Summary
Bugs and glitches are all too often the bane of developers and gamers alike, and generally speaking, the more complicated a game becomes, the more opportunities there are for bugs to go undetected. But what about instances where developers put or leave bugs in their games intentionally?
From Indie games to Triple-A titles, this phenomenon happens more often than you might expect. On the extreme end, there have even been playerbases that go out of their way to pressure studios or publishers into reinstating bugs that were previously patched. Curious about which games get along with bugs? Give these titles a try.
Hitman 2 is a great choice for beginner speedrunners, despite the sheer number of NPCs in each mission, and challenging stealth mechanics like sight cones or camoflauge. Because of its complexity and high-stakes gameplay, however, it’s easy to see why developers ironed out as many bugs as possible.
But what happens when a bug is too funny to patch? If you’ve ever used a briefcase as a throwing weapon, you might know where this is going. At one point or another, there was a bug where thrown briefcases would track enemies with perfect accuracy, and fans loved this so much, the developers went on to make it canon in the Hitman series.
Genre(s)
Indie, Adventure, Simulation, Strategy
With so many early-access titles, it’s understandable if you want to play a game that’s actually finished, but what if a game was built around the idea of being unfinished? In The Magic Circle, the game designers have failed you, and it’s time to take things into your own hands.
Wherever you go, you’ll encounter NPCs, creatures, and plenty of environmental features that aren’t behaving how they should. By changing AI behaviors, swapping body parts with other ones, and developing unique solutions to puzzles, you’ll fix this ‘unfinished’ game in no time.
Whether it’s as simple as not being able to sleep a full night’s rest, no matter how much you sleep in bed, to Papyrus turning your heart blue, or crashing the entire game during a specific fight, Undertale has no issue with throwing in quirky, buggy features on purpose.
Coupled withdifferent kinds of story and gameplay-related pathways and endings, you’re in for a unique experience, even after multiple playthroughs. If you’re someone who isn’t normally interested in 2D graphics, it might be worth it to make Undertale an exception.
The Saints Row series tends to be pretty wild in general, but if you progress far enough in this game to start HTTP://Deckers.Die, a mission where you take on a hacker in their own domain, you’ll come across all kinds of intentional bugs.
Whether it’s missing textures and screen glitches, or changing your entire character model into a toilet that hops around, this mission tosses plenty of curveballs at you, which will hopefully give you a good laugh as you deal with them, instead of increasing levels of frustration.
Alright, it’s no secret that Bethesda games have a notorious reputation when it comes to bugs, but as opposed to a rickety wooden cart freaking out at the very start of the game, Skyrim is nonethelessan incredibly replayable gamewith noteworthy bugs that almost everyone appreciates.
Do you remember the first time you encountered a Giant? If so, it probably ended with you being sent to the stratosphere after being smacked by a giant wooden club. Well, that was a bug, but with pressure from fans, it went from being patched to a beloved feature.
Being continuously developed and improved upon for such a long time, Minecraft is no stranger to funky bugs and unintended outcomes. One example, if you’re unfamiliar, has to do with the accidental creation of the iconic, bright green Creeper, born from a botched pig model.
On the less explosive side of things, if you’ve ever put two water source blocks next to one another, and noticed that they replenish themselves infinitely, that was also originally a bug, but it proved so useful that it became a permanent, time-saving feature.
At its very core, Goat Simulator is designed for all things nonsensical, packed to the brim with silly interactions that are further enhanced by a goofy physics engine. If you’ve ever played the MMO mode, though, there’s a special room you may find.
Called the Server Room, there are plenty of things you can ram your horns into, but as you revel in the chaos, you might notice the stability of the game start to break down. In fact, if you keep at it, you’ll eventually crash the entire game, because each machine is tied to an actual mechanic or element of the game.
Shooter, Indie, Platformer
Ultrakill is a fantastic example of bugs becoming intentional features, since there are so many of them. Whether you’re reflecting non-hitscan attacks with your punches, parrying your own shotgun blasts, or getting extra damage in extremely close quarters with Maurice, this game delivers.
While the game isn’t perfect, and still runs into bugs that simply have to be patched, it’s both awesome and refreshing to see Ultrakill’s developers being creative and adaptive with bugs, creating a space for them when they end up improving core gameplay.
