Games that are made for the sake of making the game insread of being made to squeeze as much retention and money out of you as possible

Now thats a style that is becoming increasingly rare

Sim games. Not THE sims but like SimTower, SimAnt, etc. There's been some attempts over the years but everyones missed the mark.

God games: the whole genre basically peaked with Populous and B&W and then just went quiet.

Space adventure games like Freelancer or X are also very rare nowadays.

Rhythm Games like Guitar Hero, Band Hero and DJ Hero. Those were fun.

Old Bioware stuff, aka action RPG games that put importance to story, lore, companions, and my not-so-guilty pleasure: romance.

I have a lot of emotions about the upcoming DA: Dreadwold.

Simulation games, like the ones Maxis used to make (other than SimCity). SimEarth, SimAnt, SimTower, etc. Those were educational and fun.

I also once played a simulation game that realistically simulated running a shipping business where you shipped things by boat, sailing your fleet from port to port, dropping off your cargo and loading new cargo, giving the occasional bribe, etc. while avoiding bankruptcy. I think it was called "Port of Call." It was made a long time ago, and I haven't played anything quite like it since then.

Good RTSes. Last great one I played was Company of Heroes.

MUDs. Text based (generally RPG) games with incredibly immersive story telling, near infinite levels of character customization, and many even feature ways for players to build on the world itself.

I’m surprised it’s not more popular amongst D&D enthusiasts.

In its hey day, people spent thousands of dollars just to boost their characters on massive for-profit MUDs like those created by Iron Realms. But smaller MUDs like Ancient Anguish were just as quality.

Sadly they’re going extinct. Only a few MUDs are still actively maintained.

Third person puzzle games with an engaging story like the Space Quest series, or The Dig. Also It Came From The Desert.

3D Platformers. We get maybe one or two every few years, and most of them are usually pretty short. last big one was probably A Hat in Time. if y'all know more beyond that let me know. just grabbed Koa and the 5 Pirates of Mara.

so desperate for one i'm considering learning how to make 3D games so i can make my own lol

First-person shooters, the way they were made in the 6th and 7th gens. A campaign, probably co-op, probably with split-screen or LAN, with some versus multiplayer that repurposed some slightly-remixed locations from the campaign that you can play with approximately 4-8 players. That's all you need. Sometimes we still get some great FPS campaigns, like Half-Life: Alyx, but I haven't really gotten the kind of co-op or versus multiplayer I've been looking for for over a decade. Not everything needs to be a live service. It can be a flash in the pan multiplayer that's so good that you break it out when you have a few friends over or in a Discord call. Not every multiplayer FPS needs to be an e-sport with an online population of tens of thousands of players to matchmake with in ranked.

I also don't really get racing games for me anymore. Star Wars: Episode One Racer, Burnout Revenge, and F-Zero GX truly spoke to me, and there were a few others that were close, but for the most part, if your racing game isn't basically Mario Kart or full of real licensed cars in real places, it doesn't get made. And the ones that aren't Mario Kart don't usually get split-screen multiplayer either, which is a must-have for me. I did get Trail Out in the recent past, which is very good, and there's that game Aero GPX on the horizon to potentially give me my F-Zero fix, but the actual racing games I'm looking for are so few and far between.

Fortunately, this list used to be much longer, and all the other holdouts, like Advance Wars-esque tactics games, Resident Evil 1-esque survival horror games, Commandos-esque stealth tactics games, and a few others have all gotten their itches scratched.

Arena shooters!

I encourage anyone from southeast asia to join my xonotic server ;)

Turn based strategy. As others have said, RTS'es, as well, but TBS. Yes, Civ series isn't dead, but everything else seems to be. Master of Magic (1994) is literally one of my favorite games of all time (none of the sequels or successors measure up). Colonization, also 1994, (warning, MANY ethical issues) had a great logistic and economic model... (Just ignore eeeeeeverything about the white-washing of history/slavery/indentured servitude/genocide.) Alpha Centauri. Maybe I'm just old.

The First Person Stealth Sim genre (Thief, Dishonored, etc) has been getting very little love in the last few years. Sadly the Arkane games don’t embrace it anymore; while great Prey was borderline as you really couldn’t control the stealth in many sections, and Deathloop and Red Rain are primarily short action games.

Stealth games. The last one for me was MGS5, I loved it even with its shaky story line. Hitman is really nice but it feels more like a puzzle game if that makes sense.

Party-based RPGs like Baldur's Gate or Pillars of Eternity. I absolutely love this style of game, but it feels like there are precious few titles to choose from. Anyone know of any hidden gems?

The tribes series, or z-axis games, where you are able to move up and down as well as the traditional x-y movement you see in virtually all games. Usually set as shooters, they are fast paced movement games that have a huge skill curve which is why they aren't made that often. Super fun when you get the hang of it though

Example
https://youtu.be/xOK3n8j7czA

As an RTS player who only ever plays for the story and does not care about multiplayer at all, new RTS games with a decent story and gameplay are kind of thin on the ground these days.

I can't even play C&C RA2 anymore because I can't get it to run on my PC. Tried several guides, but it refuses to run properly.

Sandbox MMORPGs, like Eve Online or Ultima Online. The vast majority of MMORPGs since at least WoW (potentially even before that with games like Dark Ages of Camelot, etc) have been Theme Park MMOs. Which are fun; I've played plenty and still do play them. But I think the sandbox is more fun. Certainly has more possibilites.

Like Myst? I love those. Have you tried The Witness?

Grid-based, dungeon crawler RPG (a mouthful, I know). The most recent titles in this genre I remember are the Mary Skelter trilogy, but the first game is about 10 years old already.

Good vehicular combat games.

I liked the point and click games when they were 2d hand drawn and not (3d) rendered. It seems to be a thing that has now been lost to time.

Arcade / over the top racing games like Motorstorm and Split Second.

Wreck Fest is close but needs more crazy scenery or setpieces.

Don't see a lot of plain fast paced arena shooters these days. There's The Master Chief Collection which kinda works but also isn't, you know, new.

Games like Populous or Mega-lo-mania.

Shitty mobile gatcha games produce a lot of brain drain the gaming industry that's for sure.

I love this thread, so many people are recommending games to each other. Nice to see.

My answer is games like Skyrim where it's a sandbox but you can pick up different quests. I know there's a proper name for them but it escapes me.

I know there's GTA which is a similar type but I want a more twee fantasy vibe

The Settlers games have not been Settlers games after the fourth one. Except of course the remake, but that also was a very long time ago.

I'm not sure if I have ever seen a game use the Mega Man X formula. I have definitely seen some follow the Mega Man formula, but I liked the X formula with the health upgrades, armor upgrades, energy tanks, etc. hidden in the levels. I think the market for this formula would be pretty small, because I think most would agree that the Metroidvania formula is a straight upgrade. But I kind of like the smaller, independent levels.