Just the hints you need

This is going to be short. I just want to share a resource that should be in every game-player's favourites list. It's called the Universal Hint System.

Quite often if a player gets completely stuck in a game, they will look to a walkthrough to get them unstuck. Problem is, most game walkthroughs tell you more than you want or need to know. They can spoil game events when all you need is the clue to one puzzle. They also take all the joy out of figuring things out, as they tell you flat out what to do, and in what order.

This is where the UHS is different. The UHS allows you to look up specific sections of the game, preventing you from reading things you haven't done yet by mistake (though its awfully tempting to read ahead anyway!). Once you've found the part you're having trouble with, you are given a series of hints. They start off very general, and gradually become more specific. You decide how many hints you need to figure it out. And if you still are struggling, the very last hint is actually the answer, written plainly.

The beauty of this is that it can sometimes give you just enough of a push in the right direction to figure out a puzzle or strategy point, without totally removing the joy of discovery. I've been using it for years, and as a gamer, I find it sometimes invaluable.