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Press X to not die during a cutscene -- gaming's most love-it-or-hate-it mechanic.
Quick Time Events are timed button prompts that appear during scripted sequences, requiring players to press the correct button within a brief window or face failure. They were designed to make cinematic moments interactive rather than passive, bridging the gap between gameplay and cutscene. The problem is that they often feel like a different (worse) game interrupting the one you were playing. Good QTEs are rare but do exist -- they use the game's actual controls, give generous timing, and enhance rather than replace the moment. Bad QTEs are instant-fail gotchas that send you back to a checkpoint.
Example
Resident Evil 4's boulder-running QTE is infamous -- you're watching a cinematic and suddenly need to mash buttons or die instantly. God of War's boss finishers are QTEs done right, using them to let you participate in spectacular kills that would be impossible as normal gameplay. Shenmue pioneered the mechanic, and the entire Yakuza series uses QTEs during dramatic confrontations to keep players engaged in story scenes.
Why it matters
QTEs represent a fundamental tension in game design between authorial control and player agency. They've fallen out of favor in AAA games partly because modern engines can make scripted sequences actually playable. But they persist in specific contexts because sometimes the spectacle you want to show can't be achieved through normal gameplay mechanics.
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