Every time I immerse myself in the world of adventure games, I feel like I’m not just a player, but a combination of traveler and detective. The process of freely exploring vast maps and searching for clues in dark corners always gets my heart racing. Especially when I accidentally trigger a hidden puzzle—it might be tucked behind an inconspicuous object, or buried in a seemingly unimportant conversation—the satisfaction of discovering a secret is something no combat victory can replace.
After playing countless adventure games, I’ve found that truly memorable hidden puzzles often share a few traits:
First, they don’t hand you the answer directly, but guide you through subtle details to make you suspect and deduce.
Second, their design is tightly intertwined with the game’s world, making the puzzle-solving process an organic part of the adventure.
Third, solving them not only grants rewards, but also deepens your understanding of the game’s lore.
Today, I want to share three hidden puzzles from popular adventure games that I’ve personally experienced—puzzles that kept me glued to the screen for hours, feeling both frustration and the sweet rush of recognition when I finally solved them.
1. Red Dead Redemption 2 — Secret Code on the Prairie
Red Dead Redemption 2 is one of those open-world games so detailed it’s almost intimidating. Many play it for the gunfights and horseback riding, but I once stumbled into a vortex of a hidden puzzle purely by accident.
1. Those seemingly ordinary paintings
It happened one afternoon while I was riding across the prairie. A dilapidated wooden house caught my eye. Inside, there were several paintings, seemingly hung at random, but something about them felt off. Upon closer inspection, I noticed small carvings in the corners of each painting, arranged like symbols.
I took in-game screenshots and studied them back at camp, eventually realizing they seemed to correspond to landmarks on the map. The game offered no hints—I was running entirely on gut instinct.
2. Clues and traps
Following the symbols’ guidance, I traveled to several seemingly unrelated map locations. At each site, I found inconspicuous items—a coin, a torn book, a wooden plank with numbers carved into it. At first, I thought they were just collectibles, until I noticed the numbers could be combined into a set of coordinates.
Unfortunately, I misread them the first time, inputting the coordinates backwards. That sent me to a remote cave with absolutely nothing inside. The disappointment almost made me give up. But I couldn’t let it go, so I rechecked the numbers and realized reversing the order was the key.
3. The truth and the reward
Following the correct coordinates led me to a vine-covered cabin with a locked chest inside. Opening it revealed not only a large sum of in-game currency, but also a yellowed letter telling a love story of a frontier drifter—something never mentioned in the main storyline. Through this puzzle, I felt as though I’d glimpsed another life within the same world.
2. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End — The Multiple Layers of an Ancient Map
The Uncharted series is known for its gorgeous environments and thrilling adventure plots, but in Uncharted 4, I encountered a hidden puzzle so intriguing it almost felt like I was playing a dedicated puzzle game.
1. An unexpected find
While exploring a side path in an ancient castle, I discovered an old nautical map hidden behind a dusty bookshelf. Its edges were etched with strange markings resembling a compass rose, but they didn’t match any known maritime symbols.
I initially thought it was just decorative, but the arrangement of certain islands on the map seemed oddly familiar. Flipping through earlier in-game notes, I found sketches of similar symbols drawn by the protagonist in earlier chapters.
2. A cross-chapter puzzle
I realized the puzzle required combining notes collected across different chapters. The challenge was that these notes weren’t acquired in order, and some seemed completely irrelevant at first glance.
After spending a long time reviewing old saves and compiling screenshots of every note, I discovered the symbols were actually stylized letters, which together formed an ancient Latin phrase.
3. The solution and extra story
Solving the phrase led me to a secret chamber in the castle, where I found a long-forgotten golden pendant. Even better, this pendant later triggered an extra piece of dialogue in the story, revealing that the protagonist’s brother had secretly collaborated with another thief in the past. While this subplot didn’t affect the main ending, it added depth to the story and made my exploration feel truly meaningful.
3. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey — Where Myth and Reality Intertwine
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey already blends a wealth of ancient Greek history and mythology, but while sailing the Aegean Sea, I stumbled into a hidden puzzle rooted in legend.
1. Statues that point the way
While resting on a small island, I noticed a massive marble statue in the center, its finger pointing toward the distant sea. I didn’t think much of it until I later found another statue on a different island in a similar pose, but pointing in a different direction.
Marking the statues’ positions on the map and connecting them revealed they formed a perfect equilateral triangle.
2. Diving and mechanisms
Visiting each vertex of the triangle, I found underwater ruins near each location, though all their entrances were sealed by heavy stone slabs. While diving, I spotted carvings on the outer walls—symbols representing thunder, waves, and an olive branch, all significant in Greek mythology.
I guessed that these symbols had to be activated in a specific order. After repeated trial and error, I discovered the correct sequence—first the olive branch (Athena), then thunder (Zeus), and finally waves (Poseidon).
3. The story behind the mechanism
When the mechanism unlocked, I entered a mural-covered chamber. The murals told a story erased from official history—three gods jointly protecting a seafaring tribe, whose bloodline was secretly carried into the protagonist’s family. This seamless blend of history and myth gave me a whole new perspective on the game’s world.
The Charm of Hidden Puzzles
After finishing these three games, I’ve come to believe that hidden puzzles are the purest expression of the joy of exploration in adventure games. Unlike main quests, they don’t lay everything out; instead, they scatter clues across the world, waiting for your curiosity and patience to bring them together. The reward is often more than just in-game items—it’s a sense of having connected deeply with the game’s creators.
Through puzzle-solving, I’ve developed a few key habits:
- Pay attention to environmental details: Anything, no matter how ordinary, could be part of a puzzle.
- Save and organize clues: Game notes, screenshots, and map markers can reveal hidden patterns.
- Keep patience and imagination alive: Hidden puzzles reward overthinking; the only mistake is not trying.
Every time I solve one, it feels like I’ve had a profound conversation with the game world—like those virtual characters, settings, and stories have come alive just for me.
