Videogames often blur the lines between genres. Unlike movies, most shows, and many books, videogames are a medium of entertainment that often has to be digested over tens of hours while still being considered a single product. All that time and space often requires a game to start blending genres to keep the game entertaining.
Nintendo's long-lived and beloved Legend of Zelda series is a classic example of this, with fans debating whether it counts as an RPG or just an action-adventure game thanks to the various design elements it blends together. Legend of Zelda is far from the only game that suffers this confusion.
10 Legend Of Zelda, Is It Action-Adventure, RPG, Or Something Else?
Legend of Zelda has often sparked debate over the definition of a role-playing game, or RPG. Its fantasy setting lends itself to RPG comparisons, as many traditional fantasy games dip into the RPG well. The game also allows the player some freedom for exploration and offers improvements to weapons and health over the course of each Zelda installment.
Breath of the Wild further complicates this argument with survival elements and the ability to choose how Link's stats and weapons are improved over the course of the game.
9 Assassin's Creed Has Started Adding RPG Elements To Recent Titles
Recent entries in Assassin's Creed series continue the RPG discussion. Prior entries have been fairly straightforward open-world stealth action-adventure games. However, Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla have introduced more RPG-esque elements that allow the player to customize their Assassin's skills.
The counterargument to this is that the player can't really change the outcome of the game's story. That is set in stone, and a pivotal quality to RPG as a genre is the ability to affect the game's world through player decisions.
8 Are The Marvel: Ultimate Alliance Games Dungeon-Crawlers?
The Raven Software-developed and Activision-published Marvel: Ultimate Alliance series of games blend several genres on the surface with action-RPG and beat-em-up elements. However, the top-down perspective, as well as encouragement to explore each level, add an argument for the dungeon crawler genre to be added to the mix.
Many of the levels in the first Marvel Ultimate Alliance game (as well as its X-Men: Legends predecessors) very much feel like traditional dungeons in fantasy games. One could argue that Marvel: Ultimate Alliance fits the term as well.
7 Metroid Prime Is A 3D Metroidvania, Which Some Players Think Makes It Not A Metroidvania
The "Metroidvania" genre is a portmanteau of Metroid and Castlevania, but the most popular series of Metroid games may not even fit the term. Many Metroidvania purists consider 3D games to be disqualified from the genre.
However, the Metroid: Prime games do several things to solidify their place in the Metroidvania catalog of games. There is a lot of backtracking, platforming, and exploration to be done as Samus unlocks new weapons that serve as keys to previously locked-off areas of the map.
6 Star Wars: Battlefront II (2005) Blended Several Gameplay Genres
Each Star Wars: Battlefront game has blended genres to a degree. The term "third-person shooter," which is often used to describe the series, doesn't even quite fit as the third-person perspective is completely optional.
Star Wars: Battlefront II (2005), in particular, was a true mishmash of genres. There are dogfighting, hack and slash elements, and even rogue-lite elements thanks to the Galactic Conquest game mode (which was taken out of the Electronic Arts reboots).
5 Hollow Knight Is The Metroidvania That Still Takes Some Soulslike Cues
Hollow Knight has easily qualified as a Metroidvania thanks to its 2D world, platforming, penchant for backtracking, and encouragement to explore.
However, the era in which Hollow Knight exists also causes the game to draw Dark Souls comparisons, and for good reason. The collection of currency in the game, the ability to lose it upon death, and the opportunity to recover it by returning to the location of death all resemble the infamous Dark Souls series and its "Soulslike" subgenre of action-RPG. The gameplay difficulty as well as the completely silent and seemingly undead protagonist exploring the dead world also gives reason for some Dark Souls comparisons as well.
4 Resident Evil 6 Wants To Be An Explosive Action Movie And Survival Horror
Resident Evil 4 and 5 departed from the series' more horror-focused predecessors while still keeping some horror elements, but Resident Evil 6 transforms the series into more of a traditional action movie with explosions and quick-time events in abundance.
Some horror elements are still present, but calling Resident Evil 6 a true survival horror feels like a complete misnomer - and many players and critics panned the game for that exact reason.
3 Another Gameplay Genre Melting Pot Takes The Form Of Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
Ninja Theory's Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is a special game for several reasons, and one of them is the game's ability to blend several game genres into a single cohesive narrative experience. The game has elements of a hack and slash, puzzle game, walking simulator, and even survival horror.
The game also teases at being a rogue-lite, but the player can learn from brutal experience that this is only a bluff intended to amp up the intensity of the game experience.
2 Bloodborne A Mixture Of Dark Fantasy RPG And Survival Horror
All Demon's/Dark Souls games, as well as the later Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, have some elements of horror that are blended into the foreboding and decaying world that surrounds the protagonist. However, Bloodborne takes the horror aspects of its predecessors and runs with it.
Bloodborne imbues its world with gothic, body, and cosmic horror to create a truly unique experience that blends the concepts of survival horror and action RPG into a single cohesive and terrifying interactive experience.
1 Pokémon Is A JRPG Without True RPG Elements
Classifying the long-lived Pokémon game series often brings about the discussion of Japanese role-playing games, or JPRGs. However, this moniker never fit Pokémon, as there is no way for the player to change the outcome of any of the mainline games. However, the turn-based combat, leveling elements, and different moves that can be used by the player's Pokémon are all hallmarks of the JRPG genre.
Worse yet, there aren't any other codified terms to apply to Pokémon, leaving people discussing the game with only the term "JRPG."
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