I can’t be the only person who, after finding out that unlocking the true ending of Arkham Knight requires completing every single Riddler challenge, just watched the damn thing on YouTube instead. Recently, after spending hours slogging through corridors in Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, I turned to YouTube to tell me why Jack was so adamant that Chaos was a person he could find and kill , and not some abstract concept. Turns out the answer is halfway interesting, if still dumb as a paintbrush. Maybe in a few years we’ll find out what was going on behind the scenes of this game to keep it in the oddly run-down state it was released in, with random jumps in quest level requirements that were presumably meant to fulfill other activities , and in town Conversations, which can be accessed via a menu as the town hub was clearly trimmed late in development.
What game did you watch on YouTube instead of finishing it?
Here are our answers, plus some from our forum.
Sean Martin, Guides Author: Red Dead Redemption 2. While I love the first game and the level of detail in the second, I personally found the narrative to be over the top and the idea of wondering if Arthur is a good man after brutally murdering hundreds of people is absolute ridiculous . It’s a real breakup.
It’s also a story of decline that rubs against the usual rags-to-riches rock star narrative that I like (like GTA 4). In the end, I just watched the ending on YouTube and switched to Red Dead Online to experience the wild west trading, hunting, and fishing RPG I was craving. Just a shame Rockstar really stopped adding stuff.
Evan Lahti, Global Editor-in-Chief: to hit-It took me about 250 hours to beat Spelunky 2. I’ve written about the 15-step process to reach the grueling end of the game (opens in new tab) back in March, something that puts me at 4.8% of players on Steam. To make it to the Cosmic Ocean, you’ll have to run a gauntlet of procedurally generated things you want to kill, completing a few tiresome quests along the way, like escorting a magic bow and arrow safely to the final boss. It’s damn hard.
I mostly learned how to do it by dying 2,917 times (I’m not a patient platformer), but I also learned a ton from watching the spectacular runs of the likes of Twiggle (opens in new tab), whose techniques and attempts to beat Spelunky in every possible way helped me set personal goals instead of playing Spelunky like a traditional game with a finish line. I failed to organically uncover some of Spelunky’s many mysteries, but I wouldn’t say I gave up – it just kind of transformed my experience into something more akin to training for a marathon.
Tyler Colp, Associate Editor: It’s hard to admit, but for me it was Bloodborne. It’s been ages since 2015 so I can’t really remember the exact reason why I couldn’t quite finish the game, but at one point I decided it would be a lot easier to watch the last few hours of it on YouTube instead of watching it to do to finish yourself. It’s my only shameful Souls secret that I’d like to fix with a PC release or some sort of remaster. The weird thing is I don’t remember not liking the game; I think I was in a great mood. I got as far as the head of Mergo’s wet nurse and resigned.
I watched tons of YouTube playthroughs of other Souls games. I watched a Dark Souls 2 Let’s Play while playing the game myself, so I assume I did the same with Bloodborne. Eventually I picked up a PlayStation 4 Pro and now a PlayStation 5 and I’m pretty sure the original save got lost over time. Oh well. One day I will return to Yharnam
Chris Livingston, Producer of Features: I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen anyone describe Ark: Survival Evolved as a cozy and relaxing game, but that’s how I played it. I had a small base near a tiny lake full of giant beavers on a private server and all I did was log in for an hour every night, feed my pet dinos, farm their droppings and on the various workbenches and crafting stations. Occasionally a big, angry dino would crash the party, but it was usually a chilled, peaceful experience.
As a result, I never climbed the highest tech trees or did boss missions or found out anything about the story or ending of the various expansions, so I watched it all on YouTube. I was just too happy with my little cabin by the lake to do anything really dangerous, so I watched bolder and more dedicated players do it for me.
Zloth: It’s pretty rare for me (if I’m not interested enough to keep playing, I probably won’t bother looking up the ending either), but I just did that with NieR Replicant. When I first played the game to get Ending A, all the repetition bothered me. There is no way I would return to this junkyard section! So I looked at endings B to E on YouTube. Then I watched a video covering everything that happened before NieR. Then everything that happened between NieR and Automata. Wow!
ZedClampet: The only time I’ve ever done that was with the Doki Doki Literature Club. I knew what was going to happen and I didn’t want to experience it, so I just read a synopsis of the game’s plot.
Part of the reason I quit but don’t look up the ending is that I’m always foolishly optimistic that I’m actually just taking a break and will come back to the game later.
sleeping dog: Never. I only use YouTube when I’m stuck and need help. I think most games don’t make decent “movies”.
Pifanjr: I don’t think I’ve ever looked up the story of a game I no longer played, but I’ve used cheats to get the story without having to worry about the gameplay. Remarkably, I played the entire first Witcher game with Godmode enabled and used Godmode for the final battle of Dragon Age: Origins.
DXCHASE: Sekiro Shadows die twice. I was fed up with the whole soul-like endeavor and I knew I was near the end, then other games had come out that I’d rather play, so I just watched the ending scenes with YouTube. Haven’t played since then.
Wooden saucer: I remember getting to the end of a game and dying and then having to start far enough back that I just watched it on YouTube because I didn’t want to go through it all again. The problem is I can’t remember which game it was!
Ryzen Gang: Sometimes I will, but the more likely scenario is that I intend to watch it on YouTube and just never get around to it. For story-driven games with annoying gameplay (or when I’m fed up with it for one reason or another) it can be an ideal strategy, but I’ll usually never see it. I made this for Middle-earth: Shadow of War and it’s been on my watch later list for months.
Captain: I have never done this before. When I lose interest in a game I just don’t care what happens at the end, whether it’s because of the combat difficulties or just the lack of immersion. I’ve sometimes watched videos on YouTube for strategies on how to complete a specific “boss” fight, but otherwise no.
JC Denton: Getting over it with Bennett Fody. Anyone who has watched this game will know that it is only 2 minutes long. Anyone who has tried to beat the game in 2 minutes will tell you it takes hours of practice. A game that I both hate to play and enjoy watching.
Friend: I still feel bad for it, but after not being able to play The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings on my old PC, I turned to tube to see the various boss fights. Luckily that was a few years ago, so I only vaguely remember the last boss fight I can live with. This also reminds me that The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition is 85% off on GOG, so now would be a good time to grab it.