Concept glossary

Exploration and story-led play; puzzles and traversal often matter more than pure combat score-chasing.

Examples: The Legend of Zelda, Firewatch

Short-session, score- or wave-driven play with immediate readability — often inspired by coin-op pacing.

Examples: Pac-Man, Geometry Wars

Digital adaptations or originals built around cards, boards, dice, or tabletop rules.

Examples: Slay the Spire, Tabletop Simulator

Duel or arena combat where timing, spacing, and matchup knowledge decide rounds.

Examples: Street Fighter, Tekken

Crowd-clearing melee combat — side-scrolling brawlers or combo-heavy action against packs of foes.

Examples: Devil May Cry, Hades

Independent / small-team production label. Prefer a play-style genre too when you can.

Examples: Celeste, Hollow Knight

Team objective maps with lane/structure play and hero ability kits (multiplayer online battle arena).

Examples: League of Legends, Dota 2

Rhythm, performance, or music-creation as the primary activity.

Examples: Beat Saber, Crypt of the NecroDancer

Pinball tables and close cousins — flippers, tilt, multiball scoring.

Examples: Pinball FX

Jumping and precision movement across platforms, often with level-timed challenge.

Examples: Super Mario, Celeste

Cursor-driven adventure: hotspots, inventory puzzles, dialogue trees.

Examples: Monkey Island, Return of the Obra Dinn

Primary challenge is solving spatial, logic, or systems puzzles.

Examples: Portal, The Witness

Question-and-answer or knowledge challenges as the core loop.

Examples: The Jackbox Party Pack

Competition on a course or open route where vehicle control and racing line dominate.

Examples: Forza, Mario Kart

Real-time army/base command — economy, production, and simultaneous control.

Examples: StarCraft, Age of Empires

Character progression, builds, and often quests or party management drive long-term play.

Examples: Baldur's Gate, Final Fantasy

Aiming and firing are central — FPS, TPS, twin-stick, or rail variants.

Examples: DOOM, Overwatch

Systems fidelity to a real or fictional activity (vehicles, life, management as simulation).

Examples: Microsoft Flight Simulator, Euro Truck Simulator

Digital recreation of athletic competition with sport-specific rules.

Examples: FIFA, NBA 2K

Planning and decision-making under constraints; may be turn-based or real-time.

Examples: Civilization, XCOM

Grid or positioning combat with careful unit placement and ability timing.

Examples: Into the Breach, Fire Emblem

Players alternate turns for movement, combat, or empire decisions.

Examples: Civilization, Advance Wars

Story presented mainly through text, choices, and illustrated scenes.

Examples: Doki Doki Literature Club, Ace Attorney

Run-based play with procedural layouts and lasting failure between attempts; often permadeath and build variety.

Examples: Hades, Slay the Spire, Dead Cells

You construct or draft a card deck and win through card synergies across encounters.

Examples: Slay the Spire, Balatro, Inscryption

Interconnected map gated by movement/ability unlocks; backtracking with new tools opens paths.

Examples: Hollow Knight, Ori, Metroid

Enter a dangerous map, loot under pressure, and successfully extract — death or failure risks the haul.

Examples: Escape from Tarkov, Hunt: Showdown

Numbers, upgrades, and automation compound over time; often offline progress or prestige resets.

Examples: Cookie Clicker, IdleOn

Stay alive by gathering, crafting, and managing hunger/threat — often open world. (Also an IGDB theme.)

Examples: Don't Starve, Valheim

Empire-scale exploration, expansion, resource exploitation, and conquest.

Examples: Civilization, Stellaris

Kinetic conflict and fast decision-making as the emotional center (subject, not just a genre tag).

Examples: Devil May Cry

Running a company, shop, or economy is the fantasy.

Examples: Game Dev Tycoon, Two Point Hospital

Humor is a primary subject or tone pillar.

Examples: Goat Simulator, The Stanley Parable

Character conflict and emotional stakes drive the narrative subject.

Examples: What Remains of Edith Finch

Teaching skills or knowledge is an explicit goal.

Examples: Kerbal Space Program

Adult romantic or sexual content is a primary subject.

Magic, myth, or secondary-world fantasy settings and creatures.

Examples: The Witcher, Skyrim

Past eras, real or lightly fictionalized history.

Examples: Assassin's Creed, Kingdom Come

Fear, dread, or survival against the uncanny.

Examples: Resident Evil, Outlast

Content aimed primarily at children.

Examples: Animal Crossing

Investigation, secrets, and revelation.

Examples: Return of the Obra Dinn, Her Story

Documentary or real-world factual subject matter.

Examples: This War of Mine

Large continuous space where the player chooses where to go next.

Examples: The Elder Scrolls, Breath of the Wild

Social, local, or party-game subject (group play as the fantasy).

Examples: Mario Party, Jackbox

Romantic relationships as a central subject.

Examples: Stardew Valley, Dream Daddy

Player-driven creation and experimentation with few mandated goals.

Examples: Minecraft, Garry's Mod

Futurism, space, tech, or speculative science as the subject.

Examples: Mass Effect, No Man's Sky

Avoiding detection and silent approach as the subject fantasy.

Examples: Metal Gear, Hitman

Endurance against scarcity, environment, or monsters.

Examples: The Long Dark, Subnautica

Suspense and high-stakes tension as the subject mood.

Examples: Alien: Isolation

War, armies, and military conflict as the subject.

Examples: Call of Duty, Company of Heroes

Gathering materials and assembling items/gear is a core subject fantasy.

Examples: Minecraft, Valheim

Discovery of places, secrets, or systems is the emotional payoff.

Examples: Outer Wilds, No Man's Sky

Payback or reckoning against a wrong is a central narrative subject.

Examples: God of War, Max Payne

Growing territory, influence, or infrastructure over time.

Examples: Civilization, Frostpunk

Camera sits in the character's eyes — you see hands/weapons, not the full body by default.

Examples: Half-Life, Skyrim

Camera follows behind or beside a visible avatar.

Examples: Uncharted, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Elevated or angled top-down view — classic strategy, CRPG, and many sims.

Examples: Diablo, Into the Breach, The Sims

Side-on camera — platformers, many beat 'em ups, and 2D fighters.

Examples: Celeste, Street Fighter

Primarily text interface (parser, menus, or prose) rather than a spatial camera.

Examples: Zork, AI Dungeon

Designed for VR headsets — head-tracked view and usually motion controllers.

Examples: Half-Life: Alyx, Beat Saber

Sound is the primary sense for play (audio games; limited or no visual scene).

Examples: BlindDrive

One human player is the intended experience (AI opponents okay).

Examples: Hades, Portal

More than one human player — competitive or open-ended online/local multiplayer.

Examples: Fortnite, Rocket League

Players work together toward shared goals (co-op campaigns, heists, raids).

Examples: Deep Rock Galactic, It Takes Two

Large persistent shared worlds with many simultaneous players.

Examples: World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy XIV

Shrinking-playspace last-player/team-standing competition.

Examples: Fortnite, PUBG

Multiple players on one device/screen (divided view).

Examples: Mario Kart, Halo (classic LAN)

Deliberate pixel / low-resolution raster look — from chunky 8-bit to crisp modern pixel.

Examples: Celeste, Stardew Valley, Dead Cells

Angular, faceted 3D with visible polygon edges — often stylized rather than soft-shaded realism.

Examples: Everything, Superliminal, Dreams (some creations)

Illustration that reads as drawn by hand — lines, ink, paint, or sketch — not photoreal 3D.

Examples: Cuphead, Gris, Hollow Knight

Anime / manga-inspired character and scene styling (eyes, line work, color language).

Examples: Persona 5, Doki Doki Literature Club, Genshin Impact

Bold shapes, exaggerated proportions, and playful graphic readability.

Examples: Overcooked, Fall Guys, Cuphead

Clearly non-photoreal art direction — readable silhouettes and designed color, without a single named technique.

Examples: Fortnite, Hades, Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Aims at photographic or high-fidelity real-world materials and lighting.

Examples: The Last of Us, Red Dead Redemption 2, Cyberpunk 2077

Flat color regions and ink-like outlines — comic or animated-film shading on 3D forms.

Examples: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Borderlands, Jet Set Radio

Built from blocky volumetric cubes — Minecraft-family or modern voxel art.

Examples: Minecraft, Teardown, Crossy Road

Sparse shapes, limited palette, and lots of negative space — UI and world stay quiet.

Examples: Journey, Monument Valley, Thomas Was Alone

Non-representational forms — geometry, color, and motion over literal objects.

Examples: Rez, Tetris Effect, Manifold Garden

Panel, ink, halftone, or onomatopoeia language borrowed from print comics.

Examples: Comic Jumper, Batman: Arkham (some UI/FX), Comix Zone

High-contrast shadow, rain/night city cues, and crime-drama visual language.

Examples: L.A. Noire, Disco Elysium (parts), Max Payne

Nostalgic older-hardware look — scanlines, limited palettes, or era-specific UI chrome.

Examples: Hotline Miami, Hypnospace Outlaw, Return of the Obra Dinn

Soft edges, pigment bleeds, or brush-texture that reads as painting.

Examples: Gris, Okami, Child of Light

Saturated, high-energy color is a primary visual signature (not muted or desaturated).

Examples: Mario Kart, Splatoon, Hades

Muted or shadowed palette as art direction — distinct from “Dark” as a story theme.

Examples: Limbo, Dark Souls, Alien: Isolation

Heavy interface, CRT monitors, or in-world screens as the visual identity (hacker / systems look).

Examples: Papers, Please, Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, Hacknet

Mood and place do heavy lifting — ambience, sound, and pacing create presence.

Examples: Firewatch, Alien: Isolation, Journey

Low-stakes warmth and comfort — inviting systems without constant threat.

Examples: Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing, A Short Hike

Calm pacing and soft pressure — play that lowers arousal rather than spikes it.

Examples: Stardew Valley, Unravel, Flower

Sustained unease or pressure — you feel on edge even between spikes.

Examples: Alien: Isolation, FTL, Into the Breach

Something bad is coming — dread and foreshadowing more than jump-scare comedy.

Examples: Silent Hill, Darkwood, SOMA

Bleak, heavy, or morally grim emotional coloring (mood — not just a fantasy setting tag).

Examples: Dark Souls, This War of Mine, Spec Ops: The Line

Bittersweet or sorrowful atmosphere — beauty mixed with loss.

Examples: Gris, What Remains of Edith Finch, Journey

Playful oddity and light surreal charm without hard horror.

Examples: Katamari Damacy, Tearaway, Chicory

Messy energy, overload, or gleeful disorder — hard to stay composed.

Examples: Overcooked, Vampire Survivors, Goat Simulator

Humor is a primary emotional goal — jokes, parody, or slapstick landing often.

Examples: Portal, Monkey Island, Untitled Goose Game

Adorable presentation and soft affect — charm over menace.

Examples: Slime Rancher, Kirby, Unpacking

Kind, affirming emotional register — low cruelty, high goodwill.

Examples: A Short Hike, Cozy Grove, Spiritfarer

Dream-logic and uncanny imagery — reality bends on purpose.

Examples: Control, Superliminal, Antichamber

Weight and confinement — systems or world feel stacked against you.

Examples: Papers, Please, Pathologic, Darkest Dungeon

Grand scale and heroic lift — awe, fanfare, and high stakes.

Examples: God of War, Horizon Zero Dawn, Final Fantasy

Points at the real world with irony or critique while you play.

Examples: Papers, Please, The Stanley Parable, Disco Elysium

Fear as the felt register — jump scares optional; dread is the point. Prefer Themes → Horror for subject matter.

Examples: Resident Evil, Outlast, Amnesia

Curiosity and unanswered questions drive how it feels to proceed.

Examples: Outer Wilds, Return of the Obra Dinn, Her Story