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The variety in the gaming industry sucks nowadays with too much of certain genres and few of others

Airi

Airi

Member
Oct 27, 2017
338
I mostly just find myself seeking a satisfying arcade style game experience lately. I miss games from the late 90s and early 00s like SSX, F-Zero AX/GX, Ridge Racer, Super Monkey Ball, and DDR. While there's been a few indie groups trying to fill the gaps, I haven't found any games yet that scratch that itch for me. Always close, but not quite there.
 
KrangBakesaTurtle

KrangBakesaTurtle

Member
Mar 26, 2018
790
I agree and is the reason i prefer ps3 sony over ps4. Just look at all the games in uncharted stealth squat, and how all those look, set up, play the same. Its not creative at all. E3 was god of war, tomb raider, last of us etc same game.

Miss the games wgere you could have tons of small game play types and level advancenent. Now its one game play style , cut scenes
 
Ascheroth

Ascheroth

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,752
Hard disagree. It feels like there's never been more variety.
Just take a look at any one of Tizoc's monthly Upcoming Steam games threads: https://www.resetera.com/threads/pc...er-and-august-2018-releases-100-titles.65469/
And that's just a snapshot of a single month! (well ~2 in this case, but you get the idea)
Tizoc said:
VErGgR1.gif

Welcome one and all to another new Highlight thread where I bring to light various titles releasing during the month of September. Seems August too had various titles announced for release during it in the same month after I'd made the previous thread, and as such I've mixed them together alongside the Sep. releases for simplicity's sake.

The releases shown here range from being full games, DLC or expansions & titles entering or leaving Early Access.

If there are any errors I made, please let me know and feel free to inform me of other titles I may have missed out on, so I may add them to the next highlight thread at least.

Hope you find lots of cool titles that catch your interest, and that you enjoy the games when you get around to playing them!

Also do take note of these handy threads to further discuss PC Gaming!
Resetera SteamERA Group
PC Gaming ERA Sep. thread

First up are titles that don't have a Steam page or are available via other services/platforms, followed by the main list-
A Hat in Time- Seal the Deal DLC
Tekken 7 Season 2 DLC launches in September

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Oddhouse

Oddhouse

Member
Oct 31, 2017
1,039
Take a look at Steam and see all the unique indie games, there are literally thousands uploaded every month.

Big budget are quite samey I agree, they sell though so big publishers don't want to risk a flop.
 
More_Badass

More_Badass

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,633
KrangBakesaTurtle said:
I agree and is the reason i prefer ps3 sony over ps4. Just look at all the games in uncharted stealth squat, and how all those look, set up, play the same. Its not creative at all. E3 was god of war, tomb raider, last of us etc same game.

Miss the games wgere you could have tons of small game play types and level advancenent. Now its one game play style , cut scenes
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Those kinds of game are only a tiny tiny fraction of what's out there and releasing nowadays. You're massively overstating how much of the medium they take up

Edit: see Ascheroth's post for example
https://www.resetera.com/threads/th...-and-few-of-others.70212/page-2#post-12956885
 
ckareset

ckareset

Attempted to circumvent ban with an alt account
Banned
Feb 2, 2018
4,977
Sony Style" big cinematic games'

We still doing this meme?
 
Ravenwraith

Ravenwraith

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,364
We have more variety now than ever before. Be open minded and I think you'll find there's a lot for you out here.

This complaint always comes off as disingenuous to me because it usually comes from 3 places.
-People who are laserfocused on one of the specific genre types that are out of style and will ignore the variety we have otherwise
-People who only pay attention to AAA releases and complain about being "bored" without branching out/turn their nose up at indie games because they need their tastes to be validated by a big budget for some reason before they can even help support the genre they claim to miss?
-People who don't really care either way and just want to deliver some insightful statement on the state of gaming.

It's ridiculous. These past 2 years have been probably the best ever for gaming and there's a whole lot more to look forward to. Meanwhile all I hear from people who wont even engage with what's out is that there's not enough because so and so specific franchise/subgenre is missing. I don't know if I'm missing something, but it legitimately feels like we're in a golden age right now
 
SuiQuan

SuiQuan

Member
Oct 25, 2017
885
Kazakhstan - soon
I honestly can't think of that many genres that are even remotely close to being dead. The only ones that I can think of are city-building games and maybe RTS (which I don't play, so I can't say). But even there there's City: Skylines.
When I watned my Metroidvania I played Inconoclasts and Hollow Knight
When I wanted my turn-based RPG I played Divinity 1 and 2, as well as Wasteland and Pillars of Eternity
When I wanted my no-brains quick-paced shooter I played Shadow Warrior 1, 2, Doom and I'm still waiting on Ion Maiden.
etc.

No matter the genre I always found something good or great. I dunno, OP. Which specific game genres are you missing?
 
Evolution of Metal

Evolution of Metal

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
6,960
SuikerBrood said:
The rts genre has somewhat died (But there are plenty of grand strategy, turn based strategy and sim games), there are fewer racing games and sports games have been taken over by license holding juggernauts.

The rest of the genres seem to be doing fine?
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RTS isn't dead, it just doesn't have the massive audience, and it doesn't have a flagship game to rally around (Warcraft 4). Racing games (Except for Mario, Forza and GT) just die, look at the Trailblazers or Onrush, even The Crew 2 isn't doing anything spectacular in both sales and activity charts.... Same goes for competitive shooters, there is more supply than demand.

All the problems towards unpopular genres are related to the community, there simply isn't enough people playing them, the games are out there...
 
More_Badass

More_Badass

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,633
SuiQuan said:
I honestly can't think of that many genres that are even remotely close to being dead. The only ones that I can think of are city-building games and maybe RTS (which I don't play, so I can't say). But even there there's City: Skylines.
When I watned my Metroidvania I played Inconoclasts and Hollow Knight
When I wanted my turn-based RPG I played Divinity 1 and 2, as well as Wasteland and Pillars of Eternity
When I wanted my no-brains quick-paced shooter I played Shadow Warrior 1, 2, Doom and I'm still waiting on Ion Maiden.
etc.

No matter the genre I always found something good or great. I dunno, OP. Which specific game genres are you missing?
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Have you played Amid Evil? It's my favorite of the old school shooter revival
 
oliverandm

oliverandm

Member
Nov 13, 2017
1,178
Copenhagen, Denmark
I don't think there has ever been this much variety, although I would say many AAA-publishers aren't being risky enough, but that's understandable considering the budgets their working with.

I have never bought so many indies as I do now, and I have never bought so many games in different genres either, simply because the output is fantastic, and there's so much to choose from.

Sure, it doesn't seem like anything specifically new is being invented, but I think that's hard, and I think there's a great risk of failing of you try (e.g. Wii U).

I do agree with your "categories" haha, but I don't think because those publishers limit themselves to such things, that there aren't any other choices left. Plenty out there.
 
Derrick01

Derrick01

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
7,289
Acquiescence said:
Sony needs to stop putting trees in everything. So many trees.
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I thought I was safe from it when playing spider man and then I came up to a park. Trees everywhere! In a city no less!! I immediately thought of that picture of all sony games looking the same and then proceeded to snap my disc in half and demand a written apology from Sony.
 
More_Badass

More_Badass

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,633
Even Commandos style games are making a comeback!

Shadow Tactics was one of the best games of last year and the devs are doing the new Desperadoes. And there are likely new Commandos games coming in the future
 
bionic77

bionic77

Member
Oct 25, 2017
30,895
It only sucks if you compare it to the PS2 and DS era. But that was the peak of variety on software.

I would say it is not any worse and probably better than the 32bit and 16bit eras. No worse than last gen either.
 
Dogui

Dogui

Member
Oct 28, 2017
8,828
Brazil
It's precisely the opposite. Nowadays is the only time in gaming where we can wait for a decent stream of new Metroidvanias, JRPGs, old style CRPGs, Point and Click adventures, Telltale style adventures, shmups, visual novels, fighting games, RTSs, 4X games, mobas, FPSs, sport stuff, racing simulators, F-zero like super fast racers, kart racers, 3D platformers not called Mario, roguelites, etc, at the same time.

It's basically a time compression of every golden age in one for almost all genres. Only thing i can say i miss nowadays are classic RE like survival horrors with tank controls and super market camera perspectives, but that's sorta specific anyway.
 
SuiQuan

SuiQuan

Member
Oct 25, 2017
885
Kazakhstan - soon
More_Badass said:
Have you played Amid Evil? It's my favorite of the old school shooter revival
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No. Will look it up. I think I've seen it in some indie-thread here on Era. Of the less known ones I've only played Dusk and actually liked it. Though it might be too retro for some people.

Edit: Watching Amid Evil gameplay right now. So far this thing reminds me of Hexen, which is great.
 
More_Badass

More_Badass

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,633
As for RTS, the Company of Heroes style of RTS might get its own revival if Iron Harvest is good and does well

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HotPhase

Registered an alt account
Member
Sep 19, 2018
141
IMO, cinematic games & 1st party FPS games should go. Bring things back to the way that they were during the 80's through the mid 2000's again in which it was mostly Japanese games.
 
jroc74

jroc74

Member
Oct 27, 2017
29,047
Rodjer said:
I don't agree.

- We still have yearly RTS games
- Plenty of fighting titles
- A lot of different side scrollers games with various styles in both visuals and gameplay
- Racing titles are still alive, we have few of them but still kicking
- Action games are making a comeback
- We have a lot of different RPGs
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Add that to what the OP posted, and it's a strange take saying there isn't variety.

Crossing Eden said:
^^^^

Complaining about variety in this day and age seems genuinely illogical to me, especially compared to last gen.



This covers SOOO many different types of games.
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Exactly. Because the OP grouped them into those categories doesn't mean there isn't variety.
 
SuikerBrood

SuikerBrood

Member
Jan 21, 2018
15,492
And in the turn based strategy genre, aren't we getting Mutant Year Zero this/next year?

Evolution of Metal said:
RTS isn't dead, it just doesn't have the massive audience, and it doesn't have a flagship game to rally around (Warcraft 4). Racing games (Except for Mario, Forza and GT) just die, look at the Trailblazers or Onrush, even The Crew 2 isn't doing anything spectacular in both sales and activity charts.... Same goes for competitive shooters, there is more supply than demand.

All the problems towards unpopular genres are related to the community, there simply isn't enough people playing them, the games are out there...
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Dead is always relative. It's less alive than it was during the heights 1998-2006. Age of Empires 4 is coming. And Anno is some sort of crossover of a simulation and a strategy game.

But I wish we still had Westwood pumping out C&C games and Blizzard creating classics like StarCraft and WarCraft.

Agree with the rest of your post. It's mostly about the lack of players, not about the lack of games.​
 
Blyr

Blyr

Member
Oct 27, 2017
272
There's .. a lot of variety though??

We're seeing the renaissance of CRPGs through Larian and Obsidian, and a ton of great games all around from smaller developers. Tons of new indie studios are popping up and releasing their tiny games that end up blowing up and becoming huge successes, and this is actually the best time to be a fan of any genre because you can find something to scratch that itch.
 
Alexandros

Alexandros

Member
Oct 26, 2017
17,832
What platforms are you playing on OP? I feel like on PC there is a great deal of variety these days.
 
gogosox82

gogosox82

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,385
I don't know know you can say that when this gen is so much better than last gen in terms of variety . So many different types of games that offer different experiences are available to play that you'd have to avoiding it on purpose not to notice it.
 
zenspider

zenspider

Banned
Nov 7, 2017
1,583
There's never been more bandwidth in gaming. We've has so many threads like this, and the conclusion is always that these kind of claims are demonstrably incorrect.

It's possible that the things that appeal to you at a baser level have moved to other genres, but currently every niche and genre is being served in abundance.

tenderbrew said:
I really think there's never been more variety.
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Perfect first post.
 
Glio

Glio

Member
Oct 27, 2017
24,584
Spain
To me personally what I'm tired of is putting RPG elements in everything, including games where it does not have the slightest sense (Tomb Raider ...)
 
Ringten

Ringten

Member
Nov 15, 2017
6,204
I sometimes feel the same, but I know it's simply not true. Games these days just borrow a lot of elements from each other. Because of that it just feels that way.

Whereas previous gen a lot of stuff was still being figured out, what works and what doesn't. Which led to some unique/memorable experiences aswell!

But then again this gen, has been great. To me it has been more of a refinement of what we have seen, just perfecting stuff.

Also variety wise: Ratchet and clank/ Yakuza/ The witches 3/ Monster Hunter / Detroit / The last guardian / Forza horizon/ Doom / Prey

But developers don't like to be super risky either. Just look at prey... lost in the abyss of AAA games, just because it did not necessarily cater to the mainstream market.

I do miss my hack n slash games! Hated Nier. GoW was great, but lacking in bosses.
 
Vinc

Vinc

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,391
In the AA-AAA retail games space, this is just the result of ever increasing expectations causing an exponential growth in budgets and development times, and rapid switches in the market's tastes making these big investments even riskier.
 
zenspider

zenspider

Banned
Nov 7, 2017
1,583
NeoZeedeater said:
Every gen has had areas where it's lacking. It's important to no idealize any of them, including the current one.

I do think the current retro craze is too focused on certain types of games, especially platform/adventure games. There are so many styles of the past that aren't being utilized. How hard is it to get a few games in the vein of the 2d Shinobi games? There hasn't been anything close enough since the 3DS Shinobi and that's still polygon. The Messenger is really good but that's much more in Ninja Gaiden's style.

This thread will be full of people saying there's more variety than ever. That being true doesn't mean we can't wish for and benefit from even more variety.
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Shantae is a very obstacle and combat based side-scroller. Maybe that'll scratch the itch?
 
Lionheart

Lionheart

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,849
"Sony style games"

Cause Dreams, GT sport, TLG, Spiderman and GoW all play the same.

You really can't separate gameplay from production values?
 
saenima

saenima

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
11,892
If you look in the indie and AA spaces you can find literally anything in any genre. There are dozens of quality games in every genre releasing every month.

I honestly can't keep up.
 
zombieshavebrains

zombieshavebrains

Member
Nov 1, 2017
809
Segafreak said:
This has been a sentiment for the last decade but I feel like it's only become a big issue for me now. I'm not a jaded gamer whose grown out of it, I currently play Overwatch and Lunar 2 daily and then I will move on to Legend of Dragoon. All the industry seems to have regressed to is chasing a few big gaming trends, whether it's Fortnite, Soulsborne games or Metroidvanias. The indies that were supposed to be a breath of fresh air mostly(I said mostly) chase the same trends set by other big indies or trying to cash in on nostalgia by making clones.

If I could categorize what I see with a quick glance in the gaming world it's:
-"Sony Style" big cinematic games
-"e-sporty" / GAAS games
-RPG-lite games EVERYTHING
-Metroidvanias, Souls likes and indie clones
-shitty anime games farted out by Namco

and too few risky or avant garde games which do their own thing without borrowing from others, this doesn't even have to be some experimental game, even a simple SSX like would stand out from the crowd of all the samey games.

Once there were so many genres out there, now so few, and I'm not gonna get my 3D Mario or OoT fix by playing a kickstarted indie ripoff with $5 budget. It's like when people say current gen music sucks and then get told "go listen indie/underground music" to get their fix, but they'll never even come close to the classics.

Also we need more Sega blue skies games.

Discuss.
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If you're on PC you could try Dota 2. If anyone says it's like LoL or HotS they're just wrong. No other multiplayer game comes close to the amount of creativity possible and depth.

One of your problems might be playing Overwatch, which is by definition a game with too few risks and borrows completely from another (Team Fortress 2). So it's exactly what you aren't looking for.
 
jroc74

jroc74

Member
Oct 27, 2017
29,047
Put it like this.

If you only had one platform...maybe...I could understand. But even in that case indies kind of fill in the gaps.

That's why I try to have more than one platform.
 
More_Badass

More_Badass

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,633
KrangBakesaTurtle said:
Its impossible . Teams.use to be 5 to 20 with the best talent, now they are absorbed
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What's impossible? Those kinds of games you mentioned are the minority. They're vastly outnumbered by everything else. They may make the most money and the most marketing, but they don't represent all of gaming as a whole

It's like saying movies nowadays are just superrhero movies because those blockbusters have the largest footprint.
 
nbnt

nbnt

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,816
Been feeling this way about triple A games for a while. It's why I spend most of my gaming time on retro games.
 
Fairy Godmother

Fairy Godmother

Backward compatible
Moderator
Oct 27, 2017
3,290
You can't be serious. With the smaller /indie market, there are more variety than ever.

Within these two weeks I've jumped from online RTS to city builder, to 3D platformer, to action JRPG, to deep isometric RPG like Divinity, as well as a few hours in arcade racer Onrush.

There are a lot more exciting games to play than I have time to play them.
 
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