# What games had interactive lockpicking? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [March 29, 2009, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-games-had-interactive-lockpicking/491166 "2009-03-29T07:22:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2009, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-games-had-interactive-lockpicking/491166/1 "2009-03-29T07:22:35Z")
Please name some. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2009, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-games-had-interactive-lockpicking/491166/2 "2009-03-29T07:24:23Z")
I can’t name any. Always thought it’d be a cool thing to have, though. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2009, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-games-had-interactive-lockpicking/491166/3 "2009-03-29T07:29:03Z")
Oblivion is the only one that springs to mind, Fallout 3 too if you count hacking “lock picking” (it DOES open doors I suppose). ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2009, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-games-had-interactive-lockpicking/491166/4 "2009-03-29T07:48:34Z")
[Trilby: The Art of Theft](http://www.escapistmagazine.com/content/games/yahtzee/artoftheft). Fun little 2D platformer. The lockpicking isn’t a huge part of the game, just a small minigame (hit the button at the right time to get the pick into the lock), but it’s more interactive than checking to see if you have skill X. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2009, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-games-had-interactive-lockpicking/491166/5 "2009-03-29T08:01:42Z")
The earliest I can think of to have lockpicking as part of the game (as opposed to a skill that the player just uses) is Hillsfar. For other places the Thief series are obvious ones. ---
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2009, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-games-had-interactive-lockpicking/491166/6 "2009-03-29T08:04:58Z")
Thief 3 System shock 1 & 2 Splinter cell series Fallout 3 had the lock picking mini game where you opened locks with bobby pins. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2009, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-games-had-interactive-lockpicking/491166/7 "2009-03-29T08:25:08Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > Oblivion is the only one that springs to mind, Fallout 3 too if you count hacking “lock picking” (it DOES open doors I suppose). Thanks, I stopped playing Oblivion in the first basement after finally making the jump to the hidden door to the above left and discovering it was locked. Never got to any lock picking… maybe I should revisit it. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2009, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-games-had-interactive-lockpicking/491166/8 "2009-03-29T11:17:20Z")
Does it have to be actual, traditional lock-picking? Because some games, like most of the Ratchet and Clank series, have tools that do the equivalent of lock-picking, in that there is a locked area you can’t get into until you have unlocked the door with a special tool made for that purpose. All of these are interactive and require you to figure out (or look up) the solution. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2009, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-games-had-interactive-lockpicking/491166/9 "2009-03-29T11:24:01Z")
Hotel Dusk: Room 215 has a lockpicking puzzle (which you need to do twice, the first you fail, because you don’t have the right item) - it’s not exactly complex - it’s a suitcase lock, and uses the DS’s touchpad, so you can’t actually hit two things at once (a bigger issue with a different puzzle), but it is lockpicking. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2009, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-games-had-interactive-lockpicking/491166/10 "2009-03-29T11:57:56Z")
I just don’t have the patience for lock picking in Oblivion or Fallout 3. In Oblivion, I would just buy a million picks and hit auto attempt over and over. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2009, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-games-had-interactive-lockpicking/491166/11 "2009-03-29T12:49:27Z")
For whatever reason, I looooove lockpicking. First found it in Thief 3, and was just happily surprised that they have it in Fallout 3. Maybe it’s something with the 3s. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2009, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-games-had-interactive-lockpicking/491166/12 "2009-03-29T13:29:04Z")
All three Thief games obviously featured lockpicking as part and parcel of the whole “oh god oh god the guards are coming quick quick quick !” experience. In the first two IIRC it was a simple matter of using lockpick A, then lockpick B, and back to A, switching each time you heard the click ; but the third one turned it into a full blown (but rather easy) minigame. One of the latest Splinter Cells (I think it’s Double Agent ?) also featured safe cracking the Hollywood way, with stethoscope and all. ---
**Author:** ![Jihi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jihi/32/17768_2.png) [@Jihi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jihi)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2009, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-games-had-interactive-lockpicking/491166/13 "2009-03-29T16:05:24Z")
Mass Effect had a simple QTE style minigame for picking locks and hacking computers. Or you just smear gel on the [lock](http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/11/14/nitpicking-mass-effect-part-one/). ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2009, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-games-had-interactive-lockpicking/491166/14 "2009-03-29T16:11:21Z")
Bioshock ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2009, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-games-had-interactive-lockpicking/491166/15 "2009-03-29T20:05:06Z")
Wizardry 8 ---
**Author:** ![ToeJam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2009, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-games-had-interactive-lockpicking/491166/16 "2009-03-29T21:15:15Z")
**The Warriors** for PS2 had a lil’ minigame sorta thing you had to do to pick a lock (just involved lining up the spinning chambers correctly) if you did it wrong, the alarm to the store would go off. It was great, because you could take your time and get it right (with certain characters have a bonus to lockpicking- ie: the dials spun slower for them), but when you were in the middle of a fight you would just blunder through the lock and usually set off the alarm because you didn’t have the time to actually pick the lock well. It was a cool idea, but only used really about 2-3 times in the Game for effective purposes. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2009, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-games-had-interactive-lockpicking/491166/17 "2009-03-29T22:46:38Z")
One of the older games with lockpicking was the SSI game “Hillsfar” ---
**Author:** ![Robin\_Goodfellow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Robin\_Goodfellow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robin_Goodfellow)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-games-had-interactive-lockpicking/491166/18 "2009-03-30T00:05:37Z")
> [@The\_Controvert](#): > > Thanks, I stopped playing Oblivion in the first basement after finally making the jump to the hidden door to the above left and discovering it was locked. Never got to any lock picking… maybe I should revisit it. To me, this sounds something like “I gave up on driving anywhere after I couldn’t get the A/C in my first car to blow in the right direction.” No offense meant 🙂 It’s just a surreal experience to hear of people giving up on hundreds of hours of varied and complex gameplay on a technicality. I have another friend who played World of Warcraft for 15 minutes and then wrote it off. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-games-had-interactive-lockpicking/491166/19 "2009-03-30T00:06:07Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > One of the older games with lockpicking was the SSI game “Hillsfar” The lockpicking in this game was a BITCH. There were several sets of lockpicks that were practically _identical._ If you messed up, you’d break the lockpick you tried to use. Oh, and sometimes, even when you had the complete FULL set of picks, there would be a “pin” that had no matching pick.:mad: ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-games-had-interactive-lockpicking/491166/20 "2009-03-30T00:33:27Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > The lockpicking in this game was a BITCH. There were several sets of lockpicks that were practically _identical._ If you messed up, you’d break the lockpick you tried to use. > > Oh, and sometimes, even when you had the complete FULL set of picks, there would be a “pin” that had no matching pick.:mad: Which is why I always went to the dungeon with the Chime of Opening first. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-games-had-interactive-lockpicking/491166.md?page=2)