10 Secret Ways Video Games Totally Waste Your Time

10. Forced Walking Sections

One of the more common gaming tropes to emerge in the last decade-or-so is the "forced walk" - that is, a typically on-rails sequence in which the player is forced to walk slowly through a linear area while a support character dumps heaps of exposition on their lap.

Now, the forced walking section isn't always a total waste of time - in fact, it can give players a welcome breather between intense combat sections - but it does prove immensely frustrating when players just want to get down to business.

Some of the more egregious offenders include Gears of War, Assassin's Creed, and Red Dead Redemption 2 to name just a few.

While these sequences are usually infrequent enough, they nevertheless feel like an arbitrary, unnecessary attempt to hold the player back, bringing the game's momentum to a literal slow-crawl in the process.

When repeated numerous times over the course of a 10-20 hour campaign it can amount to a decent chunk of time wasted, all because the devs couldn't find a more interesting or creative way to unfurl the plot.