History GuideDangIt / Adventure

** Or how about the fact that, to open a case that contains an item that you need, you need to find out which word of the second verse of the Vogon's poem is the password (which will only work if you actually learn it in game, so you can't just look it up), which can be figured out by pushing a button on the case itself. However, what it doesn't tell you is that the Vogon won't even ''say'' the second verse of his poem unless you enter the command ENJOY POETRY after the poem has started. You do get a small hint towards this (the Vogon reading the poem says you didn't look like you enjoyed it if you fail to input the command), but not many people would think that "enjoy" would be a verb that the game would recognise.

** And really, this is one of many, many situations in ''KGB'' where the puzzles range from extreme difficulty to borderline impossible without third-party intervention. Two examples of this are the coded messages that player receives at the beginning of Chapter 1, and the end of Chapter 2. By the time you get to the end of the game, progress is dependent entirely upon trial-and-error. Aside from [[VideoGame/LauraBow Dagger Of Amon Ra]], I consider this to be one of, if not the hardest adventure game of all time.
** That is an example of invisible causality - a whole class of potentially GuideDangIt problems in adventure games. The term describes a situation where you have to do something completely irrelevant in order to move the game forward - like talking to the guy in the park to go to the docks.
** Actually, if you are smart enough you know you can trust Greenberg and should contact him, as you escaped the bad guys together at the end of chapter 1. And actually there are lots of hints that you should not trust your controller... but so subtle I would not have seen it without a walkthrough. And yes, you have no reason to distrust the woman who tells you not to contact Greenberg, but to be fair you have no reason to trust her either : you don't know her. As to why you are supposed to tail the guy you see drive off, it is because you have already linked him to the group (he was the one setting the date for the boat departure), and on the fishing boat, all the other members said that "the fourth member" will drive off at about 9 am. But you get stuck in unwinnable situation so many times that clearly is a design choice. Fortunately, you can backtrack to the last room you entered (good for instadeath), and if you have no save before the point of no return, you can at least restart the *chapter* instead of the whole game...

* ''VideoGame/{{Myst}}'': One example of this: Getting out of the Mechanical Age requires you to rotate the main area of the age to get to two small islands that have part of the password leading out. The problem? There was a bug in the game when it was first released that prevented the area from rotating towards one of the islands. A patch was later released to fix this, but until then players had to use the guide to find out what the solution was.

** There's also the three infamous "age end puzzles" in VideoGame/MystIVRevelation. In one age, you manipulate monkeys in a certain way, but the puzzle was flawed upon the game's first releasing, so you didn't have much time to call the monkeys so they could be controlled in time, and if you didn't do that the right way and have all the monkeys in the right spot at the very end, you had to do it all over again. The second one involved playing certain harmonic frequencies in a certain order on some sort of instrument, but the notches on the instrument you had to line up with were picky, and it was also a timed puzzle that you had to do in a certain way, and ''also'' affected by the same timing glitch as the Monkey puzzle. The final puzzle involved raising and lowering water levels in a certain way in order to gain access to the door to the end of the game, but it was really picky about how you're supposed to do it, and some players have trouble with it even when they ''have'' a guide.

* ''Necronomicon'' had a puzzle where the player was presented with about 20 unmarked bottles, and had to mix two specfic ones in a beaker. Every such attempt involved moving the bottles one at a time from their shelf to the beaker, there was absolutely no hint as to which bottles had to be mixed, and only very vaguely alluded to that you had to mix some of them in the first place. This puzzle leads directly into [[spoiler:having to locate an unknown piece of information from a talking, hard-to-understand and annoying-to-operate interactive encyclopedia, then using the name it gave you to locate a specific urn of ashes in a massive room of urns by looking at near-impossible-to-read labels with initials of the guys whose ashes these are]]. This is the point where most everyone either look up a guide or throw the game in the trash.

** [[http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/1771.html This]] ''Webcomic/IrregularWebcomic'' strip cites a moment (among ''many'') from ''VideoGame/KingsQuestV'' - a cat chases a rat across the screen early in the game. You are supposed to throw a boot at the cat (a boot that can only be found in an arbitrary part of the desert far to the west) so the rat can escape. What's that? You didn't? Well, the game is {{Unwinnable}} from that point on. As seen in the page for {{Unwinnable}}, Sierra is famous for that.

* ''VideoGame/RunawayARoadAdventure''. The game had it's puzzles mostly grounded in realism up until a moment about halfway through: you need to use a UsefulNotes/WW2 machine gun, but it's out of ammo. Solution? Load it with ''tubes of lipstick'' mixed with gunpowder. That's just the developers being ''mean''.

** While funny (how many games start off by ''running you over with a bus''?), it features ''many'' Guide Dang It moments because what you can and can't muck around with isn't immediately apparent. Who knew you had to pick up a metal bar, and then sharpen it on the spinning, rubberless wheel of a suspended car? Funny game, but needs a little glowy aura around things you can pick up, and maybe some more {{NPC}}s hanging around to drop the occasional hint.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/deathscrn.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[VideoGame/LeisureSuitLarry2 Wait, did the game just tell me to order a hint book?]]]]

* Creator/{{Infocom}}'s ''VideoGame/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' adventure game. Ye gods. Not only are many of the clues found in the literal in-game "guide," but there's no index on the thing, so you have to keep guessing searches. How else are you going to figure out that the Brownian motion is used to power the improbability drive? And in many puzzles, the Guide is about as informative as its entry on Earth. The early game is filled with {{Permanently Missable|Content}} items whose function is often obscure and which you have to obtain on a time limit. Most notorious of these is the Babel fish: unlike in the book, where Ford simply sticks one in Arthur's ear, getting one in the game involves a bizarre puzzle in which two items (one of them probably lost already) get combined in a way that makes absolutely no sense until tried. Being overly familiar with the book doesn't help all that much, since the game diverges from the book's story; you have to prevent [[spoiler:the dog swallowing the microscopic space fleet]] from happening like it does in the book.

* An example where the [[EarnYourBadEnding bad ending is harder to get than the good endings]] is the MyLittlePony fangame ''VideoGame/SuperFillyAdventure''. In order to get it, you have to talk to everybody, and play at 11:30pm to 6:00am. [[ShmuckBait Though, it's better]] [[NightmareFuel to not get it.]]

And after all that, you may want to read [[http://www.oldmanmurray.com/features/77.html this article]] and nod in agreement as you do so ...

* In order to make any progress in ''VideoGame/TakeshisChallenge'', you have to perform some very specific and, at times, [[ViolationOfCommonSense seemingly counterproductive]] actions. Just to get started, you have to withdraw money from the bank, quit your job, get black-out drunk at a bar, divorce your wife, collect a stack of money from a potted plant at your former workplace (but not before the divorce, otherwise your wife is going to take a huge chunk of it as alimony), take hang-gliding and shamisen lessons, win a shamisen at a pachinko parlor, successfully sing (as in, ''physically sing into the microphone on the second controller'') one specific song at the karaoke bar three times in a row, receive a blank piece of paper from an old man, reveal it to be a treasure map by soaking it in water for five to ten minutes or exposing it to sunlight for ''an hour'', kill the old man who gave it to you lest the game become UnwinnableByDesign at the very end, and finally buy a plane ticket to the South Pacific. Again, this is just what's needed to ''get started'' in the game. [[TrollGame This was all done perfectly intentionally.]]

* The ''Film/AceVentura'' licensed video game has a puzzle where you need to assemble several elements into a totem. No hints are given. You're supposed to figure out by trial-and-error, apparently, that it's supposed to be [[http://gfx.gaminator.tv/data/screen/3595/697/9428-2.jpg this abstract thing.]]

* The puzzles in ''VideoGame/LimboOfTheLost'' were the final nail on the coffin for the game, as half the time they don't even begin to make sense. For example, early on in the game players are expected to put a ''worm'' into a flask of water to create tequila.

* ''VideoGame/IHaveNoMouthAndIMustScream'' is a deliberate example of this done at the insistence of Creator/HarlanEllison, creator of [[Literature/IHaveNoMouthAndIMustScream the original book]]. It's justified via GameplayAndStoryIntegration - the game's levels are VR scenarios designed by a [[AIIsACrapshoot sadistic supercomputer]] to psychologically torment the heroes, so he's obviously not going to make it easy for you to win. One especially recurrent example is that (likely going against the instinct of every gamer on the planet) there are multiple places where the player has to ignore, or even do the opposite of, the tasks they are given by the [=NPCs=], as they are avatars of the evil computer trying to trick you into losing. Even if you get past all that, it's still possible to screw up on the literal last screen of the game if you fail to [[SpottingTheThread spot the thread]] and realize that [[spoiler:the two seemingly "good" [=AIs=] that have been aiding you against the evil one are actually just as bad and were UsingYouAllAlong; they'll try to trick you into using an item to shut down just the main villain, when the correct answer is to use another item to dispose of all three of them]].

** Even worse was an overly-convoluted puzzle that involved opening locker doors ''in a specific way'', and a "No Smoking" sign that was actually a ''button you had to press''! At least the eponymous Ghost didn't say this puzzle's solution was "obvious", like he did after inputting one of ''many'' numeric passcodes, this one which ''isn't'' stated out in the open and can only be figured out by determining a pattern out of ''previous codes'' found in a diary! And furthermore, how the ''hell'' are you supposed to figure out that you should ''electrify a bone in order to get a makeshift '''flute'''''?! [[JustifiedTrope Granted]], this was an amateur-made AdventureGame created by two people using the freeware [[http://dead-code.org/home/ Wintermute Engine]], but you'd think they'd [[FakeDifficulty give more hints for these extremely-tough-even-for-an-adventure-game puzzles]]...

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* Creator/DouglasAdams's ''Bureacracy'', in some very bizarre manner, makes some amount of sense with most if its puzzles to start with (a parrot missing its left wing will become very excited upon seeing a painting of Ronald Reagan-- think about it). However, when you get to the airport, the game requires you to climb one of the structure poles and crawl into the air ducts, and what happens when you leave the air ducts is bizarre, to say the very least. There is no indication at any point that you can do this, no sane person ever would, and this only marks the beginning of the puzzles making no lick of sense.

** How about the hidden reactor in the junk pile in [[VideoGame/SpaceQuestIIIThePiratesOfPestulon part 3?]] Absolutely no hint is given that the thing is even there--for one thing, it's ''hidden behind the scenery''--but without it, the game comes to a dead stop (And digging in most of the trash piles results in [[HaveANiceDeath Roger cutting his hand and dying of blood loss]], so you would assume you're not supposed to poke around). And this is one of the first puzzles that you have to solve in the entire game; you've barely started and you're already irredeemably stuck. That is, unless you either purchase a hint book or call the hint line (which conveniently charges per minute and, at the time, wasn't operational outside normal business hours anwyay).

* The grand-daddy of them all: In a time in which there was no internet, it was considered a good thing that most Atari 2600 games were rather simple. When the ''{{VideoGame/Swordquest}}'' games were created, however, simplicity went out the window, and many gamers found themselves frustrated and nearly on the verge of insanity trying to solve these epic puzzles. In this case, it was intentionally difficult, as there was a contest involved with real, valuable prizes.
** Most Atari 2600 adventure games had a certain amount of [[ReadTheFreakingManual RTFM]], which is one reason modern gamers on emulators often get frustrated. The king of RTFM (and also this trope), was ''VideoGame/RaidersOfTheLostArk''. Unfortunately, the manual left out a couple of steps (and didn't describe one vital object) for solving the game. Leaving a bunch of kids to puzzle out, with no internet (even the magazines were tight-lipped). A LOT of kids gave up, some eventually made the necessary leaps of logic. A modern gamer with no manual, forget it.
* ''[[VideoGame/{{Manhunter}} Manhunter: New York]]'' and ''San Francisco'' are the worst. [[FissionMailed You have to get a game over a specific way]], and then you are given a name to search for later in the game. Normally, a game over in these games are something you try and ''avoid''. Especially since they would often either say "rest in peace" or a silly message. Meaning you probably would not think to take these as a hint - ''especially'' since a lot of those snarky death endings often say "That wasn't a good move!" or "Here's a hint: Don't do what you just did!"

* In ''VideoGame/{{Syberia}}'', you must manufacture some legs for an automaton. The dialogue describes how only a certain model NUMBER will work, but conveniently leaves out the fact that said model number is an item you just plug in. The real determinant is the color of the wood, which is never hinted at. As an extra special bonus, the color you end up choosing on the control panel IS NOT THE SAME COLOR AS THE REST OF THE ROBOT!!! Thankfully, you can just brute force it, since there aren't that many choices.
** Better, you do get what can only be described as the opposite of a hint: [[spoiler:the brochure mentions such fine imported materials as "Madagascar ebony". Ebony is black. The wood you use is NOT BLACK.]]
*** To be fair, there is a picture of the correct wood in the brochure. But it's very easy to overlook.
* ''VideoGame/MermaidSwamp''
** Early on, doing something insignificant that one would do out of [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished kindness]] immediately locks the player from achieving the good ending. If one decides to [[spoiler: light a fire in Yuka's room]], that character is doomed to die. Nothing in the game indicates that this has an effect, not even one this big, or that it influences your ending (although the bad ending itself points out [[spoiler: heating the room was a bad idea]]).
** When the protagonist, Rin, is being chased by [[spoiler: a possessed Seitaro]] with an axe, she ends up stuck in a room and given the option to either dodge or not dodge. Of course, Rin needs to dodge, right? If she does [[spoiler: Seitaro misses, crashes through the weak floor and ends up impaled on the axe himself]]. And said character ends up dead, also leading to a bad ending. So Rin needs to not dodge, which goes against what anyone would do in such a situation. Oh, this choice is also time-limited, so if one takes too long to choose Dodge or Don't Dodge, Rin gets killed.
* In a parody of the Guide Dang It puzzles that infested the genre at the time (and, well, the series itself also), one of the puzzles in ''VideoGame/SpaceQuestIVRogerWilcoAndTheTimeRippers'' required the player to find (in game) the "Space Quest 4 Hint Book" and look up the solution - that single solution being the only actually useful hint in the book. The rest either referenced outlandish events that weren't in the game, gave some smartass one liners or parodied hint books themselves. You can find a transcript of the book's contents [[http://spacequest.wikia.com/wiki/SQ4_Hintbook here]] (the genuine hint is the one about the timepod).
** There is actually another useful hint - the "Super Computer" code hint is potentially useful at the end of the game, although this is an optional puzzle. But, in order to take advantage of it, you have to have found the laptop (near the start of the game...), taken the battery from the energizer bunny (also near the start) and bought the correct plug adapter, thus making it pretty much a Guide Dang It moment itself.
** And how about using the rope to snare the Energizer Bunny look-a-like then examining him in inventory to get his battery for the Pocket Pal? And using the jar to collect the green slime in the sewer to unlock the Super Computer door near the end of the game?
** A particularly cruel one in the first game, where in order to enter the enemy mothership in space, you need a jet-pack to fly to it. If you didn't get the jet-pack earlier, the game is {{Unwinnable}}. When you enter Ulence Flats, an alien greeting you will offer to buy your hovercraft. You're supposed to refuse the offer at first, until he returns and throws in a jet-pack as a bonus. Unfortunately, at no point does the game ever hint (until it's too late) that you even need a jet-pack, let alone the fact that this alien has it, and will only give it to you on his second offer.
** How about the hidden reactor in the junk pile in [[VideoGame/SpaceQuestIIIThePiratesOfPestulon part 3?]] Absolutely no hint is given that the thing is even there--for one thing, it's ''hidden behind the scenery''--but without it, the game comes to a dead stop (And digging in most of the trash piles results in [[HaveANiceDeath Roger cutting his hand and dying of blood loss]], so you would assume you're not supposed to poke around). And this is one of the first puzzles that you have to solve in the entire game; you've barely started and you're already irredeemably stuck. That is, unless you either purchase a hint book or call the hint line (which conveniently charges per minute and, at the time, wasn't operational outside normal business hours anwyay).
*** And the wires on the wall, that look like just part of the scenery. Then a giant rat comes and steals both wires and generator, then you have to go back in the basement to retrieve both (some may think the game has become {{Unwinnable}}). Then to get into the spaceship, you have to take the seemingly immobile basement ladder and stuff it into your hyperspace pocket.

* ''[[VideoGame/SimonTheSorcerer Simon the Sorcerer 3D]]'' is full of moments like this, but the final puzzle is just unforgettable. You're in front of a huge computer, and you must put a CD there. The problem is that the computer has no button to open the CD space. So, what to do? Oh, easy: just stand in front of the computer with the CD on your hand, and then open the CD space of your [[NoFourthWall REAL-LIFE COMPUTER]], so that the in-game computer opens. No previous hints at any point.
** Climbing. What the fuck. There's a point that requires you to climb a rock. It could have been much easier if you were told at some point that you're able to climb in that game. During the tutorial you're explained everything (and I mean everything) you can do there but the only thing you really should have been explained.
*** Actually the manual tells it, but there's no in-game explanation. Besides, considering that's the only time in the whole game where you can actually climb (except from another rock in the very first room, but it's pointless to climb there, so most people will finish the game without knowing they could climb there) they could even believe it was a dropped-out game resource.
* The second ''VideoGame/SimonTheSorcerer'' game also features a crowning moment of Guide Dang It near the end of the game. You need to be able to sneak past a monstrous guard. The solution to muffling Simon's footsteps? ''Wear a dog''. This command makes Simon magically transform the dog into a pair of fuzzy slippers and wear them. It should also be noted that a recurring source of humor is Simon's near total inability to use actual magic, so him being able to do this trick comes out of nowhere.
* ''VideoGame/GoldRush''. Let's start with the fact that the opening is a TimedMission and certain areas make the game {{Unwinnable}} if you spent too much time in the game. Then combine it with TrialAndErrorGameplay (on the "Land" route, at least). and then throw in a puzzle that requires you to not only have switched a mule you just bought for another one you have no reason to search for in the first place but also [[spoiler:have picked up a family picture (that you have no indication you can take) in your house at the start of the game before selling it]] and you have headaches WAITING to happen.
* ''VideoGame/TorinsPassage'' is not necessarily [[{{Unwinnable}} impossible]] to win without a guide, but can be a major pain in the ass without a guide on some of its puzzles. More painful examples include the The Lands Above's phenocryst and the crystal used to make its platform usable [[note]] you have to press the shard you get from the guard (Herman) into one of three different colored holes on a control panel (with the exception of the fourth hole, the red hole, which just switch what the other holes do), making pillars rise and fall until you somehow get them all to lower and make the phenocryst usable[[/note]], the Escarpa's tiles to find its phenocryst [[note]] You have to collect a handful of tiles all around the level, which isn't bad in itself, except that you later have to rearrange them on a podium found in the bottom of the world to make a face. Unfortunately there are many shapes you can make that can be deemed by a player as a "face" (nevermind a [[BlatantLies "smiling"]] face, and the hint system is absolutely useless in finding out what the hell the face is supposed to look like[[/note]], Purgola's rearranging of the purgolin priests and priestesses (Ostiaries), both to lead Torin [[spoiler: and Leenah]] to a phenocryst and also to access it [[note]] The first phase is to rearrange the Ostiaries along corners or parts of the pentogram so that each of them line up with every other one in a way they all have at least one trait in common (such as lining up all the Ostiaries whom have a gold belt, who have green hoods, who have white robes, etc) in either lines they're connected to. The second phase involves rearranging them between female and male, and then making them shuffle about in the most inconvenient way possible to hopefully get them to be arranged from the lowest-pitched singer to the highest (for the men) and the highest-pitched singer to the lowest (for the women). It is possible to make the second phase ''much'' easier by [[GoodBadBugs keeping a female and male pair on the wrong side of either groups while rearranging the rest in the right order]] before you have to make them sing, but of course the hint system won't tell you that[[/note]], Asthenia's [[PixelHunt huge-ass maze with the tiniest wrench on earth]] [[note]] you need to find a wrench in said huge-ass maze, and the only indication it's there is that it glitters from time to time and that the hint system eludes to it, but won't tell you much else on how to get to it[[/note]] and its crystal lazer puzzle [[note]] rearranging crystals in a box so that a light reflects on them in particular angles written on the crystal. You have to get the light to shine from its source crystal to another crystal on the other side of the box[[/note]] and finally Tenebrous's (The Lands Below's) grass trekking [[note]] after helping the sunflower, you have to navigate over hotspots indicated by the grass telling you variants of "yes" and "no". Of course, said hotspots aren't always consistant and they have [[PixelHunt a relatively small area that'll get them to say "yes" to]], sometimes even making you look back in an area after moving an inch when it is ''now'' deemed safe when before it wasn't[[/note]].

* ''VideoGame/AVampyreStory'' has a doozy, right near the start of the game. You have to mix together potions to make an acid. Luckily, there are instructions on a nearby chalk board. You have three beakers - one with a purple potion, one with a green, and one with an orange. The next step in the intructions is "cool first, warm second, cool last". Next to the potion-mixing table is a bunsen burner sitting on top of a refrigerator. So, what do you do? Put the first and last potions in the fridge and the second in the bunsen burner? Put them all in the fridge, then the burner, then the fridge again? Nope. You pour the green potion into the bunsen burner, then the orange, then the purple, ignoring the fridge completely. Why? Because Green and purple are "cool" colours, while orange is a "warm" colour. If you got past that puzzle without a guide and without trial-and-error, give yourself a pat on the back.
** The notion of "warm" and "cool" colors is basic color theory. Or to put it another way, Autumn Moon expected their audience to consist entirely of art students.
* ''VideoGame/GhostInTheSheet'':
** While funny (how many games start off by ''running you over with a bus''?), it features ''many'' Guide Dang It moments because what you can and can't muck around with isn't immediately apparent. Who knew you had to pick up a metal bar, and then sharpen it on the spinning, rubberless wheel of a suspended car? Funny game, but needs a little glowy aura around things you can pick up, and maybe some more {{NPC}}s hanging around to drop the occasional hint.
** Even worse was an overly-convoluted puzzle that involved opening locker doors ''in a specific way'', and a "No Smoking" sign that was actually a ''button you had to press''! At least the eponymous Ghost didn't say this puzzle's solution was "obvious", like he did after inputting one of ''many'' numeric passcodes, this one which ''isn't'' stated out in the open and can only be figured out by determining a pattern out of ''previous codes'' found in a diary! And furthermore, how the ''hell'' are you supposed to figure out that you should ''electrify a bone in order to get a makeshift '''flute'''''?! [[JustifiedTrope Granted]], this was an amateur-made AdventureGame created by two people using the freeware [[http://dead-code.org/home/ Wintermute Engine]], but you'd think they'd [[FakeDifficulty give more hints for these extremely-tough-even-for-an-adventure-game puzzles]]...
* Example not directly related to the actual gameplay: ''VideoGame/LeisureSuitLarry 7: Love For Sail!'' included some graphics and dialogue that could be replaced at the player's whim, intended to allow players to place themselves physically in the game world. Sadly, the developers forgot to mention this feature in any of the game's documentation, and released the instructions through a patch later on.

* The puzzles in ''VideoGame/LimboOfTheLost'' were the final nail on the coffin for the game, as half the time they don't even begin to make sense. For example, early on in the game players are expected to put a ''worm'' into a flask of water to create tequila.
** Even more JustForFun/{{egregious}}ly is the [[SoulJar soul vial]] puzzle, where the player needs to fill an empty (green-tinted) vial with liquid to replace it with a vial containing a warrior's soul, which shines green in the vial. To do this, players are expected to fill the vial with water [[WaterIsBlue (which shines through as a blue colour, as opposed to clear as real-life water should)]] and mix some saffron into it to turn the water green (not that many players even know what saffron is or what it does in the first place, and those who do probably already know that saffron makes water yellow, not green).
* Point-and-click game ''VideoGame/{{KGB}}'' has the main character discover a clue leading him to a fishing boat about to leave town near the end of chapter two, but the game simply does not allow him to go to the docks unless he meets with an accomplice in the park and compares some rather unrelated information first - and said accomplice won't be in the park unless you talked to him earlier in the game and agreed on this meeting, even though there was no indication towards this being necessary, and you even being told specifically NOT to contact him at that point by an ally you had no reason to distrust. The game has a few more such moments (including one where you need to be at a certain place at a certain time in order to see one of the villains drive off, letting you trail him to your next destination. The game never even remotely hints at what you're supposed to do at this point), but this one is the most game-breaking in that you know what you are supposed to do, but the game just won't let you actually do it before you've done something else you never knew you were supposed to have activated in the first place. The fact that you learn nothing important from this guy, and he never does anything particularly helpful after this point does not help the case.
** And really, this is one of many, many situations in ''KGB'' where the puzzles range from extreme difficulty to borderline impossible without third-party intervention. Two examples of this are the coded messages that player receives at the beginning of Chapter 1, and the end of Chapter 2. By the time you get to the end of the game, progress is dependent entirely upon trial-and-error. Aside from [[VideoGame/LauraBow Dagger Of Amon Ra]], I consider this to be one of, if not the hardest adventure game of all time.
** That is an example of invisible causality - a whole class of potentially GuideDangIt problems in adventure games. The term describes a situation where you have to do something completely irrelevant in order to move the game forward - like talking to the guy in the park to go to the docks.
** Actually, if you are smart enough you know you can trust Greenberg and should contact him, as you escaped the bad guys together at the end of chapter 1. And actually there are lots of hints that you should not trust your controller... but so subtle I would not have seen it without a walkthrough. And yes, you have no reason to distrust the woman who tells you not to contact Greenberg, but to be fair you have no reason to trust her either : you don't know her. As to why you are supposed to tail the guy you see drive off, it is because you have already linked him to the group (he was the one setting the date for the boat departure), and on the fishing boat, all the other members said that "the fourth member" will drive off at about 9 am. But you get stuck in unwinnable situation so many times that clearly is a design choice. Fortunately, you can backtrack to the last room you entered (good for instadeath), and if you have no save before the point of no return, you can at least restart the *chapter* instead of the whole game...
* ''VideoGame/ShadowOfMemories'' (''Shadow of Destiny'' in the US) has a bunch of them in the course of normal play, especially if you want to get the best endings: two or three conversation choices at different points in the game send you down different branches, which not only affects which ending you get, but also the backgrounds of the various characters! The game makes reference to the specific conversation choices being "important", but beyond that makes no mention as to WHY they're important. Then, of course, there's the problem of actually proceeding through the game, which, in later chapters, requires travelling to multiple time periods... Between that and trying to reconcile the various endings, a guide is definitely needed!!
* Creator/{{Infocom}}'s ''VideoGame/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' adventure game. Ye gods. Not only are many of the clues found in the literal in-game "guide," but there's no index on the thing, so you have to keep guessing searches. How else are you going to figure out that the Brownian motion is used to power the improbability drive? And in many puzzles, the Guide is about as informative as its entry on Earth. The early game is filled with {{Permanently Missable|Content}} items whose function is often obscure and which you have to obtain on a time limit. Most notorious of these is the Babel fish: unlike in the book, where Ford simply sticks one in Arthur's ear, getting one in the game involves a bizarre puzzle in which two items (one of them probably lost already) get combined in a way that makes absolutely no sense until tried. Being overly familiar with the book doesn't help all that much, since the game diverges from the book's story; you have to prevent [[spoiler:the dog swallowing the microscopic space fleet]] from happening like it does in the book.
** One of the most egregious examples is the [[spoiler:toothbrush]] in your room on starting the game, which has a good chance of being required ''at the very end of the game''. Even the [[spoiler:junk mail]] that is required to get the [[spoiler:babel fish]] is hardly comparable.
*** For that matter is the puzzle where Marvin asks for a random tool. [[spoiler:It's always one you're missing if you don't have all of them.]] Adams said while designing this game he wanted to transcend user unfriendly and make it actively user malicious.
** Or how about the fact that, to open a case that contains an item that you need, you need to find out which word of the second verse of the Vogon's poem is the password (which will only work if you actually learn it in game, so you can't just look it up), which can be figured out by pushing a button on the case itself. However, what it doesn't tell you is that the Vogon won't even ''say'' the second verse of his poem unless you enter the command ENJOY POETRY after the poem has started. You do get a small hint towards this (the Vogon reading the poem says you didn't look like you enjoyed it if you fail to input the command), but not many people would think that "enjoy" would be a verb that the game would recognise.

* ''Anime/{{Hamtaro}}''
** The UsefulNotes/GameBoy and GBA games fall into this trope rather well. Especially with the one character saying he'll only give you This if you give him That. [[spoiler: You LITERALLY have to find an item named "That" for him.]]
** ''VideoGame/HamtaroHamHamsUnite'' has [[LastLousyPoint Stars]]. After you finish the game, there are 12 stars scattered around in the different areas of the game. Most of them just require you to backtrack to a certain area and dig them up. Two of these Stars, however, require you to cough up large amounts of Sunflower Seeds to seemingly random {{Non Player Character}}s. But they don't just give you the Star on your first payment, oh no. You could pay them twice, or twenty times. It's completely random. Hope you have lots of money.
** Another example from Ham Hams Unite is those damned Rocks. Rocks are scattered around the world and you are never told what they are for. [[spoiler: You use Rocks to unlock a door underneath the Sky Garden. The door is unlocked when you collect 26 Rocks, plus a special Rock, and put them in the bin to reach 100 grams of Rocks.]] Even worse, in order to get the final special Rock, known as the Heavy Rock, you have to go through an incredibly long ChainOfDeals that spans 3 separate areas. So you not only have to find 26 Rocks, you have to suffer a pain-in-the-ass FetchQuest. And what's behind this door? [[spoiler: A secret shop where you get an exclusive song.]] Yep. That's all you get.
* The interactive fiction game ''VideoGame/{{Jigsaw}}'' gives you plenty of opportunities to completely screw yourself out of victory without even knowing it. Most of them are about failing to collect all the jigsaw pieces in a time period before doing something that renders them [[PermanentlyMissableContent lost forever]] (an in-game device does tell you if there are pieces you haven't discovered in that time yet, but it won't warn you when you're about to inadvertently make it impossible to get them), but the biggest one by a mile has to be the drawing competition at the very end of the game. To win it, you need to have collected a sketchbook and pencil hidden in a stool at the beginning of the game and sketched at least four animals over the course of the game. There's little indication in the game that this will become vital later on, and if you don't do it, you fail to get the competition prize ''and'' can't complete the game without it, even after you've spent hours slogging through all these historical {{Timed Mission}}s beforehand. ''Guide dang it!''
** What makes this ''especially'', ah, interesting is that the author of ''Jigsaw'', Graham Nelson, is also the author of "The Craft of Adventure", an essay on interactive fiction design whose "Player's Bill of Rights" basically warns designers ''not to do this sort of thing''. As Graham admitted, "like any good dictator, I prefer drafting constitutions to abiding by them."
** The worst part is how the first part of the game, the prologue, is not only timed, but incredibly hard as well. Plus, with older/obscure games like that, walkthroughs are rare, hard-to-access or both.
* All the ''VideoGame/ClockTower'' games have this to some extent, but by far the worst is ''Clock Tower II: The Struggle Within''. Not only are various endings based entirely on whether or not you happen to be playing as Alyssa or Bates at the time, but other random problems crop up - for instance, doors locked to Alyssa are open for Bates, even if you just changed personas. Possibly the worst example is a statue that, if examined, comes to life and chases you (providing a second antagonist for that scenario.) While you think you'd want to avoid this, if one ignores the statue, they're shoehorned into the "G" ending in the last level for no apparent reason.
** Although the game does have hints hidden in the levels, one of which mentions that changing personalities can alter stuff that happens in game, as well as a hint telling you that you have to examine the statue or you won't get the best ending.
* ''[[VideoGame/StarTrek25thAnniversary Star Trek: 25th Anniversary]]'', during the level That Old Devil Moon you are faced with a door locked with a 5 digit security code. Your only hint is that the owners were a "superstitious" people. Even going through Player Guides now, none but one mention how you were supposed to figure out the code, they just tell you what the code is. Apparently you were supposed to look up the planet's information in the computer before beaming down, then look up information on the races who live there and making note of their special numbers. The code is the result of rendering one of the numbers in the Base of another of those numbers.
** But the worst part is that there is no way to return to the ship after you land on the planet. So if you saved over your only save game after landing on the planet, without getting the answer from the ship's computer, without a guide it becomes {{Unwinnable}}
*** Star Trek: Judgement Rites fixed this by allowing you to access the ships computer during missions by using the communicator, at least in one mission.

* ''VisualNovel/TimeHollow'' is pretty good about avoiding this for the main path... but there's a few optional tasks you can perform that fall squarely into this. All but one of them, you have no reason to suspect are even ''possible'' without checking a guide, in fact.
* ''VideoGame/MilonsSecretCastle'' [[http://www.gametrailers.com/player/44794.html?type=flv gets a lot of criticism on this front]], though most of it is exaggerated. Left+ Start continuing the game seems like a Guide Dang It, but it is mentioned [[AllThereInTheManual in the manual]]. Most of the secrets are not marked, but many of them are [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fj6r4lff0-o optional]], or redundant, or placed in such a way that running through the most obvious path in the level with the shoot button held down will find them by accident. The reason this game belongs on the page? Milon can move blocks to reveal doors. This is not mentioned in the manual. This is not even slightly hinted at in the game; there is a shopkeeper who gives hints, but he found it more important to tell you to "FIND A SAW" (the saw is in an item shop, for free, in a game with infinite inventory space and no negative-effect items). Even if Milon is standing near a block he can move, and pressing up against it, the game's animation does not indicate that Milon is pushing it and you must push it for several seconds to move the block. Worst of all, the player cannot make ''any'' significant progress without figuring this one out; you can enter three rooms, only two of which will have anything in them.

* ''Necronomicon'' had a puzzle where the player was presented with about 20 unmarked bottles, and had to mix two specfic ones in a beaker. Every such attempt involved moving the bottles one at a time from their shelf to the beaker, there was absolutely no hint as to which bottles had to be mixed, and only very vaguely alluded to that you had to mix some of them in the first place. This puzzle leads directly into [[spoiler:having to locate an unknown piece of information from a talking, hard-to-understand and annoying-to-operate interactive encyclopedia, then using the name it gave you to locate a specific urn of ashes in a massive room of urns by looking at near-impossible-to-read labels with initials of the guys whose ashes these are]]. This is the point where most everyone either look up a guide or throw the game in the trash.
* English adventure game ''The Guild Of Thieves'' used this in the worst way: at one point, the player is asked to cross a path of coloured squares in a pattern. While the player gets the correct path, the game will '''not''' tell you how the squares are laid out. The solution: consult a paper map that was included with the game.
* It would seem that most of the mystery in the 1990 puzzle/adventure game ''Theme Park Mystery'' is figuring out what the object of the game is. The puzzles range from the frustratingly obscure (the Zoltan fortune-telling machine, which [[spoiler:does tell you what the game objective is. Eventually.]]) to the downright surreal (the chess board in Dreamland). What makes the game particularly Guide Dang It is that it comes with a booklet that turns out not to be a manual, but a guide to theme parks and amusement parks throughout history.
* Those flipping pictures frames in ''VideoGame/{{Ty the Tasmanian Tiger}}'', which are not only in ''invisible crates'' and need a particular 'rang to find (forcing you to search through every nook and cranny of ''every. Single. Level.''), but are ''required'' if you want to [[OneHundredPercentCompletion access]] [[SecretLevel the Secret Level]]. Oh, and the best part? Once you've accessed the Secret Level, ''123 more pictures frames become avaliable to find''. Krome sure can be a bitch.
* In one of the ''Scooby-Doo'' CD-ROM games, you have to click a random torch on a wall to trigger an encounter necessary to the plot. Why click that specific spot?
* Some of the Lost and Found items in ''VideoGame/FlowerSunAndRain'' are pretty straightforward. Some of them... not so much. For instance, the third one in Scenario 4 has the hint that the guest in room 407 drank all the cocktails from the restaurant, and they're worried because that's a lot of alcohol. No, you're not supposed to add together all the alcoholic ingredients listed for the cocktails. No, you're not supposed to add together all the ingredients, alcoholic or otherwise, either. You're supposed to add together the alcoholic concentration of the drink, that for someone without enough chemistry knowledge would be indistinguishable from temperature. Try guessing ''that'' without looking it up.
* In ''[[VideoGame/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade]]'', the travel function is unavailable after the first few sections of the game. Woe to those who didn't make use of it to visit every location and [[TryEverything pick up everything they possibly could]], because there are several very easily missed items that (due to the game's unforgiving combat system) are more or less essential to completing the game.
* Creator/DouglasAdams's ''Bureacracy'', in some very bizarre manner, makes some amount of sense with most if its puzzles to start with (a parrot missing its left wing will become very excited upon seeing a painting of Ronald Reagan-- think about it). However, when you get to the airport, the game requires you to climb one of the structure poles and crawl into the air ducts, and what happens when you leave the air ducts is bizarre, to say the very least. There is no indication at any point that you can do this, no sane person ever would, and this only marks the beginning of the puzzles making no lick of sense.
** Isn't the circuitous, nonsensical, and oftentimes entirely irrelevant shenanigans your average [[TitleDrop bureaucracy]] tends to put one through the entire point of the game?
* ''VideoGame/{{Broken Sword}}: Shadow of the Templars'' has the infamous goat puzzle. At one point in the game you reach a screen with a goat tied to a stake in the ground, where you can do three things: go back, approach an old rusty plough or go to the entrance to the next screen. When you try the latter two options, you get butted by the goat, preventing you from progressing in the game. The solution is to click on the entrance to the next screen, then when you get hit by the goat and the player character is getting back onto his feet, click on the plough. George will ''jump up and run towards it'' and move it in such a way that when the goat tries to attack him again, its chain gets stuck on the plough. The game in no way indicates that you can actually do this.
** ''VideoGame/{{Broken Sword}} II: The Smoking Mirror'' has the boar puzzle. Not sure what it was with this series and troublesome animals. Late in the game you can only get to a certain path on an island by shooting a pig with a dart, which then charges you. If you grab a branch at just the right moment, then you can jump out of the way; the pig will charge through the undergrowth and open a new path — the one you'll need later to find your way off the island easily. If you don't, then he just knocks you down. You get up, dust yourself off and life goes on. If you'd grabbed the branch, you could go straight down the new path to your intended destination. If not, you have to [[http://www.gameboomers.com/wtcheats/pcBb/Broken%20Sword%20II/plateau.htm navigate the jungle yourself]]. You do this with directions that you are not told through three similar screens with six exits each that repeat whether you're lost or on the right track. There is no indication that you're making any progress or that you can progress, and one wrong path means starting again on the journey you don't even know you're on. Some players thought that the game was UnwinnableByDesign at this point and restarted.
* Even the thorougly nonserious ''VideoGame/StrongBadsCoolGameForAttractivePeople'' had its share of these. But the absolute worst by a long shot was the way to get the ninth "expression of affection" in Baddest of the Bands. First off, it's an ''in-game hint'', which means that hints have to be turned on. Then 1. you have to sabotage Two-O-Duo and Pom Star (just those two, ''not'' Cool Tapes), 2. Pick up the Limozeen coloring book, but ''don't'' Teen Girl Squad comic, and 3. go to the Two-O-Duo stage, which is the only place Strong Bad will give the hint that serves as the expression of affection, and wait until he does. It's anyone's guess how Telltale expected people to figure that one out on their own.
* [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames The NES adaptation]] of ''VideoGame/{{Platoon}}'' lives off this. Most of the game is a nondescript forest maze, with various objectives strewn about, and practically no in-game hints, although the manual offers a few clues.
* The Point and Click game of ''VideoGame/BlazingDragons'' had you stuck until a dodo delivered a message. Problem was that the dodo was being shot at by a hunter (who thankfully went to a certain [[ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy academy]]). The solution was to backtrack all the way back to the second room you probably visited and to stamp a dodo on [[ChekhovsGun the endangered species list]]. Afterwards, the hunter is arrested.
* The ''Film/AceVentura'' licensed video game has a puzzle where you need to assemble several elements into a totem. No hints are given. You're supposed to figure out by trial-and-error, apparently, that it's supposed to be [[http://gfx.gaminator.tv/data/screen/3595/697/9428-2.jpg this abstract thing.]]
* The point-and-click DOS game ''Alien Incident'' features mostly sensible puzzles, but has one that makes hardly any sense at all. Near the beginning of the game, there's a door with flashing lights under it that can't be opened. For some reason, using the remote controller found in the mansion will open the door. Once inside, the player will learn that the remote controller actually controls a television inside. Why does it also open the door though, remains a mystery. The worst part, though, is that the puzzle isn't really necessary until quite late game, when the player has several other areas to exhaustingly search as well.
* Older Than The Internet. Have you ever tried playing the original text-based adventure game? It's called ''[[VideoGame/ColossalCave Adventure]]'', it invented the genre, and it's bloody difficulty to figure out.
* [[RuleOfThree Another point-and-click example]] named ''Nibiru'' involves you trying to open a partially opened concrete secret door which has become stuck. You are inside a mine of sorts, and there is a box of dynamite somewhere that you can light and use. [[FlatWhat But not before you've tied it down to]] [[RandomDrops a rat that you need to catch first]].
* The majority of ''VideoGame/StillLife2'' is pretty accessible, but in the closing minutes of the game you have to disarm a bomb before your partner is executed in an electric chair. There's a ticking clock and no hints. Fail and she's gone for good - if you reload she'll be dead before you even get a chance to disarm the bomb.
* In the ''VideoGame/NancyDrew'' game ''The Captive Curse'', you're tasked with taking a picture of a "monster" to prove to a character that the monster is still "on the loose". In order to trigger the appearance of the "monster", you have to look at a certain inventory item. Looking at it ''before'' taking the picture doesn't work, and going to the spot where you can take the picture ''before'' looking at the item doesn't work either. If you don't already know what to do, you basically have to look at every inventory item, visit every location, and talk to every character in order to figure it out, as it's not at all obvious that you must look at the required inventory item.
** There are quite a few other examples of this in the series, especially in the older games when Nancy didn't have a task list to provide her with a record of what's already happened.
* In ''VideoGame/TheNightOfTheRabbit'' at some point you are in a submarine and have to [[TrollBridge cross a bridge guarded by a kid called Humbert]]. In order to make him go away you have to give his nanny (who is somewhere else) an advertisement about violin lessons so she will come to take Humbert, however the game give no indications that she would accept this item.
* An example where the [[EarnYourBadEnding bad ending is harder to get than the good endings]] is the MyLittlePony fangame ''VideoGame/SuperFillyAdventure''. In order to get it, you have to talk to everybody, and play at 11:30pm to 6:00am. [[ShmuckBait Though, it's better]] [[NightmareFuel to not get it.]]
* The game adaptation of ''[[Literature/AndThenThereWereNone And Then There Were None]]'' tended to have solutions that were quite bizarre, and the only sort of in-game help provided were a series of cards with vague clues. The most infamous example comes from the second chapter: It's night, and you can only progress if you go upstairs and briefly check on the guests. Problem is, you need a flashlight with batteries, and Patrick will refuse to go upstairs until you find both items. The flashlight is relatively easy to find (it's in a drawer in the dining room), but the batteries are nowhere in immediate visible sight. And ultimately, where are the batteries? [[spoiler: In the flour sack in the pantry. You have to search through the flour twice to get them.]]
** Though this is arguably nowhere NEAR as horrible as one puzzle from Chapter 5. You need a parachute as part of an escape attempt in order to progress the plot, but one of the components needed is nowhere to be found. There is one path which seems to lead to a previously unexplored area, but there's a thorny hedge in the way. There are some goats nearby which might be able to eat the hedge, but you can't directly interact with them. What you need to do, [[SarcasmMode of course]], is [[spoiler: backtrack all the way to the orchard, get some apples, go to the house, make the apples into a fancy glass of cider, and finally '''pour said glass of cider on the hedge''' to make the goats eat it]]. Aside from the nonsensical solution ([[spoiler:do goats even like apple cider?]]), there's the fact that the previous time you had [[spoiler: a glass of something]], you gave it to someone in order to get them to talk to you; it's easy to assume the [[spoiler: cider]] would have a similar purpose.
* In order to make any progress in ''VideoGame/TakeshisChallenge'', you have to perform some very specific and, at times, [[ViolationOfCommonSense seemingly counterproductive]] actions. Just to get started, you have to withdraw money from the bank, quit your job, get black-out drunk at a bar, divorce your wife, collect a stack of money from a potted plant at your former workplace (but not before the divorce, otherwise your wife is going to take a huge chunk of it as alimony), take hang-gliding and shamisen lessons, win a shamisen at a pachinko parlor, successfully sing (as in, ''physically sing into the microphone on the second controller'') one specific song at the karaoke bar three times in a row, receive a blank piece of paper from an old man, reveal it to be a treasure map by soaking it in water for five to ten minutes or exposing it to sunlight for ''an hour'', kill the old man who gave it to you lest the game become UnwinnableByDesign at the very end, and finally buy a plane ticket to the South Pacific. Again, this is just what's needed to ''get started'' in the game. [[TrollGame This was all done perfectly intentionally.]]

* The creators of ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'' have stated that they would be surprised if anyone has beaten the game without resorting to spoiler information.
** There's a strict rule that any time anyone gives out a spoiler to a secret word for the Strange Leaflet Quest, that word becomes invalid. The only hint (on the wiki, not in the actual game) is that the words you're looking for are {{Shout Out}}s to old text adventure games.
** The ''NinjaPirateZombieRobot'' familiar, the recipe for which was supposed to be a fun spading project, but which was reportedly discovered by the player Bashy buying eight of every item in the game and seeing what got consumed upon making it.
** The Misshapen animal skeleton can only be acquired by combining 100 unique bones found during combat in Spookyraven Manor. Without a guide, it's impossible to know what bones do what, and how many are needed in total. Even better, the bones that drop from enemies in the Manor are random, necessitating either trial-and-error combat for days to get all the pieces, or by buying them all separately in the Mall and figuring out which pieces you're still missing.
** The "Wrong Place at the Wrong Time" trophy necessitates that you defeat your Nemesis across 6 different ascensions in a specific pattern (the order of classes, as they are listed from top to bottom, in the beginning of each playthrough). There's no hints or anything ingame to suggest there's any reward or point to doing it in this fashion, and the trophy awarded for this feat explicitly notes that it is "OCD genocide".
** One quest (The "Hidden Temple" portion of the "Quest for the Holy Macguffin"), actually needed to be altered because of complaints. It requires players to step on specific letter panels in a room, spelling a word, with a misstep resulting in massive health loss. What needed to be changed was not the contents of the puzzle, but the title of the adventure. Originally "Dvorak's revenge", the puzzle room's name was changed to "The Beginning of the Beginning of the Beginning", to avoid making players think it has to do with the Dvorak keyboard layout

* Zig-Zagged in ''[[VideoGame/WhereInTimeIsCarmenSandiego1997 Carmen Sandiego's Great Chase Through Time]]''. The hints are provided in-game for pretty much everything - however, during each case, you must find three pieces of a carmen note before you can get the criminals arrested. In Japan, there's a notable example: Two of the Carmen Notes are easily found. However, one piece is obtained instead by talking to the guards - and there are four of them. While it's always the same guard who has it, not everyone will figure out that yes, the criminal ''did'' go through there. This is a very minor example for two reasons:
** '''1)''': Plenty of kids brute-forced it or figured out that maybe ''one'' guard saw where it was.
** '''2)''': The manual actually says "Did you try asking the guard in the winter room?" in its hints section.
** Worse yet is in 1776 which requires you to use a fishing pole on a specific box to fish it out of the boston harbour. What makes this a better example of this trope is the fact that the box looks like ''any other'' box in the harbour.

* ''VideoGame/IllusionOfGaia'' had plenty of these, including but not limited to a puzzle where you had to stand still on a glowing tile for about 20 seconds, a point where you could not proceed without reading a letter that a party member ''slipped into your inventory while you were sleeping'', a fair number of small, essential items lying in completely arbitrary places somewhere in enormous dungeons that you could only find by a glint of light they would give off every few seconds, and a BonusDungeon that you could only access by collecting ''all 50'' of the Red Jewels scattered throughout the game with no clear pattern, most of which would be [[PermanentlyMissableContent lost forever if you missed them]]. Fortunately, [[AllThereInTheManual the game's manual included a mini-walkthrough]] that would clue you in to the solutions of the more obscure puzzles.

* In ''VideoGame/IndianaJonesAndTheFateOfAtlantis'', one of the first puzzles you face is trying to get past an obnoxious bouncer to interrupt your colleague's speech. You can either talk your way past him, knock him out, or stack some boxes and climb through the window. Later in the game, the storyline splits into three branches, and while you can still choose any of the three, which one the game strongly suggests is based on which solution you used on that first puzzle, which you may not have realized ''had'' multiple solutions. And, oh yeah, the game gives zero indication that that conversation is splitting up the game in the first place! [[note]]The three paths -- Team, Wits, and Fists -- are explained in the manual, so if you know the split is coming, this conversation does stick out as where it happens. But if you didn't get a copy of the manual with your game, you're lost.[[/note]]

*** Actually, that solution makes sense in a counter-[[InterfaceScrew Interface Screw]]/[[BreakingTheFourthWall Breaking the Fourth Wall]] sort of way. [[spoiler: When you type a command in that room, the ECHO command is invoked, causing the original use of the command to be ignored and just having the word repeated. Type ECHO, and the ECHO command is invoked...on itself, ignoring the ignoring effect of the ECHO, thereby negating it's effect entirely.]] This explanation only really makes sense in hindsight, and even then, only in a WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief sort of way.

* NES adventure game ''Willow'' suffers from this at times. While the game is, overall, rather linear, there is often no in-game indication whatsoever that performing action A leads to location B opening up. Probably the most JustForFun/{{egregious}} example is early on when you talk to one of the Nail Clan and he tells you that they make their home in the forest. Later, you have to talk to one of them to get an item that allows you to progress (Which actually '''is''' mentioned in-game), and you find him in an area that's much closer to a mountain that it is a forest. Further, brute-force exploration is the only way to figure out the precise square the Clansman and item is on, at least at first.

* On top of being one of the shining examples of NintendoHard, ''VideoGame/SolomonsKey'' was extremely fond of this trope. Not only does each group of levels have a secret level, each of those levels had a secret item that could only be found by making a brick and then destroying it in a certain spot of said room. There is never any indication as to which spot this might be. Beyond that, there are three extra rooms that are only accessible if you managed to find all twelve previous secret rooms and all twelve of Solomon's Seals. Not only is this never mentioned, but nobody even published a guide for the game. Most gamers didn't even know of half of these hidden items until the advent of Website/{{GameFAQs}}.

*** It's even more unintuitive by the fact that earlier you had to trap the wizard's brother (who was turned into a talking cat in a previous game) in a bag so that he wouldn't alert the former. In ''the same room''. So the wizard goes to sleep and ''doesn't notice'' the thrashing bag besides his bed?

** In ''VideoGame/KingsQuestII'', a [[MemeticMutation pOIsonous]] snake blocks one path and getting too close will make it bite and kill Graham. What do you do? Throw a bridle on the snake, which transforms it into a flying horse. But did you try to instead kill the snake with your sword, as would seem obvious? Too bad, you've missed out on getting an item that lets you bypass an exceedingly frustrating part of the game.

** The third game is particulary full of these, but one stands definetely out: near the end of the game you come across an elevator guarded by a small man with a rifle. The doors of the elevator won't open, the man won't move or interact with you in any way, and differently by the dozens of gunmen that you have met and face up to that point, trying to fight him will result in Carnby being shot dead on the spot. The solution? [[spoiler: You have to pour a bottle of water on the guy, which apparently causes him to pietrify and the doors of the elevator to open]]. The hint? [[spoiler: A criptic poem you find earlier that mention a guy that will teach you to fly if you offer him a drink]].

** The third game is particulary full of these, but one stands definetely out: near the end of the game you come across an elevator guarded by a small man with a rifle. The doors of the elevator won't open, the man won't move or interact with you in any way, and differently by the dozens of gunmen that you have met and face up to that point, trying to fight him will result in Carnby being shot dead on the spot. The solution? [[spoiler: You have to pour a bottle of water on the guy, which apparently causes him to pietrify and the doors of the elevator to open]]. The hint? [[spoiler: A criptic poem you find earlier that mention a guy that will teach you to fly if you offers him a drink]].