Noclip Mode

One of the most consistently useful console commands in PC gaming.

- Andy Kelly

In the summer of 1999 I bought a copy of siN, a first-person shooter by Ritual Entertainment that featured a preposterous hero named John Blade and some brilliantly dynamic, interactive environments. It was released a month before half-life, and thus was completely overshadowed, but Ritual did a lot of stuff Valve did in its game – and better. I loved it, at least until I reached a level set in some kind of underwater facility. I remember a lot of swimming, some frustrating enemies, and a labyrinth of boring corridors.

And, being a lot more impatient in my teenage years, I decided to bypass the entire level by activating noclip mode. Noclip, as PC gamers of a certain age will know, is a console command that lets you fly around the level, passing through walls and ceilings. The term was popularised by id Software, its first-person shooters often featured a noclip mode – as well as many games built on the Quake engine including Half-Life and, yes, SiN.