Everyone loves a good mystery right? Video games are a treasure trove of conspiracy theories, buried secrets and other shady activities. There’s so many to choose from, but let’s dive into a few recent big unsolved mysteries in video games.
Big Unsolved Mysteries in Video Games
The Secret Zoo Level in Accounting+
For over a year now, fans of a short indie VR game, known as Accounting (now “plus”), have been scouring every inch of the game’s various worlds to find a Secret Zoo Level.
Accounting+ is an irreverent game about going into multiple dimensions of VR, similar to the concept of Inception, and along the way the player is subject to silly events such as summoning Satan via a rap ritual, being on trial for the murder of the King of VR, and getting recruited into a gang of “hardened” animals.
It was developed by a collaborative team of the people behind The Stanley Parable and the executive producer of Rick and Morty.
There’s really nothing that special about the game on the surface. It’s a fun ride while it lasts, but the game is short and you can see most of the game in a few hours of play time.
Well, almost all of the game except one really big mystery that remains hidden: The Secret Zoo Level. At The Game Awards 2017, Justin Roiland (Rick and Morty) and William Pugh (The Stanley Parable), revealed Accounting+, and tipped off its fans that there was a Secret Zoo Level.
The teaser shown dropped a few clues about the Zoo Level that are still being analyzed today, and Roiland and Pugh proclaimed that it’s incredibly difficult to find, and a lot of work went into hiding something that only a very small percentage of people would ever see.
The challenge was accepted by a dedicated group of fans of the game. Since Accounting+ released on Dec. 19, 2017, a massive search has been on for the Secret Zoo Level.
There’s really not a whole lot of game to cover and all of its files have been datamined with nothing clearly pointing to the existence of the level. This has led some people to believe that the developers are in on a massive troll job.
However, those that believe in the Secret Zoo Level counter that data is obfuscated, or in other words, intentionally made unintelligible to dataminers to throw miners off the scent, and that level is in the game somewhere.
Whether or not the Secret Zoo Level is in the game’s files right now is still a hotly debated topic. What isn’t up for debate though is that the developers are embracing the search.
Developer Crows Crows Crows, has dropped hints since the game’s launch that are designed to very cryptically guide players to finding the Secret Zoo Level. More often than not though, the clues have led to more questions being raised than answers.
An update was later added to Accounting+ which added a new level, called The Water Park Level, which paid homage to the search.
The level is plastered in fan theories and objects related to the search. An all-important clown that was featured in the original trailer teasing the Secret Zoo Level makes an appearance and acts as an in-game embodiment of the real-life people losing their minds trying to find it.
To-date, the Secret Zoo Level has not been found. As recently as a few days ago on Christmas Day 2018, more cryptic hints were dropped by Crows Crows Crows, but once again, the clues have just driven fans deeper down the rabbit hole.
Those wanting to keep tabs on the latest can join the Discord dedicated to search which is complete with resources for those that want to catch up and get the full story.
