A lot are brilliant, but when you’re looking to replay a game, whether it’s for the second or tenth time, not being able to skip those opening bits can get a little tiring. Of course, when the opening is annoying, it’s much more agonizing.

Here are 14 unskippable parts in video games that probably dissuade you from replaying them.

Episode 0: Prologue: Awakening – Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain

The opening hour of Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain is a doozy, but instrumental in setting up the entire story. It sees Venom Snake waking up in a hospital and falling in and out of consciousness. Of course, it’s not long before his enemies find him, first sending Quiet to assassinate him. Fortunately, a mysterious individual named Ishmael saves him, and Venom Snake crawls slowly through the hallways as chaos erupts in the hospital.

After encountering the Third Child and the Man on Fire, Venom Snake slowly finds his footing and proceeds to sneak around, evading detection from the enemy. They flee the hospital, securing an ambulance to escape the Man on Fire but are assailed by an attack helicopter and enemy soldiers before crashing. When things seem dire, they’re saved by the Third Child and a flaming whale (no, seriously).

Before the Third Child and the Man on Fire can attack Venom Snake (while riding their sweet flaming pegasus), he’s rescued by Ocelot and given a shotgun to stop their pursuers. The chase runs for a while, and the two fall off a crumbling cliff to end the episode.

Even as an example of deft pacing and mixing exhilarating action with tense stealth, the prologue is one long cinematic set piece. You’re not given complete control until the next episode to experiment with the new mechanics and sandbox elements. Jumping straight into Episode 1 on a new playthrough would have been appreciated.

Mindblowing Knife – Dead Island

Developer Techland’s Dead Island is a game that was showered with praise by both fans and critics upon its launch back in 2011 and for good reason, with one of them being its great offerings of tools that players can use to smack zombies in the face. Slashing zombies with Mindblowing Knife will cause their heads to explode thanks to its 100% critical hit chance, making it one of the best weapons to crowd control zombies or better yet, kill them in one fell swoop.

The Division – Door Closing

When The Division was first revealed to the world, it was completely from what ended up being released. The brutal survival-based title with PvP that could seemingly happen anywhere gave way to a looter shooter with more cover-based gameplay. It wasn’t all that bad – the transition resulted in one of the biggest new IP launches of the generation next to Bungie’s Destiny. However, before launch, fans expected one detail to carry over into the final game – the animation of your Agent dynamically closing a car’s door.

As one moved in cover, any open car door they passed by would be closed by the player character. They simply reached out and nonchalantly shut it. Thankfully, this little bit of detail didn’t just make the jump to the full release – Ubisoft Massive even tracked the number of car doors closed during the beta and also added an Achievement for it in the final game.

Changing Mouse Sensitivity

The most obvious thing you’d probably do when loading up an FPS for the first time is changing the mouse sensitivity. Key bindings are also important but achieving that perfect mix of hip-fire and ADS sensitivity which is neither too twitchy nor too slow is important. Of course, you could also just rip off your favorite Rainbow Six Siege, Overwatch etc streamer’s sensitivity because the act of choosing is a nightmare. We won’t judge.

DLC Required

Remember how Frank West valiantly sacrificed himself at the end of Dead Rising 4 so that Vicky and Brad could escape? Yeah, that’s not the “true” ending. Purchasing the Frank Rising DLC reveals that West actually became a zombie, got better and then maybe escaped (or not, depending on your choices). Unfortunately this wouldn’t be the first time that a game’s “true” ending would be gated behind DLC – see Asura’s Wrath, also conveniently published by Capcom.

Choking Weed – Gradius 3

It’s bad enough that you have to shoot past a weed-infested level with killer plants extending from the floor and ceiling to hit you. But then you come across Choking Weed, whose Venus Flytrap-style mouth opens up to actually suck you in. Fortunately, the rate at which its jaws close is slow enough to evade. Just be careful when it suddenly decides to dip forward.

Kojima Productions’ Death Stranding is out this Summer for PC courtesy of 505 Games. The PC version’s first trailer showcased exclusive features like Ultra-wide screen support, Photo Mode and more. However, we also get a look at some strange collaboration content with Valve’s Software’s Half-Life, namely some Headcrab headwear.

The Gravity Gloves appearing in Half-Life: Alyx will also be obtainable in-game. As it turns out, these items aren’t just cosmetic – director Hideo Kojima revealed on Twitter that each one has a “special feature.” What those features are remains to be seen but expect something similar to the Otter Hood earned from completing a delivery for Conan O’Brien which allowed Sam to swim faster.

Death Stranding releases on June 2nd for PC and will utilize Denuvo DRM. It’s not the last collaboration between Kojima and actor Norman Reedus though. Reedus recently spoke about Kojima and how they were in talks to “do other stuff.” Stay tuned for more details on what that could mean in the future.

In the DS PC ver trailer, what Sam is wearing is called the Headcrab and Gravity Gloves from Half-Life. Since those are collaboration items, each one has a special feature. See the comparison of Half-Life: Alyx and DEATH STRANDING below.
Pre-Order now:https://t.co/TxRuNL91u2 pic.twitter.com/6R42eqe4hT

— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) March 12, 2020

Teases for March aside, Kojima Productions has something concrete to announce for the Summer. Death Stranding will be releasing on June 2nd for PC on the Epic Games Store and Steam courtesy of 505 Games. The first trailer for the PC version can be seen below, though it notes that game footage isn’t final.

Along with seeing the game in glorious 60 frames per second (which could likely go even higher), Ultra-wide monitor support is also confirmed. There’s also a dedicated Photo Mode for taking some truly outrageous shots. Look for this to be added to the PS4 version as a free update.

However, the most outrageous inclusion is content from Valve’s Half-Life franchise. This amounts to a Headcrab that protagonist Sam Bridges can have on his head. We suspect this particular piece of content won’t be making it to the Epic Games Store release.

Those who purchase the game at launch will receive a digital version of “The Art of Death Stranding“, the Expanded Edition of the original score which includes 10 unreleased tracks and a Ludens mask sunglasses. You’ll receive a gold and silver power skeleton, all-terrain skeleton and level 2 armor plate as well. For more details on Death Stranding, check out our review here.

This March was once covered like crazy, but a series of delays has cleared it up considerably. One game that’s still scheduled to hit on the month is the return of the legendary Half-Life series with the VR-focused Half-Life: Alyx. The title is set in-between the first and second games, but there’s hints that there may be some actual sequel tucked away in there somewhere. If you haven’t played the previous titles, or just need a brush up, now’s the perfect time.

Valve announced that until the game releases in March, the previous games in the series are free to play on PC via Steam. That includes Half-Life, Half-Life 2 and both Half-Life 2 post-release episodes, as well as Half-Life: Opposing Force, Blue Shift and Team Fortress Classic. That’s a lot of games to get through by March, so get cracking.

Half-Life: Alyx will release for PC as a VR-only title sometime in March. The previous Half-Life games will be free until that time.

2020 is here, and it’s promising a lot of big gaming events. Not only is the beginning of the year absolutely stacked with big releases, next generation consoles will see out the year’s end. But one big event that was unexpected entirely was the announced return of Half-Life with the VR title Half-Life: Alyx. It’s scheduled to come this year, and one of the most iconic characters from the franchise has a special message for us.

Mike Shapiro, the voice actor for the mysterious G-Man, posted a video via his official Twitter account, in-character. G-Man wishes us a happy New Year’s, hoping we haven’t forgotten him. He also ominously says that we need to prepare for consequences. Those who have played through all the Half-Life 2 material will catch the reference in the last part.

Half-Life: Alyx is scheduled to be released sometime in March for PC and will be playable only via VR. The game is apparently being considered the next entry in the series and not just a mere spin-off, so it’ll be interesting if the game does actually move the narrative forward to some degree.

https://twitter.com/mikeshapiroland/status/1211864527316357121