The Game Atlas

Action

You win by doing — reflex, aim, and timing in the moment.

Twin-Stick Shooter

Point and shoot, everywhere at once.

You move with one control and aim with another, spraying a swarm of enemies from a top-down or side view. The whole game lives in the gap between where you are and where you're pointing.

Like Enter the Gungeon · Nuclear Throne · Geometry Wars

Core loop: Dodge incoming fire while aiming and shooting in an independent direction; clear the room, grab drops, move on.
Perspective: Top-down (or side-on) 2D, camera framing a single arena.
Win / lose: Win by clearing waves/rooms; lose when your health hits zero.
Session: Short, twitchy bursts — a room or a level at a time.
Progression: Better weapons and upgrades within a session; usually little that carries between.

Sub-genresArena Shooter Top-Down Shooter Shoot 'Em Up

Browse Twin-Stick Shooter on Steam

Platformer

Jump, land, don't fall.

You run and jump across a hand-crafted arrangement of gaps, hazards, and moving parts. Mastery is your legs: precise timing and reading the space ahead.

Like Celeste · Super Mario Bros. · Hollow Knight

Core loop: Read the layout, time your jumps and moves, reach the exit without dying.
Perspective: Side-scrolling 2D (or 2.5D), camera following the character.
Win / lose: Win by reaching the goal / end of the level; lose by falling or taking too many hits.
Session: Level-sized chunks, a few minutes each; can stretch with checkpoints.
Progression: New abilities (double jump, dash) unlock new terrain; skill is the main progression.

Sub-genres2D Platformer Precision Platformer Puzzle Platformer

Browse Platformer on Steam

Bullet Hell

A wall of bullets, and one gap that's yours.

The screen fills with dense, patterned enemy fire and you thread a tiny hitbox through it. It's a reading-and-reflex test dressed as a shooter.

Like Touhou · Ikaruga · Enter the Gungeon

Core loop: Weave through elaborate bullet patterns, return fire, survive the boss's phases.
Perspective: Fixed vertical or horizontal scroll, top-down.
Win / lose: Win by surviving to and beating the boss; one hit (or a small health pool) loses.
Session: Tight, high-intensity runs of a few minutes.
Progression: Score and mastery over unlocks; some games add ships/loadouts.

Sub-genresShoot 'Em Up Arcade Danmaku

Browse Bullet Hell on Steam

Soulslike

It's supposed to be hard. That's the point.

Deliberate, stamina-gated melee combat where every enemy can kill you and death costs you your dropped resources until you return for them. Patience and pattern-learning beat button-mashing.

Like Dark Souls · Elden Ring · Hollow Knight

Core loop: Learn an enemy's tells, manage stamina, strike in the openings; die, recover your souls, try again wiser.
Perspective: Third-person 3D (or 2D metroidvania-adjacent).
Win / lose: Win by defeating bosses and reaching the end; death drops your currency at the spot you fell.
Session: Medium-to-long; boss attempts can be a long grind.
Progression: Level up from banked currency; permanent gear and stat growth.

Sub-genresDifficult Action RPG Dark Fantasy

Browse Soulslike on Steam

Metroidvania

The map is the puzzle.

One big interconnected world you can't fully cross yet. New abilities are keys — each one reopens old places and reveals where you couldn't go before.

Like Metroid · Hollow Knight · Ori and the Blind Forest

Core loop: Explore, hit a wall you can't pass, find the ability that unlocks it, backtrack to open the world further.
Perspective: Side-scrolling 2D (usually), one continuous map.
Win / lose: Win by reaching the final area/boss; you 'lose' progress only to checkpoints.
Session: Long, exploratory; naturally paused at save rooms.
Progression: Ability-gated: powers permanently expand where you can reach.

Sub-genresExploration 2D Platformer Action-Adventure

Browse Metroidvania on Steam

Run-Based

One life, one run. You lose, you learn, you go again — a little stronger.

Roguelite

Die, but keep a little of what you learned.

Runs are procedurally generated and death sends you back to the start — but you keep some permanent unlocks, so the metagame creeps forward even when the run doesn't.

Like Hades · Dead Cells · Slay the Spire

Core loop: Start a fresh run, build power from randomized rewards, push as far as you can before you die.
Perspective: Any (top-down, side-on, isometric) — the structure is what defines it.
Win / lose: Win by completing a full run; death ends the run but banks meta-progress.
Session: One run = one sitting, 20-45 minutes; the campaign is many runs.
Progression: In-run: temporary build. Between runs: permanent unlocks and small stat gains.

Sub-genresAction Roguelike Roguelike Deckbuilder Traditional Roguelike

Browse Roguelite on Steam

Survivors-like

You don't aim. You just survive.

Auto-firing weapons and ever-thickening hordes; you only move. Each run you stack absurd upgrades until you're a walking storm — or the timer runs out.

Like Vampire Survivors · Brotato · Halls of Torment

Core loop: Move to survive the swarm while weapons fire on their own; pick an upgrade each level-up and snowball.
Perspective: Top-down, single arena.
Win / lose: Win by surviving to the timer / final boss; lose when the horde overwhelms you.
Session: Fixed-length runs, ~15-30 minutes.
Progression: In-run power spikes from stacked upgrades; meta unlocks between runs.

Sub-genresRoguelite Action Roguelike Arcade

Browse Survivors-like on Steam

Strategy

You win by deciding — plan, place, and out-think the board.

Tower Defense

Build the gauntlet. Watch it hold.

Enemies march along a path toward your base; you place and upgrade towers to stop them before they arrive. Positioning and timing your economy is the whole game.

Like Bloons TD · Kingdom Rush · Plants vs. Zombies

Core loop: Read the incoming wave, place/upgrade towers, spend the economy the wave pays out, hold the line.
Perspective: Top-down or isometric, fixed map.
Win / lose: Win by surviving all waves; lose when too many enemies reach your base.
Session: Per-map, 10-20 minutes; endless modes stretch longer.
Progression: Persistent tower unlocks and upgrade trees across maps.

Sub-genresStrategy Base Building Casual

Browse Tower Defense on Steam

Auto-Battler

You build the team; the fight runs itself.

Between rounds you draft and arrange units and synergies; then combat resolves automatically and you watch your plan hold up (or not). All the decisions are in the shop, not the swing.

Like Teamfight Tactics · Dota Underlords · Super Auto Pets

Core loop: Spend gold to buy/position units and chase synergies; combat auto-resolves; adapt for the next round.
Perspective: Top-down board / grid.
Win / lose: Win by being the last player standing (or beating the ladder); lose when your health runs out.
Session: A match is ~20-35 minutes.
Progression: Mostly per-match; ranked ladders and cosmetics between.

Sub-genresTurn-Based Strategy Deckbuilding PvP

Browse Auto-Battler on Steam

Turn-Based Tactics

One grid, one turn, no do-overs.

You move a squad across a grid, spending each unit's turn on position, cover, and attacks. Every move is a small bet with lasting consequences.

Like XCOM · Into the Breach · Fire Emblem

Core loop: Assess the board, spend each unit's actions on movement and attacks, end turn, react to the enemy's.
Perspective: Isometric or top-down grid.
Win / lose: Win by meeting the mission objective; lose by losing your squad or failing the objective.
Session: Mission-sized, 20-60 minutes; campaigns span many.
Progression: Units level up, gain gear and skills; permadeath raises the stakes in some.

Sub-genresTactical RPG Strategy RPG Grid-Based Movement

Browse Turn-Based Tactics on Steam

4X / Grand Strategy

Explore, expand, exploit, exterminate.

You steer a whole civilization or empire across a vast map and a long arc — settling, researching, trading, and warring. The scope is enormous and the turns are yours to take slowly.

Like Civilization · Stellaris · Crusader Kings

Core loop: Explore the map, expand your territory, develop your economy and tech, and manage diplomacy or war.
Perspective: Top-down world map, heavy UI.
Win / lose: Win by a victory condition (domination, science, culture…); lose by elimination.
Session: Very long — a single game can run many hours across sessions.
Progression: Tech trees and empire growth within a game; mastery across games.

Sub-genresGrand Strategy Turn-Based Strategy Historical

Browse 4X / Grand Strategy on Steam

Builder & Sim

You win by growing — tend a system and watch it compound.

City Builder

Zone it, wire it, watch it live.

You lay out a settlement — roads, housing, services, supply chains — and keep it balanced as it grows. There's rarely a 'win'; there's the city you keep making better.

Like Cities: Skylines · SimCity · Frostpunk

Core loop: Place and connect infrastructure, balance budget and needs, respond as the population grows and complains.
Perspective: Isometric or free 3D camera over the map.
Win / lose: Usually open-ended; failure is bankruptcy or collapse; scenarios add goals.
Session: Long, relaxed building sessions.
Progression: The city itself is the progression; tech/policy unlocks as it scales.

Sub-genresManagement Base Building Economy

Browse City Builder on Steam

Colony / Management Sim

Every little person has a plan of their own.

You don't control units directly — you set priorities and your colonists (or staff, or patients) act on their own, generating stories and disasters you scramble to manage.

Like RimWorld · Dwarf Fortress · Two Point Hospital

Core loop: Set jobs and priorities, build to meet needs, and firefight the emergent crises the sim throws up.
Perspective: Top-down or isometric, zoomable.
Win / lose: Mostly survival/open-ended; a wiped colony is the loss state.
Session: Long; the story emerges over hours.
Progression: Research, expansion, and the deepening web of systems.

Sub-genresManagement Base Building Survival

Browse Colony / Management Sim on Steam

Idle / Incremental

The numbers go up even when you don't.

You make a few choices, then production compounds — often while you're away. The pleasure is watching growth curves bend and unlocking each new order of magnitude.

Like Cookie Clicker · Adventure Capitalist · Melvor Idle

Core loop: Buy generators, spend the output to buy bigger generators, prestige to reset with a multiplier.
Perspective: UI-first, 2D; visuals are secondary.
Win / lose: Rarely a loss state; 'winning' is reaching milestones and prestiging.
Session: Tiny active check-ins plus long idle stretches.
Progression: Exponential — layered multipliers and prestige loops.

Sub-genresClicker Incremental Automation

Browse Idle / Incremental on Steam

Cozy Farming Sim

No pressure. Just the seasons.

A gentle loop of tending land, animals, and relationships at your own pace. Low stakes by design — the reward is routine, growth, and a place that feels like yours.

Like Stardew Valley · Animal Crossing · Harvest Moon

Core loop: Work the daily routine — plant, tend, gather, socialize — and slowly improve your farm and town ties.
Perspective: Top-down or 2.5D, warm and readable.
Win / lose: No fail state; the arc is soft goals and seasonal rhythms.
Session: Comfortable, open-ended; one in-game day at a time.
Progression: Tools, land, relationships, and seasonal content expand over time.

Sub-genresCozy Life Sim Relaxing

Browse Cozy Farming Sim on Steam

Puzzle

You win by figuring it out — one clean solution hiding in plain sight.

Match-3

Line them up, watch them pop.

Swap adjacent tiles to make lines of three or more; matches clear, cascade, and score. Easy to grasp, endlessly tunable, and the backbone of casual mobile.

Like Bejeweled · Candy Crush · Puzzle & Dragons

Core loop: Scan the board, make the highest-value swap, trigger cascades, meet the level's goal.
Perspective: 2D grid, front-on.
Win / lose: Win by hitting the target in the move/time limit; lose by running out.
Session: Bite-sized — a level in a minute or two.
Progression: Level maps, boosters, and difficulty ramps.

Sub-genresPuzzle Casual Family Friendly

Browse Match-3 on Steam

Physics Puzzle

Set it up, then let gravity finish it.

You arrange or launch objects and the simulation does the rest — cutting rope, stacking, toppling, flinging. Solutions feel discovered, not entered.

Like Cut the Rope · Angry Birds · World of Goo

Core loop: Read the setup, place or aim, run the physics, adjust until it resolves cleanly.
Perspective: 2D side-on (usually).
Win / lose: Win by achieving the goal state (deliver, destroy, reach); lose by missing.
Session: Quick levels; snackable.
Progression: New mechanics/objects gate later levels; star ratings for mastery.

Sub-genresPuzzle Casual Sandbox

Browse Physics Puzzle on Steam

Sokoban / Logic Puzzle

One right answer, and it's beautiful.

A small, deterministic space with a single elegant solution you have to reason your way into — pushing blocks, routing lines, satisfying constraints. No reflexes, all thought.

Like Baba Is You · Sokoban · The Witness

Core loop: Study the rules of the space, form a hypothesis, test it, refine until the puzzle clicks.
Perspective: Top-down grid or first-person, static.
Win / lose: Win by solving; you don't 'lose' so much as get stuck and reset.
Session: Puzzle by puzzle; solvable in any spare moment.
Progression: New rules/mechanics introduced one clean idea at a time.

Sub-genresPuzzle Logic Programming

Browse Sokoban / Logic Puzzle on Steam

Word Puzzle

The answer is language you already know.

A puzzle built out of letters and words rather than shapes or physics — anagrams, crosswords, guess-the-word, scrambled quotes. The solution is something you already recognise; the difficulty is getting at it through whatever the puzzle has done to hide it.

Like Wordle · Scrabble · Lingo

Core loop: Read the obscured text, spot a fragment you recognise, commit a change, and let it constrain the rest.
Perspective: 2D board of letters or tiles; static, text-forward.
Win / lose: Win by restoring the word or line; failure is usually a guess limit or simply being stuck.
Session: One puzzle in a few minutes — the archetypal daily.
Progression: Rarely mechanical; a streak, a stats page, or a fresh puzzle each day.

Sub-genresWord Game Puzzle Casual

Read the guide: The five kinds of quote puzzle Browse Word Puzzle on Steam

Story & Cards

You win by choosing — the game is a story (or a hand) you steer.

Visual Novel

Mostly reading. Occasionally deciding.

A branching illustrated story you read through, making choices at key forks that steer characters, romance, and endings. The 'mechanics' are the writing and the branches.

Like Doki Doki Literature Club · Phoenix Wright · Steins;Gate

Core loop: Read a scene, reach a choice, pick a branch, and follow the consequences toward an ending.
Perspective: 2D, character art over backgrounds; text-forward.
Win / lose: Win/lose is usually 'which ending' rather than pass/fail; some add bad ends.
Session: Chapter-length reads; easy to pause.
Progression: Story branches and unlockable routes/endings across playthroughs.

Sub-genresStory Rich Choose Your Own Adventure Dating Sim

Browse Visual Novel on Steam

Interactive Fiction

The whole world is words.

Text-driven storytelling where you choose or type actions and the prose responds. No graphics to lean on — the interface is language, and the imagination fills the rest.

Like 80 Days · Zork · Choice of Games

Core loop: Read the situation, choose (or type) an action, and steer the unfolding text.
Perspective: Text UI, occasional illustration.
Win / lose: Endings and objectives vary; some track stats and fail states.
Session: Flexible — a passage or a whole arc.
Progression: Story state, tracked stats, and branching paths.

Sub-genresText-Based Choose Your Own Adventure Story Rich

Browse Interactive Fiction on Steam

Deckbuilder

You build the deck that beats the run.

You start with a weak hand of cards and, encounter by encounter, add and prune to sculpt a powerful engine. The deck is your character, and drafting it well is the game.

Like Slay the Spire · Balatro · Marvel Snap

Core loop: Play cards to win an encounter, then add/remove/upgrade cards to strengthen your deck for the next.
Perspective: 2D card UI, front-on.
Win / lose: Win by clearing the run/opponent; lose when your health or deck fails you.
Session: A run is one sitting; matches are shorter.
Progression: In-run deck sculpting; meta unlocks of new cards/characters.

Sub-genresRoguelike Deckbuilder Card Game Card Battler

Browse Deckbuilder on Steam

Party & Social

You win by playing other people — bluff, hide, team up, and cause chaos together.

Hide-and-Seek

Blend in, or spot what doesn't.

One side hides in plain sight — as props, painted walls, anything — while the other hunts for what looks wrong. The whole game is observation and nerve on both sides.

Like Meccha Chameleon · Prop Hunt · Midnight Ghost Hunt

Core loop: As a hider, disguise yourself into the scene and stay still; as a seeker, scan for the one detail that's off and tag it before time runs out.
Perspective: First- or third-person 3D, shared multiplayer arena.
Win / lose: Seekers win by finding every hider in time; hiders win by staying undiscovered.
Session: Short rounds of a few minutes; you play many, swapping roles.
Progression: Per-match; cosmetics, maps, and unlockable roles as meta.

Sub-genresSocial Deduction Party Game Online Co-Op

Browse Hide-and-Seek on Steam

Physics Party

Wobble, flail, lose gloriously.

Slapstick multiplayer where clumsy physics is the joke. You barely control your own limbs, and the comedy is everyone falling apart together.

Like Fall Guys · Gang Beasts · Human: Fall Flat

Core loop: Fumble through wobbly obstacle courses or brawls, grab and shove opponents, and survive the round's elimination.
Perspective: Third-person 3D, ragdoll physics.
Win / lose: Win by being last standing or first across; lose by falling, getting flung, or being eliminated.
Session: Quick rounds, a few minutes; many back-to-back.
Progression: Per-match; heavy cosmetic unlocks.

Sub-genresPhysics Funny Local Co-Op

Browse Physics Party on Steam

Co-op Chaos

Teamwork, and the yelling that comes with it.

Cooperative games built to overwhelm you — too many tasks, not enough hands. You win by dividing labor, communicating, and not strangling your friends.

Like Overcooked · Moving Out · PlateUp!

Core loop: Split the jobs, coordinate under a timer, and keep the chaotic pipeline moving to hit the level's target.
Perspective: Top-down or isometric, shared screen.
Win / lose: Win by meeting the level's goal together; lose by running out of time or botching the flow.
Session: Level-sized, a few minutes each; a whole night of them.
Progression: Star ratings and new stages; some add persistent upgrades.

Sub-genresParty Game Local Co-Op Online Co-Op

Browse Co-op Chaos on Steam