Is essentially the animation version of ICantReachIt for climbing characters. Often results in the character making a poor attempt at climbing up it when, on the intended path, they'll throw all their energy into it. * '''The Frictionless Ledge''' - a particularly lazy method of boxing the player in by simply not allowing the character to jump up to and/or grab a ledge that they would normally be able to. * '''The Frictionless Hill''' - a slope of arbitrary steepness onto which you can jump only to slide off as if the thing were coated in an industrial lubricant.
* '''The Impassable Forest''' - a sparse congregation of vegetation, apparently sporting a force field that expels player characters. * '''The Unclearable Debris''' - a pile of rubble of some description that is apparently both solid enough that you can't move any of it, yet unstable enough that the game won't let you even consider climbing over it. * '''The Indestructible Fallen Log''' - A fallen tree which, despite having nuclear weapons and space-warping magic at your fingertips, you can't even chip. Bonus points if it looks like it was made from cheap wood 200 years ago (or even worse, if it's already slightly ajar). * '''The Indestructible Adamantium Door''' - a door that only can be opened in cutscenes or by the MasterOfUnlocking.
The series as a whole frequently uses frictionless hills, indestructible fallen logs/doors, uncrossable water/quicksand, and impassable foliage. Which you nevertheless cannot climb, for a game which features all sorts of climbing (and actual ladders) in other situations. With vertical and ''horizontal'' bars, which look like they could be climbed like a ladder. ** In one level of ''VideoGame/TombRaider: Anniversary'', ''VideoGame/TombRaiderAnniversary'', you come across several cages. This will, of course, force the player to go the long way around even if there is a shorter, more obvious route if only Lara wasn't so fixated on only interacting with white painted objects. Grab onto a random ledge with a smear of white paint? No problem. ** In the 2015 2013 reboot, Lara is incapable of surmounting any obstacle that isn't painted white. Lara can't get past them without finding the switch to open them, even though she's strong enough to drag large crates and has a jumping ability to rival ]. * ''VideoGame/TombRaider'': ''Franchise/TombRaider'': ** The original ] has "doors" which are no more than a few two-by-fours nailed together into a gate, barely as high as Lara's tall, and with plenty of room to be climbed over.
** In one level of ''VideoGame/TombRaider: Anniversary'', you come across several cages. ** In the 2015 reboot, Lara is incapable of surmounting any obstacle that isn't painted white. * ''VideoGame/TombRaider'': ** The original has "doors" which are no more than a few two-by-fours nailed together into a gate, barely as high as Lara's tall, and with plenty of room to be climbed over.