10 More Pointless Video Game Mechanics Nobody Used
7. Horses - The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild
A possibly controversial choice now with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's horses.
Breath of the Wild is a game that, above all else, promotes player freedom, to go about Link's adventure however you desire, and while a horse might sound like a useful vehicle in theory, given the game's emphasis on vertical traversal it's easy to go most of the adventure without using them much at all.
This isn't one of those open world games where you're endlessly riding around long, winding paths on your way to the next objective: there's so much for players to see and explore at any given opportunity that you'd just be constantly hopping off your steed anyway.
Plus, without the ability to quickly summon horses from anywhere on the map, it can feel a bit like busy-work to even get them in your vicinity at all.
Unless they're needed for a quest, Breath of the Wild's horses don't serve much of a purpose, especially if you max out your stamina and can just sprint everywhere.
While some might enjoy riding horses for the sheer sake of the act itself, the mechanic doesn't present the discernible gameplay advantage you'd reasonably expect.