World 12

Genres

The names for kinds of game, what each one promises the player, and a tiny playable version of every one.

A genre name is the shortest brief there is. Say "metroidvania" and a designer already knows about locked doors, a map and going back. It is also a promise to the player, who arrives expecting particular verbs and a particular loop, and who will feel cheated if they do not get them. Each page here holds a small working version of the genre, because the fastest way to learn what a genre is really about is to play it with one rule turned off.

GenreA family of games that share verbs and a core loop. Film genres are named for mood or setting, such as horror or western. Game genres are usually named for what you do, or after the game that first did it.
PlatformerYou move a character through space by running and jumping across gaps and hazards. It promises mastery of your own body: every death is a jump you can see how to do better.
MetroidvaniaOne large connected map, where new abilities open paths you already saw and could not take. It promises the pleasure of remembering a door. The name joins Metroid and Castlevania.
Bullet hellA shooter whose screen fills with slow, patterned enemy fire that you thread through. It promises calm inside chaos. Your real hitbox is far smaller than your ship, which makes it possible.
Bullet heavenYou only move. Your weapons fire by themselves at an endless swarm, you collect the gems they drop, and each level offers a choice of upgrade. It promises to turn a weak character into a screen-filling storm in minutes.
Fighting gameTwo characters, one screen, health bars and rounds. It promises a conversation between two people, conducted in punches, where you learn to read your opponent as much as your own buttons.
Rhythm gamePress in time with the music, and you are judged by how close you were to the beat. It promises the feeling of playing the music yourself, even if you cannot play anything.
Puzzle gameA game whose challenge is working something out, not doing it quickly. It promises the moment when the answer arrives and you feel clever, and that feeling is yours, because you got there.
Match-3Swap two neighbouring pieces to line up three of a kind. They vanish, the pieces above fall, and new lines may form by themselves. It promises small and constant rewards, plus sudden lucky cascades.
Stealth gameYou avoid being seen rather than fighting. Guards have vision and hearing that you learn and exploit. It promises the tension of being one mistake away, and the satisfaction of never being noticed at all.
RoguelikeA turn-based dungeon crawl on a grid, generated anew each run, where death is permanent. It promises that you can never just memorise your way through: only what you have learned comes with you.
RogueliteTakes the runs and the permanent death of a roguelike, and adds something that stays: currency or unlocks that make the next run stronger. It promises that no attempt is wasted.
SoulslikeSlow, heavy third-person combat, where stamina limits every swing and enemies have long tells you must learn. Death drops what you were carrying where you fell. It promises that hard things can be beaten by paying attention.
Immersive simA world built from systems that follow consistent rules, in which problems have many answers and none is written in by hand. It promises that if your idea should work, it will.
JRPGA party-based role-playing game in the line of Dragon Quest: a set story and cast, turn-based menu battles, and levels that you raise by fighting. It promises a long journey with people you grow fond of.
CRPGA role-playing game in the tradition of pen and paper: you make a character from stats, and the rules, often with visible dice, decide how they do. It promises a story that answers who you chose to be.
MMOA persistent online world shared with thousands of players at once, which carries on when you log off. It promises a place, and a society, more than a story: other people are the content.
4XEmpire-building strategy, usually turn-based, whose name means explore, expand, exploit and exterminate. It promises to take you from a single settler to a world power, and it keeps you up with "one more turn".
Real-time strategyGather resources, build a base, train an army and destroy the enemy, all at once in a continuous clock. It promises to make you a general, and tests how many things you can do at the same time.
MOBATwo teams, usually of five, each control a single hero, while waves of computer-run minions march down lanes between the bases. It promises a long, deep team match in which you level up from nothing each game.
Tower defenceEnemies walk from one side to the other, and you stop them by placing towers that fire on their own. You never touch the enemies. It promises the joy of watching a plan you made work.
City builderYou lay out roads, homes and work, and a simulated population decides whether to move in. There is usually no win screen. It promises a place of your own that visibly comes alive.
DeckbuilderYou start with a small and weak deck of cards, and you improve it as you play, adding and removing cards between hands or fights. It promises the delight of watching a pile of cards become a machine.
Auto-battlerYou buy units from a shop and place them, then the battle fights itself while you watch. It promises strategy without any need for fast hands: the whole game is what you did before the fight.
Incremental gameNumbers go up, you spend them to make the numbers go up faster, and it carries on while you are away. It promises steady and absurd growth, with nothing ever taken away.
SandboxA game that gives you tools and rules but no set goal. It promises that the only limit is your idea, and what you make is why you play.
Survival craftYou arrive with nothing. Hunger and the dark keep draining you, so you gather, craft better tools, and build a shelter. It promises the slow satisfaction of turning a hostile place into your home.
Open worldOne large continuous place you can cross as you wish, doing things in nearly any order. It promises that if you can see it, you can go there.
Extraction shooterYou enter a dangerous map with your gear, grab what you can, and must reach an exit alive. If you die, you lose it all. It promises a fear that no other shooter gives you: having something to lose.
Battle royaleDozens of players land on a map with nothing, scavenge weapons, and fight until only one remains, while a shrinking safe zone forces them together. It promises that this match, you might be the one.
Walking simulatorYou walk through a place and piece together a story from what you find. You cannot fail, and there is little else to do. It promises the attention you would give to a good film, in a place you can stand inside.
Visual novelA story told in text, over character portraits and backgrounds, with occasional choices that send it down different branches. It promises the depth of a novel, and the sense that you changed how it ended.
Gacha gameA game whose loop is earning currency through chores and spending it on random draws for characters. The name comes from gachapon, the Japanese capsule-toy machines. It promises the thrill of a rare pull, and a roster to show for it.