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Intro
One of the best things about video games is the sheer variety of game types and modes to experience. The most seasoned veteran gamer can still find new ways to be entertained and surprised if they are willing to give something different a shot.
In this article I am going to discuss some of the new game modes , mechanics, or genres I have grown to enjoy during this console generation. I hope that this inspires other gamers to try something different and maybe discover a new game they love along the way.
Years of experience
One of the more rewarding things about being a gamer for more than a couple of decades is that as you experience more and more titles, your taste can change and evolve. In the early 90’s I was all about the side scrolling action and platform games. I never was very good at them but they were the type of games that captured my attention. Super Mario games, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Earthworm Jim. were among my favorites. Throw in a good beat em up like Streets of Rage, Final Fight, or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II, and I would be wholly content for months on end.
A little before and well into my teens, my passion for pro wrestling pushed me towards the great AKI Nintendo 64 wrestling games. I started to appreciate the nuance of crafting my own character, adding my own voice to a video game and then playing with that voice throughout.
I also grew to appreciate longer, narrative experiences, games that played out like a book or film. Goldeneye 64, Shenmue, and Metal Gear Solid put me on the path of loving single player story games. Exploring the worlds of these titles gave me an appreciation for the the way action and narrative could be used in tandem to create a virtual experience that felt new and personal every time I picked up a controller.
By the time I was a young adult I was swept up in the first person shooter craze as games like Halo pushed what a shooter could be. You see, the years of 2001-2005 really raised the bar for first person shooters on consoles. The jump from a game like Perfect Dark to Halo was tremendous. This was also when I was introduced to multiplayer gaming, first with a little taste but then later, when it hit main stream.
The Sega Dreamcast was like the consoles gamers inauguration to online play. Alien Front Online opened my eyes to what online multiplayer was all about and though the game was incredibly basic for a multiplayer only little, it showed the potential of what those games could be.
Phantasy Star Online was my first great online love. A game that was about questing with others and building up your character. This was the first game that showed me what an online community was all about. I dumped many many hours into that game and even to this day I don’t think I have ever been as enamored with an online MMO experience. Nearly 20 years later, that game still brings me the fondest memories. Maybe Sega should get on rebooting that series!
So much more could be said about this game but the Youtuber Tall Fox, explains the game so well, I’ll drop his video here.
What I Have Grown to Appreciate This Generation
During the last five years of this generation, I have grown to appreciate a new set of game genres, modes, mechanics, and services that are new or that I have never experienced before on a large scale. The magic of video games for me is that they are ever changing and I find myself changing along with them. Here are some of the recent games, genres, mechanics, or modes that have continued to stoke the fire that is my passion for enjoying games.
Battle Royale
Even though this game type is only a handful of years old in the gaming main stream, I know that many games are tired of playing and hearing about it. Even I have to roll my eyes from time to time when a new BR (Battle Royale) game is announced. That said it’s still a genre that has greatly captured my interest and I think it’s the funnest game mode to be created in years.
The first time BR caught my eye was when I heard about the early days of pubg. People talked about this game that was “like the hunger games”. I never read the book but I did see the first movie and though I thought the movie was merely “alright” the concept that played out in the film struck me as a wonderful video game idea. Dozens of contestants stranded in a zone, they have to scavenge for supplies and then fight for survival. In the end only one person can be champion.
Competitive multiplayer shooters are nothing new and generally, they are not my main forte. This new idea however, of everyone starting out with nothing, spawning at non predetermined spot each match, and having only one life to live, had my interest and curiosity. Unfortunately I am not much of a PC gamer and my machine at the time could be be best classified as slightly better than garbage for gaming. So naturally I didn’t want to spend 40 dollars on a game I probably couldn’t run and I knew I ‘d be horrible at anyway due to my lack of keyboard and mouse skills.
At some point H1Z1 got a deep deep discount on steam and I decide to give it a shot. The price was so low that even if I was terrible I wouldn’t feel bad about dropping a few dollars to learn and improve. Worse case scenario if the game didn’t run well, I’d just be out of a little money.
Lucky for me, my system could handle the game and I was up and running. I was in fact, absolute horrible at the game. It took me several hours and multiple matches before I got my first kill. Even though the struggle was oh so real for my limited skills, the game mode was so exciting, so different than the fast paced and die a thousand times a match shooters, that I had been playing over the years.
I struggled away with H1Z1 for several weeks when suddenly Fortnite Battle Royale hit. Today Fortnite is one of the most popular and recognizable video games on the market; back in September 2017 however, it was a very under the radar tower defense type game that added a battle royale mode.
The main reason why I jumped on Fortnite right away was because it was the first free BR game available on consoles that I had seen. I didn’t care how good or bad it was, I just knew I got a chance to play a BR game with a controller and no worries of my sad PC slowing me down.
After my first couple of sessions I was hooked. I was actually getting kills, actually surviving late into rounds. On that fist day I even managed to get my first win. The gratification of beguiling 99 other players and then seeing that victory screen, was something I instantly knew I wanted to achieve over and over again.
Over the next two years a litany of BR games would come out and now it’s a well known and fairly well tread genre. Of all the games available the only one I really enjoy right now is Apex Legends. It’s very straightforward, it’s very user friendly, and to me it’s just a clean BR experience that I can play a few seasons of rather quickly and enjoy.
Battle Royale games really didn’t exist to me a few years ago and right now it’s my preferred version of competitive shooter multiplayer. As new as this genre still is, I very much look forward to seeing what new future innovations will arise for battle royale games and if the momentum can keep on building.
Roguelike
The roguelike genre gets its name from the 1980 computer game Rogue. The stand out feature in Rogue that Roguelike games generally implement is permadeath. Permadeath as the name suggest, means permanent death of a video game character. Rogue was also lauded for it’s randomly generated stages, every game play session would be different.
In most games of today when your character dies, you simply load your last save or go back to your last checkpoint and continue on your journey. In roguelikes when you character dies (or you fail your run), you have to start over from the very beginning with a new character or a whole new run. Generally the one bonus of starting over is that you get to use features or items you have unlocked on previous runs.
Again being a primarily console gamer I hadn’t experienced too many roguelike games. My first real exposure came with Spelunky on the Playstation 3. Generally platform, side scrolling games aren’t my thing; Spelunky however, was engaging to me because of how condensed the runs were. It was a game I could play in portioned out slices and I dug that.
Spelunky introduced me to rouguelikes but it wasn’t until I played FTL, that I grew to love games like this. Every run was different, I had to make decisions constantly throughout my play session and I never knew how my choices would ultimately affect my run. One thing I absolutely adore in video games is unpredictability. I love feeling like I never know what may develop after I take a certain action. FTL delivers that situation to the player over and over again.
This is where my enjoyment or roguelike games differs a bit from the more traditional construct of what a roguelike game is. I don’t so much like the platform or action games of the genre. Generally, old school games like that just aren’t my thing. What I do enjoy is games that have me make hard choices. Games that have varied runs that generally don’t take up more than 90 minutes or so at the most.
My favorite games of the genre may be better classified as Roguelike-like’s. Games that mostly focus on a specific run. The two absolute tops on my list right now are Slay the Spire and Hearthstone’s single player dungeon runs.
Both are card games. You build decks and take on different enemies and bosses. The goal is to create a powerful enough deck to get you through all the levels or bosses in the run. Both of these games are quite addictive in the best way for me. They tick all of those boxes of letting me make decisions and having numerable variable situations for the duration of their runs. The replayability is through the roof because I never know what variables will be thrown at me and how I will weave them together to create a tapestry of victory.
The time element is also a factor here. Like FTL, the runs of these games don’t take more than roughly 30-90 minutes to complete. Sometimes your run ends much sooner, so you can play multiple runs in a single gaming session. It’s very accommodating in an era where most major AAA titles require dozens of hours to complete.
Though not quite a roguelike, the Xcom games are another franchise that starches a lot of the same itches. These games don’t have dungeon runs but each missions is kind of like a dungeon run. You take your randomly generated soldiers, and attempt to complete a level where they could die and be taken off the board for good. This gives each soldier a certain gravitas and layer of importance and every death delivers a keen sense of loss.
What I love about most roguelike games and gameplay features is that your decisions really matter. The stakes feel so much hire because you can’t simply reload and erase them. Your mistakes (or misfortunes) cost you; just like in real life, you just have to take your lesson, learn from it, and move on. In a medium that so frequently lacks consequences for failure, I find this deliciously refreshing,
The Nemesis System/Mercenaries
Here we come to what may be my biggest disappoint for a game concept this generation, Shadow of Mordor and War’s, Nemesis System. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying I dislike the system, or even necessarily disappointed in it. After all, it still makes my list as a game feature I love.
The nemesis system gives every main enemy a personality. They each have their own abilities, fight style, and best of all, they will remember prior conflicts you may have had. You could have a battle with an Orc where you slash them across the face to finish them off and later in the game they could show up unexpectedly with a metal eye patch, seeking revenge for how you mutilated their face hours previously.
When I first heard about this system I was floored. No game I had played went to this level of immersion. To think I could actually build up rivalries and create what was essentially on the fly, in game lore that would be unique to my play through, I truly believed it was the first sign of the new generation of gaming. I even wrote a blog about it on Cheapassgamer.
In execution the system was pretty good, not as revolutionary as I had hoped but still, having multiple characters in the world I was actively building a history with was astounding. Both Shadow or Mordor and Shadow of War started something that I thought many other games would try and run with with.
And that is why I am disappointed with this system. No one ever attempted to match or surpass the the depth of the Shadow titles when it came to a nemesis system. There have been a few takes on the idea for sure but they were all smaller scale iterations.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey has a mercenaries system in place where randomly generated mercs will hunt you down and try to take you out. They don’t have memories of previous encounters and they don’t have the ability to come back after a defeat, but they do spice up the single player campaign and have limited background stories. to give them a little extra depth. I do enjoy them in Assassin’s Creed and I hope to see them grow and expand in future Ubisoft games. As speculated in the Ghost Recon Breakpoint reveal summary, maybe your rival enemy wolf faction will work in a way that’s similar to the mercenaries or nemeses in the Shadow games.
Xcom 2 War of the Chosen also has a slight take on nemesis. There are three villain boss characters who continually attack you during your campaign and they also gain attributes or abilities after certain encounters or conditions are met. Like the Shadow games, they even given some personality that’s on display by taunting you during battles.
I enjoyed this in War of the Chosen because it did give a sense of a rivalry brewing between your Xcom team and these characters. The three main antagonist get to have a little more details because they were handcrafted by the developers as opposed to the randomly generated enemies in the Nemesis system.
I sincerely hope that future games really push this idea further. Imagine a game that spans multiple decades where you can build a history between characters and their families. Can you picture how amazing something like a Game of Thrones game could be with a family line and a nemesis like relationship system where characters and families would remember slights against them; these same characters could act on those slights years later. It would be something unfounded in gaming. I can only continue to hope developers continue to explore this particular mechanic in gaming next generation. Evolving how enemy AI work in single player games seems like an untapped frontier that’s ripe for exploration.
cRPG’s (Computer Role Playing Games)
Now this one is pretty interesting. I never even heard the term cRPG until a few years ago, What is a cRPG? Well, the common general definition is a computer role playing game. Now when you think about that, what could it mean? Technically, any role playing game could be a cRPG, that however is not the case.
Today when people specifically refer to a game as a cRPG, they typically mean rpg games that are on PC (though they can absolutely be on console too) that fall into a certain mold. These games typically have deep multi class system, multiple playable party members, deep customizable character builds, and multi layered tactical combat.
cRPG’s commonly have a top down isometric view. The players can usually greatly affect the game story. With that said there still doesn’t seem to be a definite hard definition for a cRPG. The blog “cRPG Addict” does a pretty nice job of trying to sum it up. From personal experience, I can just tell you that when you have played one, you can pretty easily identify another.
Seeing as the majority of these games have been on PC and the genre is currently experiencing a bit of a renascence after being on the back burner for several years, it’s no real surprise that I haven’t discovered this sub genre until recent years.
The game that turned all of this around for me was Divinity Original Sin. One day while browsing the internet I came across a post of someone saying Divinity was the best RPG they have ever played and it was now on sale for Xbox. My curiosity piqued, I decided to look into the game.
I vaguely remembered hearing something about it when it initially released on console but I probably dismissed it simply due to the look. I really enjoy western RPG’s. Some of my favorite games are Mass Effect, The Elder Scrolls series, Fallout New Vegas and Witcher 3. Divinity didn’t look like any of those, i didn’t see top tier graphic visuals or much of anything I was familiar with. Due that that I foolishly wrote the game off as a lesser title.
That said I still took a second pass at the game and looked into it deeper. Soon into my research two things stood out to me. First the game had stellar reviews, many labeling it as one of the best RPG’s of our time. Secondly, this supposedly amazing, stellar, exemplar of what a deep, tactical, story driven RPG could be… had cooperative play.
How could an RPG be that deep and feature co-op? I couldn’t figure that out. From what I was hearing this was a game that was as deep as Dragon Age but still allowed for two players to journey through it together. How would that work? Why haven’t I heard about this before? There has to be some catch! I took advantage of the sale and purchased the game right before I called my RPG loving friend and told them all about it. He bought the game too later that day and we were off on our adventure.
Divinity was everything people said it was. It was a game that on most levels was deeper than the RPG’s I was accustomed to playing and they allowed me to play through it with a friend seamlessly. Since playing through Divinity I have also played Wasteland 2, Divinity Original Sin 2, and I bought Pillars of Eternity.
All of these games are deep as an ocean and offer up dozens of hours of great story and gameplay. You get to build characters from scratch and sculpt your own path through the games story. These games also offer you major choices that can alter entire play throughs. They deliver what an RPG is meant to be on a deep and fundamental level.
It tickles me to think that just a few years ago I didn’t realize these types of games existed, at the very least, I didn’t understand the depth of them. Every game I have mentioned is also relatively new, they have all come out during 2014 or after.
cRPG’s are experiencing a come back and with some outlets giving Divinity Original Sin 2 game of the year. their stock is rising and more and more mainstream gamers are beginning to discover them. Wasteland 3 has been announced and is on its way, it looks like a major upgrade from Wasteland 2 and I can’t help but feel optimistic for the future of one of my new favorite game genres.
Honorable Mentions
There are also several smaller gaming trends I have grown to appreciate this generation. Some have been around forever but my affinity for them has never been so high.
Loot: If there is one thing you can put in a game to easily retain my attention, it’s copious amounts of loot. The more varied the better. This also speaks to that part of me that absolutely can’t get enough of randomization.
Loot has started to infiltrate it’s way into many AAA game franchise. Assassins Creed Odyssey probably has some of the best in recent months with all the new weapon upgrades and armor types.
Loot is a great tool that keeps me coming back to games time and time again. It does have to be done right though as too little won’t keep a player hooked but too much can make loot almost seem meaningless. The games that strike a fine balance do it best. Really looking forward to Borderlands 3, the king of gun loot.
Dedicated Photo Mode: From day one I loved how this generation game with DVR features that let you record videos and take snapshots of gameplay footage. Lately I have started utilizing photo modes for games that allow and it and man, it’s a lot of fun.
There are entire communities dedicated to taking and sharing video game photos such as #VGPUnite and Virtual Photography on Twitter and Instagram. Enter those hash tags and you will be treated to a plethora of great shots by talented artist.
Days Gone has really provided me a nice outlet to flex a bit of creative muscle and I found some new joy in capturing interesting shots and moments I experienced in my favorite games.
Pawns from Dragon’s Dogma: The pawn system in Dragon’s Dogma is something really unique to the game. Like most other action RPG games, you create your main character from scratch and set out on an adventure. What’s different in Dragon’s Dogma though, is that that you also create a sidekick companion called a pawn.
A pawn is a full fledged character and party member who you will adventure with. That in and of itself isn’t totally new to the RPG realm but what makes pawns more interesting is that other players can hire your pawn to adventure out with them. As your pawn gains more experience, they gain new knowledge and ways to help a player.
Your pawn becomes a character that takes on a bit of a life of their own, a faithful companion who helps guide you and other player. At the same time your pawn can bring back some small rewards from their adventures and give them to you.
I’m pretty surprised we never got a Dragons Dogma 2. I’m also surprised no one else has really ran with this cool idea. Maybe we still will get a sequel someday and the pawn feature will be better than ever.
Conclusion
Looking back on this generation I see how once again the palette of what I enjoy in video games has shifted. What this generation has brought to me is more depth and breadth than I had previously experienced. Perhaps a large part of that is due to the increase in game discounts and exposure to free games through services like PlayStation Plus and Game with Gold.
I’ve sampled more games than I have at any period before and I have found new things to like and in some cases love. I’m optimistic that the next generation in gaming will do much the same and open my eyes to even more game genres and features I was previously ignorant to.
Are there any game genre’s, features, mechanics, or modes that have captured your imagination recently? What are they and how did you discover them? Maybe you too will influence me to give another game a shot I have yet to consider, maybe that game will be another thing I grow to love.
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