Fans of Bring Me The Horizon have been fervently searching for secrets and clues hidden within an ‘M8 Artificial Reality game’ subtly teased in a recent music video by the band.
Near the video’s conclusion, a character emerges, briefly greets viewers, and then abruptly instructs them to search for a specific code.
Although the discovery of the hidden game thrilled many, excitement was momentarily dampened when the game’s website was swapped out for a warning urging visitors not to hack into the system.
Bring Me The Horizon Hidden M8 Artificial Reality Game
Bring Me the Horizon, a British rock band formed in Sheffield in 2004, is celebrated for embedding hidden meanings, easter eggs, and clues in their music. With the release of their latest album, ‘POST HUMAN: NeX GEn,’ the band has notably deepened this practice, incorporating even more intricate layers of secrets into their songs.
In one of the music videos from this album, a character named ‘M8’ appears and begins to greet the viewer but is abruptly stopped by a ‘fatal-error’. M8 then directs the viewer to find the ‘serial number’ located on the side of its head.
A curious listener appeared to have further analyzed the video segment in the video and discovered a hidden spectrogram containing a QR Code, sharing an image file on the rock band’s subreddit.
Fans further discovered that the QR code led to the URL domain of a hidden clandestine hacking-themed website, containing the M8 Artificial Reality Game.
The M8 Artificial Reality domain then instructed users to enter a hidden serial code, which fans discovered through the use of several other clues. The site contained unreleased tracks, password-protected files, and various mysteries for fans to uncover.
As news of the hidden website spread, fans swiftly set up a dedicated Discord server and collaborated using a Google Doc to unearth all the site’s secrets.
However, their excitement was brief. Hackers soon tried to extract further secrets from the website using unconventional methods, leading developers to temporarily shut down the site and issue a warning to fans.
Warnings Over Hacking Attempts
After the hacking attempts, cautionary messages from M8, the album’s virtual guide, expressed dismay at the intrusion, stressing on how such actions undermined the spirit of collective exploration.
These messages were delivered through both the website which was temporarily replaced with the warning for 2 hours as well as through email.
The developers appeared to indirectly condemn these attempts through the creative use of the M8 character, without specifying the nature of the intrusion or identifying the perpetrators.
Some fans however, upon receiving the email after their explorations, found the message warnings unexpected for what they believed were legitimate interactions.
The community believed that these selective few hackers ruined the experience for others, with it’s discord server noting the downtime in it’s FAQ.
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Bring Me The Horizon’s foray into alternate reality gaming showcases the creative potential of digital media in music and album promotion. As fans continue to work together to unravel the remaining mysteries and solve the puzzles within the ARG, it remains to be seen what other surprises await them on the hidden website.
The hacking attempts and the subsequent warnings serves as a reminder that while ARGs can be an engaging and immersive experience, it is essential to respect the developers’ intentions and play fair to ensure everyone can enjoy the journey together.
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