In 1982, while most game developers were busy with space invaders and maze ghosts, Bill Williams created something far more profound: a game about swimming upstream against impossible odds. Salmon Run for the Atari 800 served as a powerful metaphor for life itself, one that resonates even more deeply when you learn about the creator’s own struggles with cystic fibrosis.
As a kid growing up in the 1980s with an Atari 800 home computer, I discovered this hidden gem in our family’s game collection, and it soon became a favorite. What struck me most—and what still amazes me today—was its incredible audio design, creating water sounds that seemed impossible for 8-bit hardware. But Salmon Run was about far more than impressive audio.
In the game, you play as Sam the Salmon, swimming upriver to spawn with a female salmon waiting upstream. You control your speed while dodging obstacles like rocks, waterfalls, and riverbanks, moving left to right and leaping from the water. And predators—bears, fishermen, and birds—are constantly trying to eat you.
Inzoi, a new life simulation game from Krafton in the vein of The Sims, is off to an explosive start on Steam. Launched in Early Access as of March 28, the title quickly surged to over 87,000 concurrent players, according to SteamDB, and is currently holding steady at just over 85,000 at the time of writing.
For comparison, The Sims 4 alone peaked at just over 96,000 concurrent players nearly 3 years ago, though Steam is not the only storefront or launcher that the game can be played from. For a genre long dominated by The Sims, the numbers reflect a growing demand for new and different (or more detailed) approaches to life sim games.
Developed by Inzoi Studio, an internal team at Krafton, Inzoi was pitched as a next-generation alternative to EA’s long-running franchise. It features fully explorable cities, real-time interactions, and high levels of customization that go beyond what The Sims currently offers.
There’s also the value proposition: spend $39.99 now and get a wide variety of content that could eventually dwarf what The Sims has to offer, including AI customization and 3D item creation, or spend hundreds to build your collections of Sims content. The choice seems like an easy one for new players.
Aswe noted in our hands-on preview, Inzoi “feels like it was built by players who grew up with The Sims and wanted more control.” That’s exactly what you’ll get. The game offers a swath of deeper, more immersive mechanics. You canget a job,adopt pets, get married, andhave a baby through dynamic in-world interactions instead of static menus, all of which should make for some silly or super serious fun, depending on how you play. Combined with its unique visuals, deep character creator, and custom settings, Inzoi offers a simulation that feels more grounded and lived-in.
Inzoi was originally set to launch in late 2024, but Krafton delayed the release to March 2025 for additional polish. As we previously reported, that delay seems to have paid off. With such high levels of engagement at its debut, however, Inzoi may not just be a new player in the genre – it has the potential to become its new frontrunner.
If there’s one thing nearly every developer loves to include in games, it’s secrets. Not every game has them, but most have at least a few easter eggs, secret bosses, secret levels, or even secret endings that give us more reasons to stay engrossed in their worlds. As much as we love extra challenges, sometimes we want a bit of an edge ourselves. Secret weapons are the best reward for going the extra mile in a game, whether it be taking on the most difficult challenge or solving a cryptic puzzle. These can be funny gag weapons, incredibly overpowered, or even both. There are a few times when secret weapons are not worth the effort so we’ve hand-picked only the coolest secret weapons in video game history.
Scarab Gun – Halo 2
Bungie
In terms of ground combat, there’s nothing more terrifying in the Halo universe than the Scarab. These bug-like walking tanks were introduced in Halo 2 and feature a devastating main cannon that projects a massive plasma beam. One mission features you jumping aboard a Scarab to take it down from the inside, but you can never actually turn its own weapon against the Covenant. Well, if you do the work to reach a very hidden area that involves luring a banshee through a tunnel and boarding it to fly all the way up to a rooftop you were never meant to reach normally, you can find a very special Plasma Rifle. While it looks like a normal weapon, it shoots the same plasma beam as the Scarab.
Hand Cannon – Dead Space 2
EA
There’s something about horror games and joke weapons. Maybe it is in an attempt to relieve some tension after a normal playthrough, but tons of spooky games include ridiculous weapons to find or unlock. Dead Space 2 has one of our favorites because it is both hilarious and powerful. The Hand Cannon is a big foam finger Isaac aims and shoots (adding his own “pew pew” sound effects) with no ammo limits and insane damage. Since this breaks the game both in terms of tone and difficulty, the only way to get it is to prove you’ve totally mastered Dead Space 2 by beating the Hard Core mode. On this difficulty, which only unlocks after you’ve beaten the game once, checkpoints are disabled and you can only manually save three times in the entire game. After going through something like that, you deserve a weapon like the Hand Cannon.
Golden Gun – GoldenEye 007
Rare
The Golden Gun is perhaps the most iconic secret weapon in video game history. Does it make sense why a gun would kill anyone in one shot just because it is gold? No, but it we all just accept it anyway. We’re betting most of you out there only got it through cheats, but there is one way to get it legitimately during a mission. First, you need to beat all the normal missions on the hardest difficulty to unlock the bonus missions. Then, in the Egyptian bonus mission, you need to find a specific room with the gun on display, but you can’t just approach it. You need to step on the correct tiles to avoid setting off booby traps to reach the case and claim the gun.
Hadouken – Mega Man X
Capcom
Is a Hadouken technically a weapon? The debate rages on, but we are going to count it for this list. This is the iconic move of many Street Fighter characters like Ryu and Ken, but the blue bomber himself can also unleash this fireball attack in Mega Man X (and a few sequels). This is a one-shot kill attack on any enemy or boss and is performed by doing the same quarter-circle motion as in the fighting game. However, finding it is basically impossible unless you’re following a guide. Before you even begin, you need at least four lives, all the heart tank upgrades, all the armor upgrades, all four sub-tanks, and all the boss weapons. Then, go to Armored Armadillo’s stage and dash-jump up to the wall above the boss door to a ledge with an energy power-up. Grab it, then jump into the pit. Repeat that four times. On the fifth time when you climb up the wall, you will find a new Dr. Light capsule that teaches you the Hadoken.
Mr. Toots – Red Faction: Armageddon
Red Faction: Armageddon
Red Faction: Armageddon is a game that wants you to go crazy blowing things up with all sorts of weapons. Still, we never expected to find a magical unicorn named Mr. Toots that shoots rainbow blasts out of its butt, and yet here we are. Unlike a lot of other secret weapons, you don’t have to do basically everything in the game before you can find it. It is hidden in the Marauder Homelands after you are instructed to mount a turret to hold off a wave of bugs. After this section, you can blow open a hole in a wall to a secret area where you can snag Mr. Toots. The funniest (or most disturbing) part is the expression this very alive unicorn makes when you fire off its rainbow blasts.
Fierce Deity Mask – Majora’s Mask
Nintendo
This is another one up for semantic debate, but the Fierce Deity Mask is the only way to get this awesome sword in Majora’s Mask so we’re counting it. Of all the transformations Link can take in this game, this one is by far the coolest. Visually, it looks like a goth adult Link with a double-helix sword that shoots magic on each swing. In the game’s lore, it is also said to be just as powerful as Majora’s Mask and a rival to it. It makes Link completely overpowered, which is why it has some serious limitations. For one, you need to collect and trade away all the optional masks in the game right before the final boss. Second, it can only be worn during boss battles so you can only fight the five main bosses using it.
Excalibur 2 – Final Fantasy 9
Square Enix
The Final Fantasy games always have secret, ultimate weapons for their main characters hidden away somewhere. None of them are easy to get, but the Excalibur 2 is prohibitively cruel in its requirements. This is the best weapon in the game for Steiner and requires you to speedrun to the end of the last dungeon in under 12 hours. That alone requires incredible amounts of planning and optimizing your route. After defeating the Lich boss, you also have to know to interact with an invisible prompt in the room to get the sword. As cool as it is, this is one that has become more infamous than famous for how difficult it is to get.
