive.org/web/20200618200402/https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/134850/spyparty_and_the_indie_ethos_.php?page=3

GamesRadar+ article:
https://web.archive.org/web/20200603224407/https://www.gamesradar.com/the-top-7-stupidest-puzzles/4/

InVisible Culture article (counterargument about the "death of adventure games"):
https://web.archive.org/web/20200622204402/http://ivc.lib.rochester.edu/the-kinesthetic-index-video-games-and-the-body-of-motion-capture/
Freddy in Space 3: Chica in Space
Freddy in Space 3: Chica in Space (2023)
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Character Design, Fan Works, General, Inspiration, Level Design, Meme, Parody, Reference
person Violett calendar_month April 21, 2024
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The Witch and the Hundred Knight
The Witch and the Hundred Knight (2013)
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Originally, Nippon Ichi Software considered making The Witch and the Hundred Knight an open-world game, but this was ultimately scrapped in favor of focusing on the game's 3D graphics technology.
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Development, Early Idea, General, Level Design, Real Life
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month April 19, 2024
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Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis
Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis (2003)
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Attachment The design of this game's park entrance differs depending on what platform and also what graphics setting you're playing on. On the higher graphical settings on PC, it is modeled after the Visitor Center from the movie and also incorporates the traditional iconic Jurassic Park gate. On consoles and also on lower graphical settings on PC, it instead features a far smaller and compact building instead of the Visitor Center, and the Jurassic Park gate's design is modified to also include the Tyrannosaurus skeleton emblem iconic to the series as well as a bunch of ferns.
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Console Difference, General, Level Design
person Dinoman96 calendar_month March 24, 2024
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Dark Souls
Dark Souls (2011)
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Lost Izalith was originally going to be a swampy area like the bottom of Blighttown. However, FromSoftware didn't want it to be a swamp and so it was redesigned to be a lava field, but the team couldn't completely redesign the place the way they wanted to due to time constraints.
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Development, Early Idea, Level Design
person raidramon0 calendar_month March 8, 2024
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Kingdom Hearts
Kingdom Hearts (2002)
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In the Bizarre Room in Wonderland, the fireplace's flames can be "put out" if Sora attacks the fireplace's grated opening with a Blizzard spell, and it can be lit anew if the grated opening is hit with Fire magic instead. Being able to put out the fire makes the second phase of the Trickmaster Heartless boss fight even easier, as the frantic boss cannot light their juggling apparatuses and fling their own Fire at Sora. This is also possibly why the Cheshire Cat gifts Sora a Blizzard spell/upgrade when Sora obtains and shows him at least the Claw Marks piece of evidence during Alice's trail, and also why the grated opening itself is able to be locked onto.
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Cheat, Difficulty, Easter Egg, Level Design, Moveset, Secret, Theory
person PirateGoofy calendar_month February 25, 2024
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Kingdom Hearts III
Kingdom Hearts III (2019)
subdirectory_arrow_right Kingdom Hearts Union χ[Cross] (Game), Kingdom Hearts (Franchise)
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Attachment In 2013, a Kingdom Hearts online mobile game was in development that never saw the light of day. It was to be called "Kingdom Hearts: Fragmented Keys". The game was rumored to feature customizable avatar characters (like Union Cross). It would also have been in 3D instead of Union cross' 2D art style. Most interesting and exciting of all though (gathered from concept art no less) was the Disney world list as the game would feature returning worlds like: Agrabah, Wonderland, a Lilo & Stitch Hawaii world, Space Paranoids/The Grid, London/Neverland, and Dwarf Woodlands. It also included worlds that didn't appear in the series yet but would appear in later games like Union Cross and Kingdom Hearts III, such as: Arendell (Frozen), Kingdom of Corona (Tangled), and Niceland/Game Central Station (Wreck-It Ralph). Finally, and most shockingly, a world based on the Star Wars franchise, although this world's chronology is unknown as concept art show different conflicting eras, such as an image of characters Anakin, Obi-wan, Padme, and Master Yoda in their exact looks from Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie and series in a separatist gunship's hanger as well as a planet that looks similar to Tatooine and an anachronistic Death Star power station room. It is unknown why this game was cancelled.
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Artwork/Illustration, Asset Reuse, Cancelled Release, Customization, Development, Early Idea, Leak, Level Design, Online Play, Opening Logo, Prototype, Rumor, Similarities, Theory, Unreleased Content, Unused Character, Unused Code, Unused Content
person PirateGoofy calendar_month November 28, 2023
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Auf Wiedersehen Monty
Auf Wiedersehen Monty (1987)
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Attachment The game map of Auf Wiedersehen Monty is shaped like Europe, and the screens in each country are placed where that country would be on the real world map.
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Easter Egg, General, Level Design
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month November 27, 2023
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Nickelodeon Kart Racers 2: Grand Prix
Nickelodeon Kart Racers 2: Grand Prix (2020)
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The O-Town Highway track in Nickelodeon Kart Racers 2: Grand Prix composites elements of the 1993 Rocko's Modern Life series and the 2019 Rocko's Modern Life: Static Cling movie. This track features the original fat Chokey Chicken logo instead of the skinny chicken logo introduced in Static Cling and has Rocko's house lack the Conglom-O rocket impaling it or the damage it received while in space, but also features the Buzzbucks coffee shop, Clonglom-O Dome, and a billboard for the Schlam-O Radioactive Power Drink, all of which were established while Rocko was away in space.
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Backstory/Lore, Level Design, Mistake, Reference
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month September 27, 2023
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Super Smash Bros.
Super Smash Bros. (1999)
subdirectory_arrow_right Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Game)
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Attachment Contrary to popular belief, the Mushroom Kingdom stage in Super Smash Bros. does not use sprites or music from Super Mario Bros.. This can be seen in obvious ways, such as enemy sprites having complex shading that would be impossible in any NES game, let alone a title as early in the hardware's lifespan as Super Mario Bros., and multiple sprites being miscolored. It can also be seen in more subtle ways, such as the ground blocks being one pixel too tall on the bottom, and the outlines on the goal stair blocks being too thick. The background music, while an impressively close replica, uses subtly different instruments and is slightly slower in tempo.

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the stage's graphics would be revised to more closely resemble Super Mario Bros., using graphics from Super Mario Maker, and the faux-8-bit Super Smash Bros. rendition of the overworld theme would be the sole battle song from that game to be absent, in favor of the original NES rendition of the song.
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Inspiration, Level Design, Mistake, Reference, Similarities, Sprite/Graphical Animation
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month September 25, 2023
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Crash Bandicoot
Crash Bandicoot (1996)
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Dan Arey, a former Crystal Dynamics and Naughty Dog developer who worked on the second and third games in the series, praised the first game in a 1996 Retro Gamer magazine interview. Prior to joining Naughty Dog, he talked about how the game maintained its unique identity in the world of 3D platformers, even when faced with the groundbreaking influence of Super Mario 64. Arey emphasized that while Super Mario 64 embraced open-ended levels, programmer Andy Gavin and director Jason Rubin designed Crash Bandicoot to adhere to a more old-school, level-based structure while adding 3D depth to its platforming challenges by "going down 3D roads with occasional 2D side-wave elements, but everything was very focussed in terms of mechanics". Arey also expressed admiration for the game's technical achievements even before he joined Naughty Dog, which likely soon motivated him to do so:

"We saw some early demos when I was at Crystal Dynamics, and we were asking ourselves how they were getting so many polygons on the PlayStation. What they had done was pre-calculate the polygons you couldn't see from a fixed-camera viewpoint, so it looked like there were many more polygons being pushed on the system than ever before."
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Development, General, Inspiration, Level Design, Magazine, Real Life, Technology
person ProtoSnake calendar_month February 18, 2024
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