The boomer shooter post a few days ago got me thinking: some video game genre names just suck.
My least favorite is “character action”. There are much better fitting names for the genre that have been tossed around the internet, like spectacle fighter or stylish action. All action games have characters, so the name has the vagueness of “Role playing game” without the genre itself being vague. And if I see someone use it, I instantly know that that person has either not been on the internet enough to hear the better names, or just doesn’t care.
On the other hand, “Mascot horror” fits its genre like a glove. I generally don’t like the actual games in the genre, most of them just feel like cashing in on a trend, but there is the occasional one that has some good creative ideas. But the name itself practically tells one everything they need to know about the genre: Marketed towards kids, featuring a main mascot, and everything in that game being centered around that mascot, which becomes scary enough that it looks spooky but not enough that kids won’t play it.
Also the -likes just suck. All that they tell you is that a game is like other game. I don’t even think that a tenth of rogue like fans have actually played rogue, which is understandable since the genre has spread out so much.
So, what are yours?
(Edits cause I sounded like a prick)
Favorite: Metroidvania. It’s kind of a simple name since it mashes Metroid and Castlevania but it’s always been very straightforward. It’s a cool name that says everything you need it to say about the game usually. It’s broad enough to be a genre, but specific enough that you know exactly what you’re in for.
Least favorite: ARPG (Action RPG). It bothers me a lot that it means “diablo clone” and not an RPG with action in it. I assume back in the day they used to call it ARPG because a game that isn’t turnbased was novel, but boy did it not age well. Is dark souls not an action RPG? The name’s very misleading.
wait what? i’ve always used arpg to mean “rpg or rpg-adjacent game with realtime combat rather than turn-based”. dark souls, witcher, deus ex etc. i’d all call arpgs
I mean, look at the steam tags for arpg (not that steam tags are a great metric)
Yeah steam tags are never really accurate. ARPG now means specifically diablo clone, if you search for it you’ll see articles like https://www.pcgamer.com/best-action-rpg-pc/ which talk about ARPGs only in the context of diablo clones.