This video, from Extra Credits, does a terrific job assembling the case against cutscenes: they’re never as good as real movies, they take the player out of the game, they frequently violate the rules of the game, etc.

The author’s point that it’s wrong to tell a designer to never use cutscenes is well-taken; why limit the tools available to any creative process? Thats said, notice that the examples provided in the video for effective context-setting cut-scenes are all from PlayStation 1 games, all more than a decade old. As the naturalism of games catches up to the ability of artists and designer to make prerendered visuals, the only effective use for the cutscene may be to emphasize a lack of player control, as the video also suggests.