Video summary

What Makes a Game Feel Mysterious?

Main summary

Key takeaways

Gaming

Storyline (what the video focuses on)

  • The video opens with a personal story from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: after leaving the Great Plateau, the narrator spots a giant flaming dragon-like shape in the night sky—then it disappears when a Blood Moon occurs. This creates a “UFO sighting” feeling: was it real, and what exactly happened?
  • From there, the video argues that “mystery” in games comes from withholding information in ways that make players want to figure things out—without turning the game into mere confusion.
  • It then breaks down multiple design approaches to mystery (locked doors, unclear rules, mysterious landscapes, and narrative questions) and explains how good games help players “close” curiosity gaps through exploration and insight.

Gameplay highlights & key mystery mechanics discussed

1) “Locked doors” and unresolved questions

Examples given:

  • Tunic: impassable gates/doors with no obvious keyhole or handle (the “snowy mountain gateway” is a major focus)
  • Dark Souls (Sen’s Fortress gateway)
  • Super Metroid (golden statue room)
  • Hollow Knight (the black egg)
  • Spelunky (Moai head in ice caves)

Key idea:

  • Locked doors become long-running internal questions: what’s behind it and how do I open it?
  • But designers must manage how many mysteries players carry at once, or it becomes overwhelming.

2) Concealing the rules of the game (intentional obtuseness)

Examples given:

  • Rain World: tutorials cover basics (food/hibernation), while much else is left vague (symbols, gates, creatures)
  • Souls games: cryptic systems and confusing mechanics/items/NPC dialogue (including tendencies in Demon’s Souls)
  • Starseed Pilgrim: an obvious surface premise (plant seeds to grow platforms), but major core mechanics/goals remain unexplained

Strategy/tip emphasized:

  • Leave things ambiguous only when it’s optional or fair.
  • Balance curiosity and frustration; the video notes Rain World caused some players to drop it after false starts.

3) Mysteries created by the landscape (exploration as the answer)

Examples given:

  • Elden Ring: vast regions where the game gives very little info about what’s ahead or inside caves; exploration fills the curiosity gap
  • The Zelda franchise origin: exploring childhood memories of the countryside
  • Riven: exploration in a strange world, including made-up language and delivery of dialogue

Tip emphasized:

  • Let players “chart” their own journey (pins, notes, screenshots) rather than over-directing with maps/compasses.
  • Avoid NPCs that over-explain everything (contrasted with the eerie silence in The Talos Principle vs noisier commentary in its sequel, referenced in the subtitles).

4) Mysteries created by the narrative (a question-driven structure)

Examples given:

  • Outer Wilds: solar system exploration in a 20-minute loop, with central questions like what caused the loop and what the Eye of the Universe is; major secrets revealed via exploration (including a quantum moon and missing explorers)
  • The Forgotten City: looping time-travel mystery beneath ancient Rome
  • Her Story: detective whodunit via police interview clip database

Key challenge noted:

  • Players must be motivated to care about solving the questions.

How curiosity is sparked (without “beating players on the head”):

  • Make things noticeable (weird/eye-catching elements)
  • Make the narrative feel personal/direct at the player (e.g., museum statue/curator moments in Outer Wilds)

5) “Knowledge-based keys” (solving with understanding instead of items)

Main claim:

  • Some of the most satisfying mystery solutions happen when the player must gain knowledge, not just collect a key.

Core example:

  • Tunic: the big mountain door needs knowledge, not a physical key/item—progress depends on learning interactions and deciphering the manual/instruction scraps.

Other “knowledge as key” examples:

  • Outer Wilds: clues on one planet enable progress on another
  • Riven: interpreting information (including language systems) to open special locks
  • Chants of Senaar: untangling multiple foreign-language elements to derive words/riddles
  • Fez: translating/understanding a made-up language (some players solved early via pattern analysis)
  • La-Mulana: parsing inscriptions to connect calendars and statues
  • Spelunky: figuring how to use the ankh for special exits
  • Animal Well (collaboration mechanic): a mosaic puzzle where each player gets only 1 of many pieces, requiring community cooperation

Why this is satisfying (as stated):

  • Forces careful attention and application
  • Often solvable at multiple times (depending on player insight)
  • Enables sequence-breaking/replayability
  • Frequently feels like “aha, I figured it out,” not “I found an item”

Optional vs mandatory mystery content:

  • The video stresses designers should decide what’s required to finish vs optional “secret hunts.”
    • Fez: only a subset of cubes is required for the final door; many additional secrets exist beyond
    • Tunic: multiple endings depending on how much cryptic puzzle content is pursued
    • Animal Well: layered difficulty (layer 1 accessible, layer 2 for secret enthusiasts, layer 3 hardest/maddest; may require help)

6) Avoiding “answer-pattern solving” (keeping later mysteries from becoming predictable)

Example:

  • Elden Ring catacombs: early mystery (what’s inside) becomes predictable due to repeated structure (flower/boss/reward spirit ash), reducing surprise

Suggested fix:

  • Include unique areas that don’t follow the standard template or deliberately break patterns.
  • Example used: Super Metroid—most item rooms grant safe upgrades, but a specific exception surprises the player (a bomb from a room that would usually be “safe”).

7) “Invisible questions” (mystery you only notice if you suspect it)

Example:

  • The Witness: grid puzzles evolve into realizing the environment itself contains puzzles—after noticing grid line patterns in the landscape and interacting with a familiar drawing control in a new way

Also referenced:

  • Dark Souls illusory wall disappearance implying hidden spaces behind them
  • Fez code input using shoulder buttons
  • Super Mario Bros. escaping to the UI to bypass the goal

Key requirement:

  • These discoveries should be legitimately optional—finishable without noticing—so only observant/curious players get the “true secret.”

Strategies / key tips explicitly emphasized

  • Withhold information intentionally (described as “withholding of information done intentionally”).
  • Use curiosity gaps (difference between what the player knows and what you withhold) to motivate continued play.
  • Manage cognitive load: too many locked doors/loose ends can overwhelm.
  • Keep ambiguity usable/fair:
    • clarify fundamentals (or keep advanced rules optional)
    • don’t hide foundational mechanics so deeply that players constantly fail and quit
  • Make mystery answers obtainable via:
    • exploration (landscape)
    • observation + experimentation (obtuse rules)
    • knowledge acquisition (“knowledge-based keys”)
    • optional collaboration (community-driven secrets)
  • Avoid over-repetition:
    • patterns help scale content, but too much predictability destroys mystery—add unique content or break templates
  • Ensure “invisible questions” are discoverable without forcing every player to notice them.

Gamers / sources featured (named at end)

  • Mark Brown (host; Game Maker’s Toolkit)
  • JJ Abrams (LOS T creator; cited on “withholding of information”)
  • Andrew Shouldice (Tunic designer)
  • Billy Basso (Animal Well designer)
  • Derek Yu (Spelunky designer)
  • Joar Jakobsson (Rain World designer)
  • Droqen (Starseed Pilgrim developer)
  • Rune Johansen (game designer; usability vs ambiguity quote)
  • Hidetaka Miyazaki (Elden Ring director)
  • Kelsey Beachum (Outer Wilds narrative designer)
  • Alex Beachum (Outer Wilds designer; discussion of sparking curiosity)
  • Jonathan Blow (The Witness designer)
  • Phil Fish (Fez creator; referenced in the black monolith discussion)
  • Hornfell (Outer Wilds museum curator; named in the subtitles)
  • GMTK Patrons (credited generally for support, mentioned during the Fez anecdote)

Original video