The Cultcast Podcast Articles: Glitches, Rope Ascenders and One Very Frustrated Man by Luke Spencer

Do you know what really grinds my gears? game breaking glitches, you know, glitches that hinder your further progression in a game, glitches that cause you to rip your hair out and shout in frustration. I have come across a glitch like this in my playthrough of Tomb Raider, the recent reboot of the iconic franchise.

Before I continue may I say that I really enjoyed the game until this point. Its adventure, depicting the origins of Lara Croft, a harrowing story of a young woman thrown into the depths of survival, is masterfully told. The combat keeps you on edge and the environmental puzzles make you really think outside the box. This game really was impressing me. Until I came across the most frustrating, teeth-grinding glitch I have ever been subjected to. 

After a zip line across to a boat, I skilfully killed a boss, using my newly acquired napalm arrows. His defeat led to another new acquirement, the rope ascender. When I got my hands on this, a rapid succession of thoughts crossed my mind. I remembered all the tombs I could now open with this new piece of kit. All I had to do was save my teammate and get off of this shipwreck. Glancing at a nearby crane, I saw what I had to do to progress. A shot from by bow at the dangling crates, straddled by ropes and suspended by the crane, would hurl it in my direction and crash it into the obstacle which was blocking my path. It was simple, child’s play. I shot and missed on my first attempt, but on my second attempt I hit my target and then proceeded to mash the x button to drag these crates to do what they were meant to. But upon my initial mashing, the crates didn’t move, the crane had, but the crates were left suspended in mid-air. I laughed to myself, “Oh glitches, when will you ever learn” and continued to reload the last save. But to my horror and disbelief, when I attempted to hurl the crates towards me again the
 exact same thing occurred. This cycle went on for what seemed like hours. In this time I did everything I could think of to counter-attack this glitch, cleaning the disc, turning the Xbox off and on again, nothing, nada. This glitch was impervious to everything. After a quick google search I found out that I was the only person who came across the glitch. For a moment I began to believe that I was in some sort of dream but no, the glitch was real. 

And because of this glitch I will never know the splendour of the tombs I could have explored, I will never experience any twist or turn in the game, any emotional points in the narrative. This glitch has ruined this game for me. 

 I could have started the game all over again and replay the 12 hours I already had devoted to this game, and see if the glitch would still occur. But fuck that noise.

- Luke Spencer