Genres
Each genre with its subgenres, game counts, and signature mechanics. A genre’s page lists all of its mechanics.
Action 4,329
The game tests reflexes and timing, mostly through movement and combat.
Invincibility frames · Knockback · Telegraph
- Action-adventure 1,847 — Lock-on targeting · Dodge roll · Health upgrade · Keys and locked doors
- Immersive sim 10
- Survival horror 273 — Healing item · Proximity warning · Light detection
- Beat 'em up 304
- Brick breaker 28
- Hack and slash 196
- Launch 0
- Maze 179 — Enemy targeting · Extra life · Kill screen
- Stealth 143 — Vision cone · Noise detection · Alert phase
- Vehicular combat 167
Adventure 2,171
The player explores, talks to characters, and solves puzzles to advance a story.
- Interactive fiction 101 — Text parser · Treasure score · Inventory limit
- Interactive film 52
- Point-and-click adventure 144
- Visual novel 583
- Otome game 34
- Walking simulator 35
Art game 19
A game made mainly as a work of art, to evoke a feeling or an idea.
Battle royale 45
Many players drop onto a shrinking map, and the last player or team standing wins.
Card and board 207
The game plays out a card, board, tile, or casino game, or one built on such rules.
Dress-up 8
The player chooses clothes, hair, and makeup for characters.
Fighting game 715
Two or more characters fight one another in close combat.
Hitstun · Blocking · Super meter
- Airdasher 14
- Arena fighter 10
- Platform fighter 10 — Damage percent · Blast zone · Landing lag
Fitness 39
The player exercises, and the game tracks the movement.
Fumblecore 6
Deliberately awkward controls make simple physical tasks hard, as in QWOP.
Incremental game 18
The player accumulates resources through repeated actions or automation and spends them to accumulate faster.
Cost scaling · Prestige · Bulk buying
Location-based 7
Play happens in the real world, driven by the player's physical location.
Metroidvania 190
One interconnected map opens up as the player gains abilities.
Morph ball · Wall jump · Screw Attack · Health upgrade
Music 431
The game is built around playing, making, or moving to music.
- Karaoke 6
- Rhythm 132 — Timing window · Rank meter
- Dance 31
Party 124
A group plays together, often through a series of short minigames.
- Minigame collection 4
Photography 10
The player takes photographs, which the game judges or uses to advance.
Platformer 1,704
The player moves a character between platforms, mostly by running and jumping.
Jump · Variable jump height · Air control · Coyote time
Puzzle 1,098
The player solves problems of logic, pattern, or spatial reasoning.
- Falling-block puzzle 22 — Piece randomizer · Lock delay · Delayed auto shift · Garbage
- Merge 0
- Metroidbrainia 11
- Nonogram 8
- Programming game 9
- Sudoku 5
- Tile-matching 23
- Match-three 10
- Word game 10
Quiz 38
Players answer questions to test their knowledge.
Racing 1,342
Players race vehicles, animals, or people to finish first or fastest.
Rubber-band AI · Rocket start · Setup slider
- Arcade racing 6
- Futuristic racing 5
- Kart racing 32 — Drift boost · Item distribution · Boost pad
- Sim racing 58
Roguelike 126
Each run crosses generated levels, and death ends the run.
Permadeath · Hunger clock · Item identification
- Roguelite 27
Role-playing game 2,696
The player grows a character or party through stats, gear, and story choices.
Hit points · Damage formula · Turn order · Random encounter
- Action role-playing game 669
- Soulslike 20
- Dungeon crawler 39
- Japanese role-playing game 88
- Massively multiplayer online role-playing game 268
- Monster-taming 11
- MUD 8
- Tactical role-playing game 292 — Weapon triangle · Permadeath · Growth rate
Sandbox 54
The player sets their own goals in a world they can freely build in or reshape.
Serious game 115
A game made mainly to teach, train, persuade, or inform rather than to entertain.
Shooter 2,715
Combat is mostly aiming and firing.
Hitscan · Autoaim · Ammunition
- Extraction shooter 9
- First-person shooter 984 — Hitscan · Strafe-running · Rocket jumping
- Hero shooter 14
- Horde shooter 10
- Light-gun shooter 43
- Looter shooter 8
- Rail shooter 32 — Barrel roll · Lock-on shot · Boost meter
- Run and gun 58 — Weapon pickup · Auto-scroll · Continue
- Shoot 'em up 980 — Option · Smart bomb · Power-up meter · Rank
- Bullet heaven 3
- Bullet hell 41
- Fixed shooter 19 — Enemy formation · Remaining-enemy speed-up · Bonus stage
- Multidirectional shooter 13 — Inertia · Screen wrap · Hyperspace
- Tube shooter 6
- Tactical shooter 78
- Third-person shooter 474
Simulation 1,488
The game models a system the player runs or operates.
- Construction and management simulation 342
- Business simulation 159
- City builder 113 — Zoning · Demand meter · Land value · Disasters
- Colony simulation 0
- Factory builder 4
- God game 24
- Government simulation 24
- Life simulation 246
- Vehicle simulation 454
- Driving simulation 24
- Flight simulation 200 — Flight model · Fuel gauge · Thermal
- Mech simulation 11
- Space flight simulation 135
- Tank simulation 18
- Train simulation 13
Sports 1,553
The player competes in a sport, real or invented.
Player ratings · Button mashing
- American football 102 — Play calling · Pass completion
- Association football 340
- Athletics 19
- Baseball 53 — Batting timing · Pitch control
- Basketball 94
- Bowling 9
- Boxing 50 — Knockdown · Stamina
- Cue sports 10
- Dodgeball 7
- Extreme sports 36
- Fishing 15
- Golf 23
- Hunting 15
- Ice hockey 73
- Sports management 34
- Tennis 61
- Volleyball 11
- Winter sports 25
- Snowboarding 13
- Wrestling 68
Strategy 1,661
The player wins by planning, commanding forces and resources to outmaneuver opponents.
- 4X 47
- Artillery 26
- Auto battler 4
- Grand strategy 50
- Multiplayer online battle arena 33
- Real-time strategy 491 — Resource harvesting · Construction · Structure placement
- Real-time tactics 174
- Tower defense 52
- Turn-based strategy 317 — Action points
- Turn-based tactics 83
- Wargame 56
Survival 101
The player gathers resources and crafts tools to stay alive in a hostile world, managing needs such as hunger.
Video pinball 68
The player keeps a ball in play on a sloped table with flippers.
Flipper · Ball saver · Tilt · Table mode