93 articles
A Way Out (video game)
A Way Out (video game): co-op-only action-adventure by Hazelight Studios, published by EA, directed by Josef Fares, released 23 March 2018. Two prisoners, Leo and Vincent, escape in an always-split-screen game with Friend Pass free second-player access.
Agar.io
Agar.io, browser and mobile MMO cell-eating game by Matheus Valadares, released April 28, 2015, published by Miniclip; launched the .io genre with Slither.io and Diep.io, peaked at 60 million monthly players in 2015.
Arcade game
An arcade game is a usually coin-operated game machine, which may be mechanical, electronic, or video-based; US arcades peaked at about 10,000 in 1982 before the 1983 crash.
Battle royale game
Battle royale game: multiplayer genre where dozens to hundreds of players scavenge, fight inside a shrinking safe area, and win as last one standing; grew from Brendan Greene's 2013 Arma 2 mod into PUBG, Fortnite, Apex Legends, and Warzone.
Beat Saber
Beat Saber: VR rhythm game by Beat Games (Prague, formerly Hyperbolic Magnetism), Early Access May 2018, acquired by Facebook's Oculus in 2019. Players slash color-coded blocks with sabers; scoring rewards swing form, not timing; 6M+ users, top-grossing VR app.
Blade & Soul (블레이드 앤 소울)
Blade & Soul (블레이드 앤 소울) is NCSOFT's wuxia martial-arts PC MMORPG, released in Korea June 2012, China 2013, the West 2016; known for fighting-game-style action combat, arena PvP, and spin-offs Blade & Soul 2, Revolution, NEO, and Heroes.
Browser game
Browser game: a video game played in a web browser with no download, built on HTML5, JavaScript, WebGL, and WebAssembly. Eras: Java applets, Flash (1996-2020), then HTML5; Flashpoint preserves 200,000+ titles.
Casual game
Casual game: mass-market video game genre/label with simple rules, short sessions, low skill floor; from Windows Solitaire (1990) and Bejeweled to Candy Crush; free-to-play with ads and IAP; hypercasual and hybridcasual subgenres.
Charlie Charlie challenge
Charlie Charlie challenge (juego del lápiz, Juego de la Lapicera): pencil-and-paper divination game, Spanish-speaking schoolyard origin, viral May 2015 via #CharlieCharlieChallenge; pencil movement explained by gravity, not a Mexican demon.
Cookie Clicker
Cookie Clicker is a browser incremental game by Julien "Orteil" Thiennot, released 8 August 2013, where players click a cookie and buy buildings to raise cookies per second; it defined the idle genre, later gaining sugar lumps, minigames, ascension, and Steam and console versions.
Corrupted Blood incident
Corrupted Blood incident: 2005 virtual pandemic in World of Warcraft, also called the Hakkar plague, when a contagious debuff from Zul'Gurub's boss escaped via pets, later studied by epidemiologists including for COVID-19 modeling.
Diablo Immortal
Diablo Immortal: free-to-play action MMORPG by Blizzard and NetEase, set between Diablo II and Diablo III; launched June 2022 on mobile and PC; known for pay-to-win gem monetization and $100M early revenue.
Dinosaur Game
Dinosaur Game (Chrome Dino, T-Rex Runner): endless runner Easter egg in Google Chrome's offline error page, created by Sebastien Gabriel, Alan Bettes, and Edward Jung, debuted September 2014, playable at chrome://dino.
Duck, duck, goose
Duck, duck, goose is a children's circle chasing game, called Duck, Duck, Gray Duck in Minnesota; earliest found print reference 1924, Swedish origin theory unproven.
Dungeon Fighter Online
Dungeon Fighter Online (Dungeon & Fighter, 던전앤파이터, DNF) is a free-to-play 2D side-scrolling action RPG MMORPG by Neople and Nexon, launched 2005, with 850M+ registered users and over $22B life-to-date revenue.
Entropia Universe
Entropia Universe, formerly Project Entropia, is a Swedish sci-fi MMORPG by MindArk launched 30 January 2003 with a real-cash economy: PED pegged at 10 per USD, two-way deposits and withdrawals, player professions, and virtual property sales.
Friday Night Funkin'
Friday Night Funkin' (FNF) is a free, open-source browser rhythm game from Ludum Dare 47 (2020) by ninjamuffin99, PhantomArcade, evilsk8r, and KawaiSprite; its Newgrounds demo is the site's most viewed submission and its Kickstarter raised $2.2M.
Gang Beasts
Gang Beasts is a physics-based multiplayer party brawler by Boneloaf of Sheffield, set in Beef City, first shown in 2014, released December 2017 on PC and PS4, later Xbox and Switch, published initially by Double Fine Presents.
Guild Wars 2
Guild Wars 2 (GW2), ArenaNet's subscription-free MMORPG released August 28, 2012, set in Tyria; buy-to-play with free base game since 2016, level cap 80, three modes (PvE, sPvP, WvW), six expansions through Visions of Eternity, and continued development alongside announced Guild Wars 3.
Guitar Hero
Guitar Hero, a rhythm-action video game series debuting 2005, developed by Harmonix and published by RedOctane, later Activision; guitar-controller note-matching gameplay, over 25 million units sold, closed 2010, revived as Guitar Hero Live 2015.
Guitar Hero (video game)
Guitar Hero, the 2005 PlayStation 2 rhythm game by Harmonix and RedOctane, had players play rock songs on a guitar controller; under Activision it became the first billion-dollar game series before its 2010 shutdown.
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (GH3) is a 2007 Neversoft-developed, RedOctane-published rhythm game for PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PC, and Mac; 73 songs, Les Paul controller, over 16 million sold.
Guitar Hero Live
Guitar Hero Live (GHL) is a 2015 Activision rhythm game by FreeStyleGames with a six-button guitar controller, a first-person GH Live mode (42 tracks), and the GHTV streaming music video network (484 tracks), shut down December 1, 2018.
Guitar Hero World Tour
Guitar Hero World Tour (GHWT) is Activision's 2008 full-band rhythm game by Neversoft, adding velocity-sensitive drums, vocals, Music Studio/GHTunes song creation, and 86 master tracks; it outsold Rock Band 2 in 2008 before the rhythm-game crash.
Hi-Fi Rush
Hi-Fi Rush is a rhythm action game by Tango Gameworks, shadow-dropped January 25, 2023 on Xbox Series X|S and PC. Protagonist Chai battles Vandelay Technologies, timing attacks to a rock soundtrack; Metacritic 87; studio later acquired by Krafton in 2024.
Incremental game
An incremental game, also known as an idle or clicker game, is a genre where players repeat a simple action to earn currency, with production eventually running automatically.
Just Dance (video game series)
Just Dance is Ubisoft's dance rhythm game series, launched November 17, 2009 on Wii from a Raving Rabbids minigame; 30+ games, 90+ million copies sold, now a live-service franchise with the Just Dance+ subscription and camera-based motion scoring.
Just Dance (video game)
Just Dance is Ubisoft's rhythm game series, launched November 2009 on Wii without a dance mat and named after Lady Gaga's song. Annual editions of about 40 songs, Just Dance Unlimited and Just Dance+ subscriptions, camera scoring from 2025, over 5 million units for Just Dance 2.
Just Dance 2014
Just Dance 2014 is Ubisoft's 2013 dance rhythm game for Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, and PS4, with over 40 tracks and the series' first online multiplayer, World Dance Floor; online services closed November 19, 2018.
Just Dance 2016
Just Dance 2016 is Ubisoft's seventh mainline dance rhythm game, released October 20, 2015 on Wii, Wii U, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One, introducing smartphone controller support and the Just Dance Unlimited streaming service with 150 songs.