Games that are made for the sake of making the game insread of being made to squeeze as much retention and money out of you as possible
Now thats a style that is becoming increasingly rare
Games that are made for the sake of making the game insread of being made to squeeze as much retention and money out of you as possible
Now thats a style that is becoming increasingly rare
I contend that there are more games out there now that are made for the sake of making them than ever before. It's just that fewer and fewer of these games are AAA titles. The indy scene is really what are making these games nowadays.
That or modding. Modded Minecraft is done purely because someone wanted to have the functionality of magic wands or engineering or resource processing in their lego game. It's completely unmonetized and gets extremely involved very fast. I fondly remember my nuclear reactor exploding and having to work around the irradiated zone. Good times.
the indie scene may be greater for that but is also filled with the same money making trite and on top of that constantly copying each other and barely doing anything new.
Half-assed unoptimized horror game #367992: Find the 8 pages before the tooth fairy jumpscares you!
Just follow a YouTuber with similar tastes and play the indie games they play. AAA is creatively dead
Sim games. Not THE sims but like SimTower, SimAnt, etc. There's been some attempts over the years but everyones missed the mark.
God games: the whole genre basically peaked with Populous and B&W and then just went quiet.
Space adventure games like Freelancer or X are also very rare nowadays.
I've been thinking about the disappearance of God games. I think they didn't disappear, but they evolved so much that we don't recognize them anymore.
I feel some moved into the direction that we now call "simulators", like RimWorld, the Sims, Two Point Hospital, and more. In my mind, the big difference between the God games of old and those new games is that in the older games your role as the player was explicitly defined, where in the new games it's not. In the old games, you were "playing the role of a god in that realm". The new games don't bother to tell you "who" you are in this setting. You're just the player, get on with it, play the game.
I feel like other God games moved in the direction of top down colony builders, like Against the Storm or Frostpunk. And again, I think the big difference between those games and something like Populous is that your role as the player doesn't have an explicit name in the game world. You're not a "God". But most of the rest of the trappings are there, I think.
What do you think?
Erhh.....I guess?
But when I think of a God game I really mean a game where you literally play as a god and can do god stuff.
In all of your examples the player either controls what each character does or just whoever is is command of the colony. You can't do miracles and supernatural stuff at the click of a button, you don't control nature itself, your character is a human like anyone else.
Rhythm Games like Guitar Hero, Band Hero and DJ Hero. Those were fun.
Old Bioware stuff, aka action RPG games that put importance to story, lore, companions, and my not-so-guilty pleasure: romance.
I have a lot of emotions about the upcoming DA: Dreadwold.
Simulation games, like the ones Maxis used to make (other than SimCity). SimEarth, SimAnt, SimTower, etc. Those were educational and fun.
I also once played a simulation game that realistically simulated running a shipping business where you shipped things by boat, sailing your fleet from port to port, dropping off your cargo and loading new cargo, giving the occasional bribe, etc. while avoiding bankruptcy. I think it was called "Port of Call." It was made a long time ago, and I haven't played anything quite like it since then.
Not exactly educational, but Sid Meier Pirates was also a lot of fun.
MUDs. Text based (generally RPG) games with incredibly immersive story telling, near infinite levels of character customization, and many even feature ways for players to build on the world itself.
I’m surprised it’s not more popular amongst D&D enthusiasts.
In its hey day, people spent thousands of dollars just to boost their characters on massive for-profit MUDs like those created by Iron Realms. But smaller MUDs like Ancient Anguish were just as quality.
Sadly they’re going extinct. Only a few MUDs are still actively maintained.
Third person puzzle games with an engaging story like the Space Quest series, or The Dig. Also It Came From The Desert.
3D Platformers. We get maybe one or two every few years, and most of them are usually pretty short. last big one was probably A Hat in Time. if y'all know more beyond that let me know. just grabbed Koa and the 5 Pirates of Mara.
so desperate for one i'm considering learning how to make 3D games so i can make my own lol
Arena shooters!
I encourage anyone from southeast asia to join my xonotic server ;)
Similarly FPS-Z games like Tribes (Ascend, Vengeance, 2) and Legions Overdrive.
Fortunately MidAir 2 is almost here. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1231210/Midair_2/
First-person shooters, the way they were made in the 6th and 7th gens. A campaign, probably co-op, probably with split-screen or LAN, with some versus multiplayer that repurposed some slightly-remixed locations from the campaign that you can play with approximately 4-8 players. That's all you need. Sometimes we still get some great FPS campaigns, like Half-Life: Alyx, but I haven't really gotten the kind of co-op or versus multiplayer I've been looking for for over a decade. Not everything needs to be a live service. It can be a flash in the pan multiplayer that's so good that you break it out when you have a few friends over or in a Discord call. Not every multiplayer FPS needs to be an e-sport with an online population of tens of thousands of players to matchmake with in ranked.
I also don't really get racing games for me anymore. Star Wars: Episode One Racer, Burnout Revenge, and F-Zero GX truly spoke to me, and there were a few others that were close, but for the most part, if your racing game isn't basically Mario Kart or full of real licensed cars in real places, it doesn't get made. And the ones that aren't Mario Kart don't usually get split-screen multiplayer either, which is a must-have for me. I did get Trail Out in the recent past, which is very good, and there's that game Aero GPX on the horizon to potentially give me my F-Zero fix, but the actual racing games I'm looking for are so few and far between.
Fortunately, this list used to be much longer, and all the other holdouts, like Advance Wars-esque tactics games, Resident Evil 1-esque survival horror games, Commandos-esque stealth tactics games, and a few others have all gotten their itches scratched.
What's a 6th and 7th gen? I think I'm too PCMR to understand that
The First Person Stealth Sim genre (Thief, Dishonored, etc) has been getting very little love in the last few years. Sadly the Arkane games don’t embrace it anymore; while great Prey was borderline as you really couldn’t control the stealth in many sections, and Deathloop and Red Rain are primarily short action games.
Turn based strategy. As others have said, RTS'es, as well, but TBS. Yes, Civ series isn't dead, but everything else seems to be. Master of Magic (1994) is literally one of my favorite games of all time (none of the sequels or successors measure up). Colonization, also 1994, (warning, MANY ethical issues) had a great logistic and economic model... (Just ignore eeeeeeverything about the white-washing of history/slavery/indentured servitude/genocide.) Alpha Centauri. Maybe I'm just old.
Stealth games. The last one for me was MGS5, I loved it even with its shaky story line. Hitman is really nice but it feels more like a puzzle game if that makes sense.
The tribes series, or z-axis games, where you are able to move up and down as well as the traditional x-y movement you see in virtually all games. Usually set as shooters, they are fast paced movement games that have a huge skill curve which is why they aren't made that often. Super fun when you get the hang of it though
Example
https://youtu.be/xOK3n8j7czA
Party-based RPGs like Baldur's Gate or Pillars of Eternity. I absolutely love this style of game, but it feels like there are precious few titles to choose from. Anyone know of any hidden gems?
Well, you're in luck; they're releasing Baldur's Gate 3 in a few days ;P
There a youtube channel and a steam curator called Mortismal Gaming who loves CRPGs. Their shtick is also completing games at 100% before popping a review, and they are churning out new material at an amazing pace. Check it out for some decent coverage on the genre.
As for a maybe hidden gem, Age of Decadence looks pretty good. I have not played it yet, but the genre seems to match, and the premise is solid.
Expedition Rome is well appreciated too, even if it leans more toward tactical battles.
Sandbox MMORPGs, like Eve Online or Ultima Online. The vast majority of MMORPGs since at least WoW (potentially even before that with games like Dark Ages of Camelot, etc) have been Theme Park MMOs. Which are fun; I've played plenty and still do play them. But I think the sandbox is more fun. Certainly has more possibilites.
Grid-based, dungeon crawler RPG (a mouthful, I know). The most recent titles in this genre I remember are the Mary Skelter trilogy, but the first game is about 10 years old already.
Legend of Grimrock 1 and 2 are good ones. I’m sure you’ve come across those ones though.
As an RTS player who only ever plays for the story and does not care about multiplayer at all, new RTS games with a decent story and gameplay are kind of thin on the ground these days.
I can't even play C&C RA2 anymore because I can't get it to run on my PC. Tried several guides, but it refuses to run properly.
Don't see a lot of plain fast paced arena shooters these days. There's The Master Chief Collection which kinda works but also isn't, you know, new.
There's been a huge resurgence of boomer shooters and arena shooters in the last 5 or so years. Off the top of my head I can think of Dusk, Ultrakill, Gunfire Reborn, Nightmare Reaper, Roboquest, Warhammer Boltgun, and new Doom (2016/Eternal), all of which get at least an 8/10 from me. There are many more of various quality.
I liked the point and click games when they were 2d hand drawn and not (3d) rendered. It seems to be a thing that has now been lost to time.
Arcade / over the top racing games like Motorstorm and Split Second.
Wreck Fest is close but needs more crazy scenery or setpieces.
I love this thread, so many people are recommending games to each other. Nice to see.
My answer is games like Skyrim where it's a sandbox but you can pick up different quests. I know there's a proper name for them but it escapes me.
I know there's GTA which is a similar type but I want a more twee fantasy vibe
Shitty mobile gatcha games produce a lot of brain drain the gaming industry that's for sure.
The Settlers games have not been Settlers games after the fourth one. Except of course the remake, but that also was a very long time ago.
Vehicle Combat games might be getting a comeback with the WH40k game and the Twisted Metal movie coming out.
Tempus Rising might kick off a C&C style RTS revivial.
Action sports games like Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, 1080, Wave Race, Steep, and more. I mentioned Steep because it's the latest mainstream attempt but I feel like it never really found it's footing.
I'm not sure if I have ever seen a game use the Mega Man X formula. I have definitely seen some follow the Mega Man formula, but I liked the X formula with the health upgrades, armor upgrades, energy tanks, etc. hidden in the levels. I think the market for this formula would be pretty small, because I think most would agree that the Metroidvania formula is a straight upgrade. But I kind of like the smaller, independent levels.
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