10 Worst Things Video Games Made You Pay For

As Harry Potter fans will know, both Ron Weasley and Harry himself may have perished at the hands (or rather, tendrils) of the Devil’s Snare plant in the first instalment without Hermione Granger.

They were incredibly lucky that mobile title Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery wasn’t set during their time at the magical school, because it could certainly be time consuming to escape Devil’s Snare in that game. Time consuming or expensive.

Now, granted, it’s unfair to single out Hogwarts Mystery for its energy system (pay to purchase more energy or wait until it recharges before playing any more), because these systems are common in free-to-play mobile titles.

However, the sheer infamous brutality of this particular moment is without parallel.

The encounter with the Devil’s Snare occurs early in the game, and ‘tugging at the vines’ is an energy-intensive process. The visual of your avatar struggling in the midst of the deadly plant is one that will stick with you, and though more activities were later added that help to replenish this energy (such as interacting with in-game pets), this is one of the most worst examples of forcing microtransactions around.