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A Guide To Different Gaming Genres

By Victoria Myerscough @thebookthefilm · On September 9, 2020

Video games have developed considerably over the years, with thousands and thousands of options for people to choose from today. As time has gone on, we have seen a number of new gaming genres develop as a consequence. In this blog post, we are going to delve into these gaming genres in further detail, helping you to get a better understanding of the options that are available to you.

Puzzle games

Puzzle games have been popular prior to the advancement of video gaming technology. However, as technology has progressed, a lot of traditional puzzles have moved onto digital platforms. These games are designed to test your logic or general knowledge. These are fun games to play with another person, as you can pit yourself against them to discover who is the best! Leaderboards are often a feature of these games, so you can beat your own score and determine how your own performance ranks up with others around the world. 

Sports games

Sports games are designed to simulate sports such as martial arts, football, baseball, basketball, golf, and so on. Racing games are a popular sub-division of sports games. This includes series like Gran Turismo and Forza, which involve driving racecars to see who is the fastest on track. There are also a lot of team sports games, for example, FIFA, which is the most popular football game, and Madden, which is an American football game. With these sorts of games, you can play by yourself, controlling the entire team, or you can team up with friends and enjoy a multi-player experience. 

Strategy games

Strategy games are ideal for those who want to combine the strategy of traditional board games with some sort of godlike access to all of the resources of the world. These games demand that you use a carefully developed strategy and various tactics to overcome different challenges you will face. In recent times, these games have very much moved from turn-based system games to real-time gameplay. This is a consequence of player feedback.

So, what is the difference between the two? Well, real-time strategy games demand that the player collects and maintains resources, such as bases. The player will also need to develop and advance combat units and resources. The Age of Empires series is a good example of this sort of game. Turn-based strategy relates to situations whereby players have a specified period of time in order to complete a certain action. 

Of course, there are other sub-divisions within this genre; you don’t merely have a choice between turn-based strategy games and real-time strategy games. You also have the likes of 4x, which refers to any type of strategy video game whereby the four main goals fit into these boxes: explore, expand, exploit, and extermination, The Civilization series, by Sid Meier, is probably the most famous of all of the 4x strategy games out there at the moment.

Simulation games

Of course, we cannot speak about different game genres without mentioning simulation games. Simulation games have one important thing in common. All of these games have been designed for the purpose of emulating fictional or real reality, stimulating a real event or situation. Again, there are a lot of different sub-genres that are available here. Life simulation is very well-known thanks to The Sims, which happens to be one of the best-selling video games of all-time. Simulations like this enable players to control individual elements of artificial life. You also have management and construction simulation, which SimCity falls into. This involves stimulating the management and building of an entire city, from taxing city residents to zoning and street planning.

Role-playing games

Aside from the genres that have already been discussed, role-playing games are also very popular. These games tend to feature fantasy or medieval settings, although this is not a requirement. Nevertheless, these forms of role-playing games have certainly become the most popular. This probably has a lot to do with the genre’s origin, which can be assigned to games like Dungeons & Dragons. There are a lot of takes on this genre, though, and cultural differences can play a role in this. For example, some games are categorized as JPRGs, which means Japanese-influenced, whereas others may be WRPGS, i.e. Western-influenced. 

Again, you are going to find a lot of different categories within this genre. This includes roguelikes. This is a genre that is based on the name of the game that inspired it. This is a dungeon crawler and 2d computer game from the ‘80s that was called Rogue. This game features a random level generation and text interface. In the game, to increase player stats, the player needed to overcome different obstacles and enemies. Another sub-division in this category is known as the Sandbox RPG, which is an open-world, role-playing games. These games provide some of the most engaging and immersive video game experiences you can experience, which is as a consequence of the different situations and characters that are incorporated.

Action games

Last but not least, we have action games. These are games whereby the player is at the centre of the action going on, whether this is a military war or some sort of alien attack! There are then a number of sub-genres within this, for example, you have shooter games, which enable the player to utilise a weapon to engage in the action. The aim here is typically to take out members of the opposition. Platformer games have also become very popular as well. These games have gotten this name because they tend to involve the character of the game interacting with platforms, for example, falling, jumping, or running. The Super Mario Bros games are a well-known example of this. 

So there you have it: an insight into some of the different gaming genres that are available for people to enjoy today. If you are interested in looking for a new gaming title, we hope that this has helped to give you a bit of direction regarding the options out there for you.

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Victoria Myerscough

Vikki is the Editor of The Book, The Film, The T-Shirt. She created it as a way to put her opinions out there before family and friends stopped speaking to her. She has a love of classic Hollywood Cinema, Sci-Fi and an inexplicable need to watch anything with Keanu Reeves in it, no matter how terrible. You can also find her incoherent ramblings on life, the universe and everything over on her lifestyle blog www.semicharmedlife.co.uk

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