Press x to skip: it’s time we retired the video game cutscene

Non-interactive cinematic sequences remove control from our hands at games’ most emotional moments. Can’t players be trusted to take part in stories?

At the close of Metal Gear Solid 4, just after Snake pulverises Liquid Ocelot, there is series of cutscenes that never ends. Well, that’s not strictly true. It does end – after 71 minutes – it’s just that I’ve never watched that far. I understand that the game’s director Hideo Kojima is a committed cinephile who has drawn much of his inspiration from movies, but I don’t care. Those are minutes of my life I’ll never get back.

I also don’t care for the 20-minute cinematic sequences dotted through Xenoblade Chronicles or Final Fantasy, or the seemingly hundreds of non-interactive scenes detailing every single plot point in the Assassin’s Creed adventures. It’s needlessly aggressive to rob the player of agency, then bully them into paying attention for prolonged periods. I think it’s time we retired the whole convention.