7 Weird Ways Games Disguised Loading Screens 

Anthem cleverly hid gameplay using loading screens.

Not really a loading screen but that dinosaur game when you lose internet connection on Chrome is pretty great

I’m glad you added the “FIFA 19” Spoiler warning. I couldn’t handle knowing how that game ends.

half way through this i realized im watching a video of load screens. WHAT AM I DOING!?!?

"Quick, construct the world, the protagonist is approaching!"

Shout out to Skyrim for letting me spin objects to pass time during loading

GTA V is laughing.

I'm only 0:46 seconds into this video, so I haven't seen any of the 7 selected, but I just want to mention that whoever came up with the "playable loading screen", where you can learn functions of the game or get some practice in while the game is loading (saw this mostly with sports games when it was first used) is a genius. That is all.

The older God of War games also had a clever way of avoiding loading screens. There were doors throughout the game that you'd have to hold or mash a button for Kratos to dramatically open, like a massive stone door that he'd strain to lift with his bare hands. And considering how much of the game is spent holding or mashing a button for Kratos to dramatically do something, it didn't feel out of place. But those doors were actually there to make sure the next area was loaded. Also gotta give credit to Metroid Prime, whose loading doors, elevators, and hallways likely influenced several games on this list.

The new voice over over the spoiler warning crawl is my favorite thing

The spoiler warning actually spoils the actual video 🤔

GTA Online still takes 10 minutes to load lol

Wasn't Assassin's Creed's idea of giving someone something to do during a loading screen to just let the player run around in a white void?

Batman can't have airpods because they don't come in Black

Man I remember when FF7 came out I was all like "imagine if the gameplay someday looked as good as the cutscenes!" lol

Also in the new Tomb Raider series. Every time Lara has to walk through deep snow or mud, or craw through the small crevasses, at excruciating slow speed.

Can't wait for the spin-off video, "loading screens disguised as games." *Eyes Skyrim in the corner

What if ads are disguised loading screens?

There was a PS2 game called Primal that hid loading screens in a clever way. You had to manually power up these stargate like portals to travel to other worlds. Primal had you, the player manually load the next level!

I got the strangest loading screen for the video itself! This weird swirly dot with a trail that went around in a circle, crazy! What will they thing of next!!

Anyone remember Assassin's Creed, where you would run around an infinitely large white space, PUNCHING THIN AIR and slashing your sword at NOTHING. I also remember ridge racer 7, where you could play an old school game, space invaders or something like that while the game was loading. That was pretty META.

I liked the elevators in Mass Effect. It may be the far distant future but we are still stuck with bad elevator music and awkward small talk. Plus i liked the news updates

Ahh, the gta 5 loading screen. the countdown to the second coming of Jesus

Lol Anthem's loading screens let you take a nap

Yeah EA did a good job hiding loading screens,I can't believe it loads while it asks me to insert my debit card details.

Also shout out to Boarderlands the Pre-sequal who desquises a cutscene as a loading screen

The world tree in GOW is probably the most clever way to load you in. It's so entertaining every time.

Tony hawk is still more active then most teens today so give him some respect he is still the greatest skater even in his 40s

Great, now I'm scared of going through tunnels too quickly, because I'm thinking my town might not have finished loading the next area yet.

wait, no bayonetta, where the loading screen was literally a red void you could practice combos in?

Though not a disguise, Sims 3 added minigames into it's loading screens which are essentially iSpy themed around the game's DLCs. Though is was a bit buggy at times, it was pretty fun and it allowed you to earn a bit of Lifetime Happiness points for your household. I feel this was one of the best loading screens for a game considering how incredibly slow Sims 3's load times are

The loss of elevators in Mass Effect was such a downgrade IMO. Would you rather have... Squad conversations and news reports talking about the actions you picked, Both what is normally si considered a good thing in games. Or would you rather have a boring loading screens?

Spoiler warning for Tony Hawk's Underground, but spoils American Wasteland. Absolutely devastated.

My favourite game to do this is the Witcher 3. Every time you loaded the game for a new session, you'd get a recap of what just happened in the main plot. This was fine while the main plot was happening, but when I was doing sidequests for 30 hours, I didn't want to hear about the Ugliest Man Alive 12 times in a row. I get it, Future Dandelion, I'm abandoning the quest to find my daughter and going on contracts to get paid. I don't need to be reminded of that every time I start the game up.

Shoutout to Budokai Tenkaichi 3 for those minigames, and when the loading times didn’t work and i got 500 bowls!!!

Tony hawks American wasteland also had “no loading screens” advertised on it lol

Anyone one remember the DBZ BT loading screens? Blowing up blocks, eating food with Goku, push-ups with Vegeta, pulling swords with Gohan, all good time killers

10:15 That's push to talk, my dude. You wouldn't want the other person overhearing *_everything_* that's going on.

0:41 Dang it, you spoiled Fifa 19 for me.

Random thing to think about: if an elevator is taking you down, would you still call it an elevator? Its technically not elevating you.

Silent Hill fog, not a loading screen per se, used to cover rendering limitations but just turned out to be scary as hell!

MIKE, I'M NOT F*ING KIDDING

I remember in RE3 in the clock tower stage where you were chased by nemesis and opening the doors takes 10 seconds. Jill be like "wait! im gonna open the door"

"I don't know what happened... Silence... ... Barry, where is Barry?!" 😂🤣😂🤣

Andy is scary when he's angry, guess he didn't like Mike cutting in on his GENIUS monologue during the spoiler list.

What about when you first get a game nowadays and it takes 2 hours to update it before you can even start playing!

Fun fact: Mass Effect 2's loading screens are an animation that *needs* to finish, even if loading is already done. I quickly replaced those animations when I found this out when I installed it on an SSD...

"You can mash the triangle button to freak out which is a 2019 mood" Me in 2020- "oh boy you dont have a clue"

I may be late to the party, but didn't Silent Hill's fog also serve the dual purpose of disguising the load time AND prepping our bladders for evacuation at the drop of a dime?

Arkham Knight though. Had no loading screens whatsoever, other than loading a checkpoint. And drastic changes in the city environment (like the fear gas part) were rendered in during cutscenes

title: "how game designer hide loading screens." GTA 5: "We don't do that here."

I remember Dragon Ball Z had something like Goku doing pushups everytime u press "X" and I think that was the best way

"lack of beard oil in ancient Norway" "Angry Kratos scream" That's the spot on editing that made me fall in love with oxbox

I always enjoyed the ones in the DMC games, where you could just spam the attack buttons and watch the logo take an invisible beating. Weirdly cathartic.

There *were* these "Hold on, I'm loading" doors in Arkham Asylum - you know, the doors that were "scanning" you before opening? I hated those, they were a poor effort to hide that the game was loading.

The elevators in Metroid Prime 1 had me and my brother thoroughly blown away before we knew they were loading sequences. Sometimes they were wonderfully cinematic and (in that day) unnoticeable.

What about Battlefront's initial loading screen where you slaughter endless waves of rebels as an invincible Darth vader?

00:00 'Considering how long games used to load, everything under 5 min is a blessing' Someone hasn't played the N64.

I liked the old pokemon fight loading scenes. They never felt like sth to give the game time. They seemed so purposeful. The game wouldn't be the same w/o it

I enjoy the loading screens in Devil May Cry, where you could attack the "now loading" in the bottom corner

That ME relay jump still gives me the goosebumps.

Beware of spoilers for Fifa!

Assassins creed lets you run around in the animus when your loading a chapter

"Why are you loading?" *me in my fake Ugandan accent*

In shadow of the tomb raider, Lara sometimes slowly moves/crawls through thick mud, crevices, foliage only to find herself in a tomb, a crypt or an enemy encounter!

Dont forget the Mass Effect 3 door scans you did in the game, more specifically the annoying girls on the Normandy

When he said "Mike I'm not fucking kidding write some entry's" I broke down in laughter

Don't forget The Crew 2, which has you go through a tunnel or between fences at walking speed in order to load the event (which takes time because of the server connection). Sometimes it doesn't finish in time, but in general it is a bit more emmersive than simply getting a loading screen. The game then buys some more time by having a 6 second long 3... 2... 1... timer at the start of each event. After an event is finished or aborted, you don't get put through a specific section or slowed down, you just keep going, which I find very cool. There are some races where it loads and you see a generic timelapse clip of the sun and clouds, but this is only done when the race is set at specific time and weather conditions, which somewhat makes sense. I would think that you could make that change while driving through a tunnel, though, but with the fences it it would look very weird (although it could work if it was actually done as a timelapse while you are driving at walking speed, but you'd have to load that in somehow so it really isn't easy).

"This is a terrible place to treat people for mental health issues." I feel like that sentence goes on for about 7 words too many, Andy.

Skyrim tries that by having you zoom aggressively in on an item or an enemy, whilst reading text and learning about the world. LEARNING? IN A GAME???

Loved the idea for the elevators in Mass Effect. The only issue I think most people had was the one on board the Normandy. That was agony as it needed using a lot more, had no conversations and looked soooo slow.

The Arkham Game series is the best thing that every happend to me

Should've talked about how we ended up having to suffer through said loading screens. That certain company that put a patent on a specific type of loading screen... It's a very interesting story

There was a dragonball game a while ago where you could rotate the sticks and loads of these green dudes would dig out of the ground.

8:44 Mashing the freakout button is a 2019 mood! Me in 2021: Just you wait...

"At least it let you mash the triangle button to freak out, which is a 2019 mood" Huh.. still checks out

What happened to Jane? You guys didn't have enough resource to have her rendered?

You put the Tony Hawk’s Underground logo in the beginning but then talked about Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland

"There are terrible demons... AUCH"

But we need loading screens. They are the perfect time to check your phone.

My computer hides loading screens by catching fire. ... Maybe I should change some bits...

The Metroid Prime games spring to mind. You shoot the shield guarding a door, and then have to wait a few seconds before it opens while the game is loading the next room

Man..... people to young to have played megadrives dont realise how lucky they are. Some of loading times i endured as a kid are BRUTAL!

A ZX Spectrum loading screen at the beginning. Brings back memories.

Personally, I love the terrible dialogue and voice acting in Resident Evil 1, it really does add to the B-movie horror atmosphere, while adding a bit of levity once in a while, which in itself makes the game scary as the acting and dialogue make you forget that the game can be pants-shitting scary at times so the dialogue scenes lull you into a false sense of security and safety. Basically, when you are chuckling at the "master of unlocking" cutscene, you walk blissfully into an L-shaped hallway with very few cares until a dog bursts through window and gives you a heart attack.

I'm vaguely surprised it didn't cut back to the FF summon still going on at the end of the video.

10:20 He’s pressing a button to turn on his mic so she can hear him. He’s not pressing in the headphone to hear it.

Batman and GoW best loading screens, they feel par of the game, even learn the lore with the dialogues during this "loading screens".

If I remember correctly the first Portal game did the same Mass Effect thing of hiding its loading screens behind rubbish elevators

I actually like loading screens. Gives you a minute to disconnect from whats happening on the screen and refresh your thoughts.

Having your party talk to each other in an elevator in Mass Effect 1 is way better than staring at the really long loading screens in Mass Effect 2 .

What about elite dangerous? The long high-wake jumps give the game time to load the stars. They also give you motion sickness

Fallout New Vegas hid the loading screens by freezing whenever you tried to enter a building or area, causing you to say "fuck it" and give up. I only play on console, I'm sure PC is much better. FNV has to be the best, yet simultaneously unplayable game of all time.

You mentioned Mass Effect's elevators, but what about the same system in Fallout 4? The elevators in that game take AGES. As "Game in 60 seconds" so aptly put it, "HOWTALLISTHISBUILDING!?"

What about fast travel in Red Dead 2? They hid it by showing a cutscene of Arthur riding his horse

Yknow... I didn't realize this until now. But most games back in the day with a big room used this reverb effect... which is interesting. I like that they didn't artificially create the ambiance or do something weird with it.

Katamari Damacy, when loading the king of all cosmos will say: Sending things to earth. But what gets even better, is that when reaching a certain size, he will interrupt you and say something about your Katamari, while the game is putting objects you can't see anymore away to ensure smoothness.

The fog from Silent Hill was amazing and creepy

You know who did the slow elevators before Mass Effect? Metroid Prime 1 & 2. Granted, there was the spare door every now and again that “malfunctioned” while the room loaded. Those micro discs of the GameCube were technologically advanced for their time.

The kratos beard joke was funny af 😂