9 Most Overdone Clichés In Modern Video Games

4. The "Skeleton With The Audio Diary"

First done as "skeleton with a diary" in the Elder Scrolls games, once Bioshock injected narrative by way of audio diaries, that has become THE way to do "environmental storytelling".

Audio diaries are a great way to highlight a wider character pool for any title, but having it so every character spills out the relevant information to your quest as their final words? That's the trope we're seeing left, right and centre.

The Last of Us 2, Assassin's Creed, Fallout 76, The Surge 2, Prey - even DOOM Eternal. What's worse is making you stand there, waiting for dialogue to finish, as chances are if you move forward some element of gameplay or a cutscene trigger will interrupt what's being said.

Obviously there are so many other ways to bolster your game's narrative or world, than forcing us to stop and take it in. Give us abandoned homesteads, clashes between NPCs, signature parts of the world itself or remnants of ancient battles. So many teams fall back on the "skeleton/audio diary" combo, rather than come up with anything original.