“On genre naming,” or “Metroidvania == Doom Clone”

video games
1

The industry outgrew the term “Doom Clone” and invented new terms such as “first person shooter” — and more recently “boomer shooter.”

Why have other genres named after games caught on?

Metroidvania :arrow_right: search-action game
Soulsborne/Souls-like :arrow_right: careful action / cautioncore game
Roguelike :arrow_right: run-based game
[Extremely cursed term trigger warning]

Metroidbrainia :arrow_right: Knowledge-based game

We have so many verbs and adjectives we could be using to describe games. Animal Well could be a knowledge-based search-em-up.

Another peeve involves the term RPG which has devolved to the point of uselessness. A game has “RPG mechanics” if it has stats, equipment, or levels. It has “RPG mechanics” if it has turn-based battles. An action game is an RPG if it has the name “final fantasy” on it. But weirdly, a game like Elsinore that mainly has narrative decision making and none of the other things (actual Role playing) gets put under a more “narrative game” type of umbrella.

Stats/equipment/levels :arrow_right: buildcrafting mechanics

The term “Puzzle game” has also become overly broad to the point of uselessness. Bejeweled and Tetris are lumped in the same category as Myst and Return of the Obra Dinn. If you are looking to scratch a high score itch by arranging shapes or colors, good luck finding anything by browsing the “puzzle” section of Steam.

What other gaming terms need fixing?

2 Likes
2

I would prefer puzzle platformer more than knowledge based game is we’re getting into nitty gritty genre mincing.

3

I think the pod mentioned this one when talking about “genre” vs. “format” but I’ve never liked the amorphousness of the “horror game,” which tells you nothing about how you’re engaging with the game and only what emotion it’s designed to elicit from the player.

Resident Evil is a Survival Escape[1] game, Resident Evil 4 is an action/adventure game (still too vague…). Both games are scary, but imo a game’s mood doesn’t need to be part of the genre name (would be like calling The Witcher a “medieval RPG”).

  1. Escape being short for Escape the Room ↩︎

4

Maybe “puzzle-solving” for games with solutions and “puzzle-maxing” for your Tetris, your Lumines and your Mixolumia?