It's been an emotional time for Silent Hill fans. This roller coaster of disappointments kicks off with developer Konami confirming . The playable teaser at first seemed destined for an early grave, only to defy all expectations and continue haunting the PS4 - though, for how long, is anyone's guess. Hopefully none of you dropped any fat stacks on a P.T.-installed PlayStation over on eBay.

Between the loss of Silent Hills and the turbulence surrounding P.T., there is definitely a pyramid-shaped hole in all our hearts. That's why I've compiled this list of the best Silent Hill fan-games developed by the community, as a way to help us all cope with our continued need to freak ourselves right-the-flip out. The next new Silent Hill game feels further away now than ever, but perhaps these entries will help the horror hit closer to home.

By all accounts, Alchemilla General Hospital is a top-notch medical facility, provided you don't mind the bloody handwriting on the walls or the twisted faces of its caretakers. Running on Source SDK 2013, which you can find under tools in your Steam Library, , Alchemilla isn't a "remake of any game from the Silent Hill series, [but] a completely original story with its own secrets to solve."

True to its namesake, Alchemilla Hospital is the real star of the show. Within its decrepit labyrinth of hallways, players will encounter all the blood, rust, and uncomfortably sexy nurses they've come to expect from Silent Hill. The game is also played entirely in first-person, devoid of combat but with a heavy emphasis on puzzle solving, not unlike a certain playable teaser. Make sure you have a pen and paper handy before jumping into this one.

If you and three friends have a long weekend to kill, consider slumming it in scenic Silent Hill. This 11-map-mega-marathon transforms Left 4 Dead into a highlight reel of Silent Hill's best. And make no mistake, it's a beast to finish - especially if you want to see all four endings (including a UFO ending). Seeing the fog-choked streets of Silent Hill flooded with zombies doesn't exactly gel with the series' tone, but there are genuinely cool moments to be had such as seeing your first zombie horde charge out of the endless mist.

This mod comes by way of developer , who has also authored another Silent Hill collection for Left 4 Dead 2 titled Otherside of Life, which is more of an homage to Silent Hill. It draws visual inspiration from that sleepy town, but is very much its own adventure. Leafo is currently working on porting his original Silent Hill mod from Left 4 Dead to Left 4 Dead 2, promising "minor changes to more than the aesthetic part of the campaign."

As if there wasn't already enough weird stuff happening in Fallout: New Vegas, someone had to throw Silent Hill into the mix. As the story goes - and there's a fair amount of story to be found here - the "great war" that devastated Fallout's world led to Silent Hill being "sealed away" underground. Naturally, the Enclave decided to do a little spelunking in this haunted town and suffered the consequences. And once you track the mysterious White Noise radio station to their dig site, you may end up meeting the same fate.

Fair warning: playing this mod takes patience. You get one quest early on stating "Enjoy your eternal stay in Silent Hill" and no quest markers. And because the quest starts with you being captured by the Enclave, all your fancy items and equipment get shelved for this outing. Hope you dropped some points in unarmed combat, because melee weapons are your lifeline in this ammo-scarce suburb, not unlike the real Silent Hill. Some extra ranks in sneaking will also save your life when you have to hide from a certain pyramid-headed horror.

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finally answers the question: what would Silent Hill 2 be like if it took place on a sunny afternoon? The bright, colorful trappings inherent to Minecraft make this mod feel like more of a parody than a tribute. Instead of cautiously exploring fog-drenched alleyways and side streets, your avatar jauntily jogs down the road on a cloudless day. I'm shocked there aren't birds singing in the distance.

To be fair, there is a lot of creative effort on display in this mod. A Letter from Silent Heaven isn't just some Silent Hill-themed texture pack, it's a meticulous recreation of Silent Hill 2. There's no mining or crafting to speak of, just a dedicated survival adventure. "Countless hours of watching/recording in-game footage, navigating through level editors and texture viewers brought you this custom adventure map," notes author Vladimyr on the Minecraft forums. And it shows, right down to the look of the health drinks and the cries of the monsters. It's certainly a reconstruction unlike anything the series has seen before.

You wouldn't think the dark, violent world of Silent Hill would translate very well to Little Big Planet's cute, cuddly toy box, but leave it to the gaming community to make it happen. There are actually dozens upon dozens of fan-made Silent Hill-themed creations spanning the Little Big Planet series, far too many to parse through here. Some are nothing more than escape from a spooky hospital or run around in the fog, their only connection to Silent Hill a welcome sign or the iconic Halo of the Sun symbol.

Then there are ones that really go the extra mile, such as user MonkeyButler's stelar Silent Hill tribute for the original Little Big Planet. This 2D interpretation of the first Silent Hill is a sort of highlights reel from the game's opening hours, starting with your first visit to the other world through Midwich Elementary (and beyond). You can watch a very distressed Sackboy run through it .

Before making a name for himself with the 2D survival horror game Lone Survivor, developer Jasper Byrne created this NES-style remake of Silent Hill 2. Released as part of TIGSource's demakes competition in 2008, is quite possibly the most adorable remake ever designed. The large heads and tiny bodies of its characters give the (limited) cast a sort of Charlie Brown-aesthetic, as if this were all just a really disturbing cartoon special.

As someone who enjoyed Lone Survivor, it's interesting to return to this game and spot the similarities. The 2D perspective, the look of the world, the way combat is handled: Soundless Mountain is just as much a trial run as it is a tribute. And unlike the other entries on this list, Soundless Mountain II isn't a mod for an existing game. It's a free standalone, which you can download from the developer's site. Too bad it was never finished, as the game abruptly ends once you reach the equivalent of Wood Side Apartments. A pixelated cutout of Pyramid Head in the credits teases what could have been.

In keeping with the spirit of Silent Hill, I thought I'd end this feature with a weird one. It should come as no surprise that someone out there got the rights to produce . By the looks of it, these are just your typical poker cards, but with spooky pictures of Silent Hill characters on them - specifically from 2008's Silent Hill: Homecoming. What is surprising is that a man named Don Riddle decided to create a fan-game using these cards called Silent Hill: Defeated that's sort of like a rust-colored, monster-filled version of Uno.

Looking over , it actually doesn't sound half bad. Up to three players are dealt a hand of cards, with the black suits representing monsters and the red suits representing heroes (and their weapons). Players then take turns playing different combinations of cards on top of each other to defeat whatever the last person put down (again, sort of like Uno). The first player to run out of cards frees themselves from Silent Hill's clutches and escapes. Just make sure you don't shoot Cybil on the merry-go-round, otherwise you'll get the bad ending.

In my opinion, these are the Silent Hill fan-games that top the charts, though they are not the only fan-games out there. Amnesia Hill almost made the cut, though its haunted house-vibe and tenuous connections to the source material ultimately held it back. There are also about a million "atmosphere mods" for Resident Evil 4 if you really want to play that with 100% more fog. My question to you is: are there any goods ones out there I missed? Personally, I hope there are, and if you know one be sure to drop it in the comments below.

Even the most virtuous saint can have a sinister streak. The important part is whether or not you actually act on those dark impulses. That's one of the things that make video games so interesting - you can have fun exploring your meaner instincts without worrying about hurting anyone, going to jail, or destroying anything important. But just because you're in a safe, digital environment, doesn't mean that there aren't any consequences to your actions.

Even when games give you carte blanche to run wild and destroy everything, there's still a good chance that the developers have snuck in some kind of morality to, erm, 'nudge' you in the right direction. Whether that means sending an army after you to punish you for your transgressions or just killing you outright, these games make a point to teach you a lesson for your evil, evil ways.

This is classic video game punishment that still has the power to mentally scar anyone who dares attempt it. Attacking those innocent, feathery Cuccos that appear throughout Hyrule will cause them to swarm after you in a frenzied rage, and the only way to get them to stop is to leave the current area. It's a staple of the series, appearing in games like A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, and even spin-offs like Hyrule Warriors. Luckily, one or two hits won't set them off - you have to be incredibly deliberate in your quest to draw their ire.

Samus Aran may not talk a lot, but she's generally considered a good, kind-hearted person, always showing up to save the day when duty (or a few dollars) calls. But Metroid Prime 3 lets you take a few potshots at one of its few NPCs milling about near the beginning. You can't actually hurt them, but if you keep it up, a little turret drops down to defend them from your senseless aggression. Blow that turret up, and another, stronger one drops down to replace it. Destroy that one, and an even bigger turret shows up, and .

Shadow Warrior takes the "retribution against animal cruelty" to a whole new level. Most of the creatures you can eviscerate in the 2013 reboot deserve it, as the only thing that doesn't want to kill you outright are some bunnies you'll see milling about and… *ahem* getting amorous with each other. Try to interrupt their lovemaking by shooting them, however, and suddenly these innocent rabbits start hunting you down with lightning-quick speed while heavy metal blares in the background. Lesson learned.

No one likes a team killer, but Conker's Bad Fur Day's will actually call you out on your indiscretions. Take out too many of your own teammates, and you'll be branded a traitor. Soon, you'll find that there's nowhere to hide, as your AI compatriots will hunt you down until someone finally kills you. The final insult comes as they shout things like "Fucking traitor!" as they pump you full of lead.

The Badi Dea (say it fast) is a Star Destroyer that originally showed up in the classic space-sim X-Wing. The name is a hint; you're supposed to run away from this behemoth as fast as you possibly can, before it and its endless waves of fighters shred your ship to bits. But in the semi-sequel TIE Fighter, the Badi Dea is one of your allies - unless you decide to take out one of the ships you're supposed to be protecting. Apparently, the Empire considers this to be treason (with good reason), and sends the Badi Dea after you. It won't stop until you've been pounded into so much space dust.

Many games don't like it when you attack animals with wanton cruelty, but Metal Gear Solid 2 is one of the few to actually try to make you feel really guilty about it. Once you first climb out of the depths of the Big Shell and into the sunlight, you'll notice that the sky is filled with seagulls - who are more than willing to take a crap on you if you stand in one place for too long. If you spend too much time getting revenge by shooting them out of the sky, you'll get a call from the Colonel and your girlfriend Rose, asking you, in so many words, "What the hell do you think you're doing?" You can't even save your game until you apologize to Rose. You know what you did.

Half of the fun of those old King's Quest games was trying to outsmart the text parser by typing in random stuff and seeing if the game would do something with it. In some situations, it actually would - usually with hilarious results. If you walk into the church in King's Quest 2 and , the game actually throws up its hands in disgust. "Anyone who would kill a man of the cloth doesn't deserve to play this game. Therefore, we will end it," the game reads, promptly killing you dead on the spot. A simple "no" would have sufficed.

Consider this the home stretch before all the new hotness. As April comes to a close and we look back on the first third of 2015, it's clear that gaming has been a bit too reliant on remasters and rereleases this year. With exciting, big-budget sequels like just on the horizon, the wait can be almost unbearable - but the best games of April 2015 can help ease the pain. Time flies when you're having fun, so we're told.

Every month, we look back at the best games of 2015 thus far, sorting out all the must-plays from the rest of the recent releases. That way, you know what to prioritize before you're inundated by all the other amazing . So, without further ado, here's what you should be playing right now to tide you over until next month.

It takes a lot to make a fighting game appeal to the masses. You need slick graphics, excellent presentation, and the kind of depth that'll ensnare those highly skilled players who people want to watch. has got all that, and more. While the Fatality finishers still pack in more gore than you can shake a disembodied limb at, MKX brings a lot of new, refreshing ideas to the table that really make this fighter stand out.

For starters, there's the variations mechanic: every combatant has three unique movesets to choose from before each fight, letting character loyalists mix things up and giving the roster a wildly diverse variety of playstyles. You'll also have a blast playing through the elaborate story mode, which introduces a swath of likeable newcomers while imbuing familiar faces with . The online play still has a few kinks that could be worked out, but fans of the Mortal Kombat series - or fighting games in general - will have one hell of a time with MKX.

Of all the re-releases that have come out this year, .

Xenoblade Chronicles 3D is massive, sporting one of the most interesting locales ever designed. Its sprawling swamps and rolling hills - all set on the backs of two titan-sized dead gods and filled with beasts both great and small - are practically begging to be conquered. While its lush, verdant landscapes lose a little luster and detail on the smaller screen, what you trade in graphical quality you gain back in portability. Being able to take an adventure of this magnificent scope with you wherever you go is a technical marvel. Don't miss it.

somehow manages to be diamond tough and lovingly tender at the same time, balancing out its demanding difficulty with a story that'll practically yank your heartstrings right out of your chest. Playing this open-world platformer puts you in a wondrous state of conflict: the tight controls inspire you to run free throughout the lush world, but the sheer depth of the beyond-gorgeous backdrop art makes you want to stand still and gaze at the environment for hours.

The protagonist Ori is such a cute li'l critter that it's hard to watch the fuzzball die again and again while you struggle to overcome the many deathtraps and spike pits in this treacherous forest. But you'll get over any bruises to your ego, so long as you remember that you're the one responsible for plunking down checkpoints before delving into the trickier bits. The degree of challenge here may rattle anyone without an affinity for hardcore 2D platformers, but Ori's dazzling presentation has a universal, heartfelt appeal.

You’ve probably heard that is really hard. You might've heard it’s really easy. The reality lies somewhere in between. Yes, it sends an army of writhing, fanged, flayed, terrible, tormented beasts your way, beasts only someone bragging about their perceived gamer cred would ever deem a pushover. But it teaches you how to deal with them expertly, their unique attacks and defenses and behaviors, building you up until you look and feel like a great gothic badass. And when you do, you'll have earned it.

In streamlining some of Dark Souls’ complexities (the weight system, magic attacks, a few character skills here and there), Bloodborne gains a rawer sense of immediacy, with vital combat that require relentless attacking sans the comfort blanket of a shield, and unpredictable bosses that force you to develop reflexes alongside your already honed skills of pattern memorization. Oh, and the world. That mystifying, atmospheric, intricately hewn world. Developed for PS4 from the ground-up, the enigmatic Yarnham looks like a beautiful waking nightmare.

If you've yet to succumb to monster hunting fever, you might wonder what all the fuss is about. Plenty of games let you battle vicious beasties and craft fancy gear - but few can develop the kind of player investment and cooperative dedication typical of Monster Hunter. For the uninitiated, is a great way to educate yourself on its gloriously addictive ways. Not just because it's the most beginner-friendly entry in Capcom's hit series - it's also the best Monster Hunter game yet.

Gathering materials and killing harmless herbivores is really just a build-up to something greater: downing fearsome creatures after incredibly demanding battles that require true mastery of your chosen weapon. Series vets are already familiar with MH's captivating gameplay loop of fighting and looting, but the new Charge Blade and Insect Glaive playstyles offer entirely unique ways to test your prowess. If you're looking to start or join a dedicated hunting party - preferably with an expert as your guide - Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate offers the kind of adventure that can hook you for hundreds of hours.

Majora's Mask is... well, it's a bit weird. Instead of following the familiar formula that Zelda games have stuck to for years, Majora's Mask asks that you play the same three days over and over again, trying to make the world a little bit brighter each time. It's certainly strange, and more than a little stressful - but taking the time to learn its rhythm opens up one of the most intriguing and creative Legend of Zelda games ever made. Perhaps that's why, 15 years and a 3DS port later, it feels even better than ever.

Much of that feeling is thanks to the improvements found in this portable version of the N64 classic. The updated Bomber's Notebook makes tracking numerous sidequests a painless process, boss design has been retooled to make things teresting, and additional save points help make portable adventuring much more palatable. Plus, New 3DS owners even have some improved camera control with the C-Stick. Whether this is your first time playing through those ominous 72 hours or your hundredth, is a master quest that stands the test of time.

Grim Fandango is, without a doubt, one of the most unique video games ever made. The quest of an undead travel agent as he attempts to atone for his sins is a love letter to film noir greats like Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon, but it also transcends its influences to be something truly original. And with , you'll finally get to play this lost classic on your PlayStation 4, complete with (some) updated graphics and a fantastic re-recording of the original score.

Grim Fandango is also one of the most uniquely frustrating games ever made, and the Remastered edition only serves to highlight its many game-ruining bugs. Whether it's glitching out a puzzle, clipping you through a wall, or just flat out crashing, Grim Fandango Remastered actually seems buggier now than it did 17 years ago. Make no mistake: Manny's journey is still definitely one worth revisiting - just remember to save your game. Often.

sounds kinda ridiculous at first - it's literally a remastered HD version of a rebuilt SD version of the original Resident Evil. Turns out the joke's on us, though, because that's all we really needed to enjoy the survival horror staple all over again: the HD Remake gives all the main characters and the Spencer Mansion an enticing facelift but keeps the little quirks that make Resident Evil awesome/a total headache/undeniably unique.

You'll still need to manage eight (at most) inventory slots, and you'll still need to keep your distance from downed zombies - or preferably burn them on the spot. The most major change is the new default control scheme, which makes it handle more like a modern fixed-camera game, but you're free to select the old 'tank' controls if you want. With modern conveniences where it needs them and good old weirdness where it doesn't, Resident Evil HD Remake is a near masterpiece… of unlocking.

Those are some of the games that made their mark in 2015, but they won't be the last. Stay tuned to this page to see what will are the best games for every month this year. Only time will tell!

For formation on 2015's releases, be sure to check out our list of the .

If you're reading this, it may already be too late. As of April 29th, 2015, P.T. - the playable teaser for the - will be gone from PSN, presumably forever. This tragic loss (especially for those who have never, and now may never, play it) exemplifies the most terrifying drawback of the digital distribution methods we've grown to love. When a downloadable game gets delisted, it effectively ceases to exist for anyone who doesn't already own it.

But P.T. isn't the only great game to be struck down by a delisting. PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Arcade, eShop, and Steam have all discarded their fair share of games, typically because of red tape like unrenewed licensing agreements. And while some of those exiled titles are no great loss, the following delistings may throw you into a state of deep despair upon realizing all the games you could have been enjoying if only you had acted sooner. If you bought these when they were available and still have 'em saved to a hard drive somewhere, thank your lucky stars. If you don't, then things are about to get very emotional.

Now nowhere to be found on: XBLA, PSN

I'll kick things off with the one I hate myself for missing the most. Scott Pilgrim is a comic-turned-film that's heavily inspired by retro gaming culture, and The Game channeled all that nostalgic energy into a four-player beat-'em-up with a sublime 16-bit style. The audio-visual department was every geek's dream, with an art team lead by the stupidly talented and a delightfully blippy soundtrack from renowned chiptune band Anamanaguchi. I've realized too late that I'd quite like to take the fight to Ramona Flowers' seven evil exes, but it seems Ubisoft wasn't too keen on renewing this license at the end of 2014. That pretty much leaves 'moaning in powerless agony' as my only remaining option.

Now nowhere to be found on: XBLA, PSN

A few years after comics giant Marvel was acquired by Disney, there was a sort of great purge for online storefront items related to its iconic superheroes. Notable losses include Deadpool and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but the delistings that hit the hardest for fighting game fans were Marvel vs. Capcom Origins, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, and all the brilliant DLC for Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. The former two games (three, if you factor in that Marvel Super Heroes was bundled into Origins) still exist in increasingly rare disc form, but MvC3 characters Jill Valentine and Shuma-Gorath have completely faded into the aether of lost DLC, along with all the downloadable costumes that really packed in the fan-pleasing references. By choosing not to renew its fighting game licenses with Capcom, Disney took me for a ride, alright... a ride into utter sadness.

Now nowhere to be found on: XBLA

This was less of an actual downloadable game and more of a fun social experiment. Based on the game show of the same name, 1 vs. 100 is the ultimate in unfair odds, where a lone player (given the Neo-esque title of 'The One') must answer trivia questions correctly in the face of 100 people who desperately want to see The One get it wrong. The main attraction was the Live Show mode, complete with an on-air host (with their own Xbox Avatar) doing color commentary, as well as interviews with folks like Major Nelson and prizes that were worth actual money. After two 13-week 'seasons', Microsoft called it quits, and 1 vs. 100 became forever lost to time. For many gamers, it'll probably be the closest they'll ever come to taking part in a bona fide game show. But hey, there's always the abysmal DS version (hosted by none other than Bob Saget).

Now nowhere to be found on: Steam

In case you didn't know, Outrun 2006 is among the , it's pretty damn difficult to argue. For a while, Sega's sunny convertible racer was available for download on Steam, with the kind of crisp textures that the PS2 and Xbox versions could only dream of. Alas, Sega's lapsed Ferrari license prevents any future downloads of Outrun 2006 (or its sequel, Outrun Online Arcade). The game's still out there, but these days, asking someone to buy a physical disc for an old PC game is like telling a millennial who can't find a movie on Netflix to just borrow the DVD from their local library. Yes, they could do that, but will they? Probably not.

Now nowhere to be found on: XBLA, PSN

Back in the '90s, Konami brought the ruckus when it came to quarter-munching arcade beat-'em'-ups. Whether you were playing alone or in a dedicated co-op party of four, bopping bad guys in X-Men, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and The Simpsons Arcade Game was nothing short of glorious. All three of these classic tie-in brawlers eventually made a comeback with downloadable ports - and all three have now been banished to the void of expired licenses, never to be renewed. If you had the foresight to snatch these up when they were available, please invite me over some time so I can relive all those happy arcade memories. I'll bring pizza!

Now nowhere to be found on: 3DS eShop

I warn you, this delisting is just inexplicably mean, and may cause The Legend of Zelda fans who missed out to weep the bitterest of tears. Nintendo had good intentions on this road to hell, deciding to celebrate the Zelda series' 25th anniversary with a free gift. An amazing one, at that: a DSiWare port of Four Swords, the four-player co-op adventure full of inventive puzzles and friendly griefing among the color-coded quartet of Links. Best of all, the local multiplayer is wireless, without any pricey link cables necessary. The Anniversary Edition was available at no charge from September 2011 to February 2012, then again during the first month of 2014 - but if you didn't download it during those timeframes, it's now completely unobtainable. Does Nintendo not realize how many people would happily pay money for this port, if only it would let them?

Now nowhere to be found on: XBLA, PSN

It's all about the timing with this particularly unfortunate delisting. After Burner Climax is in the same boat as Outrun 2006: a SegaAM2 arcade classic given a faithful reboot in three lush dimensions. Amazingly, Climax retains the same blazing mach speeds of its predecessors, as you gun down legions of enemy bogeys from your sleek jet fighter. To avoid renewing licenses with real-world aircraft companies, Sega announced in December 2014 that it would be pulling Climax from online storefronts on Christmas Eve, of all days. Then, in a shocking twist, the game suddenly disappeared a week ahead of schedule, with no explanation given. For those prospective buyers who thought they would have more time, it was like the horrifying inverse of an early Christmas present from Sega.

Now nowhere to be found on: XBLA

This one holds a special place in my heart for being the first XBLA game I ever downloaded. All you have to do in this simple 3D platformer is guide a marble to a goal as fast as possible, utilizing power-ups and momentum-accelerating trickery to cut corners and improve your time. It's just as devilishly addictive as Super Monkey Ball, but with larger, more forgiving levels and 100% fewer simians. In a cruel twist of fate, developer GarageGames retains the rights to the Marble Blast engine but not the games themselves, so Ultra got ejected in 2011. The good news is, a PC port is (somehow) . The bad news is that all those stunningly impressive leaderboard replays of the best times (and some oh-so-satisfying Achievements) are gone forever.

Now nowhere to be found on: 3DS eShop

A generation of gamers will always associate handheld gaming with Tetris for the original Game Boy, since it came bundled in with Nintendo's landmark portable system. Those 8-bit visuals have the power to practically transport you back in time, so nostalgia surely played a part in Tetris' popularity on the 3DS Virtual Console market. But all that reminiscing came to a screeching halt when Ubisoft acquired the legendary puzzle license to make Tetris Ultimate, putting the kibosh on eShops sales of Tetris Axis and Tetris for Game Boy in the process. Boo, I say.

Now nowhere to be found on: XBLA, PSN

There've been plenty of casualties when it comes to digital versions of excellent tabletop games, with winners like Catan, Lost Cities, and Risk: Factions all getting the boot at one point or another. But nothing could sting quite as much as the delisting of Uno, the fast, easy-to-grasp card game that typically induces bouts of excited yelling. Not only could you play Uno when all the participants lived in different states - there was also the option to put custom house rules into effect, or spice up the deck with themed DLC (including some Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix goodness). And here's the kicker: the whole shebang cost less than an actual deck of Uno cards. Now it's gone. Excuse me, I... I need a moment.

Sonic the Hedgehog hasn't got a proper girlfriend. Sure, Amy throws herself at him all the time, but Sonic Generations clearly showed him holding her at arm's length while she continued to struggle in his direction. That's one relationship that's never going to work out. And as for Princess Elise… well, when did you last see her? 2006? Exactly. Her friends pointed out why what she was doing was wrong and she finally saw the light. She's asked Google to remove all mention of it. The results are pending.

So, seeing as time keeps marching on and he won't look this good for ever, Sonic has been attending speed dating evenings. In case you haven't experienced its wonders, this involves an evening of three-minute dates. If you like someone, you tick their name. Get a tick back and you share phone numbers. Simple. They say three minutes is enough time to know if you are interested in someone. Well, here's what the ladies thought of Sonic...

"You know that thing where you like a guy, but just wish he would shut the hell up? Yeah, that. He kept saying things like 'hey hey!' and 'Better luck next time'. I mean, I'm all for enthusiasm and a cheerful personality, because those things are great. But they're also SO ANNOYING."

"I think I decided I definitely wouldn't tick him when it got to the end of the three minutes and he stood up and said "Hey, I'll play with you some other time" and just sort of froze. The lady from the speed dating company had to come and usher him along to the next girl because he'd already used up two minutes of his time with her. My next date didn't know what to say - he couldn't get to his seat."

"It started off pretty well. I mean, he looks quite cool with those great big blue spines and winsome smile, but some pretty major red flags were waving as soon as he started bragging about all the gold rings he has. And then he said that if I was lucky, maybe I could have one. I mean, come ON – we only just met and he's already talking about giving me a ring?"

"Sad thing is, when the bell rung to signal it was time to move onto the next person, the guy stood up and banged his head on the light shade above the table, at which point he seemed to drop hundreds of the things. It was quite awkward, really. Nobody helped him pick them up. By the time I realised and offered to help, most of them had disappeared. I don't… I don't really know what I saw. The poor guy almost forgot his chili dog."

"Is nobody else seeing this? This isn't a guy at all. It's a hedgehog. The kind that gets stuck in cattle grids or ends up squashed on the side of the road. I mean, I'm a girl. A human. I couldn't ever get with a hedgehog. Aren't there laws against that sort of thing? If there aren't, there should be."

"The other thing is, even besides the physical aspect, how would you maintain a healthy emotional relationship with a hedgehog? At one point, I joked that he was a funny colour for a hedgehog. It must be a delicate subject for him, because he curled up into a ball and didn't come out for the rest of the speed date. I can't be putting up with that. This evening was a stupid idea, I should never have come."

"It was the strangest three minutes of my life. He sprinted the four feet from the previous table and flung himself down into the seat, throwing down this disgusting chili dog onto the table, which slid off, only for him to catch it before it hit the floor and then sort of twirl it in the air before making it land on the plate. It was like watching a cartoon. I don't like cartoons."

"Surprisingly, he told me he likes speed and running. I don't know why everyone thinks running is such a great and attractive pastime. I've been on all the dating sites and everyone seems to list running as one of their main interests. That and travelling. Me? I like eating cake. But at least by the time I'd thought about all the things I just told you, especially the bit about the cake, the three minutes was up and he ran off to the next girl. I didn't even catch his name. Sanic, wasn't it?"

"I actually quite liked the guy, at first. But then I asked him about his friends and what they do. From what I gather, there's some kid who flies a plane, some boxer-type who likes jewels and a big… cat? I thought he was teasing me. Nobody has a friend called Cream the Rabbit. At least nobody in the social circles I want to associate with."

"I asked him if he was talking about pets but he said no, and showed me a picture. They all look friendly enough, but, to be honest, I couldn't picture myself in that picture too. For that matter, I don't think anyone in the room would have looked right in that picture. I think maybe he should look for someone a bit more like himself."

"This guy is absolutely full of it. You know what he told me? He took part in the Olympic Games – both winter and summer – for the past 8 years. I can sort of picture it going by his physique, but I think I would have heard about a blue dude winning medals at some point in the past decade. I bet they're made of chocolate or something."

"He also said he saves the world every other week. And that he's been into space. And he's a racing driver. Oh, and he plays tennis competitively. And he's into MMA. You know, he also had the nerve to try and convince me he's a time traveller and went back into the past to fix the future, and when he went forward to check, it was all happy and pink and stuff. The guy's imagination is incredible, but it's also disturbing. I think he might be dangerous. Wait, did I mention to him where I work? Oh god, I think I did…"

"You know, after the previous guy had got up, this guy Sonic sat down and introduced himself. I said something like 'Sonic the Hedgehog… OK, let me just write that down' and started to write his name on the little card. By the 'c' I realised he was tapping his foot impatiently, and by the time I'd finished writing the second 'g', he was stretched out on the table, yawning his head off like I'd taken forever. It can't have been more than 10 seconds."

"I can't stand bad attitudes, but he seemed to think it is a positive attribute. In fact, when I asked him what he thought his best features were, he immediately said 'my attitude'. When I suggested maybe that wasn't a good thing, he said it used to make him really popular. Naturally, I picked up on the 'used to', but then the time was up and he said 'Better get going', and left. I don't think we'll be ticking each other."

"I know age is just a number, but it does matter a little bit. This guy said he was out on his own as early as 1991. I wasn't even born until 1997, so he must be almost old enough to be my dad. I know he doesn't look that old (although it's hard to tell because he doesn't look like most people), but the thought does weird me out a little bit."

"I did actually raise it in the conversation, and his response was unnerving. He said "To be this good takes ages". And then he winked. I don't know what he was talking about, but it chilled me to my very core. I think I'm better off with someone closer to my own age."

"I thought he seemed really nice, but he got a phone call right in the middle of our time and I saw the name 'Amy' flash up on his phone. I asked who it was and he said 'oh, no-one'. When I pushed some more, he conceded that he and she used to date, briefly, but that 'now she won't take the hint'. So yeah, I suspect there's unfinished business there."

"Then, after the dating evening had finished, some of the girls were laughing at something on one of their phones. It was a video that looked like that guy Sonic was being kissed by a girl who was dressed up like a princess, with floating crystals or something. It looked like some kind of ritual... and he looked drugged. Even unconscious at one point. If he's an actor or something, then I suppose that's cool, but I'm not really into LARPing. And that looked a hell of a lot like LARPing to me."

The upcoming might let you catch some decent airtime with thrust jumps, but sooner or later you'll come crashing back down to earth... But what if you didn't? Give two fingers to Sir Isaac Newton with eight of PlayStation’s best gravity defying moments.

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As much as we all love pictures of cats that resemble Z-list celebrities, none of them can touch the tabby in this Vita gem. Gravity Rush’s feline gives Kat (the game’s hero, not another kitty) the power to control gravity. Cue floating fun using the handheld’s gyroscope.

Buck, buck, Bucking Bronco-aroo. Who needs a kids’ game about a rebellious horsey when you can control an emotionally conflicted dude with the power to fling men into the sky before bringing them down with an oh-so-satisfying crunch?

When you’re hanging with Professor Fitz Quadwrangle, the rules of the inverse-square law on universal gravitation (ooooh!) can go do one. After the madcap scientist gets trapped, it’s up to his nephew to brave the Reverse Gravity dimension and save him.

Giant spiders, natives who spit poison darts, and mind-controlling worms that steer their victims into pits: Limbo really hates children. Its small, silhouetted boy also has to contend with a factory full of switch puzzles that kibosh gravity.

Ah, the distinctly non-humble Gravity Gun. Has the great videogame overlord in the sky ever blessed us with a finer weapon? Capable of turning Headcrab zombies into undead sushi, the physics-powered mutilator makes floating and firing buzz saws in the spooky Ravenholm a slicey delight.

Isaac Clarke is a man of many talents. He’s a space engineer, he can fillet a Necromorph like a Michelin– starred chef, and he’s able to punch physics square in the face. His second game contains several zero-grav puzzles involving floating mechanical parts. Hey, it can’t all be alien murderising.

Vertical, horizontal – really, what’s the difference? In Vanguard City, black is white, up is down and hamburgers eat people (probably). Due to pockets of zero gravity, Davis Russel spends more time walking up skyscrapers than he does on terra firma. Take that, physics.

You’re not the boss of me, gravitation. Especially when I’m a badass Sith capable of fiddling with physics through my magic Force fingers. While levitating Wookies around on Kashyyyk would make Chewie cry, yanking a Star Destroyer from the sky is a gravity-assaulting treat.

We’re going down! No, wait, we’re headed up. Aren’t the laws of the universe at 36,000ft a cad? Early in MW3’s campaign, terrorist mastermind Makarov hijacks the Russian prez’s plane, resulting in some levitating, stomach-churning firefights.

Game advertising is all but inescapable these days, with promotions for big franchises taking up space in everything from mall kiosks to thousands-of-dollars-per-second Super Bowl ads. It's gotten to the point where even those who don’t really play games still have some familiarity with the sequel-laden mainstays that you and I know so well. But even amidst all the hype trains and ridiculously expensive marketing campaigns, some entries in the most universally recognized game franchises are all but forgotten to time.

There's been plenty of discussion about the , but many of those hail from Japanese franchises that might not register with players from other parts of the world. So instead, here are the most delightfully obscure games from the most recognizable Western-made franchises on the market. Mention these to your parents, siblings, friends, teachers, whoever; you'll see their eyes light up in understanding when you say the series name, only to shift to utter befuddlement when you reach the actual title.

As you'll soon find, some of these little-known games have been buried under layers of history, from the days before the brand name blew up. Grand Theft Auto 3 is really when the masses started paying attention to Rockstar's brand of open-world crime sprees, so the original top-down GTA from 1997 is already pretty obscure. Even fewer people have played GTA: London, 1969, a UK-themed expansion pack that adds the entire series' only real-world location to the base game. Then, on top of all that, sits GTA: London, 1961, an expansion pack to the expansion pack. It's enough to make your head spin.

So, is it any good? Since there's barely any plot to the early GTA games, London, 1961 can't offer the same level of backstory-revealing goodness as later spin-offs like Liberty City and Vice City Stories. But if you just want to add some more content to your retro car thieving, then you might as well enjoy the extra missions added in this bit of PC-exclusive freeware.

Contrary to what Activision would like you to believe, not every Call of Duty game is an instant best-seller. Black Ops: Declassified was put in a pretty unenviable position, releasing as a PS Vita exclusive on the same day as . That meant that it targeted a demographic that largely prefers its military FPS action on consoles, if they even owned Sony's struggling handheld system to begin with. Of course, it certainly doesn't help things when your game is horrendously buggy, has broken AI, and gets critically panned for boasting a single-player campaign that can be completed in less than an hour.

So, is it any good? No, unless you're a diehard CoD lore buff who's desperate to know what kind of mass murdering went down between the events of Black Ops and Black Ops 2. If Declassified has taught us anything, it's that CoD's speedy gameplay was never meant to accommodate touchscreen controls, and having two colons in your game titles looks a bit silly.

Kratos is a legend among gamers, known far and wide for his ability to be unreasonably angry at all times and turn any violent action into a quick-time event. Excessive bloodshed and gore has always been crucial to God of War's brand of combo-centric combat, so you might wonder how all that could possibly work on a tiny, narrow screen. God of War: Betrayal aimed to find out, plopping the Ghost of Sparta onto Java-compatible flip phones in a time before Apple's App Store even existed. Though the action shifted from 3D to 2D, there were still plenty of mythical monsters to slice through and execute with carefully timed button presses.

So, is it any good? Depends on your expectations. It's certainly a bit strange to see Kratos reduced to a dinky pixelated sprite, and the lack of music or sound effects beyond the occasional, singular drum beat makes the brutal beatdowns feel about as epic as a stroll through the library. But given the limitations of the Java engine, it's impressive that Betrayal still manages to retain the pace and flow of God of War combat on a 2D plane, even if you're mashing the 'OK' button instead of Square.

Over 30 years later, stacking blocks and making them disappear in Tetris still hasn't gotten old. The formula is almost too perfect, since any attempts to jazz it up usually end up feeling convoluted or gimmicky. That didn't stop the N64-exclusive Tetrisphere from trying, taking the basic tetromino-dropping gameplay and wrapping it around a giant orb of colored blocks. In addition to the procession of shapes, you can also use an array of unorthodox puzzle power-ups like magnets and ray guns to bore to the center of the Tetrisphere a little quicker. And for whatever reason, you've got a bunch of bug-eyed androids to keep you company (none of which seem remotely Russian).

So, is it any good? Yes, actually. Having to manipulate pieces in a 3D space bends your brain out of its Tetris comfort zone, and there's a lot more blocky real-estate to cover in search of the perfect fit for your current piece. Also, the techno-rave soundtrack is pretty rad.

The Madden NFL series spans a whopping five console generations and counting, which is pretty staggering to think about. And at the same time that the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo were getting annual Madden sequels starting as early as 1990, only one entry in the series ever made it to the Turbo Duo console. To understand why, ask yourself: did you or anyone you know even own a Turbo Duo? If you answered 'yes', then you might also be familiar with that GI Joe reject . But what was I talking about again? Oh, right: 16-bit Madden on an unpopular console that tried implementing disc drives just a bit too early.

So, is it any good? Not unless you're a sucker for FMVs peppering all the sluggish gridiron action, including such riveting live-action scenes as the game-opening coin toss (complete with slow zoom on the quarter) and three-second-long endzone celebrations. But I can safely say that there is no greater virtual representation of John Madden than .

The Sims is one of the most successful game franchises of all time, delighting players with just the right mix of mundane suburban life and godlike power (including, but not limited to, trapping your Sims in the bathroom until they die). For those who prefer the chibi style of character design in something like MapleStory, there's MySims, a spin-off full of super-deformed denizens to occupy your virtual dollhouse. And beyond that is a series of spin-off spin-offs that have nothing to do with domestic life. Instead, these games involve minigame parties, kart-racing, kid-friendly espionage, or - in the case of SkyHeroes - full-on aerial dogfighting and races through mid-air checkpoints.

So, is it any good? Heck yeah. For my money, I'll always go with a goofy, colorful flight combat game over something that aims for photorealism like Ace Combat, especially if it can tap into the nostalgia of Star Fox and Diddy Kong Racing. Plus, those little customizable jet fighters are just adorable.

A full year before Uncharted: Fight for Fortune turned third-person action into a surprisingly fun card game, Assassin's Creed took a stab at the world of CCGs with the Recollection app on iOS. The game itself is actually just called Tactics, to be exact: a real-time duel where players summon Animus memories instead of casting spells. Despite there only being three main areas on the board, the strategy is quite complex, since you'll be micromanaging your agent cards to vie for territory control all while a day-cycle timer constantly ticks down. Outside of the matches, there's also plenty of opportunity for creative deckbuilding, given the sizeable 200+ card pool.

So, is it any good? Yes. Like any CCG, this game makes its money through in-app purchases used to buy card packs, so stay away if you can't use your virtual wallet responsibly. But for any AC fan craving a strategic change of pace, Tactics (alongside all the other supplementary concept art and cutscenes in Recollection) makes for an impressively worthwhile companion app.

You can't make it ten clicks through the internet without someone cracking a (very likely weak) Half-Life 3 joke. But everyone's who's clamoring for fresh, unfamiliar content in Valve's seminal FPS series should take it upon themselves to seek out the little-known Half-Life: Decay. It's understandable that PC-centric players might've missed it, since this expansion was developed exclusively for the PlayStation 2 port of Gordon Freeman's first interdimensional escapade. Here's the thing: instead of controlling Freeman on his lonesome, Decay is actually a co-op campaign starring two female scientists - Colette Green and Gina Cross - that occurs parallel to Gordon's adventure during the Black Mesa Incident.

So, is it any good? Most definitely. Defending yourself against Xen aliens and the military clean-up crew is just as fun with a buddy by your side, as reinforced in Half-Life 2 - and unlike Alyx Vance, this player-controlled teammate doesn't have to deliver dialogue that awkwardly dances around the fact that you never speak. And Decay's emphasis on two-woman, first-person puzzles almost seems like a precursor to Portal 2's co-op. Plus, there's a secret mission that lets you can play as a Vortigaunt. Oh yes.

Alas, Silent Hill fans, I come bearing tragic news, for the highly anticipated , we've decided to put aside the Silent Hill that could have been to think about those that could still totally be.

Here we've listed the developers who could create chapters in a Silent Hill anthology, whose unique talents could play to what makes Silent Hill so beloved and unforgettable. If we say it loud and long enough, it's entirely possible that this could exist. Just keep running toward the light in the gloom.

Alan Wake is a perfect template for a bite-sized Silent Hill experience. Remedy intimately understands how geography can impact mood, turning the pine forests of the US northwest into an oppressive landscape for Alan’s nightmares. They also understand how to adapt horror to an episodic format, sustaining tension throughout short levels, bringing the unease to a creepy crest at the very end. And in both Alan Wake and American Nightmare, Remedy showed they can blur the line between realities, twisting our perceptions and short-circuiting our expectations.

All of that experience is reason enough to wish they’d take a crack at a Silent Hill experience, but it’s the terrifying Mr. Scratch that seals it. Most of Silent Hill’s enemies are creeping, unknowable things, but Mr. Scratch, the dark embodiment of Alan’s ego, is all the more terrifying because he’s so recognizable. He simply gives into the impulses that we all have - to take what we want, shove others out of our way, and shape the world to our own specific liking. It would be intriguing to explore a relationship with a denizen of Silent Hill that’s as charming as he is disturbing.

Here's the thing with Silent Hill, it needs to be really freaking weird. That's what I adored about the series' early entries: each one took something familiar - a hospital or a shopping mall - and made it hostile and alien. These games didn't feel like anything else out there, and that unfamiliarity is what made them so scary. When thinking about who could do the bizarre atmosphere of Silent Hill justice, one name jumps to the top of the list: Grasshopper Manufacture.

With a track record that includes Lollipop Chainsaw and No More Heroes, Grasshopper Manufacture and Goichi Suda have a special brand of strange that permeates everything they touch. They've dipped their toe in the horror genre before with Fatal Frame IV. This would be their opportunity to dive headlong into the dark side and make it their own. It would be crass, it would be stylish, and it sure as hell wouldn't feel like any other Silent Hill game - and that's the point. If there's one thing PT demonstrated, it's that you can break the Silent Hill mold and still have a horror game that captures our imaginations.

The Evil Within was easily one of the most contentious games of 2014, and even now the gaming world is divided on whether it's the second-coming of Resident Evil or destined for the bin. But if developer Tango Gameworks did one thing right with this grotesque action-horror, it was coming up with an exceedingly scary concept and pushing it to the limit. If that passion could be redirected into a subtler narrative that's just as frightening, a Tango-directed Silent Hill could be the unsettling child of the horror genre's two greatest rivals.

While The Evil Within (Tango's only gaming endeavor thus far) focused heavily on action sequences, it was arguably at its best when you were simply walking around a house, poking at fresh brains and trying to discover the mystery behind the specter that's relentlessly hunting you. It also knows how to make the immortal stalker concept work, with Boxman exhibiting all the terrifying immortality of Pyramid Head with an extra helping of gore. Perhaps most importantly, Shinji Mikami and his team are adept at realizing their vision with grace and focus, so a Silent Hill game from them would almost assuredly strike at the heart of what makes the series tick.

You might've heard of a PS1 rarity by the name of LSD: Dream Emulator. It's not so much a game as it is a first-person simulation of an acid trip that oscillates between surreal weirdness and full-on terror. Without any goals or direction, you simply wander through 32-bit renditions of disconnected dream sequences, completely unsure of how your surroundings will react to your presence. Ask anyone who's plunged headfirst into this madness (or ), and you'll see just how often things take a turn into deeply disturbing territory. It gets to the point that the player feels like they're being strangled by paranoia and disorientation.

Don't be deceived by the crude graphics; LSD is capable of some truly skin-crawling stuff, like walls inexplicably plastered with creepy face textures, or is still up, so anything's possible.

People often (incorrectly) reduce Gone Home as to nothing more than a "walking simulator", but you know what? There's nowhere that Fullbright's brand of environmental design and exploration would be more at home than the sleepy burg of Silent Hill. Gone Home already toyed with player expectations, building up suspense and horror through simple audio cues, deft storytelling, and a crushing sense of loneliness - a Fullbright Silent Hill game would simply ratchet up those feelings tenfold.

If you're playing Silent Hill for the combat, you're playing the wrong game. Instead, a Fullbright-developed Silent Hill would drop the player into the derelict city long after the horror has since passed - though the evidence of the atrocities committed by its inhabitants still lingers. You'd explore abandoned buildings, reading notes and taking in clues, piecing the story together as you wander through the city's haunting streets. And then… the fog rolls in, and the real terror begins.

Between working on Danganronpa and the Zero Escape series, developer Spike Chunsoft knows how to inject a poignant sense of despair, dread, and (most of all) helplessness in their games. Silent Hill thrives on these emotions. It wants to instill them deep within your psyche, often without you even realizing it. The thematic harmony at work between game and developer makes Spike Chunsoft a natural fit for this long-running horror franchise.

And on a more pragmatic note, what's the one thing people complain about when they complain about Silent Hill? The gameplay. By design, Silent Hill games feel clunky, which is sort of the point but people still don't like it. If Spike Chunsoft were to transform Silent Hill into a visual novel, that awkwardness would be eliminated and you'd be free to focus on all the creepy environments and brain-teasing puzzles. It also allows for a greater focus on narrative, which is important when your backdrop literally runs on the inner turmoil of its characters.

Though From Software is best known for making you want to throw your game system out the window when you lose to that one boss for the tenth freaking time, the company is equally versed at building a living story from vague whispers and hints. Though you could charge through Dark Souls or Bloodborne without ever learning their lore, players that pay close attention can discover frightening and fascinating worlds hidden just out of sight. Silent Hill is all about the horror of what could be lurking beyond that impenetrable fog, so From Software's unique brand of subtle dread would be perfect for low-visibility terror.

Much like other Silent Hill games are built upon subtle clues that can go ignored if you don't pay attention (heck, P.T. has a full story to it that some players never notice), From Software is adept at hiding hints of story in every facet of a game, from to item descriptions to the structure of the world itself. While the company has never done a psychological horror game the likes of Silent Hill, it wouldn't be too tricky to scale back its action-focused elements to hone in on atmosphere. After that it's familiar, lamp-lit territory. The true question is whether From Software could scale back its desire to make you suffer under crushing difficulty instead of just deep-seated fear, but I bet it could pull that off. Just this once.

'Batman V Superman' - it doesn't get much more obvious than that. One brooding dude versus an all-powerful alien…in tights! What's not to love? Truly, this is a golden age for humanity, one in which even the grittiest of actioners bears a name as blatant, as unabashedly comic book-esque as Batman V Superman and yet barely raises a titter. It's a title that tells you everything you need to know, right there on the tin. One man with a thing for bats going up against another with severe ego issues, apparently. Game on.

There's something almost tangibly visceral about a good Vs. title. It's the ultimate, fan-baiting elevator pitch. Video games, for their part, are chock full of such epic confrontations, battles so potentially seismic in scope they practically demand to be made the part of the title, even if not all of them turn fulfill their promise. So, in recognition of the new , here are some of the very best and worst of gaming's 'Vs' collection. Whoever wins, we lose. Sometimes. Depending on quality.

Why fight? Capcom must've made some serious drunken indiscretions over the years to procure this many enemies. There's X-Men, then Marvel, then Tatsunoko and SNK. Hell they've even snuck Tekken in there under the new fangled 'X' moniker. At this point Cappy could well be fighting it out with the principality of Monaco and no one would bat an eyelid. Maybe they talk trash them all behind their backs, like a gormless gossip of the gaming world?

Any good? Indubitably. Capcom's fighting family all share a single common ancestry - the ever-reliable Street Fighter franchise. You really couldn't go wrong with a lineage like that. Right?

Why fight? Perhaps Mr. Phoenix is a nasty minded xenophobe, and can't quite stand to look at a man with soulless black circles where his eyes ought to be. Perhaps Prof Layton was given bad legal advice and spent 6 whole weeks in the slammer. Who knows? The simple fact remains that, on the surface of it, these two heroes aren't even close to being enemies. If anything they're allies, forced together by fate and generally collaborative from the off. I guess 'Professor Layton and Phoenix Wright have a bloody amicable chit-chat' didn't have quite the same ring to it.

Any good? Yes, actually. Layton Vs. Wright meshes the best bits of both franchises - along with some of the more minor niggles - to create an effective entree for both series.

Why fight? For all of its tactical nous I'm afraid that the basic concept of 'chess' doesn't really stand much of a chance up against that of 'battle'. King to Knight Four may be all well and good in isolation, but it isn't going to stop a bunch of incensed soldiers from brutally bludgeoning the bishop. And no, that's not an innuendo. To be blunt: my money's on battle. But - intentional misreadings aside, what exactly does Battle Vs. Chess mean? Is this the 'Battle Vs.' franchise taking a brief detour into chess? Will the next game be named Battle Vs. Checkers, or Battle Vs. Hungry Hungry Hippo's? It's a mystery. Still, at least they didn’t stick with the original title - 'Check Vs. Mate'. One man's painful decision between spotting his best bud the next month's rent or booting him right out the door. Probably…

Any good? Battle Vs. Chess earned a mixed reception from critics, with some praising its on-point A.I., while others poured scorn on the game's badly implemented trimmings, namely its lacklustre story mode and poorly executed animations.

Why fight? One wants to fight us, the other wants to f*** us. It's the alien equivalent of a jailbreak on the psychotic nymphomaniac's ward. Sadly for them, there are only so many of us fleshy repositories to go around, and so both sides must quickly take care of the other in order to establish dibs. It's galactic mandibles at dawn, triangular laser thingies versus a good old fashioned jaw-goring.

Any good? Initially yes, though the franchise has faltered in recent years. The first AvPs, and the arcade game remain worthwhile adventures. As for Extinction and 2010's reboot: not so much.

Why fight? You don't get a name like 'Bad Dudes' without cracking your fair share of skulls first. Either that, or by being part of a late '80s boyband. In this instance, I'm not entirely sure which description fits best. In any case, Bad Dudes tells the tale of two 'roided up street toughs named Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Shannon. No wait, scratch that. Despite visual similarities to those Hollywood greats, they're apparently called Blade and Striker. Because the '80s. With America overrun by ne'er do well Ninjas, and even the secret service unable to protect their chief, B and S are called in to retrieve said Pres from the clutches of the titular Dragon clan. What follows is several levels of largely unremarkable kicky, punchy conflict.

Any good? No, though that wasn't enough to stop the game from selling strongly on the ZX Spectrum. Plans for a crowdfunded sequel were ultimately squashed due to lack of support. I guess they really were "bad enough dudes" after all.

Why fight? An unfortunate mix up at the post office results in Raiden and Superman sending one another their dirty laundry. Said error somehow results in the merger of their respective realms, with the monstrous amalgam Dark Kahn playing both sides off against the other. Cue much pummelling. It doesn't get much more 'Vs.' than seeing two teams of muscle bound brawlers punching each other into oblivion.

Any good? Though not quite as polished as its latter-era standalone kin, i.e. MK 2011 MKX, NetherRealm's first foray into the DC mythology still manages to produce plenty of fluid action and fun fan service.

Why fight? Zoids is a popular toy line originating in Japan, based on a concept that might best be described as Beast Wars meets the Power Rangers. People - typically wide -eyed and ultra emotive teenagers - are tasked with flying these titular mechs on behalf of their nation states, two of whom are currently embroiled in an ongoing conflict. The Zoids themselves are modelled after an array of insects and animals, and are just as alive as their allotted pilots.

That's the backstory covered, but why exactly are they fighting the number three? Is it really the magic number? Have the numerical cast of Sesame Street finally had enough? Nope, as it turns out this is just the third entry in the 'Zoids Vs.' series. How very disappointing.

Any good? That all depends on who you ask. Many fans consider the game to be an enjoyable, if somewhat flawed experience, while critics proved to be far less liberal with their praise.

Why fight? When your sole business model revolves around pulling in the violence-loving punters, going to war against an entire world's worth of people just seems counterproductive. Still, I suspect the name WCW Vs. The World isn't meant to be taken literally. It's more of an 'us against them' type of thing, a glorious affirmation of sweaty machismo in the face of then wrestling rivals, the WWF. As for its sequel, WCW Vs. nWo: World Tour, that name does at least manage to make a lick more sense. After all, the company's biggest hit, the villainous nWo faction, set themselves up in direct opposition to the WCW brand, leading the two groups into a lengthy confrontation.

Any good? Both of the 'WCW Vs.' games were flawed, if enjoyable brawlers that essentially acted as dry runs for the series' best-loved outing, WCW/nWo Revenge.

Why fight? These two titans can trace their enmity back to the very earliest days of motor racing, when the Ford Model T battled it out against the Chevy 490. In the 1980s, both sides fought for domination of the pickup truck market, largely by dragging each other's vehicles around in big, cheesy commercials. Then, in 2005 both, belligerents agreed to appear in a mutually endorsed driving game. Sadly, the game sucked, though at least fans were finally able to settle their decades-long debate. Well, sort of. The whole project was essentially moot by 2005, with both sides already having appeared together in multiple superior driving games.

Any good? Not particularly. It may have included a slightly deeper roster of both Ford and Chevy vehicles, but at the cost of your actual enjoyment.

Why fight? Judge Dredd doesn't like crime. Judge Death considers all life to be a crime. With Dredd alive, and Death a criminal, both men become natural adversaries. Cue several thousand angry gurns. Interestingly, for a title that implies ol' granite chin is in the hunt for some sort of immortality potion - he is going up against 'death', after all - the game's plot does actually involve one such elixir. Unfortunately for the hapless denizens of Mega City One, this particular tonic doesn't work as specified, causing a good chunk of the population to transform into grotesque, vampire-like creatures. Death's behind the botch and Dredd's having none of it. They fight. Is that versus enough for you?

Any good? Dredd Vs. Death failed to win over many critics, who cited poor A.I., simplistic gameplay and bad graphics as responsible for its wealth of poor scores.

Why fight? Holmes is the quintessential gentleman detective. Jack, by contrast follows the rather ungentlemanly pursuit of murdering prostitutes. You might see where this is going…. Unfortunately for the real life victims of the Ripper, Sherlock never actually existed. Had he done, you can bet he'd have taken one big sniff of a cobbled Whitechapel side street before nabbing the killer in time for tea. Of course, this being a story in need of an ending, in this version of history Holmes does indeed catch his man. Though, rather like in L.A. Noire's depiction of the 'Black Dahlia' murderer, the detective is unable to publicise his discovery.

Any good? Solid, if unspectacular, though still strangely alluring given the ongoing dearth of quality detective games.

Why fight? Maximo - owner of the shoddiest set of armour ever assembled - is out to reclaim his lost love. Unfortunately for him, the evil Baron Bane - seriously devs, at this rate 'Bane' is going to make it onto the top 10 baby names - has decided to unleash the titular Army of Zin. These mechanical monstrosities just so happen to feast upon the same 'soul power' as our man Max, forcing both sides into an epic, headlong confrontation. .

Any good? Absolutely. Maximo's second outing improves on the original game in almost every respect, and remains one of the PS2's premier action titles.

Why fight? As anyone who's ever paid attention to the Peanuts comic strip can attest, Snoopy the dog fancies himself as quite the pilot. So, who better to test those skills than the greatest flying ace of WW1: Manfred von Richthofen, aka 'the Red Baron'. Of course, this being a fully priced video game, Snoopy can't just tangle with the man immediately. Instead, Richthofen only appears in 'killable' form during the game's final mission, meaning a more accurate title might've read 'Snoopy Vs. The entirety of the German air force, plus that one bloke who knew how to use cheat codes in real life'.

Any good? Unbelievably, yes. Despite being a licensed tie-in (for a an increasingly antiquated brand, no less), Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron actually manages to offer a fun flying experience. Things got even better in the game's 2010 sequel, Snoopy Flying Ace, which holds a highly respectable 82% on review accumulator GameRankings.com.

Why fight? After buying up the aforementioned WCW, WWE mogul Vince McMahon decided to create his own competition. The Raw and Smackdown! shows, being the company's two biggest draws, were subsequently divvied up and set against one another, with everyone from commentators, to wrestlers, and even technical crew belonging to one side or the other. The newly christened Smackdown! Vs. Raw video game series reflected the change, though players were still able to create 'dream match ups' between otherwise unaffiliated competitors.

Any good? Yes, though not quite as good as it should've been. Smackdown! Vs. Raw was the first title to be released after the series' high water mark - 2003's Here Comes the Pain - and represented the beginning of a slow but steady decline for the franchise.

Why fight? Hmm, tough one this. If the natural world teaches us anything, plants and zombies ought to be the best of buds. Just look at The Last of Us, for example. And even if not enjoying a happy, world-devouring symbiosis, at worst they'd be utterly indifferent towards each other. After all, zombies certainly aren't herbivores. It's fair to say that the average daffodil has more to fear from a committed vegetarian than from a shambling zed-head. Then again, I suppose Mother Nature might be a little bit pissed that all of that corpsey goodness is suddenly bursting out of the earth instead of fertilising it. Wars have been started for less.

Any good? Millions of users can't be wrong. Unless of course they're drug users, in which case it's probably best you don't take any advice from a slum-dwelling crack addict. Wait, what was I talking about?

Why fight? When Bart Simpson discovers a monstrous plot to body snatch the people of Springfield, he sets out to deprive these tentacled terrors responsible of their much-needed resources. Said resources include such vital equipment as hats, balloons and assorted purple goods. Y'know, the usual conqueror's checklist. To tell you the truth, I'm not so sure that he didn’t just drink another one of those tainted Squishies, before indulging in a surreal town-wide crime spree. Aside from completing the strangest shopping list this side of Homer's whiskey, porno and fireworks haul back in season seven, Bart must also do battle with several of the aliens themselves. One late-stage jaundice sufferer up against an entire extraterrestrial invasion. Why not?

Any good? Nope. Thankfully there's the much more enjoyable Simpsons arcade game, from the same era, to scratch your 2D brawling itch.

Why fight? One of the most successful basketball stars of the 1980s takes on the undisputed king of the 90s, as Larry Bird goes toe to toe with the one and only Michael Jordan. There isn’t much else to talk about, other than the fact that the game was widely considered to favour Bird's avatar over MJ's. Though to be fair, the game was released prior to any of Jordan's six championship wins, so err… realism?

Any good? Nope. Despite being the sequel to the highly rated One on One: Dr. J Vs. Larry Bird, Jordan's first virtual outing was widely panned.

Why fight? Ecks and Sever are two highly trained field operatives, hunting one another before eventually joining forces. The game's name is technically correct, in that they do spend a good deal of the game playing enemies, though largely under false pretenses. Ecks' employers are big dirty fibbers, you see.

Any good? Despite being a tie-in for one of the worst movies ever made, Ecks Vs. Sever still manages to be of the best action games in the entire GBA library. In hindsight, they'd have been better off broadcasting an extended Let's Play than releasing that cinematic monstrosity.

Why fight? One of the oldest rivalries in gaming reignites in this 2004 puzzler, as DK undoes years of prison rehab to return to a life of crime. In one of the stranger additions to the Mushroom Kingdom lore, it appears that Mario himself is running a toy factory, one solely dedicated to reproducing his own moustachioed likeness. Weird, but somewhat understandable, given how well the clockwork figurines are selling. He was years ahead of the amiibo curve.

They're selling too well, in fact, as Donkey Kong arrives just in time to see the final unit sold, an occurrence that gives him to pause to reflect upon his own materialistic fixation. No, not really, he just swipes a few units instead, causing Mario - the enraged owner - to hunt down his missing property. So, either DK's a giant ape with poor impulse control, or Mario's intentionally manipulating the market via the old 'out-of-stock' tactic, thereby causing the populace to rise up in violent, popular revolt. Karl Marx would have a field day with this. Also, we seem to be back to amiibo.

Any good? Harsh truths aside, Mario Vs. Donkey Kong represents yet another quality addition to the Mario franchise, blending platforming with puzzley strategy to create an absolute winner.

Why fight? Two wheels or four is a fairly common argument amongst motor fans. MX Vs. ATV simply takes the debate into muddier territory. While it's true that motocross vehicles - i.e. dirtbikes - ought to hold the edge over Tevor Phillips' favoured means of traversal, the average ATV is no slouch either. Supercross lets both off-roaders take to the track together, allowing users to decide just who deserves to win this damn dirty duel.

Any good? Much like a real life motocross track, the MX vs. ATV franchise has hit plenty of peaks and troughs. The series' latest outing - Supercross - is rather more of the latter, scoring a slew of poor reviews upon its release in October of 2014.

This impressive recreation of the International Space Station by Jack Parsons, an environmental artist from Galactic Cafe’s The Stanley Parable. “It’s about 1.33 times larger than life,” he says. “Making it to the exact dimensions makes it feel way too cramped inside.” Construction of the ISS involved using ten stacks of quartz, a double chest of white wool, and about 60 stacks of nether brick slabs. “Half a nether fortress went into those solar arrays,” he says. It took about two days to design in Creative mode, and then he spent three days building it in Survival using netherrack scaffolds. Parsons says that he plans to carry on tweaking it to correspond with events that happen to the real-life International Space Station, “adding and removing docked vehicles and even rearranging modules when the time comes.”

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The solar panels generate 160 volts DC for their systems. When the Earth eclipses the Sun, rechargeable batteries keep the station ticking over.

The Cupola module hangs below the ISS, giving the best views of the Earth’s surface 431 kilometres away. Astronauts sleep next door.

The Zvezda module contains the life-support and communications systems, as well as docking points. It can also sleep six crew members.

If you like scaring off potential lovers by turning your bed into a sea full of stuffed animals, then have I got the list for you. Video game land is filled to the brim with critters ripe for shrinking down into huggable plushie form, so I’ve collected a list of the very best so you can remind your crush that you’re also a gamer /thank you very much/ as they slowly back out the door.

From Mud Crabs to Piranha Plants, here are the ten most unusual, yet massively desirable video game plushies you can buy right now.

This handsome beast has been “scientifically engineered for maximum huggability and affection.” He also talks.

Lovingly: take my money.

You can .

Just look at that round squishable face! Those beady little eyes! Those pathetic little wings! Who wouldn’t want this spherical yellow chubster taking up all the room in their bed? Your partner can sleep on the floor.

You can .

Not only is this friendly monster adorably fuzzy, he also acts as a handy storage device. His gaping maw opens up at a terrifying angle, gifting you with plenty of storage space for your beard clippings.

You can .

Those cold, dead eyes have seen a lot of unspeakable things. This Silent Hill series memento totally won’t murder you in your sleep…

You can .

BioWare really know how to make a good plush. They’ve got so many great additions that it’s was too difficult to narrow it down to just the Elcor, so here’s a cuddly Mud Crab that you can prop up on the shelf next to him.

You can .

Nintendo does an incredibly strong line in huggable things, but this toothy little bastard chomped the rest of the competition. Just don’t get your fingers too close to his mouth.

You can .

Always there for you in your darkest hour, the companion cube is a classic that will never let you down… unless you’re near an open flame.

You can .

The chick transforms into an egg. Nothing more needs to be said.

You can .

They missed a trick by not making this out of velcro, but at least you won’t have to worry about being rolled into a ball of miscellaneous household objects any time soon.

You can .

Ok, so the pig’s vacant stare freaks me out even more than meeting the gaze of an Enderman, but this colourful menagerie would be right at home in anyone’s collection.

You can .

Unless you've spent the last few years swan-diving into your McDuckian money pool and smoking cigars made of rolled-up Benjamins, you've probably noticed how expensive gaming can be. Paying several hundred dollars for a console is a pricey barrier to entry, but once you're up and over, the cost of games themselves can be equally daunting. Sure, there's always Xbox's to pull from, but what happens when those just don't satisfy and you need some new games on the cheap?

Well, you can come here, where we're gathering a list of great recent titles that cost $10 (£6.70) or less. When used game shops let you down and garage sales offer nothing more than John Madden Football '93, you can check here for top-notch games that'll keep your backlog and wallet pleasantly plump.

PS3:

Poor male-model hopeful Raiden has never been a fan favorite (which might have something to do with him usurping Snake's Metal Gear throne in Solid 2), but turn him into a sombrero-wearing cyborg ninja with a mechanical dog, and that changes everything. Gone are the stealth tactics of yesteryear, because in you go on the offensive with high-powered sword moves and a slow-motion Blade Mode where you quite literally slice enemies to pieces. But fast-paced and exciting as it is, Revengeance never forgets to be a Metal Gear game - the fact that you get to go nine rounds with a malevolent American senator is proof enough of that.

PS4: .)

You wouldn't think the tale of a few meandering rectangles would twist the heartstrings much, but soundly squares up with that notion. A puzzle-platformer starring a cast of colorful shapes that slowly expands over their journey through a defunct computer program, Thomas Was Alone challenges you to move all blocks through a given level to their appropriate exits before you can advance. Already intellectually stimulating, the whole experience gets an extra layer of charm from a witty British narrator who tells you all about the blocks' thoughts and feelings, making them feel like interesting and empathetic characters despite their lack of dialogue/vocal chords.

iPhone and iPad:

Most of the time, it's wise to steer clear of games that force you to read an expository database to understand what the heck is going on, unless you're looking for a good sleep aid. I say most of the time because now and then a title like Year Walk comes along. Based around a type of divination in Swedish folklore called Årsgång, Year Walk is an adventure game where you face supernatural peril for a chance to see the future. Alone it's a ghostly journey through a forest full of cryptic symbols that'll have you twitching every time your house creaks. But it gets even more enthralling with the addition of the companion app, which explains the terrifying nature of those symbols to make the whole experience even scarier. You'll probably need a real sleep aid after this one, and a night light.

PS4:

There's a little liar in all of us, and there's also a little doofus who will fall for anything someone else's inner-fibber says. Fibbage exploits both for comedy gold, because whether you're fooling or being fooled, it's going to be hilarious. In Fibbage, up to eight players (who can be just about anywhere and still participate on their smartphones) are given a fill-in-the-blank sentence and must insert a convincing (or just hysterical) falsehood for anonymous submission. You get points for guessing the truth or convincing others that your lie is legit, but the real reward is seeing just how ludicrous your question-answer combinations get. The color of the Golden Gate Bridge is officially called Massive Horse Orange? Who knew!

The oft-forgotten older sibling of Journey, is all about how it feels to be a petal drifting along on a summer breeze. And... that's it. The entire point of Flower is to drift calmly through a melodic and serene natural setting, and that's what makes it so brilliant. It was designed to be relaxing and peaceful, which is exactly what it does through its simple gameplay, beautiful settings, and gorgeous classical soundtrack. Flower is all about experiencing a place and a feeling, taking in the beauty around you without the stress of a mandatory goal. Even if you don't think this sort of game is up your alley, at less than $10 it could well be worth a try. You might like it more than you thought.

iPhone and iPad:

Comics are a pretty linear artform, so on those random occasions when you read panels out of order because the illustrator decided to get all artistic on you, it's usually more confusing than enlightening. But what if reading those panels out of order actually significantly changed the story for the better? That's the premise behind Framed, a puzzle game depicted through comic panels that you can switch at will. Altering their arrangement changes the story dynamically, and can mean the difference between your noir protagonist getting shot in the back or making it to safety. Combine quick thinking with a unique premise and crisp art that'll keep your eyes happily locked on the screen, and you've got the best of comics and games wrapped up in one intriguing package.

Xbox 360: .)

No one does bullet-strewn testosterone-fests better than Rockstar Games, and while all eyes are on GTA 5 these days, the company's entry in the Max Payne series deserves more than a quick backwards glance. is a humanizing look at a noir action-hero who's hit rock bottom (and the rocks at the bottom of his glass), as scenes of explosive Bullet Time action are interspersed with talk of addiction and morality. You can easily play through with reckless abandon, but what makes this game stand out even now is how it brings us closer to the man himself, and hope that he'll somehow find his way.

Xbox 360:

The latest addition to Square Enix's stylish shooter series, Hitman: Absolution takes some time to focus on Agent 47's softer side. That softer side is still fine with strangling target or leaving them in the desert to die, but now he has a young, mysterious girl named Victoria to look after, which gives us a look at who 47 is underneath the poker face. The game also takes a detour from its super-serious predecessors by including outrageous, sometimes downright cartoonish characters who give the experience an enjoyable edge of corniness. Combine that with the strong, choice-based missions the series is known for, and this is one to keep in your crosshairs.

The first time I saw a tiny man pop up onscreen and yelp "Toasty!" during a brutal fight to the death, I instantly understood that the Mortal Kombat series likes to have fun with its secrets. What started out as a few easter eggs - a fleeting glimpse of Reptile here, Santa Claus flying in front of the moon there - has grown into a massive collection of clever throwbacks and cameos that'll skewer your brain's nostalgia receptors and splinter your funny bone (in a good way). And has over two decades of franchise history to reference, so you better believe it's got tons of amusing secrets and nods to the previous games.

In fact, some are so well-hidden that most players probably won't even notice them. I've rounded up the coolest (and most obscure) tidbits I could find in MKX, and you should know that many, many fighters died to bring you this information. Revealing these to your uninformed friends is sure to recall that old-school feeling when you knew the Fatality inputs and they didn't. Read up, then pass it on to your fellow kombatants.

If you've played through MKX's story mode, you might remember the scene where Sonya visits Jax as one of the least violent moments in the entire game. The grizzled Special Forces veteran clearly wants a simpler life, clad in farmer's overalls, tinkering away at an old tractor. But it seems like Jax also has a soft spot for two of the most advanced pieces of technology in the Lin Kuei ninja clan, judging by the 'Uncle Cyrax Stone Ground Mustard', 'Old Sektor's Ketchup', and 'LK-4D4 Engine Oil' posters hanging on the wall of the Briggs family's barn. Who knew these cyborgs were in the condiment and car repair businesses?

MK diehards will likely know that Tremor - a forthcoming DLC character with the power to cause earthquakes - is actually a throwback to Mortal Kombat: Special Forces, a spin-off brawler starring Jax that's among the . But what you might not know is that Tremor was actually playable once before, in a very unlikely venue: the handheld arena. By plowing through the Challenge Tower in the PlayStation Vita version of the ninth Mortal Kombat, you'll eventually reach Challenge #100, which (very briefly) puts you in control of the brown-clad, earth-bending ninja. And of course, he's going up against Jax.

This bit of character development is done in such a low-key way that 90% of players will probably miss it entirely. But kudos to Netherrealm Studios for debuting their first gay fighter in the Mortal Kombat franchise: Kung Jin, the smartaleck younger cousin to Kung Lao and an ace with his magical bow. During the story mode's that this dialogue is indeed a bit of very subtle exposition.

Whenever this pale-skinned Netherrealm sorcerer warps onto the scene, he's usually carrying a dagger and the severed head of an ogre-like creature. Those aren't props he bought from Party City in an attempt to psyche out his opponent - that poor decapitated monster is actually Modoch, the giant Oni sub-boss from Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance. It's never stated why Quan Chi felt the need to behead his minion 25 in-game years after the fact, though. Maybe Quan Chi decided that Moloch was too generic an MK character to keep on living.

Erron Black, the cowboy-looking bounty hunter loyal to Outworld's Kotal Kahn, typically relies on his trusty pistols during combat. But Erron can also switch to his Outlaw variation, where he brings a sword into battle to do a little stabbing in between all the shooting. This blade is actually formed from a Takartan's arm, the creatures (like Baraka) who can pop giant cleavers out of their forearms, Wolverine-style. Hopefully, Erron posthumously removed that Takartan's arm-blade, because otherwise... ouch. Also, the animation when Erron does his Takartan Stab command grab bears a striking resemblance to Sub-Zero's from the 2011 Mortal Kombat.

The MKX cast is chock full of talent, including some actors who you probably know from their many video game voiceovers. See if your ear picked up on all of these: Shinnok is voiced by Troy Baker (Joel from , pretty much anyone from any AAA game ever). Cassie Cage is played by Ashly Burch, who you probably know as Tiny Tina from Borderlands 2 or the titular sibling from Hey Ash Whatcha Playin'. Tricia Helfer, aka Number Six from Battlestar Galactica and EDI from Mass Effect 3, does an excellent Sonya Blade. And then there's Steve Blum, the Guinness World Record holder for most video game roles, doing his trademark gravelly voice for Sub-Zero (and a raspier tone for Reptile).

If you haven't seen the live-action Mortal Kombat flicks, you missed out on a particularly outstanding example of a cheesy video game movie one-liner. When Johnny Cage goes up against the hulking Goro, the four-armed brute snatches the shades off the Hollywood star's face and crushes them with a scoff. Johnny's retort during the ensuing fight scene is priceless: "Those were $500 sunglasses, asshole." Cut to 25 years later, and Cage is still bitter, saying "Don't you owe me some sunglasses?" before a match with Goro, or referencing .

Let's cap things off with a trio of easter eggs all related to Cassie Cage, daughter of Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade and the de facto leader of MKX's new generation of fighters. First up, you might've noticed that Cassie always removes some iPod-esque earbuds before a fight, which are presumably hooked up to an MP3 player tucked away in her gun holsters. And if you listen very, very closely, you can hear those earbuds blasting tunes from Mortal Kombat 3. Not a bad choice as far as prefight pump-up music goes.

Of all the Fatalities in MKX, Cassie's 'Selfie' finisher might be the most gruesomely hilarious. Long story short, she smashes her opponent's jaw till it's hanging by a hinge, then grabs their going-into-shock body and snaps a picture posing with her kill. The camera then zooms out to show that she's shared this mortifying image on her Facebook-parodying Friendships page, which has a rainbow logo in reference to . If you give it 30 seconds or so, you'll notice a stream of randomized comments popping up under the post, including (but not limited to) a Stryker cameo, a message from Noobde (the Twitter handle of MK co-creator Ed Boon), and Cassie's mother asking why she's friends with Kano on social media (y'know, the Cage family's most hated rival).

The Klassic tower is essentially MKX's arcade mode, and completing it rewards you with a brief slideshow ending for your chosen character. These are filled with cameos from old MK characters, like MK4's Taven in Kenshi and Takeda's epilogues. But the most interesting run-in happens in Cassie's ending, where Raiden tasks her with "hunting down a soul stealer." The intended target is implied to be Shang Tsung, but Cassie tracks down and offs an old man who, with his dying breath, identifies himself as Shujinko. If you played Mortal Kombat: Deception, you'll remember Shujinko as the protagonist in the expansive Konquest Mode single-player campaign, where he had the power to steal his opponent's moves (just not their physical form). An unfortunate case of mistaken identity, then.

And of course, there's Johnny Cage's alternate Ninja Mime costume, where he reprises his most well-known Hollywood role. Have you found any other excellent secrets or references in Mortal Kombat X? Share them in the comments, and we'll be sure to update this list with your suggestions!

And if you're looking for more, check out .

It feels like we're awash with HD remasters lately, especially with a . Are we starting to become overrun with them? Here's what we think…

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I know it’s easy to grumble about HD collections, but we shouldn’t begrudge the opportunity for a new generation to discover incredible games from PlayStations gone by. The real issue here is time – six years passed between the PS2 and PS3 versions of Shadow Of The Colossus. Such a wait made its return momentous, especially when compared to the rebooted Lara – only ten months separated the last and current-gen versions of Tomb Raider. So giving more players access to long-forgotten greats, even via reduxes, is surely a positive.

- Dom Reseigh-Lincoln, Production Editor, OPM

Alert! Alert! Approaching hypocrite alert! Everybody point and sneer at the clown who slags off HD remakes but gives Resident Evil and Grim Fandango the Editor’s Choice Awards. Okay, you caught me. I adore those games and revisiting them has been great. But in both cases they’re PlayStation debuts: that’s my handy get-out clause. Total reimaginings I’m fine with, and Resi also fits into that category as far as I’m concerned. But sharper versions of old games? That’s what I’m fed up with. Unless serious new content’s added (hey, GTA V’s FPS mode), can’t we all agree to move on and have something new instead?

- Matt Pellett, Editor, OPM

Digital interactive entertainment products – or ‘games’ to you punk kids – often age terribly. Go back and play The Last Of Us on PS3. Go on. Pug Fugly Central, right? As little as a year can erode the visual splendour of even the mightiest titles, with hardware and resolution upgrades making older hits harder to digest for players spoiled by PS4’s 1080p delights. This medium isn’t like film or music: games are much more vulnerable to the passage of time. With HD reduxes, ageing gems are given another shot; preserving their appeal a little longer in an industry that never stops looking forward.

- Dave Meikleham, News Editor, OPM

The precedent that illuminates this recent videogame vogue comes from the music industry. In that parallel dimension listening formats change over time, mastering technology improves, and thus a remastered Led Zeppelin LP gives old fans a new listening experience and a fresh entry point. A remaster of Dave Lee Roth’s best-of, ‘The Best,’ however, doesn’t. Very little art deserves to have its lifespan expanded by technological gains, because so few examples transcend the context of the time and place they’re made in. Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition? Pass.

- Phil Iwaniuk, Games Editor, OPM

Remakes and remasters are an important component of the modern video game eco-system, and for the most-part they're a great thing. Usually, it's the biggest and best games that get the fancy new-gen treatment - your Tomb Raiders, your Last Of Us, your Dark Souls 2 - and their quality usually means that the gameplay doesn't feel out of place on a more advanced console. Most are inexpensive and quick(ish) to create (you don't need to create all new art assets and gameplay systems etc), and you've already got a fanbase who will play them. That means money in developer publisher pockets, which can then fund more original projects.

However, there's a balance. Too many old games can breed resentment among series fans, and make certain franchises feel stale and money-grabby. As with anything, moderation is the key. Now, Bethesda, we need to talk: where's my PS4 version of Skyrim?

- Andy Hartup, Executive Editor, GamesRadar+

If all you’re getting from an HD do-over is a bit of polish and a few DLC packs, what’s the point? You might as well just dig out your old copy, or pick one up on the cheap. I’m all for revisiting the classics, but developers need to make sure they’re offering something worthwhile for a second investment. The Final Fantasy 10 remake is a great example, it brought together 10, 10-2 and various other spin-offs that didn’t make it to the West on PS3 and Vita… but the later PS4 version? You barely got a visual upgrade.

That’s fine if you’re just picking it up for the first time, but so often these things are targeted at series fans rather than newcomers. The PS4 version comes across as a cashed-in afterthought.

- Daniella Lucas, Content Manager, GamesRadar+

I maintain a furious double standard for these sorts of things. Some crappy old JRPG I didn't care about the first time it came out? Clearly lazy nostalgia-based profiteering. A game that's barely a couple of years old, like DmC or GTA 5? Clearly more profiteering, mixed with the need to raise a quick buck on new platforms without committing to a full development cycle. That said, a game I like? Then it's a glorious thing - a chance to relive something you loved, or can't even play anymore because you don't have the console or a computer that can run Windows 95. If anyone announced a Silent Hill or Soul Reaver remaster then they’d have my money faster than you could say ‘hypocrite’.

- Leon Hurley, Executive News Editor, GamesRadar+

Oh, Twin Peaks – you keep breaking our hearts.

We were devastated when the show was cancelled back in 1991, so the news that David Lynch and Mark Frost were working on a new season of the surreal murder mystery was one of the delights of 2014. Alas . Whether that will hold remains to be seen – Showtime are keen to tempt him back – but right now we're very, very sad.

Still, it's known that the scripts (all penned by Frost and Lynch) exist and it seems likely that a third run will happen, with or without the Man With The Hair From Another Place. And if it does, there are some questions that we'd like answered... Spoilers for the show and Fire Walk With Me from here on in.

This is our main concern. The TV series ended on the mother of all cliffhangers, with plucky FBI agent Dale Cooper trapped in the Black Lodge and his doppelgänger – actually the demonic Killer BOB – running loose in the real world.

Now, Fire Walk With Me obliquely suggests a way that Cooper might be released (“My name is Annie. I've been with Laura and Dale. The good Dale is in the Lodge, and he can't leave. Write it in your diary.”) and you can bet that Harry would cotton on that something was wrong with his BFF, but it's all very vague. We need to know that our very special agent escaped somehow. And we want to know what BOB's been up to while wearing his face...

Related to that last point, we can assume that Killer BOB will be back in some shape or form. He's the show's primary nemesis – a force of evil who moves from host to host. So while it's sad that we won't see former set dresser Frank Silva again (he passed away in 1995), the character can still appear by wearing the face of one of the people he has possessed. The question is, which one?

Coop is obviously a possibility, though we hope they don't go down that route for too long. It's perhaps more likely that we'll see BOB in the form of Leland Palmer. As the person who murdered Laura, it would make sense. Plus, we know that Ray Wise is likely involved in the new series, and also that he's very good at playing bad.

A bomb went off in “Beyond Life And Death”, apparently killing Andrew Packard, Pete Martell and Audrey Horne. But did any of them make it out alive?

Jack Nance (Pete) and Dan O' Herlihy (Andrew) have both passed away, so that kinda rules out their return. But Audrey presumably survived – she was one of the show's most popular characters, after all. She has to come back.

The same goes for her dad, Ben (played by Richard Beymer). Last time we saw him, his head had been split open by Doc Hayward. It'd be a damn shame if that was the end of Twin Peak's most venal businessman.

But that raises another question. Assuming that Ben did live, which version will we see in season three? The selfish manipulator, or the carrot-munching environmentalist he later became.

Twin Peaks without Laura Palmer is inconceivable – just look at how the show floundered after her killer had been revealed in season two. The character is the key to the entire series: an apparent innocent with some dark secrets. Tellingly, when Lynch returned to this world with Fire Walk With Me, he made sure the film was all about her.

Sheryl Lee has indicated an interest in returning to the role, but the question is how? Not only is Laura dead, but so is her identical cousin Maddy. Now the obvious answer is that we'll probably see her in the Red Room again, which makes sense. Perhaps she's been keeping Coop company all this time. That said, the fact that her spirit will have aged probably needs to be addressed...

This is one of the most hotly debated areas in Peaks lore, and one of the most intriguing loose ends.

In Fire Walk With Me, Laura obtains a ring bearing the mark of the Owl Cave, which has some connection to the Lodge Spirits. The ring passes from Teresa Banks (dead) to Laura (dead) and then to Annie (still alive – just). In The Missing Pieces (the deleted scenes from Fire Walk With Me) we see that it was taken from her by a nurse. So what happened to the ring, and what was its purpose? Who made it? Does it protect its wearer from possession by BOB, or make them more of a target? Hopefully we'll find out more about this next year...

It seems unlikely that we'll see ever rock's greatest chameleon reprise his role as FBI agent Phillip Jeffries. But then again, stranger things have happened – not least the likely return of Twin Peaks

Whatever, his brief scenes in Fire Walk With Me are tantalisingly weird, adding time travel to Peaks' already stacked roster of strange occurrences. It was intended that Jeffries would be a central part of future films or episodes, but the commercial failure of Fire Walk With Me scuppered that. Perhaps now he can be and we'll finally find out more about Judy...

Assuming that both Coop and Audrey are in the show, and not possessed by an evil spirit or, y'know, dead, then will we see them rekindle (or even just kindle) their budding relationship? It was called to a halt in the TV series because Kyle MacLachlan felt it would have been inappropriate for an FBI agent like Coop to start dating a high schooler. A fair point, though Sherilyn Fenn disagreed with the decision back in 1992, saying “I think Kyle blew it, because Dale and Audrey were so great together”.

Well, that wouldn't be a problem any more. Perhaps it's time for the two to give things a shot. That said, things were going pretty well with Annie (Heather Graham) before the last couple of episodes, so maybe he's all settled down with her. Assuming, of course, she survived and that BOB hasn't murdered her in the intervening years.

Twin Peaks is full of strange subplots and odd ideas that were probably never intended for the sort of deep analysis they've received over the last 25 years. Aside from all the big plot stuff, here are a few more of the things we'd like answers to:

How's Annie? Will Donna Hayward be played by Lara Flynn Boyle or Moira Kelly? Did Lucy and Andy ever sort their tangled love-life out, or is Dick Tremayne still being a nuisance? Was Josie ever released from the door knob? Is Chester Desmond still in the Lodge? Is Invitation To Love still on the air? Who, exactly, put the fish in the percolator? Did Little Nicky grow up to be the Antichrist? What has the Pine Weasel been up to for the last two-and-a-half decades?

And when it comes to the bare bones of open-world RPGs, ‘what if’ is their ammunition; the sheer scope for exploration, both of geography and interactive possibility, adds rocket fuel to our weirdest and most wonderfully nerdy desires. But the land of wizards and swords doesn’t own that, , when played like a RPG, is the master of ‘what if’ seduction. What if we were rewarded for our murderous delinquency? What if our sprees of carnage lead to random new adventures and unexpected NPC encounters? What if we could skydive off that mountain after eating a Peyote and transforming into a chicken?

GTA 5 hooks us, and coerces us to push the boundaries of human limitation in a virtual and recognisable world, and far beyond any other entry in the series, it gives us a vast bank of tools (some big, some subtle) with which to interact and manipulate the flow of the world around us. But what if GTA 5’s dynamic, open world complexity was attainable in a gritty and beautiful fantasy setting. Then we’d truly have a world without limits. Dragon flying lessons, fully emergent battles with town guards, real-time, party-based class mechanics that let you storm castles and manage battles with total control. I lead you into the realm of GTA 5 mechanics in a fantasy RPG. Here are eight that’ll make you wish this game into existence.

It’s been done before, and we’ll worship Skyrim until the end of days for gifting such ambitious means of travel. But imagine taking dragon flying to the involved level of GTA 5’s piloting. IMAGINE stealing dragons of different shapes, sizes and abilities. Imagine training them (plural because you can never have too many) to further increase and specialise their skills. Imagine having dragon flying lessons. Imagine falling in love with your dragon.. What? I mean, um…

Without getting too carried away, adapting GTA 5’s various open-world transportation methods into a fantasy setting is excitingly plausible. Along with various mounts, we could have horse and carts instead of trucks, Black Flag-style ships instead of yachts, even giant Mûmakil to roam through treacherous wastelands. Akin to GTA 5, each unique mount and vehicle could have its own handling system, in addition to upgradable stats, and different uses for exploring different terrain. Stealing would be a fun, albeit dangerous ,endeavour, but getting being set on fire during the hijack would totally be worth traversing through the skies on a stolen, military grade dragon, with bright pink wings and tinted wings.

Fantastical advocates of justice who’d relish punishing our potato stealing, our RPG lawkeepers would easily be just as intimidating and furiously dedicated as GTA 5’s police and army punishment system. As each star increases with the severity of our crimes, the force, number and strength of our punishers would rise. At the bottom tier we’d have village and town guards replacing police, and following that, hired mercenaries pursuing us for murder on horseback. At three stars, we’d face off against experienced warriors with better weapons and scarier mounts, leading us into four star territory, where famed knights would hunt us to the edge of the earth.

Finally, for the slaughtering-a-village-and-its-entire-flock-of-chickens tier of crimes, we’d have the ruler’s army knocking on our back door, asking us to kindly repent for our sins with one thousand arrows to the knee. No longer would the RPG town be a safe, but rather static haven. With GTA-style justice enabled, our indiscretions in civilised areas would spill out into the wilderness, covering miles of open ground and leading to all kinds of dynamic adventures and discoveries along the way. Blend Skyrim’s density of hidden areas with that classic ‘Hang on, where am I now?’ moment at the end of a big GTA chase, and you have scarily great possibilities.

Initially, I was dubious of GTA 5’s three character set-up. Could the interwoven stories fit together without undermining our connection with the playable characters? In actuality, Rockstar ensures the opposite. The entwined stories here are effortless, with real-time actions and consequences we invest in, due to our deep integration with the multiple storylines, the likability of each character, and the unique relationships we are encouraged to explore. Not to mention the building narrative tensions we get to perceive, unbeknownst to the protagonists, thanks to our uniquely omnipotent perspective. It’s an amazingly rich storytelling device.

I also love the way Trevor, Michael, and Franklin are utterly their own, from their taste in shoes to their individual mid and early-life crises. With fantasy, we can take this multiple character system further, using all kinds of old and new races to explore, in as much depth of GTA 5, the different cultures, behaviours, and moral compasses of each unique, playable character. Imagine the friendships we could forge; elf, man, dwarf. Well, it’s difficult to compete with the likes of Legolas and Gimli’s bromance, but damnit, if any game can pull that off, it’s a GTA-style RPG.

GTA 5’s three character infiltration missions are what I live for; the thrill of meticulously preparing and orchestrating heists from various angles and strategies gives me all kinds of scary-good palpitations. So, what would happen if we put these types of missions into a fantasy RPG? Magical things, that’s what. You know how Lord of the Rings’ stand-out moments giddily amplify the action through their constant switching of different perspectives? Helm’s Deep, anyone? Now imagine that in a fantasy RPG, in which every key player is you.

Embracing each character’s individual strengths, we would utilise different skills during assassinations, robberies, getaways, and large battles, at different times, and often in different locations. Whether it’s scouting from afar with a bow, commanding armies with brute force on the frontline, or executing Assassin’s Creed style infiltrations on castles, dungeons and scalable fortresses, the gameplay and narrative scope would explode in unforgettable ways. And we mustn’t forget the dragon factor. Never forget the dragons. Because why bother using explosives when we have balls of fire?

Down-time in GTA 5 is ample, and with so many hobbies to choose from, in-game procrastination can get pretty addictive… even if you just stick to the bars, for excessive cocktail consumption, awkward drunken banter, and dangerous driving. If you’re the type of person who daydreams about frolicking at cute village festivals and partaking in the odd dragon flying lesson (yeah, I really am into that idea), then having such activities readily available in a fantasy world, whether Witcher dark or Final Fantasy pretty, would be the ultimate nerd-dream.

This fantasy open-world, replicating Los Santos’ jocular environment, would be our very own magical playground. Stunts and races involving mounts would supply hours of fun, in addition to agility tests like GTA’s triathlons, board games, archery competitions, and watching medieval plays instead of movies. The village inn would no longer be a sterile environment of looping conversations and unchanging clientele. You could even take Trevor the elf to village dances! Throw in enough mead, and the aforementioned law enforcement, and that’s going to make quite the weekend escapade.

I remember looking at my GTA 5 Achievements and spotting ‘You have spent over £30,000 on clothes'. £30,000 ON CLOTHES. Good god, I'm such a fashion whore. But having the right shoes for murder is imperative, right? Imagine if a fantasy world had as many shopping choices as GTA 5; from cloaks, to boots, to badass weapon belts. Imagine if the look of your character wasn’t simply defined by your current best armour set-up, but fuelled by just as many, if not more, options designed for pure aesthetic fun? Character attachment would skyrocket, and real-world shopping would never be the same again.

Though obviously we’re not going to be all spending our cash on new threads, since GTA 5 also incorporates property investment, from cinemas to golf clubs, in addition to purchasing expensive merchandise from in-universe online stores. Translate this into fantasy speak, and we’re talking about buying pubs, bakeries, apothecaries, and forges (no doubt taking discount supplies from their various storerooms), and then moving on to bigger, more financially rewarding stuff, such as mines and wilderness forts. Investing in stocks might be tricky without an in-universe internet (just imagine Gerald asking for the WiFi password), but players could visit banks for this purpose instead, and enjoy the many insane luxuries a fantasy world has to offer.

In GTA 5, phones play a crucial role in missions, as our most reliable source of communication and information in tricky, escalating situation. Impossible to realise that dynamic, organic vibe in a world in which rocks are the height of technology? No. I have a viable fantasy alternative to cell phones, and I’m not talking about cans and string. Magic is our best friend here, since really, there are no limits to possibility when it comes to doing the impossible.

Portable magic mirrors would allow us to talk and send messages to other characters in-game. Small portals and telepathy would do the job as well. We could use seer abilities during assassination and search quests, and occult abilities aside, important mail could be dispatched by eagles, for surprise story pay-offs later down the line. And we mustn’t forget an alternative to GTA 5’s phone camera, which is one of my most consistent sources of fun. Using a sketch book and some magically accelerated drawing abilities, you could capture those all those magical moments - from discovering magnificent waterfalls to pillaging the poor - and adorn the walls of your customisable castle crib with permanent records of your adventures.

One of the most absorbing aspects of GTA 5 is its environment; a world with a perfect balance of scale and detail. Every region is teeming with life and vibrancy, packing with fully fleshed areas that you won’t even see if you just stick to the main story., making the city, natural landscapes, and ocean feel impressively organic. Take that, along with the abolishment of loading screens, and it’s extremely easy to get lost in the stunning, thriving, damaged world of Los Santos.

It would almost be dangerous to experience a similar environment in a fantasy setting, owing to the genre’s flexibility when it comes to imagination. We could scale active volcanoes. We could search for rare beasts in all-enveloping forests. We could explore uncharted oceans brimming with aquatic nightmares. It would be an unkickable open-world drug addiction. We could also build upon what GTA 5’s world lacks, such as a Witcher 3-style weather system with the ability to change the landscape, animals we can tame, and a vastly more varied array of structures to interact with. Yay for tree climbing!

It's amazing what players can do when you give them a way to channel their creativity. Following in the footsteps of Valve's Source Filmmaker, Rockstar Games added the power to make in-game movies to the PC version of lets you record whatever kind of chaos or goofy mundanity you want in the city of Los Santos, then trick out the footage with all manner of camera angles, filters, and editing tricks. And already, the results are magical.

We've sifted past hours of pointless test clips and virtual animal abuse videos to find the very best works made in the Rockstar Editor, and we've shared their greatness with you. Pop some popcorn, crank up the home theater system you made for the express purpose of watching YouTube videos, and please enjoy these shockingly funny and entertaining short films. They could very well change the way you see Grand Theft Auto forever (particularly the mimes).

While not quite as polished as some of the later edits in this collection, this is the first piece of work that really convinced us of the creative potential in GTA 5's PC video editor. A million smart little things just add up to make it fantastic. The intimate, unspoken tension, built up through close shots at the start. Those brilliant transition edits, where the camera lingers in just the right way before a cut, or zooms and pans to make wonderful, often hilarious changes in subject. That choice of soundtrack. It's great. It's great and we love it.

Mimes are creepy in demeanour, upsetting to look at, and just flat abhorrent in every single meaningful way. You know that. Trevor Phillips certainly knows that. Strike first. That's how you stay safe around mimes. But what if you try to take the passive approach? What if you just ignore them and hope that they'll go away?

Well then you are a goddamn fool. Duggy Duggy knows the score.

There are a lot of action edits around for GTA 5 on PC. There are a lot of comedy slapstick edits too. But JUMP, by the poetically named bitches, is by far the classiest piece of pure mood editing we've ever seen. Go full screen, turn the sound up, and get it watched.

Speaking of slapstick, this. Short, desperately to the point, and with a hell of a punchline. This is damn smart, conceptual use of game, editor and environment. You don't need to be Michael Bay to impress in GTA 5. Hell, you just don't need to be Michael Bay. Ever.

‘Scuse the abrupt ending on this one. As the official title suggests, it was made as an initial test of the editor's capabilities. Fortunately, it was made as a test by someone who seriously knows cinematography. By focusing on depth of field effects and just the right amount of free-aimed shaky-cam, Womble turns a very simple action scene into something with raw power and serious kinetic impact.

There's probably a painful, yearning metaphor in here about the impotent, directionless striving of modern humanity's mindless, empty ambition and the mechanical, isolated nature of our daily lives. Probably.

So, so dark, but so, so well directed.

But yeah, really dark. And stabby.

This is a bit of a special one, in that creator Danz Newz has gone the whole hog and created a proper script and professional sounding voiceover to create a bona fide short film. It's so well put together that, unlike most of the rest of the pieces in this list, after a minute or so you'll entirely forget that you're watching something created in a game, and instead see it simply as a great animated short.

A generic title belying two minutes of killer content. On the Michael Bay end of things - but, you know, Michael Bay if he was good - rechyyy's piece is a masterclass in smart camerawork and effective pacing. Watch it. Watch it now.

Made by PC Gamer's Andy Kelly this very afternoon, PUMP is a masterpiece, a twisting piece of existential reflection wrapping in and around itself to present a stark and primal view of the modern human experience. The question of whether games can be art has finally been left behind, choking in the primordial ooze as work like this launches us all into a gleaming, truly evolved future.

We'll keep updating this collection as we discover - and players make - even more amazing GTA 5 videos. Have these inspired you to join the moment-capturing fun? Do you know of any other unforgettable Rockstar Editor flicks? Let us know in the comments below!

And if you're looking for more GTA hilarity, check out .

You probably think online worlds shut down because no one's playing. Actually that's rarely true. Often, when servers finally wink out, there's a thriving community patiently waiting for the end and making sad faces at the sky. Most recently it was PlayStation Home, a game that no-one apparently played but which still managed to have millions of inhabitants waiting out their own personal apocalypse on the last day.

In some cases (like Home) it's sad in a heartbreaking way - just a bunch of friends, waiting for the thing that brought them together to disappear into the void. In other cases, spectacular fictional armageddons are arranged as a send off. And, sometimes, it's like the last guy out just switched off a bunch of computers. Let's take a look at how some digital worlds saw the end of days, and who was there to witness it.

Coming in a close second for saddest end ever after Home is Galaxies, with its almost torturous use of the 'sad Star Wars music' as that lady and her droid watched fireworks heralding the end. One thing this game managed that few MMOs ever achieve was the ability to declare a 'winner' with each server stating a final breakdown of numbers for Rebel and Empire players. (Back in the day, PC Gamer finished on a final count of Imperials 28%, Rebels 72%, likely a fair representation of the scores overall. GO REBELS!)

So the good guys won, even if the game lost. The final hours saw the MMO throw out all sorts of entertainment for players, with massive fights all over the place, including one on the forest moon of Endor to recreate the final battle from Return of the Jedi. There were also an assortment of oddball enemies to fight that, at one point, included a giant Ewok called the Megawok. The Force ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi even popped up to see everybody off.

A bizarre browser-based social MMO... thing, Glitch is probably best known for briefly having Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi on its design team. Even the people who liked it admitted it was weird, but despite its oddball charms and cult status not enough played it to keep it alive. Glitch did at least look after its fans as it gasped its last, refunding purchases, giving players all the in-game currency they could spend, and reactivating popular rare items for them to play with one last time.

It also worked the closure into the world, with the 'Forehorsemen' appearing in game, crying "The end is neigh!". Player greetings changed from 'hi' to 'bye' on the last day and god-like giants also appeared to talk to the players. Everything finally ended to the tune of 'Goodnight, Groddle', a popular in-game lullaby written by one of the players.

No, not the Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn that everyone currently loves. The first version launched on PC and had so many troubles that Square-Enix launched an in-game cataclysm to wipe the world clean for a new start. It also replaced most of the key developers. There's reason for that 'Reborn' bit.

The short version of the reason behind this is that the game sucked. There was almost consistent negative feedback from beta through to launch, so Square-Enix salted the earth and started over. That involved something called the Seventh Umbral Era, a fictional apocalypse using the game's lore to end everything without breaking character. Bahamut got loose, everyone had a big fight, and it all ended with players looking at a giant angry red ball in the sky. That ball, actually a moon, eventually crashed into the planet and triggered a trailer for the new game. On message to the end.

Despite great reviews and plenty of players, Warhammer Online somehow never quite managed to make enough money. Although what finally did for it was that famous slayer of worlds: expired licensing agreements. The game was based on Games Workshop's Warhammer table top RPG, and when the deal ended, so did the world.

The game ultimately met an orderly closure, with the inhabitants following the 'lets get everyone in one place' style of send off. In the final few months, the developer stopped charging to play, and introduced some new NPCs to engineer one last big clash between the forces of Order and Chaos.

Despite relatively good reviews, it was a "lower than expected in-game population" that ultimately did for this one, two years after launch. There was also the bizarre situation where Ultima creator and co-designer Richard Garriott was booted from the project while in quarantine after returning from space. Not a joke, that happened. He took the publisher to court claiming his 'resignation' was faked, and the game fell apart not long after.

Tabula Rasa at least had a pretty good end-game set up though, playing on its original 'last stand against an alien invasion' plot. To finish, they just let the aliens win. In the build up to the final server shutdown, the developers increased the alien activity so that players were slowly forced back, losing planets and locations to the encroaching invasion. The last few hours saw everyone mounting a final stand on Earth before a 10 second count down ended the world.

Another NCSoft apocalypse, with the publisher shutting studio Paragon and canning its MMO. Players tried to save the game: they protested, they rallied, and, weirdly, at one point bought the developers dinner to say thank you. Most prominently they gathered everyone in one place - an in-game location called Atlus Park - to show support for the closing studio and game.

It wasn't enough, and Heroes still died, with 'standing around a bit' becoming a theme. There were no fireworks or spectacular events at the end (rumour has it many of the devs worked for free to keep it running). Just servers clogged with lurid heroes waiting it out at city hall. The sad irony in some cases, however, was that the huge turnout of players meant several servers collapsed and some missed the final moments as they frantically tried to log in.

Famously referred to as 'PlayStation's most successful failure', Home had the confusing status of being the game everyone believed no-one played, which also having millions of subscribers. At its peak there were 19 million active accounts (although the term 'active' was likely pushed to its limits), and yet if you ask most people around they'd be surprised it was still a thing.

That said, for most of its seven year life it was a busy place for those who cared, and the game made a lot of money for people selling pretend clothes and fake furniture. There are a few studios out there that more or less made a living from Home and nothing else. But despite all that cash floating around, it was still down to Sony to develop and maintain it, and clearly bringing it over to PS4 wasn't a popular option. Home was finally gone on March 31st. You might not have played it, or cared, but watching that last stuttering frame as people danced and said goodbye to soon-to-be obliterated virtual friends, it was hard not to feel a little sad.

Learning from failure is an important part of life and, consequently, video games. Getting killed by a tricky boss teaches you how to recognize patterns and to respond with correct timing. Losing all of your troops gives you a valuable lesson on prudence and strategy. With a lot of time, effort, and perhaps a little help from your friends (or a strategy guide), you can finally overcome a game's most arduous challenges and earn yourself the bleakest, most depressing ending ever. Wait, what?

Most of the time, failure is the result of an inability to complete certain objectives, not having enough supplies, or poor decision-making skills. But if you want to fail in these seven games, you really need to work for it, fighting absurdly difficult bosses or making wildly counter-intuitive choices, all so you can watch the world burn. Caution: I'm gonna be spoiling like mad up in here. You've been warned.

If you've played Spec Ops: The Line, you know exactly how meta its ending already is. Commander Konrad, the man you were sent to rescue, has been dead for weeks, and your brain has been messing with your perception of reality to rationalize the atrocities you've committed to complete your mission. By confronting and 'killing' the projection of Konrad, you give yourself a chance to atone for your actions. Or... you can take the hard way out.

After the credits, you're confronted by squad of US soldiers. You can drop your weapon and go with them, thus giving yourself a chance at redemption, or you can open fire on them and attempt to take them all out. I say 'attempt', because this is actually much harder than it sounds, considering you're one shell-shocked mess of a human going up against an entire platoon. If you're able to kill everyone, you grab the walkie-talkie off the nearest dead body, and utter to your superiors the same words 'Konrad' said to you when you first arrived: "Gentlemen, welcome to Dubai." So much for atonement.

Like Drakengard before it, spin-off Nier's endings start off bittersweet and get progressively more bleak as you unlock them. In order to earn the final (and most depressing) ending of the bunch, you'll have to go through several rounds of New Game+, then commit the most eternal of video game acts: deleting your save file.

Once you beat the game the first time, you can use your save file to continue playing, starting over from the midpoint of Nier's story. Completing it a second time will unlock a different ending, providing a little more context to the story, but still not really resolving anything. Completing the game a third time will finally give you a chance to choose one of two final endings: do you kill one of your friends and then live the rest of your days waiting to die from a plague known as the Black Scrawl, or do you sacrifice your entire being to save her? If you pick the second option, all memory of your existence is erased from everyone you've ever interacted with - and all of your save files disappear along with it. It's actually kind of poetic. Still doesn't make playing through a game three times any less of a time sink.

Harvest Moon certainly isn't an easy game by any means. There are so many different tasks to juggle as you tend to your farm, like milking cows, rotating crops, and wooing one of the locals. But even if you flail about with no plan or routine in mind, you're still bound to get something done. But in order to get Harvest Moon's bad ending, you're not allowed to do anything for an entire in-game year.

In order to get Harvest Moon's bad ending, you have to make sure that your farm is barren by the end of the year. This means no planting or selling crops or buying any animals. Heck, it's probably best if you just don't talk to any one at all, lest someone actually form an opinion about you. After twiddling your thumbs and resisting the urge to do something, anything, other than waking up and going to bed for an entire year, you get , leaving your whimpering dog behind on the front steps as you run as far away from this hick town as fast as your legs can carry you.

Bioware made a big deal out of how Commander Shepard could die during the final suicide mission in Mass Effect 2. What they didn't mention was how difficult it was to actually make that happen. How hard is it? Let's just say that Emmet from The Lego Movie could have stumbled his way to victory with more grace.

If you want Shepard to bite the bullet (along with else in your squad), you have to completely forgo completing any of your companions' loyalty missions. This not only puts your squad at a disadvantage (because they won't be able to access their best upgrades without completing them), but it also means abandoning some of the best content Mass Effect 2 has to offer. Then, simply ignore your squad's suggestions during the final mission and assign the worst possible soldiers to complete the required tasks (Jacob for hacking, Miranda to handle the biotic shield, etc.) Pull off all of that, bring two disloyal team members with you for the final battle, and voila, . Congratulations?

Like Mass Effect 2's ending, you have to be very deliberate with your choices if you want to see the Origami Killer get away scot-free. It also helps to know who the Origami Killer is, a fact that you probably won't realize until you've seen the plot hole-laden twist near the end of the game. But once you know who the Killer is (spoilers: it's the private detective Scott Shelby), you can then put all the pieces in place and help him get away with murder.

Essentially, you need to make sure that all of the people Scott meets during his investigation (parents of previous victims and potential witnesses) end up dying. That guy in the convenience store? If you rescue him during the stick-up, you're actually hurting yourself, so just don't do anything and the situation will… resolve itself. Also, playable characters Madison and Jayden have to die, but in very specific points in the story. You know what? Just read this , because there's no way you'd be able to get this without obsessing over a corkboard covered in pictures and bits of string.

Because of its arcade roots, House of the Dead was designed to suck as many quarters out of your pocket as possible. It's a difficult game, and enemies are relentlessly gnashing and clawing away at you in an attempt to take a bite of your tasty brainmeats. But if you want to see the game's bad ending, you need to be flawless in your execution; good enough to beat the game without using a continue, but not so good that you score over 62,000 points.

House of the Dead's good ending is surprisingly easy to get in comparison. All you really have to do is play the game with a modicum of skill, and you'll easily score over 62,000 points by the end of it. But if you want to see lead hero Thomas' fiancée turned into a zombie, you're have to be much more judicious, only offing the demons that will either progress the scene forward or are about to kill you. And you can't just refrain from killing anything; the number of continues used has to end in a zero, so you're better off not dying at all in order to guarantee that you see the bad ending.

The Disgaea series is known for ridiculous difficulty spikes and for turning level grinding into an artform, and hey, if that's your jam, these turn-based RPGs will eat up hundreds of hours of your time. But even the most ardent Disgaea die-hard has to admit that trying to earn the bad ending in Disgaea 2 is borderline Kafkaesque.

You need to accomplish two things before going into the final boss: you need to have over 99 ally kills (and one of them has to be main heroine Rozalin), and you need to have earned over 99 felonies (which are granted by fulfilling certain requirements in the Item World). Oh, and you need to make sure you're powerful enough to beat the level 2000 boss (which replaces the level 90 boss you'd normally fight to watch the good ending). After dozens upon dozens of hours of grinding just to stand a fighting chance, you're finally rewarded with an in which the hero kills and (quite possibly) eats his friends. Yaaaay...

Congratulations! You made it to the good ending of this article simply by clicking those little arrows. There is a bad ending, but it requires finding a hidden pixel somewhere on this website, then muttering the secret passphrase under your breath three times while spinning around on one foot (which you'd only know if you bought the GamesRadar+ Official Strategy Guide, of course). If you've got an obscure downer ending you'd like to share, let me know in the comments!

Looking for more? Be sure to check out these .

Using environmental storytelling in a game is a bit like raising a pet tiger. It takes a lot of work to pull off, but if you manage, the result is beautiful and will capture the imagination of anyone who lays eyes on it. But if something goes wrong, that project will destroy everything you love and probably rip out your throat. Well, maybe not that last part, but that still gives you a pretty good idea what havoc bad environmental storytelling can cause. Doing it well can improve a game immensely, but doing it poorly can undermine everything you tried to build. Not deadly, but not pleasant.

The reason environmental storytelling can have such a big impact is that it's meant to build up the world by embedding visual stories into the setting. When it's done right, the environment feels as alive and complex as our own world, which pushes us to explore it more. But done badly, it makes the setting feel flat and fake, ruining our immersion and loudly saying this isn't real, nothing to marvel at here. To show what I mean, I've gathered some of the best and worst examples of environmental storytelling in all of gaming, where relying on the environment helps or hurts the game world as a whole. Let's see how nasty a metaphorical tiger bite can be.

The idea of high-society types lugging around giant tape-recorders might seem odd (sorry, eccentric), but BioShock's audio diaries serve such a useful function that you can forgive them for looking clunky. Specifically, they give you small peeks into the world of Rapture to help you unravel the mystery of why everyone's either dead or trying to murder you while their flesh melts off.

The diary-and-note mechanic (building the world up through first-hand accounts from people who live there) can be difficult to manage without giving too much away, since many games get too obvious and use them as big red X's to mark the plot twist. Thankfully, BioShock sidesteps that problem by using most logs to flesh out the world of Rapture, from a parent whose daughter has been turned into a Little Sister or a police chief who watches Andrew Ryan's transformation into a vicious tyrant. There are clues about the plot buried in there too, but since those decorative diaries seem just as important as their story-focused cousins, you won't realize what you've heard until you're curled up in a ball wondering how you could have missed it.

The hidden diaries in Murdered: Soul Suspect give collectaholics something to do, and do a good job of not blowing the plot, but in the end they swing too far the other way and end up being irrelevant. Most hone in on the lives of various characters, like Ronan's wife Julia and his nemesis Baxter, which sounds like it should enhance the game's noir vibe. But it quickly becomes obvious that those characters have little connection to the world around you and don't affect the plot much, so any examination of their lives is largely a waste of time.

Granted, some of Murder's notes do contain fun tidbits, like the fact that Ronan named his gun after his mother for reasons he should probably work out with a professional. But the moment you put that note down it disappears from your mind, because it doesn't have any real impact. We're given no real reason to care about these characters, since they barely affect the plot and aren't particularly interesting, so their observations about the world don't end up meaning much. As a result, the level of attention they get from these notes feels wasted. The magazine in the basement of the apartment building looks like a better read, and you can't even pick it up.

If you don't think a child's Crayola masterpiece could leave you misty-eyed, find one the next time you're playing The Last of Us. This game gives you plenty of space to poke around the remnants of the old world, and it's not just generic piles of trash or overgrown cars either. These are detailed environments that demand your attention and a little somber thought.

Maybe it's a busted-up library, or an office full of simple trinkets, or a kid's room with posters, books, and toys still in place. The fact that each location is unique and familiar in a way that's inconsistent with the hellhole Joel and Ellie are swimming through highlights how important this stuff is, since it's all that remains of the lives that unfolded here. That in and of itself is a story, of the things we take for granted and the people who left it all behind. You can't help but wonder what happened to them, and that's how the world grows inside your mind.

You know how in driving scenes in old movie (or bad modern ones), you can tell that the world out the back window is just a picture on a green screen and there isn't really anything there? The world of The Order: 1886 feels like that, where decorations meant to flesh out fantasy-London are flimsy and paper thin, and if you're not careful you might punch through them and ruin the whole shot.

As opposed to The Last of Us, where every picture on an old desk has meaning, set-pieces in The Order are all fluff and no substance. Sure, that poster of a man on an oversized bicycle is cool, but all it does is shout "SO VICTORIAN" without actually telling you about the bizarre, werewolf-y place you're supposed to be in. Even actionable items have this problem, because when the game encourages you to inspect a random smoking pipe with no clue why you're doing it, you're going to be a lot more confused than enlightened. Is it special somehow? Who does it belong to? Is there a clue inside about where the werewolves are? What's the answer??

Jet Set Radio may be grinding toward its fifteenth birthday (which is like 107 in video game years), but it still has plenty to teach contemporary games about the art of tagging. Jet Set uses graffiti not just as a gameplay mechanic, but to tell you something about the world of Tokyo-to and the West Side Story back-up dancers - I mean gang members - who occupy it.

Each gang you encounter has their own unique style, and while that's apparent in their elaborate fashion choices (it takes confidence to wear a mummy costume out in public everyday), each group's graffiti helps strengthen their sense of identity and gives the world more flavor. You can also add your own art to the game's original version, letting you inform the style of the game in a way that's specific to you. And yeah, you spend a lot of time painting over as much of your rival gang's street art as possible, but that doesn't take away from the impression you get from their style and where their work pops up. A mummified cube painted at the pinnacle of a skyscraper? What an artistic/completely badass soul.

Oh my God, we get it already. Almost any game where society has collapsed due to some sort of apocalyptic happening has so much graffiti scattered around the world that it ultimately stops being meaningful. Sure, it's cool the first time you see a compelling message like "No One Leaves" or "You'll Die Before We Starve", but after finding it written three or four times in the exact same configuration, it starts to lose its oomph.

While making the most of resources is fine (it's unlikely any player is going to see every place where "Rats are eating our babies" is scrawled across the wall), many games get too comfortable with the idea, so if you're paying attention to the environment at all you're going to be sick of it halfway through. Now suddenly an attempt to make the world feel more organic and alive has backfired, and we see that texture asset for exactly what it is.

Silent Hill is creepy 100% of the time, but sometimes it's a bit less subtle about it than others. While the foggy, largely-deserted landscape of the 'normal' Silent Hill is unnerving, the 'nightmare' Silent Hill is a hellscape of blood-splattered torture machines and that removes any uncertainty about whether or not you're in a safe place (you're welcome). Plus, the whole town likes to shift from one to the other at random, taking you out of an already uncomfortable situation and spinning you around so you're lost and confused and terrified. It's like the world's worst game of pin the tail on the donkey, except the donkey's a mutilated corpse.

This spontaneous world-shifting is used , establishing the town's sinister nature without giving away what's causing it or what murderous healthcare professional is going to fall on your head next. Even without being explicit, the changing environments communicate that something is very amiss, ensuring that you're appropriately scared without having to rely on anything cheap.

As ambitious as Final Fantasy VIII tries to be with its story and its many, many, many different plotlines, some of those choices don't exactly pan out. One of the most obvious is the concept of Time Compression, which is confusing from the get-go and not explained very well. Instead, the game tries to convey what Time Compression is while it's happening, through a series of rapid environmental shifts as our heroes catapult toward the future. And it does not work at all.

While the changes in setting might have been all right if there was context to show you where you'd landed, the game moves so fast that it never really gets around to it. All you see are psychedelic and/or featureless landscapes that give you no idea where you are, so you completely miss out on everything that's happening in your confusion. Apparently there's a lot going on too, because at that moment you're hurtling along the timestream and fighting every sorceress that ever lived, so that when Ultimecia dies she has no other body to jump into. Did you get that? Yeah, me neither.

One of the keys to making a game world feel alive is to create the sense that you aren't the center of the universe. You may be a world-renowned hero or a dreaded assassin who gets a lot of lips flapping, but real people are going to talk about things that are in no way related to your latest exploits. Dishonored makes a point of inserting those conversations into every location you visit, and even if people share a word about the bloodthirsty killer who's roaming the street, they spend a lot more time talking about whiskey and cigars.

While Dishonored does have its fair share of repeated dialogue (I wonder if that one guy ever got his own squad), most of its NPC exchanges are unique, focusing on some aspect of Dunwall that gives the world character and meaning. You learn how the working class is treated by listening to maids complain about their bosses, and see how deep corruption runs by hearing guards bully a woman out of her rations. And yes, some of those conversations are mission-relevant, but you have to know what you're looking for to figure it out. Oh, a brand that marks anyone stamped with it for instant banishment? Do go on.

Hearing NPCs spout the same bit of dialogue over and over again isn't ideal, but it won't necessarily bring your disbelief crashing down in a hail of arrow-to-the-knee memes. That is, until you've heard every bit of NPC dialogue a hundred times over, the way you do in Assassin's Creed. That flattens the world faster than if it took a Leap of Faith off the tallest building in Jerusalem and completely missed the haystack.

While each entry in the series is guilty of this to a degree (with Unity doubling down, though that might've been a glitch), the platonic ideal of this problem is the very first AC. You'll often hear NPCs giving sermons and talking amongst themselves, which is meant to show there's a whole world outside of your existence and you're just a silent knife in the crowd. But those digital folks are limited to a few set remarks, so you'll probably hear most of what they have to say before you're done with the first mission. Eventually you can tell what someone's going to say after a single word, and it reminds you that as big and pretty as this city is, its inhabitants don't have much going on under the hood.

As video game stories grow in complexity and the worlds that contain them get more elaborate, we can probably expect these touchstones of environmental storytelling to survive into the near future. But every new release that passes through our consoles makes us that much better at detecting what works and what doesn't, and the evolution of these techniques will be interesting to watch. Which of these examples do you think worked the best? Which annoy the heck out of you? Did I miss your favorite aspect of environmental storytelling in my fixation on copy-paste graffiti, because it's seriously everywhere? Tell us in the comments below!

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