Genre
Also said as Game type, Category
A 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.
The name sets what a player expects before they start. Knowing the promise lets you keep it, or break it on purpose, instead of by accident.
Say it
“Our genre is deckbuilder, so players will expect a run, a growing deck and a choice of card after each fight. If we drop the run, we need to say so on the store page.”
Where you’ve seen it
Early first-person shooters were simply called Doom clones, after the 1993 game that set their pattern. Roguelike, metroidvania and soulslike are still named this way, after the games they copy.
Not to be confused with setting
A setting is where the game takes place, such as space or the Wild West. A genre is what you do there. A space game may be a shooter, a 4X or a farming game.