Only 50 layers left on Molyneux's Curiosity cube, dead clown inside starting to smell

It's taken a few months, but we're finally nearing the end of Peter Molyneux's grand experiment - only 50 layers remain on the giant onion that is Curiosity - What's Inside the Cube? Like a big game of Pass the Parcel (but without any sweets - shame on you Molyneux), players/lab rats have clicked their way through nearly 300 layers since the app launched last November, leaving just 50 to get through until Peter Molyneux himself jumps out in a sexy outfit at the end. Alternative, less terrifying potential contents include: a miniature black hole, a really big Graze box, lots and lots of money. We just don't know - but at the current rate of unwrapping we will on the 21st of May, which is coincidentally the day Microsoft is set to show off its latest console.

Molyneux himself has promised that the contents of the cube will change someone's life forever, suggesting that he's either going to shower the successful cube-delver with an amazing gift, or break both their legs or something. I wouldn't be too surprised either way. Developer 22cans recently updated the free app by giving players the ability to buy back parts of the cube - but it seems Molyneux's now ready to bring the experiment to a close. Speaking to Wired , he said that "I think six months is a long time for this to go on. We're on the cusp of it being forgotten about."

To help players along, 22cans dropped a 'virtual bomb' on the cube, reducing it to just 50 layers. As clickers get closer to the end, the team will go into 'Cube Watch' (thanks Eurogamer ), meaning someone will be observing the experiment closely for any funny business, 24 hours a day. There will also be a countdown timer added, to make things extra tense.

22cans is currently working on the Kickstarter-funded god game Project Godus , which may sprout an alpha version at around the same time Curiosity comes to a close. So get clicking, people - that dead clown isn't going to discover itself.

Tom loves exploring in games, whether it’s going the wrong way in a platformer or burgling an apartment in Deus Ex. His favourite game worlds—Stalker, Dark Souls, Thief—have an atmosphere you could wallop with a blackjack. He enjoys horror, adventure, puzzle games and RPGs, and played the Japanese version of Final Fantasy VIII with a translated script he printed off from the internet. Tom has been writing about free games for PC Gamer since 2012. If he were packing for a desert island, he’d take his giant Columbo boxset and a laptop stuffed with PuzzleScript games.