15 ways to tell you’re in deadly peril in a video game

Every single game ever made wants your character dead. Well, unless it’s got dancing babies on its box or it’s trying to lose you weight by forcing you to swing your arms around like a twat. With that in mind, we thought it might be helpful to give you a guide on how to spot impending video game danger. After you’ve brushed up on our exhaustive guide, which covers every sure-fire sign of peril from ominous music to evil facial hair, you’ll be dodging video game death like a pro. Oh, and we guarantee you’ll never look at a pile of leaves the same way again.

You reach a save point in front of some massive, ominous door


Above: Hmmmm, it’s probably the second one, right?

The game gives you every weapon it has for apparently no reason


Wow, cheers Mr. Game that’s been a total dick to me for the last 10 hours. You’re really giving me every death laser, rusty, infected chainsaw and Arnie-shaming mini-gun with maxed out ammo, with absolutely no strings attached? Shucks, you’re too kind. Wait, where did this army of tooled-up to the teeth aliens/flesh-eating mutants/military insurgents suddenly spring from? Dang.

There's any sign of blood


Blood is bad, pure and simple. See even a drop of it in a game and you can be sure whatever did the stabbing, shooting or ingesting to cause said plasma spillage is still in the area. Be it trails, pools or disturbing messages written in the red stuff; the presence of the claret of life means someone has suffered hugely. And, chances are, your character’s about to as well.


Above: Don’t be fooled, some bad stuff’s about to go down here

David Meikleham
Google AMP Stories Editor

David has worked for Future under many guises, including for GamesRadar+ and the Official Xbox Magazine. He is currently the Google Stories Editor for GamesRadar and PC Gamer, which sees him making daily video Stories content for both websites. David also regularly writes features, guides, and reviews for both brands too.