Square Enix

Video game cutscenes can exist to serve a number of purposes. Beyond just being a convenient way of progressing the story, particularly impressive cutscenes can serve as a reward for player progress or even just to immerse them further into the atmosphere of the game.

While cutscenes have traditionally been pre-rendered, animated or live action, advances in graphics technology means that many modern video game cutscenes are rendered entirely in-game. Typically, a cutscene completely removes control from the player, although a select few grant a certain amount of interactivity. In particular, the God of War series became known for its use of cinematic cutscenes.

Pac-Man is the game most commonly cited as containing the first ever cutscene, in the form of its intermissions featuring the ghosts chasing Pac-Man and vice-versa. The term itself was originally coined by Ron Gilbert in reference to the cutscenes in his adventure game Maniac Mansion.