Everything has fads but it is a concept especially prominent in computer games. Here you are invited to consider a game style you like but is now uncommon, or at least not reflected in the lineups from the big game makers that might once have had loads of offerings in it, and maybe then why it is so. Equally anything you wish to note about the evolutions in it from what little does continue to this day. Are there any upcoming games that might bring it back?
Right now many are looking at the "battle royale" games* and predicting their eventual downfall, mainly as it is a pattern that has happened before.

*there is the related discussion of game genre names and how tricky that is, however it is wishing to be noted that "battle royale" is a surprisingly good description of the gameplay it encompasses.

Historical examples of such things might include World of Warcraft losing out to MOBA/DOTA style games, one of the main reasons being given that their gameplay style reflected end game style "raids" but without the need to front load it with hundreds of hours of play. As far as gameplay design goes though they are quite hard to justify if aiming to me an intuitive game is something you want to do.
World of Warcraft in turn also seemed to really knock back multiplayer dungeon crawlers like Diablo, Dungeon Siege and Sacred.

Going back further in history then space sims were once all the rage. Trying to be a fan of them from about 1994 until 2014 was a hard thing indeed, and it is still far from easy if you are bored of Elite : Dangerous. Some have argued it was actually technology that held it back -- not enough power to break out of the procedurally generated elite mould and into the fully realised world.

What might have heralded the demise of point and click adventure games? Is their ongoing renaissance that started on the DS and is continuing to phones and tablets doing it for you? They seem to be a lot more "streamlined" than before, effectively eliminating the "rub everything on everything else" style play so common in older ones. Did that come at a cost to the heart of such games?

Have you seen a truly good beat em up like Streets of Rage in recent years? Some do try, especially in the smaller downloadable game/independent world, but why do they not stick.
As it stands you might also ask the same question for games like God of War, Bayonetta, modern Ninja Gaiden, The Bouncer, and Devil May Cry, all of which some would say are the logical progression of the beat em up style into 3d. As this article was being written the review code was offered up for God of War 4, might this reignite the flames here?

Survival horror seems to have faded away. Is it doomed to repeat the same formula of scary, sequel with scary elements, second sequel that is outright action game? On the other hand it is doing surprisingly well in the lower budget/independent game world.

Is the surprisingly popular Fire Emblem a suitable substitute for Advance Wars?

We have not had a skateboarding game that stuck the landing since 2010's Skate 3. Fans of BMX games have had even longer -- 2002 was when Dave Mirra and Mat Hofman both released games in their respective franchises from mainline consoles.
Speaking of gameplay styles popular during such timeframes then where my plastic instruments at?

It has long been noted that it is basically only Nintendo doing the N64/Rare style 3d platformer games these days. Why might that be?

Maybe you are a fan of Amiga style European shmups. The Japanese favoured approach of bullet hell does not lack charm but is not really the same thing. Why did that stick around but the others fade out?

You need not take more mechanical concepts either. Recently some said Call of Duty having a World War 2 entry was a change of pace, anybody else that recalls the years 2000-2007 might well find that odd. As far as reasons for the WW2 trend ending then "utter stagnation" is probably going to be accepted by most, but do you have another theory? It is not like the period is short of compelling stories or theatres of war to look at. You might ask the same question for the futuristic and "modern" settings that bookend that period.

Similarly we have seen some other fads. In the early 2000s every single game seemed like it needed a stealth section. After that "RPG elements" were a thing. The jury is still out on what it amounted to but "roguelike elements" was a thing for a hot moment as well. Anything there you wish to discuss? Was the "frustration" associated with roguelike elements too much for it ever be a long term trend?

This is another entry in GBAtemp's new series contemplating aspects of game design, game mechanics, industry concepts and more besides. We have plenty of things on the list to discuss but suggestions or a guest spot are welcome. Previously we discussed skills one might have learned or honed because of a game. Older entries include games on the PS4 and Xbone that will stand the test of time, games that got better after launch, cancelled games and shuttered devs, and story canon in games

 

[sarkwalvein]

Turn-based local multiplayer physics based platform battle royale games (oh, Worms Armageddon /s)

Turn-based local multiplayer stats heavy tactics rpg with components of base building (erm, Heroes of Might and Magic 3)

Perhaps those were always niche anyway, not sure of favored style of game.
Oh wait, I find two connections "turn-based" and "local multiplayer", two previously favored style of games that have become quite uncommon

Also, point and clicks never died in Germany, the same as 80s music on the radio.

 

[JellyPerson]

There aren't any new FMV games either. Sad.

 

[FAST6191]

Turn-based local multiplayer physics based platform battle royale games (oh, Worms Armageddon /s)

Turn-based local multiplayer stats heavy tactics rpg with components of base building (erm, Heroes of Might and Magic 3)

Perhaps those were always niche anyway, not sure of favored style of game.
Oh wait, I find two connections "turn-based" and "local multiplayer", two previously favored style of games that have become quite uncommon

Also, point and clicks never died in Germany, the same as 80s music on the radio.

I might have to look into that point and click thing. I generally follow the "just in Germany (maybe also Austria)" side of things for RPGs, action games and the like as there is a lot to like there and it was often a long time making it outside of said region. Unless you are counting things like Little Big Adventure and Discworld Noire, both eminently playable games and owed a lot to point and click but not quite the same.

Worms wise I was more of a fan of 2 than Armageddon, though we did have a lot of PS1 Worms (basically Worms 1, before it went cartoon) in there for whatever reason. I almost forgot about it, though that might have been how much I really disliked Hogs of War.
The second DS entry for worms is not bad though, maybe skip the first.
Equally while it was technically turn based we usually went in for rather punishing time limits (too much ninja rope otherwise) so I was able to scratch a lot of the itch via Soldat.

As far as Heroes goes I was more of a 2 gold kind of guy, 3 was probably a better game but never really did it for me and 4 was playable but lacked any of the charm of 2 or 3. Equally Civilisation seemed to work for me when wanting to play that sort of thing. I did have a go on Illyriad for a little while which reminded me a bit of it, though the purposeful time limitations stopped me from playing the same way. I do also have to note King of Dragon Pass got tarted up and rereleased the other year.

 

[CeeDee]

It has long been noted that it is basically only Nintendo doing the N64/Rare style 3d platformer games these days. Why might that be?

Hat in Time? Yooka-Laylee?

 

[FAST6191]

Hat in Time? Yooka-Laylee?

Two games, fairly mediocre at best, both from small independent devs and one even being partly crowd funded. Both in the last year. Ignoring remakes/rereleases then prior to that you had? Jak and Daxter, whatever became of Spyro, Ratchet & Clank if you squint. I doubt you would pick up a Playstation or xbox during their eras and expect to be able to not miss out much -- not having a PS3 for much of last gen I missed out on God of War, however on my 360 I had Ninja Gaiden, Ninety Nine Nights, I guess Bayonetta, and the list goes on for a while.

Compare say the N64/PS1 era where you had Nintendo and Rare pumping them out fairly rapidly, bunch of the big pubs of the day doing things and more besides. I will give it was not quite as insane as the "mascot platformers" of 16 bit and older but you still had loads on all platforms, save perhaps the PC.

 

[Searinox]

I would love to see more Lucasfilm-styled point-and-click adventure games. Broken Sword series was nice but I felt the mechanics lacked the richness to make it truly difficult to figure out what to do next. These games also tend to be a one-time experience because once you figured everything out, future playthroughs have little substance to them. It seems to also be discouraged because games nowadays spoonfeed you with what to do next whereas progress obscurity is the key to these games. If the replay value is so low, who spends the time to think up so many puzzles, an engaging story, and detailed artwork for such an experience?

 

[FAST6191]

I have played a few point and click games where you set up your character beforehand and then depending upon the skills, or the extent thereof, you picked it changes your playthrough of the game quite dramatically.
I would also look to something like the old school fallout or baldur's gate titles, or indeed the king of dragon pass game I mentioned earlier. More recently I played Academagia which was a "life simulator" of sorts but had the events and conversation puzzles such that no two plays are the same.
I have never seen that also done in LucasArts style (Discworld Noire came close at points but is also fairly linear) but I can see a path for it, one some games already went in for.

 

[McWhiters9511]

im ready for battle royal to die out im sick of it already

 

[Primalus]

I'm missing proper match-3 games. The last one that I don't consider trash came out in 2011 (Bejeweled 3) and there hasn't really been anything good since.

 

[ordos9]

I miss classic style survival horror 3rd person, pre rendered backdrops, tank controls. The first three silent hills, the first three residents evils plus veronica. Haunting ground, Clock Tower 3. Would love more well produced games in their style. I hope one day we can see a amateur game engine that can make those style of games the same way the rpgmaker does for jrpg style games..

 

[VitaType]

I might have to look into that point and click thing. I generally follow the "just in Germany (maybe also Austria)" side of things for RPGs, action games and the like as there is a lot to like there and it was often a long time making it outside of said region. Unless you are counting things like Little Big Adventure and Discworld Noire, both eminently playable games and owed a lot to point and click but not quite the same.

I think he is refering to something Ron Gilbert (Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Thimbleweed Park) once said, something like Point'n'Click Adventures only live on in our imagination and in germany. There where a couple of smaller releases during the early-mid 2000s such as the Ankh series and the Secret Files series (the later is quite nice), but today the genre here is mainly covered by Daedalic Entertainment who makes/publishes hand-drawn 2D LucasArts style Point'n'Click games.

Turn-based local multiplayer stats heavy tactics rpg with components of base building (erm, Heroes of Might and Magic 3)

Like and even?

 

[sarkwalvein]

Like and even?

Me ignorant. Didn't even realize the heroes franchise was still around. Seems interesting, now I only need friends to play them with

 

[VashTS]

arcade style fighting games a la 90s MK and SF, the new ones just don't feel the same

 

[anhminh]

That is why I only stick with tradition genre like fighting and JRPG on console instead of follow nonsensical PC game trend. But tbh, I do miss those real time strategy though. Age of Empire III is still the best even in today competitive scene.

 

[VitaType]

I miss classic style survival horror 3rd person, pre rendered backdrops, tank controls. The first three silent hills, the first three residents evils plus veronica. Haunting ground, Clock Tower 3. Would love more well produced games in their style. I hope one day we can see a amateur game engine that can make those style of games the same way the rpgmaker does for jrpg style games..

There is Banned Memories, but who knows if it ever will be finished. It's a RE1-3 style game with retro graphics. PS1 retro graphics
You mentioned the original RE trilogy and Code Veronica idk if you may only forgot about it, but there was a GameCube entry in the series called Zero which also has a HD remaster and is in the style of the early RE games with tank control.

There aren't any new FMV games either. Sad.

Her Story, but it's more a interesting concept then a fantastic game. For the price on steam it's okay and a nice evening if you sit down on your PC and play it with the lights off (for the atmosphere, don't worry no jump scares or such).

 

[FAST6191]

Thought of another for me.
Pokemon clones.
The GB/GBC and GBA provided severally really nice alternatives, especially as I find pokemon itself to be quite samey and boring. Today I have... Yo-Kai Watch. No thanks.

I miss classic style survival horror 3rd person, pre rendered backdrops, tank controls. The first three silent hills, the first three residents evils plus veronica. Haunting ground, Clock Tower 3. Would love more well produced games in their style. I hope one day we can see a amateur game engine that can make those style of games the same way the rpgmaker does for jrpg style games..

While I like many of those games I have never found tank controls to be essential to the game, and indeed would probably even oppose them in favour of a RE4 or RE5 style movement mechanic. If nothing else consider all the things they were adding as the games wore on as far as dodge, turning... mechanics. Give me a "dodging is as good a plan as fighting, especially with the amount of ammo around" type game again, that I would like (I don't mind the Penumbra/Amnesia style things)

Also to be a pedant I do have to point out Resident Evil 0 exists.

I did actually pick up a copy of Code Veronica for the PS2 the other day too.

Where do you sit with Dino Crisis? Or at least the first two, by all means ignore that thing called Dino Crisis 3.

You might also like Ronin Blade/Soul of the Samurai on PS1. Some write if off as a bad clone but I actually had a blast with it once it clicked and you get off the first weapon or two for the samurai character, though once you get late in the game and the timing kicks in the first few weapons make sense for the next playthrough.

Possibly going a bit further from it if you never played Cold Fear (PS2 and xbox both got versions) then I can maybe suggest that as well.

I think he is refering to something Ron Gilbert (Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Thimbleweed Park) once said, something like Point'n'Click Adventures only live on in our imagination and in germany. There where a couple of smaller releases during the early-mid 2000s such as the Ankh series and the Secret Files series (the later is quite nice), but today the genre here is mainly covered by Daedalic Entertainment who makes/publishes hand-drawn 2D LucasArts style Point'n'Click games.


Like and even?

I did wonder if that was the sort of thing mentioned. I am familiar with those, indeed the second featured as one of the earlier entries in the old game of the week series https://gbatemp.net/threads/gbatemp-game-of-the-week-week-3.294219/

I was kind of hoping it would be like when I went exploring Russian games and found all sorts of buggy but really interesting stuff, or you occasionally go back through a Japanese game dev's library that just got a sleeper hit or something and find some goodness. Sort of like the times I had Venetica, Anno (I mentioned Austria in the first part) or Risen sprang upon me. Oh well, on the other hand I suppose I had better properly go through Daedalic Entertainment's offerings as I have seemingly skipped a few.

While I am at it then for others reading it is technically a Spanish dev but if you are liking games like this I might also suggest the Runaway series, one that was also a game of the week way back when https://gbatemp.net/threads/gbatemp-game-of-the-week-83.339957/

The 360 also got a few things here in the various Sherlock Holmes games and Gray Matter but I am getting off topic.

I'm missing proper match-3 games. The last one that I don't consider trash came out in 2011 (Bejeweled 3) and there hasn't really been anything good since.

Something of a rarity on a site like this. I assume you played the Puzzle Quest series... I kind of want to say skip the first DS title -- if you are a serious player of such things then you will probably notice the repeating boards before too long. I have not played their Gems of War game but it also seems to be fairly well liked and rather newer than 2011.

That is why I only stick with tradition genre like fighting and JRPG on console instead of follow nonsensical PC game trend. But tbh, I do miss those real time strategy though. Age of Empire III is still the best even in today competitive scene.

JPRGs have changed loads over the years. Try to find me a final fantasy 1-6 clone these days like you could during the 16 bit and early 32 bit era, quite hard and you are surely not going to tell me the Bravely Default hold up. I mean I am myself not particularly bothered by that and would much much rather play the likes of Resonance of Fate, Eternal Sonata and even though technically it is a Korean game then MagnaCarta 2.

 

[pedro702]

i miss the arcade racers

burnout, crusin usa, daytona usa, etc, now every now and then we get a random indie arcade racers and thats about it.

what about stealth games? basicaly after mgs5 and splinter cell blacklist they disapeared ... i want another splinter cell ubisoft cmon.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

I do love a good classic scrolling shmup, they do still exist to some degree though, for example the Darius series is still living on, I bought Dariusburst on Steam just last year.

What I miss the most is classic JRPGs. They are still being made to some degree, but I wish I could go back to the time when Final Fantasy games were still good. No RPGs in recent years have been as good as Final Fantasy used to be. The last truly epic JRPG I played was Blue Dragon on 360 and it's exactly what I want from Squeenix but they refuse to make a proper large-scale home console quality classic JRPG, all we get is stuff like Bravely Default, which is fine, but it's nowhere near as good.

Octopath Traveller looks great though. Haven't been this excited for a new JRPG in a long time. I doubt it's going to make me forget about Final Fantasy but at least it's something.

I would say collectathon platformers but they seem to have returned. Yooka-Laylee was a decent attempt and a decent game but I have to say I think I like A Hat in Time better. I'm surprised it took this long for them to return. Besides Nintendo no one else has made them since around the N64, and even Nintendo didn't make any after the Wii until now with Mario Odyssey. If you even count Super Mario Galaxy as a collectathon platformer that is. I suppose technically it is, but it's certainly not in the style we associate with collectathon platformers, which are normally not linear.
It seemed like a huge untapped market, in fact I'm not even sure why they died out in the first place.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Thought of another for me.
Pokemon clones.
The GB/GBC and GBA provided severally really nice alternatives, especially as I find pokemon itself to be quite samey and boring. Today I have... Yo-Kai Watch. No thanks.


While I like many of those games I have never found tank controls to be essential to the game, and indeed would probably even oppose them in favour of a RE4 or RE5 style movement mechanic. If nothing else consider all the things they were adding as the games wore on as far as dodge, turning... mechanics. Give me a "dodging is as good a plan as fighting, especially with the amount of ammo around" type game again, that I would like (I don't mind the Penumbra/Amnesia style things)

Also to be a pedant I do have to point out Resident Evil 0 exists.

I did actually pick up a copy of Code Veronica for the PS2 the other day too.

Where do you sit with Dino Crisis? Or at least the first two, by all means ignore that thing called Dino Crisis 3.

You might also like Ronin Blade/Soul of the Samurai on PS1. Some write if off as a bad clone but I actually had a blast with it once it clicked and you get off the first weapon or two for the samurai character, though once you get late in the game and the timing kicks in the first few weapons make sense for the next playthrough.

Possibly going a bit further from it if you never played Cold Fear (PS2 and xbox both got versions) then I can maybe suggest that as well.



I did wonder if that was the sort of thing mentioned. I am familiar with those, indeed the second featured as one of the earlier entries in the old game of the week series https://gbatemp.net/threads/gbatemp-game-of-the-week-week-3.294219/

I was kind of hoping it would be like when I went exploring Russian games and found all sorts of buggy but really interesting stuff, or you occasionally go back through a Japanese game dev's library that just got a sleeper hit or something and find some goodness. Sort of like the times I had Venetica, Anno (I mentioned Austria in the first part) or Risen sprang upon me. Oh well, on the other hand I suppose I had better properly go through Daedalic Entertainment's offerings as I have seemingly skipped a few.

While I am at it then for others reading it is technically a Spanish dev but if you are liking games like this I might also suggest the Runaway series, one that was also a game of the week way back when https://gbatemp.net/threads/gbatemp-game-of-the-week-83.339957/

The 360 also got a few things here in the various Sherlock Holmes games and Gray Matter but I am getting off topic.


Something of a rarity on a site like this. I assume you played the Puzzle Quest series... I kind of want to say skip the first DS title -- if you are a serious player of such things then you will probably notice the repeating boards before too long. I have not played their Gems of War game but it also seems to be fairly well liked and rather newer than 2011.



JPRGs have changed loads over the years. Try to find me a final fantasy 1-6 clone these days like you could during the 16 bit and early 32 bit era, quite hard and you are surely not going to tell me the Bravely Default hold up. I mean I am myself not particularly bothered by that and would much much rather play the likes of Resonance of Fate, Eternal Sonata and even though technically it is a Korean game then MagnaCarta 2.

You may like Eldritch, it's a game based on H.P. Lovecraft lore, in the game ammo is very limited and dodging is indeed a viable alternative to fighting in the vast majority of cases.
It's a sort of roguelike game, which I'm not a huge fan of myself, but it does look like a lot of fun despite that.
It has a very Minecrafty aesthetic, but don't let that fool you, it's very different from Minecraft.

 

[VitaType]

That is why I only stick with tradition genre like fighting and JRPG on console instead of follow nonsensical PC game trend.

Wasn't the classical Final Fantasy (ATB) style on console also death not that long ago? What is with 3D collectathon, that was a typical console style game back in the days when PC gamepads sucked and rarely had a anlog stick. It's not just a PC phenomenon.

But tbh, I do miss those real time strategy though. Age of Empire III is still the best even in today competitive scene.

Iron Harvest, Dawn of War III, Age of Empires IV, AoE Remaster (with new orchestra sound, which was deeply needed), Battlefleet Gothic: Armada, Halo Wars 2 (I know, I know, it's a watered down RTS), Sudden Strike 4. It looks abit like a early stage of a revival atm, lets hope we get a new Warcraft or a new C&C maybe that could help the genre to come back.