Video game genres, mapped
Genre names such as roguelike, metroidvania or soulslike describe how a game plays, not what it looks like. Explore how they connect, then open any genre for its hallmarks, history and gentle starting points with their PEGI ratings.
Genre constellation map
16 genres, one sky
Each star is a genre. A line joins two genres when they share core ideas, so you can see at a glance which styles of game sit close together and which are worlds apart.
All genre entries
Short definitions first; each entry goes deeper.
Roguelike
A roguelike is a game, usually turn-based, in which each attempt (a “run”) takes place in freshly generated levels and death ends the run for good, so you start again with nothing carried over except your own knowledge.
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Roguelite
A roguelite is a game built around repeated runs through changing levels, like a roguelike, but in which you keep some permanent progress — unlocks, upgrades or story — between attempts.
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Metroidvania
A metroidvania is an action-adventure game, usually viewed from the side, set in one large interconnected world where new abilities gradually unlock areas you could see but not reach before.
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Soulslike
A soulslike is an action role-playing game modelled on FromSoftware’s Souls series, built around demanding, deliberate combat, sparse checkpoints and the risk of losing your levelling currency when you die.
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Battle royale
A battle royale is an online multiplayer game in which many players or teams start with little or nothing, scavenge equipment across a large map and are forced together by a shrinking safe zone until only one player or team remains.
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MOBA
A MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) is a team strategy game in which each player controls a single hero who grows stronger during the match, and two teams fight across a map with lanes to destroy the other side’s base.
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Real-time strategy
A real-time strategy (RTS) game is a strategy game in which players gather resources, construct buildings and command many units simultaneously, with the action continuing in real time rather than in turns.
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4X strategy
A 4X game is a strategy game in which you guide a civilisation or empire through four broad activities — explore, expand, exploit and exterminate — usually over a long campaign played in turns.
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JRPG
A JRPG (Japanese role-playing game) is a role-playing game in the tradition established by Japanese developers, usually featuring a party of defined characters, a strongly authored story and menu-driven or tactical battles.
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CRPG
A CRPG (computer role-playing game) is, in common modern use, a role-playing game in the tradition of tabletop games like Dungeons & Dragons: you create or shape characters, make branching story choices and fight in tactical battles governed by statistics and dice-style rules.
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Immersive sim
An immersive sim is a game, usually played in first person, built from interlocking systems — physics, stealth, AI, abilities — that let players solve problems in many different ways rather than the one the designer intended.
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Survival-crafting
A survival-crafting game drops you into a world, often with nothing, where you gather resources, craft tools and items, build shelters and manage needs such as health, hunger or air while exploring further afield.
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Life sim
A life sim (life simulation game) is a game about everyday living — running a home, a farm or a village, building relationships and following daily and seasonal routines — usually without a fail state or a fixed path.
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Rhythm
A rhythm game is a music-based action game in which you score points by pressing buttons, hitting drums, moving or dancing in time with the beat of a song.
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Visual novel
A visual novel is an interactive story told mainly through on-screen text, with character portraits, backgrounds, music and voice, in which the player reads and sometimes makes choices that lead to different routes and endings.
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Platformer
A platformer is a game in which the main challenge is moving a character through levels by running, jumping and climbing between platforms while avoiding hazards and enemies.
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