For most games, the stories behind their development are a lot more complicated than you can believe. While most of these stories are only ever discussed behind closed doors, some games unveil their behind-the-scenes secrets through developer commentary.
Depending on the game, developer commentary can give a glimpse into a studio’s developmental challenges, the inspirations behind its creative decisions, or random insights that might help you understand the creative minds behind your favorite classics. If you’re like me, and you love learning about how your favorite games are made—especially coming from the original creators—each of these games is a wellspring of developmental insight.
10
Alan Wake
Remedy Entertainment’s Alan Wake has never been shy about showing off its creative inspirations. Even without developer commentary, you can find plenty of obvious homages and references to Twin Peaks, the works of Stephen King, and tons of other horror classics scattered throughout the game’s twist-filled story. But if you’re interested in diving deeper into Alan Wake‘s creation, the collector’s edition included an extensive developer commentary mode. Whenever this mode is enabled, various developers from Remedy will occasionally chime in throughout your playthrough—typically at the start of cutscenes or when entering a new area—and explain the creative decisions that shaped the game’s art direction and storytelling.
That collector’s edition comes at a high price, but you thankfully won’t have to shell out a few hundred dollars just to hear the commentary. Alan Wake Remastered included the original developer commentary along with a newly-recorded “director’s commentary” featuring the game’s director, Sam Lake. Whereas the original commentary track provides a general overview of Alan Wake‘s development, Lake’s commentary is a fascinating retrospective on the history of Remedy Entertainment before and after the release of Alan Wake. Regardless of whether you’ve been following the studio since the original Max Payne or only recently discovered their work through Control and Alan Wake 2, any fan of Remedy Entertainment will want to listen to both commentary tracks.
9
Shadowrun: Hong Kong
Developer commentary modes are surprisingly common in modern CRPGs, but Harebrained Schemes’ Shadowrun: Hong Kong—the third and final part of its Shadowrun trilogy—features one of the best developer commentaries in the genre. Added in a free update in 2016, Shadowrun: Hong Kong‘s developer commentary is split into 24 segments scattered throughout its campaign.
Each segment features short conversations between the developers in which they discuss everything from the art direction of Shadowrun‘s cyberpunk world, the writing processes behind each of its main characters, cut content, easily-missed secrets, and even a few memorable bugs discovered during the game’s production. There’s seemingly no filter to the commentary, with plenty of candid details about the many mistakes and happy accidents that shaped the game. All of this is delivered with fun, laid-back, podcast-style conversations that make every part of the commentary a joy to discover.
8
Mark of the Ninja
Klei Entertainment’s 2D stealth-action platformer Mark of the Ninja is a painfully underrated masterpiece from the Xbox Live Arcade-era, but you don’t have to be a fan of stealth games to appreciate its developer commentary. Unlike many other games, the developer commentary isn’t presented through audio or video recordings, but is instead scattered around levels through collectible notes written by different members of the dev team. Some describe the historical and pop culture influences on the game’s art direction, others delve into the development of its mechanics and level design, and many call attention to subtle details that you probably won’t notice during a normal playthrough.
The developer commentary mode was originally exclusive to Mark of the Ninja‘s “Special Edition” DLC, which also added more levels and a second playable character. Thankfully, everything from the DLC is included in Mark of the Ninja Remastered, meaning you can easily experience the developer commentary through any of the game’s modern re-releases.
7
Bioshock Remastered
There are plenty of interviews describing the artistry and storytelling of the entire Bioshock trilogy, but the details surrounding the series’ early development were left up to speculation for many years. While it’s widely known that the first entry was originally conceived as a spiritual successor to System Shock 2 before taking on its own identity, there wasn’t much information about the game’s pre-production stages. In 2016, Bioshock Remastered finally shed light on this elusive period of the original’s creation with its director’s commentary.
Split into ten episodes that are unlocked by collecting Golden Reels hidden throughout the campaign, Bioshock Remastered‘s commentary is presented as a lengthy interview between game journalist Geoff Keighly (whom you might also recognize as the creator and host of The Game Awards) and the original Bioshock‘s lead directors, Ken Levine and Shawn Robertson. While this interview still delves into all the usual topics you’d expect from a director’s commentary—with plenty of discussion dedicated to the game’s art direction, combat mechanics, and narrative themes—it also allows Levine and Robertson to be up-front about the numerous challenges they faced while working on Bioshock. They provide a brutally honest look at the development process that will likely leave you appreciating the final result even more.
6
Deponia: The Complete Journey
Daedalic Entertainment was an often-overlooked developer in the point-and-click genre, but its best games can measure up to the all-time greats of LucasArts or Sierra On-Line. One of these underrated point-and-click franchises was Deponia. The series follows a bumbling inventor named Rufus as he travels around the titular junk-filled planet of Deponia on a journey to save Goal, a princess from another land, and clear up a case of mistaken identity that has put him in the crosshairs of a globe-spanning manhunt.
In 2014, the first three games were compiled into Deponia: The Complete Journey, a collection that added a variety of quality-of-life features along with a developer’s commentary mode starring the game’s director, Jan “Poki” Baumann. Across all three games, the developer commentary mode adds a “commentary” button that allows you to hear Poki’s conversations on the game’s many different locales and minigames. The commentary includes unique discussions for nearly every screen in the trilogy, so you’ll be spending lots of time listening to Poki discuss the challenges and innovations involved in bringing Deponia‘s world to life. Unlike many other games, Deponia‘s developer commentary also touches on the challenges of translation, as Poki details the many changes made when localizing the original German script into English.
Thankfully, Deponia‘s developer commentary is just as hilariously absurd and witty as the rest of the series. Between Poki’s many development stories, you’ll also hear him argue with the game’s protagonists, go off on unrelated tangents, or finding absolutely nothing to talk about. Some of the funniest moments in the series are hidden in the developer commentary, and it’s worth experiencing even if you aren’t all that interested in the game’s production.
5
Monkey Island 2: Special Edition
Speaking of point-and-click classics, it’s almost impossible to bring up the genre without mentioning LucasArts’ The Secret of Monkey Island or its sequel, Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge. The pirate-themed point-and-click series features some of the best writing and puzzles in LucasArts’ history, and they were made even better with their remakes. The second game’s remake, Monkey Island 2: Special Edition, is especially notable for featuring a developer’s commentary mode partially inspired by Mystery Science Theater 3000.
On certain screens, you can press the commentary buttons to hear developers Ron Gilbert, Dave Grossman, and Tim Schaefer provide background information on the creative design process and unexpected inspirations behind Monkey Island 2‘s most iconic moments. The trio also discuss some of the game’s greatest innovations, such as the iMUSE system that inspired the use of adaptive music in almost all modern video games. If you play through Special Edition with its remastered visuals, you’ll also be able to enjoy the commentary with silhouettes reminiscent of MST3K, though the trio will spend more time riffing on each other than the actual game.
4
Deus Ex: Human Revolution – Director’s Cut
Even after nearly 15 years since its original launch, few games are as immaculately detailed as Eidos Interactive’s cyberpunk immersive sim Deus Ex: Human Revolution. The game’s Director’s Cut introduced a commentary track containing eight hours of developer insights spread across 280 locations that go into exhaustive detail about nearly every aspect of Human Revolution. While the developer commentary mode is enabled, audio logs from the game’s developers will automatically start whenever you reach a point of interest. This includes major story events, various enemy encounters, and plenty of minor areas that often go unnoticed by players.
If there’s anything you’ll take from the developer’s commentary—and believe me, it covers a lot in its hours of behind-the-scenes information—it’s that Human Revolution was a labor of love. Far more thought went into the environments, characters, mechanics, and story than you would ever expect. Even subtle details like a cracked mirror or a storefront window were often designed with full backstories that you’ll only learn about through the commentary. There’s also plenty of information about the reasoning behind many of the changes made in the Director’s Cut and some of the scrapped content that was never included due to time constraints or technical limitations. If you’re a Deus Ex fan looking for a reason to revisit the world of Human Revolution, do yourself a favor and check out the developer’s commentary.
3
Ghost of Tsushima
Sucker Punch Productions’s Ghost of Tsushima doesn’t feature a traditional developer commentary, but its Director’s Cut instead included a 40-minute interview with game director Nate Fox, Japanese historian Dr. Kazuto Hongo, and then-president of Sony Interactive Entertainment Shuhei Yoshida. While it doesn’t offer the type of deep-dive look at game design and production that you might expect from a developer commentary, it makes up for it with an incredibly educational analysis of the game’s portrayal of Japanese history.
Throughout the commentary, Hongo provides a thorough breakdown of the real-life Mongolian Invasions depicted in Ghost of Tsushima, as well as the culture of Japan during its Kamakura period. Likewise, Fox provides a detailed look at how the development team at Sucker Punch managed to blend historical accuracy with influences from Japanese cinema. Despite its short runtime, the director’s commentary covers a wide variety of subjects involving both Japanese history and the game’s creative production, and it’s absolutely worth watching for anyone interested in the culture and history behind Ghost of Tsushima.
2
Star Wars Episode I: Battle for Naboo
On the surface, Factor 5’s Star Wars Episode I: Battle for Naboo may seem like little more than a decent spiritual successor to the studio’s cult classic Star Wars: Rogue Squadron. However, Battle for Naboo secretly contains the very first ever developer’s commentary mode in a video game. Although some earlier games like Chrono Trigger and Zombies Ate My Neighbors featured brief cameos and messages from their developers, Battle for Naboo introduced the long-form commentary format that inspired every other game on this list.
By entering the code TALKTOME in the game’s passcode screen (remember those?), you’ll be able to listen to developer commentary for every level of the campaign. For being the first of its kind, Battle for Naboo‘s commentary is surprisingly in-depth, with plenty of interesting information provided by the developers. They explain their methods for adapting scenes from The Phantom Menace, creating new set-pieces within the Star Wars universe, and working around the Nintendo 64’s limitations. It’s easy to see why Factor 5’s easter egg set the original standard for every developer’s commentary feature that followed.
Star Wars: Episode I – Battle for Naboo
- Released
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December 18, 2000
1
Most Games Developed by Valve
Factor 5 may have invented developer commentary modes, but Valve arguably perfected them. Ever since Half Life 2: Episode 1, nearly every Valve game has featured a developer commentary mode with discussions from different members of the dev team. In each of these games, you can find commentary nodes scattered around the campaign, each one containing a brief message related to specific levels, set-pieces, or game mechanics. Valve’s games are known for pushing the envelope with groundbreaking technical innovations, and the commentary modes are the best way to peak behind the curtain and discover how they work.
Regardless of the game, Valve’s developer commentaries always have a few mind-blowing revelations tucked in random corners. Whether you’re learning how Half Life 2‘s physics worked, finding out about the secret difficulty system of Left 4 Dead, or listening to how a small team devised the portals of Portal, Valve’s commentary modes are undoubtedly the gold standard for developer commentaries.
Honorable Mention: Developer Let’s Plays
Even if a game doesn’t include a developer commentary mode, many developers have spoken about their games in other places. It’s no secret that developers regularly discuss their games in interviews, behind-the-scenes production videos, and talks at the Game Developer’s Conference (GDC). But many developers also like to revisit their past work with let’s play commentaries.
There’s no shortage of developer let’s plays online, and many are just as thoroughly informative as any official commentary. Respawn Entertainment’s playthrough of Titanfall 2 is a fantastic breakdown of the game’s best levels, and also features the devs answering viewer-submitted questions. The multipart playthroughs for Conker’s Bad Fur Day, Terraria, and the Ratchet and Clank series are much more informal, but they still offer plenty of info and entertaining stories from their original creators.
If you have to watch just one of these playthroughs, however, let it be either of Bungie’s unforgettable playthroughs of Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2. Both series are full of hilarious conversations and surprising development secrets. If you’re a fan of the Halo series, or just interested in the development process, Bungie’s let’s plays are just as informative as they are entertaining.
There are plenty more developer commentaries that I wasn’t able to mention here. But if you’ve ever been interested in learning about the creators behind your favorite games or are interested in hearing more behind-the-scenes stories, take some time to track down their developer commentaries.