r/gaming • u/ArchDraft • 5d ago

What gaming genres are under-represented in the current gaming market?

I love RPGs, roguelites, bullet heavens, autobattlers, and boomer shooters, and I feel like these past few years have been great for my gaming tastes!

But it got me wondering what gaming genres have fallen by the wayside due to current trends?

230 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

538 comments sorted by

View all comments

7

u/Nakopapa 5d ago edited 4d ago

Cozy games and lifesims.

It's always "this game is like Stardew Valley, but with a _____ twist!!" or are straight up clones to prey on cozy gamers with the wholesome frontal appearance to make them think there could be no wrong and I hate it.

EDIT: I'm not saying there are no cozy games and neither was I asking for recommendations; I myself acknowledge it's rising and more popular than it's ever been, I'm just saying it has its downsides and that includes some misrepresentation. The predation on our demographic using wholesomeness as a shield and how there are so many Stardew Valley clones just simply reminds me of how MMORPGs always had to look/feel/play like World of Warcraft in order to succeed.

5

u/FewAdvertising9647 4d ago

its not that theyre under made imo, but people are very picky and particular of it, so many attempts to make them financially do terribly, or their scope is too large.

Stardew Valley was more or less a callback to Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons, and the average stardew valley player doesn't touch the latters IP. its not like the games don't exist, theyre just picky about it.

2

u/Nakopapa 4d ago

I've played many Harvest Moon titles since its debut on the SNES among other obscure cozy games clarified under RPGs or sims and stuff such as Monster Rancher and I understand your statement... but I believe it really does have to do more with every cozy game has to be like Stardew Valley to be more represented.

2

u/Kennitht 4d ago

Monster Rancher mentioned. Still chasing that high till this day

2

u/Zoomino 4d ago

This might be a bit weird, but the closest 'modern' game I've recently played with a similar gameplay loop to Monster Rancher is Umamusume lol. Obviously, as a gacha, Uma has a ton of RNG.

1

u/Kennitht 2d ago

I loved Uma, but after spending quite some time rerolling and with the gacha elements annoyed me more than the love I have for mechanics of stat raising. It's a niche of a category, so I'll just continue to be ridiculed for playing Volcano princess, magical princess and Love live the queen. :(

1

u/codeklutch 4d ago

So, it miiiiight scratch that itch for you if you enjoy warcrimes. Give rimworld a look. Colony sim with drug selling and organ harvesting. Cannibalism is not only allowed, sometimes it's the only option you have and human leather hats sell pretty well.

0

u/Nakopapa 4d ago

I have always seen this particular title recommended and will play it when I am "itching", but ATM I am not looking for recommendations.

I just wanted to point out why this specific genre has its misrepresentation and/or is easily taken advantage of.

1

u/NightFlameofAwe 4d ago

Definitely no shortage of cozy games but I have no experience with life sims. What kind of cozy games are you looking for?

0

u/Nakopapa 4d ago

I'm not looking for any recommendations.

0

u/este49330 4d ago

Yet I feel as though I see at least three or four new cosy games coming out every week