Video games are quite fun. Just kidding! They are a blast and can help relieve stress. Plus, they can be helpful for eye/hand coordination and learning problem-solving skills. Do you have any games you like? Do you know where to start looking?  With so many different types of games, sometimes the selection can be overwhelming. It’s a great start to join a gaming community like joystickgames.com for guidance on the best games for you. Apart from this, hopefully, my explanation of the genres will help you identify games you might want to play. Here we go.

Sandbox~ A game where you can do whatever it is you want there. There may be quests, but not always. Or the quests are optional after the tutorial. One constant is that there is no clear end to the game. Examples are Life is Feudal, Eve Online, and Minecraft.

Real-time strategy~ They are also called RTS. These are war games that don’t have turns. It’s a constantly moving game. They are often top-down views and include resource and map management. Examples of these are Warcraft, Starcraft, and Age of Empires.

Final Fantasy VIII 7 Cloud Cover

Shooters~ This one is easy. You shoot at people. This is not a genre I play well. I can fire a real-life firearm with ok accuracy. However, playing a video game and shooting? I can’t hit the broad side of a barn. These games can have first-person or third-person shooter POVs. Some of these are Halo, Division, Doom, and Destiny 2.

Multiplayer Online Battle Arena~ These are also known as MOBAs. MOBAs Can consist of other players, AI, or a mix of the two. It is always teams going at each other. Some are easier to play or put up with than others. Some MOBA games are Smite, League of Legends, and DOTA. My husband says Heroes of the Storm is the best one, and the community is friendly.

Role-playing games ~ These are also called RPGs for short. This consists of the sub-genres of ARPG ARPG, MMORPG, etc. RPG is a vast genre. You always play the role of the main character. Character customization is important in RPGs. The Fable series, the Final Fantasy series, and Kingdom Hearts are all examples. The nifty thing here is RPGs aren’t just video games. Does Dungeons and Dragons come to mind? ARPG (action role-playing games) are usually top-down with swarms of enemies and slice and dicing or spell slinging. Some of these are the Diablo series, Path of Exile, and Lost Ark. MMORPGs or Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game is played with everyone online or maybe on a server with friends. World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy XIV are popular examples of this one. There are more sub-genres than I listed here.

Source mxdwn Games

Simulation and sports~ Sports games are exactly like it sounds. You play hockey, football, or basketball for the game. I can only picture Madden Sports. My husband used to love them on the Xbox and PlayStation. Simulation games are immersive with both small and large goals. Very often, they are world-building, even if it is only your little house. Games like the Sims and Minecraft are in this genre. My husband says racing games also fall into this category which makes sense to me. These games are ones like Iracing and Forza. I like the Sims and games like that. Driving simulators are just like shooter games for me. I can do it in real life but not in the virtual world. I don’t play sports ones.

Puzzlers and party games~ Puzzler games are casual, single-player games. I often like playing them when I am sick. That’s when this one is my favorite. The ones I favor have an intense story (a little fairytale type story), seek and find puzzles sprinkled with other puzzles. What makes it even more fun for me is my kids will come to check on me and stay a little while to help me with puzzles. Party games are usually multiplayer and a ton of fun. My family likes to play Just Dance for our parties. Oh! And Wii Sports just for goofing off.

Action adventure~ These focus both on combat and the story. I thoroughly enjoy this kind. It tickles me to work my way through a good story and have some epic fights too. I love the story mode of Mortal Kombat or the Knights of the Old Republic series. Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is also a great action-adventure game.

Survival and horror~ Sometimes they are in the same game but often not. Horror games are what you would expect, scary, better in the dark with jump scares. An excellent example, Amnesia. Survival games require fighting, gathering, building, and crafting. You want to build a home base, city, or something in between. Examples of this are Conan Exiles, Valheim, and again Minecraft. Some survival games have elements like zombies to add a touch of horror to the game. Day Z is something my husband plays when he wants to kill zombies. Resident Evil fits here too.

Source Smite

Platformers~ I love platform games! The gameplay is straightforward. The side-scrolling is nostalgic and only having one way to go makes you press on. Oh, such simple games! I love the Crash Bandicoot and Spiro series.

Games can be in multiple genres. Look at the example of Minecraft. We see it in the Sandbox, Simulation, and Survival genres. You don’t have to, nor do I think you technically can stick to one genre. I love games in a number of them. I have played in all of them. This is by no means a complete list. There are so many sub-genres that it will make you dizzy. Hell, just the RPG subs will do it.

At the end of the day, play what you like. Knowing what genre a game is, is helpful in looking for similar games. It makes it so much easier. Do you have a genre you favor? What games do you like? Let me know in the comments below.