Designed by game developer Johnnemann Nordhagen, Museum of Mechanics: Lockpicking is an interactive exhibit charting the history of the lockpicking minigame. Although a little roughshod in its execution, Museum of Mechanics is nonetheless a fascinating deep-dive into a very specific corner of gaming.
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The Museum comprises a trio of simply designed hallways filled with lockpicking minigames from across the medium’s history. Each exhibit replicates a lockpicking system from either a single game or a collection of games. They also offer a description of how the mechanic works, and an analysis detailing its success both as a representation of lockpicking, and a fun system for the player to interact with.
It’s a comprehensive showcase of the many ways lockpicking has been interpreted by various developers. The hallway dedicated to RPGs charts the evolution of lockpicking over the years, from the simple systems based upon player-stats and dicerolls offered by games like D&D and the original Fallout, to the more tactile, skill-based designs created by Bethesda for Skyrim and the later Fallout games. Sprinkled among these are weirder specimens, like the shape-matching lockpicking system of Hillsfar, which is probably the most elaborate and difficult minigame in the Museum. There are also several lockpicking minigames featured that I’d forgotten existed, such as the hybridised lockpicking/hacking minigames of Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2.
Nordhagen’s approach to curation balances authoritative analysis with an openly subjective viewpoint. He’s freely critical of some of the less successful attempts to represent lockpicking in games, such as Splinter Cell‘s terrible lockpicking mechanic. But his opinion is formed from an informed and insightful standpoint. He also caveats the inclusion of Kingdom Come: Deliverance‘s (bad) lockpicking minigame with a criticism of the creator’s pro-Gamergate viewpoint, which is an important clarification.
Perhaps the most interesting characteristic of the Museum is how it highlights the limitations of mechanics when they are separated from their parent games. Every system featured in the Museum is a bespoke recreation of the minigame in question, stripped of that game’s specific artistry and sound design. It’s curious to see what is lost in that process of replication. A good example is the lockpicking system from Thief and Thief 2, which sees players alternate between two lockpicks – one square and one triangular – to unlock doors.
In the Museum‘s interpretation, this system comes across as extremely simplistic, with the player holding down the left-mouse button to pick the lock. But in the actual game, there’s considerably more going on around the system that impacts its effectiveness. Every locked door is unique, requiring a specific combination of picks to unlocks, and taking a different amount of time to do so. The sound design of Thief‘s lockpicking also makes an important contribution. The way the lock scrapes and rattles and clicks as the doorhandle slowly pushes downward bakes tension and tactility into the mechanic. Finally, the Museum doesn’t represent the wider consequences of picking locks in the game, such as how guards who are hunting for you can track you down by the sound of a lock being picked (although it does mention this in its explanation of the mechanic).
This is not a criticism of the Museum. Indeed, it’s intriguing to see how effective or ineffective these mechanics are when devoid of context. Inside the Museum, I had most fun with Hillsfar’s lockpicking, because of how involved it is as an individual concept. In the context of a large RPG, however, it would feel convoluted and unnecessarily obstructive toward progress. By contrast, Thief‘s lockpicking may seem simple on its own, but it’s exactly as complicated as the game needs it to be, and I’d argue that later iterations of lockpicking in the series, as seen in Deadly Shadows and Thief 4, are made less effective by the complications that they add.
That said, there are areas where the Museum could be improved. Although functionally effective in its curation of exhibits, the Museum does lack somewhat for style. Aesthetically the Museum is extremely brown, with simple models and textures, and basic typefaces for signs. Also, some of the sound effects used in the exhibits are harsh on the ears, particularly the lock-rattling for the Deadly Shadows exhibit. In short, the space doesn’t feel comfortable to spend much time in, which, while less important than the exhibits themselves, does slightly undermine the Museum‘s overall goals.
At a time when keeping up with the games industry is becoming increasingly difficult, Museum of Mechanics‘ potted history of lockpicking serves a useful purpose, and I enjoyed its brief but informative tour of how this system has evolved. But perhaps more importantly, the Museum also demonstrates how games cannot rely on systems design alone. They must be supported by appropriate art and sound design, and meet the needs of the broader experience.
Museum of Mechanics: Lockpicking is available on Steam for PC.