9 Video Game Innovations That Happened Earlier Than You Think

3. Quick-Time Events - NOT Shenmue Or God Of War

Actually: Dragon's Lair

Remember quick-time events?? The idea of "making a cutscene playable" was yet another wrinkle in the notion of interactive entertainment becoming more cinematic and less arcady. When God of War re-introduced" the idea in 2005 after the flop that was 1999's Shenmue, we embarked on a solid decade of games throwing buttons on-screen during action sequences, with instant death coming your way if you couldn't keep up.

While the death of quick-time events feels like it came in 2017's Spider-Man - a game whose gameplay trailers were met with all-out positivity, save for a number of QTEs - the birth of the mechanic itself goes all the way back to Dragon's Lair.

1983's Dragon's Lair is still a gorgeously animated set of cutscenes, stitched together with nigh-impossibly tight timing windows to see the whole thing through. Transport this into the 2000s with inputs that weren't trying to fleece you for cash in the arcade though, and it would've been remembered by FAR more people.