How to use mystery and curiosity to pull players on

1 The bottom line

Plant a question the player cannot yet answer, then let their own actions close the gap. Answers they earn feel clever and keep them playing, while answers handed over end the pull.

2 Key takeaways

• Put an open question in plain view that the player cannot yet answer. The gap between what is shown and what is withheld pushes players on.
  • Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit2:59: Tunic has a giant stone gateway on the mountain peak with no keyhole or handle.
  • Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit4:07: The Witness has an essentially unsolvable puzzle door near the start.
• Make the player's own action the way the answer arrives. A deduction the player makes feels like a discovery, not a delivery.
  • Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit12:29: Her Story offers about 300 clips reachable only by typing search terms, so every deduction is the player's.
  • Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit2:35: Obra Dinn gives clues, not answers, so the player must cross-reference scenes.
• Hide secrets without signposts, and keep what lies behind them optional. A true secret is a real surprise, and nobody is blocked by missing it.
  • Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit8:36: Zelda 1 hides rooms behind bushes and walls with no obvious cracks.
  • Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit22:18: Hollow Knight has over 30 bosses, but a player may fight only 10 to 15.
• Hint with a question or riddle, not a waypoint. Curiosity moves players further than a marker does.
  • Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit3:29: A Zelda 1 character asks whether you got the sword from the top of the waterfall.
• Pace your open questions and guard them from being looked up. Too many mysteries overwhelm, and a wiki can erase the effect.
  • Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit3:53: Animal Well's Billy Basso doles out loose ends slowly across the map.
  • Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit10:04: The Binding of Isaac's unexplained items worked for about five seconds, until wikis listed every item.

if the act of solving the mystery is really fun, then the answer doesn't particularly matter.

Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit

2.1 Plant the question

Give the player something they can see but cannot yet explain.

• Show a locked door or unsolvable puzzle early. It sticks in the head, and players keep going to learn what is behind it Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit4:07.
  • A locked door makes the player wonder what is behind it and how they will ever open it Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit2:59.
  • Dark Souls (Sen's Fortress), Super Metroid (golden statue room), Hollow Knight (black egg) and Spelunky (Moai head) lodge the same question Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit2:59.
  • The chase can matter more than the prize. Brown loved Tunic's mountain door hunt but cannot remember what was behind it Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit21:52.
• Tease places the player has not reached yet. A single room in another zone's style does the job.
  • Hollow Knight's Forgotten Crossroads has rooms with Greenpath leaves or Crystal Peak gems, which lodge those places in memory as worth returning to Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit4:56.
• Make the mystery weird, eye-catching and personal. Players only chase what draws them in.
  • The Outer Wilds team found players were drawn to weird things like the quantum moon and eye-catching ones like the exploding space station Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit12:26.
  • The Nomai statue turns to look at you, and Hornfell asks what you want to do in space Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit12:26.
• Fake an ending to tell players there is more. The anticlimax pushes them off the beaten path.
  • In Symphony of the Night, taking the Bat to Dracula's keep and fighting Richter early gives a bad ending, which makes the game feel mysterious Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit9:09.

2.2 Hide the answer behind the player's own action

Let players close the curiosity gap by doing something, not by waiting.

• Let the player close the gap actively. Other media can only make you wait for the reveal Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit13:58.
  • Players can find a key, explore a landscape, or experiment with obtuse rules.
  • Zelda 1 adds the blue ring, the piece of paper and the candle with no description, so the game is about experimentation as much as exploration Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit3:43.
• Hide secrets without telltale signs. Then finding one is a real surprise.
  • Zelda 1 puts hidden rooms behind random bushes and walls with no obvious cracks Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit8:36.
  • Dark Souls illusory walls look normal and fade when hit, and they work like Zelda 1's bombable walls Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit17:43.
  • Hollow Knight: Silksong hides more than 50 secret walls and covered passages that never show on the map, so map poking cannot find them Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit43:07. Two entrances to Bilewater give players more than one chance.
• Hide the targets so players must investigate. Observation replaces the map marker.
  • In Hitman 3's Berlin level, the eleven agents are unmarked, so players scope out suspicious characters and wait for them to call their handler Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit0:45.
  • The agents are tourists like you, so any area from the dance floor to a back room can hold one Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit2:33.
• Hide options instead of listing them in a menu. A menu spoils the surprise.
  • In Spec Ops: The Line you can shoot the ropes, shoot the snipers, or refuse to choose Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit3:42.
  • Far Cry 4 gives a secret ending if you simply wait for Pagan Min Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit3:42.

2.3 Keep the hidden parts optional and layered

Secrets should reward the curious without blocking anyone else.

• Put nothing required behind a genuine secret. Then nobody has to burn every bush.
  • In Dark Souls, nothing behind illusory walls is required, and weapon degradation stops players from hitting every wall Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit17:43.
  • Zelda 1's rupees and heart containers behind secrets are optional Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit8:36.
• Be happy that some players never see your content. It makes the world feel alive.
  • Hollow Knight's Brooding Mawlek, Nosk and the Collector sit behind secret routes or unusual abilities, and Team Cherry says content out of sight makes the world more alive Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit22:18.
  • Dark Souls' Painted World of Ariamis needs a roll off a moving elevator, a hard jump and a roll into a bird's nest Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit18:26. Even if players learn of it online, it lends the world mystery.
• Layer mysteries from mandatory to optional. Few players will solve the hardest ones.
  • Fez needs only 32 cubes to finish, and Tunic has one ending for beating the boss and another for solving cryptic clues Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit20:40.
  • Animal Well has three layers, from an easy game to maddening puzzles that need community help Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit20:40.
• Keep a few big secrets in the late game too. They keep late exploring worth it.
  • Elden Ring joins two medallion halves to ride Rold to the Consecrated Snowfields, which hide a path to the Haligtree and Malenia Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit16:59.
• Leave unexplained only what is optional or truly unknowable. There is a fine line between intriguing and confusing.
  • Super Metroid never teaches the wall jump or bomb hop because it never requires them Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit7:47.
  • Rain World's predators and Zelda's cook pot stay unknowable by design Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit7:47.

2.4 Hint with curiosity, not a waypoint

Point players toward the answer with scraps that make them want more.

• Use riddles and questions instead of map markers. Solving a clue beats following a waypoint.
  • A Zelda 1 character asks about the sword at the top of the waterfall, and the player follows the stream into the mountains Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit3:29.
  • Breath of the Wild removed navigation aids for side quests and secrets, so players read the environment Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit7:28.
  • One riddle about a little twin bridge and a river's source leads the player to the bridge sign, up the river, beside the waterfall and to a hidden stash Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit7:28.
• Hide the hint behind another find. The player then earns the hint.
  • In Link's Awakening you must find the stone beak before the bird statues give hints Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit1:38.
  • In Symphony of the Night the gold ring says "Wear... Clock" and the silver ring, in a hard spot, completes it as "Wear in Clock Tower" Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit9:44.
• Let curiosity, not a compass, lead. Landmarks and notes can replace quest markers.
  • With markers off in Fallout 4, a building over the horizon draws the player in, and notes describe where to go next Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit6:00.
  • Unlisted quests start from an in-world clue such as a terminal note Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit4:42.
  • Fallout 3's museum hunt chains a note, a floor safe, a door component and a key. The prize is only bottle caps and a mirelurk cake recipe, but the real reward was engaging the brain Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit5:45.
• Tuck small rewards where players are tempted to look. They explore because there might be a surprise.
  • In Super Mario Odyssey, a coin cache waits where only Mario's advanced moves reach, and in Breath of the Wild any nook could hold a Korok seed Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit10:26.
  • Odyssey does not send you back to a hub after a moon, so you keep sniffing out more secrets Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit10:42.

2.5 Make the chase the work

Give clues that need reasoning, so the player tells the game what they noticed.

• Make clues suggestive, not conclusive. The player must reason to the real answer Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit2:35.
  • In Obra Dinn the captain shouts about Abigail's brother, and her maiden name shows the man he shot is William Hoscut.
  • Obra Dinn hides identities with dialogue, uniforms, the timeline, elimination, accents, map location, names, hammock numbers and props, so each clue asks for a different look Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit3:45.
• Avoid multiple choice, and make guessing hopeless. Offered answers prompt the player and kill the satisfaction.
  • Testing whether the player figured something out can give away the answer Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit4:48.
  • Detective Grimoire's deduction screen has 896 possible combinations Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit5:28.
  • Ace Attorney shrinks a life bar on a misplaced objection, which makes guessing near impossible Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit6:36.
• Let players flag what they noticed. The player tells the game they spotted something.
  • In Contradiction you bump any two statements together to catch a liar Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit7:58.
  • Papers, Please makes you highlight two conflicting items before rejecting someone, with too many combinations to brute force Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit9:00.
• Seed a short trail, then let players branch and reward sharp eyes. A few linked clips build a base without a single track.
  • Her Story's search chain runs from Simon's murder through The Rock, Eric, Diane, Glasgow and pregnancy Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit5:57.
  • Noticing Eve's tattoo and typing her name unlocks five more clips, which makes players feel like a cop chasing a hot lead Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit7:02.
  • Searching "knife" returns only a clip about cutting hair with a bread knife, so weak guesses get weak payoffs Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit6:51.

2.6 Pace the reveals and protect the mystery

Space out what you reveal, cap what is open, and keep the pattern from showing.

• Space out revelations like a page-turner. Each reveal should raise the next question.
  • The Forgotten City delivers surprises one by one, from the city's true nature to the culprit behind the Golden Rule Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit13:07.
  • Clues should change meaning when paired, as in Her Story's clips Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit8:14.
  • Halo 3: ODST ties each mission to a missing crew member, such as Romeo's rifle dangling from a telephone wire Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit3:04.
• Limit how many mysteries are open at once. Every unresolved door adds mental load.
  • Lorelei and the Laser Eyes buries players in doors, boxes, safes and clocks, while Billy Basso watches how many things he dangles at once Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit3:53.
  • Animal Well uses a wall that can only be blown up from one side, so the other side shows no door and no extra question Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit4:46.
• Vary repeated discoveries. Once players see the pattern, the world reads as formula.
  • Elden Ring's Stormfoot, Murkwater, Deathtouched and Impaler's catacombs feel remarkably similar despite their gimmicks Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit15:35.
  • Soulslike clones cannot capture Dark Souls' unknowable feel, because they are completely familiar Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit12:31.
• Hide what each encounter contains, not how the rules work. Players still need to plan.
  • Rage 2 labels its 20 bandit camps and their resources, while Metro Exodus gives no such information Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit9:13.
  • Players need some information and predictability to play with intent Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit10:47.
  • Far Cry New Dawn's icon and tooltip over a scavenger show authored, repeating content, so it feels gamey Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit10:26.

2.7 Where designers disagree

How much to hide depends on whether players can look it up, and on who your players are.

• Hidden information that can be looked up may not stay mysterious.
  • Edmund McMillen left Binding of Isaac items unexplained, but wikis listed them all and he calls the missing descriptions the game's biggest flaw Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit10:04.
  • Balatro's hidden score can be calculated by hand, so players run calculators and spreadsheets Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit5:45.
  • Dark Souls hides huge content even though players may learn of it online, and Miyamoto wanted Zelda 1 players to swap tips Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit18:26 and Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit9:49.
  • Hiding the score still pays off as suspense, because the payoff lives in the moment you hit play Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit0:08.
• Explicit goals can help or hurt curiosity.
  • Klei cut Don't Starve's quests because players treated everything else as noise and went flat when the quests ran out Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit2:17.
  • Outer Wilds gives no explicit goals, so players explore through curiosity alone Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit3:04.
  • Fez points to secret areas with maps that do not fully reveal them, a compromise between mystery and accessibility Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit11:27.
  • Rain World's unexplained rules cost it players, and Brown needed two false starts himself Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit7:04.