10 Outdated Video Game Design Tropes That Must Die

4. The Hero "Almost" Falls To Their Death

The action-adventure genre loves to tease players by throwing them into mortal peril as much as possible, but too often these games rehash the same tired shtick to the point that it rouses more of a groan than a gasp.

The Uncharted and Tomb Raider reboot franchises are both terribly guilty of this, of leaving the protagonist hanging gingerly off a cliff or only barely able to reach a platform, or hell, even have the platform crumble away beneath them.

We as players know that the game isn't just going to randomly kill the hero out of nowhere, so these desperation beats ultimately come across incredibly hollow.

At best, it typically requires the player to spam a few buttons in order to free themselves, and within a few hours of play, it quickly feels totally played-out.