Which unconventional game genre name will you actually defend?

[Lauren Morton]

Hey PC gamers, this week Mollie and I chose violence by inviting Harvey to talk to us about game genres. It sounds innocent enough, until someone asks what "cRPG" stands for or why "ARPG" and "action RPG" aren't the same thing. Heaven forbid we ask whether "soulslike" is a genre. This is a topic that never fails to set off a group of friends, or just our work chat, because being a curmudgeon about semantics and rules is fun sometimes. So on that note:

Which unconventional game genre name will you actually defend?​

For me, it's the "soulslike" genre. I understand why people don't like it, but let's all remember that FPS games started out as "Doom clones" long ago. Maybe soulslikes will eventually get their own proper terminology, or maybe we're stuck with the referential name forever. Either way, it definitely implies a certain list of gameplay mechanics that I find useful as a player. So tell me whether you're a defender of the metroidvanias, the roguelites, the boomer shooters, cozy games, or maybe you buy into cRPG standing for "classic RPG" now.

And as a bonus, is there a style of game that you think really needs to have a name but doesn't yet? Mollie wants to name the Phasmophobia and Lethal Company games as "party horror" which I personally love. Harvey thinks that the Disco Elysium style games need a new name other than cRPGs. And I'm still waiting for a concise way to describe games that are like Stardew Valley/Harvest Moon.

 

[Frindis]

Full-motion video point-and-click adventure game because nobody ever named it exactly that and I feel it summarizes how games like Phantasmagoria and Gabriel Knight 2: The Beast Within work. Speaking of Gabriel, I am currently playing through Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Father with the original voices of Tim Curry and Mark Hamill because that is the version you should play first even if the pixel-hunting could potentially drive you mad.

 

[Brian Boru]

soulslike … metroidvania … roguelite … boomer shooters … RPG

I'm a big defender of those and others like Fighting, Racing, Platformer, Fantasy, Sim—they save me a load of time via the 'Skip' button

is there a style of game that you think really needs to have a name but doesn't yet?

RTT name exists, but its games are usually labeled RTS for some reason, even tho the Strategy element is minimal. CoH games are a good example, great RTT games firmly labeled RTS. RTT can stand tall on its own feet, so please stop confusing us!

 

[Zloth]

Genres could be cool, but many of our genres are too old. We used to have far fewer games per year, and they were more distinct. It was really radical when Deus Ex showed up as a shooter/RPG hybrid or Thief showed up as a "first person sneaker." But now games regularly blend those genres together. I'm earning skills in Doom Eternal, for pity's sake, and making platforming jumps like I'm Lara Croft!

Me being me, I want to throw numbers all over the place. 0-9, how much time is this game spending on storytelling. 0-9, how much quick thinking is there. 0-9, how good does my reaction time need to be. 0-9, how much exploring is there. Maybe get a dozen of them together. Note these numbers are just describing what the game is trying to do, not whether it does it well. That's for reviewers!


A group of people laughing together and telling me that The Sims and Disco Elysium are the same genre? A small party telling me horrific things... party horror!!

P.S. Souls-like is going to evolve into "A-JRPG".

 

[steeleman21]

I recently saw some online discourse with people arguing over the differences between roguelike and roguelite and taking massive issue with Balatro being labelled a roguelike ("it can't be a roguelike if it's nothing like the original Rogue!!! REEEEEEEE"). If you ever catch me on this forum doing anything like that, ban me for life 😂

Genres are just another label, a shortcut to explaining what you are. They're fluid too - what was considered an action RPG 25 years ago is quite different to nowadays. And whether you agree or not, the majority typically wins - if a large group on the internet decided that Dark Souls is now a 'dark lore JRPG', you better get used to that terrible mouthful of words.

More often than not, I think of genres as a shortcut to ruling out something I'm unlikely to enjoy as opposed to - I've played a lot of FPSes, but just because a game is an FPS doesn't mean I'm necessarily drawn to it. But I've probably played certain genres enough to know they're not for me. So if I see a new game positioned as a JRPG or Soulslike? Hard pass. Tactical RTS reliant on RNG? Not my cup of tea. But hit me with an experimental cooking game with elements of metroidvania and detective crime-solving? I have no qualms with any of those genres, so consider me intrigued.

I do think boomer shooter is an embarrassing name for a genre, just inherently feels derisive and filled with malice. Like a nasty nickname at school that somehow sticks 😥 I feel we can do better with that one.

 

[Lauren Morton]

P.S. Souls-like is going to evolve into "A-JRPG".

I would like to report a game crime 😭

More often than not, I think of genres as a shortcut to ruling out something I'm unlikely to enjoy as opposed to - I've played a lot of FPSes, but just because a game is an FPS doesn't mean I'm necessarily drawn to it. But I've probably played certain genres enough to know they're not for me.

This is a great perspective! I think we all definitely do this but don't necessarily realize it's one of the benefits of genres. I know that roguelike/lites really aren't for me so no matter how much I love Supergiant's other games I'm just not going to touch Hades.

 

[Zloth]

I do think boomer shooter is an embarrassing name for a genre, just inherently feels derisive and filled with malice. Like a nasty nickname at school that somehow sticks 😥 I feel we can do better with that one.

It doesn't seem derisive to me, just wrong. The youngest folks in the Baby Boom generation were almost 30 when Doom came out. There were some playing it, but it was mostly X-Gen.

 

[PCG Jody]

I do think boomer shooter is an embarrassing name for a genre, just inherently feels derisive and filled with malice. Like a nasty nickname at school that somehow sticks 😥 I feel we can do better with that one.

I think, just like we saw happen with "walking simulator", once the creators of the games in question latch onto a genre name it loses its insulting connotation. I see enough devs call their retro FPSes boomer shooters now that I'm on board with it.

 

[Pifanjr]

Genres are just another label, a shortcut to explaining what you are. They're fluid too - what was considered an action RPG 25 years ago is quite different to nowadays. And whether you agree or not, the majority typically wins - if a large group on the internet decided that Dark Souls is now a 'dark lore JRPG', you better get used to that terrible mouthful of words.

Their definition is not just fluid over time, but also across communities. Even if a majority on the internet decides to call Dark Souls a "Dark Lore JRPG", there will be communities that will stick with Soulslike and communities that decide to use A-JRPG.

That's why I don't really rely on what genres a game is labeled as by people I don't know, because too often my definition of those genres is different.