Hidden instant failure clauses are my bane. I also don't like moon logic.

Yes, some games expect you to do or not do something without prompting and if you fail this little task you will find out later the game is unwinnable. Once this was an adventure game thing, but it is spreading to other genres. Basically anything with RPG elements can fall into this. I count "always bad ending" as "instant fail" in this case as well if one action can ruin your ending no matter how well you did.

Moon logic is thankfully slowly dying out. Sadly, it still shows up sometimes, especially in puzzle or adventure games.
Basically, it's when a series of extremely obtuse steps is needed to make it through something. There's tons of examples on TV tropes if you want to see how inane it gets: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MoonLogicPuzzle

Adventure games... I want to like you. I really do. Your cute art and clever stories make me smile! Especially you retro games out there. But that moon logic and those instant fail clauses turn me away every time.

This reminds me of another issue that some WRPGs (including, for example, the Baldur's Gate series) have:

When a party member dies, they drop all their equipment. Then, even if you revive the character, you have to pick up the character's equipment back up and re-requip all of it. It makes me want to reload when somebody dies, even if resurrection is readily available (as it is in Baldur's Gate 2).

Another thing I don't like is harsh punishments for dying. This can include permanent stat loss on resurrection, or it can include an automatic autosave into a worse position (in games with no manual saves, which is again a pet peeve of mine).

Significant loss of progress, combined with tedious repetition.

That includes:

- Permadeath.
- Insta-fail in stealth sections.
- No savegame system, not even when you'd want to quit and continue another time (I won't be held "hostage" by any game, especially not when it's unclear how long I'd have to play on to reach the ending).
- Sparse checkpoint placement.
- Full levels without checkpoints at all and very limited health/lives.

There are exceptions to the above, e.g. when the levels are short, the game let's you jump back into the action immediateIy, and gameplay is varied enough that you can try different approaches, like in Hotline Miami. Or when you can judge how long it will take to beat a level and they give you enough leeway that death just becomes a vague threat and not really an issue (Shadowgrounds etc.). That's still acceptable (even if only grudgingly sometimes). Also, I don't shy away from rogue-likes and -lites in general, but I'm unlikely to beat them or even stick to them for long. But if you end up doing the same thing over and over again, without too much difficulty, and for a longer time, just to get back to the point where you failed (and are likely to fail again), I don't feel like putting up with it.

And my second pet peeve are scripted boss fights that lock you into an arena and require you to spot patterns and go along with them. Stressful and boring at the same time. I don't shun games because of them but I hate that they're so popular among game designers (and players? not sure). And if games combine them with the first pet peeve listed above, and possibly a third one, which are cutscenes slowing down the action each time you give it another try, then I'm out (e.g. Dark Souls, or worse, something like Titan Souls that just lives on this one terrible gimmick and, contrary to DS, doesn't have any redeeming qualities to remotely make up for it).

Real-time strategy games. Accursed gimmick, taking something as pure and classy as turn-based strategy and turning it into a rushed clickfest. I look at e-sports like Starcraft with its doped-up Korean players that spam LMB like their life depends on it and I ask myself: ''why does this exist?'' RTS, ruining potentially interesting games since the first Dune.

Hate respawns. Stopped me from playing system shock 2. I know it makes areas worth revisiting in fallout 3 but I figure they should allow me to clear the area and store my stuff. Just returning to the same location and fighting the same spawn is dull. If they had a better system of repopulating, maybe with randomized raiders I would be happier, bearing in mind that some npcs like tinker tom are permanently dead and never show up again.

Just thought of one more gimmicky game feature that bugs me. Inventory management. I don't like having to stop playing a game to try to play tetris fitting different sized blocks into a grid to try to maximize inventory space. This is especially annoying in games where item collection is a key component of the gameplay. Just let me pick as many mushrooms as I want, why have you decided that a weight limit was the hill of realism you want to die on when I can shoot fireballs with my hands?

I hate it when an adventure game removes all the gear you've collected because "daft reason". Give me back MY LOOT!!!!

Oh, these last two remind me of something even worse - not sure if you can call it a gimmick, but it's quite a common occurrence (especially in NWN campaigns) - and that is a combination of the above: RPGs removing all your meticulously sorted inventory and equipment, because you get thrown into a dungeon or something, only to give it back to you a few minutes later, unsorted and unequipped (with the additional bonus of you having to set up all the quickslots for removed items again as well).

Stamina meters that drain too quickly.

Driving sims,

AI which has better braking, acceleration and grip (e.g. alien levels).

First lap where AI gets stuck and bottlenecks at the first bend (e.g. grinds to a halt) kind of breaks the immersion... Fine when up and running so can overlook.

No crashing, when real motor sport has loads of cars/bikes running offline, binning etc. Some sims were excellent at this from a single player perspective (Indy 500).

Well, Bladed weapons will dull. But they won't get to a point that they won't work at all. I use and maintain many tools/weapons and believe me. They need repair and work every now and again. But they are more substantial than the cardboard tube that your wrapping paper comes in.

perma death

perma death and randomly generated rouge likes

limited saves- screw that, your not the boss of me, ill skip your game instead

bad qte's, some are done ok and can be exciting, most are rubbish and you miss the wonderful graphical animations waiting for the next button to push

end game encounters where the devs ditch your carefully chosen and complimentary geared and leveled team to force you to go solo or with another new companion on you ..... ahem ember, divinity 2.....

food needs *not crafted food for buffs, gear decay

last but not least................. freakin escort missions with idiot npcs


oh wait..... cant forget all time hated gimmick, micro-transactions

For those who hate gimmicks of permadeath/sparce waypoint saves, randomised environments, relying on consumables, and item wear, to name a few, I challenge you plunge into the deep end and at least play The Flame in the Flood once in your lifetime. These aren't so much "gimmicks" but actual game mechanics that are well suited to the game. It's a survival game after all, so your journey down-river (especially in the early days) is very impacted by the generation of the river, the generation of supplies, and the generation of wildlife. It's resource-management at its best, and there is no shame in dying in-game for any player. When playing endless mode, the ultimate outcome IS death, as resources continue to get rarer, or if you happen to get so proficient in playing that you become a River God and further distance is no longer a challenge, then you eventually quit out of boredom.

It's so contrary to the game mechanics I usually like, that it's made all the more special that its near the top of my favourite games of all time.

Everything except class choices can be respecced in Grim Dawn. (Early versions didn't allow refunding of the mastery bar. The AoM expansion added attribute point respecs.)