Which game genres are there, and which games shouldn't you miss?

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If you want to get an overview of the current range of games, it is helpful to take a closer look at the individual genres. The game world can be confusing, but if you have read a little into the various game mechanics, you will quickly find the niches in which you feel comfortable. Except for video games there is a vast variety of other game options out there as well. If you want to try some traditional (or more modern) board gaming you can check out boardgame arena or if you are feeling lucky you can check online casinos or Free Bets. For the video game curious this article is intended to give a brief overview of the major genres and at the same time name some game titles that can serve as representatives of these genres.

The overview here is only a rough overview of the categories into which games can be divided. A complete overview would go beyond the scope of an article, especially because genres in video games, like music and books, are not fixed categories. Games can be assigned to several genres because in recent years a mix of several types of game has led to success.

If one compares publications on the subject of gaming, four major genres are named in which computer games can be classified.

1. Action games

2. Adventure games

3. Strategy games

4. Simulations

Overlapping is by no means the exception in games, but rather the rule. That is why games can often be assigned to several genres. This happens especially when a game offers added value for several genres. There are also other types of categorization. I chose this because it is the clearest of all.

1. Action games

Action games are aimed primarily at adult gamers. This includes the so-called shooters (first-person shooters, “3rd person” shooters, tactical shooters) but also hack & slay games. While shooters are usually released from the age of 18 due to explicit depictions of violence or are even cut or indexed in some countries, some hack & slay titles are already available from the age of 16. "Hack & Slay" games are characterized by the fact that you fight your way through repetitive opponents with the aim of collecting loot (rewards / items / gold) and doing simple quests (tasks). But these usually only consist of the order to kill a particularly strong opponent.

Well-known and successful shooters include the following games and game series:

• Left 4 Dead series

• Battlefield series

• Payday: The Heist

• Bioshock range

• Borderlands series

Even if they belong to one genre, these games are all very different and individual. While Left 4 Dead focuses on fast, action-heavy kills, these are almost unimportant in Borderlands 2. Here, the humour, the story, the characters and their story are the main reasons to play the game.

Two series have emerged in the field of Hack & Slay Games.

• Diablo series

• Torchlight range

Torchlight has taken Diablo as a role model, but while Diablo 3 has developed in a very serious direction, Torchlight 2 is more colourful, funnier, and yet mindful of its roots.

2. Adventure games

Adventure games are divided into three sub-genres: adventure games, role-playing games and survival horror games.

These often overlap with the action games, so that no clear line can be drawn here.

The adventures include, for example, point and click adventures. These experience ups and downs again and again.

The "Monkey Island" series made Point and Click Adventures a huge success and after that it got a little quieter around the genre.

Well-known and successful representatives of the point and click genre include:

• "Monkey Island" range

• "Edna and Harvey" series

• "Deponia" range

• Machinarium

• Botanicula

• Samorost series

• Dracula series

Role-playing games are particularly successful in the online version (MMORPG). Here you can name games like World of Warcraft, Guild Wars 2 or the new, free Neverwinter Online.

Role-playing games are often based on rules that have been adopted from board games or pen & paper systems. The "Dungeons & Dragons" system is often used.

Well-known representatives of the role-playing game genre include:

• "Baldur’s Gate" series

• “Neverwinter Nights” range

• Diablo series

• "Guild Wars" series

As you can see, the Diablo series is also called here. Diablo has characteristics of the Hack & Slay and the role-playing game genre. You could also name Borderlands 2 here, because you also build your character here according to the role-playing principle.

"Survival Horror" games take a place apart from the colourful adventures. With them, as the name suggests, the player has to survive. The reason for the threat in the game can be varied, but in these games the fear of dying should be the main impetus to keep playing and wanting to go on living.

Due to the often very intense fear effect and depictions of violence, these games are also usually only released from the age of 18.

Representatives of the survival horror genre include:

• "Silent Hill" range

• Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth

• Amnesia: The Dark Descent

• Dead Island

• Left 4 Dead series

• DayZ

DayZ takes on a special role here, since it is not a stand-alone game, but a modification for the military simulation Arma II. The mod is based on a simulation but changes the way you play so much that you enter a different genre.

3. Strategy games

Strategy games are divided into building strategy and economic strategy games. The games are then either turn-based or real-time. In addition to cities and countries, you can slip into the role of a football club manager and play a club to success or bankruptcy.

Here too, as always, there are overlaps, sub or secondary genres that have strategic elements, but still represent a different genre.

The most classic of all economic strategy game series is the SimCity series. Actions and effects take place here in real time. The Age of Empires series also falls into the real-time strategy category. Turn-based strategy games are of course also available. In the Civilization series, decisions are made by all players one at a time, and when the last player is done, all players see the effects of their decisions. The reason for Civilization is that this game is strongly based on a board game of the same name and that this game principle is common in board games.

Well-known and popular representatives of strategy games:

• “Sim City” series

• Civilization series

• "Total War" series

• Age of Empires series

• “The Settlers” series

• Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War

• “Command & Conquer” series

4. Simulations

Simulations occupy a very special place in the ranks of computer games.

Starting with the farming simulator, there was no stopping it, although most of the games are not even technically sophisticated. The target group of these numerous simulations are mainly casual gamers. A small part also has a real specialist interest in the respective topic of the game.

In addition to the “trashy” variants, which are also the best-selling, there are also simulations that are quite serious. The game series "The Sims" is one of the most successful series of all.

In addition to the entertainment factor, these games also have an educational component. At Spore you learn the basics of evolution and get an understanding of how the environment and living conditions change your living beings.

At the Sims, as banal as it sounds, you learn life. To keep his Sim happy, he not only has to maintain regular contact with his fellow human beings, but also has to eat, drink, practice personal hygiene and do something with his life.

Well-known representatives of the simulations:

• "The Sims" series

• Harvest Moon

• Spore

• "Farming Simulator" series

• + numerous everyday simulations by the developer Astragon