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10 Times Video Games Were Too Realistic
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00:00As our technologies become better and better, more video game companies strive for more realism in
00:05their releases. Developers spend an excruciating amount of time perfecting minute details that
00:10reflect the real world, and this provides us with truly immersive experiences. However,
00:15sometimes things can go a little bit too far. I'm Sy from WhatCulture.com and here are 10 times
00:21video games were too realistic. 10. A trip to the bank, The Witcher 3
00:27Going to the bank is the annoying little cousin at the table of adulthood. No one likes it,
00:32but everyone has to tolerate it. But hey, at least video games let you avoid the joys of adulting,
00:37right? Well, The Witcher 3 would beg to differ. A side mission in Witcher 3 called Paper Chase
00:42takes Geralt to the wondrous and fantastic location of a dimly lit bank, where he performs the exciting
00:49feat of reinstating his account after the bank has mistakenly proclaimed him dead. Yes, this is a
00:55real mission and it's even complete with all the bank activities you know and love, like speaking
01:00with frustrated clerks, filling out confusing paperwork, and everyone's favourite, waiting in
01:06lines. The quest perfectly captures the existential dread of wasting an entire day trying to resolve
01:11one simple matter at your bank. And to truly nail the realism on the head, all the paperwork and effort
01:17you put into getting your account back doesn't actually do anything in the end. As it turns out,
01:22the bank has already, uh, invested all of your money. Whoever wrote this quest clearly had a bad
01:27bank experience one day and channeled all their hatred into their work. And you know what? I'm here
01:33for it. 9. Depleting Resources
01:35Cities Skylines 2 There are two kinds of Skylines players,
01:39those who want to build the city of their dreams and those who want to unleash the worst possible plagues
01:44upon their unsuspecting virtual citizens. Those in the former category usually enjoy the more
01:50realistic aspects of the game, as they want their creations to feel and look like actual places
01:55in the world. However, there is one overly realistic mechanic that the same people have a major gripe
02:01with, and that is the problem of depleting resources. As close to home as this mechanic hits,
02:06the fact that resources like coal, oil and ores can be fully excavated by your city's industries means
02:12that the industry districts you spend hours designing will eventually have to be removed. This is obviously a
02:18terrible situation for someone who plays the game to design pretty cities and doesn't want to worry
02:23about sustainability. Which is why most city builders usually resort to installing mods that allow them
02:28to get rid of the resource depleting mechanic altogether. Sure, maybe it does closely resemble our
02:34real life issues with resource exploitation, but then again you don't play an idealized city
02:39building simulator to worry about real life, un-ideal ecological struggles.
02:448. Malaria Far Cry 2 It isn't uncommon for video games
02:49to tackle real life issues, and Far Cry 2 is a good example. Not only does the game have a
02:54strong
02:55portrayal of the struggle of war survivors, but it also addresses the terrifying reality of contracting
03:00malaria by giving it to you. In the game, your character is infected with a disease early into the
03:06story. He regularly suffers episodes of disorientation and overwhelming lethargy, which can only be treated with
03:12regular doses of an extremely rare medicine. Mechanic does an amazing job of showcasing the effects of
03:18malaria and creating a fitting sense of anxiety by having to experience them. But let's be honest,
03:24from a gameplay perspective, being accurately infected with a deadly disease is the most tedious
03:29and annoying thing possible. The malaria attacks are so frequent and debilitating that they take away
03:34all the fun from most of the action scenes. You can't fight or shoot with your vision going blurry every
03:40other moment, and if you try to ignore them, your character will simply keel over and fall into a
03:45coma. Maybe we could dial back on the realism just a little bit, Far Cry 2? At least let me
03:50shoot some
03:50people in peace every now and then? 7. A finger cutting tutorial, Heavy Rain
03:55Heavy Rain's story isn't completely grounded in reality, and if you disagree, well then remember
04:00Agent Jaiden uses a set of hyper-advanced Google Glasses that require him to snort hard drugs in order
04:06to operate them. This game's weird. However, when things do get realistic, they also get kind of
04:11disturbing, and in the case of the chapter called The Lizard, the realism is downright traumatising.
04:17In the chapter, the origami killer forces our protagonist Ethan to cut off his own finger in
04:21order to receive a clue about his missing son's whereabouts. And yes, the actual gameplay and visuals
04:27of this scene are just as bad as that sounds. Being an interactive experience, the game makes you cut the
04:33finger off yourself, giving you plenty of choices along the way, such as what tool you'll use for
04:38cutting it off with, and whether you'll try to cauterise the wound with alcohol or fire. Each
04:43choice in the trial is as immersively gruesome as it can be, which is why even those who aren't
04:47Fate of Heart can barely stand watching it, and you probably can't see it right now, there's probably a
04:52lot of blurring going on because YouTube. It's as though the developers wanted you to feel like
04:58you're actually cutting someone's finger off, and that's quite disturbing.
05:026. Breaking a Leg – Project Zomboid Project Zomboid puts a great emphasis on realism in
05:08order to make your zombie apocalypse experience feel more dreadfully immersive. Thanks!
05:14One of the most detailed and fleshed out systems in the game is the health tracker for your character.
05:18Each injury you suffer can be applied to a different part of your body, and comes in a variety of
05:23kinds such as cuts, fractures, burns, and of course zombie bites. The game makes sure to make the virtual
05:29injuries last as long as their real life counterparts would, and while this definitely sounds impressive,
05:34you quickly realise it's also excruciatingly frustrating the moment that your character breaks
05:39a leg. Those who have had the displeasure of breaking their leg in real life will be surprised
05:44by the cringeworthy accuracy of Project Zomboid's take on it. Your character of course can barely walk,
05:49but the intense pain prevents them from doing work and even sleeping, and the broken appendage
05:54takes almost a whole month to heal. Yes, the game is so realistic that it will have you lumbering
05:59around and resting for weeks just to make sure your previous injury is accurate to real life
06:04experiences. Oh yes, sitting around and barely doing anything, that's my favourite kind of gameplay.
06:115. The Subway – Grand Theft Auto 4 Grand Theft Auto 4 is full of details that ensure it's the
06:16most
06:16immersive an experience it can be. This said, sometimes striving for realism can cross the line
06:21between reasonable and why is this even in the game. Liberty City's subway system is a great example
06:27of this. Now, it will probably come off as a surprise to some players, but GTA 4 does in fact
06:31feature a fully functional and perfectly accurate replica of the New York subway system, and you can
06:37actually use this to travel via around the map as divided into different lines and stations based on
06:43real life locations in NYC. Now, this is definitely an impressive feat, but considering how much
06:48faster and more convenient, well, every other mode of transportation in GTA 4 is, you have to ask,
06:55why? Why did Rockstar spend so much time designing and implementing an entire public transit system
07:01when 90% of the player base will never use it? Opting for better travel options like taxis,
07:07personal vehicles and helicopters. Yes, it's an impressive detail, but you can't help but wonder
07:12if all of this extra work could have been dedicated to other things like, say, making the driving in
07:17the game feel less awful and slippery. Just saying. 4. Gruesome Death – The Last of Us 2
07:24The story of The Last of Us Part 2 is a gruelling and depressing experience. Ellie's transformation into a
07:29rage-filled instrument of her own vengeance is one of the saddest and most heartbreaking things in recent
07:35gaming history. And yet, if the storyline wasn't enough to make you feel dead on the inside,
07:39the developers thought they take all of the fun out of killing your enemies as well. Unlike most
07:44other games where taking down NPCs is as quick and fun as pressing a button and watching a delightfully
07:49bloody death animation, The Last of Us offers a different kind of spectacle. Each enemy dies as
07:55realistically as possible, which means before they go down they do things like beg for their life,
08:00break into tears, scream about their relatives and all the other fun parts about murder that
08:05games conveniently leave out for your pleasure. Each time you kill someone, the game has to remind you
08:10how much of a monster you are, meaning that any attempt at going on a mindless killing spree
08:15will have you questioning your life choices within minutes. Look game, if you're going to force us to
08:20commit all of these atrocities, at least let us have some kind of fun with it.
08:243. Updated Taxes – Sims 4
08:27Over the years, The Sims 4 developers have added plenty of updates and patches to flesh
08:31out the game after its rather lacklustre launch. These have included things like swimming pools,
08:37ghosts, functional toddler life stages and… a more realistic depiction of paying taxes.
08:44Death and taxes are the two things every human and apparently every sim can be certain of.
08:50Instead of the simplified tax system the previous Sims games utilised, The Sims 4 takes its tax game to
08:56the extreme. Splitting your Sims cost of living between utilities and property tax, as well as
09:02raising the price significantly for the size and value of your property. Say goodbye to covering your
09:07expenses with a fraction of your paycheck. The improved tax system is more likely to take away
09:12almost all of it, and if you don't get the money on time, you get to experience the simulated nightmare
09:17of having your water and electricity cut off, as the Repo Man lurks right around the corner to take away
09:23all of your stuff.
09:25DANG YOU REPOMAN! You know the economy is bad when even The Sims can't afford to take a shower.
09:312. Shrinking Horse Bits – Red Dead Redemption 2
09:34The level of detail and realism in Red Dead Redemption 2 has been the talk of the gaming world ever
09:39since
09:39the game was released. I mean, if you clicked on this video, you were pretty much waiting for the
09:44Red Dead Redemption 2 entry, weren't you? You have NPCs that actually eat their meals, enemies that react
09:50accordingly to which part of the body you shoot, and the one thing that raises the eyebrows of
09:54everyone who hears it – horse testicles that shrink in the cold in real time. If you followed
10:00Red Dead Redemption 2 release at all, you'll know that this detail has been mentioned over and over
10:04on every forum, reddit post and gaming site on the internet. The concept, although certainly realistic,
10:10is just so weird that it raises so many questions. Who is in charge of modelling and programming this?
10:16And why do they make everyone who played the game look at their horse's junk from behind just to see
10:21if the rumour was true? This detail is one of the rare examples of rockstar realism that makes you
10:25want to quote Jeff Goldblum's character in Jurassic Park. The devs were so preoccupied with whether or
10:30not they could, they uh, uh, uh, uh, didn't stop to think if they should. That's Jeff Goldblum.
10:35That's… yeah, sure. Keep that in there.
10:381. A Realistic Drive to Vegas – Desert Bus
10:41Desert Bus is an infamous title that has earned notoriety on the internet for its simple yet
10:46incredibly sadistic premise. Driving a bus for eight real-life hours from Tucson,
10:51Arizona to Las Vegas, Nevada. That's right, despite its retro graphics, Desert Bus is probably the
10:57most realistic driving simulator to date, as it's the only driving simulator that captures the true
11:03feeling of boredom, exhaustion and frustration that you feel after spending hours behind a wheel.
11:09The path you take to Vegas is a straight road, splitting an empty desert in half. Nothing about
11:14your journey is difficult, but that's actually the biggest detriment to your success. Because your
11:19environment is so desolate and the path you travel is so devoid of anything to keep you alert, it's
11:24really easy to grow bored of the game and suddenly find the bus swerving a little bit to the left
11:29or
11:29the right. Which causes it to drive off the road and then crash, forcing you to dial that clock back
11:35and
11:35do it all over again. If you've never experienced what it's like to fall asleep while driving,
11:40and I really hope you haven't, then Desert Bus is probably the most realistic way to do so in a
11:45safe
11:46and controlled environment. Not that that's anything to really brag about.
11:50Last occasion.
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