Video Game Genres Explained From Roguelikes to RPGs

A video game genre tells you how a game plays: what you do moment to moment, how you get stronger and what happens when you fail. It says nothing reliable about the art style or setting, which is why a pixel-art farming game and a grim fantasy slog can share more DNA than you’d expect. This hub explains the major game genres, how they overlap, and which guide in this section answers your question fastest.

What video game genres are and who this section is for

A video game genre is a label for a shared set of mechanics and rules, not a theme. “Fantasy” is a setting. “RPG” is a genre, because it promises character stats, leveling and choices that change how you play. Space shooters and medieval shooters are both shooters for the same reason.

That distinction trips up a lot of people. Film genres describe mood and story, like horror or comedy. Game genres mostly describe verbs: shoot, build, explore, manage, survive. A horror game can be a shooter, a puzzle game or a walking sim, and each plays completely differently.

Why the labels got so messy

Many genre names come from one specific game that everyone copied. “Roguelike” means “like Rogue,” a 1980 dungeon crawler. “Metroidvania” mashes together Metroid and Castlevania. “Soulslike” points straight at FromSoftware’s Dark Souls. When a genre is named after a single game, people argue forever about how close you have to be to count.

Stores have leaned into the chaos too. Steam lets players tag games themselves, and Valve’s own launch page invited people to apply genres such as “Puzzle”, themes like “Military”, or attributes such as “Difficult”. That is useful for discovery but blurs genre with mood, which is part of why we built this section.

Who this is for

This section is for three kinds of players:

• The newcomer who keeps seeing “roguelite” or “MOBA” in store listings and wants a plain explanation.
• The returning player who stopped gaming around the PS3 era and finds that half the labels are new.
• The specialist, the Madden lifer for example, who wants to know what else might scratch the same itch.

We’ve all bought a game because the trailer looked great, then found out an hour in that it was a genre we can’t stand. A little vocabulary prevents that.

Genres, modes and platforms at a glance

The quickest way to compare game genres is by core loop, typical session length, multiplayer setup and where they are usually played. The table below covers every genre with a dedicated guide in this section. Examples are long-running, well-known titles, and platform notes describe general patterns, not every release.

Modes matter as much as genre

A single genre can feel completely different depending on mode. Madden NFL is a sports sim either way, but Franchise mode is a long management game while Ultimate Team is a card-collecting grind. Final Fantasy XIV is an MMORPG, yet its story content is mostly a solo RPG with company.

Pro tip: Before buying, check whether the mode you want works offline. Battle royales, MOBAs and MMORPGs need a connection at all times, and some sports modes do too.

How to find the right genre, step by step

The fastest way to find a genre you’ll stick with is to work backward from how you like to spend your time, not from what’s trending. Here’s the process we use when a friend asks what to play next.

1. Name a game you loved and say why in one sentence. “I loved building my roster in Franchise mode” points somewhere very different from “I loved the big hits.”
2. Pick your session length. Twenty-minute windows suit roguelikes, battle royales and cozy games. Long evenings suit RPGs, MMORPGs and immersive sims.
3. Decide how you feel about failure. If losing progress makes you close the game, skip traditional roguelikes and Soulslikes for now.
4. Choose solo, co-op or competitive. Competitive genres like MOBAs come with ranked ladders and teammates who may not be patient.
5. Look up the most specific sub-genre tag. Steam’s own guidance tells developers to pay particular attention to the most specific Genre or Sub-Genre, so that tag on a store page is the most honest one.
6. Read the matching guide below, then try a demo or free weekend. Ten minutes of play settles more than an hour of reading.

A worked example

Say you’ve spent years in Madden’s Franchise mode, taking over the Bills in year one and trying to fix the cap before training camp. You enjoy planning, roster building and seeing a long-term project pay off, but you don’t care much about reflexes.

Run that through the steps. Session length is long, failure tolerance is moderate, play style is solo, and the thing you love is building and managing. That points away from battle royales and toward RPGs with deep character building, sandbox builders and management-heavy sports sims.

Steam’s tag ladder is a good model for this. Its documentation splits Super-Genre: Action, Genre: Platformer, Sub-Genre: Precision Platformer, and the narrowest rung is where your real preference lives.

Heads up: Genre and age rating are separate systems. ESRB ratings cover content, for example Teen means content is generally suitable for ages 13 and older, and say nothing about how the game plays.

The things that matter most when comparing game genres

Five attributes separate one genre from another more than anything else: the core loop, progression, failure, structure and the social setup. Once you can read those, any new label makes sense within a minute.

Core loop

The core loop is the thing you repeat hundreds of times. In a MOBA, that’s farming minions, fighting in lanes and pushing towers. In a cozy game, it’s planting, watering and selling. If the core loop doesn’t appeal to you, nothing else will save the game.

Progression

Progression is how you get stronger. RPGs make it explicit with levels and stats. Metroidvanias tie it to abilities, like a double jump that opens a ledge you passed hours ago. Battle royales mostly reset progression every match, so the only thing that carries over is your own skill.

Failure and difficulty

This is where the roguelike vs roguelite fight lives. A true roguelike sends you back to the start with nothing. A roguelite lets some upgrades survive, so every failed run still moves you forward. Soulslikes take a third route: you drop your currency where you died and get one chance to recover it.

Structure

Structure is the shape of the world. Metroidvanias use one interconnected map. Roguelikes generate new layouts each run. Sandboxes give you a world and few instructions. Immersive sims build levels with several solutions, so a locked door might give way to a keycard, a vent, a hacked terminal or a well-placed explosive.

Social setup

Some game genres are built for other people. Battle royales and MOBAs only work online, MMORPGs share a persistent world, and sports sims shine on the couch with a rival. Everything else is mostly solo with optional extras.

Common mistakes players make with genres

• Judging by art style. A cute pixel game can be a punishing roguelike. Read the genre tag, not the thumbnail.
• Treating “RPG” as one thing. A JRPG, an action RPG and an MMORPG ask very different things of you.
• Quitting a roguelite after one run. The genre is built around dying. Give it five runs before deciding.
• Jumping into ranked MOBA play on night one. Learn a couple of characters against bots first. Your teammates will thank you, or at least complain less.
• Assuming free-to-play means low commitment. Battle royales and MOBAs are often free but built around seasons, battle passes and daily challenges.

Pro tip: If a store page lists a game as both a roguelike and a roguelite, trust the description of what carries over between runs. That one detail decides which label is accurate.

The guides to read first and why

Start with the RPG, roguelike and Soulslike guides, because those three words appear inside dozens of other labels. Once you know them, terms like “action roguelite” or “Soulslike Metroidvania” explain themselves.

Here’s the reading order we’d recommend, depending on where you’re coming from.

Why this order works

The RPG guide comes first because progression systems borrowed from RPGs are everywhere now, from shooters to sports games. Madden’s player progression and abilities would make a 1990s RPG designer feel right at home.

The roguelike pair comes second because the debate between those two terms causes more confusion than any other genre question. Reading the comparison after the main roguelike guide makes the difference stick.

The Soulslike guide earns its early spot because “Souls” has become shorthand for difficulty itself. Knowing what the genre actually requires, mostly patience and pattern reading rather than lightning reflexes, helps you decide whether a hard game is worth your time.

Heads up: Genre definitions shift as new hit games arrive. Each guide in this section focuses on the design traits that have stayed consistent rather than chasing whatever got tagged that way last month.

Every guide in this section

Every genre guide we’ve published is listed below, from cozy games to MMORPGs. Each one follows the same pattern: a plain definition, how the genre plays, how it differs from its nearest neighbors, and well-known examples. Pick the label that’s been bugging you and start there. You can come back to this hub whenever a new term turns up on a store page.

FAQ

How many video game genres are there?

There is no official count. Most players work with about a dozen core genres such as RPG, shooter, strategy, sports and platformer, then hundreds of sub-genres and hybrids built from them.

What is the difference between a genre and a sub-genre?

A genre is the broad family, like RPG or platformer. A sub-genre narrows it down by a specific rule set, like JRPG or precision platformer, and it usually tells you far more about how the game plays.

Is a game’s genre the same as its age rating?

No. Genre describes how a game plays, while an ESRB rating such as E, T or M describes content suitability. A cozy farming game and a shooter can both carry a T rating.

Can a game belong to more than one genre?

Yes. Most modern games are hybrids, such as an action RPG or a roguelike deckbuilder, and stores list several genre tags on one game for that reason.

What is the easiest video game genre for beginners?

Cozy games, sandbox games and sports games tend to be the gentlest starting points because they have low fail states and let you set your own pace. Soulslikes and traditional roguelikes are usually the hardest entry points.

Why do players argue about whether a game is a roguelike?

The term originally described games built like Rogue from 1980, with permanent death and no carryover. Many newer games keep some upgrades between runs, which is why the separate label roguelite exists.

Sources

• Steam Tags (Steamworks Documentation)
• Introducing Steam Tags
• ESRB Ratings Guide
• ESRB Software Rating Information (Nintendo Support)