Everyone has their favourite gaming niche and thankfully, because there are so many, there is bound to be something for everyone no matter their preference towards gambling, platformers and shooters, visual novel, 4x, walking simulator, ‘metroidvania’, MOBA, clicker/idle game, roguelike and tower defense.
Whilst a couple of these are quite self-explanatory, some genres aren’t so well known. So what are they and what do they involve?
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Gambling: There are a huge range of games online; poker, roulette, blackjack. Whilst a lot of people only gamble for money, they can also be played without any risk.
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Platformers and shooters: Platformer games involve the player controlling a character around a specific environment to avoid obstacles. This is taken a stage further with shooter games where the player’s reflexes are put to the test with the introduction of a weapon and war-like scenario.
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Visual novel: Often played in first person, visual novel games are unusual as the actual ‘gameplay’ is limited and the experience focusses more on the storyline behind the game. Here the lines between literature and video game are blurred as the aim is to create an interesting world, as opposed to engage in direct gameplay.
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4x: This genre of gaming is all about the strategy. Each player has four goals: explore, expand, exploit and exterminate. Because of this, these games often take a while to complete and can get quite complex along the way.
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Walking simulator: A type of adventure game, here the player is dropped into a world and is encouraged to find out as much as possible about it through documents and audio. Especially popular for those who enjoy uncovering mysteries and being consumed by imaginary worlds. We’d recommend playing The Stanley Parable as a perfect starter for those wanting to explore walking simulator games.
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‘Metroidvania’: A combination of two different genres; Metroid and Castlevania, this style of game involves the discovery of different parts of a map through the gaining of new abilities. As the game progresses, players will find that they can backtrack to discover previously hidden pathways that will unveil more of the map. In this way, the world designed for this type of game is non-linear and always has more to be uncovered.
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MOBA: Multiplayer Online Battle Arena involves two teams competing to destroy each other’s base. Here, players will be playing alongside and against other players in a real-time format – League of Legends is an especially well-known game in this format.
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Clicker/Idle game: Gameplay in this genre is limited to clicking on the screen, most often for the aim of earning points. More earnings can be made as the game progresses and these will result in upgrades. There tends not to be an ‘end’ for these games, each player just strives to get as far as he/she can. Try your hand at AdVenture Capitalist for a good clicker game experience.
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Roguelike: This game is different every time it is played and completely resets a player’s process when they die. This uncertainty and ‘new’ experience each time is what keeps players coming back for more.
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Tower Defense: What makes this genre of game noticeably different is the fact that the player is on the defensive. Here it is important to be strategic in order to protect against enemy invasion.
When it comes down to the specific games that have proved most popular amongst keen gamers, the final list may not come as much of a surprise as they are the most played for a reason. Can you categorise each into their individual gaming niches? Top 10 include:
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Texas Hold’em is the most popular poker game, most likely due to the simple nature of the game. It’s easy to learn, it’s action packed and it’s easy to involve other players.
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Minecraft is one of the most popular video games of all time but is also the simplest. In it, players build things with a variety of building blocks in order to explore and challenge each other. 176 million copies of the game have been sold so far.
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Fortnight has three different versions that players can play which include: Save The World, Battle Royale and Creative. It’s essentially a shooting survival situation where participants fight to stay in the game.
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Grand Theft Auto V allows the player to assume the role of a criminal who embarks on an adventure of evading detection.
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Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege encourages the player to assume the role of a ‘good guy’ or ‘bad guy’ and carry out acts pertaining to that such as rescuing hostages.
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Super Smash Bros: Ultimate is a Nintendo themed fighting game that allows players to assume the roles of different Nintendo characters and their storylines.
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Red Dead Redemption positions players as a character named Arthur Morgan who has to survive in the Wild West whilst being targeted by rival gang members.
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Overwatch is a team game where you work together to move across a map and defend against the opposing team.
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Rocket League has a very simple premise where all that is needed for the player to do is to hit a ball into the opposing team’s net in order to score points.
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Roblox encourages the creative gamers by giving them a platform on which to design their own games and trial playing others. Something a little different for those gamers who are on the hunt for the unusual.
Many keen gamers will have trialled a large variety, possible all of the above-mentioned games. With each niche attracting a different type of audience, it’s hard to predict which is most popular overall, it all depends on your personal gaming preferences.
