Quick-time Event

A "Quick-time Event" (QTE) is an event during gameplay whereby the player must act in a certain manner to survive, or for the remainder of the game to take place in a certain way. The first instance of a QTE was Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, where the player would be forced to decide on two outcomes within a time limit, which may effect the progression of the story. An example of this is when the player encounters the Nemesis on the bridge - do you jump into the water or push the pursuer off?

Later QTEs in Resident Evil 4 involved button-pressing - eg. to escape a boulder. In this game, failure to press the right buttons at the right time will lead to Leon's death.