Video game genres are one of the few fields in which I’m not a prescriptivist. But survivorlikes only aren’t called RPGs because Vampire Survivor is embossed on the whole subgenre. The suite of mechanics rose to high prominence on the back of one game (or franchise, in the case of Soulslikes) rather than refined through years of experimentation.
We aren’t going to get more, simple names unless they’re similarly derived from a single, famous ancestor like your “Soulslike”. But you can always just be descriptive. Diablo/PoE are “top-down gear-grind RPGs”; it’s jargony but all subgenres are.
Survivorslike is just one option, auto shooter is the same thing and doesn’t use vampire survivors’ name.
And well, in this case, I just saw op say that this game was gonna be an arpg and because I play a lot of PoE, last epoch, etc. I was expecting something in that vein. Then I open the link and I see 2 seconds of something that looks more like hades or god of war and I was disappointed. So if me wishing we had better terms for various genres makes me a prescriptivist, I guess I am one, in this case.
Also tdggrpg is too complicated of a subgenre name, I feel xD
Yeah, it’s not trendy but I don’t think we can do trendy unless we do like I said and derive from standout games with identifiable suites of mechanics. You just have to be descriptive or accept heavy overlap.
“Auto shooter” is not very descriptive. In 10 years, someone would be having this same conversation about that term. Asteroids is basically an auto shooter because there’s no reason to not always be shooting, it’s effectively a QOL change. Some bullet hells too.
Video game genres are one of the few fields in which I’m not a prescriptivist. But survivorlikes only aren’t called RPGs because Vampire Survivor is embossed on the whole subgenre. The suite of mechanics rose to high prominence on the back of one game (or franchise, in the case of Soulslikes) rather than refined through years of experimentation.
We aren’t going to get more, simple names unless they’re similarly derived from a single, famous ancestor like your “Soulslike”. But you can always just be descriptive. Diablo/PoE are “top-down gear-grind RPGs”; it’s jargony but all subgenres are.
Survivorslike is just one option, auto shooter is the same thing and doesn’t use vampire survivors’ name.
And well, in this case, I just saw op say that this game was gonna be an arpg and because I play a lot of PoE, last epoch, etc. I was expecting something in that vein. Then I open the link and I see 2 seconds of something that looks more like hades or god of war and I was disappointed. So if me wishing we had better terms for various genres makes me a prescriptivist, I guess I am one, in this case.
Also tdggrpg is too complicated of a subgenre name, I feel xD
Yeah, it’s not trendy but I don’t think we can do trendy unless we do like I said and derive from standout games with identifiable suites of mechanics. You just have to be descriptive or accept heavy overlap.
“Auto shooter” is not very descriptive. In 10 years, someone would be having this same conversation about that term. Asteroids is basically an auto shooter because there’s no reason to not always be shooting, it’s effectively a QOL change. Some bullet hells too.