Game genres

Action

The widest genre in games, built on reflexes, timing and split-second decisions under pressure.

Adventure

Built on exploration, curiosity and story; a genre that invites you to work out a world without rushing you.

Arcade

Short runs, high scores and rules you grasp instantly: An approach to games that comes from the coin-op tradition.

Auto battler

You build the team and the units fight on their own: A strategy genre built around the preparation phase.

Battle royale

A multiplayer genre where dozens of players drop onto an empty map and try to be the last one standing in a shrinking zone.

Beat 'em up

A classic arcade action genre where you punch your way through groups of enemies as you move along.

Board game

Digital adaptations of traditional tabletop games built on boards, pieces and dice.

Card game

The genre where deck building, hand management and resource timing decide the outcome.

City builder

The genre of building a settlement from scratch and keeping it running through roads, infrastructure and zoning.

Colony sim

The genre where you lead a small community that gathers resources, builds a settlement and tries to survive.

Dungeon crawler

A branch of role-playing where you push forward by clearing dungeons layer by layer, focused on loot and party management.

Fighting

A competitive genre where two opponents meet at close range, built on combos, spacing and reads.

Free to play

Games you can start without paying, which make money from in-game purchases and season passes.

Gacha

A model where characters and items are won through random draws, named after Japanese capsule toy machines.

Hack and slash

Fast, flowing combat with melee weapons against crowds of enemies.

Horror

The genre that uses tension, helplessness and unease as its core mechanic.

Interactive fiction

A story-first genre where the player steers the narrative through text commands or choices.

Isometric

A camera approach that shows the world from above at a diagonal angle, giving depth and an overview at the same time.

JRPG

The Japanese role-playing game: A tradition built on a set cast, strong storytelling and usually turn-based combat.

Metroidvania

An exploration-driven genre set on one interconnected map, where new abilities open old locked paths.

MMO

Online games where thousands of players share the same persistent world, often for years.

MOBA

A lane-based online battle arena where two teams of heroes try to destroy the enemy base.

Multiplayer

Games where you share the same space with other people; your rival or teammate is not an AI.

Musou

A Japanese action genre built on a power fantasy, where you mow down hundreds of enemies on your own.

Open world

A game structure without separate levels, explored seamlessly, where the player chooses the order.

Platformer

Built on jumping, climbing and timing; the genre where movement itself is the fun.

Point & click

The classic adventure tradition where you solve puzzles by interacting with objects in the scene using the mouse.

Puzzle

The genre that tests logic, pattern recognition and problem solving, and rewards thinking over reflexes.

Racing

A competitive genre built on speed and car control, on land, in the air or on water.

Roguelike

Maps regenerated every run and permanent death: When you lose, you start over from scratch.

Roguelite

Random levels and runs that reset on death, but every attempt leaves something permanent behind.

RPG

The genre where you take over a character and grow it, and your choices shape both the story and the numbers.

Sandbox

A structure where the player, not the game, sets the goal; open to building, breaking and experimenting.

Shooter

First- or third-person action built around firearms, aiming and accuracy.

Simulation

The genre that tries to recreate a real job, vehicle or system as closely as possible.

Soulslike

A demanding action RPG tradition with slow, punishing combat that asks for careful progress.

Sports

The genre that brings the rules and rivalry of real sports to the screen.

Strategy

Managing resources, position and timing: The genre where the winner is the one who plans well, not the one who moves fast.

Survival

The genre where you try to stay alive under hunger, cold and threat by gathering resources and building shelter.

Visual novel

A narrative genre that combines text, art and music, where you progress by reading and making choices.