There's a secret room in this comedy sports RPG that's full of miserable developers

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Is Sports Story's hidden room hinting at a troubled development?

Sports Story
(Image credit: Sidebar Games)

Announced way back in 2019, Sports Story, the long-awaited sequel to the indie cult classic Golf Story, was finally released just under two weeks ago on December 23. But far from the festive treat that fans were expecting, it's reportedly laden with bugs and feels unfinished. At the time of writing, the game has a user rating of 2.4 out of 10 on Metacritic, with the majority of players granting it a low score due to "game-breaking bugs that prevent progression in multiple story areas."

As reported by Twinfinite, one player recently discovered a hidden room which could suggest how the game came to launch in its current state. Twitter user tendog shared footage of this secret room which can't normally be accessed. Inside they discovered a virtual development team whose dialogue tells a grim tale of overworked employees, frustrated that the overly ambitious plans for their game "GALF" meant they couldn't focus on getting the basics right. It's perhaps just a bit of humour added by Sidebar Games, but it could equally be highlighting some genuine issues the developer faced when making Sports Story.

"You might say we're experiencing a troubled development," says one NPC developer. Another adds, "You might also say somebody kept requesting new features and my original vision no longer exists." And third chimes in with, "One might even venture to say we should have made the game work instead of adding features." Other dialogue includes "The menu is STILL broken" and, "They told me this was fixed. Should I report it again?".

If you'd like to see this hidden room for yourself, tendog has uploaded a video on YouTube which explains how to do just that. The process is relatively straightforward and involves moving some boxes in Len's store, which according to the player, are found in the game's first chapter.

See what's coming to Nintendo's console this year with our guide to upcoming Switch games.

Anne-Marie Ostler
Anne-Marie Ostler
Freelance Writer

Originally from Ireland, I moved to the UK in 2014 to pursue a Games Journalism and PR degree at Staffordshire University. Following that, I've freelanced for GamesMaster, Games TM, Official PlayStation Magazine and, more recently, Play and GamesRadar+. My love of gaming sprang from successfully defeating that first Goomba in Super Mario Bros on the NES. These days, PlayStation is my jam. When not gaming or writing, I can usually be found scouring the internet for anything Tomb Raider related to add to my out of control memorabilia collection.