Video games are interactive digital experiences where players influence events on screen in real time using a control input. Video games have developed from simple, monochromatic physics games to a sprawling epic storytelling medium with wildly divergent gameplay and presentation styles. Spacewar!, the first game played by several people on multiple computers, was a 2D action shooter from 1962 that influenced later commercially available games like Galaxy Game, Computer Space, and Asteroids. Action and racing games dominated the market throughout the 1970s when video games were experienced at arcades, as home consoles and computers hadn’t yet emerged. Action and racing games provided the perfect template for the kind of quarter-munching gameplay arcades depended on.
The types of video games developed expanded with the rise of the home computer and console market in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Video games were no longer exclusively short, punishingly difficult experiences by design. Genres like adventure arose from text-based experiences like Zork in 1977, role-playing games began with Akalabeth: World of Doom in 1979, and one-on-one fighting games got their start with titles like Karate Champ and Street Fighter. The influence of Donkey Kong (considered the first platformer) runs through the entire 8-bit and 16-bit era of platform games and is still felt in the genre today.
As designers and developers create novel experiences, the language we use to describe those experiences evolves. The categorization and discussion of video games has led to the development of distinct genres. Game genres help players find more of what they love and help developers with a common framework from which to work. Read on to learn about the 22 types of video games and what makes each unique.
1. Action
Action is a genre that uses the movement of objects, sprites, and player characters to engage players with fast-paced, reactive gameplay. Action games challenge players’ coordination, reflexes, precision, and motor skills. The action-adventure genre allows for many scenarios that test players’ abilities through run-and-gun shooting, beat ‘em ups, bullet hell, rhythm, hack-and-slash, and battle royale games. The rudimentary nature of early graphical video games made action games a pragmatic choice for programmers. Spacewar! from 1962 is considered the first video game available outside a single research institute. An action space combat game, Spacewar! featured two spaceships locked in a dogfight around the gravity well of a star at the center of the screen. Spacewar! Influenced the first commercial arcade action video games, Galaxy Game and Computer Space, from 1971.
Action games have maintained their popularity over the decades. Titles like Ninja Gaiden 2, Hotline Miami, and Super Metroid have attracted players seeking challenging action experiences. Games like God of War (2018), Devil May Cry 3, and Bloodborne offer action-heavy experiences with tactical depth and multiple ways to play. Hack-and-slash classics like Gauntlet, Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance, and Castle Crashers successfully capture the fun of a beer-and-pretzels Dungeons & Dragons session. Beat ‘em up games like Streets of Rage and Turtles in Time offer co-op fun in a casual side-scrolling action format.
2. Adventure game
Adventure is a genre that takes players on an imaginary journey, emphasizing exploration and sensory experience as much as combat and action. Adventure games place players in a situation that requires critical thinking, exploration, problem-solving, and puzzle-solving. Adventure games were among the earliest interactive storytelling experiences, with Colossal Cave Adventure by William Crowther and Don Woods in 1976 starting the trend. A text-based adventure game, Colossal Cave features dozens of locations and objects that the player interacts with using one and two-word commands. In place of graphics, the game describes locations and the result of player actions with text. Besides its presentation, Colossal Cave shares similar narrative-based gameplay and interactive storytelling to the point-and-click adventure games that would come after it.
Early graphical adventures like Wingman and Maniac Mansion established the conventions of the point-and-click genre. Graphical adventure games like Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle, Indiana Jones, and the Monkey Island series use the same mix of exploration, discovery, and puzzle-solving challenges present in early text-based adventures, but add cinematic character art, animation, and backgrounds. Players talk with various characters, collect items in their inventory, and see what objects interact with the spaces they explore. The point-and-click genre is not as popular as it was in the 1990s, but contemporary installations in the Monkey Island series and remasters of Day of the Tentacle and Full Throttle have been received well.
3. Simulation video game
The simulation genre tries to harness realism by including many variables, possibilities, outcomes, and options. Simulation games recreate military, business, life, sports, travel, and flight scenarios with a high level of tactical realism. Simulation video games were inspired by tabletop military war games and desktop flight simulators developed for training purposes. The Oregon Trail from 1971 is regarded as the first simulation video game, recreating the experience of crossing the American continent through a mix of resource management and life simulation. The 1980s saw an expansion of the simulation genre with the release of SubLOGIC and Microsoft’s Flight Simulator, Will Wright’s Sim City, and the space trading and combat sim, Elite.
Simulation games set themselves apart from action games by recreating many aspects of the experience. For example, the Need for Speed series is a racing game, but not a simulation because it’s focused primarily on arcade fun, short playtimes, and player skill. The Project Cars series, on the other hand, is a simulation because it includes real-world variables such as fuel usage, damage, tire wear and grip, and suspension settings, in addition to the racing. Simulations regularly work with third-party hardware that brings the experience closer to reality. For example, Farming Simulator works with hardware plow, tractor, and trailer controllers, Elite Dangerous allows players to control their ships with a HOTAS, and many racing enthusiasts build cockpits for their racing sim steering wheels.
4. Fighting
The fighting genre recreates armed and unarmed combat between two players in VS mode, or against the AI in PVE. Sega’s Heavyweight Champ from 1976 is the first fighting video game, featuring two joysticks representing the boxer’s fists. Data East’s Karate Champ from 1984 was the first game to feature one-on-one martial arts combat with joystick controls allowing for more complex moves. The late 1980s to the late 1990s is considered the golden age of fighting games by many, birthing classic series like Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Samurai Showdown, and King of Fighters. Virtua Fighter came in the late 90s, and is considered part of the golden age, despite being the first fighting game to feature polygonal sprites. 2D fighting games from this era feature short, best-of-three matches that test players’ reflexes, skill, and knowledge of movesets, hitboxes, and timing.
Fighting games in the late 1990s and early 2000s moved from 2D to 3D, with the popularity of the Tekken series spearheading the way. Later series from franchises like Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter also moved to 3D (though Street Fighter retained a cell-shaded animated look). Fighting games rendered in 3D don’t always feature three-dimensional movement. Street Fighter 4 and Super Smash Bros, for example, use 3D assets and sprites, but the characters only interact on a flat 2D plane. Tekken and Virtua Fighter allow players to side-step to avoid incoming attacks, making use of the 3D environment. Fighting games of all stripes tend to feature combo systems and reward quick reflexes and quicker combo execution.
5. Sports
The sports genre recreates athletic competition of all kinds in a digital format. Sports games simulate real-world competitive athletic events and emphasize a mixture of strategy, timing, and reflexes. Pong was released by Atari in 1972 and was the first commercially successful video game. The game simulated ping pong using paddle controls and ball physics, and featured simple, intuitive gameplay. By the late 1970s, sports games widened their scope, including the trackball controlled Football by Atari in 1978. Olympic style title Track and Field from Konami in 1983 introduced button mashing to the public as a way to control onscreen action.
The prevalence of home consoles and microcomputers in the 1980s and 1990s led to an expansion of the sports recreated in game format. Improvements in graphics and a growing “gaming culture” led to interesting sports games. Tecmo Bowl featured real players but upped the ante with over-the-top arcade action. NBA Jam used real players and locations but added flaming baskets and fantastical physics. Boxing games were a popular option from video game’s beginning until the final installment of Fight Night in 2011. Golf has remained enduringly popular as a video game, with the Tiger Woods series standing out as the most popular. Many sports titles like John Madden Football and EAFC feature yearly iterations, ostensibly to update rosters, but also to maximize profit. (Otherwise, they’d update rosters via a software update.)
6. Survival
The survival genre puts players in a difficult situation with limited resources and tasks them with staying alive. Survival games challenge players to manage health, hunger, resources, and shelter in hostile environments. Survival titles emphasize long-term planning, crafting, and endurance, unlike action or adventure games. Survival games are rooted in early text-based adventures and roguelikes, but began to take a more recognizable form in the 1990s and early 2000s. One of the earliest examples is UnReal World, a Finnish survival roguelike set in the Iron Age released in 1992, but still receiving updates in 2025. Lost in Blue, released in the Nintendo DS in 2005, is also a seminal title in the survival genre. It featured scavenging, loot gathering, base building, and item creation, all features that would become staples in the survival genre.
The survival genre gathered momentum in the 2010s, with several titles gaining mainstream popularity, Minecraft introduced survival gameplay in a sandbox environment, while Arma 2 mod, Day Z pitted players in a multiplayer zombie apocalypse. These games laid the foundation for contemporary survival games like Rust, Ark, The Long Dark, Valheim, and Subnautica. These titles often emphasize base building and construction, but games like Don’t Starve continue to innovate with mechanics like a sanity meter affected by the horrors around the player character.
7. Puzzle
Puzzle games use elements of board games, brain teasers, logic puzzles, and word games to challenge players’ deduction skills in a digital format. A puzzle game tests its players’ spatial reasoning and problem solving skills more than their reflexes or ability to memorize patterns. Players of puzzle games are looking to test their critical thinking not test their timing and skill. Common types of puzzles include tile-matching exercises, word puzzles, match three activities, amd more. Space Panic from 1980 is the first puzzle game, tasking players with trapping enemies and planning their route across the game’s screens. 1984’s Tetris captured the public’s attention, its geometric falling shape puzzles and infinite replayability making it a global hit.
The birth of handheld devices in the 1980s coincided with a rise in the popularity of puzzle games. Early portable gaming devices didn’t have the frame and refresh rates to support the same level of high-octance action experiences as home consoles. Casual, slower paced puzzles games like Dr. Mario, Puzzle Bobble, and Lemmings featured mechanics like color-matching, timing, and environmental puzzles. During the 1990s, the scope and presentation of puzzle games expanded with games like Myst, and the 7th Guest combining exploration and storytelling with high-brow puzzle solving. Indie games like Braid added time manipulation as a mechanic for solving puzzles. Advanced physics allowed for Portal and Portal 2 to create interesting, physics-based puzzles. Mobile and touchscreen devices are a natural fit for puzzle games, and the rise of the smartphones and tablets has let to a resurgence of the genre. Games like The Room have seen huge success on Android and iOS.
8. Racing
Racing games pit players against each other or the computer in a competitive dash to cross the finish line. Effective racing games recreate the speed and excitement of vehicle (or other) competition, testing player skill, reaction time, and familiarity with tracks. Cars are the most common vehicle in racing games, but boats, jet skis, motorcycles, drones, and other vehicles are represented. Gran Trak 10 from Atari in 1976 was an early racing video game, featuring a top-down view and single player time trials. Namco’s Pole Position in 1982 featured real world tracks and an aesthetic that continues to influence the racing genre today. Racing games in the 1990s experienced a golden age with sci-fi inspired anti-gravity racing in F-Zero and casual, competitive fun in Mario Kart.
The 3D revolution in the late 90s brought classics like Ridge Racer, Sega Rally Championship, and Daytona USA to the arcades and consoles. The 3D presentation transmitted the feeling of arcade speed to players in a new, more visceral way. Gran Turismo on the PlayStation simultaneously brought new levels of realism to the sim racing genre on home consoles for the first time. Modern racing games run the entire spectrum from dedicated, hardcore sims like iRacing to arcadey fun like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled. Forza Horizon blends open-world exploration with arcade racing.
9. Roleplaying
Roleplaying games (RPGs) place the player in the role of a character (or a group of characters) whose actions, development, and decisions shape or influence events around them. RPGs are influenced by the tabletop RPGs (TRPGs) that inspired them, particularly Dungeons & Dragons. Early computer RPGs borrowed elements like stat-based progression, turn-based combat, and expansive narratives from their pen-and-paper counterparts. Akalabeth: World of Doom, in 1979, by Richard Garriott, is widely considered the first RPG video game. It paved the way for the Ultima series, released around the same time as early party-based dungeon crawlers Wizardry and The Bard’s Tale.
RPGs expanded to new regions and platforms throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Fallout, The Ultima series, and Might and Magic focused on exploration, open-ended gameplay, narrative, and player choice. These games were called CRPGs (the “C” standing for computer as opposed to console), a term still used today to describe games like Divinity: Original Sin 2, Wasteland 3, and Baldur’s Gate. The influence of early CRPGs can still be seen in modern Western RPGs in elements like exploration, player choice, and open-endedness. The 80s saw the rise of the Japanese RPG (JRPG). Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and Phantasy Star featured structured narratives, character-based storytelling, and anime aesthetics. The 16-bit era produced classics like Chrono Trigger, Earthbound, and The Secret of Mana. The late 90s and early 2000s saw the first widely-played massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs). The modern RPG genre includes dynamic, open-world western games like Cyberpunk 2077, Skyrim, and The Witcher 3, tactical RPGs (TRPGs) like XCOM, JRPGs like Fire Emblem and Persona, and unique indie titles like Disco Elysium.
10. Sandbox
The sandbox genre is defined by its open-ended environments with non-linear objectives where players define their own goals. “Sandbox” was a term initially used to describe the tools and editors developers used to create games. Over time the term has evolved to refer to open-ended games with high-levels of player agency and no ultimate win state. An example of an early sandbox game is Elite from 1984. Elite gave players a huge open universe packed with combat, trading, and exploration, but no definitive way to win and no linear path guiding players from start to finish. 1989’s Sim City was another early sandbox title, giving players control over a city with many variable and systems to manage.
In the early 2000s, open-world 3D game design and sandbox games combined to create a new type of game. Grand Theft Auto 3 set players down in a large, reactive city that offered endless open world exploration and structured missions with a central story. The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind featured a player-driven narrative in an open world full of interacting systems. Minecraft remains the most popular sandbox today, giving players a huge collaborative space full of options to build, craft, and interact. Games like Terraria, Gary’s Mod, and Roblox are a mix of sandbox game and dev kit, allowing players to create and share their own gameplay experiences.
11. First-person shooter
First-person shooters (FPS) recreate firearm combat in 3D environments from a first-person perspective. Players of the FPS genre depend on reflexes, accuracy, spatial awareness, and timing to succeed. Maze from 1973 and Spasim from 1974 used the first-person perspective, but the general public became aware of the genre through ID Software’s Wolfenstein 3D in 1992. Wolfenstein’s fast-paced gunplay and twisting levels set the tone for ID Software’s next game, Doom. Doom featured multiplayer death matches and modding tools that created a vibrant, long-lived community.
In the mid-90s, Quake, from ID Software, introduced true 3D environments and movement with online multiplayer matches. Goldeneye brought frantic first-person split-screen action to home consoles, while Half Life blended first-person shooting with cinematic storytelling. The 2000s saw the rise of the military shooter like Battlefield and Call of Duty, where realism, cinematic campaigns, and large multiplayer battle arenas became the norm. Halo featured a satisfying, cinematic narrative campaign that could be played in co-op, and exciting multiplayer online matches. Today, FPS games range from cinematic storytelling experiences like Metro Exodus to genre-defining VR titles like Half Life: Alyx.
12. Platformer
The platform genre is typified by precision timing, spatial awareness, and fluid movement across challenging environments. Platform games challenge players with navigating environments by running, jumping, climbing, and avoiding obstacles and enemies. Donkey Kong from 1981 is widely considered the first platform game as it introduced players to jumping between vertical and horizontal platforms. Super Mario Bros from 1985 caused an explosion in the popularity of the genre with its tight controls, imaginative characters, innovative level design, and addictive side-scrolling gameplay.
The 1980s and 1990s saw platformers emerge as the most popular titles on home consoles and arcade machines. Platform games like Sonic the Hedgehog, Mega Man, and Castlevania are among the most popular titles of the 8 and 16-bit eras. The arrival of the PlayStation and Nintendo 64 in the late 90s changed the paradigm to 3D traversal, but platforming remained popular. Super Mario 64 brought collection mechanics and expansive environments, while Crash Bandicoot and Spyro featured tight controls and precise movement challenges. Modern platformers like Hollow Knight and Shovel Knight blend classic gameplay with deep worldbuilding and emotional storytelling. Braid and Fez mix in rules related to time and space to make the platforming feel unique.
13. Massively multiplayer online game
Massively multiplayer online (MMO) games are persistent, shared, digital spaces, where hundreds to thousands of players interact with each other, the environment, and NPCs. MMOs blend elements of roleplaying games with economic, social, and combat systems to give players the sense that they’re interacting with a living, breathing world filled with other people. MMOs predate online graphical video games in the form of multi-user dungeons or MUDs. MUDs were essentially multiplayer text adventure where players explore a fantasy world in text form.
The first graphical MMO was Neverwinter Nights from 1991 running on AOL. 1997’s Ultima Online and 1999’s Everquest popularized the genre, introducing large, detailed environments, persistent character levelling, and player-run guilds – all of which would become staples of the genre. World of Warcraft (WoW) in 2004 punched through the mainstreamin a way no MMO had before, featuring a TV ad campaign with Ozzy Osbourne, William Shatner, and Mr. T. WoW’s established lore from the Warcraft series, impressive 3D environments and characters, and interesting factions made it stand out. EVE Online in 2003 set a new standard for economic simulation and player-led, factional politics and remains popular today. Games like Black Desert Online and Guild Wars 2 feature more action-oriented combat and have streamlined some of the clunkier elements of older MMOs.
14. Multiplayer online battle arena
Multiplayer battle arena (MOBA) games feature competitive, team-based battles where players battle enemies, complete objectives, and push lanes to take over the opposing team’s base. MOBAs typically feature 5V5 battles on symmetrical battle arenas, designed to offer multiple routes to victory. The first MOBA, Defense of the Ancients (DOTA), was created using the Warcraft III editor. DOTA turned Warcraft III’s RTS gameplay into a new kind of hero-driven skirmish that blended elements from strategy, roleplaying, and action games.
The launch of Free-to-play MOBA League of Legends (LoL) in 2009 was a commercial success story. It featured 5V5 matches with each player controlling a champion with a distinctive play style. LoL’s monetization model offers cosmetic items that don’t impact gameplay. Estimates suggest that only 4% of LoL players are paying customers, but the massive customer base make this enough for a profitable model. Newer MOBAs haven’t seen the success of LoL and DOTA, but LoL and DOTA 2 still dominate the esports scene, featuring annual competitions with multi-million dollar prize pools.
15. Shooter
The shooter genre uses ranged weapons like guns, lasers, missiles, arrows, and bolts as a core mechanic to test players’ reaction time and aiming skill. Shooter games cover the entire breadth of side-scrolling, third-person, and first-person shooters. Here, we focus on the third-person and side-scrolling strands of the genre, as we covered first-person shooters in a separate entry. Early shooters like Space Invaders from 1978 and Galaga from 1981 created the blueprint for 2D action-focused arcade experiences that rewarded reflexes, pattern recognition, and strategic maneuvers. Shooters of the 1980s and 1990s like Metal Slug, Contra, and Gunstar Heroes brought run-and-gun gameplay, co-op action, and satisfying weapons, explosions, and animations. Bullet hell shooters like Radiant Silvergun in 1998 also emerged to test the most hardcore of shooter fans.
The wave of third person cover shooters like Gears of War and Max Payne in the 2000s prioritized cinematic action and precise (for the time) camera control. The third person perspective makes the run-and-gun style of some FPS unsuitable. Instead, designers gave players dynamic protective zones to hide behind and shoot from. Modern third-person shooters like The Division use mechanics and systems inspired by the 2000s cover shooter titles. Indie titles like Enter the Gungeon and Hotline Miami use twin-stick control, retro-inspired visuals, and high speed action.
16. Strategy
Strategy games task players with resource management, planning, and tactical desicion making in a digital simulation. Simulations range from realistic military games to hospital management sims to horse training simulators. Strategic tabletop games inspired video game strategy. Games like Chess and Risk offered some inspiration, but the detailed war games invented in Prussia in the late 19th century gave the blueprint for the many units, factions, terrain, and strategies that feature in the genre. M.U.L.E from 1983 was an early real-time strategy title, while The Ancient Art of War from 1984 is an early example of a turn-based strategy game.
1991’s Civilization by Sid Meiers was commercially successful and influential to the genre, introducing diplomacy, trade, exploration, and urban development. X-COM: UFO Defense from 1994 mix real time resource management with turn-based combat. Command & Conquer, Starcraft, and Warcraft emphasized “actions per minute” style gameplay with fast-paced battles and many units to manage. Contemporary strategy games like Crusader Kings 3 introduce complex dynastic mechanics, while the Total War series focuses on cinematic battles and campaigns.
17. Stealth
Stealth games focus on snealking, misdirection, silent takedowns, and infiltration over direct combat. Stealth players are expected to use cunning, patience, and pattern recognition to get past guards and to their objective. Castle Wolfenstein from 1981 is notable for including some of the first stealth mechanics in a video game. Players sneaked past enemy guards instead of taking them on in combat. Metal Gear from 1987 introduced many staples of the genre such as radar systems, sound detection, and several non-lethal options for the player to use. Metal Gear’s alert mode, where the enemies go into active search mode when the player is seen, is still a part of stealth games today, forcing players into hiding on a cool down timer.
Metal Gear Solid in 1998 used the alert mode, evasion mode, infiltration mode system, where players trigger a response when seen or heard and must hide until a the timer counts down. Thief: The Dark Project in 1998 featured light and sound as core mechanics, using a range of tipped arrows to manipulate torches and the environment. 2002’s Splinter Cell introduced high tech tactical gadgets to manipulate the environment and enemy guards. The Dishonored and Deus Ex series blend elements of immersive sim, stealth, and roleplaying to create experiences where combat and stealth are both valid options. Pure stealth games are not as popular now as in the 2000s, but stealth mechanics still feature prominently in games like The Last of Us and Hitman.
18. Casual
Casual games use accessibility, simple rules, and vibrant colors to appeal to a broad audience regardless of age or gaming experience. Casual games use short play sessions, intuitive controls, and forgiving difficulty curves to keep players returning for another session. Tetris from 1984 and Solitaire from 1981 set expectations for casual, intuitive, repeatable gameplay. Bejewelled from 2000 is a casual match-three game that’s been ported to many platforms and remains a strong influence over the casual mobile genre.
Peggle from 2007 is a pachinko-inspired casual game where players shoot a limited supply of balls onto a field of pegs. Its colorful visuals and drag-and-drop gameplay inspired a boom in casual gaming. The rise of smartphones in the late 2000s saw a new wave of touchscreen-controlled casual games like Angry Birds, Candy Crush, and Fruit Ninja. Modern casual games range from mindless clickers to in-depth farming simulators like Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing. Games like Among Us, Jackbox Party Pack, and Fall Guys offer innovative multiplayer casual experiences that are simple to pick up and play.
19. Text-based game
Text-based games are defined by using limited or no graphics, relying instead on text to take players on imaginative experiences. Text-based games began in an era when text was the primary input and output of computers, and visual output was extremely limited. Colossal Cave Adventure from 1976 is the first text adventure that was widely distributed. Players explored a vast underground environment by inputting commands like “go north” or “use lamp”. Zork from 1977 expanded the scope and wonder of Cave. Zork’s parser system allowed for more natural feeling complex inputs, and the game’s detailed descriptions and interesting puzzles encouraged interaction.
Infocom’s text-based library was the most consistent during the golden era of text adventures. Games like The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Planetfall, and A Mind Forever Voyaging featured deep worldbuilding and paser-based systems that responded to typed player commands. Text-adventures moved online in the form of multi-user dungeons (MUDs) as graphical adventures took over in the late 1980s. MUDs used the same conventions as classic text-adventure, but were shared virtual worlds where players could communicate and adventure together. Contemporary text-based games like A Dark Room, Fallen London, and tools like Twine and Inkle have led to a revival in the genre
20. Visual novel
Visual novels use static or minimally animated graphics alongside text-based storytelling, often with multiple branching paths. The first visual novel to gain popularity in Japan was Enix’s Portopia Serial Murder Case in 1983. Hideo Kojima’s Snatcher from 1988 is a cinematic, cyberpunk visual novel where the player interacts with the game by selecting text commands. Visual novels focus on strong narratives, interesting characters, and multiple outcomes based on player choice.
Visual novels went mainstream in Japan in the 1990s and 2000s. Clannad, Steins; Gate, and other anime-inspired games featured manga-quality artwork with branching narratives and romance options. The Phoenix Wright and Danganronpa series introduced courtroom drama as a central component of gameplay, appealing to a western audience primed by years of TV and film courtroom depictions. Modern visual novels like Coffee Talk simulate running a cafe in visual novel form, while Doki Doki Literature Club upends player expectation by turning from a lighthearted dating simulator into a psychological horror game.
21. Real-time strategy
Real-time strategy (RTS) games are defined by resource gathering, base-building, and unit deployment in real time. RTS unfold constantly, unlike turn-based strategy games, meaning players must manage multiple systems at once and make quick decisions. The constantly evolving gameplay in RTS makes for frantic, emergent gameplay, especially in multiplayer mode competition. Herzog Zwei from 1989 is considered the first true RTS game, and Dune II from 1992 established many of the genre’s core conventions like base building, fog of war, unit production, and tech tree upgrades.
RTS games increased in popularity during the 1990s as the genre expanded on PC with titles like Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, Command & Conquer, and StarCraft establishing many of the conventions like compelling single-player campaigns, interesting, thematically distinct factions, and competitive multiplayer modes. Starcraft’s multiplayer became a cultural phenomenon, helping to popularize the ideas of high-level play and esports. Age of Empires and Rise of Nations added historical elements and large-scale building to the genre in the early 2000s, while Warcraft III mixed in roleplaying elements with the RTS formula. The RTS genre declined in popularity in the 2010s, but remasters of Command & Conquer, Starcraft, and Warcraft suggest a rising interest. Newer titles like Northgard have hit two million players on Steam.
22. Extraction
The extraction genre is typified by scavenging for gear and resources, engaging or avoiding enemies (including other players), and then extracting by reaching an exit point. Extraction is the final part of a chain of action, preceded by looting, survival, and combat. Players’ success hinges on strategy, risk management, and good decision-making. Survival and early extraction are generally not challenging, but offer little reward. Staying in the game and taking more risks puts you in line to win large rewards. If a player is killed before extraction, they lose whatever gear they were carrying. This mechanic adds an extra element of risk management and decision-making.
The first extraction game is considered to be Escape from Tarkov from 2016, which borrowed ideas from Tom Clancy’s The Division’s Dark Zone. Escape from Tarkov emphasized realism, forcing players to manage inventory, ammunition, injury, and hydration systems. AI-controlled enemies and unpredictable human players make safe extraction even more challenging. Recent extraction games like The Hunt: Showdown introduce PVPVE, where players cooperate to take down monsters before turning on each other to try to escape. The popularity of extraction shooters has inspired developers to include an extraction mode in Call of Duty’s DMZ.
