Making a game and wanted to ask people here a question...

[ExtraWildGames]

Do you, as people of the general public, and as a gamer, really care about "buzzword" design tropes for games? My point being when someone says "this game is a soulslike." I don't really like this one-note sorta offhand denotion of a game. Do you care if an up and coming game is a "Soulslike" or "DMC style" action game? Do those keywords in articles, and sometimes even steam pages themselves, entice you to play the game more?

 

[Bloodbane]

I do care cause these words could give brief description on the game. Assuming the devs are honest and understand fully those words that is.
For example: I've made some metroidvanias in the past couple years. This word should give idea on how those game would be and should be played. Though TBH metroidvania is a genre unlike Soulslike or DMC style which aren't genre IMO.

 

[kimono]

Hello @ExtraWildGames .
Yes, if you are looking for a particular type of game like a metroidvania, a beat em up or a survival horror, this allows you to directly find the type of gameplay and universe among the thousands of games in the catalog.
Sometimes, it's also good to be surprised by a game that goes beyond established norms or mixes genres .

 

[ExtraWildGames]

I do care cause these words could give brief description on the game. Assuming the devs are honest and understand fully those words that is.
For example: I've made some metroidvanias in the past couple years. This word should give idea on how those game would be and should be played. Though TBH metroidvania is a genre unlike Soulslike or DMC style which aren't genre IMO.

it's not a genre, but a specific "style" within the genre people generally tend to generalize the way the gameplay, from combat structure to overall level design, is handled.