10 Times Video Game Realism Went Too Far

1. Hiking In Real-Time (Shenmue II)

Red Dead Redemption 2
Sega

In most games, moving between locations is a relatively speedy process that the developers can handle in a number of ways, whether it's a loading screen, a cutscene, or a fast travel system.

Shenmue II, on the other hand, decided not to bother with any of that time-saving efficiency towards the end of its story, when protagonist Ryo Hazuki is told to travel to Bailu Village in Guilin, where his father's killer is thought to be heading.

At this point, you'd expect the game to fade to black, cut directly to the village, or even play a quick cutscene that shows Ryo travelling, but instead, Shenmue II forces you to hike there in real-time, a journey that takes around two hours to complete.

There are a couple of small things for you to do along the way (like the extremely exciting task of... collecting firewood!), but for the most part, you're just walking through the wilderness, and needless to say, it's a dull affair.

Hiking is beneficial in real life because you're getting some actual fresh air and exercise, but all you're getting here are underwhelming, Dreamcast-level tree graphics, and boring dialogue. For two hours. Thanks, Shenmue II.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for almost nine years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. He has been writing and video editing for 10+ years, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers and uploading them to YouTube (they're admittedly a bit rusty by today's standards). If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order or to tell you about the making of 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks, Danny is the person to ask.