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The digital gaming industry originates from the very appearance of personal computers, and is still actively developing: old, entrenched genres overlap with each other, endlessly creating new ones. Now there are more of them than you can imagine, and that's what the games are good for – anyone will find a suitable leisure, from a farm simulator to “shooting games". We have identified the main types of computer games and disassembled each one – you will definitely find something new for yourself.
Game genres as such began to emerge in the early 90s, when technology allowed games to spread, and developers got room to create. Then they started using the features of older, "original" games in their new projects, combining them, improving and adding something of their own.
This is happening now: for example, the well-known Minecraft game released in 2009 gave rise not only to many small “clones”, but also inspired some worthy projects, for example, the equally popular Terraria.
But, if we go back to the origins, there are only six main genres of computer games. Let's look at each one in detail.
Action is the first thing that comes to mind when it comes to computer games. This genre requires good motor skills and reaction, because everything is constantly moving around, and the player must be able to quickly assess what is happening.
From the English shoot – shoot, this is one of the most basic and popular types of action games. You've probably heard of Counter-Strike or Call of Duty, in which the main goal is to “shoot” all enemies. They belong to the genre of first–person shooters, offer a map - a place with scenery where the game takes place, and a large selection of weapons.
Counter Strike: Global Offensive is still one of the most popular shooters.
Another genre of shooters worthy of mention is fixed. They also have their own varieties, but their main distinguishing feature is a small freedom of action. You are not running around the field with a gun in your hand, but flying or driving along a given route, and your task is to have time to destroy all the enemies before they destroy you.
Panzer Dragoon is a fixed shooter where the player controls a dragon.
In addition to reaction and quick orientation, accuracy plays a major role in shooters. Often, for efficiency, you have to aim at specific parts of the enemy's body or body.
From English fight – battle. Fighting games are a fist fight in a limited arena, where you need to knock out or oust the opponent from the battlefield to win. The local strategy is the use of hand–to-hand techniques based on real martial arts, using various keyboard shortcuts.
Street Fighter is a typical fighting game with many combinations of techniques.
Fighting games offer a large selection of characters of different styles and techniques of combat, which is why it becomes interesting. For example, a big and slow bully against a fast and agile ninja, as presented in the popular version of the Mortal Combat games.
Now more often called a rhythm game, the genre practically speaks for itself: here you need to hit the keys or buttons to the beat of the music. Usually such games are based on dynamic compositions with pronounced beats, as, for example, in osu!.
On round buttons in osu! you need to click on time, otherwise the combo will go wrong.
In rhythm games, reaction and dexterity play a key role: at high difficulty, you will have to press the right buttons faster than you can see them, but as in any game, everything comes with experience.
Let's move on to something quieter. Platformers in a sense represent an adventure: jumping on platforms (islands), collecting items and fighting enemies. They are often made in a cartoon pixel style with a side view for a comfortable game. But despite the simple gameplay, platformers can also make you sweat: bosses are not easy here.
example of a typical platformer – Webbed.
Also referred to as a quest, adventure is an interactive story with a main character and its own plot. There is no action, battles and enemies, but there are often puzzles and tasks that require mental effort.
Adventures consisting entirely of riddles that need to be solved. There is not always a plot here, or rather, it is quite primitive and sets the main task of solving puzzles.
"Escape the room" is a subspecies of quests where the player needs to find a way out using the available items.
These games tell a story while you walk among the scenery and immerse yourself in it. The gameplay is intentionally simplified – the player can interact with only a small number of objects, and the game itself does not necessarily have puzzles and even the opportunity to lose.
Stanley Parable is an interesting adventure with many endings.
Having started as browser games consisting of text alone, this kind of adventure has developed quite well, and now even offers a pleasant visual. Here you will mainly read and, of course, make choices that affect the course of the plot.
Citizen sleeper is a text adventure in the style of cyberpunk.
In this subgenre your main tool is a computer mouse, and all you need to do is click on the right items and thereby solve problems as the story progresses.
Unpacking is a meditative puzzle.
Having gained popularity among all ages due to its variability, this genre imitates and allows you to be literally anyone.
Air, moto, and all similar simulators exactly repeat the real technique. Feel like a driver, pilot or captain of any vessel you like.
Need for Speed is one of the most popular racing games and a good example of a car simulator.
This also includes military simulators that allow you to control military equipment. Sometimes they are even used to prepare soldiers for real combat situations.
World of Tanks is a well–known multiplayer tank and tank battle simulator.
This subgenre centers on different life forms and their relationships: humans, animals, or even aliens. Here you can live someone else's life – or decide her fate, looking from the outside.
The Sims – a simulator of a person and a family – is still very popular with teenagers.
They repeat real professions. From farming to operating – you can try yourself in anything, even in business management.
Papa Louie games — simulators of cooks in a variety of establishments, from a pizzeria to an ice cream parlor.
Recently, the puzzle rarely becomes an independent genre, but it fits very well into the rest of the games. Its progenitors were board crosswords and a Rubik's cube, and then – the well-known tetris and minesweeper. Now, on more powerful computers, puzzles are becoming not only more difficult, but also more interesting due to the visual component and even the plot.
The Whitness is one of the latest puzzle games with a pleasant environment.
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It is logical to assume that strategies require players to think strategically. The main components of this genre are construction, management and planning. Basically, there is no specific protagonist here: the player manages the city or army himself, uses resources efficiently and supports his offspring.
A distinctive feature of this strategy is the presence of “steps”, as in chess, where players make moves in turn. The other player's turn will not start until the first one indicates that he has made his own, or until the set time comes out.
Turn–based strategy among the waves in Tortuga - A Pirate's Tale.
There is a kind of turn-based strategy where players do not take turns, but at the same time. At the beginning of the turn, both perform game actions and note that they are ready for the next move, then the “step” is completed and the next one begins. This game is called a real-time turn-based strategy.
This genre differs from the previous ones in the absence of moves: players do their business in parallel; and lack of time to make decisions, because they can attack your empire or city at any moment. This is the real–time action strategies - they require a good reaction and speed of decision-making.
Five Nations is a space strategy game about the confrontation of five nations.
Sometimes strategies can be attributed to simulators, for example, when it comes to managing an enterprise or building a city.
From the English Role-Play Game (RPG), role-playing computer games involve controlling a character (or several) with a given set of characteristics, appearance and, possibly, history.
The Witcher is a famous series of RPG games in the fantasy genre.
The mainstay of this genre is the game world with which the player interacts in order to “pump” his character. So, the player has to complete quests and defeat enemies in order to earn experience points, which, upon reaching a certain amount, raise the level of the character, increasing its characteristics (for example, attack power and health reserve).
This kind of role-playing game revolves around a certain plot. The player follows it and overcomes obstacles on the way, making his character stronger and stronger.
"Sandbox" in the context of computer games means “do anything you want”. The player is given an open world with a variety of interactive items, tasks and enemies. Sometimes there is a main plot in the sandbox, but its passage is not necessary – you can enjoy the game and improve your character's skills without it.
The Elder Scrolls is a series of RPG sandbox games united by one fantasy world. The photo shows a screenshot from the Skyrim part – the most popular of them.
This genre sets the main goal of leveling a character and finding the best equipment for him. Dungeons are just a tool for this, representing spaces teeming with enemies, with a reward at the end (for example, a grotto with skeletons guarding a priceless sword). The plot and the world are primitive, and are set up only to improve the skills of the main character.
You can also clear dungeons with friends, as in Diablo.
Or "survival horror" for adrenaline lovers. Here your goal is literally to survive in the midst of a nightmare. Horror can be based on an action, role–playing game or adventure, but always adds one thing - an inflating atmosphere.
Horror games are played in places unpleasant to many – cemeteries, hospitals or abandoned houses, and the enemies in them mainly consist of zombies, ghosts and murderers. But gradually the horror of survival becomes more diverse – the developers of modern horror shows that you can even bring fear to an ordinary pizzeria, as, for example, in the famous Five Nights at Freddy's series of games.
This genre is quite cruel. Get ready for blood and creepy stories!
Horror gave rise to such a concept as “screamer”. Usually this is a sudden picture with a screaming sound, frightening not so much with its horror as with surprise. Basically, the screamers appear at the moment of losing, when the player is caught by a monster.
Tower defense is an offshoot of strategies where the player needs to build a maze of attacking buildings to cope with the advancing enemies and not let them reach the end. A kind of “zoom”, but your towers attack for you.
Royal Protection is a simple and typical representative of the TD genre.
The basis of this genre is tactical thinking and the correct allocation of resources that go to the selection of types of towers and their location. Victory directly depends on the effectiveness of the defense.
In this genre you need to be as quiet and inconspicuous as possible. Usually the main characters of stealth are thieves, ninjas and spies, and the genre itself is often combined with a first–person shooter.
Thief – a stealth game, where the player not only hones accuracy in hacking and theft, but also follows a certain plot.
Even if stealth implies a quiet passage, sometimes you can attack enemies openly. But the genre would not be a genre if everything was so simple – you will not pass the whole game like that.
Coming to computers from arcade machines, this genre is short and dynamic. Arcade games are simple and clear, and they often lack the opportunity to win, which forces players to set goals for themselves, for example, by the number of points or time.
Tadpole is an arcade game in the genre of rhythm games.
As a rule, there is no plot in this genre of games either. For a quick game, the player does not need to go into the details of the in–game world - arcade machines were created for this, and computer arcades preserve this tradition.
Genres such as RPG, simulators and action are now often found in the multiplayer format – online games where players can do game tasks together. But sometimes genres such as shooters or the whole distinguished genre of “Social Computer Game” are played only by a large number of players (from three or more).
Among Us is a kind of mafia, where players need to figure out an impostor.
In online games, there is usually a chat where players can communicate and coordinate their actions. This is a good opportunity to meet people from different parts of the world, united by the love of one game, and, for example, to practice a foreign language.
Now there are practically no games dedicated entirely to one genre: mixing genres gives a more interesting gameplay and a spacious choice of options for the player. But this is not a bad thing – this is how games attract a large audience and become more diverse, and sometimes even instructive for players.
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